Busy Busy
Life continues to be super busy. I'm going up and down to Eastbourne, sorting through my daughters house in preparation for redecoration and renting it out until my grand daughter is mature enough to live in it herself, which won't be for quite some time.
Lesley also has lots of activities that she is involved in. We are in the process of moving her life up to where we live, but in the meantime, it's up and down to Eastbourne.
Cooking Up A Storm
The Cooking Up A Storm group came round today. This month we made Kimchi, which I've never done before. It smells amazing! I hope it ferments successfully. We did actually add some vegetarian fish sauce, even though the recipe is without.
We made Piccalilli using a recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and that also smells amazing! I've made it a couple of times before and men in particular seem to enjoy it.
Then a very quick and super simple recipe for preserved lemons that takes mere moments to make
My grand daughter joined in and loved the smells of the preserves. It's lovely that she's enjoying learning how to cook and you know how much I'm going to enjoy teaching her!
Naughty Cats
The cats I inherited when Lesley moved in are being rather naughty this week. They are neutered males and have sprayed several times over the last few days, what a stink! Went to the local pet shop and got some enzyme cleaner to try and stop them doing it at the same place again, some calming plug in essence and a new scratch pad with catnip.
We've been googling today as well to try and find any effective remedies and have found several things to try.
And to some recipes
Mackerel Pâté & Crudités
I bought a 200g packet of smoked mackerel fillets and wondered how I could stretch them into lovely meals for 2. The first one I tried was this recipe for mackerel pâté that is super simple and very delicious.
Mixed Vegetable Quiche
Many things can be popped into a quiche to stretch out a few bits and bobs. This one is made with carrots, onions and peas, bound with egg, and flavoured with cheese.
Vegetarian quiche ideas
- The carrots and peas are in there to stretch out the more expensive eggs and cheese.
- Replace them with wafer thin slices of fennel and peas,
- or use beetroot and feta instead of the carrots and cheddar.
- Roast the onion and carrots before adding them to the mix to give a different flavour using the same ingredients.
- Use 200g veg from a frozen bag of mixed veg instead of the carrots and peas.
- Or some broccoli florets and 2 or 3 asparagus spears.
- Use spinach leaves from the garden and sliced radish,
- or a couple of celery sticks very finely sliced with a grated apple and a scattering of walnuts.
- Use a value blue cheese, feta or emmental if you’re feeling flush.
- Personally, I don’t like cream in a quiche/tart, but if you do, and you have some, add it in if you want to.
This is lovely hot, or cold in a packed lunch with a bit of salad, or potato salad to go with it. If there are 2 of you, you could have half one day, half the next day, or take it as your lunch, it’s sturdy enough to survive a packed lunch box.
Fresh Lime Syrup
We are very fortunate in that a local church has started a community larder. Each morning, they pick up surplus groceries that would have gone to landfill from the Co-Op and lay it all out on
There were a few limes there one morning, so I took 3 and made some lime syrup with them. The limes wouldn’t have lasted much longer, they were beginning to dis-colour and had small brown patches on them.
Spiced Carrot Tart
Having made a delicious tart using soft cheese and peas, I wanted to try one using carrots and a bit of spice.
What do I need to make an Indian Carrot Recipe
- I thought I’d start with turmeric as I wanted it bright yellow, then a bit of ground coriander for warming spice.
- Garlic, for flavour
- The carrots of course, grated
- Eggs to set it
- Soft cheese for the creaminess, I didn’t want to use cream.
- And a little sprinkle of cumin seeds for the top – totally optional
Gorgeous gorgeous thing, I love this! So simple, and so delicious!
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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