Saturday 28 February 2015

Day twenty eight - Saturday 28th Feb

Well, well well. Here we are - a whole month and many blog posts later. It's been emotional people.

Before we get into my thoughts on the whole thing lets just get tonight out of the way; we could have gone for either a proper blow out or a super frugal finale but in the end, I decided to go a third way, with a premium dinner in. As a family we don't eat enough fish, in fact as a country we don't eat enough fish but one of our absolute favourite family meals are mussels. They're very sustainable and stuffed with good stuff so they should be top of our food agenda but we don't get to eat them as much as we would like because, let's face it, they are pretty pricey. We all love mussels but none of us more than The Child who has developed a literal killer instinct when she suspects they might be available of an evening.

So tonight, as we faced the end of the challenge with a substantial cushion for the weeks finances (almost £30 left - enough for that monthly take away treat), I splashed out on some lovely moules and a decent bottle of plonk. There are some things in life which are worth the money and I hope you've picked up a few as we've gone through the past twenty eight days. For me, there is no question that spending that bit extra on good quality salt, pasta and wine then putting in the time to make some other essentials such as stock or a cheese sauce yourself, benefits more than just your bank balance. Confidence reduces fear and increases willingness to try new things, all of which is essential for enjoying one of the main activities in your life.

Anyway I digress, I've cooked mussels in many different ways but I keep coming back to a simple mariniere. If anyone knows me at all, they know that simple is best and against all expectations, the French got this one bang on: as many onions as you can scrape together, finely chopped garlic and wine - oh and don't forget some good bread to dunk. If you start with quality, you get quality. Don't forget to clean your mussels and the golden rule: 'if it's open when raw then show it the door and if it's still closed when cooked then don't eat it.'



That there is a good night in.


The base - what could be easier??!


A bowl of salad completes the table alongside a couple more glasses of vino. Normally, samphire is the only natural accompaniment for this most delicious fishy feast, but sadly the supermarket shelves were bare!  We fed four again tonight but The Child was feeling very put out when she only managed two bowlfuls. 

So, this is what you want to know: What did we discover over the past four weeks? Well, one thing is clear; without any doubt in my mind, we had enough money to eat well over this month.  So, to the lady on the TV who started this whole thing, we say No!  You are wrong!  You can eat perfectly healthily on benefits and your daughter is obese because of what you choose to prioritise.  In fact, we had more than enough money and food because over the past 28 days we have had a guest at our main meal of the day for 21 of them. Yep, you read that correctly, for 21 of 28 dinners our food had to stretch to at least one extra setting - things don't come easy in this house let me tell you. But we certainly didn't dredge the bottom of the budget frozen supermarket barrel. We still bought decent free range meat, and got some brands when I thought they were worth it. However, it did take a whole day of the weekend to plan and buy for the following week. That's time which is difficult for us to give on an on-going basis with a full time job, but if it's time that is the deciding factor between health or fattyness, then perhaps for people who find themselves in the position that they are in receipt of such benefits, it isn't time that is the issue. 

Do I think we should cut benefits then? Well, that's problematic. If I thought it would tackle the issues then maybe, but actually the realisation that has been bestowed upon me is that it all starts much earlier than that. Because we're not cooking at home or at school, there is loss of recognition of how to do it or why it's important. Kids are being thrown images of healthy lifestyles but their reality is simply so far from achieving that - I'm just not sure we give them any viable middle road to aspire to? If you don't know how to boil an egg by the time you're sixteen, the kitchen becomes a totally unnecessary addition to the home. Eating is something that you do several times a day - why the hell don't we recognise the danger that eating badly can have on our physical, psychological and emotional lives and then teach ourselves how to stop it?

Our average weekly budget came in at just under £54 and if we hadn't had tonights extras, then we would have achieved £49.51 per week. You don't need to be Stephen Hawking to realise that there is some flexibility in there. People - you can all eat anything you want. There are so many eatables in the world that are tasty that it's impossible to fit them all in to one belly, but please, please, please just promise me this; don't eat too much of one thing. Too many crisps are not good for you. Too many sweets are not good for you.  Processed food is designed to be tasty - but its not good for you and besides which, do you know what's in it?! Too much of anything is not good for you, so just do me a favour and mix it up, change your flavours and expectations, embrace variety (and even the stove from time to time???)  and you'll be all the better for it. Just as I learned this month, a little education can change your life. Peace out and I'll see you on the flip side.

Friday 27 February 2015

Day twenty seven - Friday 27th Feb

Friday. Suddenly, I realised today that we are within touching distance of finishing this thing! One more day to go and the challenge will be complete, it will certainly have impacted me in several ways. Some views have changed, while others have solidified but I'm really glad I followed through with this social experience. This week I believe I showed that you really can eat well and still give yourself the potential for some of those luxuries that you like. You can't have everything, that's for sure, but that does make those nuggets of indulgence even more special.

Tomorrow we have to decide if we're going to blow the rest of the weeks budget (we still have just under £30 left!) on a single meal, or hold it all in for just one more day - you'll have to wait to find out. Tonight, we kept things on track with chicken noodle soup. The stock we made up from the chicken bones and veg all boiled up and left to cool. If any of you are at all mystified by the process of stock, it really is dead easy and I can't stress how tasty it is when compared to your standard cube. 


First separate the meat from the bones of whatever you had that day - in this case, chicken.



Then, re-roast the bones in a pan for half an hour to 45 mins. I got this tip from Heston Blumenthal and while it is a bit of extra faff, it's well worth it.


Get yourself a big pot of water on the boil with any root veg you've got to hand. Carrot, onion and celery as a starter but just avoid potatoes or anything too starchy and you'll be golden.


And after at least 2 hours this is what you end up with; aromatic chicken water. True, it doesn't sound appetising but trust me, it will zing you up. Just make sure you strain the stock and mash the remaining sieved bits up to remove as much moisture as possible. I leave mine in the pot to cool, sometimes even overnight before straining. Then you really get the flavour benefit.

I stick mine in the fridge if I'm likely to use in within a few days or straight into the freezer if not. It's supposed to go a bit gelatinous so don't worry about that, once you heat it back up it will be lovely, plus it makes it much easier to skim the fat off the top.

So for a very quick soup - just chop up some carrot, spring onion, chicken and ginger. Heat some of your lovely stock and throw in your veg along side a stick of lemon grass.



Then, when you're ready to go, tip in your instant noodles, sprinkle torn coriander over the top and some Chilli if you're feeling fruity enough and away you go. In the bowl and ready within 15 mins. Which is just as well because after dinner, we were visited by some good friends who would not have appreciated it if we had to spend the first hour cleaning up behind us. We did however, have to make them a promise that the next time they came over it has to be a takeaway!!



This has to be one of the cheapest, easiest and yet tastiest meals we've done.  The kids love the noodles and teaching them how to eat with chop-sticks is a great head start for when the revolution happens. Always be prepared Comrades!



Thursday 26 February 2015

Day twenty six - Thursday 26th Feb

So, apparently my *ahem* adoring public (that's you lot), have decided that I've been lax this week and I should man up, grow a pair and make sure you all have a laugh before bedtime every day. Well, as I write this instead of spending quality time with my wife, I hope you are all happy*.

Another day in this final week, meant I was up and out before 7am leaving Mrs P and The Child demolishing a bowl of cereal. As I was at a work exhibition all day I was provided a sandwich (Subway chicken teriyaki plus salad to be precise) while Mrs P decided she was feeling poorly by 11ish and so lunch was the last thing on her mind.

Tea was the rest of that lasagne from last week: Not pretty (are leftovers ever pretty?**), but again tasted good - benefiting from the time for the flavours to mingle.




But because Mrs P wasn't on her game I managed to secure a small second helping.




I have to say big shout outs go to my mate Lu today who doorstepped me at work and who seemed as surprised as I was to see her in Birmingham whilst talking to random strangers about the price of plastic and the problems associated with hot filling a run welded sachet, oh yeah, that's the way I roll.

All this means that we are marching with increasing but uninspiring dramatic tension towards the end of the month. I have to say that this leftover week has been such a life saver!  Such a life enhancing experience in fact, that it may well make a repeat appearance in subsequent cash strapped times it has all the benefits a ready meal, but it's homemade and therefore healthier and much better in my book! 




*That's not true, it's sarcasm. Just to be clear, I hope you are all very unhappy about the situation.

**Apart from pretty tasty! lol***.

*** Also sarcasm.

Wednesday 25 February 2015

Day twenty five - Wednesday 25th Feb

Wow, am I glad we made this 'Second Dinner' week. Cheese and rice it's been a long week and we're not done yet. Cooking has come waaaaaay down the priority list in terms of 'things Rob has to concentrate on', and so my pre-planning has come to save me.

Last night the blog had to give for reasons of my sanity and to tell you the truth, you're not going to get much more out of me tonight. Throwing my time between travelling and some difficult meetings at work, as well as meetings in the evening, The Childs school and let's not forget extended family, all of which has pretty much done me in for the time being. Can we re-set please?

What I can remember of yesterday contained poo porridge for breakfast, cheese sandwiches (although Mrs P did manage to sneak a sarnie made with her fav bread which I suspect gave her some satisfaction with the day) followed by a carbonara made with the defrosted left over cheese sauce we made for the lasagne last week.

Chopped up bacon and mushrooms along side some cheese sauce and the remaining pasta gave us a meal in under 20 mins. Jamie 'Cock-a-ney' Oliver would be proud. 




Today was a measure of the same - jam toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch with a couple of apples to perk us up through the day (which at least gave us some natural sugar lift) and retrieving the Cottage Pie from the freezer gave us dinner with a minimal amount of fuss. These leftovers even managed to feed 4.  Yep, yet another extra adult for tea!  Good work. 




Man alive, I'm hoping that this week gets better.

Monday 23 February 2015

Day twenty three - Monday 23rd Feb

Everyone loves Mondays, right? Yeah - Mondays are great! Mondays mean five more fabulous days of work ahead of you, what's not to love?

To celebrate how amazing Mondays are, we started the week with a risotto, because why not? After Mrs P cracked on with hers, we tried to see if we could re-create the magic. She gave you the best masterclass so here is just a potted version: Two onions, in our case the last of the white and the end scrag of the red, softened in a bit of butter before adding the rice. Half of the remaining mushrooms chopped up small to help them go further then soaked in boiling water. This works best with dried ones but I thought there was no harm in giving it a go. Then add stock slowly made with stock cubes until the rice has soaked up the liquid and gone wonderfully stodgy - a sprinkle of salt to bring out the umami*. Chop and throw in half of the left over chicken, dribble over the very last drip of cream from the pot, pair with a bowl of salad and get your rice on.






Your eyes do not deceive you, yes the Chilli came out to play. And we still get lunch for tomorrow.



*What a fantastically ridiculous word 'umami' is. If you don't know what umami is but still want to impress people at parties try the following: "OMG, these canapés are just stuffed full of umami." Or, "Gosh Marion, you've really balanced the umami in this delightful Beef Wellington." Works every time, guaranteed.

Sunday 22 February 2015

Days twenty one and twenty two - 21st and 22nd Feb

The more observant of you may have noticed that when I posted the weekly meal plan last Sunday, there was no detail for tea on Saturday. Instead there was only mention of a mysterious birthday party. That birthday party went off last night and I was in a bit of a spot; clearly Mrs P had it in mind that birthday party meant 'meal out'. I, on the other hand, had my eyes on the prize. Another week to go and I was not about to sneak in a dinner out. So, after we had lunch (of nostalgia filled banana sandwiches) & packed The Child off to a sleepover we travelled up to a Derby hotel.  The only polite word I can use to describe Mrs P's reaction, when I pulled out the tupperware box with the remains of the chicken pie from Friday night along with two forks is 'surprised'. It didn't go down well so it's probably best to leave that there...

So, today is the day after the birthday party and having indulged in our fair share of alcohol, food was not enormously high on our agenda. We picked The Child up from our friends and came back so Mrs P could have 'a rest' back at home. I then managed to scrape together a sandwich for The Child before having  'a rest' myself and it wasn't until a couple of hours later that I managed to get back out of the house to go shopping. I was happy though because I had my secret weapon up my sleeve. Over the last three weeks I have been making large family meals and quite aside from the social benefits of eating together, this has allowed me to save up large portions of leftovers for future meals (this is where the freezer has been our friend!). Yes, I can reveal right here that my mission for this week is to re-use / finish off as many of our previous meals as possible. We've got:


Sunday
Breakfast - ummm, not ready for food (the local services were used to obtain necessary juice + water, plenty of water!)
Lunch - still not going to happen
Dinner - Roast chicken, bread and vinegar

Monday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - Sandwiches 
Dinner - Left over chicken

Tuesday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - Wrap
Dinner - Carbonara Pasta

Wednesday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - Sandwiches
Dinner - Lasagne

Thursday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - Wrap
Dinner - Chicken noodle soup

Friday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - salad/sandwich
Dinner - Cottage Pie

Saturday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - salad/sandwich
Dinner - Mussels

After a quick count up and bearing in mind that we came in under the budget last week  (by £7), one thing has become obvious. Unlike our normal beginning of the monthly shop when as we get closer to the end of the month the more stretched we feel and the tighter the purse strings are pulled, here, we are getting more available cash every week. To such an extent that all of a sudden we find ourselves with considerable choices. And we all know that more choice makes for more interesting meals and therefore a happier family. To be £30 under budget this week is a massive benefit for the household and absolutely gets me thinking about the conclusions I'm going to have at the end of this week.

We've just finished dinner for tonight and you may have noticed that our usual Roast Lunch had to be postponed for many very justifiable reasons! We needed those planned left overs for tomorrow and the chicken noodle soup later in the week, so it had to go into the oven but I had a brainwave. Budgeting in some comparative luxuries of balsamic vinegar and Mrs P's favourite fresh white loaf, I tried to win her over & make up for last nights cold pie in the hotel room incident, with a flash back to our courting days. Eating a straight from oven roast chicken, fresh bread with oil and vinegar as well as much salad as you can balance on top is something that in my opinion, is very hard to beat and I know is one of Mrs P's favourites.


Mrs P is happy.  I am happy.  Happy days!  

Friday 20 February 2015

Day twenty - Friday 20th Feb

Pies, pies, pies. Who doesn't love pies? Steak pies, fish pies, game pies or chicken pies. A few years ago, I got a whole book just of pies given to me by my Sister-in-law and Soon-to-be-brother-in-law. One half of whom, co-incidentally joined us for dinner tonight. So what should I serve up? That's right! A pie!

We had a day of visitors in and out with the M-I-L being swapped out for the S-I-L and kids coming and going. Brekkie and lunch contained no suprises but for dinner, I made up a chicken and tarragon pie. A quick trip out for some extra veg and then any excuse to make up a batch of pastry. But that pastry was a roller-coaster ride of emotion:

Making shortcrust pastry, Yay!

Rub 125g of cold butter into 200g of plain flour but discover you have no flour, Boo...  

Find the last 190g (that will do) of plain flour hidden in the bottom of the packet, Yay!

Try to mix in a medium egg, but open the egg box to see two empty shells, Boo...

Run down to the shop, get six more eggs, come back and mix one in, Yay!

Roll out the most anticipated pastry you've ever made to about 5mm thick and layer it over a pie dish containing the following:

De-boned, browned and chopped chicken thighs, cooked with sweated leek, onion and tarragon, a splash of cream and a sneaky ladle of chicken stock. Season with a small pinch of salt and a hefty whack of pepper before letting the sauce reduce a bit.



Give it an egg wash and sprinkle some flaky salt over the top for the real profesh look, then into the oven it goes at about 180 until the top is golden and irresistible. 

You can then steam the veg - ours was a reduced load of out-of-season asparagus and small stem broccoli - or like me, you can forget about the pan and totally over steam it whist chatting to the S-I-L. But it's not as if I blame her. I mean, who gets wound up about mushy, limp and flaccid asparagus??




Oh yeah, I also made crispy chicken skins. When I de-boned the chicken, I took the skin off and oiled, salted and roasted them off. There isn't much Mrs P won't do for a crispy chicken skin.



They look horrid don't they? When it's altogether though, it's a thin, crispy, salty beautiful revelation! Not the healthiest but when you have overcooked veg, you can afford a bit of luxury.




Thursday 19 February 2015

Day nineteen - Thursday 19th Feb

An interesting day in Rob's 'month of everyone knowing what I'm cooking' today. As well as additional children, we were joined today by Mrs P's mum for dinner, so extra mouths had to be accommodated. It's a great test because the ability to find extra from a budget in which every single meal has to be pre-planned will stretch anyone. But flexibility is key surely? How do you cope with these things? Firstly you need a bit of luck; when I went shopping on Sunday, I couldn't find any pork chops that gave me enough value so I didn't buy any. So when the M-I-L was confirmed, Mrs P and I had a conflab and came up with a new plan. There was however, a problem with what was already a potential problem. Inspired by Comic Relief does The Great British Bake off last night, Mrs P decided to bake up some salty caramel cup cakes. Now, as tasty a treat as they are (and you'll have to believe me when I say that they are very tasty), she managed to use up all my butter, marg and flour. I have spoken about my views on baking before but suffice to say, that I find it the least appealing type of cooking you can practice in a kitchen. Mrs P by contrast, loves it - so I can smell a future post in the making...! 




So, lunch had to be modular by design and there were some cheese on toasts going on along with the last of the tomato soup (the M-I-L got that one) while Mrs P had a peanut butter sandwich while I whipped up a transportable salad sandwich. Before you splutter with incredulity, yes, I said salad sandwich. It was actually surprisingly tasty. In a bowl mix up what ever salad you've got - the last of the cucumber, the last of the spinach and a couple of spring onions went into mine. A splash of white wine vinegar, a crack of salt and fresh pepper went into a sandwich made with buttered crusts. It wasn't the best lunch I've ever had but it really was miles better than your standard flaccid cheese-on-white. 

Then came dinner. A last minute dash to the shops to swap out the potential pork chops with pork shoulder. But then that had knock on effects; pork shoulder has to be cooked low and long, so a stew type dish would have to be constructed. I had a left over can of tomatoes in the cupboard so that could go in with some chunky onions and carrot, salt, pepper and a pinch of smoked paprika and we've got the basis of a good sauce. But what else do we have here? Mustard? Yes, good work, a good spoonful of mustard will perk this right up.

OK so, veg is fried off with a good sized clove of garlic, the meat is added and browned. Then the tomatoes go in to de-glaze the pan, fill up the can with water, swill it about to get all the tomatoey juice off the sides and in that goes as well. One chicken stock cube later and we're ready to rock and roll. In the oven for at least 90 minutes but longer if you can, at between 130 to 180 depending on how long you've got.




Try to peal some potatoes for the mash but remember that you used it all at the weekend, so go down to the shops at the last minute and buy another bag and some butter. Get back, then start the mash in a rush, steam the last bit of kale and serve with everyone enjoying nice big portions.




So a victory for luck? Perhaps.  But, I did have enough of the weekly budget in reserve just in case. The real winning strategy here is the understanding that food, just like a family, is by definition unpredictable and open to change. You just have to get the combinations right and you'll be happy with the result every time.

Wednesday 18 February 2015

Day eighteen - Wednesday 18th Feb

Everyone knows that Mrs P and I love simplicity. From dress sense to choice of toothbrush, simplicity is key in all the major decisions of our lives.

Today we fell back on those simple principles as we went from toast to another helping of tomato soup and then some super simple pasta for dinner. How simple? Well, how simple does butter, garlic and peppers sound? Pretty simple, I think we can all agree.


Throw some bacon in with the veg, butter and a load of garlic to cook down, grill the rest of the bacon until crunchy, then chop and sprinkle over the top for some salty crunch. I used linguine, because I love it, but spaghetti would work just as well. Serve with freshly cracked black pepper and love in your heart.


Tuesday 17 February 2015

Day seventeen - Tuesday 17th Feb

With half term in full swing, we've got kids a plenty in the house. Luckily, Mrs P has nothing better to do being on holiday for the week, so has been showing her Domestic Goddess persona by making sure everything is sorted and getting a taste of what it might be like to stay at home with loads of kids. I suspect she may get to like it a little too much...!

But to the food - today was Pancake Day! We had pancakes!




Perfect pancakes are all about practice. The recipe I use is simple and relies on you being able to count to 3. (1) 100g sieved plain flour  (2) 2 eggs and (3) 300ml of milk. Flex your whisking muscles and make sure all the flour is mixed in and Bob's your Aunties Uncle.





If I can give you one tip, it's not to get your pan too hot - use your big hob on half heat and quite frankly, I'll bet you get the hang of it after a couple of go's. Side note: I like sugar and lemon or maybe a bit of maple syrup. Mrs P and the child smear theirs with chocolate spread. Nutella may well perfect for many things but it will never defile my pancake.

At lunch, Mrs P and I had a separate diet, I had a business lunch (the classic sandwich, crisp and chicken-on-a-stick situation) due to an all day meeting, whereas Mrs P kept the dream alive with homemade soup, fruit and a bit of bread. Things got more difficult tonight because I had to host the guests who attended the meeting and take them out for dinner. We went to The Swan at Milton Keynes Village where I had slow cooked beef with roasted bone marrow and mash, whereas Mrs P enjoyed the Cottage Pie that was made over the weekend.



Unsurprisingly she wasn't too happy about the way that played out, but we knew I couldn't escape that part of my job for all of February and it just goes to remind me how awesome she is to take on my suggestion of this challenge even though she knew there would be days like this. She assures me that the pie went down an absolute storm though with empty plates all round. Although I wasn't with them, there were plenty of people eating so the portions were comparable and I'm really pleased with the amount of veg I squeezed into it. 




Fry off your trinity veg (carrot, onion and celery) for ten mins on a medium heat, then throw in your mince. I used 12% fat mince because 20% is just to much to take and 5% fat just doesn't give me the flavour. Add a whole chopped clove of garlic and when the mince is brown add a ladle of stock if you've got it or water if not. I add a beefy stock cube or two depending on how much you've made - I used two with 500g of mince. Turn the heat right down and let the whole thing simmer for at least 30 mins to get the flavours really going and add as many peas as you can handle. I also added sweetcorn because I had some from week one and it didn't look like it was going anywhere else. Meanwhile get your mash on the go and when the potato is soft, mash it up either classic (just butter, milk and salt) or perhaps go crazy with some cheese or horseradish. Not having access to enough or even any of either of those things I had to go for the original version this time around.

Put your mince in the dish and layer your potato on top. This can then go in the fridge for a couple of days or be frozen if you need it to keep for longer - I guarantee you it will always taste better after cooling and re-heating. Then back in the oven for 40 mins and Hello Dinner!



Monday 16 February 2015

Day sixteen - Monday 16th Feb

I was fed up today. Seriously, Mondays are rubbish. You've got another five days of work ahead of you plus all the stuff you should have done over the weekend but were too lazy to finish off. Which only makes you feel guilty, disappointed in yourself and generally impotent. You know what makes it worse though? Watching John Torode driving through Argentina generally living your childhood dream of being a cowboy and eating absurdly unhealthy amounts of beef on open fires. You might as well kill me now because clearly, life will never get any better than this surplus of oxygen wasting, time consuming and generally annoying examples of people whom you selfishly wish would suspiciously disappear so you could take their place like some kind of hellish Rob shaped Cuckoo.

Or is that just me? 

Mrs P and I ran a few cross lines today so the whole meal plan basically went out of the window. Breakfast was 'flexible', or in other words half a piece of toast on the run and lunch just didn't happen. For The Child, meals were via the altar of the fryer from one of those indoor play places. True it isn't in line with the experiment but these things happen - if anyone wants to argue, then they can invent a time machine and replay today before minding their own damn business.

To mitigate and speed up some nutritional intake tonight, I made some quick and dirty wraps with as many left overs as possible. Peppers, pork, spinach, guacamole and onion all went in with salt, cumin, paprika and a couple of spoonfuls of tomato soup (made yesterday) just to loosen things up a bit. This is the reason I love wraps, the whole thing took less that 20 mins to put together and I even managed to get me a whole, fresh chilli in there to bring a smile and some happiness to the evening. We had wraps left from our pack last week so they got filled and consumed in record time. Veg, both cooked and fresh filled up along side spicy pork bites all covered with a spritz of lime, yeah - that's better.  All is well with the world and we live to fight another day.







Postscript: Mrs P hasn't lasted more than an hour after dinner. She is currently *EDIT* looking gorgeous *EDIT* on the sofa with only a little bit of dribble on the cushion. Ah, bless. 




Sunday 15 February 2015

Day fifteen - Sunday 15th Feb

Sunday is Roast day! Roast pork was on the menu today and I managed to get hold of a decent cut of pork leg - for a fiver. Not bad at all.

A good lunch of roast veg, a whole bag of potatoes, kale and spinach (with decent gravy) fed not just us but also my sister in law and three more kids! Sad times arrived though in the form of a crackling disaster, I just couldn't repeat the heights of a couple of weeks ago. The consistency of crackling is something of a mystery and definitely a topic for future discussion.






FULL DISCLOSURE TIME!  My sister-in-law also brought one of the worlds greatest crumbles and two bottles of wine. Could I have said no? Sure but the kids would have cried, my sister-inlaw would have been angry with me and the whole day would have been rubbish. I therefore enjoyed the crumble with custard and a glass of wine. Yes, damn it I did!

DOUBLE FULL DISCLOSURE TIME! After my sister-in-law left, my brother arrived and said that he had just confirmed a massive promotion and could we got out to dinner to celebrate? Again, could I have said no? Yes but my brother would have cried etc etc. 

So to re-cap, we avoided dinner (which would have been left overs anyway) and also enjoyed our first glass of wine in two weeks as donated by my enormously kind sister-in-law. However, just to reassure you we still did loads of cooking! 

Cottage pie







and tomato soup




These should sort us out for the next few days.


Saturday 14 February 2015

Day fourteen - Saturday 14th Feb

Holy crap, it's Valentines Day! I know it's a a cliche but it's one that I truly believe is founded in reality; men, in general, do not plan for Valentines day. Birthdays? No problem. Christmas? Can't forget that one. Anniversary? Chances are good we'll put that in our phone calendar. But Valentines Day? Not a bloody chance. This is not an excuse.  We all know that despite differing expectations, two people must make allowances on occasion and this is one such occasion. Such a conclusion puts me at a distinct disadvantage as I had not a) planned a surprise or b) in fact planned anything. Mrs P is pretty easy going most of the time but one thing she does expect is a bit of effort every now and then. I therefore had a problem.

As you have no doubt seen from the shopping list, I had pretty much run out of cash for anything other than a Happy Meal at McDonalds and if I was to stay within the rules of the experiment and also deliver something that Mrs P would appreciate I had to get creative. First and foremost, I'm no quitter so I had to find some cash from somewhere and I decided to borrow it. This is not as controversial as it may seem because as this is Saturday and I would usually do my shopping for next week today, I decided to borrow the cash from the next seven days. Therefore the additional items will count against this week - it's not ideal and I agree that it is self-defeating in the long term if you keep doing it but life is full of these twists. It's how you deal with them that really matters. There can be no doubt that I've gone over for this week which I have to recognise, but then I would argue that it was done in a manageable way.

I feel quite positive actually because looking at the fridge I can see loads of potential and with the meal plan below I actually feel like we are getting more flexible towards the end of the month not less. The more we plan in those larger meals gives us more leftover/recycled meals later on which means less shopping and more flexibility.

Anyway, back to today - Breakfast was no great shakes - has anyone noticed that you can't really get bored with toast? Lunch was crispy risotto balls from earlier in the week and tasty they were too. Admittedly these don't look too much like balls but they tended to resist coming away from the bottom of the pan and we're not fussy!  They may not look pretty but they tasted... Great!




Dinner  was a series of very simple flavours all combined to a serious end result. Something special without spending a completely mental amount of cash? How does grilled lamb chops and rack of lamb with garlic, mash and spinach with pine nuts sound, followed by salted caramel popcorn pots? Yeah, that's the way we roll!






First we made up a crust - as we had a distinct lack of herbs we cooked off some spinach and blitzed it with salt/pepper, roasted garlic, the last bread roll, pine nuts, the last drops of juice from our lemon and a blob of butter. Then the rack of lamb was browned off at the top and the crust was layered on before going in the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

Some left over mash was heated up and the chops were studded with garlic and grilled. The pine nuts were toasted and added to the spinach when they had sweated down and we used the grill pan juices when the lamb was resting to make the gravy. We ended up surprisingly stuffed. One thing has become very apparent as we lie like beached whales on the sofa: we didn't need so much lamb!!!





Pudding started life as 2 parts double cream to one part milk, heated and infused with toffee popcorn before being strained out. Then cooled and mixed with a couple of sheets of gelatine. The caramel was mixed with sea salt to and the two were layered in a glass before being put in the fridge. I think it's fair to say that the desert was a game of two halves, on the one hand it was a soft, silky, popcorn flavoured hug on a spoon, and on the other the non dissolved pieces of gelatine reminded Mrs P of... well, let's just say that it reminded her of something very specific, and unpleasant. I've got to work on that.




Yeah, I put more popcorn on the top to make it look snazzy.  All in all a great tea... on the cheap.  BUT don't tell Mrs P that!  

On to the plan for next week: 

Sunday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - roast pork and trimmings
Dinner - leftovers/sandwiches

Monday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - Tomato soup and roll
Dinner - Left overs

Tuesday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - Wrap
Dinner - Cottage pie

Wednesday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - Soup and bread rolls
Dinner - Bacon, and garlic spaghetti

Thursday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - Wrap
Dinner - Pork chops, mash & veg

Friday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - salad/sandwich
Dinner - Mussels and samphire

Saturday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - salad/sandwich
Dinner - Birthday party!

 I'll update the shopping list tomorrow when I go and get everything but things should be OK. Even though it's half term and we're expecting additional kids at many, varied and unexpected times during the week, I'm generally optimistic at the above but time will tell!