Cooking for one (Mark Two)

meg72

Awwww dumplings, love em will be making up a batch to stock in freezer so handy then to toss in a stew.

Spending as little time on cooking as poss and getting on with sewing and crafting for Christmas fair. Really pleased with myself yesterday. I wanted to do some make up bags but really struggled putting in the zip. Tried and tried but couldnt get it right then Bingo after four hours unpicking and trying again I got it. I watched a Debbie Shore tutorial and realised where I was going wrong. I was starting the open end of the zip instead of the closed end. Lol easy when you know how eh? So now have a nice collection of lined zippered bags and more zips ordered from china I get the fabric for free from the charity shop and the zips cost 10p each. Really cheap and quick to make.

PasturesNew

meg72 wrote: »

Awwww dumplings, love em will be making up a batch to stock in freezer so handy then to toss in a stew.

No need for that. Premix a box of suet and 400g of flour, keep in a lidded container (click/lock). Spoon out just what you need the minute you want them ... nuke in your gravy .... (cover, 1m, turn, 1m, turn, 1m, turn) and they are perfect/cooked... and eaten. You know when you make a stew and there's more gravy than you can eat? ... I freeze that to cook the dumplings in when I'm JUST scoffing dumplings.

Got invited to dinner one night - it was a stew... host mentioned dumplings as a "wish we had" and I said "I'll knock them up". Best dumplings they'd ever had and couldn't believe it just worked.

I'll shove a photo up when I knock mine up later. It used to be easier when the boxes were 250g as that was an exact match for the 500g bags of flour so no measuring whatsoever needed to do the mix. Now they're all 200g, which is annoying.

Wednesday2000

Now I fancy some dumplings.:D

I made lots of steamed veggies and mash for lunch with brown sauce. Yummy.:A

Hollyharvey

Afternoon all,

I'm doing the minimum of cooking today. I had Greek yoghurt and some berries for breakfast and a cheese and salad sandwich for lunch.

Dinner will be some steamed veg, a chicken breast portion, mash and some gravy that I got out of the freezer.

PN the gravy was leftover from a stew

PasturesNew

Well, that went down a treat. Didn't do carrots in the end, just left it at using up the cabbage/swede from Sunday and tossed in some peas and chicken chunks. Two dumblies

I "forced" it into one pot, to minimise washing up, so did the stew first, then scooped out a lot of veggie bits to give room for the dumplings on top. Dumps are best cooked if given enough space of their own .... which would have meant a second dish. But it doesn't alter the taste if you chuck them on top of other stuff - they just don't look "magazine photo perfect". They're a steamed item, so benefit from a good steaming, with space ... but sometimes we all "skimp" on end result for one reason or another.

Here's a photo:

https://s26.postimg.org/e77g51l2h/Chicken_Stew.jpg

nezolqs4q

If I were cooking for somebody else, I'd have done it differently:
- carrots would be in there - and some onions
- gravy would be thicker
- dumblies would've been cooked separately, to give them room to 'grow'

But when it's just you there are no extra points for presentation!

Farway

Up early, woken by howling wind & something crashing over, sounded like a dustbin, except we don't have them round here any longer

No breakfast, didn't fancy making it, which was a pity 'cos I had pencilled in eggs on toast. Found there is a lot of carp on TV early morning

The sole YS haul was some mushrooms, nice ones, down to 30p from £1, and that decided tonight's dinner

Lunch used up two stale crusts with cheese on toast with some of "new" jar of 2013 vintage HM chutney

Dinner is turning out to be omelette, using the eggs I got out but never used for breakfast, plus the YS mushrooms, probably chips, and the LO half tin of beans, maybe a fresh tom just for a hint of fresh veg in there

That should be it, I have a fasting blood test tomorrow morning, so nothing but water from about 8 tonight:(

candygirl

No CFO for me tonight!Am out for tea with Mum :j:T

caronc

The mince is simmering away and a load tatties are in the pressure cooker for mash. Brine is cooling for the shallots so will jar them in a bit. I feel I've been reasonably productive for once:D.

PasturesNew

No idea today. Aldi have mixed peppers at 65p for the next 2 weeks, so one morning I'll have to pop down and get some - or wait the full 2 weeks and go in later when customers are sick of the sight of them and there'll be lots left later in the day

I've got some swede/spud mash I made about 3 days ago, should eat that really ... but can't think what with as I don't fancy "cooking a full meal" to go with that.

Last night I had a slice of toast + choc spread on 3 occasions across the evening - and I had the final two spoons of some random spud mash I had loitering in the fridge (lifted lid of the container, got a spoon, ate it). I also finished off the last knob of the chicken I cooked on Sunday - I had to eat it as it'd been in the fridge 3 days and wasn't really enough to turn into anything, so just stood and ate it cold from the box while waiting for some toast to cook.

I'll think about that swede/spud mash and do something so fabulous with it your minds will be blown .... er, or, more likely, I'll nuke it with beans or something

Oh ... oh ... oh ... I COULD cook some mince and use it as the topping!
That'd work. Shepherd's pie with swede/spud mash .... and open a tin of beans maybe.



Sounds like a meal to me. So ... it might happen; it might not.

Farway

'Morning

Blood test in a bit, so nothing except water since last night

Like PN, absolutely no ideas for meals today. I have eaten / used all the bits I had sculling around, so down to bread, cheese & ham unless a masiive light bulb flashes on as I lurk around Asda later

I spoted an apple pud recipe in the W/rose newspaper, looks easy but needs eggs, but used them last night. May just get more & help use up some of the apple Alps, plus my free found in car park tin of custard. Very MSM, free apples & custard