Cooking for one (Mark Three)

moneyistooshorttomention

Interested to see what the recipe is for your spinach and egg curry Caron? I have just bought some spinach whilst at supermarket this morning.

EDIT; Cynics take on "You can tell when the weather is getting colder because.....". In this case - it was the meter reader coming round yesterday to check them out. This time I looked at him and said "....and I won't EVER have a smart meter. I've read about them. Do NOT want them". At which point he said "I've just been told to ask people about this - I'll put you down as a 'firm refusal' then shall I?". The response to that was to tell him I'd phrase it rather more strongly than that LOL.

PasturesNew

Hadn't bothered to read the pack instructions at all ... but I gave my curry a bit of a poke and thought "it's a bit dry" and added 1/3rd of a pouch of water.... then read the instructions. They had added 200grams of tomatoes, so that explains the dryness. I then remembered the final six wrinkly mini plum tomatoes that've been loitering in the fridge for 4+ weeks and decided I'd cut those up and add them too ....

Looks like a nice curry - licked the spoon after I'd given it a stir and added the tomatoes and it "tastes all right".

Packet also added an onion, but I have no onions else I would have just added one at the start by default. I put off buying onions as you've then got an entire bag to eat... er, or clutter up the freezer with for months

Farway

Now tempted by giant Yorkies.

Had a call, my ticker & blood MOT with nurse for this morning was cancelled, some emergency or other. That means my 'flu jab is also knocked back as both are done at same time, my choice
Had to see Doc for more tummy tablets and blood results. All well

In to L's after a very wet & stormy night, Branagh passing through. No damage sustained that I could see

Bought the cast iron pot on offer in L's, always fancied one and today seemed a good day. Now I can burn things the French way:D

Because the nurse MOT was cancelled my cunning plan of popping into the chippy afterwards failed, however I did go into Costcutter after I tried to collect my "not ready, come back later" prescription, YS pork pie scooped up, blood cholesterol report was fine, lower than average in fact, time to give it a boost;)

Lunch was some of the YS pork pie, with piccalilli
Dinner, has to be the YS pork pie, with frozen chips & salad

PasturesNew

Farway wrote: »

...Now I can burn things the French way...

Make sure you have a good range of scoops and dippers to get the food out. Once that pan's full of food you might not feel like lifting it off the stove, so will need to decant it by ladles.

PasturesNew

Curry verdict: Meh. Didn't have great hopes for it (I don't rate jars/etc as a rule), wasn't impressed by this one. It was a big brand name ... and it was supposed to be for lamb, not beef .... but ... pfft.

Another portion tomorrow.

SC pot is in soak .... I'm intending to make a pear cake/similar .... but I have to wash the pot out first, so that's reliant on me bothering Might do it tomorrow, see how things go.

Farway

PasturesNew wrote: »

SC pot is in soak .... I'm intending to make a pear cake/similar .... but I have to wash the pot out first, so that's reliant on me bothering Might do it tomorrow, see how things go.

How easy is pear cake / similar?

As you know I've some pears ready for doing something with, and cake sounds ideal, but is it bung in a mixer then bung in oven type or is it whisk eggs, cream this that & t'other type?


So far the ones I've looked at seem a right faff


The YS pork pie + salad + frozen chips for dinner was tasty, and is my style of cooking;)


I may have some cheese & sliced apple later

PasturesNew

Farway wrote: »

How easy is pear cake / similar?

As you know I've some pears ready for doing something with, and cake sounds ideal, but is it bung in a mixer then bung in oven type or is it whisk eggs, cream this that & t'other type?


So far the ones I've looked at seem a right faff


The YS pork pie + salad + frozen chips for dinner was tasty, and is my style of cooking;)


I may have some cheese & sliced apple later

Well, make any cake mix from any recipe you've got - and either chop the pears into it, or put them at the bottom (peeled/halved/cored) and pour the cake mix over the top. Bake as per the recipe you've followed.

For me ... I'm having a cupboard clearout, so it's a Mr T Basics pack of plain cake mix + a dented tin of pears I picked up at half price about a year ago. I bought the pears as they were cheap/fruit/tinned ... thinking "I can lob that in the SC with that cake mix".

I will either be making a layer of the pears, then making the cake mix and pouring it on top ... or I might combine the two first then tip into the SC. I then expect it to bake in under 2 hours on high.



Come on ... you didn't actually expect a "proper recipe with measurements" did you?

I have a full tin of pears which is "too many" for the cake mix (~260g from memory) I've got so I'll just be using about 2/3rds of the full tin of pears ... and scoffing the rest immediately from the tin with a spoon.

If I WERE to make up a cake by hand, from scratch, I'd just toss the margarine/flour into a bowl with an egg etc and "whisk" it by hand with the nearest fork until it's smooth ... cakes aren't hard. Just weigh out the basic ingredients and combine until it's a smooth/thick batter.

I COULD ... microwave my pears/cake and have it in a fraction of the time, but the SC is a little less faff than that, so wins. The main issue with a cake in the microwave is the size of these ingredients - I don't really have a dish that'd be "about right" for it, so I'd have ended up making 2-3 small ones, one after the other.... too faffy.

caronc

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Interested to see what the recipe is for your spinach and egg curry Caron? I have just bought some spinach whilst at supermarket this morning.

I'm not sure it could be quite classed as a recipe as it's more a bung it in (as is most of my cooking:rotfl:)
Soften a couple of sliced onions in a little oil
Add some grated root ginger, crushed garlic clove, 1/2tsp chilli flakes and a couple heaped teaspoons of curry powder (mine is "hot madras")
Stir for a few minutes
Add 1/2 tin chopped tomtoes or passatta plus 200ml water or stock
Add diced potato and/or brown lentils ( I use 1tbsp if using spuds and 3 if not)
Simmer until spuds/lentils are almost done adding more water if needed.
Add a good bit of spinach (if using frozen - defrost & drain) allow to cook in. add salt & pepper to taste

Serve with a softish boiled egg on top and pitta/naan if wanted. I like a dollop of yoghurt added and some mango chutney but it's good without those.
There are loads of recipes on line for various versions of this but the above works for me and is very forgiving re quantities/veg etc. added (cauliflower is good instead of potato):D

PasturesNew wrote: »

Well, make any cake mix from any recipe you've got - and either chop the pears into it, or put them at the bottom (peeled/halved/cored) and pour the cake mix over the top. Bake as per the recipe you've followed.

For me ... I'm having a cupboard clearout, so it's a Mr T Basics pack of plain cake mix + a dented tin of pears I picked up at half price about a year ago. I bought the pears as they were cheap/fruit/tinned ... thinking "I can lob that in the SC with that cake mix".

I will either be making a layer of the pears, then making the cake mix and pouring it on top ... or I might combine the two first then tip into the SC. I then expect it to bake in under 2 hours on high.



Come on ... you didn't actually expect a "proper recipe with measurements" did you?

I have a full tin of pears which is "too many" for the cake mix (~260g from memory) I've got so I'll just be using about 2/3rds of the full tin of pears ... and scoffing the rest immediately from the tin with a spoon.

If I WERE to make up a cake by hand, from scratch, I'd just toss the margarine/flour into a bowl with an egg etc and "whisk" it by hand with the nearest fork until it's smooth ... cakes aren't hard. Just weigh out the basic ingredients and combine until it's a smooth/thick batter.

I COULD ... microwave my pears/cake and have it in a fraction of the time, but the SC is a little less faff than that, so wins. The main issue with a cake in the microwave is the size of these ingredients - I don't really have a dish that'd be "about right" for it, so I'd have ended up making 2-3 small ones, one after the other.... too faffy.

Sounds very much like the pear version of eve's pudding my Mum used to make:)


After a large bowl of pea & ham soup for lunch I've decided that curry/more pulses/egg might not be a good option for my tummy tonight - suffice to say it has been windy enough here this week without me adding to it :rotfl:. I shall make one in the next few days.
I didn't get a huge amount done this afternoon as yesterday's garden exertions caught up with me as I thought they might. Dinner is going to be a favourite "bung it in the oven" of mine of jerk spiced chicken wings, sweet potato wedges, corn cobette and probably some runner beans.


I'm trying to justify to myself that investing in a pair of relatively expensive slipper boots is actually being quite :money::rotfl::rotfl:. Due to medication side effects I suffer horribly from cold/hands and feet in the cold weather (or roasting ones in warm!) and seemed to spend a lot of time last winter trying to make sure my feet were warm as it can get quite sore. I wouldn't blink at spending the amount or more on actual winter boots but I'm trying to reason that I'll get a few winters out of them (hopefully) and they might reduce the amount I turn on the heating in the colder weather. That's my argument and I'm sticking to it:rotfl:. The pair I have were cheap & cheerful and I've certainly got more than my money out of them and if I had to I'm sure they would last another season but I have them on now and my feet are still chilly and it's not even winter yet..... (I think I might just have persuaded myself they are a good buy but will ponder for 24 hours or so;))

caronc

I did manage to cobble together a loose meal plan for the next week so not a completely wasted afternoon:rotfl:

• Jerk chicken wings, corn cobette, sweet potato wedges and runner beans
• Steak dinner
• Chicken stuffed with haggis (already in the freezer) , mash (also in the freezer), savoy cabbage and broad beans
• Stuffed pasta with veg & tomato sauce
• Pollock with peppers, tomatoes & onions, baked spud or rice
• "Something on toast" as out early evening

I have a number of small kholrabi to use up so will use them to make remoulade or slaw for lunches plus the usual soup & sarnies.

PasturesNew

I only popped out for a loaf of 4ldi 36p bread. Empty shelf.

Grabbed a four pack of beans - they've gone up in price from 89p to 98p! That's a 10% price increase.

Then down to £land... perchance they're still open.. oh yes ... and home with a new bag of favourite choccies Already opened them.