Thursday 13 February 2014

Day 12 of Extremely Frugal February - Cheer Me Up!

Day 12 of 28 - Weather's Awful, I Need Cheering Up a Bit!!

Home grown summer fruit now defrosting!
I'm sorry there's not much news from here today (yesterday?) but it's been a bit of a non-day, other than the howling winds and flickering lights reminding us that the power could go at any minute. I attended the virtual #dghour event on Twitter but only a couple of others showed, so it turned out to be a bit of a non-event.

I succumbed to the lure of some extra heat, so there's a tiny 400w electric heater now switched on to keep the chill off the place when the fires have gone out for the night.

Cash spends - NIL

Breakfast - porridge

Lunch - pasta

Dinner - exact same as last night

Post received - 100 coffee filters bought with Nectar Point vouchers via eBay

Pal popped in with a bag of hay for the Frugaldom bunnies, it was a bit like an exchange gift from the piggies for their vegetable scraps.

I had a rummage in the kitchen cupboards last night and soaked some chick peas over night, but they've now gone n the fridge to be cooked tomorrow and used for I don't know what - a concoction, no doubt. If anyone can think of anything interesting to do with them that doesn't need olive oil, please let me know. I do have some sesame oil, if that's any good but we have nothing to dip and H doesn't like hummus.

While drinking a cuppa, I went to have another look at Gill's awesome house in Canada and drooled some more!

To cheer myself up I have now taken a carton of summer fruits from the freezer - a mix of blackcurrants and raspberries - and I'm going to make ice cream tomorrow. It will be my valentine treat from me to me. I may get around to making some lemon curd or even get around to making the second foot stool. I have grand daughter's blanket to finish, a massive rug to make, shelves in the living room waiting to be filled with books, a kitchen still in chaos and plenty of other things needing done. What I don't have is any paid work! I seem to have finished everything that needed doing and have no excuses not to fit in all these other things!

Have a happy Valentine's Day, regardless of your status! Even if it's you treating yourself to a batch of homemade ice cream, make the most of it and enjoy! :)

NYK, Frugaldom

12 comments:

  1. Happy Valentine's Day! Ice cream is the perfect gift :-)
    ~ Pru

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    1. Or consolation if you don't buy into the commercial hype - sick of seeing adverts for flowers, chocolates and jewellery. LOL

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  2. You can chop up the chick peas and make mock tuna salad with them. Add celery, relish, and mayo. Delicious. :)

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    1. Thanks, Belinda, but I have no celery, no relish and no mayo in stock, so that one's off the menu. I'm sure I saw somewhere that I can dry roast them like nuts, that might work. :)

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  3. I make a quick spiced Chickpea bake, I toss cooked chickpeas with a mix of oil, salt, pepper, curry powder and cumin seeds spread it into a tin and cook for 10 -15 minutes in a fairly hot oven. I add raw chopped mushrooms if I have some, left over cooked root veg or very finely diced raw onion. I mix cooked brown rice with it for the nutty taste. It is very filling and very cheap and it is also nice cold the next day. I have added small amounts of cooked meat to it and turned it into a pasty.

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    1. Pam, your spiced. baked chickpeas look just the ticket - no cumin seeds but I'm sure I have other stuff and we can do without the mushrooms. Thanks. :)

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  4. I just did an ingredients (include chickpeas, not oil) at allrecipes.com and it gave suggestions that ranges from brown rice pilaf to soups to salads and more. I find that site and feature so helpful when I can't think of what to make with what I have.

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    1. Thanks, I have that site listed in the handy links section of www,frugalforums.co.uk and have used it often in the past. :) With so much cabbage at my disposal, I'm seriously considering something like veg & chickpea stuffed cabbage with a tomato based sauce served with rice. :)

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  5. Thanks for the mention, I am glad you like the house. We got an offer last night but send it back and should hear back tonight about it. Meanwhile feel free to share the video link of the house tour to anyone: http://homesite.obeo.com/viewer/unbranded.aspx?tourid=852110

    As for chickpeas, I usually like them with chopped up tomato, chopped up cheese, and some oil and vinegar. Not huge chick pea eaters here.

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    1. Hi Gill, as per above comment, I'm going to use them in a stuffed cabbage concoction with spicy tomato sauce - blog to follow regardless of level of success. :)

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  6. I have an big bag of red lentils and put half a cup of rinsed and drained in all my soups; SO cheap and really bulks it out; no soaking either and a lovely bright color.
    I m afraid soups are my go-to eating for practically nothing. Save a few chickpeas to go in your soups. I like a chickpea salad made with garlic, olive oil, salt, a squeeze of lemon and a few herbs (chives are nice) and a handful of parmesan cheese.

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    1. I love lentils, although they are becoming very expensive whenever I find any to buy. A cheap bulk bag of those would be great! Soups are the basic staple meal here, too, but the likes of olive oil parmesan and even salad stuffs (other than when home grown) aren't things I have in stock. Everything I make needs to be liked by fussy house-share, too, so that can greatly reduce my choice of meals.

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