Old fashioned stew

I found a recipe in one of my 70s cookbooks from an op shop. It was for an old fashioned English stew and it turned out to be just delicious. Very simple too. But quite meaty. I browned about 750g of beef and 250g of bacon and some onions, then put them into a slow cooker with some chopped potatoes, carrots, cabbage (out of the garden, last of the season) and a good dose of salt and pepper, thyme and bay leaves. Oh, and stock. It called for beef stock, but I'm always trying to use up my fish stock, so I put 750ml of that in. Sounds weird I know. But when I took it out of the slow cooker the next day, it was delicious, and not even vaguely fishy. So we have the yumminess of the beef and bacon and the goodness of the fish stock. And very reasonably priced too folks. Lasted two meals, nearly three, so probably $5-$6 per meal.

I've been time poor looking after littlies, so I've been on easy street with the lunches this week. All it said on my meal plan was 'sandwiches'. Some of them have been quite yummy though I must say. Ok, I'll admit here that dearly beloved made most of them. Bread, butter, avocado, fresh sliced tomato, some sort of meat (ham, proscuitto), cucumber etc. Very tasty and economical.

Breakfasts. I've been all out of ideas here. But loving the eggs at the moment. Fried eggs on toast with bacon have been a staple this week. Yum, yum, good fats, good for you.

Delicious, Simple Dal

Ahhh dal. Such a simple meal, peasant food, but it can be so delicious, nutritious, and yes cheapskates, it's cheap as chips. The key to a delicious dal is CONDIMENTS. Our favourite at the moment is a lime pickle I made a few months ago. Really simple recipe (will fill you in another day), and very authentic tasting. Goes extremely well with a simple dal. So, for dinner I cooked some split mung beans in fish stock (I've found a good use for fish stock! - very nutritious, and I can finally get rid of some of the hoards of it in my freezer). Separately I fried up some onion, ginger, garlic till soft, then added ground cumin, coriander, tumeric, paprika, mustard seeds, and cardamom. I left out the chilli so that Little Miss Four would eat it (alas, I was wrong). Finally added the cooked dal. Done. Earlier I fried some brown rice in ghee for 10 minutes, then added water and cooked on a low heat for 45 mins. At the last minute I steamed cauliflower and carrots, and put it all together, with, of course the lime pickle, some yoghurt, and lots of fresh coriander out of the garden. I made double so we'd have leftovers, and I reckon the meal would have only cost $3.

Lunch was a very simple and quick sandwich. Fresh home made sourdough bread, topped with plenty of butter, avocado, sliced tomato, and some very yummy home-made cheese (more about that another day too). Salt and pepper. I could eat that all day.

Breakfast is always a tough one. I get a bit bored with the same old same old. Need new ideas. Today I was short on ideas, so we had overnight-soaked porridge, cooked in milk (makes it creamy). Topped with cream (raw is best), raw honey, and a spoon of coconut oil (good way to get good fats into Littlies). Yummy and nutritious, but yes, quite obvious.

Eat on, cheapskates.

Budget cuts

We eat for $150 a week. We eat healthy, quality, gourmet, organic food, on $150 a week. That's a family of 2 adults and 2 littlies. One of the secrets to eating well on a budget, is eating the cheaper cuts of meat. And stay with me here, I'm talking organ meats. Along with the fat, they are the most nutritious part of the animal. And yet our modern society shuns them! Gives them to the pets! Our ancestors would shudder. They used to eat the fat and organ meats first, they revered them. Then the muscle meat last, if they ate it at all (they would sometimes feed the muscle meat to their pets).

So, dinner last night was lamb's fry (liver). I know what you're thinking. The yucky stuff your mother used to feed you once a week. But it doesn't have to be that way. It CAN be delicious. What you do, is first, buy organic. The stuff's cheap as chips. It costs about $2.50 to feed a family for one meal. Buy a bunch of it and store it in the freezer. Once thawed, peel the thin membrane off the liver, cut off the vein-y bits, slice it as thinly as you can, and soak it in lemon juice for a few hours. Then pat dry, dredge in flour/salt/pepper, heat your fry pan to high, and only just cook through (or leave a bit of pink). Eat immediately. We had ours with roasted veges. Total meal cost probably $6. And our chickens (meat eaters too) had a feast on the offcuts.

Lunch was very yummy. Had heaps of veges in the fridge, so stirfried brocolli, snow peas, cauliflower, onion, pumpkin, with some pepita and sunflower seeds in ghee and coconut oil. Added sweet chilli sauce at the end, and feasted. Delicious and very quick. Might have cost $5.

The porridge (soaked the previous night) got burned (we were distracted by kids) so we had eggs on toast for breakfast - always a favourite anyway. Not just eggs either, but we also had fried tomatos, fermented ginger carrots, and parsley and chives from the garden.

Snacks - Our mulberry tree is laden with fruit at the moment. So any chance we get we pick a big bowl full and gorge out with mulberries and cream. Our little person just loves them. She has a huge red mulberry smile afterwards. Just about free, cream maybe 20 cents.