Cooking for one (Mark Two)

Need2bthrifty

Got a present of Grasmere gingerbread and have been nibbling on it at times throughout the day, love the taste but the texture I'm not so convinced on - but that may be downside of wearing false teeth.

Banana needed using up so had it for breakfast on toast, big bowl of butternut squash soup for lunch and beef casserole, mashed pots and brussel sprouts for tea.

moneyistooshorttomention

More hungry than normal last few days - don't know if thats to do with it being colder weather?

Just off for a little snack-ette then - handful of hazelnuts and I'll make myself some hot milk with added cocoa powder/bit of maple syrup/grating of nutmeg on top.

[Deleted User]

I bought a great big box of miso soups from costco, last time I went and am enjoying them. They are a paste and have some seaweed in them, very good for iodine levels. I use warm water, to keep the good bacteria levels in them. I am tending to have one for my last meal with a couple of puffed rye crackers and a scrape of peanut butter. It keeps me going fine until breakfast, 12 -13 hours later

Breakfast today is spelt flakes, dried raspberries and a few cacao nibs with some non homogenised milk. I had more spelt flakes than usual so won`t need a second breakfast, however I will have a few nuts and berries for the protein and other goodness. Spelt contains protein and I make sure I get more protein at 10 and at lunchtime and for afternoon snack. Different proteins for different nutrients. My hair is certainly liking it, thicker and glossy and my nails look very healthy too

PasturesNew

CFO ... because there's nobody to tell you you can't have kebab for breakfast.

Been invited out for my dinner, at short notice, but had that lamb mince. So I've made a batch of kebab/kofte meatballs - and cooked some for breakfast, served in a toasted bread roll.

£2.31 for the lamb, about 24 meatballs. So 10p/meatball. 10p for a bread roll. I actually rolled 23 balls, so had 3 for breakfast and have frozen 20. So 40p for breakfast. Pricey, but tasty.

I've tried local kebabs and they're rank.... mine are much better and closer to a "good kebab" than the local shops manage! Bizarrely.

caronc

PN - like your style:rotfl:

Brian had a good old blow overnight and is still rumbling on, though due to run out of steam this evening.
I've not much planned for today, have managed a shower and washed my hair so time for a sit down now with a cuppa. No breakfast today so will treat myself to a brunch of lorne sausage and tattie scone, with a big splodge of HP to complete it and some tomatoes and mushrooms to make it "healthy" :rotfl:;)

I'm going to make a pan of mixed root veg today, some I'll have tonight, some I'll freeze and some I'll make into bubble & squeak (I'll cook extra sprouts tonight:)). I don't mind batch cooking this sort of thing as I really like it but cba to make small amounts. Apart from making the mash and steaming the sprouts I've not got much cooking to do as a portion of roast belly pork with black pudding & apple stuffing defrosting and have LO peppercorn sauce to use up.
For once I've managed to come up with a semi-meal plan for the week, of course sticking to it is the key. I feel I could do with the structure as I seem to be deciding later and later each day what to have for my main meal so I end up putting things together at the last minute which means I'm at risk of falling into a rut of samey meals which I don't like.:cool:

Hollyharvey

Morning everyone

I decided to continue to eat my way through the egg mountain and had scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast.

Lunch will be another tuna mayo sandwich to use up the other half of the tin I opened yesterday.

I've got a chicken breast portion defrosting for dinner tonight. I'm going to do a roast using it. I've also got some bread that needs using up so will make bread sauce, and there are some stuffing balls in the freezer that I made a while back so I will have them as well. It means that I will use up quite a bit from the freezer, and that's good .

poppystar

PasturesNew wrote: »

If you want to go down the nuke it route, just chop/toss apple pieces into a bowl with a spoon of sugar, ¼ teaspoon of cornstarch (as a thickener, flour at a push) and the same quantity of cinnamon and a tablespoon of water and some sultanas/raisins/similar. Cover/seal and nuke for ~2 minutes until hot. It'll be super heated though, so watch your hands if you do this ... I'd leave it sitting there for 2-3 minutes until it's cooled a bit. Lob some custard at it or ice cream or cream.

PN you are converting me to nuking! Went down this route (minus the flour) and it tasted so much nicer than when cooked in a saucepan. Rather an eyeopener as I tend to avoid nuking things.

PasturesNew

poppystar wrote: »

PN you are converting me to nuking! Went down this route (minus the flour) and it tasted so much nicer than when cooked in a saucepan. Rather an eyeopener as I tend to avoid nuking things.

It's had a bad reputation in the past, with all sorts of "sniffy noses" turning up at the mere thought of it. As most people cook for others, for families, for groups, it's overlooked and almost "too dirty a secret to even mention in polite company".

But, it IS a valid cooking method ... that's simply not been validated. Some TV chefs are beginning to get in on the act I notice.

As a different cooking method, it means that the end result CAN be different to the "usual method"; often, though, there's no/little difference. Some things are even "better" done that way.

Like any different method, one needs to personalise the method/result a little, tweaking it based on power and bowl size and quantities.... but that's the same for all gadgets.

I refuse to be told that it's "bad" by people who simply haven't tried it.

Glad you got a result you're pleased with.

CFO it achieves the result of managing to cook small quantities efficiently - both in terms of dish sizes requiring washing up and time to cook. The dishes you use (mugs work a treat) make for much easier/quicker washing up and stacking on a drainer than the larger saucepans required for, say, hob cooking - or the size of baking dishes required in an oven (not to mention the cost of running an oven and the time to pre-heat and cook).

I've used it as my main method of cooking for over 30 years .... which few do. Most people mostly use them just to heat up beans or a spud. I do 90-95% of all my cooking in the magic box....

Today: Kebabs ... nuked, made from scratch. Bread roll ... nuked to defrost; toasted in mini oven.
Today: Black forest steamed pudding ... reheated/nuked (cooked/nuked yesterday from scratch). Custard ... kettle.

EDIT: Photo of the donner kebab meatballs I made/sliced up to fit into a bread roll:

https://s1.postimg.org/1hvvbpj0i7/Kebab_Meat.jpg

1oz37555xs

PasturesNew

I've got a "proper dinner" in a couple of hours. Cooked by somebody else. A Sunday roast jobbie Roasties.... you can't do roasties in a nuker, so that'll be a right treat.

Farway

Awoke with a headache, think it is my cold / sinuses, first meal of the day, one paracetamol.

Although bright & breezy outside the heating had cut in, which was the extra nudge I needed to just stay indoors today

Breakfast, post paracetamol, was real loose leaf pot of tea, with toast & marmalade. Thoroughly enjoyed it, it has been a while since I had real tea, must buy some more now it has nearly run out

Decided to rummage in the Round Tuit and then cracked on with making the long promised Ginger marmalade.
I made 7 and a bit jars, works out around 58p a jar, good value especially as I am finding harder to get ginger marmalade now, must be one of the things not profitable / selling enough to warrant shelf space these days

It is fat and salt free, plus the oranges and the medicinal properties claimed for ginger it must be a health food really?

Lunch was bacon, lettuce & tomato sandwich, and a trial taster of my Ginger Marmalade. Excellent, just enough bite / heat to it

Dinner is LO smoked mackerel fillet & LO instant mash, both to be nuked, possibly serve with some salad
With the last of the LO stewed apple to follow