Eating Cheaply

I've been on a bit of a budget recently, so as you can imagine the parcel I received from Germany was very welcome indeed and saved me a bit of money. This week I've been mainly trying to make all my ingredients last a long time. For example, using all the canned chopped tomatoes in stews and bolognaise, and using up a lot of several sorts of frozen veg and coconut milk by making Thai curries. Dried goods such as pasta, rice, buckwheat and pulses are so handy and also make for warm, filling and comforting food for colder Autumn weather and they go a long way. I've also tried to get into the habit of cooking a little bit more than necessary at dinner time so I can have the leftovers for my lunch the following day. It definitely saves money doing it that way. So in my attempt to live cheaply this week, here are a few things I've been eating, using mostly dried, canned and frozen ingredients... I successfully made all the ingredients in my cupboards last for about 2 weeks! 

Thai curry using some okra I got for €1, green beans and mushrooms:

Grilled Mediterranean vegetables with vegan pesto and brown pasta bows in my lunchbox:


















Heinz Lentil and Vegetable Broth soups were on offer and handy to take to work:

Paella made with with fake chicken pieces, mixed beans, mixed veg and lots of seasoning:

I also had some nice vegetable cous cous from a packet, mixed with some lovely tender fresh cubes of squash which I didn't get the chance to take a photo of, as well as some yummy tomatoey lentil stews.

Thai Yellow Curry

I just made a lovely Thai yellow curry, using curry paste from Tesco and some coconut milk, mixed stir fry vegetables (baby carrots, baby corn, beansprouts, bamboo shoots, broccoli & onions), the green chillies my friend gave me from her garden, and some fresh coriander... it was delicious and SO quick to make, served with tasty, soft & fluffy wholegrain rice. It was so good I want to make it again tomorrow - I love spicy, fragrant Thai food. Tesco's yellow, green and red Thai curry pastes are all vegan. I think I've come across a Massaman curry paste there before as well which I discovered was not vegan. I used to love Massaman and was quite surprised to find that their paste contained anchovies - I'm not sure if this is the norm??

It's been raining like crazy these past few days, the Autumn has really kicked in over in Ireland - torrential rain, interrupted with brief, warm, sunny spells (actually that pretty much sounds like Ireland all year round!) with the leaves falling from all the trees. I'm sad that the summer is finally over, but also looking forward to darker days, wrapping up warm in my cosy Winter clothes, and cycling my bike down cold, deserted streets...

I bought this cute fake fur hat today, ready for the cold weather. I look like a little lepoardy-bear in it :)

Tempeh-ting!

HOW have I LIVED without Tempeh in my life?! Thanks to my new friend from Germany, Lutz, I am now addicted to Tempeh. I just know that when I've almost finished the block I'm going to have a little panic attack until I get my hands on some more before the junkie-type withdrawal symptoms set in.... can't be fun having to go cold-tofurkey!!

For those of you who do not know what Tempeh is:

"Tempeh, or tempe in Indonesian, is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. Tempeh is unique among major traditional soy-foods in that it is the only one that did not originate in China or Japan. It originated in today's Indonesia, and is especially popular on the island of Java, where it is a staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but tempeh is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempeh's fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber, and vitamin. It has a firm texture and strong flavor. Because of its nutritional value, tempeh is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue."

So here are a few photos of my Tempeh experiments. Being very new to all this I kept it quite simple. First is fillets of Tempeh marinaded in barbecue sauce and grilled on the George Foreman, with curly kale that has been cooked and then tossed in sesame oil.  

Lutz recommended that I tried frying up some tempeh in soya sauce and then glazed it with agave nectar. It's so easy and simple but the taste is just SO good! I think it really brings out the nuttiness of the tempeh's taste and texture, and cutting them into bite-sized cubes meant that they could mix well into the quinoa I made to go with them. All I did there was cook the quinoa for about 15 minutes and stir in some fried pepper, onion and garlic, then seasoned with some Chinese five-spice.

Here is a simple Thai Green Curry that I made with coconut milk, Tesco's own green curry paste, spring onions, red peppers, lemongrass & lime juice. Mmmmm, it was good!

If any of you can read German check out Lutz's activism website kreaktivisten.org to get the low-down on how to make graffiti stencils, stickers, buttons and much more to raise awareness against animal cruelty. Good work, man! :)