Easy, Super Malay Style Curry for the Crockpot

This recipe looked too good to be true when I saw it on Facebook yesterday, I had around 600gms of blade steak in the fridge and an urge for curry. It's rare that we eat such a lot of meat in one meal so it was quite a treat. Here is the link

Slow Cooker Malaysian Beef Curry 

It made 4 large serves and we ate it with turmeric rice, a simple salsa and plain yoghurt and I loved the fact that nothing had to be browned first, saves time and dish-washing.

My adaptation as follows

500 -600 gms stewing beef(I think chicken pieces or just vegies/beans would be great too)

250mls of coconut cream~our tins contain 400 mls so I freeze the remainder

1 large, finely chopped onion and I will add 2t ginger paste next time too

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon each of ground cardamon, Chinese 5 spice, cinnamon, cumin, turmeric.

2 teaspoons of ground coriander
4 whole cloves
3-4 medium potatoes
large handful of leafy greens

Simply mix everything except the potatoes and leaves in the crock-pot and turn it on to Auto~ my crock-pot starts on high for 2 hrs and then turns itself down to low.
After an hour I added the potatoes, unpeeled and roughly chopped

This beef was cooked in 5 hours, I used Aldi's blade steak at $10 a kilo, so once the meat is tender stir in your leaves, I had baby spinach and add lots of salt.
Happy eating!

Last Sunday we had this beautiful free range chicken; it fed us several meals...roast, enchiladas and sandwiches and then I made stock from the bones and some lovely sweet potato and red lentil soup with that. There are lots of small/new potatoes in the shops now it's Spring, I love them!

I have knitting and garden photos to post as well as some genealogy so will get on to that shortly.
Have a wonderful week
Love from Sue xx

Cauliflower and Feta Bake and Other Tales

I really enjoy the recipes from this blog, Ozlem's Turkish Table ~ the Mediterranean countries have a climate much like Perth's and the food available there such as  capsicums, eggplants, garlic, zucchini and tomatoes are abundant here too.

Ozlem explains that instead of making fritters with this mix she bakes it for a lighter meal. The one thing you must do though is chop the cauliflower into small pieces as they are not pre-cooked. Heather, you can leave out the chilli altogether my dear, the cheese and onions shine through for a beautiful flavour.

You'll need
around 800gms chopped cauliflower, add the stalk but chop it finely
1/2 a finely chopped red onion
3 finely sliced spring onions
2 tablespoons each chopped parsley and dill or a heaped teaspoon each of dried herbs (ETA I think this is too much dill as it has a rather unusual taste, perhaps a sprinkle and lots of parsley would be better)
pinch of chilli flakes(optional)
4 T plain flour(I use wholemeal)
pepper to taste
180gm crumbled feta cheese
2 T olive oil
5 eggs beaten together with a big dollop of plain yogurt

Just mix it all together really well and bake at 180C for around 30-40 minutes.

I'd bought some chicken sticks on special so I baked them at the same time to enjoy with the cauliflower bake...

We had an amazing sunset on Saturday night, local friends posted their photos on Facebook...these are mine

I love the bare branches of our frangipani tree at the front door...

In Arles tiled numbers at the front of the house are very popular so I bought the 3 tiles to make our number 5 for around $4, the lavender is such an evocative symbol of the region and grows well in our gardens...I bought some tile cement which worked really well...

and while I had the cement at hand I glued my sea-horse to the wall too...in for a penny in for a pound...do you like our new ceramic pots?

The passion fruit vine opened it's first flower this morning...here the delicate tendrils cling to the fence, it's wet and windy again today but the vine will withstand the pressure...

  and finally the Papa Meilland rose I bought in memory of dear Mum flowered this morning on my brother's birthday...Happy Birthday Ian xxx

Bye bye for now, have a wonderful week
xxx

Zucchini and Ham Fritters

Hallo Every-one,

I've just made another batch of these tasty fritters as they are a great way to use up extra ham you may have at Christmas. Home gardeners often have a glut of zucchini by the end of summer so this will use up some of that. They're sturdy enough to be a nice option for picnics and lunch-boxes too and you can add some corn kernels for a change and leave out the ham altogether if you wish.

You'll need~~~

about two cups of grated zucchini, well squeezed in a cloth to remove extra water (I used over half a large zucchini today)

2 large eggs

large handful each of chopped ham and grated cheese

1/3 cup plain flour ( wholemeal for us)

2 tablespoons of sour cream/plain yogurt/cottage cheese to help bind everything together

seasonings...I used 1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes, you could stick with salt and pepper or add dried herbs or dried garlic

Place the grated zucchini in your mixing bowl

Add everything else

Mix well

Shallow fry until golden brown on both sides, they will feel firm when cooked right through

Eat and enjoy....they are lovely hot or cold

My recipe made 11 x 3 inch wide patties today. You could serve them with a salad and some home-made chutney or with some nicely steamed vegetables.

Hope you enjoy!

How are your Christmas preparations going now? We're hopefully going to have a coolish day and a simpler fare this year, I've done all my cards that needed to be posted overseas and around Australia, most presents are organised and some wrapped, some food is prepared and some shopping done.

Bean a Bit Busy

but here is my new favourite recipe

I have no idea where the inspiration for this creation came from but I love it! Any seasonings could be swapped for the peri peri sauce(I bought Woolworth's Select brand and love that too)

1/3 cup wild rice boiled for about 20 minutes and then a cup of basmati rice(any rice will do) added and cooked until tender. Drain very well and leave as long as possible to dry out as with regular fried rice.

Finely chop and sauté in a large fry-pan...

an onion
half a red capsicum
a stalk of celery
two cloves of garlic
a cup of chopped spinach/silverbeet/kale

Either drain a tin of your favourite beans or use 2 cups of ready cooked beans(I used tinned 4 bean mix this time and home cooked white beans last time) and heat them through, season with either 2-3 tablespoons of peri peri sauce/soy sauce etc etc AND the juice of one beautiful home grown lemon(if possible)

add your cold, dry rice and mix well until it is hot, check seasonings and add chopped fresh herbs.

It's a very versatile recipe that has been around since Adam I expect but there is a good reason for that...it's cheap, tasty and nourishing and you can mix and swap to use whatever you have on hand.

All is well here, blogging mojo has gone AWOL again but we're all well

Big Love as Jamie Oliver says!
Sue and Co
xx

Khoresh Bademjan or Spicy Eggplant in the Slow-cooker!

This was so very good that I didn't remember to take a photo until later on in the evening!

Khoresh Bademjan

Rinku at the Spice Chronicles had made Alu Gobi(spicy cauli and spuds) in her slow cooker and mentioned cooking this eggplant dish in it as well...so I tried it on Saturday and was thrilled with the result and the other bonus is that eggplant are in season now and quite inexpensive...here is my adaptation of her recipe

One large eggplant/aubergine peeled and chopped into 2 cm squares, it weighed about a kilo
1 tablespoon of oil
1 finely chopped onion
4 crushed cloves of garlic
1/4 cup tomato paste and a large cup of boiling water
1 teaspoon each of cumin and turmeric
3/4 teaspoon of salt(there is no need to salt the eggplant beforehand)
1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, paprika and pepper

I put the hot water, tomato paste and spices in the cooker first and blended them together with a spoon
Add the vegetables and stir well.
Cook until tender which was about 2 1/2 hours on High/Auto and stir 2-3 times to coat the eggplant in the sauce.
Add some frozen peas/corn/beans after an hour if you like.

That's it...sooooo easy! Served with a dollop of plain yoghurt, rice or naan bread and some Indian style pickles it was wonderful.

Today I am going to try the Alu Gobi recipe and my other recent success in the kitchen was Jamie Oliver's Happy Fish Pie without the fish tail. I used shark fillets and had sour cream instead of the cream and lemon juice...another very easy recipe as it's made without a white sauce...the three photos I took were spectacularly bad even for me...sorry :/

Yesterday I made 3 big jars of mandarin orange marmalade for the pantry, it's much tastier than using regular oranges.

On Sunday we had some fun news...my photo of Twitch won a prize in a local pet photo competition run by KiraJay at Phone a Mum The pic was taken when he was quite unwell recently so is extra special to me; not surprisingly he was the only rabbit entered with lots of cats and dogs and one lion(I think they were pulling our legs!)

We had a rather wild storm 2 nights ago with several planters being knocked over by the wind...it was refreshingly cold enough for woollies yesterday, I need to go and get some kale and silverbeet seedlings later today. Terry next door has planted lots of turnips, parsnips and carrots so we'll have a good variety....he's 80 yrs old and was joking about growing enough in his tiny garden to sell to Woolworths!

Hope you are keeping warm or enjoying Spring days where-ever you might be,
Love from Sue
xxx

Easy Slow Cooker Meatballs

Very Easy Slow Cooker Meatballs

December 3rd, 2014, 09:50 AM

I modified a nice recipe yesterday and made these meatballs without having to brown them first

500gm minced pork and beef

2 sliced onions
4-5 whole cloves of garlic
1/2 red capsicum/pepper, chopped
a sprig each of rosemary and thyme or a teaspoon each of the dried herbs

2T tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups of beef stock
1 tin of chopped tomatoes OR 1 1/3 cups of passata(tomato puree)
salt and pepper to taste

Place the vegies on bottom of SC
Roll mince into golf ball sized meatballs and place on vegies
Mix the wet ingredients in a jug and pour over the meatballs

Cook on auto for around 4 hours, stir and serve as preferred. Nom!

Crockpot Meatloaf and Pickled Pork

I've tried 2 new recipes in the slow cooker in the last week and will share them with you. The better of the 2 by a country mile was the meatloaf...at the start of cooking...

I adapted and doubled an old favourite recipe from my "Diabetes, Eat and Enjoy" cookbook...

500 minced meat, beef/pork or a combination of both
an egg
a cup of wholegrain breadcrumbs and or oat bran
1/2 cup milk
a finely chopped onion
chopped herbs and lots of pepper
I topped it with a sliced tomato and sprinkled it with paprika.

Shape into a loaf and place in slowcooker on a bed of chopped vegies, the ubiquitous celery stars again here
I cooked it on auto for about 5 hours and then added the baby potatoes...then I made the BBQ sauce..

In a small saucepan mix together the following, simmer for 5 minutes and then thicken with 1T cornflour mixed with 1T water. You can pour this over the meatloaf or serve it separately.

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup of tomato ketchup/sauce
1/4 cup Worcester sauce
2T vinegar
1t instant coffee
juice of a lemon

By doubling the recipe I was able to freeze half  as well as getting several meals out of the first half, it's lovely cold in a sandwich and very thrifty.

The slow cooker group had been raving about "pickled pork", a corned pork piece that they said was delicious. I bought a one kilo piece on Monday and cooked it yesterday for 8 hours with 1/4 cup of vinegar, 2t brown sugar and some chopped celery, onion and fennel. It was quite nice but the best part was the sauce I made by simply blending the vegies and meat juices, they were thick, creamy and so tasty.
We've also had Lentils and Sausages this week, a French inspired dish made with tasty Puy lentils and some browned sausages finished off in the lentils. It's very good and a dish we enjoyed first in Paris.

Coming home from appointments yesterday afternoon the windscreen wipers decided to go on strike. We went to an Auto retail shop to see if they could help but the young man there couldn't even find the fusebox! So we carefully made our way to the big local shopping centre hoping the rain would ease off. It got heavier. I called Gordie and he tried to guide me through finding the fusebox and then he had to drive over to see if he could could get them going again. No joy so eventually he drove my car home and I followed in his, my eye-sight would not win any medals these days! He plans to come over today to see about replacing the little wiper motor...what a blessing he is with his car know-how! He's saved us thousands of dollars over the years with repairs and the purchase of our current chariot.
Two hours after arriving home Mandy's daughter, T, came out of work at the same shopping centre, lost her brakes in the still-heavy rain and crashed into another car. She has a slight whiplash and a bruised knee but both cars were destroyed...how frightful for Mandy and Paul especially after losing Paul's parents last year.

Sending much love to my dear friend Amy and her family after the sudden passing of her father yesterday, such a sad time.

Hope all is well in your home and place,
Love from Sue
xx

Sausage Casserole, More A Method Than A Recipe

I really didn't fancy this at all but it's cold and wet today, Joe loves casseroles and every-one at the slow cooker FB site raves about something called Deep Down South Sausages that involve snags, tinned toms, Worcester sauce, garlic and 2 t of brown sugar. We had Spaghetti Putanesca last night so I didn't want another tomato based meal tonight and adapted this after looking through the files of the SC site.

500 gms of sausages(these can be any variety/chopped or left whole, fresh or frozen solid!)
2 sliced onions
1 chopped apple
1/2 a chopped zucchini and 2 chopped tomatoes that had seen better days

1 heaped teaspoon of hot curry powder
1 can of cream of chicken soup and half a can of water
chopped garlic
splash of Worcester sauce

Yuck I thought...I didn't even particularly like the smell as it was cooking BUT when I tasted it I was so impressed, those flavours melded beautifully, the sauce is thick and creamy and I'm sold!
I had some very lean turkey sausages($3) so the whole dinner cost under $5 for 3-4 serves, it was so good over some mashed sweet potatoes and I'll make it again definitely. The vegies can be changed around to use up what you have, potatoes and/or beans would be lovely cooked in the sauce and you could serve it on rice or pasta too so it's very versatile.

Joe absolutely loved it as I thought he would :)

Hope you are keeping well and warm,

Love from Sue

xxx

 and from 6 yr old Caleb to his Mum

"

Caleb: You know the spiders in the toilet? They've gone missing. ....*thoughtful pause".... If you see them, can you kill them?

Me: What! Why? They're the Daddy Longlegs, right? 

Caleb: "One was a daddy Long Legs but the other one was a brother....a teenager."

:D

Wintry Garden

It may not look like Winter when you see this bright blue sky but there is a nip in the air and lots of rain on the horizon. In fact the cloud cover is complete now and it's looking rather dark outside.
Strong winds have almost stripped the Cape Lilac trees bare now but a tomato plant is thriving and other plants are coming into their own season...and we've had the very first passionfruit off the neighbour's vine!

 

no flowers yet on this tomato but it will certainly have a head start come Spring...

this nasturtium plant grew from a cutting, I've never even thought about doing that before as at the old house they just self-seeded every Autumn...

Twitch's treehouse...a huge asparagus fern under the kitchen window provides security from cats etc and I suppose it's a very natural place for him to enjoy his day-time snoozes, it will too wet tomorrow so make the most of it today, Sweetie...

These little dill plants have come up all over the patio, I'll leave them for now and just harvest them as I would if they were growing anywhere else, a nasturtium and a tomato plant have also self-seeded nearby.

Today I mowed the front garden, made some Mexican style soup similar to this recipe, I had some of that chicken breast left over too and the lime juice made it so refreshing. I used zucchini in place of the green beans and added some frozen peas n corn. Off now to make some Puttanesca sauce for tonight's spaghetti, it is just delicious and very thrifty too. Joe can have some apples stewed in honey and cinnamon for his dessert!

Thanks you for all the lovely comments about Ma Tante Lou yesterday and today, both here and on Facebook, it helps to know we are not alone at times like this doesn't it?

Bye bye for now,
Sue
xxx 

A Frugal Weekend

Did all the right frugal things this weekend and loved it!

Needed teabags on Friday, got out the packet of loose tea I bought last year when Rhonda encouraged us to give up teabags because of all the extra packaging. I have 9 teapots but only one in the kitchen, an old-fashioned round brown china pot so I dusted that off and put it to work. The tea is so very much better as it's stronger, teabags contain so very little tea really. We also needed bread but a dig through the freezer revealed English muffins and a few odd slices of bread I'd saved for breadcrumbs. Our milkman brought our rye bread last night so we're set for the week.
Saved fuel, time and money!
I've been craving Mexican or Tex-Mex meals for several days now so instead of a $100 meal at Zocala's(which is wonderful btw) I put my thinking cap on...and asked the Down to Earth ladies in the states what makes a great Mexican meal. Chillies obviously but it's the more subtle flavours of oregano and cumin, lemon or lime juice, fresh herbs and cheese of course.
Over night I soaked a bag of lovely dried mixed beans($1.70) and then cooked them in the pressure cooker for 5 mins...not quite done but 2 more minutes finished them to perfection. Hmmm there seems rather a lot now I thought and then whipped up some beanie dip with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, Mexican chilli(a blend of chilli/herbs/spices) and salt. The cooked beans equalled in volume what I would have got from 4 tins of mixed beans.

Next I fried up chopped onion, red capsicum, garlic and half a habenero from my garden, added tomato paste and then a tin of organic chopped tomatoes and a splash of liquid smoke and simmered that for 10 mins before adding about 2 cups of cooked beans. Left that on for 15 mins and then tasted my delicious chilli beans...no need to go out dinner now lol! I cooked some white rice and sliced a chicken breast, rubbed the chicken with the Mexican chilli blend, dried herbs, lime juice and shallow fried that. Served it all up with grated cheese and a little Greek yoghurt in place of sour cream and it was yummmy!

Forgot to take a pic of the served up plates...steamy, spicy beans and tomatoes...

and sizzling chicken...one breast does us for 3-4 meals...

Other frugal achievements this weekend include mowing the lawns myself instead of paying some-one $50-$60 to do that...this is not without it's "issues" as I can rarely start the lawnmower myself , I re-filled it with fuel and washed the filter sponge but have to wait for Joe to pull-start the mean machine. I focussed on making it look like a Wimbledon court and was very pleased with the result.
I also finished this scarf, made completely from wool given to me last year...the simple pattern is here

So all added up I suppose I saved /avoided spending almost $200...do I get to keep that?? More savings for Canada is my way of looking at it.

Frugal Queen and other bloggers are having "make do with what I have July", just using up what they have in their pantries and freezers and while I haven't joined that challenge I keep it in mind and try to adjust to suit what we do have on hand. They have lots of very thrifty and delicious recipes to share too.

So how did you spend the weekend, gardening perhaps, cooking and crafting are just my favourite ways to spend my time.
Love from Sue
xxx

A Friday Round-up, A Nice Scarf Pattern too!

It's been a very quiet week here, just a pottering, gentle quiet type of week with a burst of activity on Wednesday.

Monday was shopping day, frugal as possible, the only meat I needed was 500gms of minced beef($3) and I bought a 1 kilo chunk of roasting beef to cook in the crockpot. $50 worth of fresh vegetables from the Sppud Shed means I can stick to plant based meals as opposed to meals where meat is the star...these cost so much more and are quiet un-necessary really.

I made Joe a pan-ful of baked mixed beans; sauted onion, garlic and red capsicum, tomato paste, a teaspoon of golden syrup(molasses is nice too) and then a tin of el cheapo baked beans and 1 1/2 cups of mixed beans. He loves these for breakfast with an egg and some toast.
Next to be re-fashioned was the 5 cups of bolognese sauce leftover from Saturday, this was especially nice as I'd added some chopped salami. Lasagne was the plan so while Joe grated some cheddar cheese I made a white sauce. Joe was horrified to learn(after 12 yrs) that I don't add cheese to the sauce but season it well and add some USA mustard. Cheese is welcome to go on the top and it was really, really tasty...6 large serves and 2 went straight into the freezer once it was cold....

I also made this cake to get full use of the oven ...3/4 of this went into the freezer too...

Tuesday was very quiet for me, Joe taught chess and picked up some prescriptions while I made great headway on another scarf...

Cast on 2 sts, (used 4mm needles and some 12 ply wool)
Increase at the beginning of each row until the scarf is the desired width, I stopped when I had 30 sts on my needles.
Now just

Increase at the beginning of each alternate row
Decrease by knitting 2tog through the back of the loops on every other row...

can you see what is happening...I've almost finished it now and if you are making stripes ensure that you start the new colour on the same type of row each time so that all your joins are at the back of the work...

Wednesday came and I put the roasting beef in the slow cooker on a bed of carrots and a whole unpeeled head of garlic and left it on auto for around 9 hours. I made a huge plateful of rustic looking ham and cheese sandwiches and then headed off to meet Mandy and De-Anne at Paul's late parent's home. It's almost ready to go on the market a year after they were both so tragically killed in a car accident nearby but what a heart wrenching job to go through this huge house and pack up their personal effects. Some to the op-shops, some to the tip, some to friends but there is just too much stuff and it is so very personal!
I came away with 2 small jardinieres that reminded me of my auntie Brenda and her lovely houseplants. When I got home I was delighted to find that my bathroom parlour palm fit perfectly into the larger one...it was a warm Down To Earth forums moment as the palm came from Wendy whom I met through the forum and I also met Mandy and De-Anne this way! I can spy a bar of hand-made soap in this photo, I learned to make soap through the forums too...

Yesterday I made a big pan of pearl barley and vegetable soup using the left-over stock from the roast beef so that will do for lunches for several days. We had the beef again last night with baby potatoes(49c a kilo) and there's enough of that for tonight too with another vegetable dish.

We've added an extra night to out stay in Montreal when we first land so that we can meet up with family for lunch on Saturday, Phoebe and the boys are driving up from Ottawa and will stay at our hotel overnight and then we can have a leisurely drive down to Ottawa on the Sunday.
Caleb has been asking "when is Nana having another party" after our lovely tea party in March. I may take him and David to watch  Kwinana United vs Perth Glory on July 6th, 2pm Kelly Park, Kwinana, my Dad is going too.

Well the moral here is to blog more than once a week because even when I think I have nothing to say it appears that I find plenty. Thank you for your patience!
If you have time you might enjoy a look at a Queensland friend's new blog over here , please leave Chel a comment, I know she'll be thrilled.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend,
Love from Sue
xxx

A Little Lot of Everything...in one pot!

I mentioned the wonderful slow cooker Fb group I'd joined last week recently and when Mum told me about her mince special that Dad loves I thought we were ready to try this all-in-one dinner prep.

My nickname should be "Thrift and Vegetables" but that's nearly as big a mouthful as this dish...it takes around 8 hours on slow so start early.

I browned 500gms of minced beef(if you don't brown it it 'melts' into the sauce and I like to know I'm eating a little meat)

While it was browning I chopped 4 carrots, 4 celery stalks, 3 potatoes, 2 sad tomatoes and a cup full of eggplant and turned on the kettle.
Put everything into the slow cooker along with

a tin of chopped tomatoes
2 teaspoons of beef stock powder
1 t of dried herbs
big pinch of chili flakes
lots of pepper (the stock powder and tinned tomatoes add enough salt for me)
a dollop of Heinz tomato ketchup to finish the bottle.
enough hot water to cover everything, don't over do it though

Turn onto low and leave for 3-4 hours.

Then I added a tin of baked beans and stirred well and left it another 2 hours.
Now the piece de resistance!
2/3 of a cup of broken up spaghetti mixed in and cooked for another hour or so, this is the genius(lol) part as it thickens the stew beautifully.

steamy dinner ready to serve...the gravy has come to the top, it was a lovely thick stew...

We had this with the little bit of left-over Potato Bake I made yesterday...

fill the cooker to 2/3 capacity, trust me, it shrinks and is soooo delicious you'll kick yourself for not making more!
thinly sliced potatoes(washed but unpeeled)
thinly sliced onion(one is enough)
crushed garlic, salt and pepper
Pour over a cup or so of cream, I added a little grated cheese too

Have you got the Crockpot bug yet? What are your favourite dishes to make in a slow cooker?

Love from Sue
xxx

Using My Slow Cooker/Crockpot

I've been getting much more use out of my lovely Breville slow cooker(thanks Mum) these days and then Mandy linked me to this great facebook site, My Slow Cooker Recipes . A lot of the recipes use canned soups etc but the techniques can be modified to suit the "cooking from scratch" recipes I prefer to use.
The members are friendly and very helpful and Jenny does a great job of keeping this very large group running smoothly and the recipes clear and easy to follow.

However yesterday a lovely member posted this ridiculously easy pull-apart bread recipe and I was very keen to try it myself using one of Joe's tins of condensed soup, his childhood favourite.

3 1/2 cups of SR Flour
1 tin of condensed soup(that is the kind that you add a tin full of water or milk to to dilute it)
1/4 tin milk
handful of chopped bacon
handful of grated cheese

Mix them altogether and then knead lightly
Break into 6 pieces and place in slow cooker on baking paper or grease well
Bake on high for 1 1/2 to 2 hours with a tea towel over the cooker but under the lid to soak up the steam

It's a keeper!

This week I've also used the slow cooker to make a lovely Vegetable Bake using mainly root vegies and tomatoes and I'm cooking a whole chicken in it this afternoon.

Vegies at the ready...just a couple of tablespoons of water and Worcestershire sauce provided the initial liquid and as the vegies cooked they released their juices...

 



I bottled up my second lot of olives yesterday...I had no idea there were so many and I had to use every jar in the house...

It's cool and very wet here today as we wait for the lady to come and do our Rent Inspection.
Stay warm and dry,
Love from Sue
xxxhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/202013473167734/?hc_location=stream

A Fridge Scrape Soup

Cold day, vegies and leftovers to use up and a fridge that needs a good clean...perfect for fridge scrape soup...I love this name and the freedom it allows, the thrift of using up all the those bits and pieces so there is no waste in the kitchen.

I'll start with gently frying onion, carrots and celery and then add some fresh garlic. What's next? That half a zucchini, those elderly potatoes, soft tomatoes, bits of broccoli, cabbage, the silverbeet that Twitch won't eat, the left-over mushy peas than need longer cooking and that scrap of corned beef from earlier in the week. Quick look in freezer and there's that bag of butter beans from goodness knows when...they can go in near the end! Give everything a good stir round in the oil and then cover with hot water from the kettle, plenty of salt and pepper, Worcestershire sauce or your favourite spice/herb blends. Cook gently until the vegies are tender and clean the fridge now lol
Then you can eat and enjoy your soup!

Do you make soups at home, are you game to try a fridge scrape soup this weekend?

This blogger made several different versions which may inspire you!

Thrifty, warming and delicious.

Enjoy your weekend,
Sue
xx

PS I didn't know it was Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day when I started cooking this morning, he is such an inspiration to us all

Food, Food, Glorious, Food

Goodness me, I love to eat! Even though I'm constantly trying to find the thriftiest ways to feed Joe and I we both agree that our meals are delicious. They're almost always cooked from scratch here at home from a wide variety of ingredients, seasonal vegies, a little meat and beans and lentils feature proudly.

Some of  the food for our afternoon tea was bought separately from my grocery money but a lot was already here. I made potted cheese from the "Lark Rise To Candleford Recipe Book", this recipe probably goes back to the earliest days of cheese production and is delicious and thrifty too. This is my all-time favourite book, the autobiography of a woman in rural 19th century England, I read it again and again...

Potted Cheese...
More a method than a recipe really

grated cheese, (here you can use up any scraps you have, the bit that's in freezer "just in case"; this is where the thrift comes in)
weigh the cheese and mix in about 1/3 it's weight of butter, eg if you have 180gms of cheese then use 60gms of butter.
add a splash of Worcester sauce, a smidge of mustard, a shake of mace or nutmeg and pepper to taste
that's it!

It's lovely on crackers or toast...

Other thrifty meals this week/end have been a celery, pumpkin and barley soup, a vegetable curry from here with an added 2-3 tablespoons of red lentils and chives from the garden, leftover beef and bean stew from the freezer and a treat, a small rump steak for $5 that did 4 meals!
Today I'm making a pork mince(250gms), green lentil and potato curry and perhaps some scones. The scones freeze well and use much less fat and sugar than cakes or biscuits so cost less to make and Joe loves them with some strawberry jam!

At the forum there is chat about a challenge in May to feed yourself for 5 days on $10. It's a fundraiser and hopefully an eye-opener to show how so many people do have to eat, even here in wealthy western countries. Have a look at the menus and ideas
Live Below The Line
As pensioners paying rent Joe and I are right on the poverty line but prove it is possible to live well on much less money.

Here's a nice salad lunch we had recently...home-made coleslaw and bread and butter pickles and a little cheddar cheese...lovely with a slice of home-made bread

The morning after the night before when Twitch was more awake he explored the gazebo for quite some time...was he looking for the children?

and my Peace rose has begun flowering again...

Well I did say yesterday I had lots to tell you...phew!
Hope your week is going along OK
Love from Sue
xx