Erm's Photo Diary

[ermintrude]

I only got it for the lentil & bacon soup thingie I made last night, so I thought Id treat myself with a bacon butty this morning - when I ran it through the calculator it came out as 1.5 syns a slice on EE! If Id known that before Id have eaten all 5 slices! I thought I was already gonna be using up all my syns for the day! So theres 2 still left in the fridge taunting me, Gah! :sigh: I suppose it depends what brand, but this was cheapo Waitrose Essential so I dont think it can get much fattier than that? My God the amount of fat I poured out of the pan was outrageous though! Which is fine for me bacon butty as it has gawn - but it does make me a bit alarmed about how much of the stuff was in me soup... :4633:

 

[JackieN]

that soup looks lovely Erm. Which lentils do you use. I've only ever used split red lentils..crisp streaky bacon :drools: mmmmmmm. In fact after reading this I had to make a bacon pitta was yummy xxxxx

 

[ermintrude]

Those are Puy lentils, theyre my faves, nice and meaty with a bit of substace I use red lentils for thickening soups and stuff or for curries, these one stay whole and are yumsome

 

[JackieN]

I must try some of those as they look really yummy x

 

[BritMumInCanada]

food looking good as always Erm

 

[ermintrude]

Friday 13th Jan - Green

Brunch: Coffee, pear, peach, crispy bacon butty 1 HEXA, 1 HEXB, 8.5 syns for streaky bacon, <0.5 HEXA for LCL. Ohhhh my! :drool: I wasn't expecting this to be all that good, given I was using WW bread and 1 paltry LCL instead of half a tub of butter but bloody hell, it was still fab, even if not the real deal :drool: 1.5 syns per rasher streaky bacon (on EE)? Yes please! Im still pretty sure it was WAY less than that anyhow, given how much fat I poured out of the pan!!!! (Im actually *more* horrified how much fat was IN the soup I made out of it last night, given that you DON'T drain it out of the soup!) Pretty sure my butty was more healthy than the soup now!

EDIT: changed it to a Green day now as that means I can keep all the other stuff today as two big fat extra HEXes, so it's 8.5 syns instead of 4.5

Tea: Hugh-Frankly-****-a-thon's Pot au Feu <0.5 HEXA for pecorino, <0.6 HEXB for walnuts & extra virgin olive oil
Snacks: Apple, carrots, tomaoes, more carrots, Quorn slices, Muller cheesecake 1 syn, cherries, peach

WhatTF is with this guy? This is the third thing Ive tried of his - the first two were bland as a bland thing, thought Id give him one more chance as it looked (comparitively) flavourful and I liked the parsnips idea - this one tasted of nothing but aniseed Awful

The pesto was actually pretty good when I made it and I was looking forward to it - by the time the main was cooked WHAT A WASTE of damn good pesto

1 portion If-I-should-ever-have-the-misfortune-to-meet-Hugh-Frankly-****-a-thon-I-should-gladly-shoot-him:

 

[ermintrude]

In case I get peckish

My satsuma bowl is empty They forgot to send me any :cry:

 

[MinkyDinky]

Monday 9th Jan - Green

Breakfast: Coffee & mixed fruit 1 HEXA
Lunch: Leftover veg & lentil soup
Lunch 2: Salad, 4 syns for dressing, and Finn Crisp with LCL Blue 1 HEXA & 1 HEXB
Tea: Good ol' smoky black bean soup
Snacks: Apple, peach, figs, satsuma, acrrots.

Hi Ermintrude,
This soup (as well as a lot of your other dishes!) looks lovely! I don't suppose I could trouble you for the recipe?? Looking for a new lunch on my green days and this could be the perfect winter warmer
Hope you are having a good weekend! xx

 

[ermintrude]

Smoky black bean and roast tomato soup (Free on Green/EE)

For the salsa:
- 1 small red onion, very finely chopped
- 1 small tin sweetcorn, drained
- 1 red chilli, deseeded & very finely chopped
- juice of 1/2 a lime

For the soup:
- 12 large tomatoes, halved
- 2 red onions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tsp chipotle paste (I use Discovery)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- about 750g (cooked weight) black beans (you can use tinned but dried ones soaked overnight are way nicer - I use Tesco black turtle beans - sometimes I use 1/2 the pack, sometimes the full 500g - just adjust stock and seasoning/lime/chipotle to taste)
- 750 ml veg stock (again, need to adjust depending how much beans you use)
- juice of 1/2 a lime
- few sprigs fresh coriander

Method:
- Soak beans overnight if using dried ones
- Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5
- Lay tomatoes cut-side up on a baking tray, spray with Fry Light, season and bake for 30min

Next make the salsa:
- Fry onion on medium in Fry Light for 5 min until soft
- Add sweetcorn & chilli and cook on high heat until start to brown
- Take off the heat, season with salt, pepper and lime juice and set aside

Next make the soup:
- Fry onions in Fry Light until translucent (not brown)
- add garlic, chipotle, oregano and cumin seeds and cook for 5 min until fragrant
- Add tomatoes, beans and stock, bring to boil and simmer for 30min
- Season with salt, pepper and lime juice, adjust chipotle if you think it needs it, top with a spoonful of salsa and a few coriander leaves and serve

The salsa totally makes it btw, dont skip it.

This is one of my favourite soups, I have it every couple of weeks I think I originally got it from this book

 

[MinkyDinky]

Smoky black bean and roast tomato soup (Free on Green/EE)

For the salsa:
- 1 small red onion, very finely chopped
- 1 small tin sweetcorn, drained
- 1 red chilli, deseeded & very finely chopped
- juice of 1/2 a lime

For the soup:
- 12 large tomatoes, halved
- 2 red onions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tsp chipotle paste (I use Discovery)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- about 750g (cooked weight) black beans (you can use tinned but dried ones soaked overnight are way nicer - I use Tesco black turtle beans - sometimes I use 1/2 the pack, sometimes the full 500g - just adjust stock and seasoning/lime/chipotle to taste)
- 750 ml veg stock (again, need to adjust depending how much beans you use)
- juice of 1/2 a lime

Method:
- Soak beans overnight if using dried ones
- Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5
- Lay tomatoes cut-side up on a baking tray, spray with Fry Light, season and bake for 30min

Next make the salsa:
- Fry onion on medium in Fry Light for 5 min until soft
- Add sweetcorn & chilli and cook on high heat until start to brown
- Take off the heat, season with salt, pepper and lime juice and set aside

Next make the soup:
- Fry onions in Fry Light until translucent (not brown)
- add garlic, chipotle, oregano and cumin seeds and cook for 5 min until fragrant
- Add tomatoes, beans and stock, bring to boil and simmer for 30min
- Season with salt, pepper and lime juice, top with a spoonful of salsa and a few coriander leaves and serve

This is one of my favourite soups, I have it every couple of weeks I think I originally got it from this book

Ah you're a star! Just in time for me to do the online shop sounds as gorgeous as it looks and can't wait to try. I am going to scour through your amazingly delicious looking diary for inspiration and make it my mission to try at least one of your dishes a week

Thank yooooou! Xx

 

[ermintrude]

Saturday 14th Jan - Green

Breakfast: Coffee & mixed fruit 4.5 syns for milk
Lunch: Lentil & bacon soup 3 syns for white wine & bacon
Lunch: Cheesy ciabatta kebabs with superfree fries & salad 2 HEXA's & 2 HEXB's for cheese and 7 syns for ciabatta & olive oil
Snacks: Peach, Nectarine, Apple, figs, pear

Now how cool is it to get that tidy lot within ya syns? Good job I don't do it every day o' the week though...

So, having gone to all that effort I had to reward myself with a glass or three of bubbly... Hic! arty0016: about 30 syns Scheerz!!! Hic!

BUT - no photo as the fkwit b/f borrowed the camera, took his pics for some crappe he wants to sell on ebay then FORMATTED the damn camera which still had MY pics on :whoopass:

 

[BritMumInCanada]

In case I get peckish

My satsuma bowl is empty They forgot to send me any :cry:

love this picture Erm, it looks like a poster for a fruit and veg shop or similar haha. I have loads of fruit and veg in house too, did a big shop yesterday. I must remember to take some pics of my next shop, keep forgetting to do so for the share your shopping thread.

In my new kitchen, we have little pull out drawers in our pantry cupboard, I have a big deep one allocated to all my huge collection of spices, is fab, because it means they are all easy to get at. However is hard to tell what is what from the lid, so need to put some labels on the top I think.

 

[ermintrude]

love this picture Erm, it looks like a poster for a fruit and veg shop or similar haha. I have loads of fruit and veg in house too, did a big shop yesterday. I must remember to take some pics of my next shop, keep forgetting to do so for the share your shopping thread.

In my new kitchen, we have little pull out drawers in our larder cupboard, I have a big deep one allocated to all my huge collection of spices, is fab, because it means they are all easy to get at. However is hard to tell what is what from the lid, so need to put some labels on the top I think.

Ive also got a giant basket full of apples next to the sofa, we have about 4 bags at a time in it

Ooh Id forgotten about the share your shopping thread, used to love nosing at that Must be cos Honey's not been around for a while, hope she's having fun in Oz

Aha the spice storage dilemma!! :8855: They started overtaking my kitchen long, long ago, so about a month ago I bought this:

That's when I had just built it, it is now FULL TO BURSTING of spices! (In fact there are still loads elsewhere as well ) Yes! Im finding the exact same problem with which is which! Very few of them have labels on the lid eh? Ive got them all in alphabetical order but yeah I could do with labelling the tops really

 

[ermintrude]

Here it is now:

Yummo! The big square containers on the top I keep stuff I use every day in like cumin, coriander etc

I am a saddo eh

 

[blackwidow]

that picture is amazing.. i wish i had space for something like that! I just have an average rack of spices (i refill the original tubs to make them all match ) and i have a big asda carrier bag which i refer to as the magic bag which has all the other stuff i cant fit on the rack

can i just ask, what is the Doing / Done thing in the background? x

 

[blackwidow]

also, giant tub of marmite *thumbs up*

 

[Corkscrew]

Hi Ermintrude
I've spent ALL afternoon reading through this thread Once I started, I couldn't stop! lol
Thank you for sharing your pics and your gorgeous, yummy *drool* *drool* food.
I've nicked a load of your recipies. Sorry, I'm just a common thief lol
Thanks once again, and a massive well done on your weight loss so far. Fantastic! x

 

[ermintrude]

that picture is amazing.. i wish i had space for something like that! I just have an average rack of spices (i refill the original tubs to make them all match ) and i have a big asda carrier bag which i refer to as the magic bag which has all the other stuff i cant fit on the rack

can i just ask, what is the Doing / Done thing in the background? x

Oh Christ, thats the b/f. He thinks his life is so busy, he has all these tasks to do like sell stuff on ebay, backup his HD, do his washing, y'know, stuff every person in the universe has to do... So he got this frickin whiteboard to write them all on on post-its and move them from 'To Do' to 'Doing' to 'Done'... I have a similar list of about 50+ things to do but manage to have it it on a 6 inch notepad next to my computer and cross $hit off when its done - he has about 3 items to do in his entire life and needs a 2 foot whiteboard to write it on... And nothing *ever* moves to 'Doing' or 'Done' as you can see...

 

[ermintrude]

also, giant tub of marmite *thumbs up*

Oh yes! :drool: I get through one of those in about 10 days... There are always several backup jars in the cupboard...

 

[Tracy831]

love this picture Erm, it looks like a poster for a fruit and veg shop or similar haha. I have loads of fruit and veg in house too, did a big shop yesterday. I must remember to take some pics of my next shop, keep forgetting to do so for the share your shopping thread.

In my new kitchen, we have little pull out drawers in our pantry cupboard, I have a big deep one allocated to all my huge collection of spices, is fab, because it means they are all easy to get at. However is hard to tell what is what from the lid, so need to put some labels on the top I think.

Yeah I used to love seeing what you honey and erms had brought !!
I am sad !!! Lol