WHAT DID WE HAVE FOR TEA?

[Stanley]

Steak pudding and veggies for dinner and the same for tea but with a small pork pie.

[Marilyn]

Tiny spicy meatballs thrown through yet another plate of SALAD! ( Dave says he has lost 1.5 kilos, so he is keen to continue this quest)

[Stanley]

Steak pudding and veggies for dinner. I cooked a mutton shank and two small chops with peas in vegetable stock in a casserole. Long time since I used my casseroles.... Had that meat with veggies for tea. Nice change.

[Stanley]

The casseroled mutton and veggies made two good tasty meals yesterday. At the moment today's meals are a climb up the pantry door as mother used to say.....

[Marilyn]

I am a bit the same ( might have to swing on the freezer door for inspiration).
I need to produce something for tea that takes minimal effort and doesn't steam up the place. So something to accompany a Salad, but what, I ask myself. Too hot to be bothered with food.

[Stanley]

With heat like you are enduring that sounds about right. Thinking about you and Cathy.
I had two fried eggs on very small Ciabatta rolls for dinner and casseroled mutton and veggies for tea. (Not a carb in sight!)

[Marilyn]

(Except the the Ciabatta Roll any road )
But well done!

[Stanley]

They are very tempting Maz and I do enjoy a fried egg butty. I think I will survive!

[Stanley]

I had two forbidden egg butties again for breakfast. Dinner was the mutton and veggies, very virtuous!
Today is the last butcher's day before Xmas. I shall make sure I have plenty of mince for Jack and have asked for a wrap-up when they finish for the holiday. I like the unexpected treats that come with it!

[Tripps]

Now don't tell anyone else about this. it needs to be kept just between us. Don't tell the rest of the world that you can get a kilo of bacon offcuts for about £1.30 at Home Bargains or half a kilo for about 80p at Tesco.

Bacon broth

I just tried it - with a few modifications - it's really good. The ginger is important, but not too much. Don't bother frying the veg first - it makes no difference. I used parsnip instead of swede, and added a clove of garlic (optional Maz), a couple of bay leaves (free from next door's overhanging tree), then added a splash of double cream and just about a teaspoonful of mild curry powder. I chopped the bacon into small pieces, and dry fried it before adding to the soup at the end like bacon croutons.

Remember it's our secret. . . .

[Marilyn]

Sounds good Trippy.
(We aren't eating Bacon/Ham any more, with Swine Flu sweeping the globe. It is not in Australia yet, but I don't trust retailers selling imported product. I get put off with those little signs that say "Made in Australia from local and imported products" in the small goods counter. I ask myself what imported ingredients may be needed to make Bacon or Ham? We even harvest our own Salt here in Australia, so I'm at a loss to grasp the "imported ingredients" bit. So...we simply avoid buying it...)

[Tripps]

Is it flu you worry about or perhaps the more recent African Swine Fever ? which seems quite widespread in Asia now.

I read about that a while ago, when China released its strategic stock of frozen pork to meet the shortage. I've been waiting for mention in the British media for a while, but no panic yet. Too busy with Brexit I guess.

[Marilyn]

That's the one. I was just popping in to correct my post actually!

[Stanley]

African Swine Fever has been mentioned in BBC news and on Farming Today. It is really big in China.
What a good thought about Bacon Broth David. I haven't been there for a while....I'm veggie shopping this morning....
I had some mutton and veggie casserole left so I divided it in two and had Steak Pudding with it for dinner and a small pork pie for tea. I didn't get a lot at the butcher's because Cathy is bringing me a wrap up on Xmas Eve.
One thing that did grab me, she slipped a Longley Farms full fat cream cheese in my bag as it went out of date yesterday. Long while since I had any and it's lovely...... Better than cream I reckon and wouldn't it go well on apple pie! (Don't worry. I shall resist!)

[LizG]

Roasting a chicken at the moment. Rice and quinoa salad to go with it.

[Stanley]

So it's not too hot to eat Liz?

[LizG]

Cool day compared to yesterday’s 42. High teens, early 20’s for the rest of the week now.

[Stanley]

That must be a relief!
I had steak pie and onions for dinner and a fresh wild sea bass fillet with mixed veggies for tea.

[Stanley]

Grilled four sausages and cooked sprouts.... Had two fried eggs in caramelised ciabatta rolls for breakfast and Sausage, mixed veggies and sprouts for tea.

[Marilyn]

How on earth do you "caramelise a Ciabata Roll", Stanley?

Cold Chicken Salad for us tonight.

[Stanley]

I don't know Maz. The Co-op does it. They are very small, stone baked and taste lovely!
I had the last wto of them with fried eggs on for breakfast and sausage, veggies and sprouts for tea.

[Marilyn]

I was cooking dinner tonight and I felt the first pangs of my regular visiting sentiment - which is "I am sooooo sick of cooking!" As you know, I go through regular bouts of getting fed up to the back teeth of producing an evening meal every damn night of the week. Here it comes again! There is never any solution to it. I just have to wait until cooking grabs me once again... ( comes as a consequence of starting cooking aged 9. I just want to walk away and see a meal appear now and then. It never does! If I lived on my own, tonight would be crackers and cheese...)

[Stanley]

Go for it Maz!
Yesterday I casseroled three mutton chops with onions. I also cooked carrot and swede and mashed them with butter and the last of the full cream cream cheese so dinner was the meat off a chop, onion gravy and the mashed veggies with sprouts. The wrap up arrived at 3PM, all sorts of goodies I wouldn't normally buy (some of them verboten but what the hell, it's Xmas!) So tea was a roast chicken leg and a small blackcurrant pie with cream. I made the rest of the casserole and veggies into two meals and put them in the fridge.

[Sue]

Today we had Christmas pudding for tea as we couldn’t manage it with our Christmas dinner. Before we walked back to the hotel we were offered a sandwich, we politely declined. We will eat again at breakfast time

[Stanley]

I only had a small slice of a pork pie for dinner as I knew I would be having a big meal in the early afternoon. Susan did a full roast dinner but with just half a Turkey Breast. It was all splendid! I needed nothing else for tea!