Beef & Potato Slowcooker

A friend recently asked me for some budget-friendly meal ideas. Here's one of our regulars (sorry no photos as yet) - it's tasty, cheap, healthy, easy to prepare and is perfect for the day before our next fruit and vegetable shop. The beef on the bone gives it great flavour, potatoes and lentils make it filling and the last minute peas give fresh colour and texture. This costs under $10 to fill a 5.5L slow cooker and easily gives us 6 large serves.

Beef & Potato Slowcooker

• 1 beef stewing steak or similar beef on the bone (250g)
• 1 cup dry green/brown lentils (200g), rinsed
• 4 - 6 potatoes, chopped into large chunks
• 4 - 6 carrots, chopped into large chunks
• 3 - 4 celery stalks, chopped
• frozen peas (500g)
• 2 - 3 large bay leaves
• salt, 1 - 2 teaspoons
• water

Add everything except the peas and water into the slowcooker; then fill water to a couple of centimetres from the top of the crock. Cook for 8-10 hours on low (can use high setting for less time if you don't remember to put it on until later in the day). When ready to serve, add frozen peas and mix in. Use a fork to help separate meat off the bone into the soup and fish out any bones. Serve with bread if you like :)

Cheap Tuesdays - DIY Laundry Powder

 

I have had this recipe to make my own laundry powder for years now but have never gotten around to it until last month when I got my Thermomix. The ingredients to make four batches of this laundry powder should be available at your supermarket for about $10. If you have more work ethic than me you can easily just zest grate the soap or use your food processor (it will just take longer than a Thermomix and you might not get as fine a grain, but its going in your washing not your mouth!).

½ cup borax (or 1 cup bicarb for garden friendly use)
1 cup of washing soda
125g bar laundry soap
Chop laundry soap... I ended up kind of slicing it into large crumbles... and put into Thermomix bowl on speed 9 for 6 seconds. Add washing soda & borax (or bicarb) into Thermomix bowl on speed 9-10 for 8 seconds. Put into a labelled airtight container and use 2 level teaspoons per load.

I made a batch of the borax one for my sister in law and the bicarb one for us (because our laundry water ends up in our garden) and they both work well, especially at removing feral smells. From my limited observations the borax one seems a tiny bit better for stain removal. With some vague maths calculations (i.e. I didn't calculate at all and am just guessing!) you should get about 50 loads out of each batch of laundry powder. I'm also loving not sneezing every time I do the washing :)

Couscous Recipes

I was asked recently for some couscous recipes. The only problem is we don't use any, we really just make it up as we go! We have used couscous in place of rice or pasta, in pies with vegetables or for salads. Some favourite experiments have been couscous in a pie with broccoli, cauliflower and cheese sauce and a tabouli-type salad (using couscous instead of cracked wheat). Couscous more regularly appears on our table flavoured with some stock for a quick dinner with steamed vegetables and maybe some tuna.

How to cook Couscous
Use 1 cup of boiling water and 1 teaspoon of olive oil for each cup of couscous. Bring water and oil to boil; remove from heat and add couscous. Stir until mixed and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork (may need to put it back on low heat for a bit if the couscous is still sticking).

From here you're only limited by your imagination... or the contents of your pantry and fridge! If serving couscous as a side dish add some stock powder, lemon juice & pepper, soy sauce or other flavouring to water and oil prior to boiling; or stir through heavier flavourings (e.g. chunky pasta sauce or pesto) after leaving it to stand.