Cookalong

A new group has been set up in u3a - Cookalong. We select a recipe, then we all cook it, separately in our own houses, and meet up via Zoom to discuss and compare notes. It's great fun! We've done brownies and a versatile curry base (recipe below) so far. Vegetable muffins are next although I'm not at all sure about that recipe. It looks to me that it has too many veg and too much cheese for 250g flour to raise. I might tweak it!

Spring

Now we have had the March equinox and the clocks have gone back, the days are noticeably lengthening. I would say warming too, but it's freezing today!

I'll be getting out in the greenhouse and sowing seeds very soon.

Getting Fit

A couple of years ago, I did Couch to 5K, which I really enjoyed. This amazed my family, as although I have been a regular gym goer, I've never run. Even as a child.

Having got out of the habit, I decided I wanted to get back into it and went for a run. Just a gentle one. The route I most often take is a go there and come back type one.

Mike has developed an arthritic knee and can't walk very far or very fast now. So I ran the 'there' part of the route, very slowly, and walked back to find him and walked back to the car.

A few days later, about 10 days ago, we repeated the exercise. Only this time, by the time I got back to Mike, my left knee was getting a bit stiff. And later on that day, it got very stiff indeed, so much so that I could barely walk and it was painful to put weight onto it.

After much Googling (what on earth did we do before Google!) I decided that it was the ligament that runs from the bottom of the thigh to the top of the calf being inflamed. Cause - overuse. Treatment - rest.

So I've been resting it ever since. It gets a little better each day, but soon moans at me if I stand for too long and feels like I've got a restriction on that joint stopping me moving it properly

So now we're both hobbling about, what a pair of old crocks!

Tree Trimming

The garden boundary on the South side has lots of trees growing along it in the neighbours garden. I've contacted a tree surgeon to trim the overhanging parts, and to trim down the leylandii hedge part as it makes our garden very shady and my fruit and veg really suffer, struggling to get any light.

The tree surgeon can't come until near the end of April, which is a bit late, but we really need it done. Our South facing garden is like a North facing one!

Mums birthday

My Mum will be 94 in April and we were hoping to be able to get up and see her. She lives with my sister near Northampton. She is well looked after, but I haven't seen her since before the first lockdown. She hasn't wanted any visitors, and I suspect she won't want us to visit in early April either. She'll Facetime sometimes (sometimes she can't make it work!) but it's not the same is it.

Cheap Family Recipes

After spending all my blogging time on Thrifty Lesley for quite some time now, I've been doing some on Cheap Family Recipes this week.

I've put little mini pictures on all the recipes for meal plan 2. Liked it so much, I'll be doing meal plan 1 as well.

Have loaded up the tomato relish recipe, and just got a handful of the 'anytime extras' recipes to complete to finish meal plan 2 now. Then I need to finish the celebration week recipe load.

Tomato Relish

An anytime recipe using the liquor from a jar of roasted red peppers, or a mild vinegar

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Some of the newest posts from Thrifty Lesley.

Spicy Carrot Tart

Having made a delicious tart using soft cheese and peas, I wanted to try one using carrots and a bit of spice.

I thought I’d start with turmeric as I wanted it bright yellow, then a bit of ground coriander. Garlic of course, whisk in the eggs and the soft cheese, and whisk it all together.

Worked really well and I'm really pleased with it. I froze two and we had them a few days later, so they freeze beautifully too, great for packed lunches.

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