Salmon and Goats Cheese Quiche

Smoked Salmon, Dill and Goats Cheese Quiche, with Potato Wedges

First of all I admit that the photo on the right there is not one of my quiche. I don't have a photo because I ate it already. I borrowed this one from google images.

You know when you make something and it's sooooo good that you wonder why you haven't made one before? Well that's what this quiche was like. So here's the recipe. It's not fancy and it doesn't really follow any culinary rules. It's just gorgeous and I made it because I needed to use up the food that I bought on special offers.




Ingredients

1 Potato
Pastry
Goats Cheese
Spring Onion
Spinach
2 Eggs
Dill (fresh or dried)
Salmon (I used a pack of smoked salmon that was on offer at the co-op)

Method

Cut the potato into wedges and pop in the oven at 180C 
Make your self some normal pie pastry and line the bottom of a dish
Break in half the goats cheese
Sprinkle in chopped spring onions
Tear in half the spinach and spread it around in lumps
Add a sprinkling of Dill
Repeat the sequence until the pie dish is full and press the mixture down gently until it is firm but not solid
Beat 2 eggs, add salt and pepper and pour over the mix
Allow the egg to run into the mix. If it sits on top you have pressed too hard at the firming stage :)
Pop it in the oven at 180C until the pastry is golden brown, then take it out of the oven and allow it to cool for a while
Eat whilst it is still warm but not hot.

I hope you enjoy it.
Do you have any recipes that you just threw together? I would love to have them for my recipe book.

Recycling Challenge Day 11

Yesterday I found yet another parcel delivery card in my mail box due to the postie not being able to get into the garden and knock on my door, so this morning I got up earlyish and opened the gate because the card stated that they would try again today.
When I looked out of the window at lunchtime I noticed a huge parcel, fairly rammed into the post box with most of it pointing skyward. "WHAT" I muttered and went out to see if the contents were damaged.
When I got it out of the slot in the postbox, a card fell to the floor. Sorry we couldn't deliver because it needed to be signed for. I could have sworn. Well I did actually but you don't need to read that do you?
So now I have to go into town on Monday to get the other parcel.

I had a lovely walk up and around the fields this afternoon. Armed with my camera and my two new field guides, I set off to do a bit of Mushroom photography to see if I can extend my knowledge and hence my larder.
I found quite a few willing models but knowing my luck they will all be deadly poisonous and every time I walk past them in the future I will be shaking my fist at them and resisting the urge to kick them.

Recycle Challenge Day 11 - Opened an Amazon seller account and listed 16 books and DVDs. If they sell I will be happy because I can build up my Amazon gift vouchers ready for next years Christmas presents, but if they don't it doesn't really matter, I can always swap them at the telephone box library.

The food budget has gone to pot due to me buying a bottle of wine for this evening.
Food Spend for the day -Milk £1.64, 500ml Double Cream 29p, Sottish salmon 99p, Wine £4.99
Total Food spend for the week - £11.27

Evening meal tonight is a warm smoked salmon, dill and goats cheese quiche, with potato wedges.

Recycling Challenge Days 9 and 10

I am officially as blind as a bat. The last time I went to the opticians I had 1.5 and 2. Now I have 5 in both eyes. I should get my new specs next weekend and maybe then I will stop dropping stitches when I'm knitting
So far I am doing quite well on the food spend front  and am still managing to eat fantastic meals from my discount buys and my basic supplies cupboard. Yesterday I found pork chops for 75p which made a lovely pork casserole and I still have one left for another meal. This morning I found Goats Cheese for 19p but haven't decided what to do with it yet. Ideas anyone?
Tonight I will have the cheese and onion pasties that I made at the start of the week and that should be enough because I had fish and chips at Mum's when I visited at lunchtime.

The display cabinet that I got the other day has cleaned up lovely, hinges screwed back in, paint removed, had a good old polish and my tea set has been given a new home. Finding that bit of furniture made my week. Little things please little minds eh?


Freecycle is becoming like a second home to me lately as I try to prepare for next year. After running out of space in my freezer a few weeks ago, I decided to get another one and put it in my shed ready for all the produce that I will hopefully be harvesting next year. Yes I am still hopeful that I will get the allotment despite not having heard anything yet.
I have a back up plan in case I don't get it though because I have found some more growing room hee hee.
I am waiting for a reply on a freezer as I write this post.

Recycle challenge update - I used up two cushion covers to make shoulder bags, I will post the pics when they are complete but I just need to find a length of rope to sew into the handles.
I also came across A Thrifty Mrs article about selling old perfume bottles on eBay and as it's another free listing weekend I have listed a selection of mine along with a few other items. Thanks for that little tip.
On the point of things that people buy on eBay, I was a bit miffed to discover that people buy old electrical items even if they don't work and use them for spares or repair. We took 5 televisions to the dump it site yesterday. Damn.


Food spend day 9 - 2 pork chops 75p
Food spend today - Goats cheese 19p

Total food spend for the week so far £3.36

Recycling Challenge Day 8

I had a wander into town this afternoon to pick up parcels from the post office. Walking behind a frugal parking meter man I couldn't help but giggle as he shoved his fingers into the coin return on every meter that he passed. He failed on each attempt.
As I stood above the market looking down onto the street and oldish gentleman came and stood beside me and had a moan about two of the market cafes being closed down and the only one that was still open, he didn't like. To some extent I have to agree with him because the pie and peas at the centre cafe were beautiful. The mugs of tea that they served were lethal though. Just like Grandad used to make, so strong that you could stand a spoon in it. I much preferred Grandma's version which involved tipping some of tea into the saucer, adding a drop of Johnnie Walkers and slurping it down. That little trick in addition to feeding me raw sausages, used to worry my Mother sick, but I'm still here and have a cast iron stomach to boot.

One of the parcels that I collected was full of wine making equipment, so now I am ready to go as soon as I find something to make wine from. The other parcel was my Ecoegg. I have heard good things about them and have considered trying to make one myself but I had some Amazon gift vouchers left over from doing surveys, so bought one with them. I will let you know how efficient it is after a few washes.

Recycling Challenge day 8 - I found half a dozen Alice bands in the bottom drawer and have started recycling them to make fascinators.

'Find of the Month'
When I took the dogs out this afternoon, I decided to walk past the old place I used to live and look in the garden to see if anything had continued to grow. No one has moved in there yet so it was okay to do so. I found 3 beetroot and 2 onions. Not exactly a massive haul but it all counts. As I left to continue my walk Jules said that she wanted to check on the back of one of her properties because the tenant had moved out and everything left outside was destined for the dump. I couldn't resist a peek and I'm glad I went for that peek. Look what I found.

It has been sitting outside since this morning and got a little damp but nothing that a few hours indoors won't cure. The door to the top cabinet is hanging off but the hinges are not broken, just need some screws in and there are a few emulsion splashes down the right hand side. I have been looking for a dark wood corner display unit for my dining room for months and now I have one.
It pays to be nosey.
In return for the unit I have agreed to take all the rubbish left by the tenant down to the dump on my way to town tomorrow.
Bargain.

Top tip for removing paint from woodwork. Boil a drop of vinegar and apply to the paint using a cotton pad. Use your finger nail on the stubborn bits and off it comes.

Nothing spent of food today so the total for the week remains at £2.42

Evening meal tonight was Chicken Cacciatori with Rosemary roast potatoes followed by Apple pie and Greek yoghurt.

Recycle Challenge Day 7

When I logged in this morning and saw thingies post over at Frugal Living UK my first thought was "OMG he stole my Mum"
I was quite sure I hadn't given birth to him and wondered if my Brother had something that he wasn't telling me. Did I have a long lost nephew?
haha, my mind wanders ya know.

Anyway, seeing the photo reminded me of a little project that I started quite some time ago after me, mum and my daughter sat looking through all the black and white family photo's. I wanted to put all the photos on DVD for Mum so that they would be preserved as a back up. The idea was to have photos of the whole family through the ages, including family holidays, birth,s deaths, everything.
Family holidays? Wow, that takes me back. We used to go en masse. Granparents, Aunties, Uncles, Cousins, all of us. It was like a mass exodus. Everyone into their car and off to Butlins Filey for a week at the height of the British Summer. It would have been easier for all of our Dad's to get together and hire a charabanc. It was either Butlins, or Mrs Barretts B&B at Blackpool.

Whenever I think of Mrs Barretts I always remember the spending rule. We were given our holiday monday as soon as we had unpacked, we could go look at the shops, we could pick up toys and play with them, we could buy anything for under 1 shilling but if we found toys that cost half a crown we had to wait until the last day of the holiday before buying it. The 'Value of money' idea was simple enough but murder for a 7 and 5 year old, on holiday, with more pocket money than they were likely to have for the rest of the year.

I only did a little bit of the DVD before I got sidetracked with other things, so I think I will go back to it and get it finished. Here's the start... if you don't like Jim Reeves, turn the sound off.

Recycling day 7 - Used up all the leaves that I pressed a few weeks ago and framed them. My artistic license seems to have expired but I like them.

Chair & Pouffe from Freecycle

Tea Set rescued from Mum's
My Mum that is. I didn't steal them from Mum at Simply living
 

Evening Meal: Sunday leftovers. Cold chicken with bubble and squeak.
Food spend for the day £1.65 on milk
Total for the week £2.42

Recycling Challenge Day 6

No photos today I'm afraid because I can't find the batteries for my camera.

Recycling Day 6
It was an easy one today, I cleaned out the sink cupboards and got rid of all my practically empty bottles, floor cloths, dusters, worn out scourers that I use for my door steps and all the other stuff that was lurking in there.
However, I did bring more things into the house, so does clearing out the cupboards really count as anything more than general tidying up.

Anti-Recycling
Having cleared out the kitchen cupboard I went down to Mum's to take my knitted blanket squares down and have an hour with her. I think she has been secretly reading blogs about decluttering because I came away with a tea set that used to belong to my auntie, a roll of sticky back plastic and my school pencil case that we found in the bureau.
Filling my house with Mum's stuff is not as bad as it sounds, because she is convinced that she is not long for this world and is frequently trying to empty the house. A few months ago we had to recover an antique child's chair that she allowed an auctioneer to take away. Luckily he understood the dilemma and let us buy it back for the same price that he gave to Mum, so no harm done.

The other thing that came into the house was brought in 15 minutes ago. Last night I spotted an armchair and pouffe on Freecycle.
I went to collect it this morning but we couldn't get it down stairs so had to wait for the ladies husband to come home. IT IS PERFECT.
The only thing that has ever sat in the chair is teddy bears and it's now in my craft room so that I can sit by the window, with the sun streaming in whilst I knit and sew.

Evening meal today was Jacket potato and the remainder of the coleslaw.

Nothing spent on food today
Total food spend for the week - 77p 

Sunday in The Kitchen

Walk
My walk up to the lake with the dogs, netted me 2 kilos of apples from which I made,
Apple Juice
Apple Jam
Apple Jelly
Apple Pie
Apple Strudel

Reduced Section

From the Coop reduced section I got, 
Coleslaw 19p
Cheese and Onion sandwich filler 19p
Egg Mayonnaise sandwich filler 19p
Cucumber 10p
2 bags of mixed veg 10p each

Whilst I was making pastry for the apple pies I took the cheese and onion sandwich filler and made pasties. They are now tucked up in the freezer. The egg mayonnaise made a lovely omelette last night and I have half a tub left over for lunchtime tomorrow. Before I started cooking and baking I had to stalk and swat two flies which got the dog all excited and he ran off with my draught excluder. Please don't ask why because after six years I still have no idea what goes through his head.

 Home made Jelly strainer and 1 pint of apple juice.

Recycling
Yesterday, Day 4 I finally got rid of my old vase which the dog broke two years ago and I glued back together.

Go mad

 

Let Go

OOPS

Told Off

I was going to smash the vase to pieces and use it for a mosaic but decided against it. I have enough craft projects to be going on with.

Today, Day 5 I cleared out my stationary drawer and the box of stationary items which was stored in the shed. It has been years since I sold the business and I still had all that junk taking up space. Not any more.

In other news,  I seem to be having coffee disasters. Yesterday I spun around in my swivel chair, knocked my coffee over and it all ended up in the keyboard on it's way to the floor. Doesn't seem to have damaged it but the keys are harder to press due to the stickiness underneath. Hopefully they will loosen up. If not it's a trip to Tesco for a new one at the princely sum of £2.49
This morning I walked out of the back door with a coffee, tripped over the step and spilt it on the floor. On the way back into the house I caught the mug on the door frame and it went all over my kitchen floor. The dog had more or less licked it all up by the time I got the mop out.

Wrapping a few eBay sales this afternoon I wondered if I would get any negative feedback. It has happened on a couple of occasions over the years due to the fact that I wrap boxed items in old newspaper rather than nice shiny brown paper. Does anyone else use newspaper. Or is it just me?

Well that's it for today. The Sunday roast is nearly ready and the strictly results show will be on in a bit. Hope you all had a relaxing Sunday and a good week ahead.

Total food spend for the week - 77p