Use this option to filter all the recipes and posts on Thrifty Lesley to select just the ones you want to see.

For example the Category of Dinners, with the Tag of Vegan and Nuts. This will show you all the posts that are dinners and that are vegan and use nuts. Or use just Category, or just Tag to select all Dinners, or all Vegan or all Nuts

To Black Friday, or Not to Black Friday, that is the question

I can’t tell you how tired I am of hearing the words ‘Black Friday’! To me it says ‘buy something, buy something, buy something ……. Please, buy something, anything, please’. I have had endless emails all saying it’s Black Friday, spend some money with us.

Vegetarian Christmas

If you are on a tight budget, Christmas food can be very difficult, causing stress, and maybe even debt too. No need to get into debt, when with a bit of extra planning, you can enjoy a delicious vegetarian Christmas festive meal, without spending a fortune. If you don’t know where to start, or would like a few vegetarian christmas recipe ideas, have a look at this detailed, 2 person, 7 day Christmas dinner menu for the entire Christmas week.

Where We Are This Week

Where we are this week

A Hard Post To Write

A very difficult post to write

Sicilian Spaghetti Recipe with chicken, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, raisins and almonds

A quick and simple chicken spaghetti recipe using Sicilian flavours, from the series How To Poach A Chicken. This series takes a medium chicken and makes family meals from it for 7 days.

Brown Rice Chicken Salad

This tasty salad is made using brown rice for fibre, that's been cooked in chicken stock, for extra flavour. Quick and easy to make, you don't need to put the oven on when its baking hot and you just want some dinner. Filling from the brown rice and those lovely vegetables, it's less than 400 calories too! Inexpensive too to help those purses and wallets. 

Chicken and Mushroom Crumble

This gorgeous crumble has a nutty, seedy, oaty topping and a creamy, chicken and mushroom base. It will freeze very well, either cooked or uncooked. Lovely to have a home made ready meal in the freezer that just needs to be defrosted. 

Aubergine Ragu - Eggplant Ragu - Melanzane a Funghetto

This is a very simple dish, cooked on the hob, in a single pan. Just aubergine, tomatoes and olive oil, simmered slowly to an unctuous silkiness. Absolutely gorgeous just on its own, hot or room temperature. Stir through pasta, top a jacket potato or use as part of a mezze. 

Swede Mash (Rutabaga) with ginger, nutmeg and a little cream

This easy swede mash can be used a side or a main course. Make it vegan by using a vegan cream. Swede mash is a common side dish, but this has fresh ginger, generous nutmeg and chilli to add extra flavour and a touch of creaminess. It tastes really good and may even convert small (or large!) veggie phobes!

Easy No-Knead Focaccia

This vegan focaccia bread is light and fluffy, with a crunchy outside and you can top it with many different things. It goes with almost everything too! It's a no-knead recipe, so you just need to stir it all together with a spoon and give it a little squish to amalgamate everything.

Wild Garlic Pesto

Easy to make, wild garlic pesto is pungent, delicious and made from wild garlic foraged from the woods, or Allium triquetrum which is what I have growing in my garden.

Broccoli and Lentil Soup

Had some broccoli to use up today, so decided to make some Broccoli and Lentil soup for lunch and a 4p Cheapy Bread Roll with it

Mixed Vegetable Roulade

A vegetarian recipe using cauliflower stalks and pumpkin. Shredded lettuce and egg mayonnaise combine to create a creamy filling wrapped in a savoury sponge.

Books, Herons, Celandine and Tomatoes

I've been reading some cracking books lately. It's my turn to host the u3a book group and my choice was The Reading List

Mackerel Pâté & Crudités

Here's how I made 4 meals for 2 from 1 x 200g pack of smoked mackerel fillets

Mixed vegetable quiche

A mixed vegetable quiche using everyday veggies with lots of possible variations

Healthier Nutella Alternative

Love Nutella but not so much of a fan of all the sugar in it? Try this home made version and reduce the sugar by 54%!

Cooking Up A Storm, Birthdays and Snow

Matilda and singing

Went to Matilda the musical. What a great show! And I can finally sing again, I've missed it so much!

Raisin Pancakes

Gorgeous raisiny pancakes. Use whatever dried fruit you have. Super quick, a great hollow leg filler. Vegan too

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