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Saturday 1 February 2014

Penny Pinching 1st of the Month

Firstly I want to extend my apologies to all the people who have left comments, after Blogger drove me mad, 3 days running by putting comments in the wrong place and transposing the words I decided to skip a few days. Frustrating as I like to leave a response to every comment, I will try tomorrow.

I managed to walk Ben 3 times yesterday without getting rained upon, after getting back from the last one I had no sooner shut the door when down it came. The wind was positively Arctic and very strong, Ben was most reluctant to go out later but needs must and all that.

I did a little trip to see Mr T this morning and picked up a bargain or 2. All is now safely stowed away and the cupboards are groaning nicely.

The sun is streaming down today although the wind is much the same as yesterday. Washing is duly blowing on the twirly whirly, the vacuum has had an outing and all the debris has been sorted.
Dinner is in the slow cooker and was based on the RTC beef that I could not resist buying this morning.



Here it is ready to go in to the preheated slow cooker, some dishes are just so much better for being started on the stove top.





 Here are the ingredients, there was 334g of "slow cook beef" AKA shin, I trimmed a little fat off which weighed 32g and that pack cost me the grand sum of £1.78 and will feed 3.


Here is the recipe, just in case someone would like to try it.

1 Tbsp  veg oil
the beef as above
2 Tbsp plain flour
1 Red onion peeled and sliced
3 Cloves of garlic peeled and sliced
2 Tsp dried ground ginger
2 Tsp smoked Paprika
2 Peppers, deseeded and sliced
I also added a few lonely carrots that were lurking in the fridge
1 Tin chopped tomatoes
1 Tin kidney beans rinsed and drained
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp Brown sugar
2 Tbsp Red wine vinegar
1 sachet sweet chilli sauce
salt and pepper
100ml  Beef stock, I made my own but a stock cube would do.

Dice the beef and toss in the flour, brown in the veg oil in batches, Add the onions and garlic to the pan and put all the browned beef back in. Cook slowly for around 10 minutes, stirring so it does not catch, add the beef stock and bring to the boil, make sure to stir all the little bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring back to the boil, stirring. Tip into a preheated slow cooker and cook 6 hrs on low. It should be so tender that it melts around the fork. I will serve this with steamed green veg, it goes well with potatoes, pasta or rice if you are hungry.

I think that the ingredients came to around £2. 80, Half a cabbage will cost 25p and half a head of broccoli is also 25p so dinner for 3 will be £3.80. A bit more than I would like to spend, if I add carbohydrate it would feed 4 at a cost of around £4.25. I want to have a pudding, Apple Something with custard, probably Eve's Pudding as it is a favourite. The apples are from the garden and a 2 egg sponge with a pint of custard would come out at around £1 50, and would serve 4-6 depending on how greedy hungry you are.

This would work with pork shoulder but I would use a white bean and probably add some celery, use white onion and chicken stock and a chopped apple.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. Dinner done and dusted.

2. Washing done and dried.

3. Sunshine.

4. Steve Irwin recording for me to watch later.

5. My copy of "Love Patchwork and Quilting" to read.


The magazine came yesterday but I was too uncomfortable to settle down and read. I did skim through it and found a cushion that I just have to have, so I have it all cut out and ready to sew. This months edition is chock full of wonderful things to make, even more so than usual, and that is no mean feat.

I have carried on sorting and removing items from the cottage and have 2 baskets full of "stuff" to take to the CS. I could be a lot more ruthless but there are some things that I can not part with just yet. 

I am off to check that the kitchen is put to rights then out with Ben, I am looking forward to walking in sunshine.

     TTFN                                                       Pam

















4 comments:

  1. Now that looks rather nice will have to try it out. We have had two gorgeous days of sunshine it lifted my spirits and I got chance to put the border on and finish a quilt top I started last year.

    Peg x

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    Replies
    1. it was very good Peg, once I served it out there were 4 portions, mind you in the end I cooked some soft swede with carrots and mashed together and steamed the cabbage and broccoli over the root veg. There is a complete dinner in the freezer ready for a "ding dinner" later in the week.. Pam x

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  2. The weather was glorious here yesterday, too. It's also started off nice today so I'm off out for a walk in a moment. I sort of wish we still had a dog because walkies certainly gives you a reason toget out of the house. I don't think our 2 house cats would welcome a new addition to the family since they spit and hiss whenever any of the kids friends brings a dog around. I tried an introductory subscription to that magazine (3 issues for £5) and I really loved it, but it proved too expensive to continue with especially as I tend to do more knitting than sewing. Your dinner looks lovely. I don't know what I'd do without my slowcooker, it gets used at least twice a week. Hope the sun is still shining where you are. Love, Helen x

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    Replies
    1. It is sunny here as well, washing was all done yesterday and 3 loads were washed, dried and ironed before 4.00. I tidied another corner as weel so 1 more bag for the CS. Disaster struck I moved the slow cooker and the lid slipped, when I righted it I thought I saw a crack, on closer inspection it was a crack from one end to the other. A replacement pot is almost the same price as a new one and I have enough vouchers from Christmas to get one from Argos. I hope to be crocheting like mad soon, but I will still sew. The subscription was an early Christmas gift and I have the promise of a repeat when it runs out. I would far rather have something that I want than an expensive box of chocolate ir perfume and toiletries that will never be used. Take care, I hope you are feeling better. Pam x

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