The Great Use It Up Challenge 2012

As briefly mentioned in the last post I have started on my usual January using stuff up mission.  ;o)  For the uninitiated (not that I think there are crowds of you scratching your heads over this!), the challenge amounts to trying to use up what I have in the pantry, freezer and fridge without shopping for anything other than essentials.  My definition of essentials is milk, butter, cheese, fruit and veg to start with.  As I progress through the month this list grows obviously.  Reasons for doing this?  Well....

• Money.  I was in the lovely position of being able to clear my massive overdraft and credit card debt in October 2011 but I'm by no means out of the financial woods skipping through the meadow yet!  I have to stick with my budget now!  My current weekly food budget is £60.  For the duration of the challenge I am planning on putting the difference between what I spend and my usual budget into our savings account.
• Pantry spring clean.  I will be conducting a major spring clean of my pantry and the less I have to take out and put back for that process the better!
• Cooking from scratch.  I love cooking from scratch but I sometimes slip into bad habits and the back end of last year fell into that category.  I want to get back to cooking more from scratch and trying new recipes and having to use up what I have always makes me cook more creatively.  :o)
• Blogging.  Any excuse to share what may or may not be interesting to anyone other than me!  Lol
• The feel good factor.  There's nothing like knowing I'm being thrifty and creative.  :o)

So, just what do I have to use up?  Brace yourself, it's a pretty long list!

Pantry

(Anything in blue has been bought since the challenge started.)
Ackee, tinned

Apricots, tinned

Arrowroot

Beer, 1 small bottle

Black eye beans, dried

Baked beans x 2 x1

Banana chutney

Beluga lentils, dried

Black beans, dried

Black beans, tinned

Black treacle

Bread flour

Bread flour

Breadsticks

Brown linseeds

Butter beans, dried

Cake decorations, too many to list

Cannelleni beans, dried

Cannelloni

Caster sugar

Cereal

Champagne

Chestnut puree x 3 x2

Chocolate cake covering, 1 1/2 bars

Chopped tomatoes, tinned

Chopped tomatoes with basil, carton

Cider vinegar

Cocktail cherries

Cocktail onions

Cocoa powder

Cornflour

Cous cous

Crab apple jelly x 4

Crackers, variety of opened packets of crackers

Cream crackers

Creamed coconut, sachet x 3

Crisps, variety of individual bags

Crunchy peanut butter

Crystallised ginger

Currants

Dark brown sugar

Dates x 2

Demerara sugar

Easy cook long grain rice

Evaporated milk large x 2 x 1

Evaporated milk, small

Extra virgin olive oil

Gelatine

Glace cherries

Golden syrup

Gram flour

Green split peas, dried

Grenadine

Hazelnuts, unshelled

Herbs and spices, too numerous to list

Honey

Hot chocolate

Icing, ready made coloured

Icing sugar

Instant coffee

Japanese rice crackers

Jelly x 3 x 2 x1

Kirsch

Large cous cous

Light brown sugar

Long grain rice

Macaroni

Malt extract

Malt vinegar

Marmalade vodka

Marmalade x 2

Marzipan

Meringue nests

Mincemeat

Mixed bean salad

Mixed nuts

Mixed seeds

Nakd bars x 4 x3

Nori

Oatbran x 2

Oats

Olives with anchovy stuffing

One cup teabags

Onions

Onions
OO pasta flour

Part baked rolls

Pasta reindeers

Pasta twists x 3 x 2 x1

Pearl barley

Piccalilli

Pineapple

Pistachios

Plain flour

Plain noodles

Plum chutney

Plum tomatoes

Polenta, ready made x 2

Porcini mushrooms, dried

Port

Potatoes

Potatoes

Pringles, 1/2 tube

Pudding rice

Pumpkin

Red kidney beans, dried

Red kidney beans, tinned

Red lentils

Redcurrant chutney x 3

Rhubarb chutney x 4

Rice pudding, tinned

Roasted savoury seed mix

Self raising flour

Self raising flour
Semolina?

Seri kaya, tinned

Sesame halva x 2

Sesame oil

Sesame seeds

Sloe vodka

Stock cubes

Soy sauce

Suet

Sugar cubes

Sultanas

Sweet potatoes

Teabags

Tinned ham

Tomato ketchup

Tuc

Tuna x 3

Walnuts

Wheatgerm

Whole chestnuts x 3 x2

Wholegrain spelt flour

Wine, home made

Xanthan gum

Yellow split peas, dried
 
Freezer
 
(Items in blue have been made and added to the freezer since the challenge started)

Baguette

Baked beans x 3 x 2 

Bananas, 2

Beef mince

Black beans, cooked

Blackcurrants

Breadcrumbs

Carob truffle mix

Cheese sauce

Cherry ice cream

Chicken giblets

Chicken legs, cooked

Chicken legs, raw

Chicken liver pate

Chicken livers

Chicken stock x 3 x2

Chocolate ice cream

Cooked chicken wings

Filo pastry, 2 packs

Fishfingers 2 x 10 1 x 10

Flat bread

Gingerbread stuffing

Gooseberries

Leeks

Lentil loaf, 2 slices x 2

Lemon juice?

Liver cake (dogs!)

Mincemeat brownie

Mini mince pies

Muffins

Muffins, 2 x 4 1 x 4

Naan, 2 x 2

Paneer

Peas

Potato cakes, 6

Puff pastry

Redcurrants x 3

Seeded loaf

Shortcrust pastry, tiny bit!

Sloes

Soya beans

Spinach

Three cheese strata, 3 small portions

Tomato sauce

Treacle ginger cake

Vanilla ice cream

Veg curry

Veg soup

Veg stew

Vegetarian sausage and bean casserole x 2 x1

White wine, 2 small pots

Whole trout x 2

I made these lists earlier this week so have excluded some items already.  I will score through items as I use them.  I have been using up stuff from the fridge too but I didn't make a list until today....

Fridge

(Items in blue have been made or bought since the challenge began)

Apple juice

Aubergine

Balsamic vinegar

Barbecue sauce

Beetroot, fresh

Boar pate

Brown sauce

Butter icing

Butter, salted

Butter, unsalted

Butternut squash
Caramelised onion chutney

Carrots

Carrots

Celeriac

Celery

Cheddar

Cheese – smallish lumps of Camembert, Brie, Cheddar, Gruyere, Cheddar with apple cider chutney, Mozzarella, Cheddar with caramelised onion and Drunken Goat,

Cherry jam

Chocolate squirty cream

Cottage cheese x 2

Cream, double

Cream, extra thick with Cherry Marnier

Cream, single

Croissant dough

Cucumber

Dill pickles

Dried onions

Feta cheese

Greek yoghurt


Ham

Hoisin sauce

Lemons, 3

Mango chutney

Margarine

Marmalade

Mayonnaise

Milk

Milk

Mint syrup

Mixed leaf salad pack

Mushrooms

Orange

Parsnips

Parsnips

Pickled beetroot

Pickled onions

Pickled red cabbage

Raspberry jam

Red onion relish

Redcurrant chutney

Redcurrant jelly

Redcurrant vinegar

Rhubarb relish

Root ginger

Salad cream

Soy sauce

Spring onion

Sun dried tomato pesto

Sun dried tomatoes in oil

Swede

Sweet tomato and chilli chutney

Tomatoes
 
So, barring a few odd things I may have missed and stuff lurking elsewhere other than in the pantry, freezer and fridge, there you have it!  Quite interesting reading, well for me anyway!  I seem to have a chutney fetish!  Lol  So, down to business, I will be endeavouring to use as much of what I have with minimal spending, watch this space for updates!  If you've made it this far.... bloody well done you!  Lol

Back to some foodie blogging!

Yay, here I am reclaiming my foodie blog after a hiatus of some months.  ;o)  No apologies, life just overtook me on this particular front!

A quick romp through my festive cooking adventures to start!  This year I resolutely stuck with my food budget for over the Christmas period. (yeah, I know, I was somewhat smug!  lol)  That meant I did alot more baking than in recent years which can only be good in my eyes!  I didn't buy any mince pies at all although sadly I didn't get around to making my own mincemeat but hey ho.  I spent Christmas Day at my parents so no Christmas lunch cooking for me, booooo!  I did however entertain on Boxing Day and made a big puffy pastried chicken pie followed by Jamie Oliver's artic roll....

I really enjoyed making this, it was aaaaaaaages since I'd made a swiss roll and it was fun rolling it up with raspberry jam, chocolate and vanilla ice creams oozing out!  I dispensed with the crushed Crunchie, of course, but I don't think that detracted from the flavour at all.  :o) 

On New Year's Eve we rolled out the Raclette as is now traditional! 

I must search out some more specific Raclette recipes though.

I have now embarked on my annual New Year activity of using up what I have instead of shopping for more.  :o)  A blog post specifically about this challenge coming up....

It's good to be back!

Kohl rabi coleslaw

Last week kohl rabi appeared in my organic veg box.  Usually I would use it in soup or a dauphinoise style dish but there was a nice recipe on the leaflet which came with the veg so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  As is my wont I adapted the recipe a little but it basically amounted to finely sliced kohl rabi, carrot and onion in fat free Greek yogurt mixed with a teaspoon of white wine vinegar, chopped fresh mint and a jigger of sun dried tomato pesto then, once mixed, sprinkled with smoked paprika. It was delicious although my husband wasn't very open to the experience! 

Hey man, I just want some muesli...

After months on holiday I do believe my Foodie Muse has returned, yay!  ;oD 

A little update if you can bear it, if not, feel free to skip over this bit!  ;o)  Most folk who know me relatively well will know that I like to cook, I like to try new stuff, I hate to waste stuff, I love using leftovers, I love to bake, I try to avoid processed foods, I have a thing about The Devil's Supermarket (aka Tescos) and a bee in my bonnet about organic food and I'm trying to be healthier and lose weight, to name but a few food related facts!  Over the last few months, I know not what happened or why, but I slipped into some dirty habits... processed food has been creeping in, I've not been baking or cooking nearly as much as I'd like to, my health has suffered, I've put weight back on, yada, yada, yada!   But, for a variety of reasons, the rot has stopped and I'm getting back down to it, yippee!  ;o) 

Yesterday my husband chalked cereal (well, he actually chalked CERIAL but his spelling misdemeanors are a whole different story!) on the board in the kitchen as he'd run out, he's pretty much the lone cereal eater in this house, his breakfast is always cereal, 365days a year he'll start his day (and sometimes end it) with a bowl of cereal.  I try to ring the changes when I buy cereal, keep any boredom setting in and normally buy 3 or 4 different sorts each time but yesterday I'd just declared that we need to go on a serious economy drive so instead of going out to buy said cereal I rummaged about in the pantry and decided to make Maz's Marvellous Muesli thereby saving some money and using up various bits and bobs in the process.  The hubster loves muesli, he favours Alpen and I don't blame him, I've bought cheaper stuff in the past and they've amounted to a bowl of dust with a couple of sad raisins if you're lucky!  So, museli making it was....

I use my casual chuck it and chance it method when making muesli so no two batches will ever be the same! This time I used porridge oats, natural puffed rice (I found half a bag cowering at the back of the meat safe), a handful of nuts (husband isn't a big fan of nuts), shredded coconut, dried apple, mango, banana and pineapple, figs, sultanas, cherries, cranberries and I even threw in a jigger of chocolate chips.  The wide variety of dried fruit was mainly courtesy of Graze boxes.  I had a little backlog of these lovely little boxes and decided to put them to good use.  Incidentally, if you've never tried a Graze box, go to the website and use this code, CR1BJYV, and you can have a free one.  ;o)    

And hey presto.... muesli.... ;o)

Squash Soup

I had this beautiful beast of a squash in my veg box...

Don't you just love the glorious colour?  Such a blast of sunshine in these dismal winter days!  So, sunshine soup was on the cards.  ;o)  I used half of the beast, chopped up and then fried with chopped onion, garlic and cumin...

Then sploshed in a bit of stock and simmered until the squash was soft.

Then I whizzed it all up with a few jiggers of milk and served with a swirl of cream and some bacon flavoured bits, oh and some hot buttered toast of course!

Squashes make such gorgeously smooth, sexy soups!  Soup-a-rama!  ;o)

Egg Bound!

Our chickens are giving it some!  They are laying eggs like it's going out of fashion and consequently I have some serious egg cookery to indulge in!  ;o)

Lunchtime today we had scrambled egg and baked beans on toast and for dinner this evening it was veg tortilla.  ;o)  Thinking about blogging earlier today I fell to pondering what the difference is between tortilla and frittata?  It would appear they are the same thing, both omelettes basically but tortilla is Spanish and frittata is Italian.  So, now I know!  ;o)

Whichever this is, I can confirm that it was delicious!  I love a simple dish and this is one of those.  ;o)  I just fried an onion in a little olive oil with some herbs, added it to a dish with cooked broccoli, potatos and carrots and poured over an ad hoc egg and milk mixture with some seasoning, sprinkle it with grated cheese and bunged it in the oven for about 40 minutes.  Eggorama!  ;o)

Now that we, well, my husband and daughter really, have ploughed through biscuits, cakes and mince pies leftover from the festivities I will be able to use up some eggs in some baking.  I haven't baked since Christmas Eve and I'm feeling in need of a blast of baking therapy!  ;oD  I may indulge my husband in some custard tarts to use yet more eggs up, watch this space!

New Year, Renewed Blogging!

It's been a while since I've blogged in a foodie manner and here I am set to pick up the reins as we gallop into 2011.  ;)

For dinner this evening we had slow cooker macaroni cheese, a dish we usually have at some point over the festive period.  I can't remember just who I got this recipe from, otherwise I'd credit them, but it was via one of the Yahoo groups I used to belong to.  You need to get over the fact that it's not really akin to "real" macaroni cheese made with cheese sauce but it has a charm of it's own.  Made as per the recipe it has about 300 calories per portion - if divided into four portions which is really a quite generous portion.  So, the recipe...

From this...

...to this!

Slow Cooker Macaroni Cheese

2 cups uncooked macaroni
2 cups cottage cheese
2 cups grated cheese
2 cups boiling water

Layer first three ingredients into slow cooker.  DO NOT MIX.  Pour the boiling water over and cook on high for three hours.  Stir very well and serve.


That's all there is to it but, true to form, I do tinker with the recipe a little!  I often make it with milk instead of water, just heat it up before pouring it in.  It can be a bit clarty so if you like it a bit more saucy add another half a cup of liquid.  It doesn't look very pleasant when it's cooked but perks up no end after a good stirring!To add a bit of variety, cottage cheese with onion and chives or other flavour is nice.    This evening I served it with some grilled bacon and a speinkle of extra grated cheese.  ;o)