Frugal Friday Food

This Christmas, I bought a tray of mangoes, as the children always love them. Wrong! They've "gone off them" it seems and so although I was munching away, the heat was threatening to turn all the remaining mangoes to mush.

Hating the thought of throwing them out, we turned them into mango chutney, which goes brilliantly with curries. Here's the recipe, modified from one online at the ABC.

Mango Chutney
1kg mango flesh, diced
330g onions, diced
500g raw sugar
300ml white vinegar
250g sultanas
2 Tblspn finely chopped ginger
0.75 tspn each of mixed spice, ground cloves, mustard seed, curry powder, nutmeg
1.25 dessertspoons salt

Place all ingredients in a pot. Bring to the boil, stirring often. Cook until the mixture is thick. Bottle and seal.

This makes a sweet mango chutney. If you like it hot, you could add spice / chilli accordingly.


I love raw homemade muesli, with chopped nuts, seeds and dried fruits. However, I'm the only one in our house who does and so I recently made a toasted muesli or granola to tempt the others.

The finished result is a little sweet (for me), so I would halve the amount of honey next time. But the others loved it, so I thought I'd post the recipe.

Toasted Muesli
2 cups rolled oats
0.5 cup shedded cocnut
1 cup almonds
0.5 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1 cup sultanas
0.5 cups chopped dried apricots
1 cup apple sauce / puree
0.5 cup honey
0.25 cup oil

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the apple sauce, honey and oil together, then combine well with the dry ingredients.

Spread the mixture onto baking trays (on paper) and place in a cold oven. Set to 150C (300F) and come back in 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the muesli to cool in the oven for another 30 minutes. When cold, store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

This toasted muesli can be eaten as it is or in a bowl with milk or milk substitute. It could also be pressed into a tin prior to baking and you'd get muesli bars (although I haven't tried this out).

Happy eating!

love and light
naturewitch

Frugal Friday

Following the lead from The Crone, I was thinking about doing a "Frugal Friday" spot. Given I'm not very good at keeping to regular things, let's just see how this goes.

The tip for today is for people who like to sew (I was going to say for the sewers! ;) LOL).

Annoyed with the cost of thread? Invest a few dollars in a cone thread stand for your machine. You can then use overlocking thread for your sewing, which works out a lot cheaper than regular sewing thread (a 2000m spool is only about $2-$3).

I have been doing this for years and I find there are fewer thread breakages than with normal sewing thread (and I used to use top name brands!). Even though it is polyester, I have also found it will stand up to a hot iron when pressing seams in quilts. This thread is suitable for just about any sewing you care to do.

The one drawback with using overlocking thread is that it only comes in a fairly limited number of colours. So, I use it for the bulk of the sewing on a garment or quilt and use the more expensive thread for any top-stitching (if needed). Often, I am able to make a garment without purchasing any thread the exact shade of the fabric.

You would be surprised at how much this can save you.

love and light
naturewitch