Early Morning by the Canal, Family Visits and Getting My Ration Head On

It was lovely first thing this morning and Ginger came to tell me as much at 6.20am.  He wanted to go out and looking at the positioning of all my floor length curtains he had had a peep at all three usually available exits before deciding that he needed his own personal door person to facilitate this.  He went out and half an hour later, after a breakfast snack at Alan's he was back to mine to claim his usual morning treat of Dreamies and fall asleep once again on the armchair.

By this time I had put the first load of washing on and was sat clutching a mug of coffee and watching some YouTube.  It was just so nice outside that once the washing machine had done it's thing, I pegged the clothes out on the line and took myself canal side for a walk on the towpath.

The boaters were still tucked up in their huge beautifully decorated metal tubes, the paths were clear and the sun was shining, what a brilliant way to start the day.

I love the stillness of early morning. and as it was still barely past seven o'clock I only saw one other person to say 'Good Morning' to, a lady with two excitable Spaniels.

As I got closer to home the water was sparkling in the early morning sunshine, I have fingers firmly crossed that we have another good day all day today.  Yesterday was lovely, sunny and warm and as Alan's sister came to stay for the weekend we enjoyed sitting in the garden catching up on news.  Earlier she too had enjoyed the early morning towpath, going for a jog in sunshine but getting pretty muddy as she burned up the miles along the canal-side after Saturdays heavy rains.

Later we left all three dogs ... our two and her German Shepherd Tia ... back at home snoozing and had a pleasant wander around the sleepy Sunday High Street, with Alan and Alison comparing property prices between here and Peebles, before stopping for a coffee and a slice of cake in Booths café.

I love that our High Street has shops that virtually all still close on a Sunday, even in retail you need a day off and our shops are virtually all small independents. Of course the supermarkets are open and our new Factory Shop was open although pretty deserted.  Our little town is like a step back in time occasionally ... in a very good way.

And speaking of stepping back in time, it seems I already have my 'rationing head' on, I have started saving my citrus peels and popping them into the freezer, first this lonely little Easy Peeler skin at the start of last week ...

... and then the squeezed out ends from the lemon bought this week for my early morning drinks.  

Once I have added the skins from the other six that I have in the fridge and the cores from the two apples in there I will have a bag of bits and bobs ready to add to some Compost Heap Jelly, which will make good use of my sugar ration when rationing begins at the end of this month.

In the meantime I have been sorting through my food cupboard, donating a couple of things that just won't get eaten and getting things organised on shelves so that I know what is available to eat and when, during my rationing months.

I need to finish my narrowboat book this week and then start reading up on rationing again to get my head in the right space for this ongoing money-saving personal challenge.

What did you get up to at the weekend?

Sue xx 

Sandwich Spread - Homemade or Bought?

 

Salad sandwich fillers are a Summer lunch that is easy, quick, tasty and delicious.

My boys used to love this stuff in their sandwiches for their school packed lunches, and I have to admit so did I occasionally.  But I doubt I would eat it now after reading Chris van Tulleken's book Ultra Processed People and then reading the ingredients list on it's label.  

Spirit Vinegar, Sugar, Cabbage (contains Preservative - Sulphites), Rapeseed Oil, Water, Carrots, Gherkins (contain Firming Agent - Calcium Chloride), Modified Cornflour, Salt, Onions, Egg Yolks, Red Peppers, Mustard, Stabilisers - Guar Gum and Xanthan Gum, Spice Extracts, Spices, Herb Extract (contains Celery), Flavourings, Colour - Riboflavin, VEGETABLES 35%

For one thing I wouldn't touch Xanthan Gum with a barge pole, especially after learning that it is also an ingredient of wallpaper paste!!

Food is just continuing to shock me at the moment!

These days I make my own sandwich fillers, and I have done for a long time.  

Experimenting with leftovers and a dash of mayonnaise is pretty much guaranteed to make a sandwich filler that is tasty, quick and much better for you than a jar of shelf stable long life 35% vegetable mush.

I tend to use a couple of tablespoons of my choppy salads when I have some in the fridge, it's easy, quick and very tasty.  Chopping the already chopped up salad veggies a little bit smaller and adding just salt, pepper and a squeeze of mayonnaise ... either bought or homemade ... and this time I added some dairy free cheese that I had ready grated in the fridge.  Within minutes I had a fresh tasting and relatively healthy lunch.

If I had to eat some of the jarred stuff I think I would load the sandwich up with lots of crunchy lettuce and cucumber and try not to think of wallpaper paste while I ate my lunch.

What is your absolute favourite sandwich filler?

Sue xx

Choppy Salad ... and Hands Up If You're Reading This

 

The other day I realised that I hadn't made myself a big bowl of 'choppy salad' for a while.  It used to be an almost weekly thing, chopping up all the salady things from the fridge and having them ready to add to meals all through the week ... and then suddenly I just stopped doing it.

So I set too, chopping.

I used three peppers, one red, one yellow and one orange, two large tomatoes, a whole cucumber, about five sticks of celery and a large red onion.  They were all chopped into similar sized pieces and stirred around before being tipped into my round glass container.

I kept out enough of the bits to add to a couple of sandwiches for lunch stirring some mayo and vegan grated cheese through the mixture.

And it reminded me just what I have been missing.

It's funny how a habit can drop away and just stop isn't it, but it's always nice when you rediscover it and pull it back into day to day life.

I have always used a container with a well fitting lid as each time I get some of the salad out for a meal or a snack, I put the tub back into the fridge the opposite way up.  This way the moisture seeps through everything at a steady rate, and as you can see in the very top photo I put a piece of folder paper towel in the lid to absorb any excess moisture and keep everything nice and fresh.

The next day I had some of the choppy salad with rice and a salmon fillet for my tea, and then the following day it was back to a salad sandwich for lunch, this time with a cheese slice and lots of extra onion.  A tub of this size will keep me going all week added to various things and if by any chance I do get fed up with it I can tip it into a pan and turn it into soup.

Hands up if you were reading Smiley Ovens ... and Musings earlier today.  

 This morning after retrieving comments that shouldn't be in Spam and putting in the comments that weren't in there but should be, I looked at the blog Stats only to find that a couple of people are reading right back through the blog.  One person is right back at the beginning and another was reading this post.  I do like it when this happens as it makes me go back and have a look at what I wrote.

Sometimes I'm impressed with old posts and sometimes I'm not, but they are all of their age and all valid at the time so I never go back and edit them ... even if occasionally I make myself wonder!!

This one was from when I lived in the flat before we bought our current property, it's nice to look back, especially as there might be some more property news coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Tease

Tease

Tease

😆

Sue xx

Did Someone Mention Two Tins of Salmon ...

 

As I ended my last post with 'Now what did I do with two tins of salmon mixed with red onion and mayonnaise ...?'  It seems only fair that I quickly show you.

As you saw last time I added a spoonful to the pasta dish that I made whilst I was prepping the salmon, then I made sandwiches to take to Mum's for our lunch.  Two rounds of bread each with just the salmon on it, spread very thinly for Mum as that is the way she likes it and a bit thicker for me and Alan, Mum supplied some lentil crisps to go with the butties.

The next day I made the buns you see in the top photo for our lunch.  

For my tea I decided to use a bit more of the salmon, yes it was getting very fishy!!

A third of my tub of mash, a good helping of the salmon mix and lots of pepper and I had four little fishcakes.  I decided against making any breadcrumbs and instead just dredged them in flour.

A nice simple tea on a bed of iceberg lettuce and drizzled with mayo.

The next night it was a bowl of pasta, this time without any tomato based sauce but with lots of peas.

And then the next day it was a simple lunch of the rest of the mashed potatoes and the last of the salmon mix.  Oh I do love a plate of mashed potatoes with lots of butter.

So, two tins of salmon, a huge dollop of mayonnaise and half a finely diced red onion and I got five different meals.  One of them serving three people, one serving two people and the rest just for me.

What would you have done with two tins of salmon?

Now for a little bit of Weekend Watching.

First Frugal Daddy diving in the dumpster and rescuing food just before the refuse collectors come and take it all to landfill.

https://youtu.be/fL5Ad-IMLaE

How sad would it have been for all those chickens to have lost their lives only for their breast meat to go to landfill.  It's shocking and horrifying in equal measures.  Well rescued Frugal Daddy.

Now step away if you have any sort of cat phobia!!

https://youtu.be/pXezLv_5RaY

This is just hilarious. 😄

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sue xx

So Why Does Food Last Me So Long?

I get asked a lot why I have so much food in my cupboards, freezer etc etc, and sometimes I even wonder myself why there's so much ... and then I monitor what I do for a while and the answer becomes apparent.

I make what I do have go as far as I can, and I make as many meals as possible out of everything.  I guess it comes from having nothing in the past, the days when I opened cupboards and there was virtually nothing there and there were two little boys that needed feeding.  You soon learn the value of what you have when you have it, and it is ingrained so deeply in you to make the best out of every single thing, make it go as far as possible and waste nothing.

Take the chopped veggies I roasted last week for instance.  I call them Med Veg for short, and once I have made a tub full I use them day after day in as many ways as I can while they are still lovely and fresh in the fridge.

 

You have already seen the first meal a pizza ... although you saw it in it's uncooked state ... made from half of the sheet of pizza dough with the Med Veg and some dairy-free cheese.

The second meal was a nice simple lunch just stirred through some cous cous that had been cooked in vegetable stock.  It was delicious, and as usual reminded me that I just do not use my big jar of cous cous anywhere near enough!

The third meal saw me using the other half of the pizza dough to make a 'pizza pocket' type thing, and very nice it was too.  But I will not be buying that ready rolled pizza dough again, it has absolutely no flavour, I can do so much better myself.

As I was preparing the fourth meal I decided that the Med Veg had been in the fridge for long enough, so I decided to divide it into four portions, three for the freezer, I'll let you know what I use these for ... if I remember.

The other one was added to a bowl of pasta along with some prepared tinned salmon, which caused a link over to the next good use of food.  

Now what did I do with two tins of salmon mixed with red onion and mayonnaise ... ?

Sue xx

Ramekins, Lids and Food in Unexpected Places

 

I've been getting a head start on the Spring Cleaning, just little bits here and there so that there will be no need for an almighty cleaning session.  The other day while the computer was firing up I noticed a fine layer of dust on this shelf ... you can even see the dust here in the photo ... so I decided that this would be that days little task.

So the shelves were emptied and wiped down, while they were drying I emptied inside the cupboard too and wiped that, putting everything back a little bit neater and getting rid of some of the excess plastic lids that I had for the Gu ramekins.

My world was made happy when I discovered that Pringles and Stacker lids fit these so neatly!!

But I did have to start being ruthless when we were packing to move from Wales and I discovered just how many of the little ramekins and lids we had actually saved!!  

While I was organising the contents of the cupboard I decided to streamline the bulging sachet bowl.  So I opened and tipped the contents of all the brown sugar sachets into my little sugar jar.

And did the same with the salt, leaving just a few of both in my little sachet stash for emergency use.

It was when I went to lift the enamel teapot down that I discovered the 'food in unexpected places' !!

 I can't remember when I put salt and spices in there, but the minute I picked up the teapot and felt it's weight I knew what it contained.  They will come in very useful, and I'm really pleased that I found them before I ran out of any of them and purchased some more.

Sue xx

Turning Two Salmon Fillets into Four Meals

 

On the menu plan for Wednesday night was Salmon and Spinach en Croute with Mash ... et voilà.

The ready rolled pastry came out of the freezer as did the salmon fillets and the three spinach pellets that I used, wow, for once I was completely on track.

The plan had been to use the rest of the pastry for a Leek and Potato pasty thing from one of Miguel Barclay's books, but I decided instead to make something using some of the things that I wanted to use up from the fridge.  I fished out two of my remaining eggs and the third of a block of feta style cheese.

I think you can pretty much work out from the photos what I did, but I do perhaps need to point out that this tin is not a 'jam tart' sized indentations tin.  The six holes are actually small pie sized, the sort you would use to make a Higgidy Homity pie.  

Once I had cut out the six circles of pastry I used the leftovers to re-roll and wrap the other salmon fillet for my Salmon en Croute that's pictured cooked on the top photo.

Straight from the oven and cooling down in the tray while I went off and ate my tea, and boy was that filling ... and delicious.

I now have five of these left in the fridge as I might have been tempted to eat one before I took the dogs out for a walk this morning.  After all I didn't want to repeat the temptation of the other day. 😄

Sue xx

This Weeks Base

 

Most weeks I do a batch cook of something that goes into the fridge to give me a head start on meals for the rest of the week, and usually to act as inspiration for what to have for my tea each night.  It makes life so simple if you have even one thing ready and waiting to be used.

Some weeks it can be a full packet of pasta, cooked, cooled and then stored in my largest container.  To be eaten hot for the first meal, perhaps cold the next day or two as a salad or as an addition to a Buddha bowl and then maybe used as the filling for a pasta pie ... is there anything nicer than carbs on carbs. 😄

This week it was forecast to be hot so my choice was to make a large bowl of coleslaw base.

I kept it very simple, just half a white cabbage shredded, four carrots that needed using up, simply sliced and cut quite chunky, and then one red onion, first quartered and then very finely sliced as it was very strongly flavoured.  Leaving the dressing off means that I can vary it to go with whatever I decide to have it with ... or just nibble at it plain when I'm stood at the fridge with that 'what can I have for lunch look on my face'.

There was so much I filled my large lidded bowl and then put the extra into the smaller one to be used for my lunch later on with a few nuts and seeds added, and a large dollop of Garlic Mayo.

To keep salad fresh all week I add a folded square of dampened kitchen paper.  Each day I turn the container over and give it a shake ... so one day the paper is on the top and the next it is on the bottom ... the contents usually stay perfectly fresh for a full week this way.

If any doesn't get eaten it will be the base for a bowl of soup for the weekend, now that the temperature is more tolerable.  I have some Rosemary Focaccia buns in the freezer that I bought on yellow sticker offer so they would be the perfect accompaniment to a bowl of soup.

I'm not shopping much this week as I have lots of food in and I would rather have a week of eating my way through the fridge and freezer.  I am going shopping with Alan later, but that's mostly because he said he's going to Booth's for a coffee first ... and it would be rude to expect him to do it alone.  😁

Sue xx

Good Eyesight, Labels and Figs

 

Someone asked me about the brass label on my little Veggie Bed, gosh you have got good eyesight!!

  Nope, it's not the manufacturers label it's a little plaque I had made by Rich at 'By Bike and Boat'.  I've followed him and his full-time narrow boating family for quite a while now and we have a few of his handmade, recycled things.  They also have a YouTube channel.

I went out to take a closer photo of it to put on here, and found it all tarnished.  I'm not surprised after all the bad weather we've had over the past couple of months.

It looked nothing like the wonderfully shiny label that arrived back in February with a hand-written note and wrapped in a page of the Canal Boat News.

Here are the words for you to see clearly.

So I went straight back in and raided my sachet stash for a sachet of brown sauce to give it a good clean up.  And five minutes later ...

... it was looking much better.

I was supposed to be looking for some brass screws to replace these temporary silver coloured ones ... something else I had forgotten to do.

I did a bit of weeding and had a tidy up of the garden while I was out there, just for posterity as we are having a bit of a rejig of the stony area today as the new Woodblocx raised bed parts have arrived now.  I can hear movement outside so Alan is obviously unpacking the pallet.

These will be staying, but will be moving over a little bit to make way for the new bed along the fence line.

And beautiful Mr Fig will be staying exactly where he is.  

He loves it there, but seems to be spending this year putting on lots of new leaf growth instead of any fruits ... much to Alan's dismay!

I'll take some more photos once the new bed is in place, but I'm sure you can imagine it ... it's just a slightly longer version of the veggie bed I already have.

Hopefully we'll get a bit of sunshine this weekend as it's been a much cooler week here this past week, there's been none of the sunshine that I've been reading about on blogs or seeing on the weather forecast on television.  😕

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sue xx