Carrot and lentil soup

I've just made this in preparation for next week's meals and it's very tasty indeed so I thought I would share it.  It's a Thermione recipe but can easily be made in the normal way in a saucepan - saute the veg, add the seasonings and saute a bit more, add the water and lentils and cook, then zizz with a blender until smooth.  If a silky smoothness is wanted, push through a sieve.

I costed this all out (of course) and it came to a perfectly ridiculous 14p per serving.  Admittedly, the servings are not huge as I will use it for lunches at school, but even if you reduce it to 4 extremely huge bowlfuls, it will still be only 24p per person.  It has loads of veg and some protein from the lentils.  I'm no nutritionist but that doesn't sound bad to me.

As always, the veg amounts are variable.  I used what I had, weighed before any preparation, but haven't stated specific amounts although the costing is based on specific weights.   Ginger and coriander was to my taste - you might prefer more or less!  There's no mention of salt because the stock paste is salty.  And finally a disclaimer - I made this up from scratch without reference to any existing recipe but I bet it's not 'original' in the sense of never having been done before.  Any similarity to other recipes is entirely coincidental.

After all that waffle (sorry), here it is.

Carrot and lentil soup
Ingredients: (makes between 4 and 7 portions, depending on how hungry you are)

50g	red lentils
1/2 tbsp	olive oil
	small knob butter
1	rib celery
1	small onion
3	carrots (medium sized)
1	clove garlic
10g	ginger
300g	potatoes
900ml	boiling water
	ground coriander, pepper, 2 good tsps veg paste

Thermo Method:

Prepare all veg:

peel and quarter the onion

wash top and tail and chunk the carrots

chunk the celery

peel the garlic clove

peel the ginger

peel and chunk the potatoes and leave in water

50g red lentils

Grind on speed 9 for around 20 seconds or until a flour consistency.  Set aside.

celery

onion

carrots

oil and butter

Place veg in Tmx and chop on 6 for around 10 seconds.  Add the oil and butter..

Saute at 100/3 mins/speed 4

garlic

ginger

ground coriander

Start the blades running (about speed 4) and drop the garlic and ginger onto the running blades.  Add the coriander and sauté again 100/speed 4/2 mins

potatoes

boiling water

veg stock paste

lentil powder

Put the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and cook at Varoma/15 mins/speed 4

Once everything is cooked, give it all a good zizz.  I like a smooth soup so, instead of a normal puree and then pushing through a sieve, I blended at speed 9 for 1 minute (with a folded tea towel over the lit to stop the cup coming off) and it worked a real treat.

Recipe: tomato and bacon pasta (cheaper than chips)

Having just munched my way through this with great satisfaction and now feeling full up, I thought it was probably a good idea to share it.  I am sure it could be made better by using non-value, better quality stuff, but I truly enjoyed it, not solely because it was very good value.

So - here we go.  The amounts are somewhat weird and should be seen as variable.  For example, just because I used 46g onion, there's no reason why you should have to too!


Bacon and tomato pasta.

Ingredients
half a can of Morrisons value chopped tomatoes
5mls olive oil
46g onion, peeled and chopped
78g bacon
40g mushrooms, chopped
24g yellow pepper, chopped
60g value pasta (not as bad as it sounds, actually!
Salt, pepper and mixed herbs

Method:
Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan and add the bacon and onion, sautéing until the onion is softening and the bacon is cooked.
Add the mushroom and the yellow pepper and continue sautéing until softening.
Add the chopped tomatoes, some salt, pepper and mixed herbs.  Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for about ten mins or so.

Meanwhile, boil some pasta in salted water until al dente, or to preferred texture.
Drain the paste and return to the pan.  Add the tomato mixture and reheat to boiling.

Serve and enjoy!

Cheaper than chips: 3-5-13

I was extremely silly today.  I had carefully planned today's food, took the tomato soup out of the freezer, cut the bread and spread the butter, wrapped the flapjack, packed it carefully in my lovely owl bag given to me just over a year ago by my daughter and grandson and took it smugly to school in the sure and certain knowledge that . . .

a)   I had managed to produce a lunch from home every day this week instead of buying expensive and unhealthy pap from over the road and . . .
b)  It was all good and home made and I knew what was in it all.

 . . . when I remembered that today we were saying goodbye to a colleague and there would be a buffet lunch in the staffroom, provided by our wonderful kitchen staff, completely free of charge!

Doh!

So I enjoyed a most delicious lunch of quiche, chips, tuna, salad and the like, followed by fresh fruit platter.
And brought my packed lunch home again.

Yes, I could have had it tonight but I'd already prepared for a tomato and bacon pasta thingy both mentally and in terms of preparation of food.  So I'm having that tonight, today's lunch is now in the fridge for tomorrow and I am revelling in the knowledge that today's food has come to well under the pound because of the freebie lunch.  Can't complain, can I?

So - today's food was:
B  Banana and bacon pancakes (totally scrummy and a work in progress so watch this blog!)
L  As above - totally - er - free!  (and scrummy)
D  Tomato and pasta bake (hopefully scrummy!)
Grand total, including coffee:  81p

But - before anyone starts getting ideas, remember that the banana was a freebie and, of course, the total lunch was ditto!

I will post the week's totals tomorrow!

Not a recipe yet, but it will be.

I've just made (and devoured) banana pancakes with bacon and maple syrup.  It was rather nice but not quite right - yet.

I used -
50g flour
1/2 small banana
100ml milk

I used SR flour and I think that was right because it puffed up and went nice and fluffy.
You could taste the banana but it was a good taste, not a bad one.  In this recipe it was fine, but if it was a savoury pancake it might taste a little odd.  If the banana wasn't free, it would be better value to use a bit of an egg and save the rest for a scrambled egg breakfast the following day.
The bacon works fantastically well and I chopped the rest of the banana to have with the bacon and that worked a treat too.  I will do that again.
And finally I succumbed to a drizzle of maple syrup.  Instead of just drizzling it, I measured out 10 mls and that was a mistake - 10 mls was far too much and rather upped the cost as well as just being too much for my taste.  At least now I know my 'drizzles' really are just drizzles, not an optimistic underestimation!

The main problem was that the mixture was too thick.  It could have done with less flour and maybe less banana too.  It made two pretty thick pancakes and, while you didn't hear me complaining, I'm now feeling more full than I've been used to this week.  I'm also getting a bit of a sugar 'rush'.

So - next time.
40g flour
1/3 of a small banana or maybe a bit of beaten egg.
100ml milk
a slice of bacon
5mls maple syrup
butter from allowance
Rest of the banana for topping.

It's a work in progress right now.  Oh - and, with the free banana it cost  around 35.5p in total and it would have been 20.5p without the maple syrup.  We live and learn!

Cheaper than chips: 2-5-13

I seem to be getting into a pattern here.  While I know I'm not totally authentic in what I'm doing and I've set my own rules rather than following any other perceived wisdom, it does seem to be working well, I'm eating better, funnily enough, and certainly I am spending a huge amount less!  It's taking a lot of thinking though, a lot of calculator calculations and it's only week 1

Something I'm certainly doing differently:  I count the money as spent when I prepare it, not when I buy it.  I haven't thrown anything away yet and if I did, I would count it.  And I weigh veg before peeling or whatever.
Counting the cost at preparation time may sound daft and if I really was close to the bread line I couldn't do that, but it enables me to take advantage of offers and to buy whole packs of stuff.  It also means I don't have to shop daily.
I'm starting to just glimpse what a vicious circle it can be for those genuinely in need.

Tonight I was expecting to be going out and, as a result, spending nearly two week's food money on a meal and drinks, but I'm still coughing and spluttering and one of my friends is quite vulnerable to infections, so we've postponed it until next month.  Given that most of the weekend will be a washout for family reasons and Tuesday will either be dinner out or a buffet at mine, perhaps it is just as well.

Food today:
B  porridge with a banana (free)
L  tomato soup, bread and butter and a flapjack (all home made)
D  a 2 egg omelette with onion, mushroom and pepper, roasted tomatoes (free) and stewed plums for afters.  The stewed plums were shockingly dear, more than the omelette in fact but I had plums in the fridge and they needed using up or throwing away (no way).  I stewed them in sugar, water and one star anise and I have eight more (little) portions to freeze..
Coffee: 3 plus freebies at school.

Total cost:  £1.25 - but, of course, the banana, the tomatoes and quite a lot of coffee was free.  Cheating - perhaps, but real life!

I've read that you can make pancakes using mashed banana instead of egg.  Given that I have a pretty soft banana, I'm going to try that tomorrow morning.  I'm not sure how filling it will be, mind you.  Watch this space!

Cheaper than chips: 1-5-13

Day five:
I mentioned allowances yesterday:  here they are
2 small loaves and two rolls (home made)    63p
125g butter  50p
At the moment, that's it.

So what have I had today?
B  2 eggs, scrambled and two slices of toast and butter (those slices are small!)

L  egg roll (bread and butter from allowance), flapjack, plus another flapjack for just before staff meeting

D  butter bean burger on a roll with salad and coleslaw, I was going to have an apple but I'm full up!

Coffee 2 (plus freebie ones at school)

I have posted the recipe for the butter bean burger as it was really scrummy.

So today I have spent approximately £1.15.  And I have eaten well!

Recipe: butter bean burgers

This was so delicious, I just had to share.   I had the burger with lettuce under it and some red cabbage coleslaw topping in in a home made half and half roll and it tastes just so good!  I'm very glad I have another one for another day!
To cook it, I just brushed both sides with oil and gently fried in a non stick pan until the outside was crunchy.   I was a very soft burger and I had to turn it carefully

Definitely one to do again.

Butter bean burgers

Ingredients: to make two burgers

1/2	of a 100g of butterbeans, weighed raw, soaked and cooked	9p
knob	butter from allowance	-
40g	onion, finely chopped	2p
60g	yellow pepper, finely chopped	18p
half a stick	celery (an inner rib), finely chopped	2p
26g	second day bread. grated (or zizzed) from allowance	-
	small squidge garlic puree	2p
	salt, pepper, lemon juice, spices to taste	5p
1 tbsp	oil for brushing over before cooking	6p
	Total cost, excluding allowances Cost per burger	44p 22p

Method

Place the butter, onions, yellow pepper and celery in a saucepan and sauté slowly until the vegetables are softening, stirring occasionally.

Add the garlic puree and continue to sauté for another few minutes.

Add any spices you want to use – I used a pinch of mild chilli powder and a pinch of ground coriander.  Stir well.

While the vegetables are sautéing, put the butter beans into a bowl and mash with a fork, aiming for a crushed but not smooth texture.  Mix in the breadcrumbs.

When the vegetables are soft, add them to the mix and stir well.  Add the lemon juice and any other seasonings wanted – salt, pepper, etc, to taste.

Shape into two burgers, wrap and chill until needed.  I used my burger press and had no problems with the mixture falling apart.

Brush over with oil and cook in a pan.  Serve in a bread roll (if wanted) with wedges or a side salad (or both!)

Absolutely delicious!