Frugal Foodies, thread 3! Favourite leftover dishes, avoiding waste, menu ideas. Plus pets, and other chat.

[Ninkanink]

Hey everyone! 🌺🌼🌸

1st thread is here

2nd thread is here

Looking forward to another lovely thread! ☺️ Eat, drink and be merry!

That looks brilliant Purple!! Now don't forget to really jab it all over with your fingers before going in the oven, and be brave with the olive oil drizzle! Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Lots of using up around here today - chicken salad for lunch with chicken meat pulled off the roast last sunday and frozen. I'm also going to make sourdough crackers with all the sourdough discard that's been building up in my sourdough trashpot. Then an apero dinner for me and DH with cheese, salami, olives and fresh baguette. Oh and cocktails - I've discovered a new favourite - Corpse Reviver No. 2!!

Here we go...

It tastes fantastic. I was expecting it to puff up a bit more on baking but maybe next time I’ll put it in a slightly smaller tin. The fresh rosemary is bought had mould on it so it was dried rosemary, Maldon salt and olive. Proud of this as a first attempt!

I have a pot of unused double cream dated 23rd May what can I use it for rather than binning it

Sydenham how much do you have? Things I use double cream for:

• add to the last 30 mins cooking spaghetti bolognese
• add a couple of tablespoons to scrambled eggs
• whip it and have on top of crumble
• make lemon posset
• make Tuscan chicken - I think this must be an Italian-American thing but basically it's chicken in a cream sauce with garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach, served over pasta.

Purple that looks amazing and even better to hear it tastes amazing!! You've inspired me to make more and put toppings on this time (potato maybe...or onions...or both!)

Oh that focaccia looks wonderful!

All my double cream gets turned into chocolate desserts 😂 I've just made some mousses this morning (cheats ones, not proper ones, taste nice though!). A third of the cream heated up with some cocoa powder and sugar, the other two thirds whisked up, then fold it all together.

Focaccia looks great Purple.
Coop is now sold out of yeast, but I bought two boxes just in case I need to bake something in a hurry.
You are welcome to one or Spice and Scoop in Winscombe has some, I'm told.
I am also planning to prune my rosemary as it is getting out of hand, you can have as much as you like and I'm happy to pot up some cuttings too!

Coddled eggs or convent eggs for the double cream?

Apologies I've been somewhat MIA this week not doing so well. VERY impressed with all your results you lot could go into a catering business together!

Skin REALLY bad (got another thread on that it's a whole saga) but in relation to cooking I'm struggling to use arms much plus it's intolerable being in a hot kitchen so I've been having freezer to oven or cold platter type things again - which is where I was before lockdown and wasn't healthy as a long term thing and I don't want to slip back to that

BUT I have food that needs using up so if I can pick your brains for ideas on what to make to use items up that involves little (or no!) cooking or can be cooked in oven as oven cooked dishes I can pop in, leave the kitchen while it cooks and then just briefly have to deal with heat to serve.

I know that probably makes me sound even more bonkers than usual but it's where I am at the moment I'm afraid.

TON of stuff arriving from pharmacy tomorrow which will hopefully help.

Anyway - what needs using:

4 Pinter of milk - substitution nonsense!
Eggs
Quorn bacon
Grated cheese (just a wee bit in opened pack but got more if I need it)

I also have loads of veg especially peppers and mushrooms, fresh pasta (tagliatelle and filled) plus freezer and cupboards FULL so hit me with ideas please.

I have 4 of these to use 😁

Good grief! That an ostrich egg?! That's HUGE!

Goose egg

Wow! Have you eaten before? Do they taste like chicken eggs I've only ever had chicken eggs and quail eggs when I was little (but I don't really remember)

They have a huge yolk in relation to the white, so are very rich. About 3 or 4 hens eggs in size.
I haven't quite decided what to do with them yet, but it seems a shame to just chuck them in a cake or a quiche.
I feel they should be the star od tve show.
And I have just noticed my grimey, post-gardening wrists in that photo. Note to self - shower before photos

Duck eggs are easy to get hold of Graphista and delicious if you fancy branching out.
It's harder to get hold of gose eggs as they only lay about 40 a year. Ducks are prific though.

Prolific

I love the idea of a large yolk my favourite part.

I agree with "star of the show" I would think something like baked gags (as they're so large wont be hard to leave them runny)

Asparagus or probably with you a delicious seeded bread to dip?

I was thinking along the lines of eggs florentine, coddled eggs (except they won't fit in a coddler) I don't really want to break them up in e. g. an omelette as it feels a bit missing the point.
Hope you are a natural night owl, like me Graphista and not awake worrying about things?

Goose egg shakshuka would be the winner here. We’ve got avocado on focaccia toast with poached normal eggs here. Still carrying on with the Saturday brunch which I’m liking a lot. Tonight is going to be cauliflower wings in tortilla wraps with spicy rice.

@Graphista I’d probably do pasta with cheese sauce, mushrooms and quorn bacon then oven bake it with breadcrumbs or slices of tomato on top. That’s pretty much my favourite comfort food. If you’ve got space you can freeze some of the milk.

Eggs florentine would be yummy!

I am a natural night owl due to working night shifts a lot in the past. I've struggled to sleep at night ever since but I've never been a good sleeper whatever.

Got a relatively normal sleep pattern at the moment as in mostly asleep at night rather than in the day but I have to work at it.

@PurpleDaisies Yea pasta bake is definitely an idea. Need to do this weeks meal plan

Question - I don't have a slow cooker at the moment (another thing I plan on buying after lockdown - I've quite a list!)

Can I slow cook in an ordinary oven? And if so how?

You can cook at a low temperature for an extended period in the oven, e. g. if you were making a stew with tough cuts of meat, but it's not the same as a slow cooker, which is sealed to keep the food moist and would typically take an even longer time to cook.
If you have a slow cooker veggie recipe you want to try in the oven, don't follow the timing in the recipe. You probably want about an hour at 170-180C in an oven

That's a shame I was hoping to be able to set something up to cook in the oven over a 6-8 hour period one day a week as I have a big chore that I'd be doing and having to summon up the energy to cook after a long day is tiresome but I'm ravenous (very physical chore) and so I want something really filling.

If anyone has a solution for me that would be great.

I may see if I can get a slow cooker via supermarket delivery

I would have a look at some of the electric pressure cookers. They usually have a slow cooker function, but you have the added advantage of the pressure cooker which can do a meal that takes 3 hours in 20 mins.
They are great for veggies too as you can cook dried beans etc without presoaking, in 15-20 mins.
Very useful if you are like me and always forget to put them in water the night before!

Oh that's interesting.

I do lack organisation and tend to veer away from dried stuff that needs soaking for precisely that reason.

But I love eating pearl barley, lentils, dried peas and beans,

So this could be a way to go - easy to use?