I'll have a slice of soup please ;o)

Hello one and all. Miserable, wet and cold to start off with today, but it turned out nice again. My food stocks are getting dangerously low, the fridge is empty, and not many tins left. Yesterday I decided to use up the half packet of dried soup mix, which was only two years out of date. Soak it for eight hours, bring to the boil and simmer. I added the last onion, a large potato, and three packets of frozen home grown runner beans. Then I zapped it with the stick blender. 

Anybody like a slice of soup, ha ha. Had some for dinner last night, lunch today, and another bowlful just now. I think I'll go into business making healthy baby food, ha ha. It tastes alright, I watered it down a bit so it goes down more easily without chewing.

I made time to go to the park this morning. They are busy with clearing the leaves at the moment, one tractor with a blower on the side, and two men walking around with hand held blower machines strapped to their body. They didn't seem to be making much progress, just moving them around. 

The ducks lolling about in the sunshine.

It was a lovely afternoon so I did a bit of tidying in the garden. The brown bin is to be emptied on Monday, and as I haven't put much in it over the last month I thought I would trim up the hedges between me and next door. I'm afraid I went a bit crazy with the loppers and hacked quite a lot off. It won't all fit in, I will put some in my neighbours bin, he won't be doing any gardening before Monday.

The gas and electric bills came through the letter box this morning, I was keen to see them because it's about a year since I changed supplier. Three weeks short of a year actually, so my bills are from 12th Jan to 23 December. My four electricity bills add up to �89.09, and my projection for the next twelve months is �107.06. There is a mistake with the reading on the gas bill, they have taken the November reading instead of the December one. It comes out at �10.25, they are 39 units short. I rang them up and they are going to send another bill. I estimate the new bill to be slightly more than double this one. Total gas over the three bills is �57.07, they project my next years usage will cost �71.73.

All in all I am pleased I changed to Ebico, no this isn't an advert, they are not paying me, I have no standing charge, no penalties for quarterly bills, and their prices are frozen across the board for everyone until 2016. If you are considering changing you need to know your  annual consumption, this company may not be the best for you if you are not a low user like me.

I've just seen the time, I'm off to Tesco now to search for yellow stickers. Toodle pip.

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Nuts about nuts

Hello. I'm getting lost with the days, what with having the holidays mid week, I thought it was Sunday today. Not a very nice start, it was very dull, and raining. 

I know some of you like to know what I eat, sorry I'm not good with the recipes, I just make it up. If you read my blog regularly you will see lots of photo's of vegetables, because that's what I like best. I don't care if it doesn't look like a meal from a posh restaurant, I know it's going to taste delicious, well most of the time, ha ha. You can't really go wrong with steamed veg, all you need to do is prick them with a fork while cooking, and removed them from the heat pretty sharpish before they turn to mush. I don't usually have any anything else with them so as soon as they are ready they are eaten. A sprinkle of grated cheese is lovely. Occasionally I might make half a mug of veggie gravy in the microwave, if I can be bothered. Or as a treat I might buy some dips, or mayo. The taste of slightly crunchy sprouts is divine, oh, and broccoli is just scrumptious. My dinner from two days ago. 

A while ago I bought a box of Caffe Latte, I fancied something a bit different to plain Nescafe. I used some of the single sachet's, but the taste didn't excite me, not enough coffee in them.These three have been in the cupboard for ages. What to do with them. Empty them into the jar, and mix ordinary coffee in with them. Nothing wasted in this house.

I fancied some pasta yesterday. I never buy sauce in jars, always make my own, it's simple enough. I chopped a large onion into a medium size pan and added a portion of frozen home grown runner beans. Cook them in a slug of oil until they start to soften. Add whatever spices you have. I used garlic powder and turmeric, and a shake of this and that, ha ha. Chuck it all in. Then I added a tin of chopped tomatoes, and simmered a little while longer. When ready I zapped it with the stick blender. It was lovely. I made three portions of pasta and two portions of sauce. I ate one last night, one tonight, and the rest of the pasta I will eat with cheese and mayo tomorrow,

I had some packets of chopped nuts which needed using up, I eat a lot of nuts, so I thought I would see if they would turn into nut butter if I pulverized them in the food processor. I also have some linseeds so I put them in as well. It was a fairly stiff consistency so I added a slug of olive oil. Then I tasted it, yuk, not great. What to do next. 

I had to divide the mix in half because there was too much for the mixer to cope with. I opened a tin of chick peas and added that, plus some spices, and a squirt of tomato ketchup. Much better consistency now. 

Next I fashioned it into small patties. The mixture was sticking to my disposable gloves, I prefer to use them rather than use my bare hands. Under the grill they went. I got 18 out of it. They taste quite nice, an improvement would be more curry powder, a bit more spicy would be better. They are fine hot or cold, and would be a great addition to add to a snack box.

I wanted to top up the pet food so I went off to a small retail park this afternoon, not very far away. A few years ago most of the shops closed as they went out of business, but new companies have moved in to take their place. It's a nice place to shop now. Not too busy, and plenty of parking. Yes it's out of town, but it's an old established park, not like the brand spanking new ones that are springing up everywhere. It's got shops where I can actually afford to buy things. Poundstretcher, Home Bargains, Dunelm, Pound Shop, Iceland, and Matalan. If anyone needs sugar, it's still 49p in Poundstretcher. I got some Quorn burgers, sausages, and roast from the freezer in Iceland, all half price at �1 each.

Today's colour is.......blue. I didn't have far to go to take this. The daffodils are coming up in my back garden, near to the back door, and I keep stepping on them. A plastic ball on a stick does the trick to remind me to walk round them.

Hey, it's Saturday night, chill time. Thanks for looking in. Have a nice Sunday. I think it's going to rain again ;o(( Toodle pip.

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Fruit and nut case

Good evening. Another wet day, but not to worry, plenty to do indoors. I must say, it's a pleasure spending time in my living room now with it's much improved layout. I can shuffle backwards and forwards from sewing machine to computer on my wheelie chair. It's got a feeling of much more space, I am not cramped up on one table. More sewing today, no pics of that because there is nothing finished yet. 

Let's talk about healthy food. I bought a lot of fruit on yellow stickers and the easiest and quickest way to eat it is to make smoothies. Yesterday was banana, melon, and grapes, with added yogurt, also yellow sticker at 39p.

Today was mango, apple, and nectarine, plus added yogurt again. There was also a little pot of red berry juice in the pack. 

It was gorgeous. Now what do you do when it sticks to the blender? Lick it off of course.

Someone asked about the exotic fruit. �1 per pack of three, yellow sticker price, 10p. Here it is, the first one is cut open. It's the size of a satsuma with a smooth orange skin.

No idea how to eat it, so I scooped it out with a teaspoon. No pips in it. Tasted very sweet and not particularly fruity. There is nothing to say on the packet what it is.

I ran out of my favourite peanut butter a few weeks ago and can't bring myself to pay the silly prices for an upgrade. My idea is to make some in the food processor. Here we go, one bag of KP nuts, 360 grm, bought from the cash and carry for �1. Nothing else added.

After a couple of minutes it looks the right texture.

I transferred it into a margarine tub and put it in the fridge. Taste wise it would have been a whole lot better if I had washed the salt off first. Oooops, I forgot. Never mind, it will get eaten, and now I know it works I will be making more, with plain unsalted peanuts, or washed salted ones.

Tonights dinner was experimental. As I had messed up the mixer I thought I might as well use it again. A few peanuts are fine in this made up recipe. A can of chick peas, drained and rinsed. One medium size onion, a few radishes and a few button mushrooms, the last limp spring onions, and some chopped walnuts. I added pepper, garlic powder, and turmeric. Chop and mix it up, leaving it a bit coarse. Then add two eggs to bind it. It seemed a bit too wet so I added two spoons of porridge oats. 

Make some scone size patties with it and grill on a low gas for 20 minutes turning them over once.

I had seven for dinner with wholegrain mustard, iceberg lettuce and lentil sprout mix. It was smashing, very filling, and best of all, I know exactly what went in them. Enough mix left for tomorrow. I have noticed that vegetarian food in the freezer and chiller cabinet has gone up in price, so I will be buying less of it and making my own more often.

That's all for tonight folks. Thank you for popping in.
Toodle pip

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Brilliant day at Hull Scrapstore

Hiya all, I've had a brilliant day at the Scrapstore in Hull. It was very busy, there was lots going on, refreshments with scrumptious cake, childrens crafting activities, and lots of interesting stalls to peruse manned by lots of lovely people. The Scrapstore is in an old school building in an area where the housing has been extensively regenerated so there are lots of people within walking distance. We were busy for the whole of the five hours we were open. 

My stall was about ideas for art and craft projects. I wasn't charged a fee for the table, but I was able to sell a few things and donate the money to the Scrapstore. A lot of what I had on display wasn't for sale, it was there to show what could be done with rubbish that might be thrown away. Mind you I did sell some things I hadn't intended to sell. so I will have to make some replacements, ha ha. People wanted to buy the cat food pouches bags, but I held on to those, they are my props and I don't want to make any more. I hope people go away and try to make them for themselves after I explained how to do it. six of the seven fabric bowls sold, the only one which didn't was the biggest one I made yesterday. It was Pensive Pensioner who suggested they would look nice on a table with bread rolls in them, so if you are reading this PP, please email me your postal address and I will send you this one so you can use it as a guide to making your own. None of the bags sold, strange that, as everyone uses bags. I put a price of 75p on them, but no one wanted to pay it. I will put them out again on our cat stall at the end of the month, at the Christmas market. You will recognize some of the items on my stall. 

Some photo's of the other stalls. Lovely knitted items for sale.

This lady has written and published her own childrens books.

This lady makes beautiful doggy coats and accessories.

The Scrapstore Raffle was popular, only �1 and every ticket wins a prize.

Here is one of the visitors, I just had to speak to him. I love the way he is dressed entirely in vintage second hand clothes, his style is wonderful, very dapper. Love his long hair and eye makeup. Love his smile, in fact he made me smile. I love people who have their own style and are proud of their individuality. I had a lovely conversation with him and his parents, although I probably did most of the talking, so what's new, ha ha, and do you know what, he was just as nice inside as he was outside.  Pleased to meet you today, Jason, and if you are reading, take a look at Vintage Vixen's blog from Kinky Melon, the link is on the sidebar.

The best part of today was meeting people. I didn't need to push sales, I wasn't bothered about selling anything, I just wanted to inspire people to think about the rubbish they throw away, and the rubbish the good people of Scrapstore collect from businesses, and then get them to think about another use for it. It was definitely worth going.

When I got back I didn't feel like cooking, the weather is murky and I wanted hot food quickly. This mishmash took ten minutes, hardly any preparation and cooked in one pan. Two big mushrooms chopped and cooked in a little oil. Add lemon juice and some spices. Chuck in the rest of the pasta I cooked the other day, and some of the yellow sticker egg noodles. Then add the last bit of the curly kale soup. Sounds awful, looks horrible, but it was deeeeelishus and very filling.

Time for me to relax and put my feet up now. A glass of wine I think, and a look around the catch up channels for an hour's entertainment. Have a nice Sunday. Toodle pip.

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The best green soup ever

Hello. I wanted something quick and easy to make tonight. I've been out for most of the day at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and didn't want to be slaving over a hot stove when I came in. As usual I popped into the big Tesco on my way in, to fill up with fuel and to see if there was any yellow stickers. I found a huge bag of spinach down from �1.60 to 78p. Fantastic, all those greens will be good for me, and it is quick to cook.  

For tonight's soup, the last one of the week, I used chick peas and spinach. The chick peas I get from Home Bargains at 29p a tin. Into the pan went half a tin, with a veg stock cube and a shake of mixed spices. Then I stuffed a load of leaves on top, and mixed it together, It takes about 30 seconds of heat for the spinach to shrivel. 

Then I stuffed some more leaves on top. When it was ready for zapping with the blender, I added the magic ingredient, a teaspoon of pesto houmous, with a 15p yellow sticker of course.

And here we have green soup, with a blob of plain yogurt. Bingo, I've hit the jackpot here, the best soup of the week. It was fandabidozi delishus. I will be definitely making this again.

I will post the pictures of the Sculpture Park tomorrow, it's too late to do it now. If you want to see them pop back sometime over the weekend if you have got a minute. The fireworks are going off around me as I type, and I expect many more in the next few days. Be careful if you are having a  party, and don't forget to search the bonfire for sleeping hedgehogs before you light it. Have a nice weekend.
Toodle pip

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All you need is soup

Well here we go again, more soup, I bet you are getting sick of it. Never mind, only one more to go. Tonight I have chucked in a few vegetables. One medium size onion. A few sprouts. One and a half parsnips. The last few florets of the fancy cauliflower. And a few spinach leaves, not shown on the photo because I put them in at the end. Then I added a shake of black pepper, a shake of garlic powder, a shake of mixed spices, some Rustic Ratatouille mix, and a squirt of tomato ketchup. 

Again I zapped it with the blender and added some plain yogurt. I could have eaten it as a stew as it looked rather nice. I didn't take a photo, the finished soup was the same colour as last nights. Taste wise it was quite nice, perhaps a bit too much tomato sauce, but you know me, nothing gets thrown away here, everything is eaten.

Another little experiment with the blender. I've had these pineapple pieces in the cupboard for a while, bought them when they didn't have any peaches. Since then I have bought peaches and the pineapple has sort of been ignored, until today, so, I've whipped them up to make a fruit juice drink. Diluted with water to double the volume, and at 35p it's cheaper than buying a carton of juice.

Here is a little teaser, a snapshot of a small section of the new picture. I'm just in the process of sewing the leaves on. I want to get it ready for two weeks time.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip

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Spice up your soup

Hello, how are you getting on with your home made soup, I see some of you have been squishing your ingredients to a pulp. More power to your elbow, keep on squishing.

Barbara asks where do I buy my spices, thank you for the question. My spice cupboard is very sparse, I chucked a lot out a couple of years ago. They had been shoved to the back and were never used, so I thought, why am I keeping them. Everything I have is here. I very rarely buy spices now, don't want to go back to the situation I was in before with far too many. The ones I use most are the curry powder, turmeric, and garlic powder. I buy big bags so they last ages, and I know I am going to use it up. The last time I bought garlic powder they only had smaller packets, now I need to go back and get some more. I get them from the Asian shop in town. I don't decant them into containers, I fold the top down and secure with a clothes peg. No need to buy those fancy plastic clips. 

I have three little jars, and I've just noticed I have two black peppers. Someone gave me the Saxa pot. 

I buy a few packet sauce mixes from the Cash and Carry, they also have a market stall. They are 20p each. I ignore the fact that some of them are supposed to be used for meat dishes, I buy them because they are cheap. I never use a whole packet for one meal, I just add a teaspoonful, or shake a bit out of whichever one I fancy at the time.  

I also get these from the Cash and Carry. The Bisto is out of date by one year, and the stock cubes were out of date in February last year. Both were 50p each.

And there you have it.I know very little about spices, I use them sparingly, a lot of my food has no spices at all. I like to taste the vegetables. 

So, what is the soup for today then. I ate a portion of yesterdays soup for my lunch, and this afternoon I made some sprout and parsnip soup. I used a small pan because I only wanted to make one portion, and I boiled the veg instead of steaming it. Chop the sprouts in half and slice the parsnips. I added a little bit of the chicken tikka masala mix, a shake of pepper, and a shake of the Mexican taco spice mix. That was all that was needed. Boiled it for about eight minutes. 

It was a sort of light beige colour, not as dark as this picture, it doesn't look very appetizing here. I stirred in two spoons of plain yogurt, and it was amazingly yummy. It tasted of parsnips with a spicy flavour, not too hot, just right. One to make again, I think.

I'll have a look and see what I've got for tomorrows soup. Another home made experiment. Could be interesting. Thanks for visiting, and welcome to the new readers. Toodle pip

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Soup what's good for you

Hello my little bloggerettes, have you had a souper day? Thank you for your recipes, lots of ideas coming into the comments section. Here is my second contribution to the soup recipe list. I have had this packet of soup and broth mix hanging around in my cupboard for a long time. I didn't buy it, someone gave it to me, because they thought they would never get round to using it. It's been in my cupboard for over a year, and it was out of date when it was given to me. It's about time I used it, after all it's only two years out of date, ha ha. Yep, November 2012. To buy it now it would cost �1.15

I followed the instructions on the packet, soak overnight, drain and rinse. Add it to a pan of boiling water, I used half the packet, and boil for 10 minutes, then simmer for 35 minutes. While all this was going on I prepared two large potatoes and one onion, and added them to the pan. Also one teaspoon of curry powder and a teaspoon of turmeric, and a shake of black pepper. The smell of curry filled the kitchen.

Here it is nicely stewed, I could have eaten it like this. I then turned the gas off and let it cool down. I went out for the afternoon, and when I came back I transferred it to not a none stick pan, and zapped it with the stick blender. There was a lot of it, I had to use a big pan.

I decanted some into a bowl and microwaved it for my dinner. I wasn't too impressed with the bland taste, it was missing something, so I added some grated cheese and garlic powder. Stirred it in and microwaved again. That was much better. Very tasty. After I had eaten it I then added some garlic powder to what was left in the pan, also two teaspoons of veg gravy granules. I gave it a stir and refilled the bowl for tomorrows lunch, and filled three margarine tubs for the freezer. So, five large portions of soup for less than �1.
 

This afternoon I went to help Helen at the rental house. She had described the state of it to me, and I saw the photo's, but the full extent of the horror of it became apparent when she took the carpets up. It looked like the tenants had been walking around the house in filthy dirty work boots, but worse was the smell of cat pee. They had had four cats in there and let them pee wherever they liked, don't think they have heard of litter boxes. The smell was horrendous, there was rat and mice droppings, it looks like they had kept birds as well, bird seed and droppings in the garage and shed. How can people live like that. Oh the joys of being a landlord. The tenants were evicted because it stated clearly in the agreement that no pets were allowed. The gardens are not too bad, I did the front one this afternoon. Will go back next week and tidy the back one. 

On the way home I called in at the smaller Asda in town. We have a big one out of town but I never go there, it's too far out. I'm glad I stopped to have a look. Two 500grm bags of brussel sprouts 33p each. A bag of parsnips 22p. Tub of potato salad 18p. And I bought a small carton of milk, mainly for the cats but I might use a drop myself. �1.55 spent.  

I think I have an idea for tomorrows soup, erm....Sprout and parsnip, ha ha.
That's me done for tonight. I have got a lovely clean bedroom with clean bedding to get into, heaven. I love my bed. Sleep tight.
Toodle pip.

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Soup of the day

Hello. I've never really liked tinned soup. Occasionally I've had tomato or mushroom, as a quick snack, but not been overly keen on it. There are so many different kinds now, but somehow I can't bring myself to try any. There are too many ingredients listed on the label, it puts me off buying it. I imagine huge vats of gunge bubbling away in the factory, yuk, I don't fancy that at all. 

I've checked out the price of tinned soup, Baxters is �1.15 and �1.49. Campbells is �1. Heinz is 74p and 89p. Tesco is 49p and 89p. Tesco Value is 25p. 

So this week I'm having a home made soup extravaganza. A different one every day. There won't be any spending on ingredients, it will be all about using what I already have. I am sure you could make soup out of almost anything, all you need is a stick blender, and a bit of imagination.

Today's soup is potato and runner bean, home grown from the garden. Into the steamer goes two potatoes, and a portion of frozen beans. Steam for seven minutes, then transfer it to a smaller non stick pan, with the water. 

Next I added a shake of pepper, a shake of garlic powder, and a level teaspoon of whole grain mustard. Zap it all together, and return to the heat for a couple of minutes. Served with a slice of wholemeal bread. Very comforting on a blustery day, and tasty too, at very little cost. Please excuse poor photo's, flash needed now we don't have many daylight hours. The soup was a pale green colour, eaten straight out of the pan I may add, to save on washing up. More soup tomorrow.

Heidi has found a new favourite place, on top of the fridge freezer. She can view the whole kitchen from this vantage point, and can be ready to receive any tasty morsel that might be offered. I've brought the money plants inside now, I have three of these, still haven't found a place for the other two.

Mayze has decided she quite likes to sleep in my box of crafting bits and bobs, now I have stolen all the fabric that was lying around on the table. The cats were inside by 5.30pm tonight, I try and get them in as soon as it gets dark.

While I think of it, Beverley, please go back to your comment yesterday, someone has asked about your recipe for apple sauce. Feel free to explain what it is in another comment.

I'm a bit busy this week, things to do. Going to help Helen tidy the garden at one of her rental houses. Apparently the previous tenants have moved and left the house and garden in a terrible state. Lots of work to do. Also helping a friend with a couple of dog walks, and trying to get the picture finished. I like being busy.

Feel free to add your favourite soup recipes, let's make it a souper dooper soup week.
Toodle pip.

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