WHAT DID WE HAVE FOR TEA?

[Stanley]

Two helpings of the leek bacon and veggies for breakfast and tea finished them off and so we have a fresh start with shopping today.

[Stanley]

Three eggs for breakfast, a Greek Mezze platter with olives for lunch and sausage for tea.

[Stanley]

I had sausage and veggies X two for breakfast and tea. I cooked veggies for the week, the sprouts are beautiful! I eat them like toffees.

[MickBrett]

Chicken, Veggie and Noodle Soup. One pot full, two dinners.

[Big Kev]

I bought some pork belly from the butcher this morning, I intend slow roasting it and serving it with savoy cabbage, peas and an onion sauce. It should hopefully look like this (I'll keep you posted).

20211112_175728.jpg

[Big Kev]

I got the pork belly ready for tomorrow, it needs to sit in the fridge overnight, uncovered, to dry the skin out. There's a bit of foil wrapping involved before it goes in the oven, the trick is to cover the flesh on the sides leaving the skin exposed. Two and a half hours at 140 then 30 minutes at 240 to crisp up the skin. I'm salivating already.

Today was bolognese from the freezer. It was just as tasty, if not tastier, as the first time around and there's still another pot. The Malbec washed it down nicely.
Best get back to work now, only another 40 minutes and I have a day off tomorrow.

[Tripps]

Tonight's offering - Kung Po pork with chilli, red peper, and sun dried tomato.
There's a touch of the Yin and Yang in the presentation if that's not too pretentious, and it tastes a lot better than it looks. .

Kung Po Pork.JPG

[Big Kev]

I do like a bit o' pork.

[Stanley]

My favourite way to eat pork is in pork pies... I had a small pork pie with veggies X two yesterday for breakfast and tea and cooked Chicken wings with onion and tomatoes.
A piece of mutton defrosting in the fridge....

[Big Kev]

The pork belly was delicious, soft flesh and a nice light crispy crackling on top. I knocked up an onion sauce and we had savoy cabbage and peas with it. The final 30 minutes at 240 degrees was reduced to 220 and 20 minutes, the fan oven seems to cook a bit quicker and I didn't want to burn anything.

[MickBrett]

Hmmm, belly pork. Never see that here, unfortunately.

We're going to make a Corned Beef Hash Stew this evening.

Spuds, Onions, Carrots, bit of Cabbage, tin of Corned Beef. Cover with water and cook.
When almost done add some Bisto gravy powder and Bob's yer Uncle.
Another two dinner dinner...

[Stanley]

I had the chicken wings and veggies X two for breakfast and tea....

[Stanley]

I had the last of the chicken wings with veggies X two for breakfast and tea. During the day I pot roasted half a leg of mutton with onions and tomatoes. That will come into play later today....

[Stanley]

I had straight veggies for breakfast and then the Mutton and veggies for tea. The pot roast with small onions and tomatoes in vegetable stock was fine. The mutton is so tender.....

[MickBrett]

(Almost) finished off the remains of the Corned Beef Hash Stew last night along with some oven baked potato scallops so that was 3 meals, 6 servings.
I say almost because there's a bit left for a lunch "for the lad" (me).

So that works out to be a pretty good value dish.

[Stanley]

Mick, all home cooking from scratch is good value even when you use expensive cuts of meat. My butcher's order this week includes skirt and breast of lamb on the bone, it doesn't get much cheaper than that!
Yesterday I had the mutton pot roast with veggies X two for breakfast and tea. I swear it gets better as it ages.

[MickBrett]

Stanley, Unfortunately my wife suffers from serious food allergies. One of the main things that effects her is High Fructose Syrup.
And, that is in a whole lot of ready prepared food as it's a cheap way to make poor tasting products taste "better"
It can cause her face to swell up and in worse cases her tongue so she can't breath. Last time it happened she had to be in the ICU unit.
It was a scary time.

Because of this we make all our meals from scratch just so we know what is in them.

[Big Kev]

The remains of the chicken fajita filling with half a small baked potato, there's a bit of salsa and some sour cream dip left to top it off and the obligatory grated cheese.

[Stanley]

So sorry to hear that Mick. Please give her my best, allergies are a bugger. However, the fact it makes you prepare your food from scratch because you don't know what is used by the food companies is a benefit to both your health and your pocket. I don't have any allergies but I know what the food companies get up to and so I do exactly what you do but for a different reason. Yesterday I ate the last of the mutton pot roast and veggies for breakfast and tea. They were small helpings so I topped up at lunch time with pickled Scottish herrings and onions, very expensive but such a lovely clean taste. (£5 for 500gms)
Today is shopping day!
A bit later.... Something that struck me is that I take a lot of pleasure from the fact that the fridge shelves are empty. (Plenty in the freezer....) It's a sign of good meal planning and stock management. Occasionally I see the insides of other people's fridges and they are a jumble of leftovers and bits and pieces. I don't have 'leftovers'.

[MickBrett]

My wife made a pot of Cauliflower Soup which is delicious.

We are definitely not vegetarians but usually have at least one meat free meal a week simply because we enjoy them.

[Stanley]

Same here Mick, I eat a lot of veggies....
Yesterday I had 3 eggs for breakfast, A buckwheat crepe filled with Spanish Omelette and accompanied by salad for lunch with Susan in Skipton and a pizza for tea.
Today's excitement is pot roasting Breast of lamb on the bone , reinforced by some skirt and then letting it simmer ever so slowly with veggies. This may get in the way of the shed!

[Stanley]

Pork Pie for breakfast. I cooked and so for tea I had the new Stew with veggies. Lovely and it will improve.....

[Stanley]

Breast of lamb stew and veggies X two for breakfast and tea. It's getting even better....

[MickBrett]

I made us a stir fry last night.

But tonight it Beef Stew.
The cauldron is on...

[Stanley]

Breast of lamb stew and veggies X two for breakfast and tea. Even better!
I noticed last night that the skirt has dissolved into the body of the stew during the slow cooking.