Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Brambling

I've never managed to make as good pickled onions as my mum and for years would steal  liberate a jar in December, I remember as children being pressed gang into peeling pounds of shallots and hating it 😐  my mum was the generation who made jars of pickles, chutneys and jams and as kids we were often made to help so maybe that's why I rarely it now myself🤔 

caronc

Good morning everyone, 
Oh yes I remember peeling what seemed to be never ending shallots. I used to make quite a lot of preserves but generally cba these days, though I'm intending to pickle some whole cherry tomatoes and I make quite a bit of pesto. I wouldn't have bought beetroot to pickle but it seemed a shame not to when I had free stuff.
Tipping it down here and very gloomy.
Tesco are due here and then I'll see what the day brings.
Cheese & ham toastie I think for lunch and freezer raid for dinner.

Farway

Dull, bit damp but very mild

Into volunteer office first thing, bit of admin and took advantage by popping into Co-op, only YS was Greek style yoghurt which was handy 'cos I'm, nearly out

I have my Covid booster letter from NHS central, but checked with surgery on way home & they'll be organising it as well, so I'll leave ti to them & hopefully get the 'flu one sorted at same time

Brambling said:

The joy of CFO left overs of left overs 😁

I had a hygienist appointment this morning it's gone up a lot in 6 months 😐 my usual one is on maturity leave and I felt I was paying a lot to be tortured as the replacement was very heavy handed 😬 

Auto correct or is this an extra perk for older folk now ?

I confess I'm another lapsed pickler, gone are the days being up to armpits in beetroots with bowls full of peeled onions soaking in brine

I even kept the beetroot boiling water and made wine with it, turned into sort of sherry style

Meals today,

Lunch was cheese & sliced raw onion sarnie

Dinner, freezer clearance continues and could be a pizza

I stewed my apples yesterday so maybe a some of them if space later

justkeepswimmimg

Just dull here, Farway, not even damp, just non-weather…

Nice, productive wfh day. Did forget to go for my pre-booked swim though 🙄

Lunch was filled pasta, tuna, sweet corn and tomatoes. Made prawn saganaki tonight, served with toasted pitta and green veg, oh and a 🍷

Brambling

Farway said:

Auto correct or is this an extra perk for older folk now ?

Yep the joys of a tablet 😁 my council tax discount form said the easiest way to confirm my single occupancy status was by text and sending my reference and YES or NO which would of been fine except my predictive text hated the random set of letters and numbers it gave me as my reference 🙄

Im sitting with a G&T enjoying that Friday feeling, although I'm working from 7.30am tomorrow, I hope we will finish before 2pm 🤞 My quick task this afternoon turned out to be a lot more complicated than we thought and the more I investigated the more complicated it got 😬 so it was parked at 5.30pm and may require a team call on Monday to confirm I'm going in the right direction with it or you never know come Monday it may all fall into place in my head 🤔

lunch was a freezer surprise and not the ratatouille I expected but a very nice pasta sauce with tomato, veg, bacon and i think sausage served with pasta. I made tandoori chicken for dinner which worked well in the AF with jacket potato, HM coleslaw and salad - I'm wishing I defrosted two portions of chicken now 🙂 no left overs when you want them 😁

Farway

Sunshine to start the day, and mild, it's the right sort of golden Autumn day, except bit short on coloured leaves, still mainly green here

If the weather holds it's a bit of potting up later on, & check apple ripeness again, just in case

Yesterday while I was getting the car out a young fox just calmly strolled by, I was so surprised I just watched instead of trying to get a photo, and even more odd, a ginger cat calmly followed him / her as they mooched [not hunting] along the hedges.

Today's meals are very lazy CBA empty freezer space again

Sarnie lunchtime, probably cheese again

Dinner, frozen stab & ping MFO

I have some LO cold pizza should the need arise

caronc

Good morning everyone,
Still raining here though it's pretty mild. We didn't need to light the stove last night and the heating didn't trigger this morning.
Neither the pesto nor the pickled tomatoes got made yesterday but I did have a much more productive day overall so don't mind so much. I'll try and get at least one of them done today but my main focus over the next few days is to give the freezers a much needed sort out as the gremlins have jumbled them again! 
Usually on Fridays DS2 has a chippy and I please myself but as he's off out tonight I cooked last night and made Nigella's Fried Chicken Sandwich though I shallow fried then baked it. Oh my it was excellent and the recipe is for one.   Fried Chicken Sandwich | Nigella's Recipes | Nigella Lawson
Food today is tbc depending on what I unearth from the freezers lol. 

Brambling

recipe booked mark thanks Caronc 

Work overran so we didn't finish until 4pm it was due to technical issues, never good when the IT guy says no idea why this isn't working or how long to fix 🙄 it was one small bit but took 2 hours for before the It gave up. It was a shame as the weather was so nice to have to sit indoors 

I did go to the farm shop when I finished, the car was filled up and needed a run out somewhere further than 2 miles into town,  I knew the butcher counter would be close but was able to grab someF &V including Hampshire watercress, a small squash and some Jerusalem artichokes 

lunch didn't really happen as we worked through,  no one here to bring me a sandwich 😐 so I had some fruit and yogurt.  Dinner was another jacket potato (need to use up) and salad this time with prawn mayonnaise and some lovely peppery watercress 

caronc

Sounds like a bit of a trying work day Brambling <<hugs>>
170g basil leaves picked so another large batch of pesto made, I'll portion and freeze it tomorrow if I can find enough CFO/2 person sized tubs! I think I have another ice cube tray lurking somewhere.
Pickled three jars of yellow cherry tomatoes, nice and straightforward Nigel Slater recipe Pickled tomatoes recipe - BBC Food though I subbed it with distilled malt vinegar and white wine vinegar as I had those and thought the colour would be better with the yellow toms. Each jar contains around 20 toms so fairly CFO friendly. Just need to let them think for a couple of weeks and fingers crossed they taste good. 
Dinner was a portion of BNS & black bean chilli from the freezer with a toasted pitta bread.

justkeepswimmimg

Been a beautiful day here too, unfortunately I spent a lot of it having my hair done, more interesting than working though 🙃

Had brunch of scrambled eggs and mushrooms on toasted bagel before I went out. Dinner in front of Strictly tonight - gnocchi with bacon, broccoli and Stilton sauce.