Cooking for one (Mark Three)

caronc

Good morning,
A heavy frost this morning but lovely to see some sunshine:), unfortunately it rained just before the temperature dipped so my garden is like an ice rink. My bin run will be waiting until I can be reasonably confident I won't go head over heels......
I had a much better sleep last night and feel much the better for it so fingers crossed the current wonkiness is easing:).
In true CFO mode I have leftovers from my leftovers as the combined veg bake mix and tinned toms made more than I expected so tonight instead of having salmon as per my plan I'm going to bake some pollock in what's left.
Soup for lunch with a crusty roll and some roasted chicken breast from the freezer. I didn't fancy breakfast again so nothing so far which must be good for my waistline if nothing else;)

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

In true CFO mode I have leftovers from my leftovers

This is something I try to combat by eating odd meals, or half meals, quite often.

Most leftovers suggestions involve adding more food to what you've got - creating another monster dish that has .... leftovers. Where possible I try to opt out of this circus by just eating what I've got...

It's not easy is it... and those who don't "live the life" can never understand how it actually all works out in the longer-term.

"I have a leftover potato, what to do?" ... recipes will tell you to add half a cauliflower, 200g carrots, an assortment of other things, make a sauce/gravy, put it all in a pastry case, bake ..... lovely pie ... yeah, "serves 6-8" now though

We've also fewer options on what to add as each ingredient needs to be measured against "if I use/open/buy that, will I then have that tin open or raw item sitting around needing to be used up".

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

This is something I try to combat by eating odd meals, or half meals, quite often.

Most leftovers suggestions involve adding more food to what you've got - creating another monster dish that has .... leftovers. Where possible I try to opt out of this circus by just eating what I've got...

It's not easy is it... and those who don't "live the life" can never understand how it actually all works out in the longer-term.

"I have a leftover potato, what to do?" ... recipes will tell you to add half a cauliflower, 200g carrots, an assortment of other things, make a sauce/gravy, put it all in a pastry case, bake ..... lovely pie ... yeah, "serves 6-8" now though

We've also fewer options on what to add as each ingredient needs to be measured against "if I use/open/buy that, will I then have that tin open or raw item sitting around needing to be used up".

So true - I was trying to be smart and use up some "not a meal in themselves" bits:o. Never mind at least they are tasty LOs:)

Irenadler

Hey all

Glad to read the poorly ones are feeling a bit better.

Sure I read somewhere about a health inspector for food hygiene was so put off food that they basically lived on oats, beans, and banana's/carrots.....:D Well, they survived, or should I say existed....

On the menu today:

Porridge and banana (I am half-way there on the food inspectors diet)
YS fish pie! Well, it tasted ok, with peas.
Soup and bread for tea.

Snacks: nuts, apple, slightly wizened YS orange....

Feeling slightly wizened myself today, not sleeping great with the hot sweats, guess I will just have to ride this out... Take care all!

Farway

Yesterday's jumbo fish fingers, plastic pellets and all, were very tasty, if not :money:, from W/r so will buy again, I'm have them on my Pick your own list anyway
The HM chips from sprouting spuds were OK but not as nice as I hoped, but served the purpose of getting rid of the spuds

Frosty but sunny start for the day
Into Lild, bought baking potatoes, on offer this week, as is the ready cooked lamb shank, even on offer that is 2.95, bought one of them because I'm worth it:). Plus YS snack sausage rolls, just because they were YS and I fancied a change

Lunch another crisp sarnie, followed by 4 of the snack rolls & piccalilli

Dinner, I'm in CFO quandary, was going to be gammon steak or bacon, mushrooms, eggs & chips. But now I'm out on Sunday and the piggy products are in packs that will leave uncooked portion stuck in the fridge not able to be used without a repeat meal until Monday at earliest, I have decided to bake one of the new baking pots, and maybe add a tin of the baked beans & sausages to it

[Deleted User]

I am glad to see that poorlies are almost better

Its a food frugal month for me, wanting to live off fridge/freezer contents so I don`t draw down new home savings to pay the three substantial bills this month. My fridge is almost empty but I still have enough veg for a few meals and enough nuts

veg soup and ham and piccallili sandwich at lunch, slice of apple cake

last meal was a nice form of ratatouille, tomato rich with a chunky piece of cod, fried in butter from frozen with the lid on. I have to be honest, I am not making ratatouille for next year nor am I freezing green beans, I had overkill. I much prefer fresh veg in season

I would like to find the frozen dahl that I saw in the freezer last week, I do like dahl with rice, a comfort bowl. Maybe I will make a soup with all my LO veg, it will ensure that the mix is spread evenly over three days, yes, I can do it tomorrow and work meals around that

Like farway, I have spuds just starting to sprout. I want wedges from them for next weekend when dd and 2 grandchildren are stopping the night. A great opportunity to get rid of them (the spuds). The parsnips are very successful part roasted and frozen, think I will do the same to the spuds tomorrow

moneyistooshorttomention

Well that's the last of the Cheese Mountain duly gone one way or another.

So - got out one of my new cookbooks - ie "The how not to die cookbook" by Michael Gregor (one of the new wave of Wholefood Plant Based Eating) and been picking out some recipes. Hopefully I'll be trying them out over the coming week. So I've got lined-up:

LIGHTER MEALS:
Summertime Oatmeal
Warm Pear Compote
French Toast with Berry Drizzle
Lemony Hummus - with crudites (must think of something like flatbread or crackers or summat to have with it)

MAIN MEALS:
Cauliflower steaks with chermoula sauce
Portobellos and greens on toast
Pesto Carrot Noodles with White Beans and Tomatoes
Roasted Vegetable Lasagne

So let's see how I do at that then in practice....

caronc

Good evening everyone,
Nice sounding dishes MTSTM:), I'm still working on my cheese mountain.....:cool:
Like you Kittie, January has been use it up time. I was determined to buy as little food as possible this monthly as I had loads in and also ended up (temporarily) paying a bill for my younger son so it does feel as though there has been more month than money. In fairness he usually very good with cash but moving into his new place meant he had an almost two month overlap in rent, Christmas, a replacement tyre that punctured beyond repair and then his TV died.:( He will pay me back though when he gets the deposit back from his old place so I don't mind helping out.:) I'm the opposite though and wish I had more of a freezer stash of homegrown veggies from the summer. I think I might aim for a bit more this summer as I think I scaled back too far this year.

I think I spoke to soon re the wonkiness easing as I ended up having a horizontal afternoon :mad:, still I'm used to it now so not stressing about it:).

The parsnip and chestnut soup was really good, one I think I'll be stashing for when I've folk round as it tasted quite "special" IFYSWIM:)

All being well my Dad is coming round for lunch tomorrow, we are having "haggis, neeps and tatties" the first of the 12 meals I promised to make for him as part of his Christmas gift this year:). He's not keeping fab just now so lunch time is better for him as he gets tired later on in the day. He's going into the hospital for some tests on Monday/Tuesday, unfortunately other tests are indicating that his prostate cancer (he's been clear for over 15 years) may have returned so hopefully these tests will confirm that (or hopefully rule it out) so he knows what he is dealing with. They did say if it has come back and not spread that in light of age (nearly 76) they might not need to do anything too drastic as it would be slower growing so easier to treat so here's hoping.

PasturesNew

Yesterday it ended up being one crumpet .... and then a pub meal of bangers/mash out on a "2 for £8" deal - they weren't anything special, but it was food I didn't have to cook.

I popped into L1dl and bought a pack of 4 muffins/30% off and a 4-pack of baked beans (94p).

Breakfast this morning has already been: 1 toasted muffin, beans, scrambled eggs, splash of brown sauce and a black coffee.

The other 3 muffins are .... sliced and in the freezer.

pineapple

I find I veer between total rubbish and ridiculously healthy. Like yesterday I ate a whole packet of sugary buttery granola (I just couldn't stop). I am keeping a food diary for a GP visit next week to investigate some digestive symptoms and it's going to be embarrassing
The good news is I started cutting back on alcohol at New Year and following a whole week without I've just lost the urge! One of my favourite wines was on offer yesterday so I bought a bottle - as you do. I poured a glass last night and didn't even finish it. Amazing. We'll see if this holds up when we get to G&T weather.