Reverse Meal Planning

rtandon27

Managed not to get green veg or dairy today! TBH I was a bit under the weather so didn't want to leave the house for any reason!

Dinner was meatballs made from some chicken mince found in the latest freezer dive, with parsnip mash & steamed carrots - the meatballs had a leek & spinach sauce, all from the stores.  Enough meatballs left for lunch tomorrow - perhaps a meatball sandwich with melted cheese or meatballs on steamed rice.

Have also found a 10pk of posh pork sausages that for some reason have been frozen all together instead of being separated in 2's or 4's.  Will try and plan those into next week's meal plan - perhaps a veggie & sausage casserole or a very large toad in hole.

Suffolk_lass

I made a bit of a chicken curry last night (frozen pre-prepared celery, pumpkin, carrots, spinach, with fresh onions, garlic, frozen chillies and of course, the pickings from the chicken I slow cooked the night before. I added some butter chicken sauce - not expecting much but it was rather good. I found half a pack of shop bought flat breads with three left while rummaging in the small indoor freezer, so we had those with it instead of rice. I might buy another P*tak jar having tried that one (it must have been on offer, as I don't think we have tried that before).

My go-to for ready made curry was always Veeraswamy paste(s) but after Bart bought them, they gradually changed the recipes and then withdrew them. A shame. They were based on the recipes of one of the first Indian restaurants in London with the same name as the brand. I am sad they disappeared

rtandon27

SL - we'd only ever bought b!ue drag0n red & green thai curry pastes in the past - but on a whim bought sharw00ds vegan korma sauce (probably a sale rather than a whim) - only used 1/2 jar watered down in the slow cooker to make chicken and veg curry - it was tasty but the entire house smelled like the local takeaway for many days afterwards!  The other 1/2 jar is in the freezer waiting until the weather is warmer and I can plug the slow cooker in the 'summer house' - I figure if the neighbours can do bbq fish when the weather is nice, a slow cooker curry is only fair in return - lol - the joys of living in town rather than in the country are still being rediscovered!

Tonight's cooking adventure yielded at least 4 meals for us - A large pack of chicken thighs (from today's freezer dive) roasted in the oven along with a tray of potatoes, carrots & red onions - buttered cabbage done on the stovetop.  We both had a good sized plate for dinner tonight, another of the same is in freezer containers ready for another week, a couple of chicken thighs in the freezer ready for a stir-fry or two and some extra veg in the fridge for a cobbled together 'leftover' lunch tomorrow.

Suffolk_lass

I have half a chicken that was part of my chip supper last night while we were quizzing. DH gave me a corner of his fish instead of starting it and we brought it home (wrapped in foil) to make a pie with today

zafiro1984

I did something yesterday which I haven't done for years, not since we were struggling when first married.

I'd made a couple of casseroles during the week, one was chicken the other pork. Also I'd made some green pea soup for lunch one day. All three things had a small amount of Leftovers. Guess what - I combined the three leftovers added a bit of chilli from the freezer, suitably thickened it with seasoned flour, and put a pastry top over it and presented it with creamy mash. The reaction was - This is quite tasty - I smiled, said nothing and thought don't ask me to exactly reproduce it again!!

I'm on a mission at the moment to use up all the bits and bobs left in packets to do with cake/biscuit making. I had some shortcrust pastry in the fridge that looked a bit dry and needed to be used, so I rolled it out added currants, spices and sugar, rolled again, added more and re-rolled the pastry once more, demerara sugar on the top and cooked. That went down well. DH said they reminded him of Eccles cakes but I think with shortcrust they are called Chorley cakes??

Suffolk_lass

@zafiro1984 Bitsa pie! a popular choice here!

My leftover chicken was too much for the pie so I kept back the breast and I think we might have a stir-fry either today or another day. We also have half of the pie left so one today, one maybe tomorrow. I have two big leeks and half an enormous cauliflower. I need to ponder whether cauliflower cheese and leek au gratin are combined or spread out. Interspersing with the chicken stir fry is the most sensible, and ensures we don't try and eat it all in one go! I might have to put the chicken in a box and freeze it for a day or three to make sure it does not become unusable.

I also have a pair of lambs hearts (these are from the local farm shop and not our butcher, this time, to try. They are now in the indoor freezer and while the weather is cold and the aga on, I want to use these in a long, slowly braised recipe with a lemon zest and onion/herb/breadcrumb stuffing that my family (maybe great grandma) used to make. I have my Mum's version but as always, I adapt it to be less added fat.

zafiro1984

Suffolk_lass said: I also have a pair of lambs hearts (these are from the local farm shop and not our butcher, this time, to try. They are now in the indoor freezer and while the weather is cold and the aga on, I want to use these in a long, slowly braised recipe with a lemon zest and onion/herb/breadcrumb stuffing that my family (maybe great grandma) used to make. I have my Mum's version but as always, I adapt it to be less added fat.

Love lambs hearts, slowly braised, It's ages since we have had any - must go on the search

EssexHebridean

I've not had lambs hearts in an age either - actually, maybe not so long, as I'm certain we had the heart from the last whole lamb we bought - and it went into the haggis I think! That was a couple of years ago.

Batch cooking over the weekend - a big pot of chickpeas for a start, soaked overnight I reckon they then took less than half of the usual cooking time so I'll employ that trick again. Then yesterday I made a double batch of cauli pasta cheese bake with added bacon and chunks of cooked black pudding - very tasty indeed, part one fed us yesterday evening, and I'm looking forward to part 2 tomorrow!  In the meantime this evening features the spoils of a previous batch cooking session as it will be chilli and rice. 

MissRikkiC

Working my way through the contents of the veg box this week. Broccoli and some mushrooms went into pasta pesto which has always been a quick dinner for us, 3 of 7(!) leeks have gone into leek and potato soup along with the older spuds. Green pepper into a chicken jalfrezi along with a couple of soft tomatoes, red pepper and a few mushrooms into a satay stir fry last night. Beetroot into chocolate beetroot brownies today while the oven was on for a loaf so looking at spring greens, kale,carrots, cabbage, tomatoes and spuds before Monday. 

Can someone re share the mustardy green recipe please and I’ll book mark it this time. I attempted to find it online last night but it just wasn’t the same recipe!

Suffolk_lass

happydenial said:

I also got an enormous savoy cabbage in my veg box, in addition to a huge bag of spring greens and a bag of spinach I already had! I found a great recipe for a mustardy greens side dish which is really quick and yummy - I think we’ll be having this every night this week to use them up.

https://nuush.co.uk/recipes/lemon-mustard-greens/

Here it is @MissRikkiC