by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 17, 2014 | All Recipes, Dinners, Lunches, Round Up Post
Anchovy Paste Bought a tube of anchovy paste a while back, with the idea of exploring ways of using it here. Have looked up the price on mySupermarket, but have noticed that the blighters seem to be steadily removing Basics type lines, not that this tube is, but it...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 14, 2014 | All Meal Plans, All Recipes, Dinners, Valentines Day Ideas
Valentines Day Dinner Well, I’ve had a ponder for your Valentines Day Dinner, and this is what I have come up with. I think it is a beautiful menu, I hope you do too. We have a Smoked Salmon and Crispy Toast starter, a main of a warm Asparagus, Bacon and Egg...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 12, 2014 | My Diary
All week I have been hugging some lovely news to myself. My younger daughter’s birthday is today, and yesterday it was the 1st year anniversary of a relationship with a lovely man. He plotted and schemed to throw a surprise birthday party for her. He took her out to...
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...
