Cooking Up A Storm
That is the name of the cookery group I run for my local u3a. We met up last Tuesday, and this month we made Aubergine Ragu and Carrot Mash, two recipes I recently added to the blog and linked to below. Lovely interesting, tasty, vegetable recipes.
Then we made No Bowl Chocolate Nut Bars from RecipeTinEats, a gorgeous Snickers type bake.
And finished up with mayonnaise. The egg version worked just fine, and was delicious. But the aquafaba one just wouldn't emulsify. We realised right at the last that it was probably because I'd frozen the aquafaba. Although a Google search indicated that many people freeze it, it doesn't seem to work for me after freezing, which is worth knowing.
So we decided that rather than freezing the aquafaba when we used a tin of chickpeas, we would freeze the chickpeas if we need to make mayonnaise.
Hot and Sunny Days
The tomatoes growing into a forest - LOADS of flowers.
Summer seems to have arrived at last and the garden is going full blast. I am now watering most nights, but everything is so dry still. I'm concentrating on the vegetables rather than the flowers and shrubs.
I planted out a pumpkin plant that was spare, but flowering away in its little pot and the soil in the garden was bone dry. That plant now has lots of baby pumpkins.
It's been so hot here, with no rain for weeks, that I tend to weed in the cool evening air. I have a target on how many weeds to get rid of each day. Once I've achieved that, I don't worry about doing any more and just sit and enjoy a beautiful evening - we don't get many of them in the UK after all!
A baby runner bean, and even tho it's been so hot, there are lots of flowers.
The new rhubarb, a more slender stemmed variety, is doing well and we've had several pickings.
Wonderfully fragrant Jude the Obscure roses.
And the orchid is having a bit of a moment
Stretch A Chicken Series
I have finally finished the e-book of Stretch A Chicken To Last A Week which is quite exciting. Have also been planning out 2 other series. One week to start, again, with a roast chicken, and the other one to start with a poached chicken.
It's been interesting seeing just how many recipes can be made with small amounts of chicken and planning the 3 books so that they have a good mix of different things.
I'm doing the Poached Chicken series next and have made 2 recipes for it so far.
A chicken and mushroom crumble, with oats, nuts and seeds in the topping and a super simple base.
and a brown rice chicken salad
Watch this space for more recipes from the poached chicken series!
What I've been making in previous June's
Stretch A Chicken
This is a series showing exactly what to do to make 1 medium chicken last a family of 4 for a week, with lots of lovely recipes
Aubergine Ragu
Couldn't resist adding my latest recipe, my current favourite, copied from our favourite family run restaurant
Easy No-Knead Focaccia
And if you'd like a fluffy focaccia to go with your aubergine ragu, here's how to make it. Goes with almost everything!
Easy No-Churn Ice-Creams
My husband loves Italian gelati and always has some when we go to an Italian restaurant. I don't want to bother with the custard baking, so this is a How To to make lots of different flavours of ice cream with just a bit of stirring.
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've finally completed the e-book from the Stretch A Chicken To Last A Week series. Took me absolutely ages to finish it off!
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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