New Garden Bed
I bought LOADS of bulbs recently and have been putting them in yesterday and today - ooh, that ground gets further away every year! It's going to look so good next year.
Some of the bulbs were these ones - Spiced Pumpkin Collection from Hayloft. Don't they look good! Others were blue muscari, white snowdrops, pink cyclamen and pink muscari and some little yellow tete-a-tete daffodils.
Lots more weeding and tidying still to do elsewhere, but I feel like I'm getting it more under control now.
Heating
We've been having a fire most evenings for a while now. Mike has cut up all the surplus wood lying around. We've not had to buy any firewood since he put the woodburner in. If the wood store gets a bit low, we can get more than enough pallets from the local trading estate. Free is a price I particularly like!
With all the talk of the energy price rises, I've got very energy aware of late and am putting off starting up the central heating. We've got a heated electric blanket for our bed and that will be going on soon. We switch it on just before we get in, on a timer for half an hour, which is enough to get us toasty.
Squid Games
When I can't sleep, I'm often up until 6am and frequently end up watching Netflix. I recently thought I'd see what all the fuss was about with Squid Games, I wanted an opinion on it.
So I watched it over 2 nights. 'Enjoyed' is a difficult word to apply to it, with all the people who get killed, but I certainly found it compelling. There was quite a moral tone about it, with privilege and under-privilege both being explored; loyalty and betrayal; family and desperation.
I wouldn't let any children watch it, far too violent. I'm glad I watched it, and wouldn't put anyone else off watching it either. Have you seen it? What did you think?
Chutneys
In Cookalong next month we are doing Apricot Chutney, a Delia Smith recipe, which is a recipe that the member has been making for 50 years!
We are also doing Sweet Cucumber Pickle, also known as bread and butter pickle, and also made for 50 years.
Last Christmas, I bought lots of jars of various pate in lovely glass pots. I kept them and used these for the cumber pickle and I'll be taking one to events over the festive period as a little gift. They are about 250ml, so quite small and good for people who maybe haven't tried it before. Like me!
Barley, Spinach and Mushroom Risotto
I've written up the recipe I mentioned last time when my Cooking Up A Storm group made risotti. I've got 2 portions in the freezer which we will be enjoying some time soon.
Beef & Mushroom Risotto
One of the recipes I found for the Cooking Up A Storm group, a baked Bolognese risotto, we didn't have time to do in our 2 hour meeting. I have subsequently made it, with a few frugalisations, and it's really good! I portioned it up into small dishes as I made the full 6 portion recipe and it's very easy to use too much from a large dish. So the remaining dishes are also in the freezer waiting for a day when I want an easy to grab ready meal.
I'll be writing up my version of this recipe in the next week, so keep an eye out for that.
Soufflé Croûton Slice
This recipe is a Mary Berry creation. When my Cookalong group made soups, one of the members brought some soufflé croûtons along, in small cubes. They were very very delicious and as I was enjoying them, I fell to wondering if I could make them work as a main meal. Having decided I could, I thought it was best to make them as a large slice rather than croûtons, and oh my, were they ever good and they work out at only 28p a slice too!
An e-book
I published an ebook for meal plan 1 in August and am delighted that many people have thought it was worth getting.
I've managed to get my head around WooCommerce so I can feature it on the blog and you can find it here. It's also on Amazon, but I'm not allowed to include links to there in a newsletter. No idea why!
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 nearly 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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