Thursday 12 September 2013

So Close ..... and .... My Favourite Top Tip

 
 
We are so close to having our forever home, it hurts.
 
Everything is going as smoothly as house buying goes, those of you who have bought in recent times will know exactly how sarcastic I am being here!!
 
There is a frantic push today by our solicitor to get the Building Society's solicitor to actually talk to her, who even knew they were so shy!
 
We will know by tea time tonight whether we will be completing as planned tomorrow, considering we haven't even officially exchanged yet this is worrying to say the least.
 
I have a day of packing boxes to take to the new house tomorrow, of things that we will need to 'set up camp' there ready for the decorating weekends ahead.
 
A box of cleaning supplies, a box of kitchen essentials, a box of food, a bathroom box, towels, toiletries etc and a box of bedding.  We are taking the mattress off our spare bed as this will be able to be stood against the wall during decorating and carpet cleaning and is so much easier than moving a full bed around.
 
I have a busy day ahead, I would say 'wish me luck' but I am wrapped in the warmth of knowing that you do, thank you.
 
If on Monday you see the rest of this picture you will know we are home owners, our very own first home that we will be purchasing together, our Forever Home.
 
I will leave you with my favourite of all Top Tips.
 
Sue xx
 
 
 
Simple September - Top Tip #9
 
A Starter Recipe
 
(or in Jamie Oliver speak  ... the 'Mothership'.... only a much cheaper one than he uses)
 
 
If you start the week with a great big tray of roasted veggies you can eat happily and healthily everyday of the week with the leftovers.

 
Start with a great big tray of veggies, pop some fresh herbs, chilli flakes, garlic flakes, whatever flavourings you like really in the bottom of the dish and drizzle with a good amount of olive oil, or your favourite oil.
 
Throw the chopped veggies on top and then give it all a good mix so that everything is coated in the oil, make sure if you're using fresh herbs that they are buried deep amongst the veggies so that they impart all their lovely flavour to them, (if you have no fresh herbs use dried herbs, it's just as good), the vegetables we tend to use are peppers, onion wedges, courgettes tomatoes and anything else that is looking a bit sad from the bottom of the fridge, this is an excellent way of rejuvenating tired veggies and using every scrap up.  Whatever veggies you roast will develop in flavour so much you will be amazed at the taste.
 
Pop them in a moderate oven for about 40 minutes, taking them out a couple of times to stir around so they cook evenly.  It's a good chance to fill your oven with homemade bread or a nice crumble for dessert, do not waste the heat!!
 
 
If you fancy salmon or chicken with your first meal add them to the top of the dish after the first 10 minutes for chicken or after the first 20 minutes for salmon, use your commonsense, you'll know how big your chicken/fish is and how long it will need to cook.
 
For your first meal serve your chicken, salmon or whatever you laid on top with a couple of tables spoons of the veggies and some brown rice or cous cous.  As soon as the leftover veggies have cooled sufficiently pop them in a lidded container in the fridge.
 
Now you can use your imagination and make meals each night of the week.
 
 
You could have some with freshly cooked pasta, sprinkled with cheese.
 

Or add a spoonful to the top of a homemade or shop bought value pizza and again sprinkle with cheese.
 

 
Or beat a couple of eggs in a bowl add a couple of spoonfuls of veggies to the mix and pour into home made or ready made quiche bases and cook for 20 - 30 minutes in the oven. (Here I did one for use to eat and one for the freezer.)
 
 
You could also take it to work mixed with cooked cous cous or rice to have for your lunch, it's tasty hot or cold!!
 
Of course you can just use them as a side vegetable and serve with a simply cooked steak or pork chop.  It also makes a beautiful base for a sausage casserole, in that case I would chop and fry off half an onion, add a tin of tomatoes and then a few sausages browned and cut into thirds, add a few spoonfuls of the roasted veggies and cook for 20-30 minutes either on the hob or in the oven.
 
 
If you get fed up with eating the same thing night after night, pop what's left into the freezer in a plastic tub, it freezes beautifully. 
 
But we never seem to get fed up with it at all, it's our favourite food. 
 
And now that Autumn is drawing in we start to ring the changes and roast the onions with chunky sliced carrots and cubed beetroot, alongside the courgettes, everything tends to get a little bit pink when you cook it with beetroot but the flavours are amazing.
 
As I said in THIS post way back in September 2011 .... Play with your Food!!


28 comments:

  1. Oh Sue, my heart truly goes out to the both of you. I can totally understand what you mean by your forever home. I will be thinking positive thoughts and hope to see the final photograph of your new home very soon. We are home hunting too, due to be turfed out of our rental home in March, so the house-hunting process has begun (do not wish to rent), we just have a limited budget, so whatever we go for will be a compromise. Wishing you both the best, and looking forward to hearing the outcome.

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  2. Some things never change - Lawyers causing anxiety!

    Whereas you will most probably have broadband/wifi immediately on occupation!

    I know it is time for Lawyers to advance into the 21st Century :-)

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  3. Keeping my fingers crossed for you, having shared your journey, knowing that we will all look back and laugh one day, but not yet obviously. The tips are really good - you could always make a nice soup for these increasingly chilly days with your leftover, cooked vegetables, but they look so yummy!! Try to have good weekend. Xx

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  4. Good luck with the house move. I'm looking forward to seeing you new home.

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  5. Hope it's all sorted by tomorrow......nerve wracking waiting though. Sending best wishes for good news.

    We love roasted veggies too, hot or cold, we have them often.

    Sooze xx

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  6. Fingers crossed here too, and toes as well! Hope all goes through successfully.

    Love your vege tip!

    xx

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  7. so looking forward to a positive property post this weekend!! xx

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  8. When I bought my cottage in 2005 we completed with 2 minutes to go before everyone closed for the weekend. My solicitor had to remind the buyers solicitor that if they did not complete to schedule their £25000 deposit was forfeit and mine to keep. She also said that we would not proceed on the Monday morning. Surprise within 5 minutes it was action stations. I was raging, my furniture was in a removal van sitting outside my new cottage and the vendors were sitting outside their new house and so on. The fools who bought from us were trying at the last minute to get a reduction on the price. BTW 6 months later the house was repossessed.

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  9. Very best wishes Sue, new adventures !!!

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  10. A heartrending situation to be in, and those of us who have bought have all been there. Keeping everything crossed for you! Great recipes - it's made me hungry .....
    Minerva x

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  11. Sue
    Dont worry we exchanged contracts at 5.30pm on the day before we moved in - less than 24 hours later all our possessions were in the new house - good luck xxx

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  12. Hope it goes well for you and quickly! Uncertainty is rotten.
    We love roast veg too. Yesterday we had baked ean shepherds pie and a plum and rhubarb crumble, and as I had a few home grown tomatoes that needed using, I roasted them with peppers, red onion, garlic and herbs to take advantage of the oven being on. After they had cooled, I liquidised them with passata and so there's a couple of lots of fabulous pasta sauce in the freezer. We like this sauce with pork meatballs containing oats, lemon zest and thyme.

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  13. Fingers and everything crossed for you. Just think in 20 years time you will have forgotten all the hassles!!

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  14. Hope everything goes well. I love love love roasted veggies and do all of the above :-)xx

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  15. I am so excited for you, fingers crossed all goes really well. Great tip re the veggies. Hope you have an amazing weekend. I look forward to seeing the rest of the picture on Monday. Good luck to you both.

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  16. So exciting! Hoping all goes well and smoothly for you. Looking forward to pictures!

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  17. Huuuuge (((hugs))) I have no idea why it takes so long and why lawyers don't keep us in the loop. It's very very frustrating!!

    Still can't believe I'm in my new house :-) and very soon you'll be in yours. Can't wait to see that whole picture!!!

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  18. I'll say it anyway.. good luck!!

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  19. I wish you all the luck in the world Sue! I hope everything rights itself in the end. Great tip as always. I often get just one type of meat each week and then see how many different meals I can make out of it. Mince is very good for this!

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  20. Update? Am on tenterhooks here. Fingers crossed for you. Oh yeah, we love the roasted veggies too!

    Let us know about the house. Aaaaagggghhh I hate suspense.

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  21. Good luck.. We have exchanged and completed all on the same day, 3 times. Each time all ok.

    Wishing you the best of luck!!!!

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  22. You seem to have everything in hand - can't wait to hear all about the new place - so good luck for completion.

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  23. Keeping fingers well and truly crossed for success. I`m sure, everything will work itself out in the end. Look forward to good news for your upcoming move. Best of luck, not that I think you`ll need that.

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  24. I hope you got the news you wanted and that on Monday there is a picture of your forever home - this must be such a stressful time for you so hope everything will be completed and secure soon - wishing you luck - Betty

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  25. Best of luck Sue and LH! I have everything crossed for you :)

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  26. Best wishes, good luck & I hope today is the day :-) see you on the other side xxx

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  27. Your food looks utterly scrumptuous, but I've never been successful in roasting vegetables. I hope your house move goes well.

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  28. Oh my GOD, I am so behind. You're moving now??? You've moved??? Shall read more posts.... (btw, the idea of a bathroom box and a bedding box - sounds like the stuff I have for Rudolph !) xxx

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