Reverse Meal Planning

Pixiehouse55

Happy_Sloth said:

Hmmm ...  Help needed please    Very much trying to eat WHAT i have! 

I have 1 aubergine that's looking abit sad some spinach and some ricotta cheese... i'm thinking some form of pasta bake with some tinned toms?     

I've also got a jar of roasted grilled peppers and sundried tomato's that i have no idea what to do with? could these go in? I've never used them honestly i don't even know how i own them.  im sure i had plan, when i bought them,  but now they are just sitting there laughing at me.

Only issue with this is my boys are very meat focused I could stick a packet of beef mince into it but i can really only make one bake and i NEVER make just on meal from a pk of mince,  if I use half for the pasta bake i need an idea for the other half? 

I'm thinking perhaps a keema curry? i've got 1/2 a head of cauli i can rice to stick in it, pad it out a bit maybe some green lentils and some peas but this means cooking 2 different meals in one day... and that's quite annoying or should i just pad the pasta bake up and make two, i only have 1 aubergine but maybe if i chopped it up fine it would be ok?  
Or i could scrap the pasta bake, just make the keema... but then i'd need another idea for the ricotta? 

Hmmmm i think i'm over thinking it now haha. 

Minced beef hot pot?  Cook up a chopped onion, add the Minced beef. Tin of baked beans and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Add a bit of spice like chilli powder? And a bit of tomatoe puree. Put in a casserole dish then slice up 3  maybe 4 potatoes and arrange on the top of Minced beef. Few nobs of butter salt and pepper,nut in the  oven about 180c for50 mins or until potatoe is cooked.  Sometimes we have some garlic bread with it if we have any 

JIL

I'm thinking meatballs in a Spanish sauce. Peppers, aubergine and sundried tomato can go into the sauce, meatballs could even have chopped up spinach and ricotta in them.
I make spicy meatballs with spinach and feta, ( using turkey mince) they always go down well.

I use jarred peppers to make the fake nando's dip ( lots of recipes on line) I'm not a big fan of jarred sundried tomato, but they are ok in a lasagna. 

Suffolk_lass

@Happy_Sloth I would make some meatballs with some of the mince, ricotta and spinach (and maybe cooked onion). If you make the meatballs small the illusion of lots of meat is maintained.  Roast in a tray for about 20 minutes with cauliflower and aubergine, cut into florettes/2cm cubes, sprinkled with olive oil, salt and pepper, then pour on half each of the tinned tomatoes, the sundried toms and jarred peppers, (keeping back half to use the next day in a pasta sauce with the rest of the mince) - sprinkle the tray bake with a bit of grated cheese and let it go brown maybe another 10-15 minutes in the oven. 

While that is cooking, make your own sauce with a small fried onion, a couple of cloves of (optional) garlic and add the other half of the tomatoes, jarred peppers and sundried tomatoes. Season it and let it cool then whizz it so it is relatively smooth.
The following day, fry off your remaining mince and add your homemade sauce to stir through pasta. It also goes further if you pour that mixture in a dish and have a bit of grated cheese (or cheese sauce) on top. Personally I would do the mince in a slow oven or cooker and add red lentils (about half as many as the mince) and you'll be amazed how far it goes!!

joedenise said:

I tend to make spinach and ricotta cannelloni if I've got ricotta which needs using up or just make it into a pasta bake which is probably easier as it's a real faff to get the mix into the pasta tubes (I use a disposable icing bag!).

I find aubergine to be quite "meaty" when cooked into a curry - how about this one from BBC https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/west-indian-spiced-aubergine-curry

@joedenise I'm loving the icing bag! I use pancakes instead of the tubes, or I have been known to make fresh pasta and cut round side plates to make the tubes

Pixiehouse55

Aubergine and courgette lasagna is very nice, sometimes add mushrooms or peppers if they are needing to be used up. 

ruby_eskimo

So many good ideas there!

Tonight I'm having a steak for dinner - I bought a pack of two with the intention of using one tomorrow for bulgogi and decided that rather than adding to the freezer, I'll just treat myself to the second one for dinner tonight.  Going to serve it with some garlicy mushrooms, leftover tenderstem broccoli and maybe a fried egg and some tomatoes as well.

joedenise

Suffolk_lass said:

@Happy_Sloth I would make some meatballs with some of the mince, ricotta and spinach (and maybe cooked onion). If you make the meatballs small the illusion of lots of meat is maintained.  Roast in a tray for about 20 minutes with cauliflower and aubergine, cut into florettes/2cm cubes, sprinkled with olive oil, salt and pepper, then pour on half each of the tinned tomatoes, the sundried toms and jarred peppers, (keeping back half to use the next day in a pasta sauce with the rest of the mince) - sprinkle the tray bake with a bit of grated cheese and let it go brown maybe another 10-15 minutes in the oven. 

While that is cooking, make your own sauce with a small fried onion, a couple of cloves of (optional) garlic and add the other half of the tomatoes, jarred peppers and sundried tomatoes. Season it and let it cool then whizz it so it is relatively smooth.
The following day, fry off your remaining mince and add your homemade sauce to stir through pasta. It also goes further if you pour that mixture in a dish and have a bit of grated cheese (or cheese sauce) on top. Personally I would do the mince in a slow oven or cooker and add red lentils (about half as many as the mince) and you'll be amazed how far it goes!!

joedenise said:

I tend to make spinach and ricotta cannelloni if I've got ricotta which needs using up or just make it into a pasta bake which is probably easier as it's a real faff to get the mix into the pasta tubes (I use a disposable icing bag!).

I find aubergine to be quite "meaty" when cooked into a curry - how about this one from BBC https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/west-indian-spiced-aubergine-curry

@joedenise I'm loving the icing bag! I use pancakes instead of the tubes, or I have been known to make fresh pasta and cut round side plates to make the tubes

The reason I use dried cannelloni tubes is because I do Slimming World and they are free.  If I used pancakes or fresh pasta I'd have to use my syns for them and I'd rather save them for wine and chocolate, LOL!

Suffolk_lass

@joedenise that made me chuckle. A girl after my own heart.

And on the subject of chocolate, we had the last of the Christmas chocolate last night! Suchard-Rocher French Rock - a real rich treat! The main event was a chicken casserole - from garden and stores

joedenise

That chocolate sounds amazing @Suffolk_lass.  Never have anything like that - I'm cheap!  I actually like the Fin Carre dark chocolate from Lidl!

Lunch today is HM minestrone with chicken from the freezer - when I made the minestrone I had some cooked chicken leftover but not enough to make a meal from so chucked it into the minestrone - waste not, want not.   This is from the freezer.  Tonight will be a vegetable curry also from the freezer. 

I will get the freezer stocks used up!  Trouble is every time I take something out to make something with there are more portions of LOs to go back in!  For example next week I'm planning on making Carribean Jerk Stew using ox cheek so by the time I've added extra veg to it (which I always do to stretch meat that bit further) there will be a couple of portions of LOs to go back in - so one bag out but another, bigger bag back in!

ruby_eskimo

I also keep trying to use stuff up from the freezer but it just seems to multiply!  

Lunch today is miso tofu and various green vegetables that are in the fridge.  Dinner tonight is bulgogi biminbap which will help me use up some more vegetables in the fridge as well as give me a chance to try my latest batch of kimchi.

rtandon27

@ruby_eskimo - I'm amazed about your homemade kimchi!  I have recently discovered two unopened jars in the storecupboard!  I'm sure it's only useable in Kimchi-jjigae soup, but I've never made it before so on the lookout for an easy to follow recipe!