Monthly Archives: February 2013

Putting some verbs in our lives

money saving

Hello Dear Reader,

(Thanks so much to Shelia for the beautiful fabric. Much love to you xxxx)

It’s pay day! It’s budget day! Tomorrow we pay all the bills. Tomorrow I over pay the mortgage and put our set percentage of our joint incomes into savings. Our food budget will stay low, our ‘entertainment budget’ will still stay at Zero. Our holiday budget will stay at zero.

We have our own take on a frugal life. We don’t buy what we don’t need. We all need clothes, but I assure you my annual clothes budget is spent by some women on a weekend in the mall. We all need household items at some stage; the difference between me and Joe Average is that I replace mine after they have had a good ten years or more of use and can’t be repaired any more. We all need to get a hair cut and look after our well being. I just choose to do so less frequently than some people. Nonetheless, we are still frugal.

Our frugality is not about necessity, it’s about choice. Our goals and dreams are to have substantial savings to replace our car, do work on our house and pay off our mortgage ten years early. Our dream is not to wear a hair shirt, freeze our butts off or go without. We eat well and healthily on a small budget, our woodstove keeps us toasty and warm, we have hobbies and interests which also include making extra money by both working for it.


We all know, if we do what we always did, we’ll get what we always got! If I continued to live the life I used to live, then I would never achieve my goals and dreams. I went back to college and then university at thirty three years old, with two young children and had two jobs whilst I was there. I changed my life from working for minimum wage to having a professional salary. I dreamed, I put some verbs and my life and got on with it.(Remember those days Fostermummy? When I could barely afford to get to work!) I dreamed of getting rid of my debts, put some verbs in my life and got on with it. I’m now determined, even if a bit later than some people, to build a secure financial future for us. I dreamed and now I’m doing it.


Whenever I set myself a new challenge, I get that deja vu of that rocky road. Why are the big journeys always rocky? They never get any easier! My road ahead is full of saving money and then having big expensive bills. Of trying to lose weight and then it coming off at half a pound a week! Of trying to pay off a mortgage whilst the house devalues every day I live in it! It’s never easy. It doesn’t matter how difficult it gets, I don’t stop dreaming.

Over to you, who else has dreams of a better tomorrow? Who had the dreams and through chuffin’ hard work, got there. I look forward to hearing from you.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs

What a difference two years can make

debt free
Hello Dear Reader,

Life is ticking along in a timely fashion here in deepest Cornwall. I’ve had a quiet evening and put up some shelves and freecycled some shelves I’ve had for years. I reflect on my life now, how at peace and well my family is and how my life has a purpose and happiness that I didn’t have for years. I reflect on our financial stability since becoming debt free and from being deeply in debt to savers who put money by.

I have changed. The heating is set to eighteen degrees and as I sit here, it’s turned itself off as the house is obviously warm enough. I still take quick showers, I still don’t eat out, there’s no holiday this year and we’re still savers, putting aside money to pay off our mortgage as quickly as possible. This will be the first year when we overpay in excess of 10% of the balance of the mortgage. This will be the first year when we make home improvements with cash drawn from savings. I have changed but my vision to make a better life for myself has not.


I want a life where I prepare for retirement. I want a life where I have a house bought and paid for. I want a life where I don’t have to work until I’m sixty eight (I don’t think I can!). I want a life where I can be creative, make quilts, write and walk the coastal footpath. I want a life where I can sit on Watergate Bay at low tide and listen to the barnacles pop.

I looked back at my blog entries from two years ago - Here’s an example. It may seem ridiculous to some readers that I choose to be frugal, make do and sometimes go without. I never want to slip into the wants and needs of my past life and want to stay on my simple chosen path. I may be debt free and my life style is certainly a choice, but my biggest debt, my mortgage still has to be paid.


I became debt free in the latter months of 2011. Since then, I have used the same amount that I paid monthly towards debts to now pay off my mortgage. If I were to make different financial choices then I would still have a mortgage after I reached retirement age, by being frugal, we will pay if off in eight years.

It took me two years to pay off my debts and it will take us another eight years to pay off the mortgage. The frugality continues. I admit, I’ve changed and I’m far more relaxed than I used to be as I don’t worry about money in the way I did.

Over to you. What difference do you think you could make to your life in two years? What do you hope to achieve by 2015? Does anyone out there have big dreams and plans?

Until tomorrow and I look forward to your responses,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxx

Humble Food

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,

(Welsh Poppy and Organised Castle - please leave a comment, which I won’t publish, as you both have a Riverford recipe leaflet which need your address so I can send them to you)

My trip to Riverford and their recipe leaflet has given me lots of food for thought. I will be doing a lot more with vegetables in the future and making them the star of the show. I’m also eating less and less meat as the price increases but the quality can’t be proven. I buy my meat from an abattoir outlet store, which sells the meat they slaughter locally. They know exactly what it is and where it comes from and it’s all British meat. That said, it costs more than the supermarket and its far from cheap.

I’ll also being doing a lot more with offal and cheaper cuts such as neck and breast of lamb, shin of beef and pork knuckles. You’ll have to drop by now and then to see what I do with them. In the mean time, I want to sing the praises of humble food. We (or may be it’s just me?) compare ourselves to TV chefs and the restaurants we try. We can’t always have the best and should (or shouldn’t we?) reserve that for best or special occasions. Before the onset of spiraling home costs we would often eat steak, chicken breast and salmon and now, as I imagine so many of you do, keep those for once in a while treats.


Humble home made and home cooked food, in my opinion, can’t be beaten. Our daily loaf and simple cooking which comes in small portions, is nothing to boast about and doesn’t need to go in a cookery book. No fancy imported vegetables just local spuds, English cabbage, English beetroot and local pork and liver made into simple faggots with an onion gravy. Supper will be soup with bread. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with humble food (served on my utility plates) and I for one am proud to cook it and proud to eat it.

Over to you Dear Reader. Do we think we should eat ‘posh nosh’? Are we swayed by TV cooks and popular restaurants? Is there anything wrong with a meatloaf, a pasty or meat pie? I’m not sure but what do you think? Anyone else want a hurrah for humble food?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Special Saturday night recipes

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,

You’ll have to wait until the end of the blog to find the names of the five readers who will be sent the Riverford Recipe Booklets. Here’s our Saturday date night special meal. It’s great to take time to cook something special at the end of the week.

Roasted Red Pepper, Carrot and Butternut Squash Soup.

Half a peeled and chopped Butternut Squash,
1 red pepper chopped,
2 large carrots, cooked and chopped,
One red onion,
Quarter of a head of celery,
1 tin of chopped tomatoes,
Sprinkle of dried Basil and again of Oregano.Teaspoon of dried garlic but use fresh if you have it.
One large cooked parsnip - optional but it thickens the soup.

  • Roast the Butternut Squash, red pepper and carrots for 30 minutes - I spray with Frylight - but you can use oil.
  • Fry the onions and celery until soft - add the chopped tomatoes.Season with herbs and salt and pepper to taste - I use frylight to keep the calories low.
  • Add the roasted vegetables, cooked parsnip and cook for 15 minutes.
  • Add water until you get the required consistency - We like this thick and on it’s own. It’s sweet and very rich.
Serves 4 - WW/PP per portion = 1



If you’re not fat fighting then serve with a teaspoon of Pesto. I have mine plain. A small bowl is plenty for a starter. This would be great as a lunch on it’s own and then two hearty portions, instead of the four would be best.


Spinach, Mushroom and Butternut Squash Lasagne.

I found the recipe on the Riverford Website and adapted it to suit what I had.

Ingredients

1 bag of spinach
5 lasagne sheets
Half butternut squash peeled and cubed
1 large onion peeled and finely diced
1 pack of chestnut mushrooms sliced.
1 tablespoon olive oil
(recipe called for 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, but I had none left so used half a punnet of cherry tomatoes which I chopped).

  • Fry the onions and mushrooms in the oil.
  • Add the buttternut squash and some water so it has some liquid to cook in. Cook gently with the lid on until squash is soft but not mush.
  • Add the washed spinach a few leaves at a time so it wilts and cooks through.
  • Add more water if not enough but don’t stew it.
  • When cooked, turn off heat and leave to one side.


Bechamel Sauce with cheese

  1. Add 10g of butter to a bowl - microwave for 5 seconds.
  2. Blend in 15g of corn flour
  3. Add 300ml of skimmed milk and blend together.
  4. Add 100g of grated half fat cheddar.
  5. Microwave on full heat for five minutes - take out half way through cooking and beat with a whisk
  6. Any lumps, then keep beating with a whisk.


Layer the lasagne and top with cheese sauce - I only put cheese sauce on the top, other wise it’s too wet and too calorific. Bake for 30 minutes in a hot oven, serve with salad or crusty bread.

The lasagne has four huge portions and the WW/PP are 7.5 per portion. 65p per portion. The loaf of bread, due to the sun dried tomatoes cost 80p to make and we’ll get 12 slices from it at 6p per slice.


The vegetables are wet and you could reduce the sauce if you choose but I don’t mind and mopped up the ‘gravy’ with a slice of sun dried tomato bread.


I found the next recipe via a blog I discovered yesterday written by a lady who calls herself Choclette and writes about cooking with chocolate.I varied the recipe to suit what I had and here it is.

Chocolate and Orange Cookies - Makes 16 huge cookies and WW/PP = 6 per cookie (I’m not eating any!)

100g butter or marg,
200g caster sugar,
1 egg
zest of 2 oranges - You can get away with 1 but my oranges were starting to shrivel so I used more.
1tsp vanilla essence/extract
200g of SR Flour
200g of chocolate - I had a bar of milk (99p for 200g in Aldi)

Set oven to 180 degrees

  • Cream butter and sugar,
  • Add egg, zest, vanilla and cream through,
  • Add flour and chocolate chunks
  • Form into balls and place on baking tray with greaseproof paper or onto non-stick baking tray.
  • Flatten with wet fingers (dip in cup of water between each cookie)
  • Bake for 10 minutes.
  • Store in airtight tin.





I made the biscuits for Dearly Beloved as he’s been splitting and stacking logs all day and he does love a sweet treat. Now a treat for some Dear Readers. Would the following bloggers please leave their name and address (I won’t publish them!) in the comments and I will post the recipe leaflets to you as soon as I can.

The winners are: Alison Young, Welsh Poppy, Organised Castle, Simone and Gigi Bird. I really hope you enjoy some of the recipes devised by the chefs at Riverford.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Is meat now a luxury item?

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,

Meat, even in supermarkets, is becoming increasingly expensive and I wonder if it’s soon going to be out of reach completely. I stretch every bit of meat I buy as far as I can. I thought I would share my pea and ham soup recipe with you, where I stretch 100g of ham (last slice from the gammon joint) between four people and call that the main meal of the day!


Serves Four.
Ingredients:
100g cooked smoked gammon, chopped into cubes.
1 large onion - finely diced,
Half a head of celery - finely diced,
1 stock cube - I used veg
1 tin of marrow fat peas.
100g potato - diced - optional to thicken.
13 WW/PP for the entire recipe - 3.5 per serving.

Fry the onions and celery.
Add 500ml of stock and cubed raw potato
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Add chopped ham - simmer for 10 minutes.
Add drained tin of peas - warm through for 3 minutes.
Blend with hand blender.
Serve with sprinkle of smoked paprika and a bread roll.


You might be interested to read how Elaine at Mortgage Free in Three stretches one chicken to eight meals - here at Rubber Chicken and I’m sure you’ll all be able to share anecdotes of how you stretch meat a very long way. My mum used to go to the butchers and bring back all the bits no one else bought: pig’s head, trotters, knuckles, liver, kidneys, heart and make: brawn, breaded fried chaps, pork pies with jelly, and use up every bit of meat to make pies, haslet, faggots and stews. Does anyone else share my opinion that if we are to eat animals, then we should use up every bit? Does anyone else think meat will become a luxury or has it already?

I’ll be back later with more soup, more bread and some baking and the results of the draw.

Until then,

Love Froogs xxx

A day at Riverford Farm

Days out

Hello Dear Reader,

I was invited and went to a blogger’s event at Riverford Farm’s Field Kitchen. A group of bloggers were invited by the media team to meet Guy Watson, have a tour of the farm, ask questions and then lunch in the Field Kitchen. I was confused as to why they would invite a frugal cook, who cooks meals for £1 a head, to a high end food producer’s meet and greet. It was a fascinating day.

Guy Watson was refreshingly honest, no big environmental hard sell, just a business man and farmer who wanted to do it his way. We were shown around the packing sheds, past the fleet of Transcontinental Riverford Trucks and pallet load, after pallet load of imported fruit and veg. He admitted the environment and climate had defeated British farmers and the weather over the last twelve months had been disastrous. He wished he could have acres and acres of polytunnels and felt British farmers were hobbled by planning laws whilst French and Spanish farmers could farm away from pests and the elements under plastic. He regaled us with stories of success and exuberant tales of “pissing away millions” whilst trying to get it right. Good luck to you Guy and it was a delight to meet some one unashamedly successful at what he does. The staff car park was full and the business is a massive contributor to the local and national economy.

Riverford has farms all over the UK and Europe as well as growers up and down the country and in France and Spain. 20,000 veggie boxes are delivered across the South West of England every week, which shows there is a great demand for the product. They don’t compromise quality and if you want it, you’ll have to pay. I found out the smallest Free Range Organic chicken will cost you £12. Well beyond my means but if you can afford it and you’re happy to pay then they’ll gladly supply it for you at a price.


In spite of it being bitterly cold, I loved the trip round the farm in the muddy workers van, driven by Guy as he told us about the crops. We got up close and personal with spring greens, purple sprouting broccoli, garlic and salads growing in poly tunnels. We learnt about the history of the farm and how the business grew from a family farm to the multi-million pound business it is today. We all had loads of questions and it was brilliant to meet other South West Bloggers, including one from Liskeard! Take a look at their blogs, leave a comment and tell them I sent you!
http://hungryhinny.wordpress.com/
http://grazingkate.blogspot.co.uk/
http://countrywoodsmoke.com/
http://choclogblog.blogspot.co.uk/


My last experience in a restaurant was a total disaster (remember this?) but this was the polar opposite. They have a daily set menu of seasonal and as locally sourced food as possible. The options today was too calorific and too high in fat for me. I was prepared to sit it out but they weren’t prepared to see me go without. I was invited to have a chat with the head chef who then proceeded to steam chicken and vegetables for me and provide me with fruit for dessert. If you are booking, ask for the menu for the day and if there’s something you don’t like or can’t eat, they will do something different for you. Dearly Beloved tasted all the food for me, including the slow roasted duck, all the side dishes and pear and chocolate pavlova for dessert. He thought, even though we’d never be able to afford to go there, that the £22.50 for the three course lunch was good value and after our experience at River Cottage Canteen & Deli in Plymouth, it was half the price and twice the value.

The dining experience is great for families or large groups and the atmosphere is relaxed so long as you don’t mind toddlers and babies crawling around your feet, bags and tables. I even came away with a discount code for anyone to use if you book and go by the end of March this year. When booking, if you use the discount code FK443D then you and your party or family will be able to secure a free meal for one person in four.This means a three course organic lunch will cost just £16.87 per person. I don’t think any restaurant any where could better that offer. The T&Cs are that you have to eat at lunch time, Monday to Friday. I don’t recommend many places but if I could afford it, I would go back again and again!!!


I also took away five recipe booklets to give away. Leave a comment and I’ll include you in a draw that I will do on Saturday night. Watch out for your names and email me if you’ve won and I’ll post it to you.

Thanks very much to Riverford Farm for a fascinating day and the best lunch I’ve ever eaten in a restaurant.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs



Frugal Buffet for twenty people

frugal entertaining




Hello Dear Reader,

You wrote to me and asked for advice. You told me you are holding a buffet for twenty relatives and you would usually spend £70 on bought in food and wanted some advice for doing this without breaking the bank. The great thing about a buffet is that you can be generous and people will feel they’ve had a good nosh and you’ve been really hospitable. I’ve put together a whole host of relatively cheap ideas.

Salad Nicoise

  • 2 tins of tuna chunks
  • 2 tins of potatoes - you can just use the value brand, they’re fine
  • 1 punnet of cherry toms - cut in half
  • 115g/4oz extra fine French beans, topped, cooked and drained - I just use frozen or tinned
  • 4 little gem lettuce hearts, quartered lengthways
  • 1 red onion, finely sliced
  • 4 eggs, cooked for 6 minutes in boiling water from room temperature, halved
  • 6 anchovy fillets cut lengthways into thin strips - Optional!!!!!!
  • 16 pitted black olives in brine - Optional!!!!

  • Dressing - 3-2-1 Ratio

    6 tablespoons of oil - olive or rapeseed.
    2 tablespoons of any vinegar
    1 heaped teaspoons of Dijon mustard
    Put in jam jar, put on lid and shake - Pour over salad.

    Adapted from BBC food.



    Greek Salad.


    Ingredients



    • Handful black olives - you can leave these out
    • 3 medium tomatoes, diced into 2cm/¾in cubes
    • 1 cucumber peeled, diced into 2cm/¾in cubes
    • 1 red pepper, de-seeded, diced
    • ½ red onion, sliced finely
    • 50ml of oil
    • pack of feta, diced
    • 1 small, firm cos lettuce,- or iceberg - I go for what’s on offer chopped into rough cubes lengthways
    • or 2 tbsp dried oregano)
    • 50ml/3 tbsp red wine vinegar

    Preparation method

    1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

      Adapted from BBC food



      Bean and rice salad

      Total time:
      Ready in 25 minutes
      Serves:
      4

      Ingredients

      200g long grain rice
      vegetable stock
      400g can Kidney Beans
      400g can Mixed Bean Salad
      1 Red Pepper
      1 bunch Salad Onions
      2 tbsp olive oil
      1 tbsp white wine vinegar
      1 tsp Dijon mustard
      4 Eggs

      Method

      Cook 200g long grain rice in vegetable stock for 15-20 minutes, then drain. Meanwhile rinse and drain a 400g can Kidney Beans and a 400g can Mixed Bean Salad and place in a large bowl.
      Mix in 1 Red Pepper, diced, and 1 bunch Salad Onions, chopped. Whisk together 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp white wine vinegar and 1 tsp Dijon mustard and stir into the beans along with the cooked rice, then season.
      Boil 4 Eggs for 4-5 minutes, quarter and serve on top of the salad.

      Adapted From Waitrose Food.


      Quiche - Double or Treble the recipe to make enough for everyone - who doesn’t like Quiche?

      Ingredients

      For the pastry
      For the filling

      Preparation method

      1. To make the pastry, sift the flour together with a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Rub in the butter until you have a soft breadcrumb texture. Add enough cold water to make the crumb mixture come together to form a firm dough, and then rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
      2. Roll out the pastry on a light floured surface and line a 22cm/8½inch well-buttered flan dish.
      3. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.
      4. Remove the pastry case from the fridge and line the base of the pastry with baking parchment and then fill it with baking beans. Place on a baking tray and bake blind for 20 minutes. Remove the beans and parchment and return to the oven for another five minutes to cook the base
      5. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3.
      6. Sprinkle the cheese into the pastry base and add the sliced tomatoes if you are using them. Fry the bacon pieces until crisp and sprinkle over them over the top.
      7. Combine the eggs with the milk l and season well. Pour over the bacon and cheese. Sprinkle the thyme over the top and trim the edges of the pastry.
      8. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool and set further.
      9. Trim the pastry edges to get a perfect edge and then serve in wedges.

        Adapted from BBC food.


        Butter Bean Dip


        The beany - butter bean pâté

        Ingredients

        • ½ a 425g/15oz can of butter beans, drained
        • ½ lemon, grated rind and juice
        • ½ clove garlic, crushed
        • 1 tbsp fresh mint finely chopped - if I don’t have this, I’ve used a teapspoon of mint sauce.
        • 1 tbsp olive oil - I use any oil
        • 1 tbsp water (approx)
        • salt and black pepper, to taste
        • sprigs of mint, to garnish - optional
        • bread of your choice

        Preparation method

        1. Place the butter beans and lemon juice in a food processor and blend until smooth.
        2. Add the rest of the ingredients, adjusting the amount of water to give a smooth pate. Season and spread onto your chosen bread. Add the mint to garnish.


          I’ve tried and tested this BBC recipe and it’s delicious.


          Hummus


          Ingredients

          For the garnish

          Preparation method

          1. Heat chickpeas and four tablespoons of water or vegetable stock in a saucepan.
          2. When warmed through, place the chickpeas and two tablespoons of the stock or water in a food processor. Blend until roughly combined. Add the garlic, tahini and lemon juice and a couple of large pinches of salt and blend again.
          3. Add the olive oil and blend again until hummus is the desired texture.
          4. Serve on a flat dish topped with a drizzle of olive oil, some parsley, fried pine nuts and a sprinkling of paprika.


            This is also from the BBC Food website and the recipe I always use.











          Sorry about font and upper case - Blogger has a mind of its own today - I would also have a selection of homemade hot food to go with this. I would also make a lasagne - here’s my recipe and step by step instructions. I would make a meat lasagne and a vegetarian lasagne. I would also make two loaves of home made bread which I would slice and leave for people to help themselves. Alternatively, I would buy three packs of Value pitta bread, warm through and cut into strips.



          I would also make two sweet dishes. I would include an indulgent version of a Key Lime Pie - Here’s my recipe and instructions. The other dessert I would make is Tarte Citron, here’s my recipe and instructions.


          I hope that has given you some cheaper ideas. Three different types of salads, some bread and dips, lasagne and two desserts. I’m sure all of this can be made for under £25 - so £1.25 a guest and I’m sure no one will think you to be stingy. Remember, if anyone asks if they can bring something suggest soft drinks as juice and cordials can be expensive and certainly say yes if they offer wine.

          I hope that’s been some help. If you want any other ideas, don’t hesitate to ask.

          Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxx

A week’s frugal food

frugal food, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post



Hello Dear Reader,

I’ve checked my cupboards, my pantry, my fridge and freezer and know I can make the following recipes for the week. We don’t eat meat every day and our portion sizes tend to be smaller than average as we are consciously trying to eat less but still eat well and on a budget. I searched for recipes where I could use the ingredients I already had in the house. I have to make bread this week and some cakes for visitors but I don’t need to buy any food this week.

I have a sad looking cauliflower in the bottom of my fridge so we’re going to have:

Day 1.Spicy Cauliflower soup.

  • cauliflower (1 head)
  • 1 large onion(s) (or 2 medium)
  • butter (a knob of) - one teaspoon.
  • 1 teaspoon(s) tumeric powder (heaped)
  • 1.5 teaspoon(s) ground coriander (heaped)
  • ½ teaspoon(s) ground cumin (heaped)
  • 1.5 litre(s) chicken stock (hot) - two stock cubes in water.
  1. Chop the onion roughly and break the cauliflower into florettes.
  2. Melt the butter in a large heavy-based pan over a lowish heat and add the onion and cauliflower, allowing them to soften for a minute or two.
  3. Add the turmeric, ground coriander and cumin and stir, cooking for a further minute or two.
  4. Pour in the hot stock and allow to simmer for 45 minutes.
  5. Blitz with a stick blender or food processor and serve with crusty bread.
(Recipe from Nigella.com)


Day 2. Chick Pea Burgers with carrot and orange salad.

1 (410g) can chickpeas, drained
1 carrot, peeled and finely grated (65g prepared weight)
1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped,
50g/1/3 cup seeds - I use pumpkin seeds - it gives the burgers some crunch but you can leave these out.
3 tbsp tahini (sesame paste), I always have this for making hummus.
1 garlic clove, peeled and halved
1 handful fresh coriander leaves - I use two tablespoons of dried coriander leaf
1 crumbled veggie stock cube.

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/Gas Mark 7. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend for 10-15 seconds. Remove the lid and push the mixture down with a spatula. Blend once more until fairly smooth and thick.
2. Shape the mixture into 20 small balls and place on the prepared tray. If the mixture is too wet to roll easily into balls (which is sometimes caused by runny tahini), add another handful of sunflower seeds and blend once more.
3. Flatten the balls slightly with the back of a spoon and bake for 15-18 minutes until golden around the edges. Remove from oven and leave on the tray for 2-3 minutes to firm up a little. Lift carefully off the tray. Serve hot or cold with a colourful salad and lemon or lime wedges. Or make a quick raw salsa from chopped fresh tomatoes, coriander, red onion and avocado.
Make the mixture into larger burgers if you like – about 10 or 12. Cook for 15-20 minutes then cool slightly before lifting off the tray. Make the mixture go further by stirring in 100g/1/2 cup cooked long grain brown rice after blending the other ingredient.

Recipe from the ‘You are what you eat’ cookbook and I’ve used this over and over, they are delicious.


Carrot and Orange salad

  • 2 large carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
  • 1 orange, peeled, white pith removed and cut crossways into 1cm/½in slices, then into small segments
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • half tsp ground cumin
  • half tsp ground cinnamon
  • handful of fresh coriander or mint leaves - I use a heaped tablespoon of dried corriander.

    Combine the juice, oil and seasoning, mix well. Add carrots and orange and serve with the cooked chick pea burgers.

    If you can, buy a single pot of natural yoghurt and mix with some dried mint, dried garlic and some salt to have as a dressing with the burgers but it’s not essential.

    Recipe from the BBC food website and again, I’ve tried and tested this and it’s delicious.



    Day 3. Boiled Gammon with veggies and cheese sauce.

    Shop bought ham is so expensive and the list of ingredients look like a chemistry experiment. We buy a gammon joint and boil it and have it throughout the week. Dearly Beloved will have it with salad or pickle in a sandwich and I’ll have a slice with salad for my lunch.

    Here are some use up your gammon joint ideas.

    Sliced gammon, home made chips and baked beans - big favourite with DB.




    Day 4. I make spagetti carbonara with chopped bacon but it can just as easily be made with cooked and chopped gammon. Here’s an earlier blog with full instructions to make it.


    Day 5. Cheesy Gammon and leek pie.

    3 generous handfuls of chopped cooked gammon
    1 large leek (or two small…)
    1 finely diced onion.
    Any leftover cooked veg.

    one cooked carrot - cut into chunks - I use the microwave to cook just one carrot.
    1 level tablespoon plain flour

    1 tablespoon of butter

    1/2 pint milk
    2ozmature cheddar cheese
    1 heaped teaspoon of dijon mustard
    Enough homemade pastry to just top a pie dish - it’s too rich to be surrounded by pasty - You can buy ready made pastry but home made is cheaper. I’ll make suet pastry, which means there’s no rubbing in. 8oz plain flour, 4oz suet, mix together with a sprinkle of salt and add enough water, bit by bit to form a dough.
    Milk to glaze
    salt and pepper.


    Cheese sauce -

    Melt butter in microwave in a few seconds, blend in flour, add grated cheese and stir in milk. Microwave, removing and stirring every minute until it’s cheese sauce. Season with salt and pepper to your preference. Leave to one side.

    Fry the onions and leeks on a very low heat.

    Combine all ingredients with cheese sauce.

    Roll out pastry and top the pie and bake in a hot oven for 30 minutes.

    Eat with cooked vegetables of your choice.

    Recipe adapted from BBCgoodfood.com



    Day 6. Spicy beef koftas

    Ingredients

    For the koftas


    Preparation method

    1. Place all of the kofta ingredients except the oil into a food processor and blend together until smooth. Divide the mixture intoequal portions and shape into small meatballs
    2. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a high heat. Fry the koftas for about 5-6 minutes until cooked through.l.
    3. To serve, place the salad in the middle of a plate and arrange the koftas on top. This also goes well with carrot salad.

      Recipe adapted from BBC Food.



    Day 7 - Roast Beef and all the trimmings!


    I know, you think I’ve lost the plot. If you find a good butchers in your local market or through word of mouth, they will sell off any meat that needs to go today at a knock down price. I bought a pack of three beef topside joints, weighing 2.25kg for £9.99. Each joint weighs 750g and costs £3.33 and that will serve four people. The cost of a full Sunday lunch comes to £1.25 per person.

    I simply roast the joint along with onions, carrots, potatoes and parsnips. I add a couple of tablespoons of water, some salt and pepper and cover it tightly with foil. This joint will take an hour to cook.

    I don’t make Yorkshire puddings unless I’m stretching the joint and giving people less meat. You will need

    290 ml milk
    115 g all-purpose flour
    1 pinch salt
    3 eggs
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    Directions:

    1
    Mix all the ingredients, except the oil, to make a batter using an electric mixer.
    2
    Let it rest for 10 minutes.
    3
    Preheat oven at 450°F.
    4
    Preheat a muffin tray and grease with a little oil.
    5
    Divide the batter into the tray.
    6
    Cook for 20 minutes at 450°F.

    Recipe from Jamie Oliver via Food.com


    It’s rare for us to eat beef but as Jo Public gets scared every time there is a food controversy, meat will reduce in price and now is the time to look for bargains.

    No matter how careful I am with budgets and plans, some weeks we just don’t eat that much and end up with food we need to use creatively so we don’t waste it.

    Over to you Dear Reader. What’s on your menus this week? Also, the nominations have now closed for the MAD Blog and thanks to anyone who has nominated me. If I’ve made the short list, then the voting will be open soon. A massive thanks to anyone who listened to me on Radio Cornwall yesterday and if you missed it the link is on the Froogs on the Radio button above.

    Until tomorrow,

    Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nine circles of shopping!

Budgeting

Dear Reader,

If you like Ikea, if you work in Ikea, if you are Ikea, if you are a reader of the classics…………….I apologise. If you are a member of an Ikea survivors support group and you have room for another dribbling gibbering wreck, my email address can be found above and you can contact me to come a rock in a dark room with the rest of you. Ikea is rather like a bad one night stand, all that sweating, pushing and shoving and you come out with very little in the end.

To go shopping in Ikea, you have to enter the first circle. Limbo. You went there before, you got the good stuff but you got over it, made it through re-hab and moved on. Then, you forgot the pain and the smell of avarice so you thought you would go again. You deliberate for months and loiter round the outside. Lust, the second circle, pulls you in and you have to go. You’ve lingered, toying with a catalogue and flicking back and forwards through the pages and you get the call of…………..Ektorp! You can’t resist!

You arrive and from the moment you walk through that door, you remember the agonies you went through last time, but you’re there! You are confronted immediately by the third circle, gluttony. Meatballs, dripping with gravy, cranberries, tarts voluptuous with chocolate and the masses lured by pretty coloured things, with their sobbing children strapped in buggies or running wildly to primary colours. They shuffle like zombies with trays on trollies towards the call of “Do you want chips with those?”

You follow the arrows, you try to veer off in a different direction but it’s too late; you’re in the fourth circle. Husbands, like dogs on leads are being dragged around with wrathful women in Barbour quilted jackets and too much make up. He would walk faster but the huge yellow or blue bags into which aforementioned woman is slam dunking anything she can get her hands on. He drags it round like a boulder he’s trying to push from the centre of hell. I watch them thrash about in frustration as families, lovers, wives and husbands turn on each other. At this point Dearly Beloved and I lay on the beds and had a little snooze and hug as we watched the chaos around us!

We hadn’t even reached the lower levels of greater pains when we stopped for coffee.

We searched for someone to help us buy two sofas. I already felt stung, bored, blown about, with my senses assaulted. I felt as if I’d been pushing rocks and watched decent human beings thrash each other’s emotions and break each other’s back with the weight of scented candles!

I found some one.

We told them we wanted to buy two Ektorp sofas, one two seater and one three seater. He stood poised by his computer. ” You’ll have to pick one up in the warehouse down stairs in the city of Dis and then you’ll put it on a trolley, wheel it through burning tombs, past naked people on burning sand, onwards after the people drowning in depths of blood and past people frozen into trees. Then madam, you’ll have to wheel it to the tills, stand in queues as long as time and then, after paying, wheel it to the delivery desk where they will take it to a warehouse for weeks on end before they finally deliver it to you”

I stopped him there! I told him I would go down into the depths and see if I could get a Ektorp onto a trolley before I made the purchase.


Could I? Could I heck! Neither was there a trolley big enough. We made it out and back upstairs.

“We can’t lift it onto the trolley and if we could, there are not any trolleys big enough”

Silence.

“Well?” I was expecting a yellow clad army to help in some way.

“You’ll have to order it online”

So, that sums up the day trip. If you want to buy a three seater sofa, you just pay and go to the delivery desk and they will arrange delivery and pick up the large item from their warehouse around the corner from their store. If you want the two seater as well, then you have to go through the lower levels of hell to get it.

In short……………I don’t have a sofa! But, I have tested them and will order them. Ikea sells great stuff, I think it’s well made and they are ethical retailers but the shopping experience is dreadful. Rather like working in the Argos warehouse without the benefit of minimum wage. I do have some fabric and pressies for FM, MW and GD. I took lots of pictures for your benefit and have learnt (I took this one for the team!) it’s a good shop window but for goodness sake, don’t bother buying large items there………..just buy them online.

Apologies to Dante.

I’ll be back tomorrow with menu planning and a week’s frugal food.

Until then,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxx