Oh! Wow!

I'm not a great one for watching cookery programmes.  Sentences including the words "paint" and "dry" seem to sum up my feelings.

However, I did enjoy watching "Eat well for less" and this morning when I was doing some batch cooking I decided to make the vegetable crisps which were demonstrated.

Fortunately I photographed them because they are no more.  Oh!  Wow!  A tasty snack, low fat, and very economical.  

My carrot crisps about an hour ago

I had the food processor out for other jobs so I sliced a carrot very thinly in the processor.  I then spread some tin foil on a baking sheet, sprayed it with oil and arranged a single layer of carrot slices.  I put them in the fan oven at 150C until they were crisp which was about 25 minutes.  (I think 150 Celsius is about 300 Fahrenheit.)  I then sprinkled them with savoury yeast flakes but I reckon salt and black pepper would be good as well.  I just prefer to minimise my salt intake.

Next time the oven is on I may experiment with parsnips, sweet potato or courgette.  Hard life I've got.

Knowing its value

I didn't make any resolutions at New Year but I've now thought of a project for 2016.  In 2015 I worked to have less messy places in my home but really that isn't enough.  I want beautiful places, places which feed my spirit.

I've never been a good housekeeper. Let's be honest - I'm a lousy housekeeper.  It's just so tedious!  I'm hoping that if I look at it as creating beautiful places I might feel a little more positive about it.  We can live in hope!

This is the first beautiful place I have created.  I had to go to Tesco today so I treated myself to a bunch of daffodils and I've put them in a favourite vase on my great granny's chest of drawers.

Last time I posted I quoted, "Frugality is not just about knowing the cost of everything. It’s about knowing its value too."

2016 will be about valuing the beautiful and creating more of it.

Hi there!

It's a while since I posted but I'm back - hope that's OK with you!

I came across a lovely quote this morning.  "Frugality is not just about knowing the cost of everything. It’s about knowing its value too."  It occurs to me that that is the sort of frugality I want.  I want to value the things I have, rather than remember what it cost.  I need to think that one through

21st January

I've been plodding on at the poncho (but I've also knitted a couple of hats to give away and I've knitted a cowl with wool that I was given) so here's the current state of play.

4th January

6th January

I've put a couple of markers to show it earlier in the month - a girl needs a bit of self encouragement!

The Stash

It has many guises does my stash.  It lives by the yard in the sewing room, by the ball in the wool cupboard and by the cupboard/fridge/freezer full in my kitchen.

But it is decreasing - well, maybe not all the time!  The freezer is particularly full in this post Christmas period but overall it has been better controlled over the last few months.  Since Mr Tesco increased the minimum delivery from £25 to £40 I have been keeping an even closer eye on the food stores in general.

While sorting things before Christmas I found a pack of extra lean minced pork so today that went into the slow cooker with an onion, various sad looking apples and an onion and together they made rather a nice casserole.  A couple of sweet potatoes, some unhappy carrots and a bunch of spring onions with a sell-by date of a couple of days ago made soup.  My fridge looks almost respectable now.

And I am tackling the wool stash.  A couple of days ago my poncho looked like this.

Now it looks like this.  To the casual eye not a lot of difference.  

Rising to the challenge

Frugally Challenged - that's me!  And now I have a whole new year (including an extra day as it's leap year) to rise to that  challenge.

My lap blanket

I've made a good start.  Apart from the usual standing orders I had only paid out my Sunday offertory.  I set out this morning expecting to spend as I needed potatoes but when I got to the wayside stall I didn't have the right change for the honesty box.  No worries I thought, I'll ask my cousin for change when I visit.  My lovely cousin did better than that - he'd been given a sack of potatoes so he gave me about ten pounds of lovely spuds!  

The start of a poncho

I've got my crochet hook out and I'm making a poncho to wear around the house when the weather gets colder.  It has been amazingly warm so far but it can't last.  I made a lap blanket back in September so I'm making a poncho to match.