Hasn't the weather changed! My goodness, I don't know about you, but I'm popping the heating on quite often this week.
So as it's been quite chilly, I've been having soups again - my favourite anyhow, who needs an excuse!
Broccoli & Lentil Soup
This is a very simple soup, made with just 4 ingredients, and saucepan to table in just 30 minutes. It contains a head of broccoli including all the stalk, red lentils, an onion and some seasoning.
Change the broccoli to another vegetable and get a completely different flavour!
Spiced Lentil Balls
This recipe is inspired by one I found in a recipe book first published in 1994. Amazingly, it’s still in print, and extremely cheap too!
These little lentil balls are very tasty, working beautifully with the pasta and tomato sauce. My husband had parmesan sprinkled over his. They could also be used much like falafel. So dip them in hummus, stuff into a pitta bread or wrap with salad and hummus. Full of protein, with 19g per serving, these are great for growing children.
I used a Tandoori paste when I made them, which was delicious. I used 2 generous tablespoons but was surprised that the flavour wasn’t stronger, they could easily have taken twice as much.
Pack them into a lunch box either on their own, or with the pasta and tomato sauce. Perhaps with parmesan on top too.
Chocolate Scones
A classic recipe with a twist. Have you ever added chocolate to scones? They're really good with a slick of butter, cream cheese or even chocolate spread - yum!
You can use cocoa or a chocolate bar to make the scones.
Cauliflower leaves - what do you do with them?
Now I do like the leaves, I would even say I prefer them to the florets. Same as broccoli really. We’re a bit Jack Sprat and his wife like that. I eat the stems, himself eats the florets.
But you actually get more cauliflower leaves than you do florets, so I’m always looking for ways to use them.
- Sometimes, I strip off the green leaves from the stem and use them as I would use cabbage leaves.
- Then use the stem, sliced up in a stir fry, a curry, a casserole or soup, or just as a vegetable side.
- I often chop them and use in soup as I can use up a lot that way. I especially like cauliflower leaves soup with turmeric, ginger, garlic and coconut. Yum!
- They are lovely cooked and eaten as a vegetable, either with cauliflower florets, or separately.
- Use cauliflower leaves or broccoli stalks in a cheese sauce instead of florets.
- Drizzle with oil, season, and sprinkle with curry spices, then roast in a hot oven. My favourite way is with tandoori spice.
- One day, I decided to shred the latest lot to use in a soup, and once I had done it, I realised what a useful item had been created.
- I had some that day, just as they were, in a salad. They taste vaguely green and a little like salad leaves.
- Use in the soup, as was intended
- Steam and use as a vegetable
- Cover with a cheese sauce
- Cover with a tomato sauce, top with cheese
Peanut Butter Noodles
This is a super flexible stir fry flavoured with the sauce which as well as peanut butter, contains soy sauce, garlic, ginger, lime and turmeric.Very delicious and simple to make.
What's been happening
Nothing much has changed this week regarding Mike's illness. People are coming to see him, as you do, when time is limited and I am sent out on many missions to procure something he has taken a fancy too! It's like living with someone who is pregnant!
My grand-daughter and a total of 10 people went to Go-Ape this weekend. It was flipping freezing all day, such a change to recent warm and sunny days!
Mike couldn't manage it, so I didn't get to go either as I can't leave him alone for that length of time.
My daughter arranged it all - she's very good at FUN and did quad biking with her children the previous weekend.
Days like these create such lovely memories
I read The Husband this week - a novel concept and I literally did laugh out loud at parts! I enjoyed this one a lot.
Amazon says -
What if you could change husbands as easily as a lightbulb?
One night Lauren finds a strange man in her flat who claims to be her husband. All the evidence – from photos to electricity bills – suggests he’s right. And then another one appears. Lauren’s attic, she slowly realises, is creating an endless supply of husbands for her. There’s:
The one who’s too hot (there must be a catch).
The one who pretends to play music on her toes.
The one who can calm her unruly thoughts with a single touch.
But when you can change husbands as easily as changing a lightbulb, how do you know whether the one you have now is the good-enough one, or the wrong one, or the best one? And how long should you keep trying to find out?
That's it for now, have a great week and I'll see you soon!
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 19,000 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.
With all best wishes, until next time
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