Cooking for one (Mark Three)

elona

Three dds came for lunch so I made a large steak and onion pie, actifry potato wedges and cabbage with apple and onion which they all seemed to enjoy. Gave middle dd half of the pie to take home for her and fiance so they had an easy meal. She reckons I have bought so much stuff it is a duty to help me out by taking some when offered like dish and laundry liquids, kitchen roll etc. I shared my theory that prices are going up and pack sizes are getting smaller so it was sensible to stock up when there was a good deal but I don't think she was convinced.

caronc

Good evening everyone,
That sounds like my kind of cooking whmf - bung it and take it from there:).
Glad the loaf worked for you Farway - yes I can see some added ginger working well.:)
With you on the cold mash PN, mind I just love mash in guise.;):D
SD loaf is shaped and in the fridge:), not sure it's my best effort as the "wonky donkey" is tapping but we'll see how it bakes tomorrow.
It was lovely and sunny for a couple of hours, my sis popped round and we sat in the garden with a cuppa enjoying the weather, however no gardening done as I've run out of sit down jobs to do and couldn't face standing to dead head the wall baskets so a task for another day.
Lunch was a large bowl of salad veg with the LO chicken/roast veg, very ripe avocado and ceasar dressing on top. It was scrummy . Freezer rake for dinner possibly involving beans, oven chips and something beige;).

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

With you on the cold mash PN, mind I just love mash in guise.;):D

I've always loved mash. School dinners, slightly lumpy, mash and home made mash which was a knob of marg, tiny splash of milk and then mashed down with a simple masher.

I don't bother with milk these days myself, just potato and a knob of butter.

When I've had mash "out", or seen it in supermarkets it's closer to wallpaper paste in my opinion and I really don't like that consistency.

I like a nice, simple, fairly dry textured mash, with texture. I use a fork to mash mine due to quantities involved being small.

One meal I've had in the past, made deliberately, and enjoyed thoroughly, was simply sliced carrots, sliced swede, a pile of mash and gravy!

It's up there in my "dream meals" list

PasturesNew

5:2 Diet.

I nodded off on the sofa, having set up iPlayer to watch something that caught my eye.... and when I woke up, as iPlayer was on auto play, it'd just kept playing random programmes after the one I'd chosen.

I woke up close to the end of some Horizon programme, where Michael Mosley was looking at ageing/diets and had gone to America and the programme I woke up to had him testing his blood levels for critical stuff, then he did a 3½ day fast and tested again. All his "bad readings" had dropped and he was impressed, but didn't think he could ever go through that again and the man in America said he'd have to do it once every 2 months for life to maintain those significant results.

So he tried other research/methods.

The next one he tried was Alternate Day Fasting (ADF). Eat 400-500 cals a day (women) or 500-600/day (men) one day - and the next day eat what you want. The scientist there had him fast one day - and the next they were pigging out in a Drive Through Burger place. He found this one more appealling than the 4-day fasts.

Then he wanted to explore more and tried the 5:2. He tested before and afterwards and found his important body readings had improved signficantly and he was probably avoiding becoming diabetic and other stuff (stuff that his father died of). Although he found this one harder (especially when with other people, e.g. on a walking holiday), he thinks the 5:2 Diet is probably his chosen way forward ... as he feels he has to do something as he doesn't want to die of what his dad died of.

I think I'll stick the 5:2 on my "might get round to that" list, as, having sat here for a year while I sell my house, I've definitely headed off along the route of scoffing far too much, too often (especially those sweeties). I wasn't cooking/eating properly as I always had an eye on "what if the phone rings and somebody wants to view" and the mess/mayhem that cooking/eating/washing up creates each time.

Back burner for that one.... but the idea's implanted. I thought Tue/Wed, or Wed/Thu for the "2" part might be doable at some point, to see. It'd certainly reduce the feeling that one has to perpetually be thinking of food/meals/cooking/eating.

Worth a watch if you're vaguely interested, or at a loose end: iPlayer
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01lxyzc/horizon-20122013-3-eat-fast-and-live-longer

Farway

5.2 diet thoughts. I have seen that programme, and it is a popular method of dieting because it is so structured and doesn't need a lot of planning or "faddy foods". Not for me but it really should be given my current weight:o

I like mash, is there anyone who doesn't? I hated Navy mash, it was powdered mainly and lumps were just dry powder not a bit of spud
PN, spuds mashed with forks in Chef speak are "Crushed" not mashed, helps to keep up the poncyness quotient & price

Last night's spud salad & LO lamb went well, I've still got some LO so that's today's dinner sorted

Breakfast porridge
Lunch, back to cheese sarnie

Had a shock yesterday, I opened a new pack of L's cheese, BBE mid Sept. It was as green as my face:mad:. I binned it.
I know I could've removed the green bits, but it was green furry all over so didn't fancy my chances, and CBA to take it back, not going in L's 'til Tuesday. Must've had a puncture in the packaging somewhere

Wednesday2000

I too love mash!:p

I had a sandwich for breakfast and I have leftover onion soup for lunch.

Wednesday2000

Weird, I thought today was Saturday!:eek:

I was telling my husband that he was wrong.:rotfl:

caronc

Good evening everyone,
My preference is for very smooth mash but no wallpaper paste please! I think getting a floury spud, letting it dry and not overworking it are essential. One of my favourite gadgets is my potato ricer, it helps make the "best" IMHO mash.:) I'm happy with lumpier mash as a topping on pies or in fishcakes etc. but while I thoroughly enjoy "crushed" new spuds they're definitely not what I call mash.;)
Today didn't start terribly well, I woke out just before 5am needing the loo and got out of bed to be bit by violent vertigo so staggered to the loo, took meds and headed back to bed as quickly as I could. Thankfully I fell back to sleep once the meds kicked in and when I woke just before 10am it had passed and felt much better:). I've been fine all day as long as I'm cautious in my movements and fingers crossed it's just the changing weather triggering it as we have another storm hit. It's very wet and windy tonight.

Sourdough loaf got baked and it looks just fine though I haven't cut it yet. I forgot to mention yesterday that I think my much-loved Kenwood Chef is dying. It's a 1960s/early 70s model that I bought second hand 11 years ago and certainly doesn't owe anyone anything. It is something I will replace but I'm mulling over buying another one the same or buying a new one. I can't justify use wise splurging on a Kitchen Aid or high spec Kenwood but a bit reluctant to replace with another A701A as the plastic bits on mine are getting very brittle with age which I suspect must be the same for all those still on the go.:think:
I've got a pot of tomato sauce simmering not for use tonight but really to replenish my freezer stash as I've run out. Only took 5 minutes to put together so an easy job to do.
Lunch was crackers with cheese & pickle, cucumber sticks, radishes & tomatoes. I've a gammon steak defrosted for tonight which I'm cooking with pineapple and having with courgettte wedges (there was a lovely looking round courgette ready), mushrooms, 1/2 a corn cob and a couple of roasted small new spuds.

Brambling

Evening all :wave:

I'm back home and [STRIKE]knac[/STRIKE] very tired . I left home 6am Friday and missed the worst of the traffic. Driving home tonight was a PITA queues to leave Dorset and the M27 has 15 miles of restrictions and issues at junction 2 due to diversions from the M271, i've never been so glad to see Pompey . I did wave Farway . There were 2 hours of show tunes on bbc Solent so I sang all along the motorway, Zip-a-Dee-doo-dah anyone, luckily no one else was in the car to deafen. :rotfl: it took me 2.5 hours to get home

No blood was shred and I've the same number of sisters as when we started and I was [STRIKE]very[/STRIKE] almost tactful but I've a sore tongue and lip from constantly biting them the emergency gin has been sampled. :cool:

I'm too tired to cook so after a quick cuddle with his lordship I've airfried some falafels from the freezer with a small spinach salad and a flat bread

Caronc I hope you're feeling better

PN a friend tried the 5:2 diet when he wrote the first book and said the 500 calories a day wasn't easy and although she initially lost weight found it difficult to keep up and through more about food than before. I think he changed it in a later book, something about 800 calories rings a bell.

Farway

Brambling, thanks for the wave, good job it was yesterday, I see this morning there are goats blocking the road, not kidding:D

I also think the 5.2 went to 800, which makes it far easier to stick to, as long as a syrup cake is not lurking in the kitchen

Up later this morning, don't know if the weather is affecting me, it's quite close & dull, doesn't matter too much as apart from changing the bedding I've nothing else exciting planned for the day

Usual porridge breakfast

I've popped a ready mix sun dried tom & Parmesan loaf in the Panny, smelling nice. It was getting close to use by date, and the yeast could lose it's oomph if left too long

I'll use the new loaf for lunch, probably cheese & salady sarnie

Dinner is use up & CBA time. Back to toasted stale bread, cheesy beans + couple of fried eggs on top

I had a couple of slices last night, but with strawberry jam on. Not part of any diet I can think of