Cooking for one (Mark Three)

caronc

Good evening everyone,
Glad your eyes are a bit better flubberyzing, hope they continue to improve before your trip:).
Good plant rescue Farway it's amazing what a bit of a soak can do for flagging plants. My lavetera which I bought and planted last year which grew but didn't flower have come through the winter okay so fingers crossed there will be blooms this year.
Result on the sausage roll front PN - do you think they're the usual size or is the pack weight the same? Either way having one extra feels like a bonus:cool:.
Sounds like a productive day elona, don't know about you but after having the family here lots in recent weeks I'm quite enjoying it just being me again.
I got a bit but not a huge amount done in the garden. It was bl00dy freezing and my back was protesting so I abandoned ship after about 1/2 an hour. I had hoped it might warm up a bit late afternoon but it didn't. Still it's progress albeit slowly.

My open razor arrived and once I worked out how to put the blade in (thanks You Tube:D) it will be just the thing for slashing the top of dough. It is pretty lethal though but thankfully I managed to get it operational without any mishaps though it was a close shave:rotfl::rotfl:getting the razor blade out of it's wrapper:eek:. Definitely not the sort of of thing I'd want in a drawer if kids were about!! It does fold up on itself like a penknife though so no risk of accidently catching yourself on it.

I've been wanting for some time to get a shelving unit to put inside one of my tall narrow kitchen cupboards which I'm not getting most use out of. I think I've found what I'm looking for in IKEA so will mull over and probably order it tomorrow once I've checked for a few other things they might have as the delivery charge is quite high.

Instead of my usual chicken & veg traybake dinner tonight is a chicken, veg & butterbean stew which I'm fond of but haven't made for ages. There will be sauce/veg left which I'll either use up over the next couple of days, freeze or turn into soup depending on how much LO.

caronc

Brambling wrote: »

It's definitely worth buying better quality meat, I was hoping to pick up some venison in the farmers market as they will soon stop shooting until Autumn but just missed him I think the weather meant they were all packing up early, it's local wild deer and not farmed

Oh yum - hope you can get some before the season ends.:)

Brambling

caronc wrote: »

Oh yum - hope you can get some before the season ends.:)

I may have missed the venison but I did get to taste the local gin, don't think it was free range :rotfl: but as my sister doesn't like gin :huh: I got to drink hers too

Fire_Fox

Blimey, we ALL seem to have fish on the brain now! I did not know there is a Quorn 'fish' fillet Wednesday2000.

caronc wrote: »

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.:)

Thanks. :beer:

I only really like white fish battered or 'lightly dusted'. I don't know if I have tried Alaskan pollock or whether I liked it, but would certainly be willing to try it (again?).

Had a quick shufti on the supermarket websites for 'lightly dusted' white fish alternatives. Even the Asda 'supercentre' only has basa, Morries only have whitebait, Aldi and Tescon have yellow fin sole, some Lidl stores have lightly dusted plaice, river cobbler and yellow fin sole.

I have tried 'lightly dusted' white fish from either Lidl or Aldi, but cannot recall which store nor which species! :doh: Will check in both stores plus Farmfoods for 'lightly dusted' fish, and for battered pollock.

Farway wrote: »

Fire Fox, sounds like your preferred food options are similar to mine, but even so a bargain pack of bacon or chicken ping meal may arrive on my table, guess I'm fairly fortunate around here there are plenty of high welfare food options, even if I don't always use them.

Exactly so. I could not pass up the recent 84p YS whole chicken, but felt rather guilty when I was skinning and trimming it.

Farway wrote: »

The salmon & beef had defrosted by lunchtime, so I got on and made my beef stew in the cast iron pot, currently on low in the oven.
Fire Fox on ethical food front, this beef was New Forest free range, walking around with the ponies all it's life. The meat does look gorgeous.
I'll turn it off later & leave overnight to mature then reheat with dumplings for Sunday dinner.

Green with envy now! :mad:

Wednesday2000

I had a peanut butter, banana, cocoa powder and milk smoothie for breakfast. Tastes just like a chocolate milkshake.:D

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Blimey, we ALL seem to have fish on the brain now! I did not know there is a Quorn 'fish' fillet Wednesday2000.

Yes, it's new. I saw a woman on YouTube going to an event led by Quorn a while back and they had samples there so I was on the lookout for when it came out in the supermarket.:)

Farway

Nice & sunny but still cold, I hope to do a spot of gardening later once sun gets going. Goose-grass is creeping in:(

Porridge breakfast again

The beef stew is cooked so only needs heating. I was going to use my own dumpling mix but found a pack of ready mix BBE May so I'll use that PDQ for today

Lunch???? maybe grilled cheese on toast?

The rhubarb crumble turned out fine, not one of my best but still nice. Odd, nothing much changed, same old same old method, except I used 100% Demerara sugar this time, thinking I'd go upmarket,:o normally I mix 50/50 white

elona

Farway

I am just thinking about making porridge for breakfast too. I slept in till nine and feel better for it. I defrosted a couple of beefburgers and some steak last night so if I nip out later for a couple of rolls that will sort out a couple of lunches as a salad burger bun. I also need a small loaf but am trying to stop just buying stuff and manage on what I have .

I have some nice mushrooms that need using so might use the steak with some onions and the mushrooms in the pressure king pro with a little stock and that would make two meals.

It seems strange not to be cooking for family (ranging from one, two or six extra) on a weekend but quite nice to just laze around for a bit and then please myself.

caronc

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I only really like white fish battered or 'lightly dusted'. I don't know if I have tried Alaskan pollock or whether I liked it, but would certainly be willing to try it (again?).

It's used quite a bit in premade fishcakes, pies etc. so you probably have. "Lightly dusted" is easy to do at home just dip in milk and then seasoned flour. You can then fry or spray/brush with oil and bake.:)


Good afternoon everyone,

Dry but still cold here though there are some clouds gathering. Hopefully it will be just a shower and I can get some more done outdoors this afternoon.
Asparagus, bacon and poached egg on toasted sourdough for lunch:) and I've belly pork slices defrosted for tonight though I have yet to decide what to marinate them in. I'm swithering between soy, garlic, ginger, chilli & honey or Greek-style with lemon, garlic and oregano. There is quite a bit of the veg/bean mix left from yesterday's stew but I probably won't do anything with that today.

PasturesNew

I was in half a mind to go out car booting, although I don't need/want anything one is often told you should "go out".... so, just in case, I made up two rounds of sandwiches and the last of the rolls. Cheese/tomato, egg/cucumber, cheese/pickle. I wrapped those and put them in the fridge. That way, if I go out I've food to grab and take; if I don't go out I've got lunch sorted

I decided instead to nail a shortlist of "next house I'd like" in order to think about arranging viewings. So hard. How do you decide between "a really really nice looking place, that's got most of what I want, but in the wrong road" -v- "nice looking place but doesn't meet the minimum criteria, but is in the right area"? I think I'll end up binning all the "nice looking places" - and settle for "tatty/grubby, but it's in the right area and has a garage"

Shortlist is down to about 30, spread over 20+ miles.

Or should I change counties?

Wednesday2000

It is still quite chilly again today! It seemed nicer this morning. I'm going to have to wear a cardigan over my jumper when I go out.

I'm going to have jacket potato with baked beans and salad when I get in. I was going to have a salad but I want something warm.