Reverse Meal Planning

joedenise

More food from the freezer today.  Linda McCartney red onion and rosemary sausages for a sandwich and some lamb leg steaks to make a hotpot.  

rtandon27

Last night's dinner made use of the lovely head of broccoli from our veg box! The first box since we moved two months ago & we are both very pleased to be reviving that habit.

Broconut noodles using up the last of the dried egg noodles and the last handful of cashews. OH also threw in a spoon of cooked Turkey mince we had left from making a taco boats for dinner the night before.

Groceries arriving today to replenish our meat and fish drawer in the freezer and a few other bits we've managed to use up.

Suffolk_lass

I got everything out of my chest freezer and sorted it out this week. Loads of bags of squash to make winter soups and stews. Loads of bits of meat that I want to use in the next month, living on this instead of SM shopping. I would dearly love to defrost both this one and the commercial upright one that officially contains garden produce.

In other news, DH threw away his sourdough starter  something (I don't know what) went wrong. Very sad. We have had one for years (maybe 8-10). It feels like when a shrub in the garden gets damaged in a storm and has to be destroyed - sort of an opportunity tinged with sadness

CCW007

Can't wait to visit my family in two weeks and empty my chest freezer of bread - after defrosting it weeks ago I can't believe it's already full again!

Lunch will be tuscan bean soup using the soup mix base I cooked up the other day and some cabbage.

Dinner tonight will be leek and blue cheese pasta to use up some rather old leeks, free blue cheese (and I'm going to investigate an open pack of silken tofu to chuck in if still okay) with real bacon for OH and fake bacon for me crumbled on top.  Might chuck some wrinkly mushrooms in as well to use them up!

Tomorrow will be burger night - using up some buns out of the freezer.

EssexHebridean

Mmm nice meals there - RT love the sound of your broccoli & cashew nut thing! SL that's a shame about the starter - I need to get back to paying mine more attention I think - guilty of neglect here!  CCW - FREE cheese?! That sounds good! Joedenise I LOVE lamb - definitely my favourite meat I think....well, possibly!  

We did our jacket tatties as planned last night - and I remembered to get the bits out of the freezer for tonight's shakshuka-ish thing. Plan is to fry the black pudding, take it out and cut into chunks, chuck the ratatouille into the same pan and heat, then add the black pudding chunks and crack a couple of eggs each in to coddle in the veg mix. Might sprinkle a bit of cheese over the top, we'll see.  Also remembered to roast the two remaining veg box peppers as well so those are now in the freezer. 

CCW007

@EH - the cheese was a free gift in the veg box last week.

OH was out last night so just me to cook for - I had miso aubergines with tofu and spring greens and it was amazing!

One-tin wonder: Miso aubergines with tofu, sesame and chilli - Independent.ie

rtandon27

@CCW007 - that recipe looks absolutely delicious!  Must give it a try next time we have an aubergine lurking.  OH has said that he has yet to find a way to enjoy that particular veg, so this might just be the thing.

Note to self - must arrange for the new to us oven to be cleaned - It's the only thing the son of the former house owners did not bother to clean when he left!

Frugalista

Was lucky enough to buy a yellow stickered rib of beef yesterday (£22 down to £5.50) but have never cooked this particular cut.  Can anyone give me some ideas? Thanks.

EssexHebridean

Oh goodness Frugalista what a bargain! It's a good many years since I've cooked a rib, but my "go to" for anything I can't quite decide how to cook is always the BBC Good Food site. 

RT - MrEH has never liked aubergine, but when we first got some in the veg box a few months ago I did Melanzane Parmigiana (Almost certainly a recipe from HFW - probably from River Cottage Veg) and he absolutely loved it! Since then I've tried baba ghanoush (verdict - alright, but not that special) and also done it simply roasted in a pasta sauce with lots of smoked paprika (verdict - yeah that's alright that is). I have a feeling that next week's might be used i a simplified version of parmigiana from the BBC GF site. 

Suffolk_lass

Frugalista said:

Was lucky enough to buy a yellow stickered rib of beef yesterday (£22 down to £5.50) but have never cooked this particular cut.  Can anyone give me some ideas? Thanks.

@Frugalista I would be roasting it. How long, will depend on its weight, whether you let it come to room temperature before putting it in, and whether it is bone in or bone out. We like it with the middle of the slices still pink.

As an example, a 1kilo bone in, brought to room temperature for an hour or two before it goes in, is put on a rack, in a tin or Dutch oven uncovered for 40 minutes at 210c. This will get the fat to start to render and the bone and juices hot. I am fortunate as I have a second simmering oven of about 150c that it then goes into while the roast potatoes and maybe carrots and parnips are roasted in the hotter oven (turned down to 190c). Take it out after 40 minutes, cover with a double ayer of foil and it will be ready to carve after 20 minutes. It will be pink and rare. If heavier, add 30 minutes per kilo with 15 (each) of those in the hot oven. If it is bone out, you can reduce the first bit by 10 minutes.