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

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

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

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.

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.

Nice and easy Sunday

Hello. Now what shall I write about tonight. No, that isn't a question for you, it's a question for me. I do not expect you to come up with ideas for a blog post, though if you do decide to ask me a question, I can usually cobble together an answer. You want to know how my day has been? Well, a bit uneventful. A mug of coffee got me going at 7am, nice that it's a bit lighter in the mornings now. The third tree was on my mind, the yellow one. I did some pink stitching on it last night, but wasn't happy, the colour wasn't right. So I unpicked it, and chose orange. Much better, orange stitching on a yellow tree, that will be fine. I got it finished, cross stitch, then had a bowl of bran flakes.

I did think about doing a load of washing but couldn't be bothered, There wasn't a full load in the basket so I decided to put it off until a bit more was added to it. The mess on the table was getting on my nerves, all the materials I had gathered together for the weaving were now a big tangled mess due to two cats using it as a bed. So I sorted it out to make some space to work on. Some of the fabric got binned, it frayed easy and was just too messy.

My elevenses was a banana sandwich, and my lunch was some of the tortelloni with spinach. This afternoon I did a bit in the garden. All the bean canes are now sorted, grouped together in size, tied up in bundles, and stored in the garage. I had a big hole in the middle of the raised beds, where an apple tree used to stand. It finally keeled over a few months ago, with a bit of pushing and shoving, and the hole needed filling in and the ground flattening. There was no apple tree root because it had rotted away, but there was a rose bush root which was next to it. A bit of sweating and cursing as I attacked it with a fork, and finally it came out. I put the contents of the compost heap in the hole and covered it up with soil. All riveting stuff, eh!

A bit more on the picture this afternoon, I can see the end in sight, but not yet. Just as I think it is not far off ready, I come up with another idea. You can't rush these things. You know I said I have been given another chrome towel rail exactly the same, well it isn't exactly the same, it is bigger. So, I have the choice of making another picture with it, or another idea is that I can place the smaller one, the picture, on top of the new one, and fasten the two together to make a frame. I wasn't going to give it a frame because I didn't think it needs one, but looking at them together, I think it looks pretty cool. I will give it some more consideration. You never know, I might come up with a better idea.

Dinner was steamed potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, and sweetcorn. I made a drop of gravy in a mug in the microwave to go with it. Very nice.

Well blow me down, the bulb has just gone in my desk lamp, I think I've got a spare somewhere. Nope the spares don't work either, think it needs further investigation, maybe it's the switch or the fuse in the plug. I'll check it out later, meanwhile I'll finish this with the ceiling light switched on. I have another desk lamp upstairs if I can't get this one to work.

Oh gawd, here's Heidi back again, she will insist on lying on the table in front of me. I might as well give up.

I will sign off now as I've got the bath water running. It's a bit slow at filling up but I think it's almost ready. A nice long soak awaits me, bliss.
Toodle pip

Trolley dolly on the hunt for bargains

Good morning. Listening to Sounds of the Sixties on Radio 2 as usual. Much more enjoyable than running round a track with 200 others on the Saturday morning Parkrun. I have given up on that, can get on my cross trainer if I feel the need to workout.

Trolley dolly did a town centre shop yesterday. I took the trolley because I knew I would have a lot of bulky stuff to carry. No point in stretching my arms when I can let the wheels take the strain. First port of call was the Cash and Carry on the way in. Not much to tempt me there. Mature cheese £2.50 for 350grm. I can get something similar at Aldi a bit cheaper, but although it says 'mature' on the label, it isn't as tasty, so I'll pay the £2.50 and get what I like.

I get pet food from Home Bargains, plus a few bits for myself. Two cartons of fruit juice, 59p and 49p, don't like to pay more than that. I use it very sparingly because of the sugar content, but diluted with copious amounts of water I can spin it out to make lots of drinks. I picked up a 500grm Coffee Mate for for £2.19, that's the same price as the other discount stores so it doesn't matter where I get it from. It costs a lot more at the supermarkets. Six large free range eggs, 99p is about standard price at most places.

On to B & M discount store. They have an offer on sugar at the moment. 69p per 1 kilo bag, or two for £1. Worth stocking up at that price, but the only thing I use it for is one spoon in my morning coffee, so it's going to last absolutely ages. Got the trolley so I might as well get it. There is an offer on Princes tuna flakes, 59p a tin, or two for £1. I got four tins for cat treats, All three cats like it, have to limit it though, too much salt. More pet food bought here. I treated myself to one 19p flapjack.

On to Wilko. I find this store expensive for what I want, but they have bags of Ultima dry cat food, chicken variety, at £1.75. Mayze and Heidi absolutely love this, though I limit it and give them a cheaper Whiskas dry as well. If you go and look for this, it's only the chicken variety at that price, other flavours are more expensive, don't know why.

Last point of call was Aldi. A few essential items needed. Two cartons of soya milk at 59p each. This is 65p at Tesco. A look at the Super Six veg offers, they are 59p today, and not much left, the counters look trashed. I rummaged through the 68p bags of bananas, searching for the largest amount I could get.  YAY, found 9 small bananas, that will do nicely. A bag of 7 large onions 59p. I would have liked smaller onions and more of them, but there aren't any, and I don't want to go traipsing anywhere else. A large tub of natural yogurt 45p. Two packets of cream crackers 28p each, these are a good price, and two packs of soft cheese with garlic and herbs, 49p each. I picked up a box of bran flakes, like to keep a spare in, 88p, same price as Tesco. I thought I might get a quiche, but they had a short date on them, and I have already had my quota of pastry type stodge with the pizza I ate. By the way, the pizza was awful, yes you do need to put your own topping on them, otherwise they are a rip off. I won't bother again, unless I find them drastically reduced to a few pence.

Looks like it might be a nice day, so best to get out in the sun, and top up my vitamin D. Have a nice weekend.
Toodle pip

We need more art

Hello. It has been reported that we are going to get a massive new factory on the banks of the Humber not far from here, and it's going to build new wind turbines. People are excited and rightly so, because there will be a few thousand new jobs created which are desperately needed for the area. Training has already begun in anticipation of this. 

I am in favour of exploring all sustainable energy sources, because one day the oil will run out. I know there is a lot of controversy around wind farms, but this post is not about that. One criticism is that they are ugly, but I have a solution to that. Why do they all have to be the same boring white colour? Who has decided that, the designers or the manufacturers? Was it put to a vote, or did one person sit at their drawing board and say, that's it, this is how I want them to be made, and they will be white?  

Well I have a better idea. Why not paint them different colours? Why not make them works of art? Paint hippy style flowers on them. Make them into trees with three branches. Put lights on them so they glow in the dark. Make them tourist attractions, start a turbine spotters club with a book so people can travel the country ticking off and photographing all those they have visited. Sell turbine spotters all inclusive holidays, it would do wonders for coach companies looking for business.

We could be the first country in the world to start a collection of artistic turbines. We could have visitor centre's selling mini turbine models. Trips up to the top of them for fantastic views. Helicopter rides to view them from above. There are endless possibilities. What we need at this new factory is someone with vision, someone who can exploit the full potential of money making spin offs. Even more jobs could be created.

As I walk around our towns I see lots of opportunities for improving the environment we live in. The dull drab exteriors of derelict buildings, empty shops, and groan inducing general mess of the place. I don't mean just litter, the way signs are put up everywhere which do absolutely zilch to cheer things up. What we need is lots of paint. We need empty shop fronts to be turned into works of art, posters to brighten them up. Brightly coloured waste bins. We need to think outside the box, not just take the easy option and stick with what it's always been like. We need more art.

Where is the creativity in every day life? Why keep doing something when with a bit of forethought things could be made better? Creative thinking and ideas should be encouraged, not just in schools, but throughout everyday life. We should not be accepting of, 'that's how it's always been', we should be doing things differently. We are moving forward in medicine, technology, and engineering, so why do we have to look at white wind farms when they could be so much better.

Now let's see what ideas you can come up with. What could be made better using art where you  live? Or has your council already come up with some good ideas?
Toodle pip

Top up shop to keep me going

Howdy. The stew is still on the go, though with the addition of curry powder, it is now a not very hot veg curry. I added the last of the cauliflower, steamed with a couple of spuds, to bulk it up a bit, and it went down a treat at lunchtime. I took a bowlful with me to eat at my friends house while I sat with her dog. You remember Henry the choc lab. While the curry was waltzing around in the microwave I heard a pop, oh dear, it had exploded and splattered the inside. Oooops. Anyway, I waited for Helen to come back, as she had texted me to say she wouldn't be long. My payment for the dog sitting was four mucky carrots and an exotic cauliflower. A good swap I thought.   

I was thinking about doing the yellow sticker dash tonight, but now I can't be bothered. I decided to call in at a couple of smaller shops on the way back, and see if there was any reductions. Managed to find a few items, so the big shop can wait. These will see me through the next few days. 

The list is as follows.
The Co op shop.
Packet of 4 cheese tortelloni. Was £2.50, now 89p
Packet egg noodles. Was £1.00, now 55p
Large cheese pizza. Was £3.00, now £1.05
Seeded bread. Was 65p, now 25p
Bag spinach. Was £1.00, now 55p

Small Tesco.
Another bag spinach. Was £1.00, now 33p
Four flapjack bars. Was 90p each, now 9p each.
Vitalite spread. Full price, £1.00
Three packets of ground almonds. £1.05 each, buy 2 get 1 free.

Total spent £7.08.

I think Pizzas are a bit of a rip off really. I wouldn't normally buy one, but as it's reduced I'll have it for a change. A big crust of bread with a skimpy topping.

I need to go to town tomorrow to pay a bill. Could do with some bananas, soya milk, and eggs from Aldi. Then I should be ok till the beginning of next week.

A quick note here, thank you to Caroline for sending your old towel rail to Helen, for me to pick up. I now have a second one exactly the same as the first, for another piece of artwork. I've got enough projects floating around in my head to last me through the winter now.
Tatty byes and toodle pip.

S-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g the stew

Hello all you foodies out there, come share my meals with me. I am getting down my food supplies, the fridge is bare apart from half a lettuce, half a cauliflower, some green grapes, and half a tub of plain yogurt. Putting off going shopping, I haven't been for almost two weeks, but might do a yellow sticker run soon. 

So, I am using stuff up. Yesterday's lunch was some of those not very nice beef style soya strips cut in half and cooked in a drop of oil with half a tin of chick peas, and a shake of garlic powder. After a few minutes when the strips were soft, stir in two eggs and scramble. Eat straight out of the pan to save washing up. Nice and filling.  

Yesterday I dug up one bed of potatoes, in all that wind. Got a good haul, still one more bed to go. I spent £3 on seed potatoes, and so far have done well out of them. Haven't had to buy any for months.

This is my food experiment for the week. I made a veg stew on Monday in a big pan. The ingredients were potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, one onion, bulgur wheat, garlic powder and half a packet of sauce mix. Yesterday I added a tin of chopped tomatoes, and the other half tin of chick peas. I transferred what was left after dinner last night, to a medium size pan. I've just had some for lunch, zapped in a bowl in the microwave, and now the pan is sitting in the fridge.

I'm going to see how long I can keep it going for, by adding to it each day. It will last till Friday, possibly longer, but I might have gone shopping by then so I might eat it and finish it off. As I said, I haven't got much food left, but this is what I thought I could add to it. Any tins because the contents are already cooked. I could cook some rice, pasta or noodles. Sultanas are a good addition to stews.

From the freezer. sweetcorn, ready cooked rice, more runner beans, cooked swede and carrots, and the last of the beefy strips. I could cook the onion and the potato in the microwave and add them.

These should keep it going, plus some spices, or veg stock cube, or curry powder, and porridge oats to thicken it.

Have you had a look in your cupboards and freezer to see if you can make an everlasting stew? What will you put in it? Can you stretch your weekly shop to ten days or even longer? C'mon, spill the beans :o)
Toodle pip.

Shaping up.

Hello. I really shouldn't be showing you this because it will spoil the surprise, but what the heck, I haven't anything else to write about today. It's looking good so far, still more work to do on it. 

More stitching needed on the blue tree, red one still to do.

Still thinking about what colour this tree should be.

More leaves wanted.

It's shaping up, all the loose ends have to be tidied on the back of it. I'll get there eventually.
Toodle pip

Carry on Crafting

Hello, thank you for your messages on yesterdays post, I appreciate your kindness. 

Today has been a sewing day, I made another bowl, this time using denim as the backing because I wanted to make it larger than the red one. I cut a 28cm square, and in the centre I used two layers of old flannelette sheet, slightly smaller so I could turn over the denim to the front for the border. 

This time I chose a blue theme, using any snippets of fabric I had, plus sequins and wool. I used the red fine netting to cover them. It would have been better with silver but I haven't got any. Again run the machine over it using a zigzag stitch.

I hand stitched the border in red cotton, as it would have been difficult to get the bulky denim through the machine. Looks very nice. Anyone else tried one yet?

It was crafty club this morning. I took some felt and made some leaves in different colours for the picture. Lots more are needed. I carried on making some this afternoon while watching Supervet on Channel 4 catch up. Noel Fitzpatrick is back, what a wonderful man he is. 

One of the ladies brought some necklaces in to show us what she had knitted. You can buy this strange wool it comes on a cardboard reel ready to knit up. The metalic threads in it makes you think it might be itchy scratchy, but it isn't. It's really soft. 

She made the beads out of paper, and painted them with nail varnish. They don't open, the whole thing slips over your head and the bead sits at the front, rather than at the back of the neck. She made them to sell on our table at the Christmas Fair in December, but the members liked them so much she immediately sold them. Now she has to make some more. I think they will be very popular.

I'm just going to make a few more leaves before I go to bed. Catch you tomorrow.
Toodle pip.

Childhood revisited

Good morning, Yesterday was a time for reflection and families. I was out of the house from 8am till 11pm, hence no blog post. It was all about going back to where I spent my childhood, visiting the village where I grew up, and the village where I went to school, but hey, it wasn't about me, it was about Stephen. 

Stephen was my brother, he was our brother. We were three, two sisters and a brother, now we are two. Stephen died four years ago in India. Although this is not the anniversary of his death, his widow feels now is the time to lay him to rest. And so it was that yesterday we made the same journey to the crematorium, as we did 32 years ago, to say goodbye to our mother. 

Very few words are needed for this post. Enjoy the Autumn pictures.

Afterwards we went to Stretton to see the house where we grew up, it looks so different now. Then we went to Rolleston, the school is no longer there, and we had lunch in the Spread Eagle Hotel.

Rolleston Church.

A pretty cottage nearby.

The brook runs alongside the hotel. 

Past this lovely old house which is now a hotel......

next to this little footbridge which goes over the stream where Stephen and Anna used to go fishing. This was his favourite place to play.

Later on, after a meal back home, our sister in law caught the train back to London, and I went to visit Uncle Stan and Auntie Pat, before I drove home.

Thank you for reading. Have a nice Sunday.