What's in your cupboard?
You know what kind of a day it's going to be when you wake up to bright sunshine, set off to work with a smile on your face, turn a corner and see a mummy sparrow feeding a baby sparrow in the middle of the road, you swerve slightly towards the kerb to make sure you don't disturb them, when a car races past on the other side, scaring the birds who fly under your car. You wince, you whimper and when you look into your rear mirror all you can see is two flat, brown splots on the road behind you....yes that was the start of my day.
My mood mildly picked up when I drove past The Sun Inn in Eastwood to discover their new "special" a roast dinner served in a rectangular Yorkshire pudding, the Yorkshire pudding is the plate!...whatever next!
I stopped off at the Tesco Express to pick up the paper, the Vulcan story is still not in, they are still too busy talking about a Cheryl and Ashley reunion to worry about the Vulcan, who is currently grounded when she should be in Yeovilton. Engine number 2 has malfunctioned, thankfully something that happened on the ground and not in the air!
While there, my thoughts turned to the chicken thighs in the fridge at home and what I could do with them for tea this evening, I picked up some flour tortillas thinking possibly enchiladas or fajitas, neither of which I've made before and as a standby I bought some cashew nuts and some dried apricots.
Tonight was Lauren's night for Star Wars Club (the headmistress is a fan apparently!), so I nipped home to catch up on some cleaning, packed Lauren half a packed tea, Ma had a salmon sandwich waiting, picked up Lauren, went to visit Ma and Danda. Then back home for a Skype chat with Nanny and Dandan in Spain and a quick hello to Paula and Ray who are visiting. All this meant that by the time it was time for tea, I wanted quick and not creative, so we resorted to an M&S Tikka Masala sauce, tasty but not hot, good as a stand by if you have someone who is not a big curry fan or children who don't like "hot & spicy". I could've pepped it up with some dried chilli's or chilli powder.
So I thought instead of a recipe for today I would share a couple of new things and talk about standbys.
Standby's - Organising your food
You've probably noticed that I don't do much planning when it comes to cooking, and the secret to pulling something out of the hat at short notice is in keeping staple foods such as the following in. I don't always have all of these things all of the time and of course I do vary what I buy every week
In the freezer chicken breasts for curries and stir fries, chicken thighs for casseroles, curries, tagines, salmon fillets, beef mince for chilli's and bolognese or a ragu.
In the cupboard - tinned tomatoes and tomato purées - a good base for sauces and salsas, casseroles, curries. Always keep the dregs of red and white wine - not for too long but they are useful for pepping up a bolognese, or a casserole, gravies or sauces. Keep a wide range of dried herbs and spices, they can help you to be really versatile. Always have some rice, pasta and noodles. A selection of stock cubes or tins or pouches. A range of flours.
In the fridge - I try to buy garlic, onions, peppers, mushrooms and courgettes. I keep a lump of cheddar and a piece of Parmesan and some butter and margarine and of course I always have eggs. A pack of bacon.
There are so many amazing plates of food you can make out of just these basic ingredients, even if 5 minutes before you get in the door you have no idea what to make. Add to these other bits of shopping you may have in - some salad, vegetables or potatoes and the world is your oyster.
There's nothing to say that you can't buy something special, or plan a meal when you want to, but if you lead a busy, unpredictable life then standby's can ensure that you don't spend your life eating pot noodle and microwave meals.
And finally.....something new
For those of you who were asking these are the new OXO cubes I mentioned. I use the Indian one to flavour basmati rice and the Italian one in pasta, or instead of beef stock in a mince based sauce for pasta.
When I was in M&S this week I noticed the following from a new range - there are about 12 different flavours and they were all half price as a special introductory offer, I picked up these four as they looked interesting and will report back when I use them
Happy cooking - keep sending me comments if you have tried any of the recipes or if you have any feedback. Let me know if there's anything you want me to talk about.
My mood mildly picked up when I drove past The Sun Inn in Eastwood to discover their new "special" a roast dinner served in a rectangular Yorkshire pudding, the Yorkshire pudding is the plate!...whatever next!
I stopped off at the Tesco Express to pick up the paper, the Vulcan story is still not in, they are still too busy talking about a Cheryl and Ashley reunion to worry about the Vulcan, who is currently grounded when she should be in Yeovilton. Engine number 2 has malfunctioned, thankfully something that happened on the ground and not in the air!
While there, my thoughts turned to the chicken thighs in the fridge at home and what I could do with them for tea this evening, I picked up some flour tortillas thinking possibly enchiladas or fajitas, neither of which I've made before and as a standby I bought some cashew nuts and some dried apricots.
Tonight was Lauren's night for Star Wars Club (the headmistress is a fan apparently!), so I nipped home to catch up on some cleaning, packed Lauren half a packed tea, Ma had a salmon sandwich waiting, picked up Lauren, went to visit Ma and Danda. Then back home for a Skype chat with Nanny and Dandan in Spain and a quick hello to Paula and Ray who are visiting. All this meant that by the time it was time for tea, I wanted quick and not creative, so we resorted to an M&S Tikka Masala sauce, tasty but not hot, good as a stand by if you have someone who is not a big curry fan or children who don't like "hot & spicy". I could've pepped it up with some dried chilli's or chilli powder.
So I thought instead of a recipe for today I would share a couple of new things and talk about standbys.
Standby's - Organising your food
You've probably noticed that I don't do much planning when it comes to cooking, and the secret to pulling something out of the hat at short notice is in keeping staple foods such as the following in. I don't always have all of these things all of the time and of course I do vary what I buy every week
In the freezer chicken breasts for curries and stir fries, chicken thighs for casseroles, curries, tagines, salmon fillets, beef mince for chilli's and bolognese or a ragu.
In the cupboard - tinned tomatoes and tomato purées - a good base for sauces and salsas, casseroles, curries. Always keep the dregs of red and white wine - not for too long but they are useful for pepping up a bolognese, or a casserole, gravies or sauces. Keep a wide range of dried herbs and spices, they can help you to be really versatile. Always have some rice, pasta and noodles. A selection of stock cubes or tins or pouches. A range of flours.
In the fridge - I try to buy garlic, onions, peppers, mushrooms and courgettes. I keep a lump of cheddar and a piece of Parmesan and some butter and margarine and of course I always have eggs. A pack of bacon.
There are so many amazing plates of food you can make out of just these basic ingredients, even if 5 minutes before you get in the door you have no idea what to make. Add to these other bits of shopping you may have in - some salad, vegetables or potatoes and the world is your oyster.
There's nothing to say that you can't buy something special, or plan a meal when you want to, but if you lead a busy, unpredictable life then standby's can ensure that you don't spend your life eating pot noodle and microwave meals.
And finally.....something new
For those of you who were asking these are the new OXO cubes I mentioned. I use the Indian one to flavour basmati rice and the Italian one in pasta, or instead of beef stock in a mince based sauce for pasta.
When I was in M&S this week I noticed the following from a new range - there are about 12 different flavours and they were all half price as a special introductory offer, I picked up these four as they looked interesting and will report back when I use them
Happy cooking - keep sending me comments if you have tried any of the recipes or if you have any feedback. Let me know if there's anything you want me to talk about.
We were advised by an Indian friend that the pastes are better to use than the sauces. The M&S jars look good.
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