Tuesday preview of the week to come

Gosh, where did the last week go?  We don't try to have the days fly past - but they do - and seemingly quicker and quicker as I get older!  Makes me wonder if perhaps one reaches an age where the days begin to slow down, or if they just continue to disappear at the rate of knots.  

So. I've yet to post about the Pot Roast Chicken, which is largely because it forms the bulk of the post I have written for the Bournemouth Echo's "Taste" supplement, so I'll post to here once they have released it.  Suffice to say it was something of a revelation, but you'll just have to wait to discover why.

For the coming week, I was primarily concerned with price.  We're still feeling the pinch from the disruption to our cash flow and consequently we're pedalling hard to catch up.  Spending over the budget on food is definitely not on the agenda at the moment.  In fact, the closer I can get the Tuesday shopping to £40, the happier I'll be.  Today's shopping came to £45, so we almost hit the target.

£5.25 per 1kg
The thing is, they aren't even
nice!

You won't find any recipes involving king prawns, or beef, or lamb or any loveliness like that - in fact, you won't find any frozen chicken involved in our menu either.  Have you seen the price it has suddenly shot up to?  We were shocked - and our Chicken Curry was abandoned which led to a spur of the moment choice which I'm sure the boys will be happy with, but leaves a bit to be desired where both nutrition and gastronomy are concerned.  In fact, all the meals where Hubby is cooking, appear to be "straight from the freezer" meals which are certainly cheap, but that's about where it finishes.  I understand why we have chosen these meals and I know that we have little choice in the matter right now, but it is disappointing when you're trying to steer clear of processed meats and high fat foods.  I can only think that we're going to have to buy a whole fresh chicken and joint it up - which bizarrely, was cheaper!

So, the week to come is looking like this :

Home made chicken pie, with illicit yorkies and, right to left
at back - swede & carrot mash, plus broccoli and peas.

Tuesday : home made Chicken Pie with mashed carrot & swede, plus peas and broccoli.

The chicken for this pie is the other half of the pot roast chicken.  I thought it would be interesting to see how the leftover chicken reacted to a) being cold and b) being heated again by being put in a pie.  I can confirm that, as cold chicken, it was deliciously moist and would have been completely divine in a Coronation Chicken, or a humungous chicken salad.  Once heated and put in the pie, it had none of the "leftovers" taste of roast chicken, but was deliciously flavoured by the stock it had been cooked in - which I used to make the gravy for the pie.  So that is all good!

I absolutely love mashed carrot & swede - particularly when the carrots are sweet.  Mashed with a little butter and a lot of black pepper, it is just so rewarding to eat.  Because of the pastry involved in the pie, I wasn't going to bother with any other form of carbohydrate so no potatoes, however some leftover pre-made Yorkshire Puddings just happened to creep in.  ~Looks hard at hubby~  The carrot & swede, plus broccoli and peas were ample, but the yorkies were nice to have anyway. The only point I felt needed work was the gravy within the pie, which became much more liquid as the pie cooked.  I'll have to make sure the gravy is a lot thicker, next time!

Note "real meat" sign
What else would they be?
~shudder~

Wednesday : Meatballs with parsnip, carrot, peas & broccoli in a giant Yorkshire Pudding.

Yes, it's yorkshire pudding again.  Don't ask me how, but we've wound up with the stuff on the menu twice - and with the extra-curricular yorkies in Tuesday's dinner making three times, I suspect we'll just have to avoid it for a while hereafter!

The meatballs are the pre-prepared Swedish Meatballs, which are on special offer at the moment, at £1 a pack.  The vegetables are all the leftovers from other meals, so we didn't have to buy any specifically for this meal.  For all that they smell disgusting, the Swedish Meatballs hold a place in my heart as they were the only thing that my little dog Ginny would eat, following some surgery many years ago.  They brought her back from the dead, and for that I will always be grateful to them.  However, I wouldn't want to experience them on the menu too often - there had to be a reason why dogs like them so much!

Thursday : Fish in breadcrumbs, potato waffles and peas.

Call this a D.I.Y. fish & chips.  Well, it uses up the six waffles we've got lurking in the fridge!

Picture from Good Food Channel
Bet mine won't look like that!

Friday : Sausages with Pasta Ratatouille Bake.

Now this is a new one.  No, not the sausages - they're old friends.  Incidentally, we've discovered that we can no longer stomach Asda sausages and have defected to Sainsbury's.  Sainsbury's common-or-garden sausages aren't the best by a long chalk, but they're still streets ahead of the hard, tasting of bicarb and not a lot else, miserable offerings from Asda.

The Pasta Ratatouille Bake is one of the Good Food Channel's recipes.  It involves lovely things like fresh tomatoes, courgettes, broad beans and oodles of parmesan cheese - so we'll be getting some of our five-a-day.  Here's hoping it turns out as nice as it sounds!

Saturday : Kabanos Pasta & Garlic Bread.

This one is an interesting recipe that I really don't know how it will come out.  The Kabanos are Polish sausages somewhere inbetween Chorizo and Kielbasa.  I've bought the authentic Polish versions of them (our Asda stocks a number of authentic Polish ingredients) and, as the recipe includes tomatoes, garlic, chilli flakes with single cream and parmesan, it will be a bit of a leap of faith!

Incidentally, in case you're wondering about the Parmesan - knowing that it is normally quite pricey - we've discovered that Asda sell a small block for some £2.25 which will usually last around four to five servings.  If you divide that into the price - it doesn't turn out too bad.  Well, not when you consider the return you get in flavour!

Sunday : Toad in the hole, carrots, swede, green beans and peas.

Yes, here comes the old yorkshire pudding again.  *sigh*  I really must try not to do this again in future!  Still, this one will be home-made - and if you knew how hard I have tried to make a decent yorkshire pudding that rises how it's supposed to, tastes good and doesn't languish like a thick coating of latex, you'd be wishing me good luck with it!

I'm quite determined that ONE DAY, I'll be able to produce a yorkshire pudding that a Yorkshire housewife would be proud of.  I've even bought a new roasting tin, especially for the job.

Monday : Chicken Portions with vegetable rice.

These are the spur-of-the-moment fallback position from the Chicken Curry that didn't happen owing to price.  I can't actually remember which flavours Hubby picked up - but they are the "in breadcrumbs, munched up and stuck back together again" chicken portions, rather than pieces of "real" chicken.  While they are okay, I'll be secretly looking forward to the vegetable rice.  But ssshhhhh - don't tell anyone!  *chuckle*