Reverse Meal Planning

Florenceem

Using Rex pie - FF + baked beans from stock today.

rtandon27

OH is making us chicken and chorizo pasta bake for dinner - mixed together the ends of four kinds of pasta to get the amount needed for the recipe - chicken , chorizo and grated cheese all from the freezer.  For greens, a forgotten bag of brussels from our last delivery already trimmed so only a quick steaming needed. There is something so satisfying  about using up the ends of everything!

Mrs_Cheshire

Afternoon all, hoping you're all keeping safe and well. Still doing well with the reverse planning, made chicken risotto tonight, using up half a butternut squash and a red pepper, all from stores

Suffolk_lass

Florenceem said:

Using Rex pie - FF + baked beans from stock today.

What is Rex pie @Florenceem? 

We had a veg curry that was lush, using an aubergine, half a butternut squash, onion, garlic, garam marsala, a little passata, cashew nuts, chick peas and spinach - with a bit of paste from a jar. DH had sourdough bread with his. Mine was on its own.

I need to make soup today (use the other half of the butternut squash in that and I've got dried butterbeans on cooking (although my pressure cooker is not behaving itself so they are on the hotplate boiling for an hour and a half)! I shall freeze them in two portion sizes for butterbean stew.

joedenise

@Suffolk_lass how long do butterbeans normally need in a pressure cooker?  I always seem to overcook them and the only thing I can really use them for is hummus because they split so badly!

Florenceem

Suffolk_lass - Rex pie is my name for a pie using pork mince - so a variation on shepherds/cottage pie. Named Rex after Rex on Archers who keeps pigs.

ajmoney

I have never ever done anything with my chicken carcasses once I have roasted them.  I am cooking one today so could someone tell me what I need to do please?  I feel I have been wasting them all these years and maybe 2021 is the year to do this

Also, do I have to do it tonight or can whatever be done tomorrow?

Baileys_Babe

We had chicken today, we carved all the meat off. Put the carcass in the slow cooker with the carrot and parsnip peelings and onion quartered covered in water and put on low until the morning.

If you haven't kept the peeling put in a carrot chopped into 3 or 4 pieces.

Yes, you can wait until tomorrow or later in the week when you have removed all the meat. Also, you can freeze the carcass until you have time to make the stock.

Tomorrow we with strain and reduce the stock to remove most of the water and then freeze in ice cubes ready to be added to risottos or soups etc as needed.

We often include the clean peelings and trimmings of most vegetables, but not potatoes as this makes the stock cloudy. You can also include herbs to the stock, we include bay leaves (free from our friend's tree).

basketcase

ajmoney said:

I have never ever done anything with my chicken carcasses once I have roasted them.  I am cooking one today so could someone tell me what I need to do please?  I feel I have been wasting them all these years and maybe 2021 is the year to do this

Also, do I have to do it tonight or can whatever be done tomorrow?

Hi AJ

I put mine in the slow cooker along with fairly finely chopped onions, carrots, leeks/celery (if available), any jelly, scrapings etc from the roasting tin, garlic, bay leaves, possibly rosemary or other herbs if you prefer, plus lentils and/or barley.  You can fry the vegetable & pulses a bit first if you like, but don't let them go brown. 

Cover it with either chicken stock or water and a stock cube.  Leave it cooking on low overnight - or all day if you put it on in the morning - then remove the carcasse and pick all the remaining meat off (you'd be surprised how much there is).   I get 4-6 helpings of chicken soup this way.  You'll probably need to season it.

You can use a pan, if you don't have a slow cooker.

Suffolk_lass

@ajmoney - as others have said, you could freeze and wait until you have another - my stock is very simple - the carcass, a halved peeled onion or two if they are small, a carrot cut into 3cm chunks, a stick of celery if I have any, seasoned with S&P and covered with water. I bring to the boil on the hotplate then cover, and pop in a simmering oven for 2-3 hours then strain through a colander when it has cooled a bit.

I divide it in two - half the liquid is frozen in a plastic pot, and half is the basis for soup - I add the veg back in, season and if I want to, thicken a bit, bring back to the boil. It's nicer if you blend the veg into the stock before adding some of the meat pickings back in, and there are lovely chunks of chicken through your soup. If there is a lot of meat I might make a pie or curry with this. The "hearts" under the carcass are the best bits and worth removing before you boil it, by the way.