Pesky to Pretty

I was popping round to a friends the other day, and wanted to bring round a little "thank you for having me and allowing my dear son to drool all over your carpet" present. A batch of cheese scones made earlier that morning seemed suitable, but how to make them look pretty?

I had a rummage through my clothing for any tops or dresses that have those annoying little satin tags. The fact they are far too long to be of any use keeping your clothes on a hanger comes in very handy for this idea. Its very satisfying to now provide them a purpose in life considering how irritating I find them! I mean, you put on a top and there are these stupid loops slung around your neck, or sometimes they work themselves into a circulation stopping position around your arm. Even when wound around underwear straps they have an uncanny ability to unravel and appear when you're out in public ....pesky little things. Well no longer....because you too can free yourself of their irritating existance.  Grab a pair of scissors and cut as close to their source as you dare.

All you need now is a large roll of flower arrangers cellophane and a pair of scissors.

Cut a large enough piece of cellophane to allow your edibles to sit in the centre of it and be covered on all sides with a tuft left at the top. Gather the cellophane up around and tie together with the satin clothing tag. Pretty!

Raid the larder Meal Plan

As a slightly over-organised person I like to plan our meals for the week ahead before going to the supermarket. It helps ensure I only get what we need –provided I bypass the chocolate section…and the tantalisingly temping offers. IT’S ONLY A BARGAIN IF YOU NEED IT! Usually I start planning from “what do I fancy eating this week” or “what new recipes have I seen that I want to try”.  This time however I raided the larder for inspiration, so it only cost me £40 in the Supermarket. Result! This also explains the vast quantity of tuna on the menu, and the condensed soup-I think it’s been in the cupboard a while! I can’t promise your shop will be the same fantastic price, that all depends on how much you have stashed away in the back of the cupboard or freezer.

The cupcake recipe is from the Primrose Bakery. They freeze well, look pretty and taste sublime. Having cake in the freezer at all times ensures you’re never caught short in a moment of need, when that cup of tea beckons. Any unexpected guests will be very impressed!

	Dinner
Monday	Baked potatoes with tuna and sweetcorn, coleslaw, cheese and baked beans. Served with salad.
Tuesday	Baked potatoes with tuna and sweetcorn, coleslaw, cheese and baked beans. Served with salad.
Wednesday	Sausage and lentil casserole with couscous and swede
Thursday	Fish Pie with swede
Friday	Bacon and Pesto Pasta with mushrooms served with salad
Saturday	Bacon and Pesto Pasta with mushrooms served with salad Fish Pie served with swede
Sunday	Sausage and lentil casserole with couscous and swede
Monday	Tuna and sweetcorn Pasta Bake, with salad and cherry tomatoes
Tuesday	Fish Pie with swede
Wednesday	Tuna and sweetcorn Pasta Bake with salad and cherry tomatoes

Breakfast	Wheat Biscuits, Banana, Fruit Juice
Lunch	Pick from: soup, Cream cheese and cherry tomato or Cheese savoury sandwiches plus anything from ‘little something’ section
Little something	Mini Lemon Cupcakes, Mince pies with ice-cream or custard, Kit Kats­­, Yogurt, Clementine, Grapes, Banana, Crisps

Ingredients for ‘Raid the Larder’ meal plan

Ingredients

2 onions

2 leeks

1 swede

14 Bananas

clementines 2 bags

Grapes/other fruit on offer

2 packets of salad (to feed 4)

400g pack mushrooms (any)

400g pack cherry tomatoes

2.5kg bag baked potatoes

large tub coleslaw

2X 400g mature cheddar

2 X 250g butter

(soup if desired)

1 pack sausages (450g)

120g chorizo or german salami

250g smoked bacon

400g fish – a mix of smoked and white

150g prawns (or get 500g fish instead)

6L semi-skimmed milk

300ml pack Philadelphia

600mls crème fraiche

yogurt (enough for 10 days)

(soup if you would like some for lunch)

2 small tins sweetcorn

2-3 tins tuna

1 jar pesto (red pepper is best)

1 jar campbells condensed mushroom soup

2 tins baked beans

500ml passatta

Wheat Biscuits (48)

12 eggs

3 loaves bread (or packet of bread flour for bread maker)

 (kit kats and mince pies)

Multipack crisps

4L Fruit Juice

Store Cupboard

garlic

150g green lentils

bay leaves

cous cous

frozen peas and sweetcorn (1/2 cup of each)

smoked paprika

tagliatelli (1/2 kg packet or 14 balls)

Pasta any shape 330g

2 lemons

icing sugar

golden caster sugar

s.r. flour

plain flour

mayonnaise

Recipes for ‘Raid the Larder’ meal plan

Sausage and Lentil Casserole (adapted from a Nigel Slater recipe)

120g chorizo

2 onions each chopped into 8 pieces

8 sausages

500mls passatta

150g green lentils

2 bay leaves

Method

Chop chorizo into 1cm thick matchsticks and fry in a large saucepan with the onion for 5 mins.

Add the lentils and let them soak up the juices for a few minutes.

Throw in the sausages to lightly brown. Add the passatta and enough water to completely submerge them.

Slip in 2 bay leaves, bring to boil and simmer for 30 mins.

Serve with mash and steamed swede.

Fish Pie

400g fish (mix of white and smoked)

100g prawns

1 cup frozen peas and sweetcorn

3 eggs boiled and peeled

2 large leeks

300mls crème fraiche

150mls whole milk

4 large potatoes

½ swede

200g butter

Method

Boil or steam the potatoes and swede. When soft, mash together with butter and season to taste.

Saute leeks in some butter until soft. Season.

Place fish, prawns, peas, sweetcorn, and eggs into a deep casserole for 4 people. Cover with the crème fraiche and milk

Place leeks on top of mix

Cover with mashed potatoes and swede and cook for 45 mins or until fish cooked through.

Bacon and Pesto Pasta (from Good Food website)

250g smoked bacon cut into small strips

300g crème fraiche

2 tbsp pesto (roasted pepper works best)

300g mushrooms

14 balls tagliatelli

Method

Boil tagliatelli in slightly salted water.

Using a large frying pan, fry bacon in its own fat.  Add sliced mushrooms when the bacons nearly cooked.

Once mushrooms have softened add pesto and crème fraiche to the pan stirring to mix.

Drain the pasta and toss around the frying pan to ensure it is thoroughly coated in the sauce.

Serve with salad and cherry tomatoes. Lovely with parmesan and black pepper.

 Tuna and Mushroom Pasta Bake

1 can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Condensed Soup

125ml milk

330g cooked pasta

1X (185g) tin of tuna (drained)

1 small can of sweetcorn (drained)

5 mushrooms sliced

2 packets of plain crisps (crushed)

80g grated cheese

Method

Cook your pasta in hot slightly salted water until al dente. Turn oven on to gas 6.

Add the soup and the milk to a medium sized saucepan, bring to the boil stirring frequently.

Add the pasta, tuna, sweetcorn and mushrooms then simmer for 1 minute stirring continuously.

Pour the mixture into a heat proof dish, top with crushed crisps and the cheese.

Cook in oven until the cheese is golden brown and whole dish is bubbling, about 20 mins.

Eating less, costs less

January; a long, lean month.

It’s a long time until the next pay-check, and every time you try to squeeze into your previously perfectly fitting jeans, you wish you were leaner. Well, the ideal solution popped into my head today:

Eating less, costs less

a)      If you EAT LESS snacks and puddings, you don’t need to buy snacks or puddings, and so the grocery bill COSTS LESS.

b)      If you decrease your portion sizes, the ingredients stretch further and you spend less.

c)      If you EAT LESS richly, you will have fewer calories and your grocery bill should also follow the nature of the food.

Now it may seem obvious, but I quite like it as a little mantra when wandering around the supermarket. The next time you feel yourself being drawn into a great offer, don’t succumb, just say that little phrase to yourself a few times and you should find yourself walking safely past, remaining strong in your resolve, thin and most importantly solvent.

If you are like me, and feel that a cup of tea served on its own is in some way missing its soul mate, rest easy in your mind as this phrase can be applied to those “little somethings” too. They’re not really snacks after all, just little tasters. Consider for example the cupcake, which previously would have fitted this category very elegantly.  With the addition of 4 letters, it becomes smaller, and much more attractive to a person in pursuit of leanness. Behold the mini cupcake.  



Santa knew what he was up to when he delivered my mini-muffin tray….

Birth of a blog

Well here we are, I've finally given into the inevitability of writing some sort of a blog, but it has taken me nearly a year! Blogging seems almost a rite of passage of being a modern(ish!) Mum. So here goes, I've had a child, may the blog begin...

Obviously I'm not actually called Polly, and if you can tell who I am from my profile picture you have phenomenal eyesight. So why "parsimonious"? Well, my dh has a little reputation round about for being very careful with the old cash, and at our wedding my father-in-law referred to him as being parsimonious - excessively frugal. A very fitting title for him, and I thought it was a nice description of what I intend this blog to be about, although it will possibly be more "frugal", than "excessively frugal"! All things in moderation. As a fan of alliteration the Polly part was the natural conclusion and here we have it, Parsimonious Polly.