Cooking for one (Mark Three)

MrAPJI

Many thanks Brambling and Farway for the info with respect to the air fry. I'm keen to cut our electricity bill (cook by electric ) and I think this will help - also sounds a really convenient piece of equipment. I had a look on youtube and was flagged a really bizzare clip featuring Nadia Sawhala (sp) - made me smile though 

PasturesNew

Farway said:

 

Most mysterious, someone has recently listed my paternal grandfather & another has my mother. I've messaged & await responses

Always remember: 
1/ Some people haven't got a clue what they're doing and just add anybody/everybody, producing women 300 miles away that had babies when they were 3 all the way through to when they were still producing them aged 133.  
2/ Some people are just "nosey" (e.g. me) and will build trees around "anybody" - and it's possible they're doing their old mum's best friend's tree. 
3/ Some people are exploring ideas as they've not many clues, so will toss people into a tree as "maybe" so they don't forget them, later dismissing them as "no, wasn't that one". 

caronc

Good afternoon everyone, 
Another air fryer convert here, I wish I'd bought one ages okay. I mainly use mine as a mini oven to save putting the big oven on as I rarely fry. Tonight it's getting used to make crispy Korean-style chicken wings.
My elder so has had a mishap (behaving like a teenager!!) and has broken his ankle. Thankfully it's clean break so no pins or plates needed. He's learned the hard way that grown men don't "bounce" nearly as well as 15 year olds.....
Last night's curry worked really well and there are two portions spare for the freezer. I think lamb & spinach is my favourite curry combination. 
It's dry & sunny here today though chilly, I've decided to take down the baskets of toms on the deck and just ripen the fruit indoors. With colder weather due they won't do much more outdoors anyway.
Younger son is in charge of catering this evening - crispy chicken wings, spuds of some description, corn cobs , coleslaw and salad. Ham salad sarnie & fruit for lunch.

PasturesNew

Some things are just not worth buying, frozen.  "For a change", I picked up a cheapo Mr T frozen toad/hole (69p).... decided today to cook that, and serve with beans... and then I realised it's just something you either do without, or make your own.

It's frozen, so on goes the oven.  You stand there waiting for it to get up to heat for 10 minutes.  You feel you have to wait for this as it's a Yorkie and they work best in a hot oven.... so you can't just shove it into the cold oven and cook it longer.  So I waited... 10 minutes feels like an hour.  And in it goes.  40 minutes to cook. 

It takes 20 minutes to do from fresh if you make it yourself.  Oh well .... toad/hole and beans in about 20 minutes or so. 

The thing that puts me off "cooking", in the main, is that long wait + in my own home I "daren't" leave the kitchen while the oven's on, so I never bothered to use it.  The toaster oven's better as it works on a timer like a microwave, so, once done, it pings and turns off.  I don't like to walk away and leave it in case 1/ the oven sets itself alight behind the panels/spontaneous combustion of the unit. 2/ I forget.  As it is ... I'm sitting here desperately watching the time, as I can't "forget" - and it's a long way away (2 floors, 30 steps, two hallways, two firedoors).  

I don't want to be one of those people that puts food in the oven, forgets, goes out, leaves it on, whatever.... like so many others seem to do with regularity. 

15 minutes to go now ... so in 12 or so minutes I'll go down and nuke my beans. 

EDIT: Then it wasn't too great.  It was hard on the outside... mine is softer.  I actually like a whole Yorkie to be "soggy" on the bottom, with soft sides, which isn't the textbook cooking method.  It's a family thing, we all preferred it "soggy", although mum'd get annoyed if we used that word.  

Oh well.  It's eaten now.  Re-used the box as a "space holder", so that's two empties in situ now.  I'll get round to shopping at some point this week. Chips, burgers and fishcakes... like I've been saying for the last 10 days or so since space was assured ... and since I've been yearning for since last December.  I did have that box of 10 burgers the other week, they were fabulous.... but it was a fortuitous freezer aisle find as I think they were offloading the end of a batch at half price and then they replenished at full price.  

greenbee

PN - you can get ovens that you can set a timer on so they turn off when they're done. It might be an idea to research models of ovens that would be suitable for you as it seems a pity not to use it!

Brambling

Ouch for your son Caronc good that's it's a clean break 

Pottering day for me, probably a case of busy doing nothing 😁 I did make a tomato and vegetable soup for some lunches with a spinach and feta crustless quiche.  I took out a small gammon and a chicken breast roast from the freezer they were both in a foil tray and were YS from M&S.  I made the most of having the oven on 🙂 I planned to jacket a large potato and have half tonight and chip the other half tomorrow however it took too long to cook (I should have microwave it to start it off) it wasn't missed as well as broccoli and carrot I roasted parsnip, pattypan, chicory and red onion.  So large roast chicken dinner tonight and plenty of LO meat and veg for the week 

threepenny_bit

Farway - How I miss Wisley  Since we moved to Canada 17 years ago I have never been able to visit it again . but I will one day!! When we first married we lived in Richmond Upon Thames and then moved to Addlestone - spent a lot of time at Kew Gardens and then Wisley.
Hope you had a lovely day there

Farway

threepenny_bit said:

Farway - How I miss Wisley  Since we moved to Canada 17 years ago I have never been able to visit it again . but I will one day!! When we first married we lived in Richmond Upon Thames and then moved to Addlestone - spent a lot of time at Kew Gardens and then Wisley.
Hope you had a lovely day there

You wouldn't recognise Wisley now, it has changed such a lot, for the better I reckon, areas are more accessible, decent pathways for instance & they seem to have got right balance between enthusiastic gardeners and a day out with the family in pleasant surroundings with a bit of WOW thrown in

It was intended to go today, glad we changed it because it's dull with rain on the way

Yesterday's frozen pizza was a W8rose Essentials one. It was OK but not one I'd buy again, bit of an "odd" taste.

The way I'm feeling at the moment could be another frozen pizza tonight, or perhaps nuke a RM MFO Mac / cheese. I have two in the fridge from last delivery

Feeling very CBA for some reason, maybe it's the dull gloomy weather?

Lunch, has to be LO cold Toad IH, with brown sauce dippers

caronc

Good afternoon, 
I have two "wounded soldiers" now - my younger son has hurt his back probably muck shifting on Saturday but lugging a heavy footstool up several flights of stairs to his brother yesterday seems to have been the final straw! It's unusual to say the least that I'm the most mobile out of the three of us.  lol Consequently I ended up cooking dinner yesterday with my son shouting instructions to me from the sofa. Thankfully the wings were up to his usual excellent standard and we thoroughly enjoyed them. Not a meal for public viewing as hands are needed and they are in tossed in a spicy warm sweet and sour sauce!
Cold, wet and windy here today though it's supposed to dry up a bit later. The tom baskets didn't get taken down yesterday but I doubt it will happen today either.
Back to JO tonight with salmon fillets stuffed with prawns and topped with pancetta (though I'm using streaky bacon) cooked on a bed of spinach. We'll have it with baby spuds, broccoli and baby carrots. LO chicken wings, coleslaw , crackers and fruit for lunch.

PasturesNew

Had a midnight feast last night, cold can of creamed rice + a few spoons of cheapo jam.  It's the Mr T cheapo 20p cans, they're very nice, considerably thicker/more full than a lot of other cheap ranges.  Highly recommended for those who'd like to buy cheap/est but think "they're all so runny" so can't buy them. 

2 crumpets/marg for breakfast.
Beans on toast for lunch. 
Cheeky 1/3rd piece of cheesecake (the 65p ones).