by Thrifty Lesley | Mar 2, 2019 | Round Up Post
This series starts off with a roasted chicken and stretches that chicken out to last a family of four for a whole week. Yes, 7 days of recipes from 1 chicken! Chicken & Onion Pie How to stretch a chicken to last the whole week Spicy red lentil soup- Stretch A...
by Thrifty Lesley | Feb 26, 2019 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes
It is a dark and dank day today and I did what I often do when at a bit of a loose end, I had bit of a play in the kitchen. I made some almond ‘Nutella’ then started thinking about uses, as I do, and thought, bet it would work well in a tart. Note that the mix I make...
by Thrifty Lesley | Feb 23, 2019 | All Meal Plans, Budgeting, Saving Money
Generic weekly meal plans As many budgeters know, there are certain generic meals that can be endlessly modified, as well as all the wonderful recipes for these generic recipes, they will swallow whatever you have available, help in the weekly fridge clean out and use...
by Thrifty Lesley | Feb 22, 2019 | All Recipes, Dinners
I recently made a really good lentil ragu. The flavour was strong enough that I thought it may well make a good lasagna. This is the result and it was very good indeed! It will freeze well, so is something you can batch make. Lentil Ragu Lasagna The prolonged cooking...
by Thrifty Lesley | Feb 21, 2019 | My Diary
I haven’t done a review of good books I’ve read and am reading for ages, so I thought I’d do a few today. I have read many other books, these are just some of the more recent ones. The Tattooist of Auschwitz I belong to 2 book clubs. One with the U3A...
by Thrifty Lesley | Feb 20, 2019 | All Recipes, Breakfast, Lunches
I haven’t made this for the longest time. It’s a recipe from my notebook that I got from Weezl, she of Cheap Family Recipes fame. I made it again this week and am enjoying it on a slice of my home made granary bread, toasted, for breakfast. Do give it a go, super...
by Thrifty Lesley | Feb 7, 2019 | All Recipes, Dinners, Valentines Day Ideas
Vegan Valentine Meal I’ve been thinking about a celebration meal for this years Valentines Day and decided to do a vegan one this year. Two courses are from the archives, one, the starter, is a new, although very simple, invention. So we have a black olive and tomato...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 30, 2019 | All Recipes, Dinners, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
I have been making these rather wonderful nut balls for decades and can’t now remember where I got the original recipe from, I suspect it is a Cranks one. They are very simple to make, not requiring any complicated method, equipment or skills, although you’ll need to...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 30, 2019 | Budgeting, Saving Money, Valentines Day Ideas
Valentine’s Day on a Budget It’s Valentine’s Day soon and February 14th is the day florists make the most profit, closely followed by Mother’s Day. This is partly because 12 red roses, the classic Valentine’s Day gift, will set you back a huge amount of money,...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 23, 2019 | All Recipes, Dinners, Lunches
This recipe is inspired by one I found in a recipe book first published in 1994 – The Vegetarian Pasta Book. I’ve been making, and adapting, lots of recipes from it. Amazingly, it’s still in print, and, as a bonus, extremely cheap too! Cabbage, sultana and nut...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 23, 2019 | All Recipes, Breakfast, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
Another Trio of Vegetable Hummus In the last post (goodness, how long ago was that!) I spoke about vegetable hummus inspired by Izzy Hozzack. Today, I’m going to tell you about the next three flavours I tried. I thought I’d have a go at beetroot, parsnip and swede. I...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 22, 2019 | All Recipes, Breakfast, Less than 500 calories, Lunches, Meal Plan 11
A Trio of Vegetable Hummus The U3A cookery group met at my place on Tuesday this week. One of the many things we did was a vegetable hummus made from green peas from Izy Hossacks book, The Savvy Cook. It was utterly delicious and has inspired me to make many different...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 19, 2019 | All Recipes, Dinners
Lentil ragu with spaghetti Made something really good this evening inspired by a recipe from this book. I’ve tweaked it a bit, as you do, so this is my version of it. First printed in 1994 and still in print and extremely cheap from Amazon. Loads of great recipes,...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 11, 2019 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
I’ve been enjoying these Couscous snacky lunchbox bites for a couple of weeks now. But I’ve been using a packet mix to make them, with added flavourings. I’ve had some lemon and coriander packet mixes in the cupboard for ages, from an approved foods order. That’s all...