I think Saint Hugh of RiverCottage is going to save me £120 this month!

[deaconblue]

Last week we had 4 veggie meals, 2 fish and a braising steak stew on Sunday, I made 2 soups from his veg book too. The week's shop was £94 (previous weeks had been £130 and £140, we average £130). This week I've planned 5 veggie meals, 1 fish and sausages on Sunday and another 2 soups and the week's shop comes to £93ish! I've also decided to cut out buying processed snacks so haven't bought mini cheddars or biscuits and have made home made cheese and ham muffins, and pitta with hummus for kids' snacks instead. At this rate we will be £120 better off at the end of this month.

Dh is finding he is more farty than usual though

Just started making the swede speltotto, though using pearl barley. Will be interested to see how it turns out: swede and pearl barley were two dreaded foodstuffs in my childhood.

Am inspired by the carrot hummus reports.....that's next on the list!

It's River Tower Block that s the Hood Book

The mezze section is amazing - the duka,guacamole, caponata and wedding day dip are fab. As are the flatbreads, which worked surprisingly well. The sweetcorn fritters are AMAZING! Addicted to this book. Tonight we've had the sweet potato gratin.

Swede (barley) 'speltotto' was delicious. I added a dash of cream and white wine, as that's what I would do in a normal risotto. DH loved it!

Have just bought a copy after reading this thread!

There is a review of the honey roasted cherry toms on my blog if anyone would like to see a photo of them .... here

I almost linked to your blog this morning, for another MNetter!
I didn't realise how many of your recipes I'd tried.

I'm v jealous, I'd love to start one but need a better camera and a table really so I can take some decent photos.
I just bore everyone on FB for now

I enjoy your pics on FB :)Though maybe not the tripe

I'm off to Morrison's in a while and the list says 'meat', so I'll no doubt come home with something weird!

I've got the veg book from the library- its the best cook book that I wish I owned. Made baby carrot and broad bean risotto, without the wine- delicious- a carrot revelation for me. Yum Yum.

I also rate the squash foldovers (and therefore the flatbreads), the barley broth, swede pasties and although perhaps obvious to other better cooks, the leek on toast things.

Trying the merguez chips tonight. Can't wait!

Did the dressed puy lentils tonight, as a side for a pork, anchovy and olive stew, with griddled fennel.
They were really good.
DD is not keen on pulses, though she will eat them, and she hoovered them up!
I'll make them again.
I can't believe how much I love this book, everything has worked brilliantly.
I'm waiting for delivery of his fish book and have his meat one, but have never used a book so much, so quickly as this.

Yes, the dressed lentils are really good. I made the merguez chips again tonight, though I serve them with a sauce similar to the patatas bravas one. They were divine.

I can't believe how much I love this book either! Am going to flick through it now to plan something for tomorrow's dinner.

Mmmm merguez chips were delicious. made the mexican bean soup last night- another gorgeous recipe.

Netto, please can you tell me about the pork, anchovy stew? Sounds delicious and could be perfect when our guests who are always horribly late come to visit. Would it stay nice on low in the oven while we wait for them to be up to two hours late?

I was looking at it.

I am SO going to buy it!

Shoppingbags
It was this Valentine Warner
I adapted it to use a reduced pork shank I'd picked up in Morrison's, and left out the fennel. I also used my slow cooker.
We'd never tried fennel before and weren't sure we'd like it, so I did it plain griddled on the side along with the lentils.
I liked it, and thought it worked brilliantly with the stew, but DD didn't so good job I did it that way.
The flavours in this are amazing, it's right at the top of my favourites list and I've ordered the book (£2.81, bargain!)
I think it would sit happily in a low oven if your guests are late.
You'd be able to serve it with salad from a bag too and some good crusty bread for a meal all done in advance.

Brilliant netto, thanks

So i ordered the book this week after reading this thread and took delivery a couple of days ago and very impressed with the amount of great recipe ideas and the info it gives on each chapter. Cooked the mushroom risionetto tonight and made my first attempt of flatbreads and garlic oil. The mushroom dish was lovely and my 6 yr old DS who loves mushrooms also enjoyed it. Very easy, quick and cheap. I'm full to the brim. Had to visit Waitrose for the Orzo pasta as I couldn't find it anywhere else. It's lovely pasta and made a nice change to our usual penne. Flatbreads were really good. It took a couple of go's to get the right dough thickness and the heat the right temp in the pan. All in all a great success! Can't wait for tomorrow to try another recipe.