Tackling Food Waste

One of my goals this year was to reduce food waste.  One of the downfalls of blogging, and being in cookbook club, is that I often buy ingredients of which I only need a small amount.  Add to this my penchants for stocking up when things are on sale and buying things well…just because.    As a result, my freezer and pantry are jam-packed and I sometimes forget about fresh produce in the fridge until it is too far gone to use.

Last year, I stole an idea off Jenny from Silver Screen Suppers and implemented a dairy shelf in my fridge.  All dairy items go onto it which means I can keep track of those items a bit better.  To twist the old phrase around “In sight, in mind”.

Recently I have also (maybe also inspired by Jenny???) implemented a “Use By Shelf” that contains the items that need to be used in the near future.  Again, I have found that keeping these items front of mind has helped me to ensure that they are used in a timely manner.

Fridge Shelves (1)

Fridge Freezer Pantry Week

My latest endeavour is Fridge, Freezer, Pantry week where one week a month I  minimise my shopping and cook as much as possible from items in….wait for it…my fridge, freezer and pantry.

Bet you never saw that one coming given the ambiguous name of the challenge!

My aim for this week is to only buy fresh fruit and vegetables.  Everything else has to come from you know where!

Here is how the first attempt at this went

Sunday Night – Baked Lobster!

Cos, you know, if you’re going to start something, start it with a bang!

  • I bought lobster tails at Christmas when they were on sale.  They came from the freezer.  Everything else came from the pantry.
  • The recipe called for fennel.  I didn’t have any.  Normally I would have bought some but this week?   I had some dill leftover from the potato bake so I used that instead.
  • I also subbed in Worchestershire sauce for the anchovy essence the recipe demanded.

This was an okay dish.  I think the white sauce dulled the flavour of the lobster a bit which prevented it from being a great dish. I would not make it again which is why I have not included the recipe.  If you want it, let me know.  I don’t know why you would but hey, you do you!

Baked Lobster1

Monday Night – South American Chicken and Rice

This was amazing!  Diana Henry’s from Oven to Table is our current Tasty Reads selection and so far every dish has been a winner.

This recipe used chicken from the freezer and rice and black beans from the pantry.  The only things I bought specially to make this was a punnet of cherry tomatoes and some chicken stock.

I did not use fresh peppers, I had some in a jar which I used instead.  There were also chillies and garlic in that jar so I added them in too.

There was a lot of this leftover and given I had the potato bake and some soup to eat for lunches I made little one-serving packages of this and popped in the freezer for future use.

South American Chicken

Tuesday night – Pizza

Earlier in the week Mum dropped off a heat and eat pizza.  Someone had given her two and we benefitted from her surplus.  I had film club that night so this was a perfect night for the Fussiest eater in the World to pop something in the oven whilst I chatted about the pros and cons of Revolutionary Road with my friends.

It was ok.  Not as good as pizza shop pizza but better than frozen / supermarket pizza.

Pizza

Wednesday – Bacon, Halloumi and Vegetable Pasties

A little while back I made the veggie pasties from Jamie Oliver’s Veg.  I had a LOT of the leftover vegetable mix so I  popped it in the freezer.  The halloumi and pastry also came from the freezer.

The bacon came from the use-by shelf. 😇

I bought nothing for this meal and it was delicious!!!!  Believe me, the picture does this no justice!

Pastie2

Thursday and Friday – Lamb and Cashew Curry

Oh.  Wow.  This was AMAZING!!!!

I used Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s Lamb and Cashew Curry for this.

I had to buy cashew nuts and coriander for this but it was worth every cent!  This was divine! The lamb was melt in the mouth tender and the cashew gravy was lick your plate clean good!

Lamb and Cashew Nut Curry (2)

Oh!   I intended to make some flatbreads for the curry but ended up just serving it with rice.  I bought some oat bran for the flatbreads which I did not end up using.   Grrrr.  😡

Saturday  – Squid, Chorizo and Chickpea Salad

Yay! I got to use those chickpeas on the Use By shelf!

I bought some oregano for this.  It was marked way down.  TBH though, I would have been happy with the leftover coriander from the curry.

Chorizo Salad

Oh lord, I dropped my recipe for this into the frying pan that had all the chorizo oil in it!  Luckily I was able to find it here!

My favorite dishes…I tried so hard to come up with just one but it really was a tie between the curry, the pasties and the South American Chicken Rice!

The Positives

  • Eating out of the fridge, freezer, and pantry created some amazing meals.  Having said that, I had a lot of things in those places that made it easy!
  • Pretty much everything on the use by shelf got eaten.
  • I spent WAY less  money than in a ” normal” week of shopping
  • I also feel I threw out fewer items than usual.
  • It was really fun to build my menus around the items that needed using!
  • Being conscious of not wasting anything also made me more proactive about ensuring that the leftover South American Chicken and the soup I was having for lunch were also frozen up for future use.

 

The Negatives

  • On Saturday morning I had to throw out an untouched bunch of broccolini which I could have used in the pasties.
  • We also threw out a whole cucumber, some ratty-looking chives and some bean sprouts
  • I now have pretty much a whole punnet of oregano to use, which even though it was bought highly reduced I have no further use for and which I don’t think really worked in the salad for which it was bought.
  • I bought that oat bran I never ended up using.  One more thing in the pantry….

The Learnings

  • Keep a much closer eye on the produce drawers
  • Don’t buy things for which you have only one use (even if they are on sale)
  • Keep using what I have
  • Try to shop more than once a week for fresh produce so that things do not languish in that produce drawer
  • Take tips from the experts.

 

Whilst a few things went into the freezer and a few things went into the bin, on the whole I was really happy with my first attempt at fridge, freezer pantry week.  It made me conscious of things that I need to be doing all the time and of how I can make the best use of what I already have. More than that though, it inspired me to keep going and to really get my act together when it comes reducing the food I waste. 

This is what the useby shelf looked like by the end of the week.  The four containers at the back are three serves of a cottage pie the Fussiest Eater in the World made for his work dinners and the last of the pasties.

I didn’t quite get through all that hummus but resisted the urge to buy another tub when I went shopping this week.

The three new containers hold some of the leftover chorizo and chickpea salad, and half an onion and half a lemon that I used to make it.  That oregano is also there…😣

My favorite dishes…I tried so hard to come up with just one but it really was a tie between the curry, the pasties and the South American Chcken Rice!

UseBy Shelf 2

If anyone has any tips on what to do with it, please let me know!

Indeed if you have any tips on reducing food waste, food management, etc please send them through, I would love to hear how you meal plan and your ideas on how to reduce waste.  I have only just started this journey and know I have a LONG way to go before I get this mastered,  so any advice I can benefit from will be greatly appreciated!

Have a great week!  Stay safe and reduce waste!

Meredith Baxter’s Tarragon Chicken

I had the shock of my life while doing research for this post.  Seriously.  More about that later!   This was DELICIOUS!!!!  The recipe for  Tarragon Chicken recipe was sent to me by the lovely Jenny over at Silver Screen Suppers.  It will form part of her Murder She Wrote Cookbook and, on taste alone, should be one of the standout recipes of the book!

Tarragon Chicken 1

This is the most delicious comfort food!!!  So warm and hearty and tasty and…OMG….I would make this dish every week if I could.  Unfortunately, I used the last of our fresh tarragon to make it so, until I can either find some fresh tarragon in the greengrocer or plant some more I will not have it again.  It almost makes me want to cry.

I have some dried tarragon in the cupboard but it is really no substitute for fresh!

This is what my tarragon plant looked like before I took all of the good leaves to make this!  Poor little thing!

Tarragon Chicken 3

I served my tarragon chicken with garlic bread instead of the suggested rice and it was so good.  The combination of the lovely juices from the chicken with mopped up with the crusty, garlicky, buttery bread was perfection!!!  I heartily recommend this as an alternative!!!

Tarragon Chicken 2

But now let me tell you what happened when I went to research David Birney!!!!!

Spelling is important!

My main reference for  Meredith Baxter is as Elyse Keaton from the very popular tv sitcom Family Ties.  The show featured two hippie parents, Baxter and Steven Gross, trying to deal with their ultra-conservative Regan-supporting son Alex, played brilliantly by Michael J. Fox.  The show was pitch-perfect.  Funny, poignant, clever, sharp…just look at these reviews!!!!!

 

I also knew that Meredith Baxter came out at some time in the 2000’s.  I remember thinking at the time both “You go girl, finally you get to be your true self in public and let the homophobes go fuck themselves” and also “I’m so sad that you didn’t feel that you could do this earlier in your life”.

David Birney 1

So, whilst I was aware of Meredith Baxter, David Birney, I knew not at all.  So much so that when I first googled him I incorrectly spelled his name as David Birnie and spent a while there thinking that MB had been married to an Australian serial killer!

Turns out he is allegedly a wife-beater so you know, maybe my initial thoughts that he was a dick were not totally unfounded.  Let’s not waste any more time on him.

Tarragon Chicken 4

The Recipe

It’s so good.

Meredith Baxter 2

I did not have to remove my chicken and thicken the sauce, it was thick enough just from cooking.  Apart from that, I followed the recipe to the letter and it was fabulous!

Leftovers are also amazing in a jaffle the following day!  Sorry for the terrible photo but if you don’t eat that jaffle piping hot, it’s not really a jaffle!  I would also LOVE to see that tarragon chicken in a pie.

Look at me…I’m already getting ideas for the next time I make it!

 

Thanks, Jenny for the recipe! It was truly a winner winner chicken dinner!

Have a great week everyone.  Take care and stay safe!


 

Simply The Best Carrot Cake

I don’t think I have mentioned this before but I absolutely hate cooked carrots.  I don’t mind them chopped up really small in a Bolognese or Shepherd’s Pie but to this day, if I go to my mum’s for a family dinner I get raw carrots on my plate instead of cooked.  This hatred of cooked carrots meant that I did not eat carrot cake until well into my thirties and even then, my first taste was by stealth!

Carrot Cake1

I clearly remember my first taste of carrot cake.  It was someone’s birthday at work and I was too busy to attend the celebration but one of my friends brought me back a piece of cake.  Still concentrating on what I was doing, I took a bite.

“OMG…this is delicious!!!!  What on earth is this?”

My friend looked rather non-plussed.  “It’s carrot cake…”

“This is carrot cake?”

“Yes”

“Is there any more?”

 

Carrot Cake2

Since then I have been making carrot cake on the reg so I was a little surprised  when I mentioned that I was going to blog my “Classic” carrot cake recipe  and the fussiest eat in the world said

“I don’t think you can call it classic”.

“Why not?”

“Well….it has pineapple in it…It’s delicious.  But it’s not classic carrot cake”

“Carrot cake has pineapple in it”.

“No other carrot cake I ever ate had pineapple in it”

“It’s based on a recipe by Tina Turner”

“That doesn’t make it a classic”

Well, I beg to differ.  I think that absolutely makes it a classic.  And you can argue with me all you want.  Try arguing with her!

She will kick your ass all the way to Nutbush City Limits!  Anyway, I changed the name so it homaged Tina a bit more!

Carrot Cake4

The Recipes

As mentioned my recipe for carrot cake is based on a recipe by Tina Turner from the book “Cool Cooking” by Roberta Ashley.  I have adapted it in minor ways:

  • My version uses butter not margarine
  • I leave out the currants
  • I add some rum.  Pineapple and rum is a great flavour combination and the rum works really nicely with the brown sugar and cinnamon too!  Plus, now more than ever, what isn’t better with a little bit of booze!
  • I prefer cream cheese icing rather than the cream suggested by Tina

The OG Tina Version

Here are the original recipe and the front and back covers of the book it comes from.

Carrot Cake Collage

 

My Tweaked Version

Print

Simply The Best Carrot Cake

A delicious cake, based on a recipe by Tina Turner.  This cake is easy to make and keeps beautifully!  This will last for a week if kept in the fridge – if you don’t eat it all first!  

Ingredients

Scale

For The Cake

  • 120g butter
  • 1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
  • 3 eggs, well beaten
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 400g can crushed pineapple (drained)
  • 2 cups grated raw carrots
  • 3 tbsp dark rum
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

For The Icing

  • 80g icing sugar
  • 250 grams cream cheese
  • Zest of a lemon
  • Juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • Additional walnuts, toasted and chopped to decorate

Instructions

For the cake – Preheat your oven to 170C (150 Fan forced).

Lightly grease a 20cm (base) round cake pan and line with non-stick baking paper.

Cream the butter with the sugar until pale.  Add the eggs one by one, mixing thoroughly between each addition.

Add the flour, baking powder, bicarb and cinnamon.

Mix again until all the ingredients are well combined.

Add the carrots, pineapple, walnuts, rum and vanilla. 

Stir through so that all the ingredients are well combined.  

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for around 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

Set aside for 5 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely

For the icing – place the cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon juice in a bowl. Beat together unitl well combined.  

  • Spread over the cooled cake.
  • Top with addtional chopped walnuts and lemon zest.

Carrot Cake 7

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Stay safe!

Individual Shepherd’s Pie

Maybe it is the whole Covid thing or maybe it is just because it is getting colder here but I have been craving comfort food like nobody’s business.  My particular drug of choice has been potatoes.  I love them at the best of times but nowadays?  I have eaten them pretty much every day since lockdown.  And one of the best comfort foods around that has been feeding my potato addiction is Shepherd’s Pie!

Shepherd's Pie2

Normally when we make Shepherd’s Pie, it is the job of the Fussiest Eater in the World. He can’t cook much all that well but he knows how to do good British stodge to perfection.  And his Shepherd’s Pie is great.

But wait…I am probably making some assumptions here.  So let’s start with…

WHAT ON EARTH IS SHEPHERD’S PIE?

Shepherd’s Pie is a dish made of cooked lamb topped with mashed potato.  The same dish made with beef is called Cottage Pie or Hachis Parmentier if you want to be French and fancy.  Which usually is my default mode (wound up to eleven)  but today I am using lamb so common or garden Shepherd’s Pie it is!

Traditionally, this was made with the leftover lamb from a Sunday roast.  We usually use bought minced lamb for our Shepherd’s Pie but this time round, I wanted to, what they would call on the cooking shows, ELEVATE the dish, so I used some diced lamb.

Shepherd's Pie3

 A DIGRESSION ON WORKING FROM HOME

I was very pleased to read Yinzerella’s post the other day on the pleasures of lockdown.  I too am enjoying many of the aspects of being at home 24/7.  For instance I have

  • More time to spend with Oscar and Holly.
  • More time to read, to craft, to study, to do yoga and to blog!
  • Started to declutter and organise my life
  • Massively reduced my carbon footprint  The last time I filled my car with petrol was in March!  We got solar earlier this year so even though I am using more electricity by being at home, it is being paid for by the power we are generating.
  • Invented a push-up challenge and am doing a Buzzfeed core challenge.
  • More time to cook. 4-hour slow-cooked lamb on a Tuesday night?  Not a problem. Grapefruit brulee for breakfast?  You betcha!
  • Totally embraced my basic B instincts!  These faux fir booties?  I know,  so chav,  but wearing them made my feet warn for the first time in DAYS!!!!  I may never take them off!

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Anyway, back to the Shepherd’s Pies.  I slow-cooked that lamb for four hours with red wine and herbs and garlic and tomatoes until it was melt in your mouth tender.

Then I made mashed potato with heaps of butter and milk to top it, and then topped that with a heap of grated cheese!

Shepherd's Pie4

This was so good.  Tender lamb, cheesy mashed potato…what else can I say except if you are craving a cuddle in the form of food, make this straight away!!!  Of course, you can use this mix to make one large pie but I love small food so individual serves it was – one for each of us and one for lunch the following day!  This reheats beautifully so you can make a few extra to warm up for additional meals.

I cut the recipe in half for these pies because I only had 500g of lamb but the full recipe will make one large or 6 small pies (depending of course on the size of your small pie dishes).

The Recipe

Print

Individual Shepherd’s Pie

This hearty British dish combines slow-cooked lamb and cheesy mashed potatoes to make the most comforting of comfort foods

Ingredients

  • 60ml olive oil
  • 1kg diced lamb
  • 1 brown onion, finely chopped
  • 1 large carrot, finely chopped
  • 1 celery stick, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 40g plain flour
  • 250ml  beef stock (more if cooking for a long period of time)
  • 200 ml red wine (I used a cabernet merlot)
  • 145g tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 sprig of rosemary
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 kg potatoes peeled and halved
  • 50g butter
  • 175ml milk
  • 180g Cheddar cheese, grated
    Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.  Add half the lamb and cook, turning as required until browned on all sides.  Transfer to a plate and repeat with another tbsp of oil and the remaining lamb.

Heat the remaining oil in the pan over medium heat.  Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook until the vegetables are softened, stirring occasionally.  Add the garlic and cook for another minute, stirring to ensure that the garlic does not burn.

Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook, stirring,  for 1 minute.

Gradually add the stock to the pan followed by the wine, stirring to remove any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Add the lamb, tomato paste, Worchestershire sauce, rosemary and bay leaves.  Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for between one to four hours – you may need to add more stock or wine if you are cooking for longer than an hour.

While the lamb is cooking, boil the potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes or until tender.  Then drain and return to the pan.  Add the butter and milk and mash until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat the office to 200C.

Once the lamb is cooked, measure it out into 6 small (1 cup capacity) ovenproof dishes.  Top with the mashed potato and then with the grated cheese.

Cook in the pre-heated oven until the cheese is golden brown and melted – around 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

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What is your go-to comfort food?  I hope you get to have some this week! My next post  will also be comfort food but of the cake variety,,,,

Have a good one and stay safe!

 

The Clover Club

I was walking Holly and Oscar in the park one morning when I found a four-leaf clover.  That time feels like a million years ago but it was on February 10th so only about 100 days ago.  

Clover Club1

Whilst I am not superstitious by nature, this felt like an omen.  Things were going pretty well.  Holly was settling into her new home with us, it was a glorious summer morning, all seemed well with the world.  What could possibly go wrong?  

Within weeks if not days?  Welcome to the shittiest year of all of our lives.  

It’s enough to turn a girl to drink!

Clover Club2

 

I was thinking about that day recently.   One of the ways I have been idling away my time is to do a heap of Buzzfeed quizzes…you know the sort…”Tell us which pizza toppings you like and we’ll describe your perfect vacation”.   Mostly these are terrible and I would be a little embarrassed to admit doing 1-5 per day but occasionally you find one that gets you right in the sweet spot.  

Such was the case with the quiz “We know exactly what cocktail you are craving tonight”.   

Turns out, I was craving a Clover Club.  Now I had,  up to that point,  never tasted a Clover Club.  But, I looked at the ingredients  –  Gin, raspberries and lemon – these are a few of my favourite things! And suddenly, yes, I was craving one!  

I decided to break out the Babycham glasses I bought when I was in Rye last year.  How cute are they?  I have been saving them for a “special occasion” but you know what? If not now, when?  I was inspired by this post on Foodie Crush to seize the day a bit more!

A Brief History of The Clover Club

The Clover Club is an American cocktail from the Pre-Prohibition era, dating all the way back to 1896.  A group of men, who called themselves The Clover Club used to meet at the Bellevue – Stratton Hotel in Philadelphia.  The Clover Club was invented for them to drink.   I find the idea of those olden day men sitting around drinking foamy pink cocktails adorable! Clover Club6

We totally LOVED The Clover Club!  The Fussiest Eater in the World said it was the best cocktail he had drunk since 1997!  Who knew he was keeping a list….

Clover Club4

I used the recipe for The Clover Club via Liquor.com which you can find here.  

If you like sweet / sour fruity cocktails then the Clover Club is for you!  It may not bring you good luck but it will brighten up your day!

Have a great week friends, stay safe!  Let me know what cocktail you get if you do the quiz!