I'm eating out of the freezer and cupboards challenge

Kirri

Jelly_Biactol wrote: »

If the look of it puts you off but you don't want to waste the cheese flavour, what about tying it up in muslin bag like a bouquet garni for soups/stews/pasta sauce etc.

That's a good idea! Or well it would have been had it not gone in the bin I did wonder if the birds would like it but wasn't sure about the mould content?! (plus it's too wet to bother going to the allotment today..).

I'll get a pic.. I've only got a tiny piece left now so probably do the stuffed Italian courgette recipe tonight as that just needs a small amount of cheese as a topping, but think I will rebuy the cheese anyway as the flavour was good.

So, easy meal wise, I have left:
Bit of blue cheese - to use tonight
Jar of red vegan pesto - coming week, will do 4-5 portions, builders in again so nice quick meals with added veg, probably french beans or courgette.
8 portions of frozen hm veg curry - have a tin of coconut milk in to try a new naan bread recipe to go with it.

Apart from that it's dried pulses/rice/flours only to make meals from... could do veg risotto or stuffed peppers from the allotment veg and have additions to other meals like spicy salad leaves that are just ready to pick and freshly dug potatoes, so will be turning some dried beans into burgers and have a split pea fritter recipe I've been meaning to try as could have those with salad/potatoes plus need to make gram flour pancakes with spicy potato inside. Means a lot of cooking though but fairly cheap, healthy meals at least. Also:

Need to make bread today..
Need to make a cake today..
Need to make polpette for lunch today.. may make more batches of these while I have the courgettes, as they could go in the freezer.

Need to buy fruit & dairy this week, will get from Farmaround probably as I want the HN eggs. Very skint but trying to still juggle buying ethical/organic basics though, but keeping spends to a bare minimum.

Welsh_Poppy

Jelly

I did take photo but looked uninspiring it looked not as nice as it smelt.OH said I dont fancy it so we froze it for later in week:-)
I did like the fact it was heathy as in not fried.
I love Italian food it just seems all the things i like seem to be Italian:-)

I have just made stuffing balls for tomorrow.
I made a french loaf last night and turned out fine just seems harder to slice than basic loaf.
Lunch poached egg and beans on toast
Dinner will be Aubergine parmigiano with salad and some meat for OH(no idea yet ) Oh did not have a good night so still asleep:-.

Florenceem

In to freezer - bag of Plain flour + 3 portions Pie Bacon.
Out of freezer - HM Crumble + HM Quiche.
Lovely neighbour invited me to see her flat - we had been discussing/looking at my house renovations. While there - she cut me a couple of courgettes - not suffering overload here.
Had a baking day with DGD yesterday.
Just me here in evening and I was exhausted so dinner was DGD's home made Egg and bacon Pie with some baked beans.
DGD is 12 years old - first time she had made pastry.
Today MR F is back totally cream crackered from his business trip and I am so tired after yesterday's marathon Bakathon. So for dinner we having having HM wedges + veggies + DGD's Pie.
Need to restock my baking cupboard - nearly out of Desiccated Coconut plus had to buy more eggs - we used - 12!

Kirri

^ Lot of baking to use 12 eggs :eek:

Made the bread - with ground linseed, poppy and sunflower seeds, malt extract and mix of white/malted flours. That is my very late lunch with butter... Reshuffled my cupboard around too.

Got orange juice and zest out the freezer to make the cake - then got distracted as decided to defrost it instead as quite a lot of ice build up which was taking up room. So no cake or polpette made.. but I now have a nice, defrosted, tidy freezer.. I updated the spreadsheet as I put the freezer contents back, some things I'd used and not crossed off but I did find some hm lemon icing and a bag of rhubarb I didn't realise I had. Need to start working my way through these bits or they will be in there for ever. I seem to be doing better using up cupboard/fridge contents than the freezer.

Added to minimal shopping list for next week - sea salt for bread making and icing sugar & sunflower marge for cakes.

Need to find some energy to make the Mary Berry orange syrup cakes now.


Edit - ^ cakes in the oven, nice easy recipe. Added in a bit more ground linseed and bran to the flour, just to use them up. Two more pots from the freezer washed up now the OJ/zest is used up. I had to open a long life soya milk as needed 4tbsp, will have to remember to use this up in something this week, maybe pancakes as have some frozen lemon juice in the freezer too.

Florenceem

DGD arrived at 9am and we baked all day - I had worked out that she could do 3 recipes before lunch and 3 after.
I almost ran out of cooling trays - run out of space on kitchen sides to fit all the makes and dirty stuff. Goodness knows how much washing up water I used.

Florenceem

No freezer movements tonight.
We had roast potatoes/parsnip + DGD's HM Egg/Bacon Pie + brocolli/carrots for dinner.

Florenceem

My DGD 12 years old made the following yesterday. I was just telling her what to do and how to.
All in one cake.

Buttery Ginger Biscuits,

JJ's Herby Cheese Bread.

Egg/Bacon Pie - her first time making pastry.

Carrot Cake Muffins.

DGD's first time using a piping bag. ( I had the Buttercream made in fridge. )

Coconut Pyramids - DGD insisted on making a little one out of the left over mix.

tootallulah

What a brilliant days baking, I am useless at pastry my Mum is brilliant, I think I gave up because she is too good. The coconut pyramids are a very happy memory. It must be lovely to spend the day together doing something you both enjoy.

Florenceem

tootallulah wrote: »

What a brilliant days baking, I am useless at pastry my Mum is brilliant, I think I gave up because she is too good. The coconut pyramids are a very happy memory. It must be lovely to spend the day together doing something you both enjoy.

The Coconut Pyramids recipe was written on a piece of paper by DGD's Mum when she was 12 years old. It was one of the first things DD made at school. I kept the piece of paper - bit tatty now - DD will be 40 next month.

Jelly_Biactol

Kirri wrote: »

I seem to be doing better using up cupboard/fridge contents than the freezer.

Maybe set yourself a target of using, say, five items from the freezer per week?
Or stick a note on the fridge/cupboard doors saying something like 'What's in the Freezer?' or 'Can I Make This from the Freezer?' just to remind yourself?

Florenceem wrote: »

DGD's HM Egg/Bacon Pie

That pie looks yummy, even to a veggie:) - particularly the pastry. Congrats to your DGD :T

Kirri wrote: »

think I will rebuy the cheese anyway as the flavour was good.

What kind is it, just out of interest?

Kirri wrote: »

have a split pea fritter recipe I've been meaning to try

What's the recipe? Thanks.

Kirri wrote: »

Need to make polpette for lunch today

Never made this before, but googled a HFW recipe
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/courgette-polpette-recipe
and realised I'd got everything except the courgettes (doh!) so have added this to my recipe folder and might make it over the BH weekend

tootallulah wrote: »

I am useless at pastry my Mum is brilliant,

I am still a novice at pastry too. My mum is very good too, she has it all in her head, whereas I still have to check quantities etc. My dad is pretty good too, when we were young he did a lot of the cooking because of my mum and dad's working hours. When I left home my mum gave me copies of 'The Dairy Book of Home Cookery' and 'Be-Ro Home Recipes' (cover has a photo of Miss Be-Ro), as we didn't do home ec or anything similar at my school, and I still refer to them nowadays for a lot of the baking essentials.



Freezer movements over the last couple of days:
IN: nothing, still pretty full though (but not a lot of room there to begin with)
OUT: HM pasta sauce which I used to make a red pepper & lentil chilli, was enough for two meals with rice; bread rolls; and HM frittata, now in the fridge so might have that tomorrow


Made some bread this evening, freehand from scratch as it were, just to see the difference from mixing/proving in the breadmaker, one loaf in a loaf tin and one on a baking tray; quite different results, just letting them cool now, and might post a piccie later, to get the expert breadmakers' opinions.


Also been reading Knead to Know, a book about setting up a real bread/artisan community bakery (not something I'm planning on doing, btw!), got lots of lovely bread recipes (basic white, sourdough, croissant, pains au chocolate) but the quantities are for 50 loaves :eek: