Now that All Hallows E'en is past it feels as if we are counting down towards Christmas and the turn of the year. The weather this week has been cold, frosty and misty interspersed with drizzle and grey mornings. The heating has been turning itself on more frequently and the cats seem a lot less keen on staying out late at night. My food thoughts dwell increasingly on comfort food. On Wednesday I ate the second portion of sardine fish cakes that I had frozen, along with a large portion of my homemade boston baked beans. The saucy beans were just what the fishcakes needed. I finished off the last of the apple 'crumble' for dessert.
Being Halloween, I thought I ought to get to work on my bargain pumpkin. Not, I fear, to make a jack o'lantern, but to turn it in to something delicious. The Love Food Hate Waste website pointed out this week that Scotland throws away enough pumpkins every year to reach from Edinburgh to Stornaway, which is shocking, given how versatile they are. So I cut my 99p Lidl pumpkin in half, took out the seeds (and saved them) and roasted both halves. The first half was then peeled and chopped and added to a saucepan with chopped red onions (thanks Liz!) the chopped red pepper, a chopped chilli, stock cubes, water and seasoning, and then simmered until the veg was soft and pulpy. In the meantime I cleaned the 'strings' from the pumpkin seeds, gave them a rinse and a bit of a blot with a tea-towel and placed them on a baking tray with a good drizzle of olive oil some sea salt, black pepper and fennel and cumin seeds. I baked these for about 25 minutes stirring regularly to keep them well coated in oil. They make a delicious soup topper or snack. Once the soup was cool I blitzed it in my blender (another piece of kit used for the first time in years) and stirred through the smooth puree half a tin of the coconut milk I bought last week, then portioned it up for freezing, leaving two portions (out of ten it provided) in the fridge for Thursday/Friday lunches. Yummy. The remaining half of the roasted pumpkin I have plans for at the weekend.
Unusually all the deliveries have arrived more or less when scheduled this week, so I was able to get out today to have a mooch around for Christmas presents for under a £5. One of the things you will have noticed is that at Christmas shops are full of what I refer to as 'compilation gifts'. These are packs of related things wrapped up in seasonal packaging. It is generally still cheaper to make these packs up yourself than buy those on offer, here are a couple of examples.
Sainsbury's provided me with a £2.99 novel (Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan) a mug for £1.50 and drinking chocolate 'shots' at 30p each, 15 grams of mini marshmallows (from a 180gram bag, £1) about 8p. A total of £5.48 (you could leave out two of the hot chocolate shots to keep in budget or find cheaper versions at bargain supermarkets). The second collection also came from Sainsbury's. A £2.75 mug, a £1 tub of Cadbury's drinking chocolate (on special offer as it is the end of a line - but the best before date is 2020), a 'winter edition' chocolate bar (Christmas tree shapes) for £1 and a slightly larger bag of mini marshmallows, 20p: in total £4.95. I've placed these items in cellophane bags (I keep these in the house to package my handmade socks) and will decorate on the night I set aside for present wrapping. You could use recycled gift bags, party 'treat' bags, a decorated box, handmade wrapping paper or a nice piece of fabric if you preferred, they would all work well. Whether or not you are on a budget for the festive season, these would make nice gifts for someone who enjoys a cosy evening in.If you'd like to sponsor me for this challenge and support 'Start-Up Stirling' you can do so here!
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