Hummus and Carrot and Lentil Soup Lunch/Dinner, Food Diary

 

For lunch we have two types of hummus, carrot and lentil Soup with ginger and some lime squeezed over it, oven baked naan with some thinly sliced salami and the Lidl extra mature cheddar. 

Well it's more like two different dates of hummus. The older one is spicier than the one I put together yesterday. I made a big bowl of it and there are now two containers filled to the brim with hummus in the fridge which will last for a week at least.

I soak and cook my own chickpeas because I like to mix all the ingredients for the hummus while the chickpeas are still warm. This does something to the taste, I guess it's the garlic, olive oil and lemon juice that get all jiggy when you do it that way.  And I started using peanut butter instead of tahini. Call me crazy but I really, really like it (and it's a lot kinder to the wallet).

Today I baked the Naan in the oven instead of in the frying pan. I didn't use all the dough for the naan and added more wholemeal flour and warm water and mixed the old dough through the mixture for the next batch I'll make. By incorporating the old dough into the new there's a bit of magic that happens and no matter what you do with it afterwards always seems to behave better. 

The lentil soup I make is the simplest version ever. I rinse the lentils and cook them until they fall apart. It's only then I decide on how thin or thick I want the soup and add water and stock cubes to taste. If I don't have stock cubes salt to taste works just as well. It sounds boring but trust me on this one. Give it a try and you'll be surprised.

I eat lentil soup a lot so I often cook a batch of plain lentils after which I portion it and do my adding extra ingredients after. Today it was the carrots I cooked with ginger last night. I also then added stock et voila a lunch is born.

Even if I say so myself it was delicious. We both had one and a half bowl and polished off the naans with salami and cheese. At the end of it all we're so full that dinner never happened.

One thing though. No matter how often I rinse my lentils the farting remains inevitable.

Groceries Spontaneous Spend, Money Diary

 Type of shop      :            Groceries

Name of shop     :            Lidl

Items                  :            5

I wasn't going to get anything today but at the bottom of the hill once the feet are going I end up in Lidl. There's money off on chocolate I saw and the sun is shining and I don't buy chocolate anymore because it isn't part of looking after myself (or so I keep saying) and it's half price so I'm going to get it. 

The good news: I'm not carrying a bag so I won't buy more than I can carry.

Spontaneous spend

I walk out with: half a pound of butter, a jar of peanut butter, a net of organic lemons, a bar of fruit and nut chocolate and some coated chicken fillets.

All of it comes at a reduced price because I had a € 0.50 off voucher to start with. The items I get an even better price on are the butter for which I had a 20% off voucher, the chocolate had a 50% off voucher, the coated chicken fillets were in clearance for € 0.90 cents and the lemons were in weekly vegetable deals for € 0.49 cents.

I get away without too much damage. Okay the chocolate. That's really outside of the budget which is: as little as possible. And yes, the meat. Buying meat that has already undergone any kind of process is something I'm trying to get away from. So most of the time I don't buy meat and eat pulses instead. Then there are the days that I really would love to eat some meat. That's how this chicken happened. 

So what am I going to do with all of this?

The butter has no destination yet. The offspring will be home at the end of the week and I'm sure there'll be need for some baking. Butter is good for baking.

Peanut butter: I made a spicy hummus yesterday and am planning to make a mild one by the end of the week. Sesame paste is definitely outside of my budget. However since I'm not allergic to peanuts they can do all the same things and are a whole lot cheaper. So I'll be adding peanut butter into the hummus for that nutty taste in the back.

The chocolate: no plan apart from making it last longer than  24 hours. Right now I think the chances of that are zero.

Organic lemons: will be used for the next batch of hummus and any possible salad dressings.

Coated Chicken fillets: Because they're clearance I'll be cooking all of them later. The chances of me scoffing the lot with some of my home made naan is very likely.

Reduced items    :           5

Total Discount    :           € 0.94 

Total Spend         :           € 5.-

Receipt