Hello Dear Reader,

I went to and from work by train today. The low lying farmland either side of the train was water logged; the water courses and rivers had burst their banks and the brown murky water flooded the valleys. We’re due another storm, high seas, high tides, heavy rain and yet more floods. Worse is yet to come. With weather like this, we need all the warmth a hot meal meal can comfort us with.

These are officially the world’s easiest meatballs.

To make them, you will need:

3 sausages with the skin removed 99p
250g of minced beef 1.00
1 onion, finely chopped (mine were not chopped finely enough but I was too hungry to care!) 4p
3 tablespoons of instant gravy.5p

1. Heat the oven to 180.
2. Mix the sausage meat, mince and onions.
3. Squish together with your hands until well mixed.
4. Form into small balls (they cook more quickly)
5. Cook for half an hour.
6. Make the gravy as directed.
7. Pour onto meatballs.
8. Return to the oven for ten minutes.

I purposefully cooked more cabbage and mash than required. I now have enough to make into bubble and squeak for breakfast in the morning.

I poured the gravy over the meatballs to soak up some of the fat and meat juices. The whole meal was unctuous and bone warming. Steamed savoy cabbage and hot buttery mash completed the entire supper.

Over to you Dear Reader, who else has adverse weather? Who else needs to eat wholesome and hearty food to get through one cold wet day after the next? I see that the weather has drastically cooled in Australia and that parts of America are still soooooo cold! Here, it’s just wet!

Whatever the weather, you’ve got to try these meatballs!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx

Hello Dear Reader,

Now I can make pasta, I’m on a roll…………there’s no stopping me. If you made your pasta from basics flour, this would actually be extremely cheap. I made my pasta from gluten free flour so it was more expensive for me but it doesn’t need to be expensive for you.

I don’t have a pasta machine or any fancy pasta cutters so I just used my rolling pin and a small biscuit cutter.

A hearty dollop of the filling.
1 bag of spinach - finely sliced and steamed
2 cloves of garlic - finely diced
1 tbsp of olive oil
4 heaped tablespoons of grated Italian hard cheese - the supermarket basic is fine for this.
Sprinkle of ground nutmeg - optional and I didn’t have any but that’s what the recipe said.
Half a tub of cream cheese - again, supermarket basics will do.

• steam the spinach and place in seive - let all the water drip out - it’s mostly its own water.
• heat the olive oil and add the garlic
• add the spinach
• add the ‘Ricotta’……………which I didn’t have, so I added some cream cheese.
• add the grated Italian hard cheese

Place a spoonful onto one half of the ravioli and just dampen the edge with a wet finger (dip finger into cup of water)
Pop the ‘lid’ on and press the edges shut.

Have a pan of water on a rolling boil and drop a few in at a time - they are cooked when they float.

Here are the spinach and ‘ricotta’ gluten free space ships all ready for a generous helping of home made tomato sauce.

To make the sauce, you will need

1 tin of basics chopped tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic - finely minced
2 tbsp of olive oil
The recipe called for some fresh basil but in the absence of any basic in the house, I added a generous spoon of pesto.

• Heat the oil
• add the garlic
• cook for a few second
• add the tinned tomatoes
• add the pesto
• simmer for 20 minutes
• I always add a pinch of sugar - it does something to the tomatoes.

You could be really indulgent and sprinkle some cheese on top but this was just perfect for myself and Dearly Beloved.

I suppose Jamie Oliver would drizzle this with olive oil but it doesn’t need any added fat as this is fresh and light.

Hello Dear Reader,

For many years, I had no success whatsoever with normal pastry. I then saw the Hairy Bikers make pastry in a food processor and followed suit. From hence forth, I’ve never used my hands ever again. Maybe, I have hot hands or I’m heavy handed but any pastry I make by hand is inedible. I have no idea why, but my first few attempts at gluten free pastry were all handmade. You would think I would’ve learned my lesson and just got the food processor out. This time, I’ve used real butter and the food processor and there was no surprise but it was really good this time.

The recipe I used was

300g of Dove’s gluten free flour
pinch of salt
150g cold butter in cubes
1 teaspoon of Xanthum gum
1 beaten egg
water to bind if required.

• Add flour, salt and Xanthum gum to FP
• Add butter
• Pulse until breadcrumbs
• Add egg - pulse - this maybe all the fluid you need
• Add drops of water if required, trickle into the FP whilst pulsing
• When big lumps stop and place on floured board
• Shape into a dough and chill - the longer the better

I cooked braised steak yesterday, purposefully cooking enough to have in a pie tonight. I also cooked enough potatoes and veggies to add to the meat and gravy and add the pastry to make a pie.

Cook the pie for 30 minutes at 180 degrees which is long enough to steam some spring greens. Having been pastry deprived this buttery, crumbly deliciousness was just what I needed.

This is my fifth attempt to make GF pastry and I’m so glad it was edible this time! It also makes a really affordable meal to use leftover and make a pie for not just supper but subsequent packed lunches too. Here in England, a pie has meat! Steak and Kidney pie is my favourite!

Over to you Dear Reader, what do you like in a pie? What’s special to your region? What pies are you eating in the US? Canada? Australia? NZ? France? Germany? or the regions of the UK? What do you have in your pies in Ireland? Scotland and Wales? Come and join in the pie-arty………..the more ideas the better!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hello Dear Reader,

Thanks so much for all the comments, tweets, re tweets and emails, it’s always great to hear from you. I love a new week and always feel the most energised on a Monday. This is the day when I plan the week and make sure I’m ready for the week ahead.

To start, I’ve shopped my stores and cupboards and made my list, shopped for a few vegetables and made my menu plan for the week.

I’ve read the meters and submitted the readings on line. I’ve checked all my bills and made sure anything that needs paying has been paid such as my water bill that I pay monthly according to my usage.

I’ve checked my clothing for the week and have ironed anything I need.

I’ve also put a menu plan together to use what I have and give some variety to the week.

I would encourage anyone to menu plan. It can simply be fish fingers and peas on Monday, Tin of tuna, baked potato and mayo on Tuesday and so on. If you can plan the main meals of the week then you can make sure you use everything in the house. That way, nothing goes off, nothing gets wasted and you don’t shop for food you don’t need. It also gives you some variety? Do you eat pasta for almost every meal? Are you eating the same food day in day out? My lunches look the same but salad varies itself as does the protein, sometimes it’s a boiled egg, sometimes goat’s cheese other times some quinoa with dressing but I differ every day. As does our breakfast, sometimes we have a tin of broken mandarin segments, sometimes frozen (obviously defrosted) blueberries or raspberries. Sometimes I don’t bother with breakfast at all and just make myself a milky de-caff coffee…………..sometimes I don’t bother eating all day as I’m just not in the mood for food.

Plans don’t have to be ultra efficient, or followed to the letter but they give some structure in a chaotic world. It means I can control my spending, know when I have to carry money and when I have to leave my wallet at home. Having a day a week to get the household in order means you’ll have time the rest of the week without worrying about the bills or who is going to eat what?

Planning could take the place of a household schedule on a piece of paper and stuck to the fridge door with a magnet. I remember well the days for Boy’s brigade, Brownies, tennis, swimming, the museum art club and library days for the children. Most mothers can plan the children with military precision and running an organised home is no different. A cheap calendar will do. I always buy one late about mid January and have one in the kitchen and one in the office.

Now it’s your turn. How do you organise your home to save time and money? If you are disorganised, what are you going to do differently from this day onwards to save money and get your budget in order?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Hello Dear Reader,

What a day! Housework, library, salon for a tidy up, and a bake off. I’ve made pastry for the freezer so I can just pull it out when I need it. I’ve also made pasta, some we had for supper and some I’ve frozen in readiness to defrost and roll out when needed. I have no idea if gluten free pasta and pastry freezes well or if it’s edible once defrosted. I’ll test it so you don’t have to……oh go on then, I’ll take one for the team.

I used my food processor as any pastry or pasta I make by hand turns out to be in-edible, I can only assume I have hot hands or I am heavy handed. To make the gluten free pasta you will need:

Serves 6 - next time, I will halve this recipe.

300g of plain gluten free flour
1 tbsp of Xanthum gum,
1 tsp of salt (I thought the pasta tasted salty so you could experiment with none)
5 eggs
1 tbsp of olive oil.

Add the lot to a food processor, pulse until a dough.

Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Roll on a well floured board.

The secret of rolling:

• flour, then roll
• flour, fold and turn (normally you would fold over and run through a pasta machine over and over)
• repeat six times until paper thin.

My finished result is a bit rustic but it was fun to make and I know the egg content so it’s full of protein.

Drop into boiling water in small batches, then drop each batch into your pasta sauce. We had a carbonara sauce.

Carbonara Sauce.

150g of cooking bacon - finely diced
3 garlic cloves - finely diced
1 tbsp of gluten free flour
100g cheddar or any hard cheese - grated
500ml of skimmed milk - or any milk

• Heat the frying pan and fry off the bacon (I also added five chopped mushrooms)
• Add the garlic - fry until soft
• Add the flour and stir through
• Add the milk and blend through and then add the cheese
• Heat until thickened and keep warm until needed.

I just dropped the pasta into the boiling water for little more than a minute. Two minutes cooked…..three minutes soup! So be careful!

Drain the pasta by lifting a portion at a time into a sieve and then add to the sauce, toss around and then serve.

There are ‘real’ Carbonara sauce recipes which require Parmesan, egg yolks and cream but my version is certainly cheaper and a bit lighter.

I also thought I would share my recent Approved Food acquisition. I bought GF bread mix for £2 a bag and from my experimentation, can make five loaves from one bag - so GF bread for 40p each. Much better than the £3.50 a loaf that I have been paying!!!

It has an unusual structure. I followed the instructions but used my bread machine instead. I added one more spoon of the mix when it seemed a little runny. Even the instructions on the pack describe the mix as a ‘batter’ instead of calling it a ‘dough’. I left it alone and it came out ok in the end and I can testify that it tastes great. I have four bags of this in my zombie apocalypse cupboard which will keep me going for a while. I’m building up quite a stock of reduced price AP GF stock cupboard ingredients.

And finally, I’ve been quilting away in between it all. My scrappy mountain majesties quilt, all made from old shirts in coming along quite nicely.

That’s my day! Hectic, I’m now off to read by the fire. This week I’ve read Good Vibrations by Tom Cunliffe, and A street cat named Bob by James Bowen and I’ve been working on using all the crumbs to make a crumb quilt from all the bits and pieces I have left in my fabric bin.

Tomorrow………….will probably be full of busy things that I will come back and share with you.

Over to you Dear Reader, hands up if you are a pasta maker? Who else can testify how fun and easy it is to make? Anyone else out there made a crumb quilt, again…………isn’t it fun!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Hello Dear Reader,

I headed to my Zombie Apocalypse cupboard for some inspiration tonight. I dragged out some of the Indian spice (real aficionados of spicy food look away as this has a tinge of flavour) mix to make a Chicken Tikka Masala.

I bought the Colman’s mix from Approved Food when they were four for £1 and then just stashed them for the day I needed them.

It’s so simple to make. Add half a family sized pot of natural yogurt that’s just about to turn, four too soft for salad chopped tomatoes, one starting to sprout and from the bottom of the basket onion, that’s also finely chopped, add two cubed chicken breasts and some lemon juice, add the the bag provided. Shake and seal then bake at 200 for forty minutes.

When cooked, add the last of the wilting corriander and serve with boiled rice.

Sprinkle with lemon juice and a hearty dollop of mango chutney. A pint of beer would have been nice but it’s no where near pay day. The store cupboard is a blessing when I need enthusiasm and ready ingredients.

I’m sure you could use the kit to make a vegetarian version of this by simply replacing the meat.

I’ve no idea how much this would cost at the take away. Here, the chicken breasts were £1 each, the rice was 7p, the onion 4p, tomatoes 46p, chutney 5p, lemon juice 2p(4 bottles for £1 from Approved Food) and yoghurt 30p. Chicken Tikka Masala - £1.47 per person.

Over to you Dear Reader, who else can beat the take away? Who else makes fish and chips at home? Or beats the burger bar? Share with all of us how you have a ‘dirty food night’ ?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Hello Dear Reader,

I’m taking part in Sainsbury’s basics challenge. It is not my normal supermarket but I will give anything a go in the name of market research. I was sent £20 and the invitation to go buy some of their basics range and then cook and blog about the recipes. It’s odd shopping in a normal supermarket and I did wonder why it needed to sell tellys and knickers as well as hoovers and pots and pans. I’m used to shops that just sell food and it would be easy to be lured into buying other goods. If you do shop in real supermarkets then take a list and stick to it as temptation is all around.

I decided to buy store cupboard staples and found there was a good selection in their basics range. Some I can’t eat such as bread, biscuits and starchy produce but nonetheless they had a great selection. I like the honesty that says that a few beans will be split, that it doesn’t have a fancy package, that the tomatoes may have skin on here and there but it’s still good food. Even though I paid more than I would for the regular brands at Aldi, I appreciate that not everyone has a Lidl, Aldi or local market near them. If Sainsbury’s was my only supermarket then I’m sure I would be glad of the basics range.

I’m going to be using these products in my cooking over the next few days and I will give feed back as I do along with recipes I try whilst using them. You can look at all their basics range HERE along with prices on Mysupermarket. Sorry if you’re in other countries, we do moan about food prices here but it’s evident from all you say that our food is much cheaper. Thank goodness as folk are struggling as it is!


Over to you Dear Reader, is anyone else a Sainsbury’s basics consumer? Who else is a big fan of supermarket basics range? Who thinks that they are not always the bargain they purport to be?

Even though I was given these groceries, I can assure you that my opinions of them will be entirely my own. If they are good, then I will say so and like wise, if I think they are not good value or you can get better for less else where, then I will say so.

As ever, I look forward to hearing from you.

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxx

Hello Dear Reader,

If I were Worzel Gummage then I would say I’ve got my cooking head on. Some days, I just can’t be bothered and then I go through weeks when I’m Mrs Patmore. Well this is definitely a dish Mrs Patmore would rustle up only she would call it Carbonnade de Boeuf. The recipe, which originate in Belgium called for a dark Belgian beer but we had a lonely bottle of Tribute lurking from Christmas. I think any beer would do so long as it isn’t lager but a hoppy malty beer and I think this would work best with a can of Guinness.

Here’s the recipe - serves 4 and we’ll have ding-cuisine for lunch tomorrow.

400g of stewing steak - £1.70 - local butchers where I buy this in 2.35 kilo bags for £10.
4 carrots - 12p - sliced
1 leek - sliced - 20p
1 onion - finely diced - 4p
1 bottle of beer - 99p
stock cube
2 bread rolls - 20p (I pay more for gluten free)
wholegrain mustard
grated cheese - any strong cheese will do.- 30p
Gravy thickening - optional
Serve with half a bag of mixed frozen veg - stretch this with mashed potatoes or rice to go that bit further for bigger families.

total - £3.55 - 89p per person.

Before you go to work, everything except the bread, mustard and cheese into a slow cooker, add water if not covered. Switch on and go to work.

When you get home, heat the oven to a high setting or the grill and transfer the beery casserole to an oven proof dish.

Coat the bread slices with wholegrain mustard. Arrange them on top of the casserole with the mustard facing upwards. Sprinkle with cheese. I used Parmegiano as it goes a long way. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Whilst dinner was cooking, I quickly and simply laid the table. We always eat here, chatting and putting the world to right.

Here’s the finished result with the crusty, tasty cheesy croutons.

Another angle.

And the close up.

Over to you Dear Reader, who else has Mrs Patmore days? Some days, I can barely open a packet and it will something from the freezer that’s just ready and to hand. Who else has Letitia Cropley days? That translates into days when you are a decent cook and days when you can burn water…….that’s me!

I’m quilting tonight so this is a short and sweet post.

St Austell Brewery did not give me the beer, but if they want to then email me and I will come and collect it!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxxx