Week 8 #Project365 – 2014

Over the past few months we’ve been making more of an effort to buy food and household items when they are on offer rather than when we need them.  This has resulted in full cupboards and a very full freezer.
So over the next couple of months we should only need to buy fresh food – bread, milk, eggs, yogurt, fruit and veg.  We certainly won’t go short of food for sometime!
Some of the best recent bargains have been :

• turkey breast steaks – 3 for £1.149
• PG Tips – 160 for £2.09
• jars of salsa dip – 34p each – for hubby’s snack fest in the evenings!
• bags of egg fried and pilau rice 37p each – not something I usually buy but there’s plenty in each for 2 people and makes a change from noodles or plain rice.
• Baxters soup – at less than 50p tin – ideal for quick lunches.
• Luxury Muesli – under a £1 bag

To make room for all the bargains I’ve had to tidy the kitchen cupboards and the freezer. The freezer is the size of a fridge freezer so holds quite a bit! At least I know where everything is in there now! Drawers full of meat and chicken, fish, bread/cakes/wraps, and home-made ready meals.

We had a drive out to Abergavenny and enjoyed a walk around the indoor market. Lots of stalls for the flea market but we both resisted buying anything – I’m a bugger for glasses and can’t usually resist nice shaped or coloured ones!
The market has big veggies hanging from the rafters!

Orange Wednesday this week was Dallas Buyers Club.  I wasn’t sure that it would live up to expectations as it’s getting very good reviews and also wasn’t sure hubby would like it considering the theme. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto lost loads of weight for the film and are virtually unrecognisable.  It’s a cracking story and I heartily recommend it to you.

We’re not seeing grandson until tomorrow – hopefully it’ll stay dry so we can all go for a walk and have some time in the park. Whatever it was that made him sick didn’t hang about long. Mummy and Daddy reported him fit and well on Sunday!

Check out my other Project 365 pictures so far.

If you’d like to read more about the project please click on the 365 badge

What’s for Dinner Tonight?

Well actually in our house it’s what’s for tea tonight?  Most of the time I make dishes from scratch using ingredients in the cupboards and fridge.
But it’s always handy to have some jars and packets as a standby for when time or inspiration is not forthcoming!

Recently Britmums were asking for members to try out the new Schwartz 2in1 seasoning range and they sent me 2 samples:

• Mediterranean Chicken Pasta and Cheesy Crumb Topping: A blend of herbs and spices for chicken pasta with a cheesy topping.
• Garlic & Thyme Roast Chicken + Crispy Roast Potatoes: Roast chicken seasoning, with garlic and thyme, accompanied by a special seasoning to create perfect Crispy Roast Potatoes

‘Тhe  2in1 range offers easy to use recipe mix sachets: one sachet flavours the main dish whilst the other contains seasoning for a complementary side dish or topping. There are 5 different varieties to choose from, and an easy recipe on the back of each pack’.

I decided to try out the Garlic & Thyme Roast Chicken + Crispy Roast Potatoes.
The instructions said to make some cuts in the chicken, mix the top part of the sachet with some oil and brush that over the chicken. It is then covered with foil and placed in the oven to cook.
The potatoes are cut into chunks and par boiled. You heat a little oil in a separate dish, drain the potatoes, sprinkle with the potato seasoning and toss gently then transfer them to them oven dish.

The cooked chicken:

The kitchen was filled with a delicious smell! The chicken was really tasty, the garlic and thyme is not overpowering just enough to make it tasty for everyone.
The potatoes were tasty too but not as tasty as the chicken. The seasoning contains semolina to give the potatoes a crunchy coat but I’m not keen on this. I can make crispy roasties without it!

This is the finished dish:

Would I use it again? Not sure, the chicken was good but the potatoes disappointing. Perhaps I’ll use the chicken seasoning and give the potato seasoning to the Mother-in-Law!

“This post is an entry for BritMums ‘What’s for Dinner Tonight?’ sponsored by Schwartz. 

RECIPE: Chicken Biryani – Slow Cooker style

I’ve scoured the interweb looking for a suitable recipe for a Biryani. Some say to cook the rice separately, some are dry cooked meat with the rice par-boiled and added at a late stage of cooking, some add the rice at the start of cooking.
So there doesn’t seem to be a definitive recipe anywhere.. oh dear.