The last leaves and November reading

 Autumn is coming to an end, but some leaves are still on. Colours are incredibly beautiful...

November leaves

Colours are lasting

These leaves make me remember of O.Henry's story "The last leaf". It is is so deeply touching.

 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213395.The_Last_Leaf

 Another seasonal book is "Moominvalley in November" by Tove Jansson. The fairy-tale, like all stories by this writer, is good for adults as well as for children. I adore all of Tove Jansson's Moominvalley stories, they are very much psychological and humane.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79547.Moominvalley_in_November

It's raining over and over... So, it's just the time of the year for rolling up in an armchair with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate...

Vegan rissoles

A very tasty dish as well as cheap and easy. I make it of different ingredients, so this is only one of many possible variants.

You need:

fine oatmeal flakes - 1 cup
1 middle-sized carrot
1/2 middle-sized onion
ketchup - 2 tb sp
soy flour - 1 tb sp
white flour - 1/2 cup
oil or sunflower oil - 1 tb sp
dry herbs, any you like - 1 tea sp
salt to taste

Finely chop carrot and onion, mix with dry oatmeal flakes and fry. Add ketchup, herbs, soy flour and mix well. Form round rissoles, coat with flour and fry at both sides.

Instead of oatmeal you can take any other flakes, porridge, or boiled rice. You can also add beet, tomatoes, aubergine or squash.
Rissoles are delicious with mased or baked potatoes as well as in a burger with ketcup.

Vegan rissoles - one with beet to the right

Delicious...))

Frugal tips

Frugal living, I think, doesn't mean stinting yourself in everything. It means just to use things wisely and get the benefits of that. Now we are all looking forward to winter celebrations, adding the cost of presents, decorations and extra food to our everyday spendings. So, maybe it's just the right moment to start thinking of how to spend less and get more.
Here are some pieces of advice I use. They really work and help me to save money. At first, let's look into a fridge, cupboards and shelves with food.

1. Use remains to the end. There may be enough pastry for one more pancake in a bowl, or one more portion of ketchup in a pack while you decided to throw it into a bin. Some expired products may also be used. For example, dry some pieces of stale bread in an oven and make breadcrumbs for coating or stuffing. Soured soya milk may be used for a cake - like this one:
http://whitebirchtree.blogspot.ru/2012/11/chocolate-and-dates-cake.html

2. Grow your own. In winter you can grow herbs indoor. Seeds of parcley or dill cost much less than a single bunch of fresh green in a supermarket but you will get much more than a bunch. For how to grow herbs on your windowsill get to http://ourohio.org/home-gardens/gardening-basics/winter/windowsill-herbs/
The information is quite complete. My shoots do their best )

4. Use empty plastic bottles as pots for plants. You may decorate them with pictures from magazins, cards, chocolate wrappings and all the stuff you like. Here's a pot I made of a plastic bottle, foil and OGGI catalog)

3. Use natural ingredients as cosmetics. E.g. coffee grounds as face scrub (the effect is amazingly soft skin!), a drop of olive oil for hands (the same). It will reduce your spendings in a cosmetics shop.

4. Cereal and tea boxes are good as gift wrapping. Decorated with coloured paper and glittering glue they are as beautiful as ones from shops. And, of course, mind homemade Christmas decorations of salt dough, paper and natural materials such as pine cones and nuts. They are not only cheap but also organic and exclusive. Children will be happy making them too.

So, be creative, use different possibilities and bless you )

November lights

The sun is rising later and later and it's getting dark more and more early. But the darker around, the brighter lights are. Not only street lamps at nights but also the hawthorn in the daytime. Its berries are burning and shining red against the background of the gloomy grey sky.

November hawthorn

Lamp in the darkness

Chocolate and dates cake

This morning I found that remains of soya milk in my fridge got soured. So I decided to make this sponge cake with them. It turned out very well. Just for gloomy autumn day.

I took:

White flour - 250g
sour soya milk - about 150ml. If you're lucky and your milk is fresh, add 1\2 tea sp. of vinegar to it )
sugar - 2,5 tb.sp.
dates, destoned and chopped - a handful
cocoa-powder - 2,5 tea sp.
baking powder - 1,5 tea sp.
salt - a pinch
water - to make your pastry a bit fluid

Preheat an oven, 180C is enough
Mix all the ingredients together, add water to dilute. Mash until smooth.
Lay out into a greased baking forrm.
Bake until a picking match is dry, around 30 min (depends on your oven, though)

You can add some more cocoa if you like - to make it darker and more chocolate.