by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 4, 2014 | All Recipes, Dinners, Lunches
There has been a lot going on in the kitchen today. Remember all those plums I had earlier in the year? I got a pot of them out of the freezer and cooked them up with a tsp of mixed spice and had them for breakfast with 25g porridge. Then lunchtime I had a soup. In...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 2, 2014 | Saving Money
Had a good first dieting day yesterday and had what I had planned. Did some exercise, and have done some today too. I am doing the 5:2 type diet, but every day for a while, until I get fed up of it anyway. I had 50g porridge oats, made with water and 2 tsps muscovado...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 1, 2014 | My Diary
Well, how was your Christmas and New Year? I had a smashing time, lots of jollity, meeting up with friends and family. Lots of lovely food too. I put weight on easily, and feel too fat now. Have been thinking for a while now that I really must buckle up and take some...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 29, 2013 | My Diary
On Friday evening we went to see some very close friends that we have known for at least 20 years now. I was looking forward to it as K is a very good cook and we have had many a lovely foodie conversation over the years. We met a new couple which is always lovely,...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 24, 2013 | Christmas
On one of my many Christmas gallivants this December, a group of us went to a new bistro in Heathfield, Galin. It does lovely food in a modern European style. I can’t drink alcohol at all, it gives me a horrible migraine, so I was very pleased to see this drinks menu...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 23, 2013 | My Diary
Had a wonderful day yesterday. We had a total of 13 people in our small house. I cooked a traditional turkey lunch. Of all the possible options, we like to have a turkey, and as far as I can remember, have always had. Started the turkey the previous evening as I have...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 20, 2013 | All Recipes, Dinners
CHOCOLATE! My goodness I’ve had much too much of it this week. Bad on so many levels – waistline, active fat doing goodness knows what in my insides, glucose levels, skin, migraine…….. I am going to have to seriously diet after Christmas. In...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 11, 2013 | Christmas
I was thinking about gift tags and felt sure I could do some on my pc. I looked at my dtp (desk top processor) which is an old version now and there weren’t any there, so I Googled ‘gift tags’ and found these on Pinterest. There are plenty of ideas there, including...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 8, 2013 | All Meal Plans, All Recipes, Celebration Meal Plans, Christmas, Christmas Meal Plan 2013
I have been having a ponder on Christmas week food for strict budgeters. Below is a suggested week with approximate costs, and a few alternative ideas. I have plundered Thrifty Lesley archives for some of the cheaper recipes to bracket the more expensive provisions...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 30, 2013 | All Recipes, Puddings / Desserts
Inspired by Masterchef, I wanted to make a muscovado cheesecake. One of the chefs did one on there, and it sounded seriously good. I had a little Google for a base recipe and came across this Nigella Lawson one for Cherry Cheesecake, it is from Nigella...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 28, 2013 | My Diary
Went to my WI Garden Group Christmas Supper Party last night. It was a lovely relaxed evening. There were about 25 or so of us (the garden group is very popular!) and we had it in a hall that was just about the right size. We hired a speaker to talk to us who...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 27, 2013 | All Recipes, Dinners, Lunches
The second Dahl recipe for today, a lemony one this time. I really like this with a lovely fresh nan and some cool veg, like shredded lettuce and cucumber Lemon Dahl Serves 2 100g red lentils. 20p One fresh chilli, finely sliced or pinch dried 10p if fresh, 1p if...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 27, 2013 | All Recipes, Dinners, Lunches, Meal Plan 12
Here is another dahl recipe, a coconutty one this time. I like to use brown basmati rice with most things, if you wanted to use value rice, it would reduce the cost to just 17p a portion. This is a very quick meal, from packet to table in 20 minutes, and most of that...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 26, 2013 | All Recipes, Dinners
I have had this a few times, I have a clipping in my little brown book from where I cut it out from somewhere. It is extremely tasty and amazingly quick, you need to prepare the nan in advance, otherwise it just takes a few minutes. Toasted Nan & Dahl tblsp medium...
