Cooking for one (Mark Three)

caronc

Good morning everyone,

Hope your handyman shows up PN
MTSTM - did you try the dress with the shoes etc. you were thinking of wearing. Sometimes helps if you're undecided.
Dry but gloomy here this morning I hope the rain stays off as I would like to get some more deadheaing done.
Usual toast for breakfast with a load of home grown tomatoes. They were so tasty:). I'm undecided about food for the rest of the day at the moment.

caronc

Meal plan for the next week, reflecting the somewhat mixed weather forecast and ongoing wonkiness :-

• Jerk spiced chicken thighs, roasted veg (sweet potato, courgette, mushroom, peppers, onion, tomato)
• Steak, peppercorn sauce, roasted veg
• Mince & tatties, garden veg
• Salmon, new potatoes, garden veg
• Chicken & chorizo, rice, garden veg
• Stuffed pasta & pesto
• Chicken & haggis pie, wedges, garden veg

Lunches will be the usual mix of LOs, salad, sarnies etc. apart from Thursday when I'm making Salad Nicoise for my Dad coming for lunch.:)

Farway

More scorchio here


Up earlyish, wanted to get to town before the crowds did

Usual porridge, banana, honey & HM yoghurt breakfast

Then into town in newly taxed & MOTd car, wish someone would clean it, there are hand wash places around her, but CBA to go and get it done

Reason for town was Iceland have salmon fillets on offer this week, having missed the beef offer, and needing to top up with salmon, today seemed a good day to do it, get in before it's gone. I bought two packs, 4 in a pack, £6 each

I also heard Wilko had reduced the garden stuff like seeds, and wanted to see what there was, as usual our Wilko is not yet reducing theirs:(, give it a week or so I guess

I did find a family size YS bacon & cheese quiche in Asda, dinner sorted

Lunch was Black Forest ham + salad bits sarnie

Picked more blackberries before they go manky, plus a couple more windfalls, I've stewed them up and will probably freeze them because I've still got some of the big crumble left.


I think dinner will be some of the YS quiche, with salad stuff, and maybe a few sneaky chips?


Should I be starving later there is B & A crumble + yoghurt beckoning every time I open the fridge

caronc

Good evening everyone,
The sun actually came out this afternoon and it was pleasantly warm (20C ish):D. I got a bit done outside, not as much as I would have liked as I'm still fairly wonky but as the advert says "every little helps" .
I'm fighting a losing battle against caterpillars though - I don't think I have ever had this many:mad:, the drawback I suppose to having a bee/butterfly friendly garden and not using pesticides. There are limits to how many you can squish but I had a good go.:cool: Suffice to say the chard etc. will be getting a good soak in salted water before I use it!

The warmish & wet weather has sent my courgettes into overdrive and I now have 6 medium sized ones to use up. :eek: I'll roast 2 or 3 tonight and might make some courgette bread or slice (like a crustless quiche) for lunches during the week. I've a few runner beans nearly ready and what looks like lots more french beans coming. My broad beans haven't been fab this year so I doubt I'll get a surplus to freeze. The first few brambles are also ready to be picked, a job for tomorrow as I only just noticed them and it's very midgie down the bottom of the garden now so I'm not venturing forth.
Lunch was a pitta stuffed with the remains of the lamb and salad, Dinner tonight is jerk spiced chicken & roast veg. I'll make a big tray of veg, have some tonight & tomorrow and probably freeze the rest.

Brambling

Courgettes the gift that keeps on giving :rotfl:

I was given a recipe from a work colleague I haven't tried yet but she recommended it's a Hugh FW River Cottage one for courgette and rice filo pie

Too hot for me today so an indoor pottering type of day, the front in the morning and the back this afternoon trying to avoid the sun

Lunch was a hot salad with new potatoes and chicken livers. For dinner I copied Caroncs pasta dish but added crab and chilli I also roasted some fennel, asparagus and chicory to serve with it, not a good idea I'm now even sweatier than before :eek: sorry TMI :rotfl: now it's cooler I need to go through the fridge to ensure nothing has been pushed to the back or is lurking in the veg containers this time of year I have to think something other than soup to use up the odds and sods, if I can face the oven I may stuff some peppers with a rice veg mix tomorrow :think:

caronc

Oh thanks that pie sounds good, I have a couple of HFW books including the veg one so will have a look:D. No filo in at the moment but can add to my next order.
Chicken livers are so versatile and like most offal so cheap compared to lots of meat:D.

Pasta with crab sounds lovely - well worth being sweaty IMHO :rotfl:

caronc

Good morning everyone,

I've been awake since silly o'clock so feel as though it should be nearly lunch time!
It was bright and sunny but has clouded over a bit, as long as it stays dry I'll get some more done in the garden. I must remember to pick the ripe brambles.
Toast and tomatoes for breakfast, not sure about lunch yet. I've chicken LO from last night so might have that. Steak, peppercorn sauce and roast veg tonight.
My sister usually pops round on a Sunday on her way to the SM, if so I'll ask her to get me some filo so I can have a bash at the courgette & rice pie Brambling mentioned later in the week.

moneyistooshorttomention

Me - I'm still thinking that if ever caron wants to pop over to West Wales - I'll provide the ingredients (vegetarian ones admitted) and caron can do the cooking:D..

I'll be "under chef" and do the chopping....:)

- and, on that note, better head up the supermarket. Got my list sorted of ingredients to try out a few recipes in latest cookbook.

I'll have the latest "Girl Called Jack" cookbook turning up here finally later this month (ie "Cooking on a bootstrap"), though I've come to regard their recipes as more of a "guideline - rather than holy writ". For instance - I now always buy organic wherever it's available and I'll likely "add bits".

caronc

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:MTSTM, my son who used to be a chef lives in Cardiff will I send him round to yours?;)
With all the new recipes & cookbooks you're buying you eat far more adventurously than I do:).

PasturesNew

I'm forever clogged up with food that needs using up ... if I had no food I'd go out and buy entirely different food to what I've got here that needs using up... and it's that never-ending things that need using up that keep me in my rut.

I made a tuna/pasta salad yesterday - still some left, that needs using up. I'd bought tomatoes, had some of those with the salad yesterday, rest will need using up this week. Opened the jar of beetroot, luckily that keeps.... and I've still one of a 4-pack of onion bhajis I bought that needs using up ... oh - and the last of the cocktail sausages that need using up.

I've also two bread rolls ... that need using up.

So ... today ... it looks like food will have to come from the above. Can't buy anything new/different else that'd need using up.

Scorchio yesterday; scorchio today.