Gobby Wordless Wednesday

For those of you wondering what gobby means, it's a description of someone with a big mouth yes, me, go on, say it...you were thinking it... (or gob) who can't refrain from talking, even if they happen to be participating in...oh, I don't know...a wordless day? I accept that title. I have snippets of information, messages to give, certain bits of information to relay so I have no choice but to make this Wordless Wednesday, only partial.

Anyone any idea why I can't see my list of followers? I also can't see anyone elses so therefore can't join any new blogs. Tis a tad frustratin'.

Vintage Kitty, we miss you. Please come back to blogland. Vintage had a wonderful blog full of vintage stuff oddly enough, witty quips and delightful repartee. Unfortunately, she got stalked by an evil troll and decided it just wasn't worth it. How sad do you have to be to actually come online, read a lovely blog and start spewing evilness. Blogland is a sadder place without Ms. Kitty and I hope she shall return one day.

A few of my delightful friends across the globe received their little Scottish goodies the other day there was a saga but it's too boring to go into. There were 8 sent out altogether so I'm hopeful that the rest of 'em have made their way safely since two have so far reached American shores, so let me know if you are one of the recipients!

The lovely Anna from the beautiful blog 'little reminders of love' had engaged me in a conversation about the Queen sometime ago. I told her I'd been to Buckingham Palace and had met her; we engaged in a chat along the lines of:
"No way"...
"WAY!"
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
You can tell we have a high combined intelligence, can't you? So, this Gobby Worldess Wednesday sets out to show my day at the palace.

Arrival at the Palace

We had a picnic to begin with, served with champagne


My twin sis; a journalist gave us the hats I think; we were in the newspaper




Performers kept us entertained

The Queens Concerts: Party at the Palace

Tom Jones

A couple of swells

The Corrs


Rod Stewart

Annie Lennox; Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton etc.were also performing; so many singers and bands were there


Even Baby Spice...

The staff, watching quietly from the gardens below

The Royal family on stage

Ozzy got a rousing welcome


All the performers come on together

The palace from the back gardens at night


The Fireworks at the end were incredible

Wordless Wednesday

Lasagna-20 portions!

I made Lasagna and Macaroni Cheese tonight. Not all the kids like lasagna so I thought they could have a choice. I make my own sauce and cook the beef for an hour and a half so that it is very tender. This batch makes approx. 18-20 portions and works out approx. 50 pence per portion. The recipe is as follows:
Lasagna- I always make large portions as it freezes beautifully and is very cost effective in bulk.
2 packets mince, large (730g each today)
Pasta sheets x 2 packets
Olive oil
2 onions
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons tomato puree
3 cartons (500g) passata
200ml stock or water
1 tbs sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Nutmeg
Butter 100g
Milk 3/4 pint
2 large tablespoons flour

Tomato Sauce
Puree onions and garlic in a processor until mushy. Heat a good splash of olive oil in a non-stick pan and pour in onion mixture. Stir, bring to the boil, stir again and then simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. These should not go brown. Once cooked, add puree and passata. Stir then bring to the boil. Let it bubble away for a few minutes then turn down heat to a good simmer. Add 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon salt plus a really good grinding of black pepper. Stir.

Sprinkle in a good pinch of mixed herbs (dried) and a dash of red wine. Simmer with lid on for approx. 10 minutes or until mince is ready.

Minced Beef
To prepare mince, add a little olive oil to another pan and over a medium to high heat, fry mince until completely brown, stirring continuously. (I had to do this in two batches). Drain and add to sauce. Bring to a boil, then put lid back on and simmer on a low heat for 1.5 hours. Stir every 15 minutes or so. Once ready, add a good grating of nutmeg.

Bechamel Sauce
Melt butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add flour and stir constantly until a roux is formed (looks like a soft paste). Add a dash of milk and incorporate into roux. It may look a little curdled, don't worry, keep stirring! Keep adding milk, a little at a time, quickly stirring all the time. Once the desired thickness has been achieved. let it simmer for a minute, then add a sprinkle of white pepper and a good grating of nutmeg.

Prepare Lasagna:
Layer meat sauce on bottom of lasagna tin/tray. Layer pasta sheets on top and then pour over some bechamel sauce. Repeat and finish with bechamel sauce and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan. Place lasagna in oven at 180 degrees C and cook for 30-35 minutes.

Once cooled, slice into portions and place into foil trays. After eating this for dinner and having seconds, we had 14 portions left.

Feeding a Family of Five for Fifty Pounds

Can it be done? I wasn't sure. Considering my usual weekly food bill was well in excess of £100, particularly since the rising cost of food, I was doubtful. But I was also resourceful: I looked for bargains and found ways to use up leftover ingredients. I always checked the price per gramme or per item against other brands to get the best deal. I took some chances on cheaper ingredients and tried out some dishes that I might not usually have cooked. I think I learned quite a few things;

• I learned that cooking in bulk with fresh ingredients is a lot cheaper than cooking small dishes every day and a lot of food tastes better with age so cooking large quantities doesn't just save money.

• I've found out that a medium sized free range chicken can last two meals, if not more.

• I'm delighted to have realised that all leftover food can be made into at least one of 3 dishes: a soup, a pie or a casserole.
  

• I saw that some items need to be purchased at the higher cost to ensure quality but equally, some non-brand, cheaper items are just as good, if not better.

Some weeks, I found myself way below the fifty pounds; this was due to bulk preparation on meals that take to a freezer really well, e.g. lasagna, curry, stews. Other weeks, I was a little above but used what I had saved from previous weeks shop. All in all, I stayed within the fifty pounds. I'm still a novice however and will continue to find new and innovative ways to save money on family food bills.