Oli arguing for hoodies!

Hope your weekend was good dear reader.  Mine was ruddy quick it has to be said.  Sure that something happened but it all went ruddy quickly

Now let me think.  What occurred.  Well Saturday was largely occupied with looking after the small boy and jolly pleasant it was too.

Sunday however well busy, busy bees we were.  Did a couple of recordings on nice Eco Frugal Food Goodness.  I will apologise in advance as I am no Speilberg and neither is my good woman however the plan was to get a recording of how to make a simple but proper stuffing and also to show how to make proper  gravy.

In these modern times, Stuffing or gravy comes in a jar or box that you can buy in any supermarket.  You just shake a bit out into a jug add a little water and hooray it is done.  I get it, I really do, simple easy stuff but also an industry, huge industry boiling up ingredients and mixing them and packaging them and sending them to your local  supermarket.  They never taste as good nor have the textures nor can they be that environmentally friendly and not cheap really.

On that note actually I have here a ingredient list from the back of a pack of gravy,  Not saying which brand, all awful, (my other half knew straight away without me saying a word)  This is a premium brand however not an own brand ultra cheapy.

Potato Starch, Maltodextrin, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Salt, Colour (E150c), Flavourings (Celery, Soya, Wheat), Wheat Flour, Flavour Enhancers (E621, E635), Emulsifier (E322 (Soya)), Herb & Spice Extracts, Onion Extract.

Here is an ingredient list for a pack of stuffing.

Wheatflour, Dried Onion (15%), Salt, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Dried Sage (2%), Raising Agents (E503, E500), Sugar, Dried Parsley, Vegetable Oil, Malt Extract (Barley).

Again a Premium Brand,  80p’s worth of what on earth right there.

Now, I accept that lot’s of people lead busy lives and are perhaps unable to give the time to making foods from scratch.  Fair enough, if you have to buy this stuff… Avoid anything with Hydrogenated Veg oils in them, 2g a day (the amount you would get in a doughnut fried in HVO) increases chances of heart disease by 23%. Denmark Ran this outlaw out of town 5 years ago and have seen rates of heart disease fall by 40%   Mmmm is it a good idea?  Can’t be hard to judge.

In addition, why would anybody want to put all these extra chemicals, flavourings or other randomness into themselves.. I mean sugar in stuffing?? Raising agents?  bleurgh!!

Anyway, back to the gravy and stuffing shenanigans.

Proper Lovely Home Made Gravy.

Got a couple of videos for you ladies and germs,  One called gravy and one called.. wait for it… Stuffing.  Very simple little things filmed on the phone but just the ticket if you haven’t done either yourself before. I had no idea until a few years ago and I have no intention of ever going back to using packet stuff.  It does make it difficult, sometimes we just don’t have gravy but well you can make loads and freeze it for next time if you are huge gravy fans, that way you always get the most out of your roast.   That has to be good too.

Sage and Onion Stuffing

These are basic videos, you can make some much more complicated stuffing, and add a lot more to your gravy with different stocks etc.  but the idea is that this can be done in a few minutes whilst everything else is doing it’s thing in the oven.

You will see that nothing goes to waste in these recipes, I don’t add salt when cooking my veg (season after)  and the fat from the meat goes into the gravy.  This is all good, adds buckets of flavour and we have a jug which allows the fat to float to the top.  Personally I don’t worry at all about it.  We don’t eat huge amounts of meat so our fat intake is pretty low anyway, a little extra is not going to cause that much of an issue.  If you are watching your weight, fair enough, this may not be for you.  I blame my impending porkiness on beer,  although training a lot with TKD has worked a treat in getting that belly down.

Another thing I did on the weekend was add some finings to my wine.  I have had the wine sat on the side for the better part of a year, it was showing no signs of clearing any further and needed sorting.  So sorted it has been.

I have done a video of this too.  Country wines are a cracking thing to do.  Very cheap, pretty darn easy and you can get suitably merry for almost no expense at all.   The same goes for beer but I will add some more about that another day.

Now what to do for my next blog.. thinking head on…

Related articles

• Stuffing or Dressing? Gravy or Sauce? (kateswindow.com)
• A Sunday Dinner (ahungrytummy.wordpress.com)
• Sweet and Zippy Stuffing Recipe (thedailymeal.com)
• What kind of vegetables is vegetable oil made from? (greenanswers.com)
• What are transfats? (tipsonlivinghealthy.wordpress.com)
• http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/healthy-living/deadly-fats-why-are-we-still-eating-them-843400.html