Live Below the Line Day 2: Cheesy Potato Wedges with Coleslaw

I am quite excited about this tea because I can say in all honesty that I could eat it any goddamn night of the week, very happily. I just sat down and hoovered it up. I was reminded of that book, "Potatoes not Prozac". I think that perhaps a few decades ago, potatoes were the cheapest carb here in the UK, but not any more - I think they are all beaten by pasta, rice, oats and maybe even bread, as the most carb you can get for your pennies. I actually feel a bit sad about this. Long live the humble spud. "In Praise of the Potato" (yeah that is another book).

My very generous helping of potato wedges weighed 500g before cooking, which cost 24p. These were the cheapest taties I could find in Tesco. I roasted them with 10ml oil (1p) and 5 minutes before the end, sprinked over 50g grated cheese which cost 22p (from Aldi).

I served them with ¼ of the coleslaw I made, at a cost of fractionally under 9p.

Total cost of this meal: 56p.

Total for the whole day:
Breakfast & coffee: 6p
Lunch (soup with 2 pieces of bread): 24.6p
Snack: a carrot, 3p
Tea: 56p
Total: 89.6p

Last Entry of 2010: Brie and Cranberry Sandwich

Multiseed bread, organic butter, slices of slightly gooey, room-temperature Brie, smeared with a bit of cranberry sauce.

I admit, it did make me feel a bit sick...

But HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone, and here's to good food, love and laughter. Am cooking fajitas later cos its my son's birthday today, and a big roast dinner on Sunday 2nd, so thats the first posts for 2011 in the pipeline already.

Have a lovely evening! XX

Meatball & Cannellini Bean Stew, with Cheesy Mash

Cauliflower Cheese

Always make more sauce than you think you should, and put more cheese in than you think is sensible.

Magic Pasta!

The colours, in this, are just as gorgeous as the taste, and the textures too. Nothing that new here, just the red-green-white italian holy trinity of spinach & pesto, tomatoes (sundried & fresh) and mozzarella, with hot spaghetti.

I put the spinach and mozzarella in the bowl first so that the hot pasta went straight on top (to start wilting and melting) then tossed in the pesto, tomatoes and a grating of grana padano.

Rocket, watercress and/or fresh basil leaves would also be a superb idea.

Winter Afternoon Fodder: Cheese, Chutney and Biscuits

Altogether now:
Biscuit, well, cracker. Cheese (brie). Chutney (spicy onion).
Biscuit (digestive). Cheese (cheddar). Pickle (Branston).
Biscuit. Cheese (potted Stilton). Chutney (mango).

Macaroni Cheese in the Slow Cooker

This slightly barmy recipe is from an American website for slow cooker recipes. I couldn't believe any sane person would try and do pasta in this way, so I tried it out of curiosity.

Stage one: the macaroni has been cooked and put in the pot with a spoonful of oil and half a cup of melted butter ..
Stage two: I have now added milk, a tin of evaporated milk, salt, pepper and a great big block of grated cheese. I have to say, there was a nice sort of milky buttery smell .. Then the lid goes on and you can forget about it for four hours.
Three hours and a couple of good stirs later, it looked like this. But it did taste quite nice! And I could not resist chucking in some tomatoes and bits of bacon.

A further hour and a bit later, and it looks like this. The macaroni is now the consistency of baby food.

(Verdict: I still don't think any sane person would try and do pasta in this way.. but it was ok I suppose.)