The Year End

I cannot believe that tomorrow is not only the start of a new year, but it is also the First Birthday of Letters From Home!  It has been a busy year, and I haven't blogged nearly as often as I would have liked, but from now on I want to to try and post on most days.

Yesterday I bought my granddaughter Poppy a lovely coat from an 'upmarket' charity shop in Leamington Spa for £2.50, originally from Sainsbury's.

This afternoon I have made a big vegetable curry, mainly using veggies left over from Christmas, so this is almost a free meal!

I chopped and boiled some potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts and a cauliflower in hot water with a teaspoon of turmeric, which gives the veg a lovely colour.

In another pan I fried onions in a little oil, along with chopped garlic, and when softened I added a tablespoon of curry powder, some cumin  seeds and some paprika, just because I happened to have some.  To this I added chopped mushrooms and some yellow pepper. I threw in a handful of sultanas and some dried apricots.  Then I added a can of chopped tomatoes and about 250ml of vegetable stock.

When the veggies in the other pan were cooked, I drained them and added them to the curry mix and stirred it all together.

This is now sitting in a pan, waiting to be eaten!  I am going to serve this on a bed of rice, with low fat fromage frais on the top, along with some fresh pea-shoot salad, that I have just harvested.

I simply planted some dried peas, from the box above, in compost, a couple of weeks ago, and spread a thin layer of compost over them and kept them watered.  Ta-da!  A free, fresh salad in the depths of winter!  If you want the full instructions on growing pea shoots, go here.

Just a little walk this morning, 1.25 miles in 30 minutes, along our local streets, as the pavements were wet, so the fields would have been really muddy.  It's such a good feeling to be out walking, getting fresh air and exercise, I am feeling so much better for it, and so is Mr LFH too.

Happy New Year to you, here's to a healthy, happy, frugal 2012!