Lettuce soup anyone?

13^th June 2012

Some days there aren't any trumpets...just lots of dragons. Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow.  Mary Ann Radmacher

Well I made it through another day, isn’t it funny how you can eat the same food two days and one day you’re full and satisfied and the next day you’re hungry!  Mondays I rarely get hungry so having a glass of smoothie for my breakfast and a bowl of soup for lunch with a couple of pieces of fruit was more than enough to see me through till my dinner at 7ish.  Yesterday however was different I had my smoothie and a bowl with pineapple, banana and Greek yogurt for breakfast and I really was ready for my lunch when I got it an hour later than usual, I had my bowl of cauliflower soup, and I also had 2 poached eggs on crumpets with asparagus and phili for 10pp, nom nom, I’d looked forward to it since the day before. 

I was really hungry when I got home on the night had my chicken and rice hotpot with a side salad for another 10 propoints and still felt peckish.  I ended up spending my activity ProPoints earn from the day before on fig rolls (8pp) and a packet of quavers (2pp), they were nice though and I just fancied them, that’s what a walk round Hooty’s hungry does for you, it makes you buy things you pretend are for your mom (i.e. the fig rolls) when really deep down I knew they were for me!

I’m still on track though, have 47 weeklies left because my treats came out of my activity ProPoints I’d earned, better get earning more. 

I’ve just realised that my nightly glass of wine costs me a minimum (if I buy a cheap bottle!) of £1.30 and 6pp, if I cut that out  over a year I could save at least £474.50!  If I work it out on a decent £5.99 bottle then I’d save £728.78 (£1.96 a day), WOW - that’s a week away somewhere nice!   That’s worth thinking about, unlike food, booze is not something you need in your life.  Putting a monetary value on it like that was what helped me stop smoking 17 years ago, I used to save the money in a pot and me and mom had our first holiday abroad with the proceeds, mmm I shall think about that today, because lets be honest times are tight.  You may not be a drinker but do you have a habit of eating 2 bag of crisps a day or a bar of chocolate, if you were to add that up, how much would you save?  It may be that the pleasure you get from that isn’t worth the money you save, or it may be that it is, again that’s something I’m going to think about.

My fridge/cupboards have never been so bare, I’m finding it quite amusing to be honest, it’s certainly making me think that’s for sure, I’ve downloaded an app onto my phone that tracks my spending, every time I buy something I input it into my phone and it tells me what I’ve got left, that will be much better than getting my credit card bill at the end of the month and thinking “WHAT”, like last month.  Yep it’s back to basics this month, my holiday was great but it’s left me short, especially as everyone else has been away or skipped meetings, because I only get paid for those that attend so as you can imagine the last two weeks with the half term and the horrid weather has not helped. 

So today, I’m thinking I’ll have another couple of crumpets for 5pp with baked beans on maybe, or I could have one crumpet, egg, tomatoes and beans – nice and cheap.  I still have stuff in the freezer from that time I cooked a pile of meals so I could eat one of those too.

I’ve got tinned pineapple because it keeps well and I like it, and bananas are always a cheap food.  I’m not a massive fruit fan but I do like my veggies.  I might have a salad with what’s left of the salad leaves and cucumber too, I could have that with tinned mackerel as mom likes that or I may have to have chicken and rice like last night because mom didn’t eat hers and I’m not wasting it, plus it’s delicious. 

Well that’s today sorted, I have smoothie and soup too.  Tomorrow maybe a posh fish finger salad mmm can’t beat that and it’s easy.

Anyone got an cheap meal ideas or recipes, send them me, I’d like to try and also put together another Bev’s Bites, the existing ones are on my website www.happyowls.co.uk.

Everyone pulled their face yesterday when I suggested I was going to make a lettuce soup ;-) but you’d be amazed at how many recipes there are online, so I’m going to try this one I think as I have a couple of potatoes left and an unused lettuce;

Lettuce and Potato Soup

Lettuce soup appears now and again on British menus. It seems we prefer lettuce in salads and forget that lettuce - any type - makes delicious soup. There are numerous variations on Lettuce Soup and flavours will vary depending which variety you choose.

Here is a simple recipe that will serve four and takes 35 minutes to prepare and cook.

·         2 small white onions - finely chopped (red onions can be used - these give a slightly different flavour)

·         ½ head of lettuce broken into small piece. Iceberg seems to be best but Romaine can be used and gives a stronger flavour

·         2 small potatoes peeled and chopped into small chunks

·         ½ teaspoon cumin

·         1¼ pint water

·         2 tablespoons vegetable oil

·         Himalayan salt to taste

·         Optional: Plain yoghurt

1.       Put the water in a very large pan

2.       Add all ingredients to pan

3.       Bring to the boil until all ingredients are soft

4.       Season to taste

5.       Mash, push through strainer, or liquidize until creamy

Serve piping hot. Optional - Drop a tablespoon of plain yoghurt into the soup bowl.

I’ll let you know, on that note I’m gonna take Alfie for a walk, it’s actually dry and a little bright out there – YAY!