Cooking for one

meg72

caronc wrote: »

So do I and out of a G&T too I don't think it's weird


I wonder if we spring forward 40 years what folk will make of our current gadgets?:D I don't have any of these but keep thinking of getting a dehydrator for my excess garden produce but not sure where I'd find a space for it do you use yours lots?


One of my favourite bits of kitchen kit

Had a lovely surprise this morning when I received a fruit basket from an old friend. It's lovely and although fairly substantial not too much for a solo household. I mentioned in an earlier post that I don't do so well in the fruit department during the winter so this is just the kick start I need. Her OH is a fruit & veg merchant so it's lovely quality and a good mix of ripe and ready to eat to needing a few days. Will no doubt need to freeze the pineapple but that's not a problem. Started as mean to go on with a lovely lunch of oatcakes with brie, some grapes and beautifully ripe and juicy pear
I have rather a lot of mushrooms as Tesco were very generous with the sub when they didn't have the loose ones I ordered - they'll be fine for a bit but might make mushroom soup on Sunday for lunches next week.
Not sure if I'm cooking for one or two tonight as son is heading home but depending on when can get away from work it might be really late before he's here. Either way it's a reheat job of lasagne and garlic bread from the freezer.

I do use my dehydrator a lot in the summer to preserve surplus from the garden and if lucky with YS veg. I am currently using up mushrooms and onions bought for pennys last summer, Asda had the 4kg sacks for 25p. I froze a lot but also dried a lot.

I really love to use it for making Christmas pressies, Pot-Pouri, dried arrangements etc, I look out for YS oranges lemons and limes as these are really expensive to buy but so easy to do your own.
Enjoy your fruit, hoping your feeling better now.

PasturesNew

I've not got many gadgets .... not even a mixer or food processor etc.

Spiraliser: nope.
Dehydrator: never even seen one.
Vitamix blender: Not sure what that is.

Breadmaker: Tried one years ago, it was a major fail for several reasons.

Gadgets are only good if they work as you expect and if you need them enough times to donate valuable money/space to their existence.

Lots of things promise the earth and don't deliver, so I err on the side of caution

Farway

Farway wrote: »

Found a yellow stickered small Pukka pie on Asda mooching today, so that plus fresh cabbage, brocolli & carrots is dinner sorted for tonight

Bit of "rinse & repeat" dinner tonight, except it is a chicken & ham reduced pie from Lidl mooching this morning, plus on offer parsnips from same shop

As it is tipping down & wind blowing outside a pie is just the thing, and reduced price makes it even tastier

PasturesNew

What I dislike most about being 5' tall and weighing about 8½ stone is that ... I can't eat much unless I want to soon be as wide as I am tall.


I'd like a pie .... all of it, a whole family pie ... with mash and cabbage and gravy ....

And a dessert pudding with custard.

But I can't.

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

Just had balsamic vinegar for the first time... omg that's nice.

No idea why I bought the bottle, but it was 59p so I thought worth a go ... and it sat there ... and sat there...

I just opened the freezer and dragged out a small focaccia bread (A1d1 pack of 2) I'd bought (YS 30% off) before Xmas - and I grabbed a portion of frozen cocktail sausages and about 1/6th of an onion I'd frozen ... defrosted them all and lobbed it together, topped off with a cheese triangle.

Into the oven, bored of waiting after 8 minutes so took it out - and then I've no idea whatsoever what came over me - but I thought "splash of that" and opened the bottle. A bit over-zealously (hadn't expected it to come out that fast) .... and thought "probably ruined that".

Then tasted it ... OMG it's tasty

Balsamic vinegar is lovely, glad you found something you enjoy. Your meal sounds lovely. I quite oftern sprinkle balsamic on sausages before cooking or on to frying onions

PasturesNew wrote: »

What I dislike most about being 5' tall and weighing about 8½ stone is that ... I can't eat much unless I want to soon be as wide as I am tall.


I'd like a pie .... all of it, a whole family pie ... with mash and cabbage and gravy ....

And a dessert pudding with custard.

But I can't.

I think we all would be if we ate pie all the time.

caronc

meg72 wrote: »

I do use my dehydrator a lot in the summer to preserve surplus from the garden and if lucky with YS veg. I am currently using up mushrooms and onions bought for pennys last summer, Asda had the 4kg sacks for 25p. I froze a lot but also dried a lot.

I really love to use it for making Christmas pressies, Pot-Pouri, dried arrangements etc, I look out for YS oranges lemons and limes as these are really expensive to buy but so easy to do your own.
Enjoy your fruit, hoping your feeling better now.

That's good to know thanks might bump one up my wish list a bit

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've not got many gadgets .... not even a mixer or food processor etc.

Spiraliser: nope.
Dehydrator: never even seen one.
Vitamix blender: Not sure what that is.

Breadmaker: Tried one years ago, it was a major fail for several reasons.

Gadgets are only good if they work as you expect and if you need them enough times to donate valuable money/space to their existence.

Lots of things promise the earth and don't deliver, so I err on the side of caution

I've lots of gadgets but mainly only keep things I use. Two things I didn't get on with was a breadmaker and a rice cooker have kept but only because younger son has an eye on them for when he gets his own kitchen space

caronc

Farway wrote: »

Bit of "rinse & repeat" dinner tonight, except it is a chicken & ham reduced pie from Lidl mooching this morning, plus on offer parsnips from same shop

As it is tipping down & wind blowing outside a pie is just the thing, and reduced price makes it even tastier

You've been doing well with your pie bargains hope the Lidl one is as tasty as a Pukka one

PasturesNew

I don't think Pukka are half as nice as they were 20-30 years ago.

They've always been my pie of choice - but about 10 years ago a lot of chip shops started nuking them and tipping them upside down into the chips and rolling the lot together - I can stop them doing the rolling, but not the nuking.

So then I decided not to buy pies at the chip shop any more - as they started to appear in supermarkets.

Now I wait until they're on sale at £1 (£2 is the RRP); a chip shop charges £2.50 for a hot one.

But I'm disappointed. I think the pastry's not as moist as it used to be and the filling is not so full of chunks and the sauce is more of a sludge than a sauce.

With Pukka I used to like to:
- run a knife around the underside of the lid and remove the lid.
- cut the lid in half and eat both halves.
- use the chips to dip into the filling and eat all the filling off the chips.
- when all the filling/sauce have entirely gone, cut the pastry case into 3 pieces and scoff on their own

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

I don't think Pukka are half as nice as they were 20-30 years ago.

They've always been my pie of choice - but about 10 years ago a lot of chip shops started nuking them and tipping them upside down into the chips and rolling the lot together - I can stop them doing the rolling, but not the nuking.

So then I decided not to buy pies at the chip shop any more - as they started to appear in supermarkets.

Now I wait until they're on sale at £1 (£2 is the RRP); a chip shop charges £2.50 for a hot one.

But I'm disappointed. I think the pastry's not as moist as it used to be and the filling is not so full of chunks and the sauce is more of a sludge than a sauce.

With Pukka I used to like to:
- run a knife around the underside of the lid and remove the lid.
- cut the lid in half and eat both halves.
- use the chips to dip into the filling and eat all the filling off the chips.
- when all the filling/sauce have entirely gone, cut the pastry case into 3 pieces and scoff on their own

No Pukka pies in chippies round here, pie and chips (a pie supper) is a scotch pie frequently deep fried. I like a good scotch pie but deep fried is bleurgh........._pale_

PasturesNew

I finished off the fish fingers (3) and had some oven chips with them for tea. That's a bit more out of the freezer ... although, those were useful items. It's the veg mountain I need to cut down on.

Some things, once run out, have to be replaced.
Some things, once run out, just free up space as they're not replaced.

Fish fingers are a keeper