Reverse Meal Planning

EssexHebridean

It was combi microwave to the rescue for a speedy pasta bake tonight - and who was it who pointed me at the roasted cauliflower cheese recipe? RT? I shamelessly nicked the idea of it, “roasted” the cauli on combi drizzled in smoked rapeseed oil with salt & pepper. Cooked the pasta as normal. Friend of small pieces of spicy chorizo in a pan then used the oil from that with a little added butter to make the sauce. Combined everything in a dish, sprinkled the top with more cheese and breadcrumbs, and shoved input in on combi for another 8 minutes. Roasting the cauli absolutely took it up a notch - I will definitely do that again! 

rtandon27

Haha - yes EH that was me that is the bad influence & suggested you could have it all - I think that was over on yours?  I love a good roast or charred veg, always makes a meal just a bit tastier!

Our dinner last night was 'mince something'  - I discovered we had a pack of meat (mince) pierogis in the fridge.  We also had a pack of cooking bacon which was thankfully nice thick pieces rather than slices!  OH dutifully turned the cooking bacon into lardons, and 80% of it has been divvied up and added to the freezer stores.  The remaining cubes were the start of a base (sauce?) which once rendered down were used to cook up the sliced onions & cabbage.  We also threw in the remainder of the charred peppers from our chicken fajitas.  Pierogis were pan-fried & steamed like any good 'stuff-in-a-dumpling-wrapper' meal.  Served in a bowl with a dollop of lovely thick proper sour cream on top.  Such a lovely stogy comfort food dinner for a blustery & rainy day.  I'm sure the waist-line was NOT helped but the emotional comfort of a stogy dinner cannot be beaten!

Tonight is technically pizza night, but as we have no bases in the freezer & could not be bothered making them today, we might just resort to a Waitflower 'date-night' which involves scouring the shelves for a posh deal or two that have been yellow stickered.  That reminds me that I've got 10.50 in coupons from their customer service to apologize for several instances of items double scanning at full & regular price as the stickers were not applied correctly!  Must print them off as there is no ability to add them onto my loyalty card app, or just scan a bar-code.  On the other hand, we could just use up some free-pizza points at the local Father Jon's that I earned from using my personal account for a function I was organizing.  There are choices, but tbh i'd be just as happy with some toasted 0li0ed sourdough with butter and jam!

zafiro1984

Last night was chicken done in diet cola, I came across the recipe on Youtube and had most of the ingredients, I thought I was missing the cola but came across a can hiding at the back of the cupboard. - goodness knows how long it had been there. It was really tasty and I'd do it again. 
Tonight is pork belly - yellow sticker - love it when when all the fat is poured off and it goes crispy. I found another recipe on Youtube - Apple Betty, I'm going to give it a go as there are a couple of apples going a bit crinkly and the hens have started to lay again after having a winter rest.

rtandon Do you make your own sourdough bread as I fancy having a go.  I've never made it and I'm not sure how to get the starter going. Do you buy it of can you make it?

rtandon27

@zafiro1984 - Haha - that gave me a good laugh - I've never even attempted to make sourdough! - ours is either 2g2g from the local posh bakery or a fancy loaf from 0li0.

Once upon a time I had a compact breadmaker, which was perfect for the two of us - we made unenriched loaves from imported wholemeal flour, banana bread & pizza dough quite regularly with it's help.  When the poor little thing gave up after many years of loyal service, I never did get around to finding a replacement. - I love good bread, and sourdough was a common occurance when I grew up across the pond, but as we now limit our bread intake, it's a treat rather than a staple.

Frugalistamama

I dropped off the wagon. I need to get back on to reduce my grocery budget after a bit of a cashflow setback. Definitely need to dust off my reverse planning skills. Will be reading through the thread to get some inspiration!

AnnikaJuarez

zafiro1984 said:

Last night was chicken done in diet cola, I came across the recipe on Youtube and had most of the ingredients, I thought I was missing the cola but came across a can hiding at the back of the cupboard. - goodness knows how long it had been there. It was really tasty and I'd do it again. 
Tonight is pork belly - yellow sticker - love it when when all the fat is poured off and it goes crispy. I found another recipe on Youtube - Apple Betty, I'm going to give it a go as there are a couple of apples going a bit crinkly and the hens have started to lay again after having a winter rest.

rtandon Do you make your own sourdough bread as I fancy having a go.  I've never made it and I'm not sure how to get the starter going. Do you buy it of can you make it?

Fried chicken and Diet Coke remind me of my student time. I was a bad cooker back then, but the only recipe I well was fried chicken. Although eventually I've learned how to cook, I cannot say I've mastered my skill. Still, I cook at home, and it helps me to save a lot of money.

joedenise

@zafiro1984 - both those recipes are Slimming World recipes.  I make the diet cola chicken sometimes but have never done the Apple Betty.

As you enjoyed the diet cola chicken you might also like Tango gammon made in the same way but substituting gammon for the chicken and Tango orange for the cola.  Tango also works with chicken!

zafiro1984

joedenise said:

@zafiro1984 - both those recipes are Slimming World recipes.  I make the diet cola chicken sometimes but have never done the Apple Betty.

As you enjoyed the diet cola chicken you might also like Tango gammon made in the same way but substituting gammon for the chicken and Tango orange for the cola.  Tango also works with chicken!

Absolutely correct Joedenise The friend who comes to stay at the weekends is at slimming world so I try to make some of their recipes for her. It's also good for me to try new things as my DH is a very old fashioned meat and two veg person. Pasta and rice are classed as 'foreign' in his mind and he wont touch them.   
Apple Betty although done as per the recipe was not good - ok, but not good. I think it would be better cooked in a 'Bain Marie' but I wont be doing it again.

I'm going to store the gammon/tango idea, sounds really tasty - maybe next weekend!!  However, for most of next mid-weeks meals it will be back to 'leftovers' presented in many different forms until the fridge looks empty.

joedenise

Don't think I'll bother even trying the apple Betty recipe then as don't want to waste food and electric not with prices as they are!

Frugalistamama

I need to use a few things going old and soft so spending today making a big batch of a kind of minestrone soup, some apple crumble to use up some unloved apples and will also make some pasta sauce for next week. Not sure what's for dinner tonight but desert is sorted!