Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Farway

Brambling wrote: »

I watched the Countryfile weather for the week ahead Farway it looks like we're in for a battering this week

Seems so, I'll make the most of today then. Hoping to get photo of the moon tonight, cold & clear forecast. It looks nice outside at the moment

Porridge breakfast
Lunch probably warmed up LO salmon pasta. Mmmm, sounds tasty;)
Dinner, is use up & freezer clearance.
It's big pot of mash [use up spuds] & defrosting boil in bag kipper fillets. I will also nuke last of frozen peas to go with

Brambling wrote: »

I think cooking the lamb shanks in the oven was a mistake, they took longer than expected tonight I'm hoping it's them and not the oven. I threw in some pearl barley part way through and twenty minutes before the end there may have been dumplings added to the pot :whistle:

Hope it was the LS, wrong time of year for duff ovens, even CFO needs oven sometimes

Good call on the dumplings

caronc

Good morning everyone,

A very welcome change in the weather here - dry & sunny:) though it's very cold. The storm blew itself out in the early hours and seemed to go from fully raging to gone in a blink!
Pie and pudding was a success the pie got demolished but I have spare filling and pastry so will knock a CFO sized one up for the freezer.:D There's quite a bit of pud left even though my nephew managed two helpings! The recipe either made more than I remember or our pudding eating capacity has waned. My nephew is popping round later and will no doubt manage another helping while he's here.:cool:
There's some root veg mash left so I'll have that with bangers, sprouts and tenderstem broccoli for dinner tonight I think. I need to sort out a meal plan for the coming week but had held off until I saw what I had by way of LOs after yesterday.

Pastrami sarnie again for lunch and I'll portion and freeze what's left of the pack.

Wednesday2000

I feel like I have 101 things to do today. Two of the three deliveries have been delivered. I've called the council, the GP, the vet and the person who drives our dogs to the vet for us. I've ordered an Asda grocery delivery too.

I need to wait for this next delivery as it's meant to be before 1 pm and then go through my 2020 diary and write down all the important dates I need to remember.

I've had toast so far and lots of green tea. It's sunny but cold here today.:) I have the leftover HM soup for lunch.

Farway

The warmed up LO salmon pasta for lunch was as awful as it sounds:( I had to add goodly splosh of ketchup to improve it.

Somethings do not improve with maturing overnight


Boil in bag kippers defrosted, only have to peel & mash spuds and dinner's done

PasturesNew

Farway wrote: »

Somethings do not improve with maturing overnight

Contrary to what a lot of batch cookers, or "freeze the extra portion", or "eat the leftovers tomorrow" gangs will have you believe, very few foods do actually improve with time. Most leftovers degrade from being "a tasty little plate of food" down to "meh, just food, I'm only eating it to save waste"

unrecordings

PasturesNew wrote: »

Contrary to what a lot of batch cookers, or "freeze the extra portion", or "eat the leftovers tomorrow" gangs will have you believe, very few foods do actually improve with time. Most leftovers degrade from being "a tasty little plate of food" down to "meh, just food, I'm only eating it to save waste"

I'm testing that theory tonight, I've a Moo Pie to eat (use by tomorrow), so having that with mushy peas, oven chips & portion of LO mash which was Saturday's sausage & mash and yesterday's bubble & squeak. Tonight it gets turned into what outwardly will look like aloo chop except in harbouring a fiendish secret per the Goodness Gracious Me sketch. It can sit on the oven tray (*) with the pie.

* We tend to use a 4x Yorkshire Pudding tray to help identify the vegan/non vegan, and isolate spillages

Wednesday2000

I was thinking earlier how much nicer that leftover HM soup tasted after being in the fridge!:D

I am having veggie pulled pork with basmati rice, peas, corn, carrots and green beans later. I'm a bit hungry now so I will have a snack of something.

I've been drinking hot herbal tea all day but I still feel cold. I just got myself a hot water bottle to put on my lap.:)

caronc

Good evening everyone,
I think some things definitely do improve with a bit of maturing to let the favours mingle but pasta can get stodgy and dry. Chicken breast is another than I'm iffy about reheating not from any "H&S" concerns but the texture goes wooly. I mainly use thighs as I prefer the taste and texture and they reheat much better IMHO.
Apparently we've another storm coming in overnight called "Brendan", the forecat looks pretty foul for tomorrow and cold with it. It has been decidedly chilly here today and hasn't got any warmer as the wind builds up. It's turned quite gusty over the past hour or so.
My delayed parcel arrived:), I'll get it wrapped with the other bits I'm posting and sent on Wednesday. It's going to Greece via Cardiff so should arrive in plenty of time.
All bar two of the cards I need to post have been written and my nephew was popping them in the box on his way home. He was here for a couple of hours as I was helping him with his uni application, a large portion of pud & custard helped him focus! He's coming back a couple of times this week and hopefully we can get the guts of it done. It felt like a real de ja vue moment having been through the same with with both my boys.:cool:
Between card-writing and nephew coaching I haven't got much else done. Apart from some wrapping and card writing I've no plans for tomorrow so will go through the fridge then and meal plan from there. I enjoyed my pastrami sarnie again today and may have another for lunch tomorrow. There's still about half a pack left so plenty to freeze.
Quick change of mind for dinner as I cba cooking and with the LO root veg mash I'm having a portion of beef & mushroom stew from the freezer. I'll still cook some sprouts & tenderstem as it's only a small tub of stew and there's not as much of the root veg LO as I thought. Mid afternoon I had a small but very delicious pear, it was only a cheap one from the pack currently on SO in Tesco but it was lovely. I always find pears can be very hit or miss but struck lucky this time.:D I bought them with a view to to pickling them but may just eat them instead or might do a bit of both.

Wednesday2000

That veg pulled pork was a little odd, it tasted sweet, it must have been the BBQ sauce element. I won't be buying that again!:rotfl:

I'm just having a vodka with a lemon slice and ice.:cool:

Brambling

Some food does mature nicely in the fridge especially spicy food like curry and some foods benefit from being left so you can skim off the fat once cool. However I agree that CFO does mean we end up reheating food which taste wise is best not to, but as I've never learnt to cook without LOs (thanks mum) and I can't throw food away (again thanks mum :rotfl:) needs must and all that.

I had a good catch up with my sister today and although a bit chilly it was a nice dry day, I must remember to dig out my scarves as one would have been appreciated walking back from the station. Usual family drama which I'm trying to avoid it seems my eldest sister called the sister I was meeting to let off steam about another sister :cool: I'm not known for my tact and diplomacy so it's probably best I stay out of it although sometimes I'm dragged in as I will be brutally honest . Anyone want a sister I can offer a bogof deal :cool:

Lunch was a nice burger and chips although it did give me indigestion, well that could have been the free mince pie with our hot drinks :cool: there was still Christmas stalls so some free samples of cheeses etc although I didn't try the chocolate cheddar, cheese shouldn't be that shade of brown :eek: I can't remember the other two favours with the chocolate but they weren't very appealing even worst than the thought of the white Stilton with blueberries. The chocolate vodka was sampled and enjoyed :rotfl:

I cba to cook when I got home and wasn't that hungry but I did end up picking rubbish all evening instead of the HM veg soup in the fridge :cool: