Cooking for one (Mark Two)

Glad

I had lunch out yesterday which was lovely making most of my meals up from the seasonal contents of my fruit and veg box means that they are very 'samey' sometimes

lunch was in a local art gallery which has a little cafe serving homecooked meals, I had pastryless quiche, sweet potato fondant, with coleslaw and side salad, and a large soya latte

dinner last night was 2 basa fillets, butterbeans, and I made a sauce from mushrooms and spinach, using up some of the single cream left over from the soup I made earlier in the week

the contents of the box that I haven't used up yet are, leeks, carrots, apples, butternut squash, onions and bananas. I also have eggs and potatos so any inspiration gratefully received

I will be calling in 4ldi later to pick up some more yoghurt and some salmon to try out the pate made with butter beans

[Deleted User]

Sainsburys are burying their oats on the second to lowest shelves, the higher up, grab-it shelves are groaning with high profit packs of sugary cereals. There were only three types of oats and the organic oats were at the back of the shelf, hidden from first sight. I only went for one pack but bought three. Grhh, this is so irresponsible, no support at all for the family who want to bring children up the good healthy os way. No jumbo oats but I prefer rolled anyway, if I just do the soak and eat method. Today I am making a batch of date slices ie using up block dates, softened first and then sandwiching in between two oat layers, oats, butter and a bit of sugar. Nice to keep in the freezer

Food will be spelt pizza using frozen stuff and tomato paste, I will also make a veg juice today, carrot, swiss chard, fennel and lettuce. It is a quick way of me imbibing the juice and fibre, makes sure I get enough, anyway I have just dug out a big fresh chard plant. Teatime, only a scrape of peanut butter on sd. I ate my main meal when I came home yesterday, it was still only at 5 but woke me up at 2 and had to take gaviscon, for the alginate layering, which stops the encroachment into the oesophagus. It was a good test because I haven`t had this encroachment since I started having a very light meal at 5. I don`t miss out on coffee chocolate and ice cream because they are all done and dusted by 3. Coffee by 11, chocolate by 12.30

Btw the yogurt has turned out fantastic, I kept the pots warm overnight in a duronic. I only used 2 tbs of natural organic yogurt in 1 litre of grahams jersey milk. Heated to 85 on its own, cooled to 42 and then mixed in the yogurt and poured into the 8 pots. One a day for me and on the 7th day I will make another 8, using one of the pots of yogurt as the culture. This is going to pay for the duronic very quickly. Also btw, you can make this yogurt in an easy yo, thermos or in a covered jug in an airing cupboard. Been there, done that but the duronic, like the griddle, is a treat to myself

PasturesNew

karcher wrote: »

The most important thing is that you've told me I need to defrost it first.

I've never understood why some things are ok to cook from frozen but others aren't?



(I expect I'll bin the lot for fear of making myself ill.
I can't afford to be ill or take time off work.
I hate waste but I just don't trust myself to defrost/cook it properly!)

No, I just assumed you'd defrost it as a lot of people would/do and are "funny" about cooking from frozen.

I'd definitely do them from frozen ... it's just a bit longer. That's all. 100% safe.

PasturesNew

My chicken was lobbed into the SC at 8.15.

It's a big breast I buy frozen - I defrost it overnight in the fridge because I know it's going into the SC, so would prefer it to be defrosted, but, of course, when it goes in it's never fully defrosted - but I figure "it's had a good start".

Just over an hour on high until I can smell/hear it sizzling ... then down to low ... for 5-6 hours.... until "that looks about right" to my eye.

I should be down the shops ideally, shopping for food. I have a list! Having a list is a start isn't it.

There's nothing exciting on the list though.

iammumtoone

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's a big breast I buy frozen - I defrost it overnight in the fridge because I know it's going into the SC, so would prefer it to be defrosted, but, of course, when it goes in it's never fully defrosted - but I figure "it's had a good start".

Be very careful cooking chicken this way.

You seem like a sensible person, I am sure you know what you are doing and will check its cooked throughly before eating, unfortunatlly not everone is the same so I would not advise anyone to do this, you have be careful and if you are not confident its better to follow the offical guidelines and make sure the chicken is fully defrosted before using.

caronc

Good morning everyone (again:)),
That's me back to CFO as my son is just away. It was lovely having him home for a few days. The Tesco meal deal we had on Friday was lovely - kiev style chicken breasts with a lemon & thyme butter, dauphinoise potatoes and profiteroles. I roasted some broccoli and carrots to have with it. The wine is stashed for Christmas:). I had a great night last night ate and drank too much but it was great to have houseful. There is a fair bit of leftovers but my sister will (hopefully) take most of them. My friend made a superb chocolate birthday cake, very moist and rich so I only managed a wee bit.

Today I'm for lorne, tattie scone and mushrooms for brunch. There is still some soup left but I'll freeze that for during the week. Tonight I think I'll roast a chicken leg, with spuds, broccoli and carrots so an easy one tray meal. I need to have a think about meals for the week as I only planned up to last Wednesday so will do a fridge rake and see what needs using and what will be fine for a bit.

Tonight it is due to drop to below freezing :eek:, so when I change my bed later I think the flannelette duvet will be going on so I'll be nice a toasty.

Any way off to empty the dishwasher and starting bleaching my tablecloths!!! At least they are white so can be bleached otherwise I find curry stains a beggar to get out.:cool:

iammumtoone

caronc wrote: »

Tonight it is due to drop to below freezing :eek:, so when I change my bed later I think the flannelette duvet will be going on so I'll be nice a toasty.

I love my flannelette pjs, one of the perks of being single, I can wear what I like, flannelette pjs and fluffy bed socks - I must look so attractive :rotfl:

caronc

iammumtoone wrote: »

I love my flannelette pjs, one of the perks of being single, I can wear what I like, flannelette pjs and fluffy bed socks - I must look so attractive :rotfl:

Yep, me too but I don't care:rotfl::rotfl:

PasturesNew

iammumtoone wrote: »

Be very careful cooking chicken this way.

You seem like a sensible person, I am sure you know what you are doing and will check its cooked throughly before eating, unfortunatlly not everone is the same so I would not advise anyone to do this, you have be careful and if you are not confident its better to follow the offical guidelines and make sure the chicken is fully defrosted before using.

Yes, I don't skimp on it. I err on the side of "doing it for another hour" in the main. You can also tell when you cut into it if it's done and mine are always well done all the way through. I'd not fancy it if it looked a bit iffy/pink. Never.

The breast joint is sold frozen and intended to be roasted from frozen. I figured "Yeah, but while I know I CAN cook it from frozen in the SC I'd rather not do that as it might take way too long and drag on ..... " so that's why I choose to defrost it from the day before, to "give it a head start".

Of course, I could actually just lob it in the nuker.... but I might as well just lob it at the SC and walk away. It's a biggun. ~450-500 grams or so.

PasturesNew

iammumtoone wrote: »

I love my flannelette pjs...

Sometimes when you move house .... you just have a niggling feeling that a small box must've been left on the van.

At the time of being moved you just accept that all boxes are unloaded and they wouldn't have overlooked one ... but you think you notice 1-2 small items missing over time ... but don't want to then go through every single item in the entire house to check.

I had an unused set of pink flannelette PJs .... and I'm sure they are no longer present!

In the main I like PJs, but, being short, the legs are super annoying as they're always so long.