Community Fridge
We are very lucky and have a community fridge in Heathfield. This is what I picked up there today. There were LOADS of lemons, and I'd picked up 10 kiwi about a week ago as well. They're not even soft, and the lemons aren't speckly or anything.
There were loads of baguettes too, but we have plenty of bread.
I think I will slice 2 of the lemons on the mandolin and dry them for Christmas decorations, and do another big old orange at the same time.
The parsnips will be roasted or made into soup. Love spiced parsnip soup at this time of year.
Tried a new recipe using ginger, garlic and cardamom. It was good, but I wanted a lot more flavour from those spices, so I'll be tweaking it.
The garlic and onions will be used in general cooking.
The carrots? Not sure. Either general cooking, or perhaps a carrot cake. Or maybe crudités with hummus.
Wreath Making
I went on a wreath making class with my daughter, and her daughter, last week and this is what I produced!
There were only 6 of us there, and a huge table full of bits and pieces for us to use. The base wreath was made of grape stems wired together, and we laid out the green parts, then used a glue gun to secure it all.
Then we could do the pretty bits on the top. Lots of fun, and they'll be doing Spring ones next year. My daughter already has an Autumn one!
I've got a bit of a business brain and was teasing them about what they could do. We laughed about all the different possible kinds of wreath making classes and they said they could do a Halloween one! Wouldn't that be fun!
Daily Mail
The photoshoot was a fab, if rather long day. We had to get up at 5:30 in order to drive to Tunbridge Wells to get the London train. Then tube to Elephant and Castle and a little walk to the photographers studio ready for a 10:00am start.
I peppered the poor photographer with questions, and watched the food stylist to see exactly what she did. I learned a lot and will be trying too replicate some of it in future images. To get that lovely out of focus effect of everything in the background, (like in the professional shot above - it's my food, with an image taken by a professional) I need to get a lens with a very low f-stop apparently. I'm not sure if my ancient camera is up to it, so I'm busy doing research about it all.
There was a makeup/ hair lady to keep me primped. Both food stylist and makeup artist were trained nutritionists, so I had lots of interesting bits of conversation with them about that too.
I STILL don't know when it will be out - we're losing momentum! No beautiful pictures yet either as I can't have them until after publication.
What I've been making in previous Decembers
Christmas Leftovers
Now might be a good time to let you know about all the Christmas Leftover ideas on Thrifty Lesley. I'm trying not to over-buy, but it's very difficult with all that beautifully packaged seasonal food everywhere!
A couple of ideas for nibbly bits
We made these in my cookery group - spicy nuts, pastry nibbles, dips and mini bannocks. All inexpensive little things to offer drop-in guests
Do you send e-cards?
The post is likely to be pretty delayed this year, so I've been sending greetings cards as usual, but then I've also sent an e-card, so they have something from me if the paper card doesn't make it.
It doesn't cost much for a whole 12 months subscription, and you can send as many cards as you like in that time.
My eldest and I have a tradition where I buy an Advent Calendar from there each year, and we enjoy it for 24 days. Lots of games, puzzles, videos and beautiful imagery to admire.
An e-book or two
I published an ebook for meal plan 1 in August 2021 and am delighted that many people have thought it was worth getting. I repriced it again in June 2022 and it was still holding on, even in these scary times. Now we are in September and prices have shifted again and
I've managed to get my head around WooCommerce so I can feature it on the blog and you can find it here.
I was busy recooking, photographing and updating the recipes for Meal Plan 2 and putting them into an ebook as well. The meal plan was first written in 2013 and still prices up, which is fabulous and that is finally complete. The book is done now too, prices seem to be stable enough to do it.
I'm well into creating an e-book from the Stretch A Chicken To Last A Week series, hope it won't be long before it's finished. Got a couple of images to take, which means cooking the recipe, and 1 more recipe to write up.
Do come and say hello on the Fantastically Frugal Food Facebook group, or the Sensational Slimming Sustenance group. I'd love to see you. Lots of useful tips, recipes and ideas. The over 17,000 membership are brilliant, brimming with talent.
And don't forget Thrifty Lesley, where there are 800+ recipes of fantastically frugal food and many weekly meal plans. And Cheap Family Recipes where you can find all kinds of delicious things that don't cost much, with two family monthly meal plans.
I've also got a few YouTube videos up, not many yet, but I'm planning to do more. I've done a couple more, need to edit them now. So much to do, so little time!
With all best wishes, until next time
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