misscousinitt's MF Diary

edinburgher

Duck Casserole planned for tomorrows tea - going to get most of the prep done tonight before we go out and then just bung everything in the slow cooker tomorrow - need to figure out my timer I bought a couple of years ago so that the slow cooker goes on at 1pm rather than me putting it on in the morning and cooking the food to death!

Care to share the recipe?

misscousinitt

edinburgher wrote: »

Care to share the recipe?

Haven't done this one before...but here it is:

2 duck legs (I am using a duck carcass too)
150ml red wine
Bouquet garni (i'm using a tsp of oregano and a bay leaf)
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic, crushed
225g shallots (using onions)
110g diced streaky bacon or pancetta
butter and oil
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp redcurrant jelly (and some rosemary jelly i've got)
150ml chicken stock
300ml fresh orange juice
110g mushrooms

1. Cover the shallots in boiling water, leave for 10 mins then peel. Preheat oven to 170c or 150c fan oven.
2. Fry the bacon/pancetta in a hot casserole dish until lightly browned then remove to a holding dish.
3. Add a little butter and oil and cook the shallots until light brown, then remove to holding dish.
4. Place duck legs in casserole and brown both sides then add to holding dish.
5. To the fats in the casserole, add the flour and cook for 1 min. Gradually add the wine, stock, rosemary, bouquet garni and garlic. Beware, it will spit a little.
6. Now return the bacon/panetta, shallots and duck to casserole. Add the redcurrant jelly, some of the orange juice and the mushrooms and simmer gently for 3-4 mins. Cover the casserole and place in the oven for two hours.
7. Season to taste and add more orange juice or redcurrant jelly if you wish. Serve with mash.

I'm not doing this in the slow cooker as couldn't get the time to work - its a pain! Most of the prep is done though so will be quick to put in the oven later.

Will let you know how it works out.

MCI

misscousinitt

I've made an appointment for us to go and see the mortgage advisor.

We are seriously looking into what we want to do in the future and this, we feel, is the best place to start.

We want to know how much we can borrow and how much its going to cost us. We are also looking into keeping the house we have now and renting it out - so need to know how not having so much deposit will affect mortgage rates and payments.

Appointment is on 27th Oct...

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In other news...went to the Spanish Tapas restaurant last night that I thought we might be going to...it was very nice and unknown to DH they had a deal on for Tuesdays of 2 tapas for £5 - so the bill was reasonable too (even though we made complete pigs of ourselves).

Tonight is the duck casserole (done in the oven cos couldn't get the darn timer to work). Thats another two items out of the freezer!

The funder meeting went well, but we still have alot of work to do...we are on to the next stage which is application form stage, so promising, but not definate...these things are slow, we probably won't know the outcome till February!

MCI

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

misscousinitt wrote: »

The funder meeting went well, but we still have alot of work to do...we are on to the next stage which is application form stage, so promising, but not definate...these things are slow, we probably won't know the outcome till February!

MCI

Still an open door rather than a closed one!

As for your other news.. has timer broken?! Oh no what about all your delicious slow cooked concoctions?!

The duck sounds yummy, I read the recipe earlier.

And mortgage advisor meeting can only help to establish which of your plans/options are viable.

misscousinitt

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice wrote: »

has timer broken?! Oh no what about all your delicious slow cooked concoctions?!

Never used the timer before - it was one i bought to turn off the broadband when DH was using it at stupid o'clock in the morning and he wouldn't go downstairs to switch it off!

Just couldn't get it to work and I didn't have time to mess about with it too much.

I usually use the slow cooker at the weekend so I don't cook things to death - but wanted to start using it in the week and don't really fancy stuff thats been cooked for 12 hours as we feel it looses flavour after about 6 hours!

Will have a play about with it for next time - I will get it sorted.:D

____________________

Duck Casserole was really nice - the only trouble with using the carcass aswell is that there were little bones in the sauce - so a bit of a pain while eating it - but it was delish. Nevermind - won't be using a carcass next time I cook it! I can recommend it with mash, carrots and savoy cabbage.

Not much else to report. Herr A for shopping tonight - small list again this week - will sit down and work out my grocery figures so I know exactly where I stand.

Tonights tea is Haddock with Cheery Toms, Pesto & Creme Fraiche with rice (the tea we were supposed to have last Saturday - good job the fish is cooked from frozen).

MCI

megela

misscousinitt wrote: »

Tonights tea is Haddock with Cheery Toms, Pesto & Creme Fraiche with rice

I'm glad the tomatoes are in a good mood!!!

misscousinitt

megela wrote: »

I'm glad the tomatoes are in a good mood!!!

and me...makes them more tasty!;)

misscousinitt

misscousinitt wrote: »

Kitchen
· Fetch all the mugs out and see what we want to keep – the ones we don’t – package them up with some bits and pieces for sale for our charity at Christmas.
· Jars!
· Food cupboards
· Deep Clean appliances
Dining Room
· Cook books and magazine tidy up.
· Shelves
· Dining Room Table
· Bottles – choose a nice one for the charity Raffle
Lounge
· Drawers of table
· Shelf tidy
Bathroom
· Declutter cupboard
Spare Room - probably the worst room in the house...
· Personal Paperwork this is a hefty area
· Pictures – buy 2 x frames and get pics put up
· Sofa bed
· Printer disposal? – ebay?
Bedroom
· Paperwork
[STRIKE]
· Clothes sort out
[/STRIKE][STRIKE]· Under bed[/STRIKE]
Loft
· Major tidy, sort out and label stuff - made a start - most of catering stuff is in boxes now and DH has tidied the Christmas stuff up so its ready to pull out when we get back from holiday - new cat box has also got a place - at least you can find some things now...lots more to do though...:)
[STRIKE]
· Plastic boxes required for catering stuff
[/STRIKE]
Other
· Need to look into ebay & pre-loved
· All rooms to be Deep Cleaned once decluttered

MCI

A bit done in the loft last night as a spur of the moment thing - pleased with what we got done in an hour!

Going to buy some in/out trays on the way home, so I can start organising my paperwork tomorrow. This is a really big job and will take a few nights in the week up too.

Might do an easy one too like declutter the drawer in the coffee table in the lounge..we will see.

edinburgher

Spur of the moment cleaning? Well done you - I tend to stick more to things like spur of the moment carrot cake.... or glass of wine... or 30 minute procrastinate

misscousinitt

edinburgher wrote: »

Spur of the moment cleaning? Well done you - I tend to stick more to things like spur of the moment carrot cake.... or glass of wine... or 30 minute procrastinate

Thanks edinburgher...did reward myself with a glass of wine afterwards!!!:D