Reverse Meal Planning

rtandon27

Hello Ms Magpie - Yum - you have quite the vegetable haul there!

I'd start by roasting the root veg to go with a roast chicken & also doing roasted brussels with honey or maple syrup drizzled over them - very easy if you have the oven on anyway!

Sauted Leeks & mushrooms with a tin of lentils make a nice bake with crumbled feta and breadcrumbs on top (I'll see if I can find the link & come back to post). I gave this recipe to my Mom the other day - she's a low effort cook & loved it! [Click here for the recipe!]

ajmoney

Advice please, I made a veg hotpot a while ago and still have a few portions in the freezer but they are very underwhelming and I'm not enjoying them.  Rather than waste them I figure I could use them as a basis for another meal but that is where my inspiration ends, could anyone suggest anything please?  I am not vegetarian so they can go towards a meat dish or another veggie one.

Baileys_Babe

Thanks for sharing the recipe @rtandon27 sounds delicious and I think we have everything in stock 

Suffolk_lass

@ajmoney - I would cook an extra bit of meat next time you have some (chicken or beef or pork) and chop that and add it to the mix  - I would then make a cobbler topping (70g SR flour, pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons of chopped herbs - thyme is good but whatever you have in, and 2 tablespoons of thick natural yogurt - make it into a dough and cut out or form 4-7 (depend on your dish) flattened rounds to top the dish with). A few strands of grated cheese on top before baking (180, Gas 4) for 25 minutes will do it!

@MsMagpie - As some of those are very much fresh I would get a lettuce from the SM and maybe a pack of smoked streaky bacon and a pot of greek-style or natural (needs to be full fat) yogurt -

1. The brussel sprouts shredded with a bit of chopped bacon and some spring onion, with your chicken, roasted or baked with broccoli, carrot and roast potatoes
2. Make a ragu with some of the veg - chopped onions, carrots, and tomatoes, add herbs, garlic and tomato puree (maybe some mushrooms) - personally I add red lentils and cook it long and slow in a cast iron dish in the oven after the initial frying - then it is there as a base if you want to make chilli, bolognese or just have it with pasta stirred through (and would freeze if you make a batch for more than one meal)
3. Portion off some of the salad (spring onions, cucumber, cold roasted beetroot to have with shredded lettuce and a hm coleslaw of green shredded cabbage, a shredded carrot, onion, finely diced chilli (optional) and optional chopped apple and a "sauce" of either mayonnaise or natural yogurt, slackened with lemon juice and black pepper.
4. Peel and quarter 2-3 pears, get the pips  or core out (teaspoon or knife) then arrange them in a buttered sides (butter paper is ideal) circular dish as a fan (or you could chop them and spread them randomly - then make a chocolate all in one topping - 75g (3 heaped tablespoons) SR Flour, 25g cocoa or drinking chocolate, 3 tablespoons of sugar (bit less if using drinking chocolate) 2 eggs, 50g soft (room temp) butter or stork, a pinch of salt, beaten together (if using a wooden spoon, I suggest you squish the butter and sugar together first and beat the egg before adding, a bit at a time with some of the flour, salt and chocolate mixed - when it is all stable (ie the flour is not billowing up when you stir it) give it a bit of a beat with the back of your spoon up, to get some air in it. Spread over the pears and bake in a 170 fan, or 180 Gas 4 oven for 20-25 minutes (20 if you want pudding consistency, 25 or even up to 30 if you want cake - depends on your oven) - you can test cake by just using the palm of your middle finger tip to press gently near the middle of the dish and if it springs back it is cooked. You could turn it upside down or serve it from the dish with a dollop of yogurt

ruby_eskimo

Some really good meal suggestions here - might have to steal a few for myself.  

Dinner went down really well on Friday, as did the kimchi which almost exploded in the jar as I forgot to "burp" it for a couple of days so the fermentation went a little crazy.  It's now safely in the fridge where it should calm down *fingers crossed*

Had a roast chicken yesterday which was picked clean and the meat went into the fridge for later on in the week and the bones went straight into the slow cooker to make some stock overnight.  That's now portioned up and shoved in the freezer amongst the Christmas food I got over the weekend.  We had some left over cauliflower from dinner so I fried that up this morning with some bacon and an egg for breakfast - DH thought I was being weird but it all went down very well.  Dinner tonight will be a stir fry because we need to consume more vegetables after all the cake this weekend!

rtandon27

In our efforts to eat the root veg, I made a carrot cake (loaf) yesterday & substituted 1/2 the grated carrot with grated parsnip.  OH wandered in while I was making said loaf & stated point blank he was not going to like it with parsnip...
...he's had two large portions so far...
...I think he likes it!

Have also turned the leftover orange & purple roasted carrots from earlier in the week into a carrot/ginger/turmeric soup.  It's not the bright vibrant orange one would expect from carrot soup, more of a strange shade of grey, but it tastes amazing.  Also used the leftover roasted potatoes & parsnips to make potato cakes.  Baked in the oven, instead of pan-fried & coated with panko crumbs for crispyness.  Also delicious, but as the purple carrots had turned all the roast veg a light mauve, we had to ignore the colour while we were eating them!  I'll have to remind myself next time to cook the purple carrots on their own!

joedenise

Had a few carrots that were getting past their best so made into carrot & lentil soup for today's lunch - and very nice it was too!

Have got some savoury mince out of the freezer for dinner tonight and will turn that into a cottage pie by topping with mash.  Have got some cabbage in the fridge which could do with using over the next few days so will have some of that with it too.

Suffolk_lass

@rtrandom27 I had the same thing with red cabbage - it turned the carrots a weird colour and as for the gravy, it was almost luminous!

joedenise

Have been using a lot of stuff from the freezer this month and have got out a beef casserole for dinner tonight.  Will make some mash to go with it and also use up a bit more of the cabbage which is still in the fridge.  I've still got another couple of beef casseroles in the freezer which will be good for next month.

MaggiePica

I'm always reverse meal planning these days. Since the first lockdown in the spring, I've been having a fortnightly vegetable box from a local organic supplier. They publish a list of items you are likely to get the week before, so I can plan some dishes in advance. I do find it advisable to use the more perishable vegetables first, like broccoli, and I have been doing some short-term preserving (Google "Refrigerator pickles") for surplus beetroot, cucumber etc.