Cooking for one (Mark Two)

meg72

Well dinner is going to be ..........Nothing I am still stuffed from lunch.
My friend and I did all the charity shops in town, ten in total, then went to Whetherspoons for afternoon deal. An absolutely enormous portion of fish, chips and peas. The fish was hanging off the plate both sides. It was fab. Nicest fish and chips I`ve had in a long time.





well

moneyistooshorttomention

AndyCF wrote: »

Its quite difficult to find micro cookable Quorn or other veggie items, at least ones that state they are. I did ask Lindy McCartney's site a while back about their sausages vs microwave but I just got a canned reply , despite looking at about 3 or 4 brands I only really found one that was listed as microwave cookable. I know it "can" be done as I've seen it just a bit odd really as the L.M ones are not "too far" off the right shade before they are warmed up .. I'm still after micro cook sausage rolls that taste half decent too from anywhere.

I couldnt even tell you what instructions there are on the packets of quorn "fake meats".

I don't have a microwave anyway.

I just cook them whatever way I think I will - and would do the same if I were using a microwave basically.

So - tonight's dinner consisted of my getting the last of the quorn "chicken" (bits and a bigger "chicken portion" type bit) out of the freezer and a thing of home-made pesto. I put both into a metal saucepan to defrost (a tip I learnt on this thread). I'm blowed if I know the mechanics of how it defrosts things much more quickly - but it does....probably only took around half an hour to do so.

Then "sauted" some onion and garlic in a tiny bit of water until reasonably "done". That was followed by chucking in the quorn and pesto and chopped pepper and little bit more "sauteing". Followed by chucking can of tomatoes and bit of extra water and salt/pepper. Cooked for ...oooh....around 10 minutes and then bashing down a load of fresh spinach to "reduce" in it and cooking for a couple of minutes. Eaten with some couscous left to soak in just-boiled water for 4 minutes.

Was actually quite tasty.

Hollyharvey

PasturesNew wrote: »

Can't chat as internet and phone dead. Could be 2 days before fixed. This is typed on my phone that I don't know how to use. Used to keyboard so tapping words is too hard and screen too small
RSI just from this message!

I hope that it is fixed sooner rather than later for you. I really hate it when the broadband goes down. The phone I can live without .

karcher

meg72 wrote: »

Well dinner is going to be ..........Nothing I am still stuffed from lunch.
My friend and I did all the charity shops in town, ten in total, then went to Whetherspoons for afternoon deal. An absolutely enormous portion of fish, chips and peas. The fish was hanging off the plate both sides. It was fab. Nicest fish and chips I`ve had in a long time.





well

Wow, that sounds perfect. You've got me craving fish, chips and mushy peas now

Holly what did you have for your birthday lunch?:)

Farway

caronc wrote: »

Farway - have you thought about turning the lurking burgers into meatballs? They would probably taste much better in a spicy tomato sauce.

Thanks for the thought Caron, but to me meatballs are the devil's food, I have tried them but they always seems to have the obligatory dollop of gristle / sinew / odd looking bits in them. Not for me, even if I make them from my mank burgers

Welcome Andy & KMN

HH, Family History, I don't know if your area or you have U3A, or maybe Age Concern? Here they run Genealogy groups, in fact I am a volunteer at my local Age Concern one. And the way I run it is loads of interaction with other people, sometimes no family history is done at all, too busy chatting, and our one has blokes as well, so certainly not all about babies

Dinner was as planned, sort of. I was trying to time things, two pans on the go, plus the nuker. The kipper bag popped:( The frozen veg, although steamed [on hob in a steamer] finished up a bit soggy

But apart from a bit too soggy meal it was tasty, with a bit of LO mash & veg for another day

Farway

karcher wrote: »

Wow, that sounds perfect. You've got me craving fish, chips and mushy peas now

Do it, that was exactly I had for lunch out on Saturday, like Meg's it was a lovely change

Hollyharvey

karcher wrote: »

Wow, that sounds perfect. You've got me craving fish, chips and mushy peas now

Holly what did you have for your birthday lunch?:)

Chicken and mushroom pie, chips and peas. It was nice. We went to a pub in town that I haven't been in for a long while so it made a nice change.

karcher

Hollyharvey wrote: »

Chicken and mushroom pie, chips and peas. It was nice. We went to a pub in town that I haven't been in for a long while so it made a nice change.

Sounds good

I'm pleased you had a nice time.

Enjoy your cake :bdaycake:

caronc

kiss_me_now9 wrote: »

Hi all, just popping in. I live alone most of the time and am hoping you lovely lot can impart some wisdom - I am spending so much unnecessary money and wasting so much cash on food that I don't eat because I over buy :rolleyes: I have a freezer full of bits and bobs now that are all random 'parts' of meals and nothing that actually consists of a full meal... Because all my fresh stuff goes out too quickly!

Welcome to the thread:). I share your pain, I'm getting better at not over-buying but I don't quite have it sussed. What has helped was having a massive freezer re-organisation and listing everything. I both scared and embarassed myself:o

Hollyharvey wrote: »

I hope that it is fixed sooner rather than later for you. I really hate it when the broadband goes down. The phone I can live without .

PN - that's a pain:mad:. I was a bit like Holly hated it when the broadband went down but didn't care about my phone. However, my phone now also acts as my "alert" system if I have a bad fall or attack so I'm paranoid about making sure it is well-charged.:)

Meg- sounds like a good afternoon. I always think Wetherspoons is such good value. No it's not fine dining but the food tends to be very acceptable.

AndyCF - I've never bothered with the steam fresh bags. I either steam veg over a pan or nuke with a wee bit of water in a jug covered with a saucer

I don't mind living by myself but I do miss my interactions with colleagues. I've always been quite solitary so generally don't mind my own company. I don't have a massive circle of friends but thankfully those I have, have stayed the course since I became much more limited in what I can do. My kids are in regular contact and I speak to my Dad at least twice a day.:)

I've spent most of the afternoon on a "Project", my Dad is very hard to buy pressies for so I decided for Christmas I would make him a calendar with each month representing a meal that I would cook for him. I'm trying to have a different theme for each month and find a poem/song/saying to represent it. This is proving harder than I thought.......

Needless to say meal planning and jointing the chicken/making stock haven't happened though I did hoover earlier;)

ETA - sorry Holly missed you had also had a nice lunch, glad you enjoyed it.:D

Hollyharvey

Farway wrote: »

HH, Family History, I don't know if your area or you have U3A, or maybe Age Concern? Here they run Genealogy groups, in fact I am a volunteer at my local Age Concern one. And the way I run it is loads of interaction with other people, sometimes no family history is done at all, too busy chatting, and our one has blokes as well, so certainly not all about babies

Thanks for this Farway. I believe that there is a U3A someone I know was going to something they were holding last week, I think it was a talk on something, I'll have to google that in a minute.

The local Age Concern has had problems recently and nearly closed down, they may even have reverted to be an independent Age UK again. I know they ran out of funding and had to leave their premises. I think they are using an office in the local CCVS premises, I'll google that in a minute as well.