Cooking for one (Mark Three)

moneyistooshorttomention

I've done savoury bread and butter pudding before now back along. It used to be a bit of a "staple" for me I recall.

Anyways - lunch today was a lentil and carrot soup recipe (based on a 1970s one - so the writer used butter to saute onion and garlic to start with). I've duly updated that and done it the WFPB (Whole Food Plant Based) way and used a couple of tablespoons of vegetable stock to do the sauteing in instead.

Courtesy of the fresh lemon juice in it (as per the recipe) it was nice. Toast with it.

Saw an article in yesterdays papers saying that all the "best" chefs have a particular ingredient they add for maximum flavour. The ones they used that I figure I can use too are wine vinegar, cider vinegar, worcester sauce (fish free version in my case).

I guess my own "special ingredient" is = you name it and I'll stick some fresh lemon juice in it. Though, once the diet is over, I'll use the 1960s standby of yeast extract or the 21st century standby of miso (not at the moment - as they both "count" as Syns on the diet - if not many...).

Has anyone else got any "special ingredients" they lob into things a lot for flavour? Yep...that could include what one chef does - you name it and he lobs in a spoon of mayonnaise:rotfl:

Farway

Bit of a surprise, yesterday's dinner, using FB chicken & mushroom pie, was extremely tasty. I was expecting a big let down. Good job the C & M pie is nice, I've another one lurking in the pantry:D

Sun's out, & quite hot, maybe the last of my figs will ripen after all

Into L's, nothing tempting, just bought mundane stuff, like tomatoes, cheese etc, but somehow found choc spread in my basket at checkout:o
In the queue was a bloke who had "leaving do", he was buying fresh doughnuts, as you do. From ensuing general discussion amongst the queue it seems L fresh doughnuts are excellent.
Next time I'm in I'm after the one with choc swirls on the top, highly recommended by all

Usual volunteering cuppa & biscuit

Lunch was PB baguette, with cheese + salad.
Discovered I've run out of olive oil, curses, I was in L's earlier. First world problem, now down to cold pressed virgin rape seed oil;)

Dinner, thinking of using the last rump steak, with salad + LO cold "new" spuds in mayo, if I chuck some fresh chives in them I'll call it spud salad

Quite looking forward to cheese + tom sandwich pie, or a variant thereof now. I even bought extra eggs in L's in readiness

Money, an ingredient I saw used by a top chef on TV was tomato ketchup, right out of the bottle

flubberyzing wrote: »

I took my list, and stuck firmly too it! The bulk of my spend though, was a new gadget to stick in the lighter on my car, so that I can charge my phone while driving. The previous one came from a pound shop, but it did last a year. I use my phone as a sat-nav a lot for work, which drains the battery quickly, so I need a way to charge on the go.

I've got one of those, for same purpose, but find on a long journey the sat nav part uses more power than is going in. My next thought is one of those Power Bank whatsits, to give quick boost just in case sat nav conks at critical moment

Brambling

:wave: hi from sunny Cornwall still catching up so hope all ok with you

Not too bad a journey today 100 miles and took just over two and a qtr hours, the trip down to Dorset on Sunday was very wet for the last hour and 8 miles from my destination a lorry flipped a stone up and I watched the crack work it's way across my windscreen not how I wanted to start my holiday :cool: unhelpful call centre handler £60 excess and a wait until yesterday for a new windscreen. Still I managed to catch up with some family

Not CFO this week, sitting waiting for my sister to cook dinner as I drove the smell of roast chicken and roasting vegetables is floating out to the balcony as I slip a glass of red looking out to sea it's a hard life! She was once a professional cook we left her husband and dog behind so we plan to enjoy one of our favourite places doing our own thing

caronc

Good evening everyone,

Late on parade today as the sun was shining so I've spent most of it outdoors.
:wave:Brambling - enjoy being cooked for.:D
Happy dancing MTSTM:D
Enjoy your night out flubberyzing - a tenner sounds more than worth it for a good evening with friends:D

Sounds as though various forms of savoury bread pudding might be appearing in CFO-land:rotfl:. I had some for lunch day, warmed up with beetroot & gherkins. It was delicious. My Dad has "liberated" a portion, when he found out I made some his eyes lit up so it would have been cruel not to share;).
Despite the expense of running one, I really miss the freedom driving/having a car gives you, worth the cost I think.
I have a few "go to" ingredients depending on what I'm making namely bayleaf, paprika, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and mushroom ketchup. One or a few of these get added to a lot of things I make:).
I got quite a bit of clearing/tidying done in the garden and started potting up the winter pansies. Sixteen wall baskets and some add-ins to a tub with ivy, laurel and cyclamen in it and 67 pansies have been planted, just 52 left to pot up now:eek:. Consequently I'm shattered and bit unsteady on my feet so dinner is going to be an easy one from the freezer of either scampi or breaded haddock, HM wedges, peas and probably spinach or kale.

PasturesNew

Yesterday I ended up pushing the boat out.
I had two hot sausage rolls after the house photos had been taken, but, later, having followed a 2 day long Facebook discussion about what's a good local indian ... I ended up ordering one ... and finding it was better than the others I'd tried before.

So I scoffed more than usual.

Ordered: 1 biryani. Ate ALL the curry bit and half the rice, so I have a half rice in the fridge .... probably for today.

My boiler's flashing, just needs water, but I can't get the taps to turn - and I had a little man booked in for a service yesterday and he didn't turn up, so I've no water for washing up (or for having a bath!). Might try to get a neighbour in to do the tap thing later, but I either don't know, or don't like, most of them, so there's only one I "dare" wait for/ask.

caronc

Good morning everyone,

Glad you enjoyed your takeaway PN, hope you can get the boiler tap turned!
Back to gloomy & wet here. I need to do some errands so I hope not to get too soaked. It's not cold though so it might clear later. It's such a shame it is so cloudy as it is the local airshow today:(. In clear weather I can sit on my deck and catch most of the displays but I doubt I'll see anything today!

Farway

Hope you get the boiler tap turned PN, as an aside, you shouldn't be losing pressure, but because you are moving, who cares? BUT, the service may well pick up a leak.
Mine was the diaphragm, they perish / rot after a while

UP early, breakfast of porridge, banana, honey and new batch of HM yoghurt, which was runnier than expected, I may need to restart next batch with fresh from S/m

Then ta raa, [trumpet sounds] assembled a cheese & tom savoury B & B pudding, I added super cheffy ingredient of Marmite. The pud is in fridge, soaking up the eggy gunge before I cook it later today for my first outing into the world of savoury B & B puddings

Sun's out, but I stayed in because I was expecting a package and not sure if it needed signing for. It didn't, oh well

Lunch will be a Black Forest ham + salad bits sandwich

Because sun is out I may just mow the grass this afternoon, be it's first cut since spring and drought

Caron, hope your pansies turn out, whenever I've tried the overwinter ones they go straggly, and you catch air show for free

flubberyzing

Morning all.

Nice and sunny here! I was out early to the garden centre for my morning coffee and panini. Made the mistake of saying "medium" when asked what size drink I wanted (I wanted small!), so ended up paying 30p more and with an absolute BUCKET of coffee. Just about managed to finish it, but do find a large quantity of coffee in one go makes me feel a bit too full and sicky.
Did my usual thing afterwards of hitting up Waitrose with a £5 note in my pocket for a few weekend treats. Came away with a frozen pizza, a pack of Wispas and a chocolate mousse. Very naughty, but hey. Stopped at the cashpoint to withdraw my grocery money for the month ahead.

My evening out was good fun. 2 of the 3 in the household are veggie, so it was a mushroom and spinach omelette, and sweet potato fries. It was tasty but a small portion. Could have eaten twice as much! A bit peckish by the time I got home at 11pm, so had a wedge of cheese to tide me over 'til morning. I can see why they are all a slim family!

Not much going on round here today otherwise... I won't want lunch because I'm still full. I may have a mid-afternoon coffee, but otherwise it'll be pizza and a bit of veg later on!

I'm off to do a bit of online banking!

caronc

Farway wrote: »

Then ta raa, [trumpet sounds] assembled a cheese & tom savoury B & B pudding, I added super cheffy ingredient of Marmite. The pud is in fridge, soaking up the eggy gunge before I cook it later today for my first outing into the world of savoury B & B puddings


Caron, hope your pansies turn out, whenever I've tried the overwinter ones they go straggly, and you catch air show for free

Savoury B&B pud sounds goof Farway, hope you enjoy:)
I cut the pansies back usually around the end of November, seems to reduce straggling in the Spring.
Not a chance of seeing any of the displays as it's too murky, I think folk at the event might also be struggling as the cloud is really low:(.
Glad you enjoyed your night out flubberyzing despite short rations:).
I'm back from my errands somewhat damp around the edges, it's that soft rain/drizzle that doesn't feel like much but soaks you! Apart from a bin run I don't think I'll be venturing back out.
More savoury pud for lunch and tonight I think may well be a "here's one I made earlier" from the freezer. If not a pre-made I might roast a couple of chicken thighs. I'll have a freezer rake shortly and see what I fancy.:)

Farway

caronc wrote: »

Not a chance of seeing any of the displays as it's too murky, I think folk at the event might also be struggling as the cloud is really low:(.

Glorious here, DS & family are having day out on Brownsea Island at the moment, free Red Arrows courtesy of the Bournemouth airshow

Grass mown, great smell of cider as I mowed across the rotting / fermenting windfalls, no doubt the wasps will be wobbling around later:beer:

I noticed next doors Concorde pears are looking good, not ripe yet, they never pick them so I scrump them

Tested out the choc & hazelnut spread, yep it works for me:)