If you find yourself cooking a meal and realise you don’t have any garlic bread, then here's a cheap and quick way to make it!
1 – 2 slices of bread 1 – 2 tablespoons of olive oil Crushed garlic and herbs (adjust amounts to your liking) Simply spread the mixture on your bread and pop under the grill. Chop into small cubes for salad croutons! Contributed by Chloe Johnson From the March 2017 Journal
0 Comments
Have you priced veggie burgers from the deli or the chiller cabinet at the supermarket lately? They are expensive - over $3 each! This recipe makes six for less than the price of one. It's quick and easy too. Best of all you can make the patties ahead of time and keep them in the fridge until you're ready to cook them. They'll keep for two days covered in the fridge, perfect for those busy days.
We love them as burgers with salad and grilled pineapple, but they're good as a savoury part of a meal, hot or cold. If they're hot I make a gravy to go with them and sever them with sweet potato chips and broccoli (no idea why, did it once, everyone at it all so I've kept doing it) or cold with salads and a sweet chilli mayo. They're great for the end of your shopping cycle when veggies may be looking a little sad and limp - use them up and turn them into something delicious. Veggie Burgers Ingredients: 2 slices wholegrain bread, crumbled Several leaves of fresh Italian parsley, chopped 1/2 cup fine, dry bread crumbs, plus extra for coating 3/4 cup grated tasty cheese 1-1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil 3/4 cup finely chopped onion 1/2 cup finely chopped green or red capsicum 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (or less to taste) 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/2 cup solidly packed mashed sweet potato 1/3 cup ricotta 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 2 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup plain flour Egg wash Method: In a medium-size bowl, mix together the crumbled bread, parsley, bread crumbs, and grated cheese. Set this aside. Heat the oil in a medium-size frypan over medium heat, then add the onion, pepper, and corn. Sauté the vegetables until soft, about 7 minutes, stirring often. Mix in the garlic and cumin and cook it all for another minute. Remove the pan from the heat and spoon the contents into the bread crumb mixture. In a large bowl, mix together the egg, sweet potato and ricotta. Add the bread crumb mixture, stirring thoroughly, then season with the salt and pepper. Flour your hands, then shape the mixture into six 15mm thick patties, using about 1/3 cup for each one. Dredge the patties in plain flour, then egg wash, then in bread crumbs and refrigerate them for about 1-1/2 hours. Melt the butter in a large frypan, transfer the patties to the pan and fry them over medium heat until they turn golden, about 4 minutes on each side. Remove them from the pan and serve right away. Makes 6 patties. Note: The crumbled wholegrain bread is essential to the texture, and prepared bread crumbs shouldn't be substituted. Put the bread slices out for about 30 minutes to air-dry, then crumble them by hand, with a serrated knife, or in a food processor. Ingredients:
500g firm white fish 3tsp red curry paste 2tbp fresh Coriander leaves 2-3 Lime / Kaffir Lime Leaves 2 spring onions (include the green) Salt to taste Method: Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until smooth but do not puree. Take a dessertspoon of mixture and form a ball, flatten in the palm of hand to make fish cake. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in frying pan. When hot, fry fish cakes for 1 - 2 minutes each side until browned and cooked through. Drain on paper towel. Serve with dipping sauce such as sweet chilli. This week I've added 14 jars of diced tomatoes to the stockpile, for just $3.94. I was able to buy 6 kilos of tomatoes for 49 cents a kilo, and we were gifted another 2 kilos.
I've also added more toilet paper, rice and flour - I won't add any more rice, but toilet paper is one thing I have a fear of running out of so it's still on the list for a while yet :) Kaylene emailed and asked me a few questions, one of which was why am I building such a large stockpile, is it because I know something about the economy that she doesn't? That certainly made me smile, I know nothing more than anyone else, and probably less than a lot of Australians about the state of our economy. I am stockpiling first and foremost out of habit. I've had a decent grocery supply in the house for 21 years now. It started off small, just a month or so of most of the grocery items we use. It grew over time to be a minimum of six months' worth of the basics, with up to a years' worth of some things I am able to buy in bulk. But a couple of months ago we were given advance notice of some changes to our finances, meaning we'll be earning less next year than we have for a long, long time. And that means we'll have less money to spend on anything, let alone groceries. We've gone over our new spending plan and cut back where we can, including the grocery budget. And so I've started to concentrate on building our food storage, cleaning supplies and toiletries and first aid needs. I'm building this not out of fear of any national or worldwide economic disaster looming, but to ensure that no matter what happens, either within our family unit, the country or the world, we'll be able to eat, stay clean and have basic first aid supplies if they are needed. I've been in the position of not having a regular income before. We lived for over four years on an erratic income. Sometimes we'd have money coming in, sometimes we wouldn't. I had to learn to budget and shop accordingly and run our finances like a business - just as though we were self-employed. This time around we know what is coming and can prepare as best we can. For me as the main cook and shopper that means building our grocery stockpile as best I can with what I have. We know our income is going to go down, but that's not the only reason to have at least a small stockpile. What would happen if you were to get sick for a four or five days and couldn't get to the shops? What would happen if you found yourself without a car for a week or so? They are just two simple scenarios that could see you struggling - would you have enough food, cleaning supplies, toiletries and medicines in the house to survive? There are lots of households that don't have even a day's food in the pantry, they shop daily. With either of the scenarios above they'd be, to coin an Aussie phrase, up the creek without a paddle. I don’t stockpile out of fear of anything, I stockpile to save money, time and energy, to be prepared for a hiccup in our lifestyle and as a part of keeping our household running smoothly. I encourage everyone to have at least a small back-up of pantry basics, just a week's worth, for peace of mind if for no other reason. It just makes sense to me. From Debt Free, Cashed Up and Laughing Colouring in has become an adult pastime - it's even found its way into our house, with Hannah enjoying the odd half hour quietly decorating her colouring book. She was hunting around for colouring pencils, watercolour pencils and textas when I remembered this tip from the Cheapskates Tip Store.
Problem solved! Between us we had few different eye, lip and cheek compacts we weren't using. Now they're being put to use and a brush and water over powder eye shadows makes beautiful water colours. Art Sets from Old Make-up SetsI used to use old make-up sets for drawing as a kid. Shading areas is a lot easier with eye shadow than it is with pencil shavings, although you use a bit more. However, if you can't use it as makeup, it's no loss really. Contributed by Leanne If it's been a while since you cleaned out your cupboards, you may want to give your kitchen an overhaul before your next shopping trip. You'll be surprised at how much easier meal planning and cooking is when you have a tidy kitchen. You'll also be surprised at just how much money you can save too.
When your pantry, fridge and freezer are organized, you will stop over-buying. Using inventories will show you at a glance just how much food you have on hand and what you need to add to the shopping list. Here are some tips for organizing your food: · Check the food in your pantry for expiration dates; if it is past its prime, throw it out. · If an item isn't expired, but no one is interested in eating it, throw it out. Unopened items can be donated to family, friends or a local food bank. · Group like foods together; for example, store all canned foods in the same cupboard and all dry goods, such as rice and pasta in the same cupboard. Designate a shelf to baking supplies. Store flours, dried fruits, coconut and other baking supplies in air-tight containers to keep them fresh. If you put new packets into the freezer for 72 hours before putting them in the pantry you won't be bothered with pantry moths and weevils. If you have the freezer room they can be stored in the freezer in air-tight containers permanently. · Keep drink mixes, coffee and tea in the same area and keep breakfast cereals, breakfast spreads and other breakfast items grouped together. When you want something, you'll know right where to go to get it. · Keep regularly used items front and centre. You'll save time by not continuously searching, reaching and bending for these items. · If you pack a lot of lunches, designate a “lunch” shelf or cupboard. Place lunch bags, Ziploc bags, greaseproof paper, clingwrap, foil etc in a basket so they are all together and not falling all over the pantry. · When you start packing the lunch, you simply open the lunch cupboard, grab your lunch stuff and start packing. Of course, you'll need to walk over to the fridge to grab meats, cheeses, jams, fruits, and so forth, but having most of the items in one place will save you a lot of time. · Clean out the fridge each week. Leftovers have a short shelf life and you don't want to risk getting sick by eating something that should have been frozen or already been thrown-out. When you don't have any clutter in your way, you may find that you actually enjoy cooking for your family much more than before. Not only that, your grocery bill will go down considerably. This is one of the moistest cakes around. Not quite as dense as a mud cake, but every bit as delicious, it costs approximately $2 to make. It's so moist and delicious you don't need icing, just dust the top with a little icing sugar to serve.
Ingredients: 1 cup water 2 tbsp cocoa 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 eggs 125g butter 1 1/2 cups SR flour 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda Method: Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin. Place sugar, water, butter, cocoa and bicarb soda in a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the butter melts. Bring to the boil and simmer 5 minutes. When the mixture is cool beat in the eggs and flour. Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool in tin 5 minutes before turning onto a cake rack to cool completely. This is the most decadent slice I've ever had. We had it while we were on holidays, just one slice bought from a cake shop in a country town and shared between us. What a mistake that was! We both wanted more, more, more!
It's a simple enough slice: biscuit base, caramel filling, raspberry marshmallow topping. Here's my version of The Piglet Base: 1 cup SR flour 1 cup coconust 1/2 cup brown sugar 125g butter, melted Line a slice tray with baking paper. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Combine all the ingredients together then press firmly into the slice tray. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until golden brown. The base will still be soft as it comes out of the oven, but will firm up as it cools. Cool in tin. Filling: 1 can condensed milk (or MOO equivalent) 2 tbsp golden syrup 1 tbsp butter Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, over a medium heat until the butter and syrup have melted into the condensed milk. Bring to a boil, stirring all the time. Turn heat down and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until caramel is formed - about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour over base straight away. Smooth and set aside to cool. Topping: 1 pkt (200g) pink marshmallows OR 1 quantity MOO marshmallow 1 tsp butter Place marshmallows and butter in a large heat proof bowl. Microwave on HIGH in 1 minute bursts, stirring between, until marshmallows and butter have melted and combined. Remove from microwave and pour over slice immediately - don't dawdle or the marshmallow will start to set. Cover slice with baking paper and set aside for marshmallow to set. Dust the top with icing sugar. Cut into fingers to serve. I use hand towels in my kitchen all the time, I don't like to wipe my hands on the tea towel I use for dishes. These towels are really pretty and very quick to make. You can use a tea towel or a hand towel to make them - you'll get two hand towels from each one. I like the country look of calico toppers but you can use any cotton fabric - a toning plain or a pretty print would look just as good. I've made them with gingham toppers and plain towels, very pretty and super quick and easy - no other embroidery necessary. For this towel I embroidered Mickey and Minnie Mouse. You can leave them plain, embroider something onto them, cross-stitch a pattern or even use fabric paints to embellish the toppers. Use your imagination and the materials you have in your craft stash and you won't need to buy anything other than perhaps the towel! ![]() Calico Topper Kitchen Towel You will need:. 1 hand towel (you will get two kitchen towels from one hand towel) Scraps of cotton fabric for the topper button thread to match fabric of topper Step 1. Print and cut out pattern. DO NOT resize - it will print at the correct size. Step 2. Using pattern cut two pieces of fabric for topper. Mark buttonhole. Step 3. Place both pieces of fabric right sides together. Using a 6mm seam and starting at the bottom left side of the topper stitch around the edge, finishing at the bottom right side and leaving the bottom edges open. Step 4. Turn topper right side out, clipping curves if necessary. Press. Turn bottom edge under 6mm to form hem. Press. Step 5. Cut hand towel in half widthways. Place topper over raw edge of one half of the towel, gathering towel to fit if necessary and matching edge of towel with inside edge of topper hem. Pin. Stitch through all thicknesses, close to bottom edge of topper, being sure to catch raw edge of towel. Step 6. Make buttonhole. Sew on button - choose a pretty one from your button jar. If you don't have a sewing machine and don't know how to make a buttonhole by hand, stitch on a set of velcro dotsl to keep the tab closed. From Debt Free, Cashed Up and Laughing Take that old shower caddy and put it to good use as a hanging herb or succulent garden.
After our bathroom renovation I had a spare shower caddy, just taking up space and doing nothing useful. I thought about hanging it over the tap in the backyard to hold soap for handwashing then saw a picture of one being used as a hanging basket. You will need: 1 hanging shower caddy Potting mix Herb seedlings Coconut fibre Step 1. Line the basket/s of your shower caddy with coconut fibre. Make sure it is at least 2cm thick and covers the entire basket area. It has to hold potting mix and seedlings. Step 2. Fill the baskets with potting mix and water. Plant your seedlings. Step 3. Hang your basket against a wall, off a verandah railing or from the fence. You'll be growing your own fresh herbs and repurposing something that would otherwise have gone to landfill. Oh, you'll save money on a hanging basket or pot too. |
Archives
April 2020
Categories
All
|