Hearty meal for 4-6 for just over a £1? Oh go on then....

Lentil soup. I know, it's hippy food right? But honestly, and I never lie on this blog at least, it really is a) hearty and warming b) filling c) healthy d) cheap e) quick and easy and f) freezer friendly. Have you warmed to it yet?

Ingredients 

1 x 500g bag red lentils (usually just under a £1)

1 x white onion

2 x clove of garlic

1.5 litres of veg stock

1/2 teaspoons of cumin (depends on  personal taste)

2 x teaspoon of paprika

Seasoning 

Oil

Method

1) Cook onions and garlic until onions are soft but not burnt in a heavy bottomed large pan (suitable for holding all ingredients)

2) Add veg stock and lentils

3) Add flavourings and season. Taste stock and add slightly more cumin or paprika if needed

4) Simmer for approx 15 mins until lentils have expanded and soaked up water

5) Blend or leave chunky- your choice . Incase you care, I like mine blended :)

Mighty fine Sunday dinner left overs this evening....Bubble & Squeak with poached eggs

Now, the millions of readers of Yesterdays post are probably eagerly awaiting my follow up....Monday night Bubble & Squeak. I appreciate this is somewhat late in the evening for a 'what to cook for dinner' post but as my Mum is my main reader and she happens to be on a cruise at the moment I think I can be forgiven!

Bubble & Squeak, the old school Sunday evening dish of wonder. I absolutely loved it, Grandad (Nunks) frying up the leftover potatoes and veg, cooking up a few sausages and adding a dollop of HP sauce. Et voila, the not so naked chef had created a dish of homely delight. And then I grew up, forgot about it and resigned the leftovers to the dog/food composting bin. Until now, B & S is back and better than ever.

The original recipe (bottom of page) called for bacon to be added. I don't eat bacon so we had poached eggs on top instead. Any road up really.

Here is the finished product:

Now, I will be the first to admit it hardly seems worthy of its own blog post. But it is, I promise, it really is!

Ingredients:

2 x cloves of garlic

1 x medium onion

1 x dessertspoon of oil of your choice

Seasoning

Any herbs or spices you fancy - we went with Aromat and smoked paprika 

Left over vegetables and boiled/mashed potatoes

Method:

1. Heat a frying pan over a medium flame and add oil

2. Add minced garlic and chopped onion

3. Mash left over veg and potatoes together using a potato masher

4. When garlic and onion are beginning to brown add veg/potato mix to pan

5. Pat down to flatten mix (and allow for browning the underside)

6. Season to taste and add any additional flavourings you fancy- go wild, YOLO

7. Turn mix with spatula and pat down again

8. When mix is piping hot with lots of crispy, fried patches turn out onto plate

I am going to be making more effort to use our 'leftovers' in creative and tasty ways. All to often in the past they have hit the bin and I am determined that won't happen anymore. We have some left over beef from lunch which I am going to be using tomorrow night to make homemade rissoles. 

The original (if slightly more methodical recipe) can be found here:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/164622/bubble-and-squeak

12.5kg sack of desiree potatoes for £2 at Morrisons! Let the potato recipes roll....

Well, the title says it all really! I am not usually a Morrisons shopper but in the name of research decided to try it out. In general it was 'okay'. Just okay. Most of the products were more expensive than Asda in my opinion and the product range was not as good. But, there were deals to be found for sure as the big sack of spuds that Mr Frugal lugged to the car show!

So, firstly the potatoes are unwashed. My poor paws! But in all seriousness, hardly a massive inconvienence to wash a few tatties!

Secondly, the date on these is fairly short for a huge 12.5kg sack. As mentioned in my post on dates (see previous post!) I don't take too much notice of dates anyway. To store keep them in a cool dark place and all should be well with the world. You can also store in fridge but that will give you a slightly sweeter potato as the starch turns to sugar at a lower temperature. In either case I will be using some to freeze down in various ways-more to come on that as it happens!

The potatoes are Desiree, an excellent floury all rounder suitable for roasting, mashing, boiling and using in creamy potato dishes. More info for the potato conscious can be found here: http://www.homelife.com.au/recipe/how+to+choose+potatoes,4596

Incase you are impatient to get cooking I will post below some of the recipes I will be following today. I will report my success back. I will be adding lots of potato recipes over the next week (as I have a lot of potatoes!) One thing is for sure, we will all end up with an Irish accent within the next week or so.... Top of the morning to ya

Recipes for Sunday

With today being Sunday it stands to reason my first recipe is going to be the good ol' roastie:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/6009/perfect+roast+potatoes

Followed by the traditional Bubble & Squeak for dinner (or if we are too full it will be Monday night dinner)

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/164622/bubble-and-squeak