This week I will be mostly

This week I will be mostly thinking about vegetables and trying not to spend too much.

I'm a vegetarian but somehow manage to often get through the day without eating any vegetables. This is partly because I've had a long and devoted relationship with bread, chocolate and cheese. I have often had whole days where these three wondrous ingredients have been the basis of all my meals. If there were no long term health risks I think I could quiet happily spend the rest of my eating life trying out different types of bread, goat's cheeses all mixed with liberal spreadings of  Nutella. I don't like fancypants chocolate - the stuff that's 70% or more cocoa solids or something. I prefer my chocolate diluted with lots of milk and sugar. Believe me, this isn't a consequence of my vegetarian diet - I was even worse before I became a vegetarian and I remember going through a phase of surviving on Branflakes, cheese and jam sandwiches, and baked beans with bread, enlivened only by the occasional tuna pasta bake. Since I've been a vegetarian I have by and large managed to consume a few vegetables a week.

Anyway . . .  this week I'm making our 5 a day the target of meal planning, whilst keeping an eye on the budget. I feel that since I'm responsible for all the cooking I have to be strict with myself, resist my chocolate, bread and cheese leanings a little and try to bring some vitamins into our lives. Our budget requires me to try and provide all our meals for the day for roughly £4. Luckily because vegetables (at least frozen ones) are relatively cheap it means I can do both.

Yesterday I did well. I made a vegetable omlette for lunch and then a chickpea, spinach, tomato and aubergine spiced stew for tea. I served roasted Chantenay carrots as a side dish. Target 5 achieved plus frozen left overs of the stew. One of my other missions is to have some back up meals in the freezer. By doing this I hope that I can make our budget stretch by making bigger meals in one go to avoid waste and also have something healthy ready and waiting for days when I really don't have the good health to cook, thus avoiding the need to go to the takeaway. I have to say it felt very satisfying to put portions of this dish in the freezer and it is strangely comforting to know I can just whip this out if needs be.

Today it didn't really come together on the vegetable front. I made a potato rosti for lunch. This was a recipe I haven't tried before and I love it. It's really filling and economical too. Unfortunately not very good on the vegetable front as technically potatoes don't count. Poor potatoes, all sad and disenfranchised. Tea was a little better, I made a chilli with tomato, broad beans, peas and peppers. Fortunately this recipe provided enough left overs that we can have the rest for lunch tomorrow.

At least with my left over chilli I'll have achieve at least 3 out of 5 by lunchtime which gives me plenty of scope for tea. Tomorrow for tea I have planned to make savoury pancakes - which I recently found out are a
favourite of Mr New Model Housewife. If I shove a few vegetables into those I should be fine.

So whilst I haven't quite got to grips with the vegetables, meal planning is at least going well on the economic front. I often used to plan our weeks meals but didn't always have great success in avoiding waste. Sometimes I'd be over ambitious with the recipes I'd chosen and I'd be too tired to attempt them by the end of the day, so I'd end up cooking something simple. I'm ashamed to admit that ingredients have rotted in my fridge and been thrown away. However this week it's so far so good. I've planned simple menus and am relying on frozen vegetables as well as fresh to avoid waste.

I've also been making my own bread. Despite my love of bread we somehow always seemed to end up throwing away half of a bought loaf so I thought I'd have a go at making my own. I've been using a very simple recipe which is on the back of the packet of Allinson's yeast. I've also been avoiding kneeding and have instead been using the dough hooks on my hand mixer. A little lazy it's true but the last time I tried to kneed dough some years ago I ended up causing a spasm in my neck and had to walk with my head at a angle for a couple of days. It was either that or the Bangra for fitness exercises I'd been trying that day but I didn't want to take the chance again.

So far it's been fairly good.

My bread rising in front of the dryer

The bread has been tasty even if it looks a little bit dishevelled and wonky.

This is what you call a 'rustic' crust

Bread is still tasty even when it's wonky

So far we've not thrown any away. This is probably because a) warm bread is irresistible and b) I have an extremely cheap bread knife and poor cutting skills so each loaf generates about 8 slices. 

Still it's a step in the right direction and flour and water are generally cheaper then a supermarket loaf. 

Well I think I'll sign off now and get myself a slice of bread. I've got a jar of Nutella in the cupboard.