Cooking for one (Mark Three)

caronc · 12 February 2018 at 11:36AM

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

I just paid £10,000 off the mortgage, very nice way to start the week!:A

It is indeed

It was snowing quite heavily when I went to bed last night but no sign of it this morning though it's still bitterly cold!

"Because I'm worth it", I'm making beef stew and dumplings tonight and I might sub some of the suet in the dumplings with blue cheese;)

Breakfast was LO potato & mushroom gratin from last night. I wasn't hugely impressed with it so didn't want to freeze the other portion nor ditch it and I fancied a hot breakfast so it did the job.

Lunch will be a repeat of yesterday of soup a crusty roll with the last of the gammon I cooked on Saturday. Tonight will be the aforementioned stew & dumplings with sprouts.

Anyway best get off and lob the stewing steak & veg (celery, garlic, onion, carrot, mushrooms and red pepper) into the slow cooker. It's only 200g of steak so I'm reckoning on 2-3 portions from the finished dish. I could pad it further with spuds or pulses but at the moment I think I'll just leave as is.:)

wort · 12 February 2018 at 11:36AM

Wednesday - that's amazing! Well done.

I've had toast and cheese spread just back from watching dgson in brass concert. The hail last night had frozen making it slippy underfoot, though thankfully the sun is out and thawing it now, perishing cold so just had a banana and cup of tea.

I don't think I could eat dessert for breakfast, never been keen on sweet things in a morning never have jam on toast etc. I'm much more of a savoury person anyway, I rarely have a sweet after a meal , much prefer a starter!

wort · 12 February 2018 at 11:39AM

Caronc- I was going to ask you how you made the potato and mushrooms gratin, but just seen the above post saying it wasn't too impressive:o

caronc · 12 February 2018 at 12:21PM

wort wrote: »

Caronc- I was going to ask you how you made the potato and mushrooms gratin, but just seen the above post saying it wasn't too impressive:o

No I was underwhelmed to say the least. It was a Nigella recipe and I find hers usually work but not one I'll make again...:(

moneyistooshorttomention · 12 February 2018 at 2:21PM

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

I didn't have cucumber on my toast as I realised that I ate it all yesterday!:D

I just paid £10,000 off the mortgage, very nice way to start the week!:A

:j:beer::j:beer:

I took that attitude myself to my mortgage (when I had one) and would pay back some whenever I got a reasonable chunk of cash to do so with.

It does indeed help:D. Makes you feel like you've really achieved something and are that little bit free-er as a result.

In the event - I was able to pay off a huge chunk of mortgage at one point and then had a minimal mortgage left thereafter (which I paid off in noticeable size chunks when I had the chance). I got shot of my 25 year mortgage in less than 15 years (think it was 13???) in the event and that definitely made me feel noticeably more secure and I felt I'd got "value for money" for that (ie rather than just plain sitting there at some point and thinking "It feels like I blew that money and got nowt much for it").

Congratulations - and I think/know you deserve a mini-celebration for that:D

It is SO worth it to do things like that imo - as it means you aren't so much in the position of feeling you might be forced into "dancing to someone else's tune" (ie an employers and/or the DWP).

Anything you can do to be "free" to be yourself/not forced into acting differently to what you've chosen to is well worth it imo.

EDIT; I'm in a dance troupe and we've got a very celebratory type dance we learnt the other day - and I'm picturing myself punching the air and grinning on your behalf.

Wednesday2000 · 12 February 2018 at 2:51PM

Thanks for the support guys!!!:A Everyone is so helpful and nice on the OS part of the forum.

I just made some HM tomato and red pepper soup and I had it with a slice of garlic bread and some chilli nuts and pumpkin seeds afterwards.

The shop near me sells the Graze nuts and they are delicious. I've never tried them before, but they were lovely.:)

Farway · 12 February 2018 at 4:00PM

Congrats W2000 on the mortgage repayment plan. I'm with Money on this, like her I paid of early. It was fairly easy in a way because at one time the mortgage interest rate was over 12%, as it slipped down to around 8% I continued paying the same sum in, thus rapidly decreasing the capital balance owing

A big relief when paid off, as Money says, not beholden to anyone from then on, and in my case enabled me to snatch voluntary redundancy and [STRIKE][STRIKE]"retire"[/STRIKE][/STRIKE] go on the dole, not eligible and thus not paid, at 60 as male was not allowed to

Back to food

Good day for my shopping trolley,suet, milk, YS small steak & ale pie, YS mini pizzas, plus reduced C & O pasties pack in Iceland. Plus Costcutter yielded YS diced stewing steak, looked nice and lean, and my previous meat from CC was lovely so here's hoping

With the YS steak I anticipate joining the slow cooked beef stew & dumpling brigade again tomorrow, I'm out volunteering then and rain is forecast, seems an ideal choice.
I'll prep the veg later today then in the morning it will be just bung in, switch on and wait to be greeted by yummy smell when I get back. Or find the house a gutted charred shell. Hope it is the former;)

Lunch was BF ham & salad sarnie
Dinner is the YS steak & ale pie, probably with frozen chips and maybe beans

Farway · 12 February 2018 at 7:03PM

Dinner done & dusted. Pie was lovely, especially when it was YS at 81p:money:

Veg prepped ready for slow cooker stew tomorrow, I've put out all the "extras" like oxo cubes, bay leaves, herbs etc on work top so I do not forget to bung them in during the morning rush

Just started collecting loo roll innards for my bean sowing, it's still a bit away but time to make a start

I tried out some of my loose leaf tea in a perforated spoon thingy this afternoon. The spoon thingy was my Mum's, the idea that triggered my trial was MTSM's.

I quite like it, not particularly to avoid tea bags / plastic, but I found, from my small trial of two mugs, it gives a smoother cuppa. I have now to get used to leaving some tea at the bottom of the mug or get to like the taste of tea dregs;)

bouicca21 · 12 February 2018 at 7:19PM

Farway, I haven't used loose leaf tea for decades, though thinking of going back to it. Yet even though I know the final drop of tea will not contain tea leaf dregs, I cannot bear to drink it.

caronc · 12 February 2018 at 9:39PM

Good evening everyone,
I'm still swithering re do I want to pay my mortgage off early, it's due to end in Nov 2029:eek: (I had planned to retire in Dec 2029 - but that's a moot point now;)) or once my current deal ends enjoy the benefit of much reduced payments each month. Meantime there is no hurry to decide as I'm on a deal until Nov 2020 which I'm overpaying as much as I can while the interest rates are so low.:)

Unfortunately the "wonky donkey" decided to pay a visit earlier, I think I managed to get it in time but I'm feeling pretty washed out this evening:(. Thankfully the stew was doing it's thing in the SC so just needed to make the dumplings. Ended up not going with the blue cheese version.

Assuming my OOD eggs aren't floating tomorrow I definitely fancy some savoury pancakes and think I may well "jazz up" a tin of M&S chicken in sauce as the filling. The tin has been in the cupboard for ages and any LO mix can be used with pasta on Thursday instead of having lasagne from the freezer.

I had thought I would need a grocery delivery either tomorrow or Wednesday but looking at my meal plan and what I have in I've put it back until Friday. :cool:

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Cooking for one (Mark Three)

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