No Spend Weekend - Day 1

OK, so it might be tempting fate, declaring a no-spend weekend before Saturday is even properly out.... But I prefer to think of it simply as a statement of intent, no more and no less :o)

OH went out into the garden and filled the brown bin - tomatoes, courgettes, squashes, cucumbers and runner beans have all been harvested now and the plants pulled up.

 

 

 

The runner bean plants were hiding the longest runners of the season - Mr Big of the runner world came in at 14.5 inches - or 37 cm, if you are metric like yours truly.

 

 

The pumpkin is up now as well - not as big as the last year's, but I swear it's as heavy.  Either that, or I've grown more feeble since last year.  Look out for the pumpkin/soup puree making frenzy come Samhain !

 

 

For lunch we had a cous-cous and Quorn salad, using up the last of the cucumbers, and one of the heads of lettuce still growing outside.  I want those lettuces eaten up before the first frosts !

 

 

And I pulled up another radish and shared it out between the three of us ;o)

 

 

 

I made bread - chappati flour, sunflower and sesame seeds :

 

 

And used up another pack from  our stash of £1 Lidl mince:

 

 

Mince and dumplings for dinner - with me trying not to add to/replace the storecupboard esesntials during STOP-tober, I found myself in quite an unfamiliar position where I had no plain flour, and just a tiny bit of self-raising left; and no suet, which is my go-to fat for dumplings (and pastry). So, the flour got padded out with semolina, and from the darkest corner of the fridge emerged a small container of fat saved from the last time I baked sausages in the oven.  A bit of home-grown, home-dried oregano, a splash of water, and then there were dumplings.

 

 

 

And then the moment came when we had quite enough of this hard work lark, and it was time for a few moments of pure indulgence.  A pot of real coffee, and a pain au chocolate each (DD got hers in early, with a mug of fruit tea). 

 

                            And now we are tired, and ready to veg out in front of junk TV.