Fred

[Recipe] Very easy lentil pasta bake

2026-02-15T22:44:25Z

I made this up as very low effort cooking, and it was really nice.

Serves 2 hungry people

75g uncooked red lentils
150g uncooked fusilli pasta (or your preferred shape)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tomato tin-full cold water
Handful frozen sweetcorn
Two big leaves of curly kale, torn off their stems/ribs and torn up
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp mixed herbs
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
Salt and pepper
A glug of olive oil
50g cheddar cheese (optional)

Mix everything except the cheese in an ovenproof dish.
Chop cheese (if using) and distribute on top.

Bake at 200°C for about 50 minutes until lentils and pasta are soft and liquid has evaporated or been absorbed.

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[Recipe] Quick hummus

2024-07-17T12:33:43Z

We don't keep tahini in, and I wanted hummus, so:

Half a tin of chickpeas
Squeeze of lemon juice
Half a teaspoon of garlic puree
Pinch of salt
Pinch of chilli flakes
Some pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds
A bit of toasted sesame oil

Whirrrrr

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[Recipe] Slow cooker dhal

2024-02-04T20:03:16Z

It's a mixture of various recipes and is very nice.
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Lasagne recipe

2023-08-01T06:17:47Z

Last night I made really really nice lasagne:
( Read more... )

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Zero waste sewing

2023-06-06T13:14:32Z

This weekend, I finished making a shirt from Birgitta Helmersson's Zero Waste Patterns book.

( picture )

It took one metre of fabric, and it just looks like a shirt! It's amazing. The size of the shirt is dependent on the width of the fabric, so if I (or the fabric) was wider or narrower, the fit might not be as perfect, but even with that in mind I'm very impressed.

(Lots of zero waste patterns end up kind of sack-like.)

Next on the cutting table is a top from Liz Haywood's zero waste book (with a plan to adapt it to be much less femme), and the Jones trousers from Goldfinch Studios.

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Me Made May

2023-05-30T13:38:53Z

I've been doing #MeMadeMay on instagram - wearing at least one thing I've made, each day, and posting a picture. I've managed almost no repeats (today I'm wearing a shirt I put on earlier in the month but realised I needed to alter it for it to be comfortable), and there are garments I haven't worn at all because they're not suited to the weather or my activities. I wore shop-bought shorts or trousers a lot of the days, because I don't have anything like a full month's worth of homemade ones.

It's been a useful exercise in working out what I like and don't like wearing, and there are a couple of things that I'll send to a charity shop now (including things I didn't wear at all), and a few things I'm altering.

If I'm lucky/efficient this evening, I might have a new top to wear tomorrow for the last day of the series.

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Recipe: pakora waffles

2021-10-12T20:43:32Z

I made this up in my head, then checked on the internet whether anyone else had too (they have) and then didn't read their recipes and made it up from my head.

They were really delicious.

( Read more... )

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[Recipe] Hummus vegetable soup (vegan)

2020-10-12T09:44:29Z

I googled 'tahini soup' just to see whether people thought you could, but didn't pay any attention to the results other than yes/no.

It was delicious.

( Read more... )

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[Recipe] Quick naan-ish

2020-02-13T20:52:05Z

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[Recipe] Mushroom miso mmmmmmm

2019-09-25T20:24:07Z

I made a delicious dinner for me: mushrooms sliced and fried in butter; add garlic, tinned green lentils (half a tin for just me), a dollop of miso paste (like, a teaspoony dollop) and a small dollop of wholegrain mustard (half a teaspoon).
Served with brown rice, with some green beans and savoy cabbage steamed on it for the last couple of minutes.

(Very easily vegan-ified by frying the mushrooms in something else.)

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[Recipes] Revelatory neeps

2018-12-11T09:26:18Z

We had a swede in our veg box, and so had neeps and tatties (with Linda McCartney burgers) for lunch yesterday. I wondered whether one could successfully microwave swede, and the internet said yes - and without any preparation!

I put half a swede, still in its skin, in the microwave for 15 minutes on High (turning it over halfway through), and then scooped out the flesh and mashed it with a bit of butter and salt and pepper. It was very easy, and a much more pleasant flavour than when boiled or steamed.

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Post-BiCon post

2018-08-05T17:58:55Z

This is a public post with screened comments.

If you're adding me as a friend, remind me who you are here.

If there's anything existing friends would like to say to me post-BiCon, you can do that here too!

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Post-BiCon anonymous (or optionally not) dropbox

2017-08-14T19:03:49Z

If there's anything you want to say to me after BiCon, feel free to do so here. Comments are screened and will remain so.

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[Recipe] Tandoori-ish squash and paneer

2017-05-24T21:14:02Z

Tonight's dinner:
( Read more... )

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[Recipe] Cidery red cabbage

2017-02-01T21:26:40Z

OK, I know everyone else has been making this forever, but it was so nice, so I'm writing it down:

( Read more... )

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Screened comments postbox

2016-08-09T08:49:40Z

If there's anything you'd like to say to me (post-BiCon or for another reason), comments on this post are screened and will remain so.

If you'd like a reply by means other than private message on this site, please leave contact details.

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[Recipe] Something like tava

2015-10-14T19:58:44Z

David said he'd like me to make this again, so I thought I'd better write down how I did it.

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[Recipe] Baked aubergine and spicy potato and lentil thing

2015-01-11T22:07:54Z

Really easy and very tasty.
( Read more... )

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Post-BiCon screened-comments post

2014-08-06T09:33:45Z

Anything anyone wants to say? Comments will stay screened, so if you want a reply, give me a way of contacting you.

Post will stay public for a while at least.

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[Recipes] Mushroom and lentil lasagne

2014-06-06T20:50:17Z

Made last night by me and D for dinner guests Mark and Adrian.
Vegetarian; contains milk and cheese.
( Read more... )

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[Recipes] Salt and pepper tofu

2014-05-01T13:26:12Z

I had assumed that this needed deep-frying and was difficult, but it doesn't and it's not. The coating texture's like batter when it's cooked, and the crispy batter/very soft tofu combination reminds me of the good parts of chip-shop battered fish - I think this is my preferred substitute now.
This is an amalgamation of various recipes found on the internet.

1 block plain, firm-ish tofu - I used Cauldron Original
4 tablespoons cornflour/cornstarch
2 teaspoons (or more, to taste) seasalt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons vegetable oil

Press some of the moisture out of the tofu by pressing it between two plates for an hour, with a couple of tins of beans or whatever on top. Drain off whatever liquid comes out. The tofu will still be a bit damp, but that's good.

Cut the tofu into 8 chunks (or smaller if you want more bitesized bits).

On a big plate or in a big bowl, mix the cornflour with the salt and pepper.

Gently turn each bit of tofu in the seasoned cornflour until it's reasonably well coated.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan until it's very hot - it doesn't have to be smoking. Fry the tofu on all sides until it's golden brown - do it in batches if necessary to give it enough space/heat to cook pretty quickly.

Rest it on kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil, then serve. If you need to keep it warm, do so in a low oven.

I served it with asparagus, noodles and this sweet chilli sauce.

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Subscription meme

2014-03-19T12:42:05Z

from nanila, whose post is here.
Feel free to participate or share.

Subscription Meme template:

People in this journal

About my job

Some random facts

Things I like to do

Fandom

Social media usage

>Subscriptions, access and commenting

What I’d like to get from my participation here

My responses:

People in this journal

Me. My partners djm4, who I live with and skibbley, who I don't. Other friends and family (of origin and of choice) including D's kids (who live nearby except when one's away at uni), my sisters and their kids and my dad and bestschoolfriends S and B (all in Yorkshire), J-who-I'm-dating, who is not in these online circles. People I see fairly frequently outside the internet include bunnypip, booklectic, babysimon and thekumquat (see - I do have friends whose usernames don't start with B).

About my job

I do IT for a medium-sized charity. Everything except web development. I don't think I talk about work much here.

Some random facts

I'm a Quaker.
I'm bisexual (I fancy people whose body and/or gender is like mine and people whose body and/or gender is not like mine),
queer (both in the 'under the LGBT umbrella' sense and in the 'seeking alternative ways to do relationships' sense),
polyamorous (seeking/having multiple romantic/sexual relationships)
and genderqueer (my body suggests "woman"; my clothes suggest "man"; my self feels like more of a complicated mixture than that).
I'm disabled to varying degrees with hypermobility syndrome, the most obvious symptoms of which are chronic pain and fatigue.

I like being involved in activisty and organisery things, usually related to some of the features of me listed here.

I'm vegetarian (for reasons of being efficient with resources, and because it comes easily to me).

I'm from Yorkshire and I live in London and I am trying not to be one of those people who keeps talking about how the old country's better, but I don't always succeed. I've been in London for almost three years, having moved down for work, and I do know that it has lots of positive qualities and lovely people too. I'm allowed to be homesick.

Although I am A Morning Person, I am nicer after the first cup of tea in the morning, and even nicer after breakfast.

Things I like to do

Swimming - I started swimming regularly last autumn and I currently do it quite a lot.

Reading - I write about every book I read in this journal: one or two a month on average, although I keep thinking I'll get back to reading as much as I did before my phone had an internet in it.

Walking - preferably in green places; even more preferably on hills. In the last few years I've started to take binoculars on walks, for looking at birds.

Cooking - vegetarian or vegan food, often falling into the 'hippy weirdo' category - I post recipes in this journal sometimes.

Singing.

Watching films, theatre, ballet and some TV. London is very good for the theatre/ballet stuff.

Watching football! This (as a regular thing) has only happened since I moved to London.

Photography - I like taking photographs with my DSLR. I haven't as much recently as I'd like, but there have been preoccupations. Hoping to do more over the course of this year.

Fandom

I'm a fan of various things, including: Leyton Orient Football Club; the children's books of Arthur Ransome; Doctor Who; Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Press Gang (the children's TV series); the music of the Pet Shop Boys and Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. I don't think of myself as 'in a fandom' because encounters with other fans of stuff I like tend to be coincidental rather than sought, so I mostly wouldn't know what other fans thought about the things we have in common. Actually, the exception to this is probably Leyton Orient: I follow some other Orient fans on Twitter because they're Orient fans.

Social media usage

I'm here (LJ since 2008 and DW since 2009). I use Twitter and Facebook under my real name, and post fairly often. I look at Tumblr a bit, don't post much and when I do it's always reblogging other people's stuff that I like. I basically joined the internet as a social thing in about 2001 and was just on a couple of fora until I gave in to Facebook in 2007.

Apart from books and recipes and the occasional meme, most of my posts here are diaryish, of the 'what I did at the weekend' variety. Sometimes something a bit more thoughtful creeps in.

Subscriptions, access and commenting

Most of my content on LJ/DW is friends-locked/access-locked; I'm usually happy to add people if I have the faintest clue who they are. I read most of my lists, most of the time, and probably comment less than I should. I tend to assume that more people reading than are commenting.

What I’d like to get from my participation here

I'd be happy if I end up with one or two more people to read and be read by; I won't be devastated if I don't.

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[Recipe] Spicy baked tofu and lentils

2013-08-29T19:53:24Z

Made this tonight, and it was delicious. Takes some preparation at least a couple of hours before (but could be done the previous evening). Serves 2 (I will be having the second portion for lunch tomorrow).
( Read more... )

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[Recipes] Easy dinner

2013-03-19T20:06:01Z

(Crossposted from Twitter)

Roast garlic and potatoes; fried halloumi and mushrooms; boiled peas; a few capers and smother it all in mustard. #yum #whatshallihavefortea

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Still on food...

2013-03-08T23:28:51Z

I'm surprised to note (looking back through recipes I've posted) that as late as Oct. 9th, 2009, I was still eating fish "occasionally". I must have stopped very soon after that, but annoyingly can't find a record of when.

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