Store cupboard soup and musings on washing

Oh yes, today is a good day.  There's sun, it's mild enough that I could hang the washing out in just a top without freezing and it's windy enough that it was worth hanging some washing out - hurrah.  There's nothing like pegging out a fresh damp wash to make me feel really happy, silly, I know, but it's got funny little rewards like not costing anything and smelling all gorgeous and fresh.

So, my washing is drying on the line instead of on the heated airer.  The cub is having a nap upstairs - a very odd nap, as he decided he didn't want his normal morning one and seems to have amalgamated it into his afternoon nap by bringing it forward 2 hours.  Oh well, peace and quiet for Mummy and any sleep is better than no sleep at the moment, even if it is at a funny time!

I'm making the most of my time by setting some soup to cook whilst I'm faffing about on the internet working.  It's a super simple soup.  The Cub loves it, the Viking loves it, even I like it and I'm not a huge soup fan.  It's made entirely from store cupboard ingredients and is pretty economical to make.  I invented it when I was first weaning the cub and wanted something quick, tasty, nutritious, filling, cheap and that would stay on the spoon reasonably well as he tried to guide it to his mouth!


Spicy Tomato and Lentil Soup

Baby endorsed!

Ingredients
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 or 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tin tomatoes (Tesco Everyday type is fine. No need for fancy ones!)
1  smallish cup of dried red split lentils
1/2 pint hot stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 or 2 tsp dried mixed herbs
dried red chilli flakes to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method
Soften onion and garlic in a couple of tbsp of sunflower oil.  Add the rest of the ingredients and allow to simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the lentils are really soft and pulpy.  I choose to blend it with a hand blender at this point, but the Viking quite likes it as it is and the Cub has expressed no definitive views on the matter.  Once it's blended you can add a bit more water if you want it thinner or simmer for longer to reduce it.  Serve it hot with a good handful of grated cheese on top (and some salt, if you're over the age of 10).


Now I'm going to see if there's time to have lunch and start the bunting for the Cub's room...

Bye bye birthday cards

We moved house just recently and were seriously remiss in our throwing-out before we moved and are now stuck with large piles of stuff we need to shift one way or another just so we can clear our sitting room.  Whilst engaging in a mass clear-out of paperwork I happened across a heap of cards I had previous deemed just too pretty to bin out of hand.  Well, desperate times call for desperate measures and I braced myself to chuck the lot in the recycling pile when I had a minor brainwave, got out my scissors and chopped them up, where possible, into pretty gift tags.

Now I just need to come up with an upcycling scheme for wrapping paper (would dyed/painted newspaper look nice enough?) and my gift-wrapping will be both economical and ecological!

Yoo hoo, I'm baaaack

Wow, I don't even want to think about how long it's been since I posted on here.  I've re-found my inspiration, though, after an amusing article on Radio 4, You and Yours yesterday.  It had this mother talking about how she had come to the sudden realisation that she didn't need to spend masses of money on her two year old, including such gems as "he can actually just have the same Greek Yoghurt that we're eating, I don't need to buy him the organic sugar-free baby yoghurts he's been on since he was weaned".  Well, excuse my French, but no shit Sherlock.

Some of us have no choice but to make do, mend, save, scrimp and otherwise find cheap or free ways of doing things that other people throw money at.  The fact that I enjoy being a tight-arse over matters financial is neither here nor there!  So now I've nurtured my cub for over a year, got him walking, (sort of) talking, eating and expressing his unique little personality with great forcefulness, I decided to come back and share some of my money-saving exploits yet again, only now with added baby.

Today's money-saving tip (and I'd like to start off with the blindingly obvious, because it's fun to annoy people, plus this is what we've done in the last few months): look into whether you really need a second car. Hah.  We need the first one for my husband to commute (it's more expensive on the bus, we checked!) but I can now walk everywhere, so I do.  This has the added benefit of losing weight (yay) and the downside of all my clothes now being too big. Sewing time!

I feel very virtuous, but on days like this when the streets are slick with compacted snow and I have to get to the other side of town, I do heave a bit of a sigh before bundling me and the cub up in our heavy-weather gear and setting off.

Rant

OK, it's late so I won't type much, but someone's status on FB just really irrritated me and until I feel I've had some kind of riposte then I'm not going to be able to sleep. It was a really snotty comment about how time is precious and passes so quickly and why do people feel the need to do minute by minute updates on FB.

OK, now I am fairly sure this was aimed at me, because let's face it - I do update fairly regularly, but I see it as a kind of full stop or comma in a busy day. Taking a moment to just share a thought with all my friends - because I can. If it wasn't available then it wouldn't be a big deal, but since it is I actually enjoy it and try to make my updates fun and light hearted, if not actually funny.

It is especially annoying since I would consider my own life as considerably richer and fuller than this sniping passive aggressive idiot. I have now moved them onto restricted profile so I am still technically 'friends' with them, but they can't see any of my stuff - no photos, statuses nothing. Usually I keep that for under 18s who want to be my buddy,  and in-laws, but it is just the thing for this situation. Maybe when things have cooled off even more I'll just delete them completely, but seriously? Why go on FB to whinge about people posting things on FB? It's Stooopid with a capital S.

Gadget Lust

So I went to John Lewis today to buy four white porcelain bowls with my Xmas vouchers. Terribly dull, but it was getting silly trying to live with just two bowls - I finally made the resolution to go and buy them when I found myself eating cereal out of a saucepan the other day...

Whilst I was in JL they were doing a product demo for this liquidiser thing. I wasn't terribly impressed at first, I like gadgets, but I have a liquidiser so I wasn't that interested. On the other hand they had a display stand piled high with fruit, veg and other goodies and if there's one thing I like: it's free food.

So, I stuck out the sales spiel and then was invited to try some ice cream - ice cream? From a liquidiser? I was dubious.

The ingredients didn;t make me any less so.
Cream. Fine
Honey. Fine
Frozen fruit. Fine
Bananas. Fine
Carrots? Hrmm
Courgette? Wait a sec
Cabbage? Raw? Yes, really.

But wait reader, it was delicious. Fruity and light and sweet and very yummy.

Then they made soup by blitzing up all sorts of ingredients, including garlic and ginger that hadn't been skinned and sticks of celery and lots of coriander and cashew nuts. They whizzed it until it got hot, then served it - raw food, but hot. Utterly delicious.

Plus, seriously easy to wash.

I *waaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnt* one. All I could think was:
a) good way for me to gets lots of vitamins
b) finally - a way of making pesto and guacamole and other tricky food without spending hours and having it still be lumpy.


Catch? Oh yes, there was a catch. £439 worth.

I'm gonna need a few more vouchers.

Spring is here?

I wish I could have phrased the title as more of a statement than a query. Whilst the weather is, undoubtedly, milder than it has been (not hard) and whilst I have spotted snowdrops (in abundance) crocii and daffodils all over the place, it still isn't feeling very springy. I'm not sure what I'm waiting for, to be honest - baby lambies? Primroses? Days warm enough to leave my coat at home? Easter? Who knows. I've seen catkins and pussy willows and, like I said, more snowdrops than I have ever seen in my life (photos to follow when we get a nice enough day to go and photograph them) but it still feels very much like winter here.

OK - I closed my eyes and really thought about it and realised what it was - all the trees and hedges are naked! We need some leaves. I love that first, luminous verdance where the trees look as if they've been dusted with the brightest, freshest green powder and not really like leaves at all. At the moment they're all bare and barren, their angular branches twisting and pointing rather than the fluffy sway the whole tree seems to undergo when the wind blows through leaves and sends them shimmering.

Then, once the leaves are through, you have the unbridled joy of blossom. It's one of the things I remember about my childhood in the London suburbs. By the time my birthday came round in late March every road would be a blossom-lined avenue - from the pink-tinged almond blossom to the fluffy candy pink of double cherry blossom and the white or shocking pink of the Horse chestnut candles, which had a particular charm all their own... At the moment the only nature-sprung colour I can see is the cheery red and yellow parrot striped tulips my beloved bought me for Valentine's Day - outside all is greys, browns and the winter-dulled dark green of water-logged grass and ivy.

Bring on the Spring! I'm ready and waiting :-D

Waving the flag for the NHS

I don't often get political in public, I don't like confrontation and nothing is more likely to raise peoples' hackles except, perhaps, religion. Some things, however, are just too important to ignore. Since the post war years the UK has been the envy of the world for its nationalised healthcare system, but now it is under threat and, except for one lone voice,nobody I know seems to have even noticed. Once I realised how big a threat this was to the one thing about all others that makes me proud of my country I had to do something, however small, so please read the following information, if you're in the UK sign the E-petition and pass on the details to everyone you know who has ever benefited from the NHS.

Thank you

Our treasured NHS is under threat. We believe that proposals in the new White Paper will break-up NHS services. At the heart of the NHS should be patients, but business motives are cutting deeply into the fairness, quality and value that we have come to expect. It is crucial for the public and NHS staff to join in opposing these proposals.

The NHS is already making £20bn of tough savings. So when jobs and services are under threat and waiting lists likely to rise, why waste £3bn on reforms that staff don’t want and which will make the NHS we know unrecognisable. Many people are now joining together to stand up for the NHS, so why not find out more and join them.

Sign the national petition at: http://www.nhscampaign.org/white-paper-comment/e-petition.html