I am currently in the process of moving, so I unfortunately will not have internet for a short while. Sorry for the interruption this will cause in my blog posts.
Emily
Monday, 20 August 2012
Friday, 17 August 2012
Day 18 and 19
Sorry about not posting yesterday, I was out of the house from 8:30 am until well after 9 pm! Due to that, we ended up having frozen pizza. I also donated blood, so this (and my immediate exhaustion afterwards) is the main reason we had pizza last night instead of tonight. It's quick and easy. Unfortunately, it can also be budget crashing. Even on sale, the pizzas costed £1.25 each, so £2.50 for both of us to eat. It doesn't sound like much, but considering that is only one meal, if every meal in one week (3 per day, 7 days) costed that much, you'd spend £52.50 in ONE week!
Anyway, tonight I'm making homemade tuna 'helper' with canned tuna and broken spaghetti pasta. Add in a bit of milk, cheese and spices as well as broccoli or peas and you've got a one pot meal that takes about 30 minutes to make. I'll post a recipe as soon as I can update again!
Anyway, tonight I'm making homemade tuna 'helper' with canned tuna and broken spaghetti pasta. Add in a bit of milk, cheese and spices as well as broccoli or peas and you've got a one pot meal that takes about 30 minutes to make. I'll post a recipe as soon as I can update again!
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Day 17
Last night I made lasagne. I ran out of leeks, so I needed to use some of the lasagne sheets that I had, but I didn't know how many I would need, so I cooked what I had. Around half of a box. Turns out I only needed 3 sheets to finish the lasagne. So, what to do with the leftover sheets? I blotted them dry on a clean tea towel, placed a small spoonful of some chicken that I had cooked in nacho cheese dip and salsa in the slow cooker the other day on one end and rolled them up! I then lightly greased a baking dish and laid the rolls in them. Then I made a mock cheese/spice sauce to pour over them with a bit of milk, cornstarch, home made fajita seasoning, crushed red chillies, Italian seasoning, paprika and black pepper. I cooked the sauce on the stovetop until it was just starting to thicken, then I poured it over the rolls and finely shredded some cheese over the top of the dish. As I pulled out the lasagne, I put the dish of lasagne sheet roll ups into the oven and let them cook for about 20 minutes. We haven't tried them yet, but this means that most of dinner tonight is already finished!
I also soaked the rest of the black beans that I had in water last night and cooked them in the slow cooker today. I have drained them and have them out cooling at the moment so that I can put them into the blender with a bit of garlic and some shallot and make "refried" beans to go with dinner tonight.
I'm baking bread at the moment as well (and the entire flat smells like a bakery!). I used a really simple recipe (that can be found here) and ended up using around 400 g of flour because it was a bit dry here today. The amount of flour that you use in bread making recipes will vary due to the weather in your area and especially the humidity.
I like to keep the windows open in the flat, otherwise the air gets stale and sometimes stifling. Since bread needs a warm moist environment to rise (yeast breads anyway, quick breads are for another day), I've figured out that I can place the bowl or pan into my oven, place a baking dish on the bottom (or on a lower rack if you have a heating element on the floor of your oven) and add boiling water to the baking dish. Then close up the oven (do NOT turn the oven on!!!) and let it rise for the allotted time in the recipe. Most recipes call for a first rise of 45 minutes to an hour, then after shaping and placing in the pan, a second rise of another 30 - 45 minutes.
*Update on the bread: I'm still not accustomed to baking bread here! Back in the States I had a stand mixer with a dough hook. Here in the UK I do not. Therefore I'm having to learn how to feel how much flour needs to go in for making dough. I don't think I used enough flour today. The bread still tastes wonderful though, so no harm done. :)
Since I didn't really follow any recipes this time I don't have any recipes to type up. I do however have photos!
I also soaked the rest of the black beans that I had in water last night and cooked them in the slow cooker today. I have drained them and have them out cooling at the moment so that I can put them into the blender with a bit of garlic and some shallot and make "refried" beans to go with dinner tonight.
I'm baking bread at the moment as well (and the entire flat smells like a bakery!). I used a really simple recipe (that can be found here) and ended up using around 400 g of flour because it was a bit dry here today. The amount of flour that you use in bread making recipes will vary due to the weather in your area and especially the humidity.
I like to keep the windows open in the flat, otherwise the air gets stale and sometimes stifling. Since bread needs a warm moist environment to rise (yeast breads anyway, quick breads are for another day), I've figured out that I can place the bowl or pan into my oven, place a baking dish on the bottom (or on a lower rack if you have a heating element on the floor of your oven) and add boiling water to the baking dish. Then close up the oven (do NOT turn the oven on!!!) and let it rise for the allotted time in the recipe. Most recipes call for a first rise of 45 minutes to an hour, then after shaping and placing in the pan, a second rise of another 30 - 45 minutes.
*Update on the bread: I'm still not accustomed to baking bread here! Back in the States I had a stand mixer with a dough hook. Here in the UK I do not. Therefore I'm having to learn how to feel how much flour needs to go in for making dough. I don't think I used enough flour today. The bread still tastes wonderful though, so no harm done. :)
Since I didn't really follow any recipes this time I don't have any recipes to type up. I do however have photos!
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| Chicken and lasagne sheet roll ups |
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| Black beans soaking in water |
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| Bread dough |
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| Bread dough, first rise |
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| Separating the dough |
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| Starting the second rise |
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| Finished bread. The results of not using enough flour! |
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Day 16
I discovered this morning that we have already went over budget by £13... This is after only two weeks! I'm going to do my best to not buy anything but the absolute essentials for the rest of the month. With a lot of creativity, I think that we can get through the next two weeks fine for food. I believe that things will be better once we move, since we will have an actual freezer there and space for a chest freezer that someone has offered us (yay!). Since I do not own a pressure canner/cooker (and I don't really want one either), I cannot safely can and preserve meats and low acid meals. This is why the freezer space is vital to us only using £50 per month. Once we have decent freezer space, I'll be doing more "once per month" cooking. This way, if I'm sick or too tired to cook, we can still have a homecooked meal.
Having Jethro stop by the store on his way home is a bad idea for us, but I have been keeping up with what we use the most vs what we use the least so that I can better plan for the following months.
We are down to 1 egg, so we ended up having oatmeal this morning. Jethro picked up some bacon (darn our cravings!) yesterday, so we each had a piece of bacon as well for some protein. I sent a piece of the healthier cottage pie and a creole chicken leg to work with him for lunch, and I had a piece of the healthier cottage pie with a yoghurt and 2 slices of wholemeal toast for lunch.
For a mid-afternoon snack, I had homemade strawberry jam and a bit of "no nut" chocolate spread on 2 slices of wholemeal toast. If you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, try a chocolate spread and jelly sandwich! Even though I am allergic to some nuts, luckily hazelnuts are not on my allergy list, so I can have things like Nutella. We bought the "no nut" stuff because it was on clearance a while back for 75 pence for a bigger jar than the Nutella comes in for £2.15. I had honestly forgotten that we had the stuff! It ended up getting pushed to the back of the refrigerator where I couldn't see it.
What I've found by researching our food intake is #1, we eat far too much for one meal, #2, we go through cheese and milk like crazy! I may splurge and buy the strongest (we like cheddar) that I can find next month so that we won't need to add so much to our meals and salads to still get the flavour. Once we have a freezer, I'll probably end up freezing milk to keep from getting sucked into the store because we are out. As you are probably far too aware, it is very difficult to get only one item at the store! Impulse buys stack up, and the fewer trips to the store you can make, the better.
I'm doing more research, gathering up cheaper (and still healthy!) recipes, and I'm really looking forward to having freezer space again next month. I'll also be growing some of our own food from scraps after we move, since we will have a small back garden. I have already started a leek root, 3 carrot tops, and an eye/sprout from one of the potatoes we had yesterday. The new house also has a walk in pantry under the stairs, which I am super super excited about!
Having Jethro stop by the store on his way home is a bad idea for us, but I have been keeping up with what we use the most vs what we use the least so that I can better plan for the following months.
We are down to 1 egg, so we ended up having oatmeal this morning. Jethro picked up some bacon (darn our cravings!) yesterday, so we each had a piece of bacon as well for some protein. I sent a piece of the healthier cottage pie and a creole chicken leg to work with him for lunch, and I had a piece of the healthier cottage pie with a yoghurt and 2 slices of wholemeal toast for lunch.
For a mid-afternoon snack, I had homemade strawberry jam and a bit of "no nut" chocolate spread on 2 slices of wholemeal toast. If you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, try a chocolate spread and jelly sandwich! Even though I am allergic to some nuts, luckily hazelnuts are not on my allergy list, so I can have things like Nutella. We bought the "no nut" stuff because it was on clearance a while back for 75 pence for a bigger jar than the Nutella comes in for £2.15. I had honestly forgotten that we had the stuff! It ended up getting pushed to the back of the refrigerator where I couldn't see it.
What I've found by researching our food intake is #1, we eat far too much for one meal, #2, we go through cheese and milk like crazy! I may splurge and buy the strongest (we like cheddar) that I can find next month so that we won't need to add so much to our meals and salads to still get the flavour. Once we have a freezer, I'll probably end up freezing milk to keep from getting sucked into the store because we are out. As you are probably far too aware, it is very difficult to get only one item at the store! Impulse buys stack up, and the fewer trips to the store you can make, the better.
I'm doing more research, gathering up cheaper (and still healthy!) recipes, and I'm really looking forward to having freezer space again next month. I'll also be growing some of our own food from scraps after we move, since we will have a small back garden. I have already started a leek root, 3 carrot tops, and an eye/sprout from one of the potatoes we had yesterday. The new house also has a walk in pantry under the stairs, which I am super super excited about!
Monday, 13 August 2012
Days 14 and 15
I'm sorry that I've been fairly absent for a few days here. We decided to take it easy this weekend and just enjoy it, so blogging was unfortunately pushed to the back burner for a day or two. Anyway, I did manage to cut Jethro's hair and cook a healthy version of cottage pie this weekend! I have nearly caught up with the cleaning from over the weekend and I also have apples with a bit of sugar and water in the slow cooker becoming apple sauce now. My new cookbook and my study guide for my Life in the UK test came through the post this weekend and this morning, so I have a bit of reading to do soon. I am really looking forward to perusing the cookbook though. It's the one from the Hairy Bikers, their "The Hairy Dieters" cookbook. The apple sauce that I made costed a grand total of £1.61 for 12 servings (a serving is approximately 4 ounces/115 grams). This means that each of the six jars that I preserved of the apple sauce costed me £0.27, whereas the same size jar in the store would cost twice that, minimum! Plus making my own means that I know that there aren't any artificial ingredients, colourings, flavourings, or preservatives in my apple sauce.
Anyway, here are some recipes:
Healthy cottage pie
Homemade slow cooker applesauce (external link) - Dump all of the ingredients into a slow cooker and cook for 4 hours to make this in the slow cooker!
Anyway, here are some recipes:
Healthy cottage pie
Homemade slow cooker applesauce (external link) - Dump all of the ingredients into a slow cooker and cook for 4 hours to make this in the slow cooker!
Healthier Cottage Pie
This recipe was adapted from a recipe for healthier shepherds pie, which can be found here.
1 tbsp olive oil (optional)
450 g (1 lb) minced beef and pork
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 carrots, finely chopped
1 leek, thinly sliced
1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
360 ml (12 fl oz) beef or vegetable stock, preferably home-made
100 g (3½ oz) split red lentils
3 tbsp chopped parsley (or 1 tbsp dried chopped parsley)
Potato and parsnip topping
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 head cauliflower, cut into chunks
75 ml (2½ fl oz) semi-skimmed milk
25 g (scant 1 oz) butter
salt and pepper
1. Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan. Add the mince and cook over a high heat, stirring well with a wooden spoon to break up the meat, for about 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Push the meat to one side of the pan and add the onion. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened and lightly browned.
2. Add the carrots, pepper and leek and stir well, then add the Worcestershire sauce, stock and lentils. Increase the heat and bring to the boil, stirring frequently. Partially cover with a lid, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. While the meat mixture is cooking, preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F, gas mark 6) and prepare the topping. Place the potato and cauliflower chunks in a saucepan and pour over boiling water to cover by 5 cm (2 in). Bring back to the boil, then reduce the heat and cook for 15–20 minutes or until the potatoes and cauliflower are very tender. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until hot.
4. Drain the potatoes and cauliflower well, and return them to the pan. Pour the hot milk over them, then mash them until they are completely smooth. Beat in the butter and season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Remove the meat mixture from the heat, add the chopped parsley and seasoning to taste and stir well. Spoon into a large ovenproof dish, about 2.6 litre (4½ pint) capacity. Top with the mashed vegetables, spreading in an even layer. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbling and lightly browned.
This turned out quite well and made 6 servings for us. Enough for three meals essentially. I would have added sliced mushrooms if we would have had any and then I would have used half of the meat. When cooked, most mushrooms have a texture similar to cooked mince. Jethro and I both really liked the potato and cauliflower mash, but it did make enough to have leftovers, even after topping the pie! This recipe is definitely a keeper here, although next time I will probably sprinkle some shredded cheese over the pie right before placing it into the oven for an extra little flavour kick.
1 tbsp olive oil (optional)
450 g (1 lb) minced beef and pork
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 carrots, finely chopped
1 leek, thinly sliced
1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
360 ml (12 fl oz) beef or vegetable stock, preferably home-made
100 g (3½ oz) split red lentils
3 tbsp chopped parsley (or 1 tbsp dried chopped parsley)
Potato and parsnip topping
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 head cauliflower, cut into chunks
75 ml (2½ fl oz) semi-skimmed milk
25 g (scant 1 oz) butter
salt and pepper
1. Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan. Add the mince and cook over a high heat, stirring well with a wooden spoon to break up the meat, for about 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Push the meat to one side of the pan and add the onion. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened and lightly browned.
2. Add the carrots, pepper and leek and stir well, then add the Worcestershire sauce, stock and lentils. Increase the heat and bring to the boil, stirring frequently. Partially cover with a lid, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. While the meat mixture is cooking, preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F, gas mark 6) and prepare the topping. Place the potato and cauliflower chunks in a saucepan and pour over boiling water to cover by 5 cm (2 in). Bring back to the boil, then reduce the heat and cook for 15–20 minutes or until the potatoes and cauliflower are very tender. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until hot.
4. Drain the potatoes and cauliflower well, and return them to the pan. Pour the hot milk over them, then mash them until they are completely smooth. Beat in the butter and season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Remove the meat mixture from the heat, add the chopped parsley and seasoning to taste and stir well. Spoon into a large ovenproof dish, about 2.6 litre (4½ pint) capacity. Top with the mashed vegetables, spreading in an even layer. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbling and lightly browned.
This turned out quite well and made 6 servings for us. Enough for three meals essentially. I would have added sliced mushrooms if we would have had any and then I would have used half of the meat. When cooked, most mushrooms have a texture similar to cooked mince. Jethro and I both really liked the potato and cauliflower mash, but it did make enough to have leftovers, even after topping the pie! This recipe is definitely a keeper here, although next time I will probably sprinkle some shredded cheese over the pie right before placing it into the oven for an extra little flavour kick.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
Days 12 and 13
Yesterday was day 12. After posting on Thursday I was racked with stomach cramps and pain. No fish pie was cooked that night, although I am still planning on cooking it in the following week or so. We unfortunately took the easy path for the past two days, fish and chips from the chippy on Thursday and frozen pizza yesterday. I was able to keep the pain at bay yesterday long enough to go down to Morrisons for milk and apples, but that was it for my day. I am feeling ok at the moment, so I used some of my energy to prepare vegetables that I'd like to use in a cottage pie and a lasagne (a la Hairy Bikers recipe) that I'm hoping to cook tonight. If I can get both cooked tonight, we can cut them up into pieces and freeze them, making for an easy microwave meal if and when I get sick again and cannot cook.
For the topping of the cottage pie, I will be using half mashed potatoes and half mashed cauliflower. Mix the two together and it makes a tasty topping with nearly half the calories and way less carbs!
For the topping of the cottage pie, I will be using half mashed potatoes and half mashed cauliflower. Mix the two together and it makes a tasty topping with nearly half the calories and way less carbs!
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