Harvest

So this is a significant proportion of our harvest this year.  Fluffrick wanted to have a go at growing some potatoes and as we don't have a lot of garden we grew these is a large plastic tub.  Now it's not a huge quantity of potatoes, maybe three meals, but the do taste fantastic, better than any I've bought.

The Blueberry crop has been pitiful, One blueberry bush died in the cold winter weather, so we bought a replacement, but it hasn't cropped at all.  But there were just enough blueberries to have Blueberry Pancakes for Sunday breakfast, which was nice.

The Tomatoes are doing well, better than I've ever had before, but they don't seem to want to ripen.  They also taste good, although the skin is a little thicker than bought tomatoes and I wonder it that is because they are slower growing.

I have a little chilli plant again this year, which is cropping quite well, certainly well enough for my Mum who is not a huge fan of very spicy food, and these chillies are hot.

Fortunately were do not have to survive on this harvest, but each year we are growing a little more.  I might see if Fluffrick want to give Brussel Sprouts a go for our mid winter meals. 

Super Soup September - Kohlrabi Soup

So normal service is resumed - in other word intermittent and spotty.  There are times when I just don't have anything to say (my Mum would not agree this that statement), so I just won't say anything.  But for the moment I'm back and would like to share a new recipe.

Kohlrabi Soup

This is adapted from Janella Purcell's Wholefood Kitchen.

Ingredients - Serves 4

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Onion

1 Kohlrabi

500ml Vegetable Stock

1 Bay Leaf

500ml Milk (the original recipe used soy or almond milk)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large pan, dice the onion and to the oil and gently cook for a couple of minutes, but do not brown.

Peel and dice the kohlrabi, then add to the onion.

Add the stock and the bay leaf and simmer for 25-30 minutes until the Kohlrabi is tender. Remove the bay leaf, season and add the milk.  Simmer gently for a couple of minutes, then blend until smooth(ish).

I sprinkled my with a little smoked paprika, to add colour more than flavour and served it with Lidl's best Ryvita knock-offs.

Kohlrabi is a strange vegetable, but we get it on a semi regular basis in our weekly veg box, so it was nice to find a recipe for it.  Kohlrabi can be a wee bit fibrous, so push the blended soup through a sieve, may be required.  It have a very mild flavour and so did the resulting soup, I think this recipe would also work it cauliflower or broccoli were substituted for the kohlrabi (which may not be readily available.  

Approved Foods

So I've been reading Frugal Queen's blog for a while now and every now and then she refers to things she has acquired from Approved Foods.  So I thought I'd google them and fine out what it was all about.

So this is what I bought in my first order (I took advantage of the free delivery on your first order over £30).  Apparently I have saved almost £60 compared to the RRP, of course it won't be a saving at all it I don't actually use this stuff.  I'll have to try an remember to comment if I'm using approved foods when I post my meal plan.

How I've saved a third on our weekly food bill

Right off I should say I hate going to the supermarket.  I am not one of those people who is happy to trawl around several supermarkets just to find the best bargain.  I love watching Extreme Couponing (not that you can get such deals in the UK) but the notion of spending eight hours or more in a supermarket makes my blood run cold.  So just how do you go about cutting your food bill (without cutting quality).


1  Make a Menu  
The lovely Fluffrick and I have spent many a Friday night (we know how to live it up) wandering aimlessly around Sainsburys putting stuff in our trolley, getting to the checkout and having very little to make a meal from.  
If you know what you are going to eat, you can plan what you are going to buy.


2  Write a List
This may seem obvious, but it is something I have only started to do within the last year or so.  It means you will get all the ingredients for all the meals you have planned and if you happen to put Chocolate on the list then you will just have to buy it.  Having a list does not mean you will never make an impulse purchase, but it will mean you will buy what you need.


3  Cut Down on the Meat
I know not everyone will approve of this notion, but meat is expensive especially if you want to buy higher welfare meat (as I do).  Meat Free Mondays is a fantastic idea (although personally I don't find Mondays a good day as it is the only day we are likely to have leftover chicken).  Just one day a week will save you money, but we now have 3 or 4 days a week meat free (sorry Mum) and it has definitely had an impact on what we spend.  I have found that the more spice you have the less you miss the meat, try a mushroom curry and lovely dahl and gobi aloo with naan bread and see if you miss the meat.


4  Don't Waste Food
 If you have made a menu and written a list, you shouldn't end up with a fridge full of things going out of date or spoiling.   I like to buy apples and bananas, but invariably don't always get them eaten before they start to go a little sad, but don't bin them, make an Apple Cake or Banana Bread.  Love Food Hate Waste is a great resource for ideas to use up leftovers and to guide you about not making too much to begin with.


5  Make Your Own Lunch
Today (well everyday this week actually) the lovely Fluffrick will be having Spiced Couscous with Vegetables, last week he had Brie, Cranberry sauce, salad and a homemade bread roll, next week it might be spicey bean tortilla wraps.  It costs a whole lot less to make you own lunch than to buy a sandwich everyday.


There is nothing earth shattering here, but there is no doubt it is saving us money.  We could undoubtedly save even more money if I was willing to cut down on quality.  I don't really "do" brands, that doesn't say quality to me, shop own brands are fine with me. To me quality is buying high welfare meat, sustainable fish and organic or locally produced fruit and veg.  


It does pain me to say that the way to save money is to plan, a menu, a list and the eat what you buy.  The added bonus of using a shopping list is that I can get round the supermarket a whole lot quicker and that is always a plus to me.

I don't know if I'm being unreasonable

It's been a very long time since I have eaten red meat.  I announced to my Mum when I was thirteen that I was becoming a vegetarian and she told me that I wasn't.  She was worried that as a teen age girl a vegetarian diet would not provide me with enough iron or protein, it was the 1980's, she probably wasn't wrong.  We came to the compromise that I wasn't going to eat red meat, but I would still eat chicken and fish.

This has been the status quo for almost 30 years.  However, I find that I am increasingly adding vegetarian meals to the weekly menu and cutting down on the meat and this is not always going down well with my Mum.  I made the cover recipe from "Vegetarian Living" for Sunday lunch this week, a Borlotti  Bean and Chestnut Stew and Mum's initial reaction was to ask why we weren't having Chicken or Salmon.

The are several reasons that I am switching to more vegetarian meals, it's cheaper, it's healthier, it's also more exciting for me to cook, I love trying new things.  Is it unreasonable for me to expect my Mum to eat this food?  I don't mean to give the impression that Mum is a whinger, most of the time she happily eats the food I put in front of her.  I am just being too sensitive about any negative comments?  Maybe I just need to chill a bit and cut back on the Celeriac.

Sprout Soup Anyone?

This is not a recipe of my own invention, it is courtesy of Mary Berry's Family Recipes circa 1979 and she called it Frugal Soup, did she not think Brussel Sprout Soup would be appealing?

Ingredients -  serves 4

225g Brussel Sprouts

1 Leek

25g Butter

500ml Stock (from a cube, I use Kallo) Chicken or Vegetable

25g Plain flour

300ml Milk

Salt/Pepper

Nutmeg

Wash and roughly chop the sprouts, you don't need to trim them other than to remove the bottom stalky bit.  Wash the leek and cut into rounds.

Melt the butter in a large pan, add the leeks and soften gently for 5 minutes, don't allow to brown.  Add the hot stock and then the sprouts and bring to the boil.  Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the sprouts are tender.

Blend or liquidize the cooked sprout mixture, I use a hand blender, but they weren't around back when this recipe was initially written.  Whisk the flour into a little of the milk and add to the blended sprouts, followed by the rest of the milk and mix thoroughly.  Bring the soup back to the boil, stirring until slightly thickened, season with salt and pepper.  Serve with a little grated nutmeg.

You could make it even more festive by adding some cooked chestnuts after the soup has been blended, I keep meaning to try it like this, but have yet to get sound to it.

If you wait until next week to make this soup, you should be able to buy a bag of sprouts that the supermarkets are trying to off-load for mere pence, just don't try to give this to anyone who doesn't like sprouts.