I've had the worst of times - now for the BEST of times!

peaceandfreedom

Well, I've had quite a busy day. Decided I had to tackle the leftovers today or there would be unacceptable wastage. I seem to have spent the whole day in the kitchen somehow.

So I have:

• Used up soured cream, streaky bacon and breadcrumbs in a brussel sprouts gratin (which was delish)
• Whizzed up the rest of the bread (ends of loaf) into breadcrumbs which are now in a tub in the freezer
• Used up some puff pastry by making some cheese straws (also delish)
• Used up the rest of the cream and some turkey and ham in a filling for a turkey and ham pie, which is now in the freezer
• Made a gorgeous turkey stew - cooling overnight, will freeze in the morning
• Made numerous portions of turkey stock which are now in the freezer - they will be the base for stews or soup
• Used up some red wine in the onion gravy for tea, which was poured over the last of the cold meats with mashed spuds, braised red cabbage, and the sprouts gratin
• A portion of braised red cabbage now in the freezer
• Selflessly scoffed a number of mini mince pies as well as some mincemeat and apple strudel. With some brandy butter.

Life will now need to start getting back to normal, too much food, too much lounging about . It's been great and I have another week off but it needs to be a BIT more productive.

Until tomorrow folks.

liltdiddylilt

Wow.... you have me inspired. I have a huge amount of leftovers to whoosh through and sort into some semblace of foodie bits. And how stupid am I? I throw away the ends of the loaf each time... Do you dry them or anything?!

peaceandfreedom

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

Wow.... you have me inspired. I have a huge amount of leftovers to whoosh through and sort into some semblace of foodie bits. And how stupid am I? I throw away the ends of the loaf each time... Do you dry them or anything?!

You need to get stuck into those leftovers because cooked meat will only last so long before it becomes dodgy.

With the bread, I don't dry it, I just whizz it up in the food processor. Then decant into an ice-cream tub and keep in the freezer. Can then be scooped out and used from frozen.

It will last for ages so some of my ends-of-loaf goes out for the birds, soaked with water first. I don't put out much bread though for the birds because while it's OK, it's not terribly nutritious for them. A lot ends up in the food compost bin.

One my 'things' for this year is to have less food waste. Bread is tricky though, especially as most of the time I don't actually eat shop-bought bread myself.

peaceandfreedom

What a beautiful day it was today. Went out for a long walk in the hills, it was glorious. Took rather longer than usual because I [STRIKE]got lost[/STRIKE] took a detour . Was almost dark when I got home.

Today was an 'every man for himself' day in our house - I didn't cook for anyone and so all meals were just a whatever-you-can-find affair. Seems to have worked well, especially as two people were out for lunch anyway. Nice to have a break from cooking and it means more random food (soup, cheese) gets used up.

I am now going to indulge in a lazy evening on the sofa - see you tomorrow.

liltdiddylilt

I assumed that was what you meant and serendipitously came to the ends of the loaf at lunch time today so whizzed it up, popped it in an old takeaway tub and froze it!! thanks for the push!

I have sorted the meat. It is all starting to become other things now. I am a stickler for keeping meat just so, we are talking stripped and wrapped and tupperwared, so I have no fear of it being dodgy just yet. It will be frozen once the cooking is completed

Thanks again!!

peaceandfreedom

Just running in to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone on these MSE boards. Hope 2015 is one EXCELLENT year for us all. :beer:

See you next year.

Sun_Addict

Happy New Year to you too, hope it's a good one

jwil

Happy New Year PeaceandFreedom, have a great 2015

vasseur

Happy New Year :beer:

peaceandfreedom

Well, hello 2015!!!!

I saw in the New Year with a group of friends in their lovely house and we had an absolutely brilliant time, really good food and great fun. :T

Late enough night, about 2:30am and then it took me hours to get to sleep - I think it was about 6am as I heard the hot water clicking on - so I've slept in and am typing this in bed . Will get up now as there's stuff to do for dinner, though OH should be cooking most of it .

I am going to sit down tomorrow and formulate my plans for 2015. I will probably start a new diary for this and I'll post the link to it here.

I spent some happy time yesterday planning my planting for next year, I love looking through the different seeds on offer and deciding what to sow. I am moving more towards planting stuff that's a bit different because I have limited space. No point wasting valuable space growing run-of-the-mill things like onions and carrots that can be picked up for pennies in the shops. I'll post more about my plans later. Need to have a proper look through my existing seed store as well.

Anyway, better finally get this year started - have a lovely New Year's Day everyone.