Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Brambling

UncannyScot wrote: »

Hi Folks, just popping in

Been doing some home baking this week and done two Date and Walnut loaves so far...
Have a few more bakes to do though undecided as to what to tackle next

lemon drizzle cake is always a favourite

caronc

Brambling wrote: »

. I use my mandolin quite a bit but lost my guard for it years ago so have to be careful of fingers :rotfl:

Oh my you are a braver woman than I am:eek:

UncannyScot wrote: »

Hi Folks, just popping in

Been doing some home baking this week and done two Date and Walnut loaves so far...
Have a few more bakes to do though undecided as to what to tackle next

I'd second Brambling's suggestion of lemon drizzle


Faraway - yes very faffy but it's been on my must try for yonks spurred on by being given a starter and thoroughly enjoying te one my son's fiancee made. The baked loaf is looking fab though I've yet to slice it so fingers crossed.;) I've no excuse as I have the time especially as I'm paying £3.50 a go for one of a similiar size from the local bakery and this one cost me around 80p including electricty:eek:, it means I can spend my pennies there on some of their other offerings;).


I could make other HM breads but I find they don't keep long enough to make it worthwhile for CFO so they either go stale or I eat too much.I prefer to avoid freezing bread if I can though don't mind if it's just for a few days, however that's not an option at the moment as my freezers are [STRIKE]bulging:o[/STRIKE] pretty full. Sourdough keeps really well IMHO, fine fresh for 2-3 days and then for toasting until it's used up so pretty much compararable to a sliced bought one and most importantly of all I love the taste.



I managed to nip out between showers to post my letter. It was quite chilly out so when I came back I made a pot of root veg soup in the pressure cooker which has made a decent dent in the lurking veg mountain. I had some with my mini pork pie & coleslaw for lunch. While I was prepping veg I cooked the cauli for cauli cheese tonight with the gammon steak. It wasn't a big one but I'll still get two or so portions which I'll need to use up as the cheese sauce was previously frozen and has been defrosted on the counter rather than the fridge.

Just before 5pm the weather completely changed and the sun came out, I made the most of it and got a couple of hours of gardening done mainly sorting out pots and potting on some of my tomato plants. As we have cold temperatures forecast for later in the week I'm wary of planting any bedding plants out - thankfully the hanging baskets and hardened off plants are currently protected on the deck so should be fine. Hopefully this will be the last of the frosts until the Autumn as I need stuff to go into the garden so I can get plants in the conservatory hardened off.

Fire_Fox

Yesterday: Did a top-up shop including three tins of cannelini beans (offer), a kilo tub of full fat Greek yoghurt and YS organic kiwi fruits. Need to do another top-up shop tomorrow because I failed to get red onions or bell peppers.

Spent an entire hour skinning and trimming the YS whole chicken, then marinated it in a mild spice paste (yoghurt/ red onion/ ginger/ garlic/ turmeric/ curry powder), then pot roasted it in my fast-slow cooker. Came out watery and tasteless.

Had a YS lightly dusted basa fillet from the freezer with another variation on my Waldorf-ish salad (tenderstem broccoli/ celery heart/ green apple/ dried apricots/ flaked almonds). Can't believe I ploughed my way through all four M&S celery hearts bought before I joined the 'Cooking for One' thread ....

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Yesterday I bought four celery hearts (yellow sticker 24p!) and the outer sticks need to be prepped for the freezer, as well as the carrots bought last week. But the freezer needs relocating and defrosting.

.... :eek: OMG EXACTLY A MONTH AGO!! :eek:

Today: Had a bowl of curried vegetable soup lite with two hard boiled eggs and half an avocado, both of which narrowly avoided being reported as food waste. Other than that just eaten healthy-ish snacks, no cooking or meal prep.

Food waste: Two small chunks of cheeses (unsafe to eat).

Wednesday2000

I just had a lovely bath with ylang ylang and camomile oils.:happylove

Today is a protein day so I had carrot sticks with houmous and some cashew nuts. Delish.

Fire_Fox

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I have been considering defecting from Skyr back to my previous live yoghurt brand 'Pakeeza'. Excited to learn today that their sister brand 'Lancashire Farm' is now made with free-range milk. :j

Further to the above, I double-checked with the company (Pakeeza Dairies trading as LF) whether their' Pakeeza' brand plain yoghurt is also made with free-range milk. Posting the company's reply in case it helps anyone else in the future.

Thanks for asking the question! Sadly we can’t guarantee that any products not advertised as free range is made with free range milk. We segregate and prioritise the free range milk for Lancashire Farm. After that is used, anything that is left may be used in other products, but we couldn’t definitively tell you.

LF only comes in 1kg tubs, so I bought the Lancs. Farms Greek-style yoghurt to see if 10% fat will help it survive freezing and thawing, as it helps yoghurt survive cooking or heating.

Farway wrote: »

Have you considered making your own yoghurt? I've been doing this for over a year now, I asked for one of these one Christmas and have never looked back
The best part is you can choose whatever culture you want as a starter, my present one makes thick & creamy but not too "sharp"
I did use organic milk to start with but have since gone onto UHT full fat for convenience

Thank you for the idea. At the moment I have more kitchenalia than cupboard space. However I have 'bookmarked' a couple of those gadgets that can also strain yoghurt/ fresh cheese on Amazon. Also made a note to check whether my Lidl or Aldi sell organic, free range, or higher welfare milk.

Wednesday2000

I heated up some leftover rice and lentils and had it with broccoli, brussels sprouts, hot sauce and tamari and sliced half an avocado on top. It was very filling, I couldn't eat it all so popped it in the fridge.

Farway

Last night's corned beef hash was just what I needed, complete with burnt bits:j
Usual breakfast then into town for stock up & mooch

Nothing exciting, YS not too bashed or squidgy bananas in A&da, plus YS Lavatera at death's door for 10p in Wilko, if it survives it'll go in my volunteer border, currently on life support in a bucket of water;)

Lunch was corned beef & piccalilli sarnie
Dinner, I'm getting a build up of stale bread so cheesy beans on toast is very likely



Nearly did some gardening, but rain started to kibosh that idea, it'll wait, only a bit of trimming round the apple tree


Fire Fox, I'm guessing from your posts you prefer organic / high welfare food?
I can confirm Lidl do have organic milk, and free range eggs just in case you eat them
However are you aware of "basa" / "river cobbler"AKA Vietnamese catfish origins & production?

Nothing high welfare there
Not trying to preach, everyone to their own, just not for me

PasturesNew

Farway wrote: »

Last night's corned beef hash was just what I needed

I've been eyeing up my can of corned beef for the last couple of weeks.... what I SHOULD do is use up those spuds that are starting to sprout ... that'd sort it out. Might do that.... tomorrow....

Yesterday I had a portion of the chilli and spaghetti twice, second time was with grated cheese on top. Was never a fan of spaghetti, but it's a great CBA item as it's so easy to cook.

Today for breakfast I had a bread roll filled with scrambled egg and brown sauce. I've had the last of the cheese topped rolls filled with cherry tomatoes + 4 chocolate biscuits + 2 egg custard tarts.

I did get a small dish out, to make some rice to go with the final chilli portion, but then I put the dish away again as I CBA.

Fire_Fox

Farway wrote: »

Fire Fox, I'm guessing from your posts you prefer organic / high welfare food?
I can confirm Lidl do have organic milk, and free range eggs just in case you eat them
However are you aware of "basa" / "river cobbler" AKA Vietnamese catfish origins & production?

Nothing high welfare there
Not trying to preach, everyone to their own, just not for me

Does not come over as preaching at all, just informative. :A

Ideally I would buy and eat only higher welfare dairy/ eggs/ meat/ seafood; for the animals, for a fair price to the farmer or producer and for health benefits to me. However living in a very deprived city substantially reduces the range of high welfare products available. And, although I am not skint anymore, some of the branded products I can get hold of are eyewateringly expensive!

Most of the time I get: organic eggs (Lidl and Aldi), organic butter (not at Lidl or Aldi!), various PDO/ DOP traditional European cheeses and Parma ham (pastured/ free range), outdoor-bred or outdoor-reared pork products (sausages/ bacon/ cooked ham), free-range or Halal chicken, some wild-caught fish.

BUT I have some intensively-farmed eggs/ cheese/ meat in some ready meals or takeaways, plus quite a bit of yellow sticker intensively-farmed fish. I am maybe halfway to where I would like to be.

So it is a real patchwork and is well overdue for an 'audit'. It is somewhere between a year and two years since I did a comprehensive review of what is available at my regular rotation of grocery shops! :eek: Your comment and any others are appreciated: at the very least I want to be making informed decisions.

caronc

Good evening everyone,

Fire Fox have you ever tried Alaskan pollock? It's my "go to" cheap white fish quite often sold frozen in SMs as "white fillet" for around £2 for 500g so worth checking the label to see if that's what it is. Taste is pretty similiar to cod although it is slightly greyer in colour. It's wild fished so none of the issues that there are around Basa, which like Farway I try to avoid, and is generally regarded as a good sustainable option. Tesco (so others) also sell a chilled breaded version which is £2.39 for 600g which I like.:)


I think I'm quietly falling to bits, must have pulled a muscle pot shifting yesterday and my lower back is very painful, I have a blocked tear duct so my eye is all swollen, my balance went awol while I was washing my hair and the icing on the cake was getting a horrible deep splinter! Think I've failed my MOT!!;) Consequently I have had a fairly gentle day though trying to keep moving so I don't seize up. I did manage to change my bed and also had a lovely hour (seated) in the garden potting on tomatoes. I seem to have 46 plants which is less than previous years so hopefully I'll get a good crop. As it's such a short season here I grow more plants than you might further south to try and get a comparable crop. Around a dozen will be grown in baskets/pots on my deck and the rest in the green house. Nearly all of the veg seeds I sowed around 10 days ago have sprouted, the climbing beans and broad beans are lagging but finally showing some signs of life.:)


Sourdough was sliced and I'm really pleased with taste and texture:D, I had a slice buttered for breakfast with some cherry tomatoes and another slice as an open sandwich with fish sticks & salad and a mug of HM soup for lunch. I do need to work on my slicing skills though as it has a proper chewy crust on it which I finding difficult to slice evenly:o. For dinner I'm having something I don't think I've had since I was growing up - cauli cheese, chips and peas though with oven chips rather than the deep fried ones my Mum made, a splash of HP will finish it nicely.:)