Waste not want not, recipe for a sandwich filling

I try to waste a little as possible of the food we grow & buy, when we buy a joint of meat my L&M slices it with out meat slicer, he did that today once I'd cooked the turkey crown. The sliced meat is now frozen in 2 portion packs, but we are left with this.

A bowl of turkey scraps, this is what I did with it.

 I softened some chopped onion in a knob of butter, don't let it colour, just cook it until it is translucent. Then add the turkey scraps & some seasoning I added pepper & some sage. Then I blitzed it with my hand blender, or you could use a food processor. Once blended I put it in a small pot & chilled it in the fridge.

Here is the finished result & it will make a tasty sandwich filling for lunches tomorrow.
You can doo this with most meats, if using beef a little horse radish is delicious added to the mix. I've also used ham & chicken together, mushrooms can also be added.

Who's mad, them or me?

A colleague of my L&M has been bewailing his family's lack of money, they've had to borrow from the inlaws as they didn't have enough food to eat, 2 days earlier they had spent £180 on a pair of trainers for him & £80 on make up for her. These purchases were defended on the grounds that he couldn't be seen in cheap trainers as people would laugh & her makeup will last a month. 
I went to the butchers today & spent £60 on meat, I'm expecting it to last a lot longer than a month, we won't be borrowing money from anyone & we will be able to eat this month.
I bought pork chops, neck of lamb to make a casserole, lamb shanks to do a Sunday roast, minced beef, a piece of gammon & a turkey crown & some peppered steak.
We have just taken down the sweet corn, most of the cobs are for our son in law, but I will make some corn chowder out of the poorest cobs.
My L&M has been on lates for almost 3 weeks now & I've been living on egg on toast & beans on toast, so we are having steak & HM wedges with mushrooms & onion for tea, I'm really looking forward to it.

Cake Sale & other stuff.

A colleague organised a cake sale at work today in aid of Macmillan, she does this every year as she lost her sister to cancer some years ago, she raised in excess of £200, better than last year.

I has my hair cut yesterday & it's a bit of a pigging mess, hey ho, it will soon grow & it was only £13.50. I've paid £40 for a hair cut before now & still had a crappy result.

The washing line my L&M put up under cover is proving worth it's weight in gold, I'm finding it extremely useful.

I will probably see some of the grandchildren over the weekend & I'm also hoping to spend more time on my quilting.

I will post the recipes I'm using in my boozy Yule hampers over the weekend.

She has a name

Here she is Jolene Suzy

Getting ready for Yule

The bottles for the damson gin  blackberry vodka have arrived, as have the jars for the whiskey marmalade, I shall be giving all my family boozy hampers for Yule..

I bought a punnet of mushrooms for 45p so I've made a pot of soup.

I was given a bag of bananas so I shall make banana bread.

Achievement

We had DGD to stay Saturday night, we also dog at, DGD & the dog soon formed a mutual adoration society. 
I took the dog for a couple of walks Saturday & Sunday, the poor dog was most offended at one point, we were walking under a conker tree when a conker fell on him, he gave me such a dirty look I'm sure he thought I'd thrown it at him. I did apologise, but it took a doggie treat to mollify him.
The dog & DGD both went home at lunch time, I came home & had a nanna nap, afterwards I felt a bit more lively & so I vacuumed through. I also made a huge pot of borscht, the pic isn't very good, it is the most beautiful purple but looks red in the pic.

I also managed to get another border on my quilt

Fun with the grandchildren

We played dominoes, did drawing, cutting & sticking

We also built a castle.

Conkers

The grandchildren & I had great fun collecting conkers, DGS was allowed to use my L&M's electric drill to make the holes.

DGD made this puppet

Here she is

As yet unnamed 8 & half lbs

Would you Adam & Eve it

On Monday night hubby & I were driving home after I had collected him from work, as we reached the brow of a single track hill we realised there had been an accident. There was a motorbike on its side & someone sprawled in the road, hubby & some passersby stopped to offer offer assistance, police & ambulance were called & were quickly on the scene.. I stayed in the car so I was blocking the road & put my flashers on to warn other motorists of the accident ahead. A few minutes later another car arrived behind me, although he must have been able to see the accident or at the very least the flashing blue lights, the muppet proceeded to attempt to overtake me. There was about a meter gap between me & a brick wall, but he was convinced he could get through the gap, until a police officer convinced him otherwise!

On Tuesday night there was a knock at the door, it was a friend my L&M's, he wanted to return a drill he had borrowed from him, he stayed about 30 - 45 minutes chatting. When he left & I was stood in my doorway saying goodbye, a work colleague drove past with his wife , I've never met the wife but have heard rumour that she is a nasty piece of work. I waved politely & went indoors, thinking no more of it. When I collected my L&M he enquired 'So you've taken a new lover have you?' I looked blank for a few moments & then said 'Bloody hell news travels fast round here, Pete dropped your drill off that he borrowed'
My L&M said that this couple had seen the van parked on the drive, told him about it as soon as they arrived at work, after about 40 minutes they left work drove home, saw Pete leaving & then phoned my L&M to report the length of said visit. Beggers belief doesn't it!

Quilt, step 4

All eight blocks joined together

The quilt need pressing, but you can see the fabrics & the way the stripes run in this pic.

Quilt 3 step

I finally managed some time at the sewing machine.
DD1 is coping well, DD2 is ok but hoping for a speedy resolution.

Soup's made

I've made 3 pints of leek & potato soup to take to MIL's.
DD has phoned, she's at work, labour progressing very slowly, it could still stop all together.
She has a friend who will look after the children for a couple of hours if she & her hubby have to go to hospital.
We'll pick up the children on our return & they can stay here,

Garden pics

Pics taken this morning

I have no idea what this is, it must have self seeded

The corn is nearly ready to pick

The tomatoes are still ripening, but I think I will be making lots of green tomato chutney soon

We are still picking beans every day

And cucumbers

Another crop of beetroot coming along

And carrots

The brussels will be ready for Yule

A bucket full of potatoes

Great Expectations!

DD2 is in the very early stages of labour, at the moment she's planning on going into work tomorrow!
We have her 10 year old here tonight, we are meant to be visiting MIL tomorrow, fingers crossed we make it.
DD2's inlaws are on holiday, my ex is on holiday, DD1's husband has just flown to the USA so she is coping with her 4 month old twins, an 8 year old, a 9 year old, a 15 year old & 2 dogs.
That means hubby & I are the only people available to babysit the DGC's whilst DD2 is in hospital!
I really hope we can get to see MIL before we are needed.

Quilt, second steps

I have added a contrast strip to the top & bottom of each square

It isn't easy to see both colours on the table so I have taken some pics on the table & some on a cloth

I sewed the squares onto the contrasting strip like this, chain piecing & then cut between the squares.

I know it isn't very straight, but I haven't pressed the seams yet, it will look better when I have.

I've given up waiting for my promised table & I'm sewing on the kitchen table, I'm not dressmaking, there isn't enough room, so I'll stick to making at quilt for now.

Use it up week

This week  the Italian GP was on, so I bought a pack of 6 rolls so hubby could have a burger whilst watching the qually on Saturday & the  race on Sunday,
We had a lot of leftovers from the takeaway on Friday & I'd bought a small piece of gammon last time I went to Aldi & once cooked sliced it thinly and sandwiches for hubby's packups & there were a few slices left.
So Saturday  we had leftover takeaway & burgers in buns.
Sunday we had cooked breakfast & the burgers in buns
Monday we had gammon, egg, chips & beans using some of the leftover gammon
Tuesday we had sausage casserole, using the sausages left from Sunday breakfast & the beans left from Monday.
Tonight we had carbonara using up the mushrooms left from Sunday breakfast, the last few scraps of gammon & I turned the leftover rolls into garlic bread, there was enough to feed us, plus my son who turned up unexpectedly & there is still a portion for lunch tomorrow.
So far every meal seems to have part of a previous meal included.
Now I'm going to look for a chutney recipe as I've just picked another 3 kilos of tomatoes & I want a change from soup.

Conversation with my L&M

'You'll need to throw that stuff away'
'What stuff?'
'The tomatoes you cooked to make soup out of'
'Why do I need to throw it away?'
'It's got maggots in it!'
'Maggots, are the wriggling?'
'I don't know, just get it out the fridge & throw it away'

I was surprised to hear about the maggots as the tomatoes had been cooked in a lidded casserole & was still in the same lidded dish in the fridge.
I went to look & then returned.

'They aren't maggots it's garlic that's been through the mince!!'

Getting a grip

Now that I'm back at work after the summer break, I'm ending up at the end of the day with the shakes, I'm trying to keep on top of the garden harvest & I cook from scratch, I don't cook every night as I try to cook a few meals on a Sunday when the oven is on to make my life easier during the week. 

I also want to continue seeing my grandchildren & with my crafts, sewing, quilting, crochet etc. I could give these up but then there is bugger all joy in doing nothing but work & sleep.

We are throwing every spare penny at the mortgage but it is literally pennies so it is going to be a long slow haul.

For a while, after I was ill I had the shopping delivered, that has now stopped, I fill the car up with petrol once a fortnight & if I need anything from Tesco's I get it then. 

Once a month I'm going to Aldi, I only spend around £30, I still spend most of my food budget in the local butchers/greengrocers.

Quilt, the first steps

This is the quilt so far using a striped shirt.

Cut the front of the shirt into strips from hem to shoulder.

Cut the back of the shirt across from side to side.

Sew the strips together in twos

Then press them and cut them so you have two squares sewn together.

Turn them & sew them like this so you have four squares sewn into a block.

Next I'm adding a border to each block, I'll post pics when I've done it.

What else would you do, but

Yesterday I took up two pairs of work trousers for my L&M, I used my sewing machine as the trousers are black combat style. I set the machine up on the kitchen table, it was already threaded with white thread. I was going to re-thread it with black thread when I realised that I wasn't going to be able to thread the machine in poor light. I left the white thread in and went over it with a black sharpie pen, oh the shame! But needs must.

Work is very busy, usual thing with a new intake of NQT's there's always a couple who think 'admin team' means personal slave but most of them seem nice enough.

I'm making more jam & vodka after work today, and I'll do some more on my quilt, my new rotary cutter arrived yesterday, I'll post pics this evening of my new project.

Cheap soup

Tomatoes, sliced onion, three small garlic heads & one Ring of Fire chili, all home grown.
Add a sprinkle of mixed herbs, salt, pepper & sugar.

Roasted until soft, then the garlic was squeezed between two spoons, the chili had the seeds removed.
Then this was poured into a pan with some water and blended with my stick blender.
It made the most delicious, it was so good I forgot to take a pic of the finished article.