Love food hate Waste Part two for 2018 :)

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

After last weekends glut of plums, this weekend I had courgettes to deal with. On Friday I roasted a huge tray of onion, courgette, peppers and aubergine. I mixed half into some cous cous which we had for dinner Friday night with a turkey breast. The other half was mixed with some tinned chopped tomatoes and herbs to make a veggie lasagne for dinner yesterday. Also had courgette fritters for lunch. Made a courgette and lemon cake and some cheese and courgette scones which have been a huge hit with my toddler son. Just when you think you've used them all the plants are covered with more.

[Deleted User]

For courgette...read triffid!

I shall this afternoon use the stock from cooking a gammon joint yesterday, the last of a bag of home grown peas from last year, some home grown leeks (both from the freezer), a potato and some dried mint to make pea and ham soup as we've just finished the sweet potato and sweetcorn soup I made a few days ago. I shall slice the gammon to have cold with either a jacket potato or some new potatoes and salad for a couple of main meals and I shall use the scraps for a ham omelette and perhaps the very tail end to make a spread to have on crackers. Every tiny smidgeon will be used!

Gem-gem

Spent the weekend st my Mum's with hubby - her birthday. Mum has five black currant bushes that she has been harvesting for serval weeks. Mum had one bush that she wanted to strip, the other four I was allowed to strip - what was left. Mum didn't want them to go to waste. I spent two mornings and have come home with over 2kg. I am a very happy daughter. I have stewed 250g down ready to make two batches of blackcurrant ice cream. Another 250g x2 has been bagged up and frozen down ready to have a go at making two small batches of black currant curd (4-5 small jars) over the winter. 500g x 2 + 650g has been frozen down ready to turn into pies, crumbles or more jam.
On Friday, I froze down courgettes ( from the garden ) and red peppers.
Today, I picked my first aubergine, a rather big green courgette, two yellow courgettes and put it with the frozen pepper from last week, garlic and onion and roasted it. Then mixed it with couscous. Had it with steak (from the freezer) two left over potatoes that I made into Cajun wedges and our first tomato from the garden. For pudding, we had raspberries from the garden and some homemade ice-cream.
Also picked 3 large beetroots, cooked them and had one with our dinner. The other two are going into the freezer. The stalks and leaves we will have with curry on Wednesday or Thursday.
For lunch, used up two large pitta breads - filled with tuna - for hubby and I.
Used up whole milk in my hot chocolate drink.
Our two freezers are bursting with produce and only 2 tomatoes have been eaten. Have 15 tomato plants making / growing loads of tomatoes. I need to learn to use glass jars to store homemade pasta sauce in instead of the freezer.

Gem-gem

Mummy2cheekymonkeys wrote: »

After last weekends glut of plums, this weekend I had courgettes to deal with. On Friday I roasted a huge tray of onion, courgette, peppers and aubergine. I mixed half into some cous cous which we had for dinner Friday night with a turkey breast. The other half was mixed with some tinned chopped tomatoes and herbs to make a veggie lasagne for dinner yesterday. Also had courgette fritters for lunch. Made a courgette and lemon cake and some cheese and courgette scones which have been a huge hit with my toddler son. Just when you think you've used them all the plants are covered with more.

Have just read you post, after posting mine. I'm am doing the same - roasting it and adding it to couscous. I have also blended it with tomatoes and used it as pasta sauce and pizza sauce. ( hubby who doesn't like courgettes is eating them - yay!)

Gem-gem

Mummy2cheekymonkeys wrote: »

I'm probably not going to be much help. I'm sure there are others on this forum who will have a much better knowledge on the subject than me. I'm pretty new to preserving. I normally stick to just jams, jellies and chutneys. I've never tried canning as I'm worried about the whole botulism thing. With the brandied plums I researched online and had a look at a few different recipes. It's also called rumtopfh. I sterlised the jars in the oven like if I was making jam and then put the plums and sugar in and then poured in the brandy until it was all covered. I did see a recipe that was with a sugar syrup and a small amount of brandy but that had to be done in a water bath and I wasn't confident so went for the other option. Maybe have a search online and look at all the different options first.

I only usually make jams and chutneys and do the same as you.
I have been reading - looking for advice on-line.
Thank you.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Haha gem-gem when I started reading your post for a moment I thought I was reading mine lol. I also made blackcurrant jam at the weekend. We have 2 bushes in the garden and I have been picking them as they ripen and putting them in a bag in the freezer. Had nearly a kilos worth. I managed to get about 5 jars . It's the first year we have had enough from the bushes to make something with. It's absolutely delicious. I like the sound of the blackcurrant curd.

[Deleted User]

Well yesterdays soup didn't get made it was just too hot here to be in the kitchen cooking. Today we have defrosted one freezer and set it running again, unloaded the biggest one into it and shed much out of date stuff that has been at the bottom of it for far too long (most home grown) and defrosted the big one which is coming back down to temperature. The things we've saved will go back in there and the smaller freezer will go to the recycling depot.

Upshot of this is we're having quorn sausages for supper tonight as they've surfaced from the depths and need using up.

Gem-gem

Mummy2cheekymonkeys wrote: »

Haha gem-gem when I started reading your post for a moment I thought I was reading mine lol. I also made blackcurrant jam at the weekend. We have 2 bushes in the garden and I have been picking them as they ripen and putting them in a bag in the freezer. Had nearly a kilos worth. I managed to get about 5 jars . It's the first year we have had enough from the bushes to make something with. It's absolutely delicious. I like the sound of the blackcurrant curd.

Black currant curd I once bought from a National Trust property - loved it. (But it only has about a month shelf life - so needs to be made in small batches unless you have lots of hungry mouths to feed).

Gem-gem

Used up roasted vegetables and couscous, had with salmon and salad.

ma-ri-ella

hi everyone not posted In ages but am trying to stick to the challenge. My fridge and freezer are pretty empty but I still have pretty full cupboards. I got a lidl voucher this week so may top them up as reductions have been low. As always in my posts I seem to have a really large stock of cereal - its my go to for most times of the day haha . I did find some cranberry stuffing in my freezer as well as cheap veg mix which tastes pretty bland