Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Wednesday2000

I've never heard of Smedley before! Maybe I'm too young.;)

I had a GP appointment this morning which they had to cancel so I have to see the nurse at a later time instead. It's annoying as my husband starts nights tonight so I could have done with more sleep.

I can't go back to bed now as I put some conditioner on my hair and there isn't really enough time between now and the appointment to have a shower, dry my hair and then go back to bed.

*Sigh*

Anyway, I had cereal for breakfast and will have a yoghurt before I go out.

AndyCF

PasturesNew wrote: »

Go for it, just expect a pop or two.

That was kind of my plan really same as regular oven chips, a minute or two then a shake/turn over (chips turn over, veg I'd shake with the lid on) then repeat until done.

PasturesNew wrote: »

I zap on lower power in 2-3 blasts, until I can tell they're hot, to try to minimise the splattered mess I'd get if I just turned it on and turned the dial round and walked off.

I do my usual thing when trying new ideas out "if in any doubt, give it some more" , figuring here its quite difficult to make yourself bad with overcooked rather than undercooked. A serious concern for me with not having a brill stomach anyway.

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

I've never heard of Smedley before! Maybe I'm too young.;)

Its been a long time since I saw them, and it is possible it may be my mind playing tricks and it was only on TV etc, I can't be sure other than it would of been 20+ yrs I suspect, hence the pic as I was taken aback a bit. To be honest if they were a regular appearance like other brands I may of not bothered buying them.

Research did not turn up anything really anyway food-wise, aside from some people on about tinned sausage rolls ( ! ) something I appear to have missed out on. If that was a good or bad thing I am not sure however the 'memories' of it seemed generally positive.

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

Anyway, I had cereal for breakfast and will have a yoghurt before I go out.

I sometimes have dry cereal just in a bowl, quite happy with it like that! Obviously flakes or similar type. Its either that or a plain biscuit or two (rich tea or morning coffee type) , struggle to want to eat much early anyway.

Farway

More memory lane today, PN cheese triangles, I've loved them from way back even though never buy them now
Caron, fried tinned luncheon meat, I used to love that, and we always took loads of "stuff" with us, there were never any shops near holiday caravans, except the rip off "camp shop"


And mention of pork luncheon luncheon meat sarnies sent me back to mid 60s, for 18 months I must have taken PLM & pickle sarnie for lunch most days during my training, a creature of habit and convenience


Sun's out again, no gardening required, and yesterday I found one of my outdoor toms has blight, took it's time, normally they are riddled by now
Saved the toms to ripen on window sill.

The rest of the plants seem OK for now even if looking a bit sorry the fruits are fine


Used another windfall apple in breakfast porridge
Taken a home roasted chicken leg 1/4 out to defrost for tonight. Planning on that with salad for dinner


Lunch usual cheese sarnie combo I think

[Deleted User]

I bought the Pek as I found some coupons on line and thought, why not, I also like the flavoured Spam, garlic etc, with chips especially. Have opened a pkt of Piri Piri cook in a bag (from my Brexit box) and have put in SC with 500 g minced beef etc, recipe from the Nando's web page. Makes enough for 5 so you know where lots of that will go, but I do like the flavour, only "found" it this summer on some reduced chicken portions. At over 70 yrs I am still trying new foods and flavours I am pleased to say.

AndyCF

whmf00001 wrote: »

I am still trying new foods and flavours I am pleased to say.

I've tried to be a fraction more adventurous than I have been although the past couple of years due to other issues I have been limited in what I could eat.

Even now its more a case of perhaps silly changes, such as mixing things in with mashed potato (after cooking!) and the like.

One thing I did discover a couple of years ago that is *really* nice surprisingly if you get some decent mince and some peas, I used a branded 'mince meat' tin as it had nice gravy with it, and then while the mince is gently warming tip some peas in, not too many (defrost first if frozen in a mug of hot water, if tinned just empt in minus water!) , then then 'cook' the peas with the mince, this seems to really really flavour them nicely. They seem to absorb a little bit of it.

I did try the above with baby carrots and sliced as well as sweetcorn but it did not work out half as well. Mind you my 'mega-mince-meat-mix' is a firm favourite, if you do not mind tins:

Tin of decent mince-meat, stewed steak also works but costs more.
Small tin of peas or frozen. Small is important as you only want a few.
Optional few carrots and sweetcorn, one or the other.

Mix meat with veg and cook, stirring well. Too many veg spoil this, hence the 'few' , frozen veg a bit better as you can control the numbers a bit more. Obviously defrost said frozens in a mug of hot water first, then add when soft to meat mix.

Serve in a bowl ideally with a spoon or three of instant mash or if you have the energy a baked potato.

Lovely!

caronc

Good morning everyone,
It's tipping it down here today:(, I woke just before 7am to the sound of the rain battering off of the window and decided I would snooze for a bit longer. Didn't surface until after 9am and tbh could have slept on if my bladder hadn't been protesting. I'm blaming the weather for being so tired as I feel okay apart from that. The house smelled lovely:) when I got up as I made chicken stock overnight in the SC. I'll get the meat stripped from the carcass once it's cooled (I use it for soup) and get the stock chilled so I can lift the fat off before I reduce it for the freezer. I might soup later but I'll use a tub from the freezer so I'm using older stuff first.
LO savoury mince for lunch today, there's enough left to pop on top of a piece of toast, a combination I'm fond of. Stuffed pasta with a green veggie sauce tonight for dinner, I've pesto in the freezer so might add some of that. I do need to make more pesto though as my basil plant is huge again and I think it will die back soon so want to make the most of it.

AndyCF

The weather is quite changable lately does seem to be effecting quite a few people in some ways, myself included I think.

I look after a feral colony and they are also being a bit strange lately because of the changing weather. Mind you they are a bit strange anyway. :rotfl:

Not sure on lunch its getting on a bit but I'm not quite ready somehow. I think its going to be a 2.30 mini lunch, possibly just a blob of mash with something or perhaps I may cheat and have an instant cuppy soup seeing as there's one 'instant veg' left. Just not up to 'doing' much at the moment.

caronc

Good evening everyone,
It's blinking chilly here tonight so the stove is getting lit as my multiple layers just aren't cutting it!:mad: Tomorrow looks like more of the same and I have two errands and possibly a third to do that will be difficult to combine so I'll be getting drenched ......:(

I'm definitely feeling a bit below par I'm not sure if the "wonky donkey" is wanting to play up, it's weather or I've picked up a bug. Fingers crossed an early night will sort out whatever it is;). I've decided I don't really fancy pasta tonight and what I really fancy is HM chicken/veg/rice soup and I'm debating if I cba bunging a quick pot in the pressure cooker otherwise it may well be pizza or egg & beans on toast.

AndyCF

caronc wrote: »

Good evening everyone,
It's blinking chilly here tonight so the stove is getting lit as my multiple layers just aren't cutting it!:mad: Tomorrow looks like more of the same and I have two errands and possibly a third to do that will be difficult to combine so I'll be getting drenched ......:(

Its gone a bit chilly here as well but mainly the wind. I suspect some of it is because its been so changeable lately rather than cold-cold as such but brrr. I've got a bit of heating on just being careful with it as I need to stretch the elec out a few days really.

Drenched ? Are you having / expecting rains then ? , I looked at the generic UK forecast on what passes for Teletext these days and I think it said a drop tonight perhaps but then reasonable/dry until Friday. But that was early this morning I looked so it may of changed since.

caronc wrote: »

I'm definitely feeling a bit below par I'm not sure if the "wonky donkey" is wanting to play up, it's weather or I've picked up a bug. Fingers crossed an early night will sort out whatever it is;). I've decided I don't really fancy pasta tonight and what I really fancy is HM chicken/veg/rice soup and I'm debating if I cba bunging a quick pot in the pressure cooker otherwise it may well be pizza or egg & beans on toast.

Hope its just a short bug and a decent warm rest/sleep will fix.

A quick and easy snack/small meal sounds a good idea if you're not feeling 100% , my thoughts are simply to avoid too much prep/messing about with too many differing ingredients if you're not 100% that's all. I'd probably settle for your latter option maybe, mind you I'd not have them myself not liking egg 'direct' nor beans***


*** That's not quite true I just really hate tomato and tomato sauce so I have to either rinse the 'worst of it' out of them and then throw them in a soup or if I see any local just tins of 'harricot' or similar grab those. Mind you I need to grab a toaster in a couple of weeks anyway!

I was actually looking at endless varieties/brands of chicpeas both in the local BM and in the Polish place the other day, I don't think I've ever tried them. I suppose I should get a small tin of them and warm them up and just try them 'as is' , reading the tin instructions via Google etc for one brand says can be eaten from the tin ( ! ) but I don't fancy that idea. I'm assuming they are going to taste a bit like a curious mix of either nut or sweetcorn/pea perhaps.

caronc

AndyCF wrote: »

Drenched ? Are you having / expecting rains then ? , I looked at the generic UK forecast on what passes for Teletext these days and I think it said a drop tonight perhaps but then reasonable/dry until Friday. But that was early this morning I looked so it may of changed since.

Thanks Andy, I live on the often wet West Coast of Scotland and it's living up to "wet" at the moment!
In the end up I went for an easy option of HM spicy chicken & peppers from the freezer with salad and pitta.

PS- chickpeas on their own are pretty bland, much as like them I'd be loathe to eat them straight from the tin!