Alan and Eric, A Recipe ... and Spot the Difference - the Food Cupboard Challenge

 I was looking through June photos and found that there were lots that I hadn't shared with you.  I thought this one in particular needed sharing, as I love it so much.

Just us on a nice early morning out with the dogs in Morecambe.  Because it was so early there wasn't the usual queue of people waiting to have their photo taken with Eric Morecambe on the promenade.  So we thought that for once we would be tourists in our own neck of the woods.

Sadly the dogs won't face forward if it's not me taking the picture!!

3rd June

For my own benefit ... and for you if you like to play Spot the Difference.

6th July.

There's not a huge amount of difference, but doing this is stopping me from shopping for cupboard items as I know exactly what I have in.  This challenge has also highlighted to me that at the moment I tend to eat mainly from the fridge and buy replacements for the fridge over and over.  It's proving to be a good long term experiment.

Of course there is a lot more food in the bottom cupboard as well, and in the past week or so I am starting to dip into it for things that I no longer have in the top cupboard.

The two missing cans of chopped tomatoes were used in this pan of Roasted Vegetable and Tomato soup that I made as this weeks bulk cook.

I just roasted all the vegetables that were in the bottom of the fridge drawer when we got back after our weekend away.  Just for half an hour in the oven, while they were roasting I sautéed an onion for a few minutes with some garlic from the freezer, added two tins of chopped tomatoes and then tipped the vegetables into the pan and gave it all a good whizz up.  I like my soups relatively smooth, so this is my preferred way to do it.

I had one bowlful straight away for my lunch, we had one portion between us as a starter with some garlic bread last night and the remaining jars of soup are now in the freezer.

Sue xx

Leftover Mash?

 

I was watching some YouTube videos the other day, as I tend to do in the mornings while I slowly waken up clutching a cup of coffee or two, when I came across a few from Wicked Kitchen, one in particular caught my attention.

Unfortunately it won't let me share the video on here with a picture as it is a 'short'.  But here is the link:

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZMoFshzyY_E?feature=share

I immediately thought of the two tubs of leftover mashed potato that I had in the fridge.

I grated a block of my Applewood cheese, while my 2/3 of a sheet of ready rolled pastry from the fridge came to room temperature and then set about making the Mashed Potato Wellington.

It was really simple, a good pile of mashed potato on top of the pastry, sprinkled with some of the cheese, a drizzle of  baked beans down the centre and a little bit more of the potato on top, just so that the 'bean juice' wasn't in contact with the pastry too much.  I folded the sides over and the ends in, sticking them together with a quick brush of water and then popped it into my fan oven which was now pre-heated to 180 degrees.

Half an hour later and it was ready.  

I just had two slices of it for my lunch along with a small salad, and the rest of it went into the fridge along with ...

... leftover beans, leftover cheese and more leftover mashed potatoes.

And the leftover mashed potato wellington was eaten the next day just as it was, with a dollop of mayonnaise added to the plate, and if anything it was even more delicious.

No wonder my food lasts me so long, I seem to live on leftovers!!  😀

Sue xx

Spicy Breakfast, Recipe, then Cakey Breakfast

 

It was an unusual breakfast yesterday morning, I just wasn't in the mood for anything remotely breakfast-y ... and anyway who says that breakfasts have to be toast or cereal!!

Why not have a spicy start to the day.

Sorry for the blurry photo, I must have moved as I snapped. 

 I decided mid morning to use up my last two disgracefully black and overripe bananas to make some Banana Bread.  The recipe also used up the last of the eggs and the last of my white sugar from the jar,  I had to top it up with some demerara sugar to get to the right weight.  This was a huge success by the way, the crunch and flavour it gave to the bread was wonderful.

My Banana Bread

140g softened butter

140g sugar

2 beaten eggs

140g self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

2 very ripe bananas, mashed

1tsp vanilla extract

Cream together the butter and sugar and then add everything else to the bowl and give it a really good mix.  Divide the mixture between two greased or lined 1lb loaf tins, or you can make one large loaf but this will take longer to cook and doesn't have as much gloriously crunchy edge-to-cake ratio.  

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 160 degrees for about 40 minutes.  Check after 20 or so minutes as you might need to cover the top with some foil to stop it browning too much.  I always have to do this.

My two cakes cooling on a wire tray.

Do try to let them cool almost completely before eating a piece, as they are very crumbly at first and difficult to slice.

I always cut the pieces of foil large enough so that I can use them again for something else and then fold them to sit neatly on top of the cakes.

This is delicious as it is with a nice cup of coffee,  or it can be served with custard, ice-cream or cream, or ... and in my opinion the best way ... spread thickly with butter.  

Guess what I'll be having for breakfast for the next couple of days?  

Well it's not having cake for breakfast if it's called Banana Bread now is it.  😁

Sue xx

Just a note:  I have noticed a lot of my comments on other people's blogs vanishing almost as soon as I make them, and even on my own blog occasionally ... so do check your Spam boxes for comments again if you think you haven't heard from me recently.   I am also finding a lot of peoples comments are ending up in mine too and I have been retrieving some most days.  Blogger is a pain!!

Blogmas Day Thirteen - Jugs, Radishes and a Pasta Bake

 

Today's Advent calendar offerings are my little Emma Bridgewater jug, a packet of radish seeds and some lovely dark jam.

My gorgeous little jug will go near the top of the tree in pride of place.

It's been so cold that I've not been fancying salad at all , so two whole packs of tomatoes were still in the fridge from a couple of weeks ago.  Last night I decided to roast them along with the oldest of the onions and a couple of garlic cloves from the freezer and make myself a nice warming pasta bake for my tea.

After forty minutes in the oven I tipped them into my Nutribullet cup and whizzed the lovely tomatoey, garlicky mixture up and poured it over some dry pasta along with some frozen spinach pellets and another cup of water

Half an hour later I had a gorgeous pasta bake and some garlic bread, with enough over to be able to repeat the meal tomorrow.  So garlicky and so tasty.

Sue xx

Ration Challenge 2022 - Day Five - Not Moaning Honest!!

 

Breakfast - Spicy Rice and Dahl.

Today has been my worst day mind-wise all week, talk about feeling fuzzy.  It's been very hot and there's been a Rowntree's stripey ice lolly calling my name all day from the freezer.  At one point I thought about putting him out on the patio to melt to death ...  but I resisted.  He's still in the freezer the little b**tard!!

I kept myself busy, putting up net curtains, watering the garden ... now that was a pointless exercise considering that we've just had a thunderstorm ... and cleaning.

I thought I would have a tasty a lunch as I could make.

Spicy rice, with kidney beans and spring onions and the leftover falafel from yesterday.  It worked for a while and I felt full and satiated.

But then I started drooping again and I decided that the time had come for my second cup of coffee of the week.  I have enough left for one more cup or two half cups, as long as I don't mind it a bit weaker than usual.

I wont mind!!

I had switched the planned lunch and tea meals from my menu around as come lunch time I realised I hadn't cooked the lentils to make my Lentil and Bean Burgers.

A panful of mush, but tasty mush.

I got the burgers in the pan and realised that the photo shows what food I have left on the tray ...

... so I took another photo showing what's left in the fridge.

Oh, and there's three spring onions left too.

The burgers when they were cooked.  I simply had one of these with a large glass of water for my tea and then that was it ... day five over and done with.

I've been going to bed pretty early and falling asleep easily, and if it hadn't been for the dogs and Ginger waking me up at the crack of dawn every day this week while Alan has been down South at work, I think I would have gotten much more sleep this week, something that I think I am really needing at the moment.

Tomorrow is another day, the penultimate day of the Ration Challenge.  Thank you so much to everyone who is supporting me and who has donated their money to this worthwhile cause.

My fundraising page is HERE.

Sorry, I have no more words left in my head.

Sue xx

Ration Challenge 2022 - Day Four - When your Food Gets Stuck in the Plughole!!

 

Well it was only one chickpea ... but it still elicited an 'Oh no!' when I saw it.

I was tempted to pop it into my mouth because it was cooked, and very well rinsed, but Mavis was stood next to me so she got it instead.  The dogs have not had any leftovers this week, there haven't been any!!

Breakfast was Paprika Rice and Dahl and pretty tasty although the paprika flavour was very mild, and salt and pepper was needed to make it a little bit more tasty.  The other portion of rice was left to cool and will be added to my tea if needed and be in the fridge ready for breakfast tomorrow.

Just before lunch I got out my Falafel recipe and got the ingredients ready to make it.

Not that there were many ingredients!!

I did add half of my remaining garlic to the dish to ramp up the flavour a little bit more.

Once again I decided to make both the flour products together to save time and mess later.  I'm fast running out of energy.  This was as near to 100g as I could get it.

The larger ball will be for my teatime pizza and the two smaller balls were for flatbreads to go with my lunch.

Lunch - Two flatbreads, three falafels and a good dollop of hummus. 

 Gosh it was filling, I'm glad I decided to save one of the falafels for another day, if it has been on my plate I might have eaten it just because they were so tasty.

My tea was delicious and I could have eaten it four times over.  It was just a simple flatbread pizza cooked in the pan to save putting the oven on. Topped with hummus, red kidney beans and a finely chopped spring onion.  Another recipe that I will be repeating in non-ration times.

Day Four is traditionally known as a tough day for the participants of the Ration Challenge, this morning we all got this email.  Which puts our four days into perspective!!

https://youtu.be/jyck3pmAPwY

Thank you for all your donations, together we are at least making sure that they have food and some of the help that they need.

Sue xx

Ration Challenge 2022 - Day Three

I started my day as usual with a cup of hot water and then two hours later after washing my hair and then walking the dogs I had breakfast.  It was nice having the component parts already made and in the fridge, all I had to do was make a bit of space in the dish that the rice was is and tip one of the little pots of dahl into the space.  Three minutes later breakfast was cooked.

A Ration Challenge ready meal. 😁

I looked at the menu and realised that I needed two lots of floury items today so I decided to make up 100g of flour, salt and water and start the prep for both of them.

I wasn't all that hungry so I divided the dough into two thirds and a third.

First I rolled out the larger piece and cut my tagliatelle strips ready for teatime.  As you can see the little end pieces were not wasted but balled up together to add to my lunch.

I wiped down a coat hanger, and then using the edge of the knife to pick up half of the pasta strips at a time I draped them over the bar, and they stayed like this all afternoon to dry out.

Now it was time to start on lunch, one nice thin large flatbread and one teeny tiny offcuts one.

Which cooked nice and quickly all on it's own in the pan.

Lunch for day three was a lovely crispy flatbread and my little dish of Kidney Bean Pâté, with a glass of ice cold water straight from the fridge ... something I doubt a refugee gets to enjoy. 😟 

I remembered to soak my chickpeas overnight last night, thanks mainly to my menu being stuck on the side of the fridge, I do find that I am referring to it a lot to keep me on track.  So this morning while I got on with other things I cooked them for an hour.  Even though I knew I wouldn't be eating the hummus I was going to make with them until tomorrow,  I wanted to use the remnants of the hummus left in the Nutribullet cup to make the basis of the sauce to go with my pasta for tea.

I decided to use 100g of the cooked chickpeas for the hummus ...

... and followed this very basic recipe.

The crossed out words are 2tbs of Peanut Butter ...I gave my peanut butter away!!

The hummus went into a tub to go into the fridge and the rinsed out Nutribullet cup went into the fridge as well for later

And here is my tea ... Pasta, with Hummus and Spring Onion Sauce.  

 It was very filling, a lot more so than it looks like it was going to be.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has donated to this worthwhile cause.  The last four donations were all matched pound for pound by another mystery Ration Challenge benefactor, and have made a big difference to my fundraising total.  THANK YOU.  💖

Sue xx