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!

Had a play with the Taiyaki pan I bought in Japan last year.

All the baking is so impressive. Batteries finally came for my scales today (only two days without but still 😱).

Tonight’s dinner used up some tomatoes, green beans and chorizo past their best. Recipe is Nonna’s Tray Bake from Louise Parker.

And with the photo..

Cauliflower wings and salad tonight! Looking forward to this. DH has made a meatloaf for him and DC and added in leftover cooked sausage and bacon. I'm a committed veggie but the smell is making me drool a little.

Tonight’s dinner was a vegetarian goulash type stew with an amazing amount of paprika and garlic in it. Dead easy, really nice, and lots of leftovers too. I think it will will be even nicer tomorrow.

Should have updated on Sultana...he is now doubling in size over about 12 hours in a fairly cool house so he can’t be too far off ready to use.

@PurpleDaisies that looks delicious right up my street. Recipe?

thevegan8.com/vegan-hungarian-goulash/

Here’s the recipe. My sister made it and recommended it as a good weekday tea. I didn’t have all the paprika and I used some smoked which isn’t very authentic but tasted very good. I might add a tin of butter beans next time for a change.

Any ideas for lots of pears? I have about 6 that need using and I can only eat so many as snacks. Don't have any eggs or flour so cakes are out. Do have some frozen shortcrust and puff pastry but don't fancy a pie. No other fruit except melon and apples.

Poached pears as a dessert?

The pear and gorgonzola pasta from Jamie's 5 Ingredients book is really nice:

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/pear-gorgonzola-farfalle/

I'm sure that, in the spirit of his recent "Keep calm etc" programmes, different blue cheese/nuts/pasta could be used.
Not sure what could be used instead of the radicchio/chicory though - it does seem to need that slight bitterness.

However, pretty confident someone else on this thread will have some good ideas.

Fry them with a pork chop

Weeds those fish look brilliant - I had to google to see what they were. Very clever! What did you fill them with?

Got some elderly lamb mince lingering in my freezer so going to make a Lamb keema tonight. DH says it tastes a bit like the inside of a lamb samosa which I take as a compliment! Everyone always hoovers it up.

It's basically onions, garlic, ginger, fresh coriander, fry off in some oil then add 2 heaped tsp garam masala, half tsp salt, tsp cayenne pepper let it fry for a minute, add a tin of tomatoes and then the lamb mince (looks revolting at this stage) gently simmer and then add little water to loosen and frozen peas after 10 mins or so. Simmer for another 20 mins or so. Just before serving add juice of a lime and handful of coriander leaves.

It's absolutely delicious, great with rice or breads (or both!) It's fab if you've indulged in a bit too much wine the night before! It's actually a Nigella recipe from a long while back and she actually recommends it for a hangover! She's not wrong!

Pork chop defo not on the menu (I'm veggie 🤗) I like the idea of pear and cheese although I'm not keen on blue cheeses? I have salad in, I wonder if it would work with feta in a salad maybe?? I have about 3 blocks of feta lol!

@Impatientwino I do a very similar recipe with quorn mince and I agree it's so tasty and satisfying. Perfect hangover food! Curl up for a nana nap straight after :)

The Taiyaki have custard in, not very authentic, but I'm not a fan of sweet bean paste and I don't have any aduki beans.

Pear, blue cheese and walnut in a salad is lovely, but if you don't like blue cheese, I think a strong cheddar, or even brie would be good.
Perhaps watercress or rocket instead of endive?

Or you could maybe dice a pear with a bit of vinegar, oil, mustard, garlic, chilli etc and have as a sort of chutney/relish with something?

Or poached pear for breakfast? I love a fruity breakfast - somehow makes me think I’m on holiday.

Any ideas what I can use instead of greaseproof paper for bread and baking? Will greasing a tin be enough? Could I use brown paper?

I am now craving pears after all this talk of them! I’ve got to pop to the pharmacy so maybe I’ll call in to the shop next door and pick up some. Pear and ginger cake is a favourite of mine.

Today it’s leftover goulash for lunch, then miso baked aubergines with some sort of stir fried rice depending on what’s in the fridge.

@PurpleDaisies thank you very much

@cricketmum84 re pears - poached, a crumble, make a jam?

I think pear and feta in a salad would work

@Wildernesstips I use foil rather than greaseproof paper most of the time for all sorts of things works fine

Sausage casserole with mash for me tonight now I'm more organised, got it out to defrost yesterday it's in fridge, thinking reheat in oven 180-200°c for 45 mins to an hour? Think that'll be ok?

wilderness by brown paper do you mean just regular brown paper like for a parcel? I think that would catch fire in the oven, no? I would just grease the tin, you can and then flour the tin - I never even saw baking paper until I moved to the UK, we would just use the butter paper to rub all over the tin and then tip a bit of flour in to coat it all round. Or if you're baking bread in a dutch oven you don't need anything, just get it really hot before you drop the bread in and the bread will drop right out at the end.

Another frugal all-leftover dinner last night for us - cold boiled potatoes from the other night, cubed, fried until crispy with caraway seeds and paprika and topped with a big dollop of sour cream, dill and cornichons. On the side we had leftover roast chicken fried with some pan drippings (I always save these, drives DH crazy to have all these little bowls cluttering up the fridge but he likes the end result when I cook with them!) and creamed spinach (from the freezer). Tonight is takeaway curry!! Yay!

Pear and ginger upside down cake is lush...also lots of good ideas here (not all sweet): smittenkitchen.com/recipes/fruit/pear/

Thanks, I’ve gone for greasing and flouring to line the tray for the bread.

@Xiaoxiong, your leftovers sound divine!

It was literally just cold boiled potatoes and cold roast chicken. But the addition of other bits and bobs makes it into a brand new interesting meal. If you like that kind of cooking I can't recommend Food From Plenty by Diana Henry enough - I know I mentioned it on the other thread but it's basically all about cooking with leftovers and gluts, and substituting things for what you have on hand. Eg. there will be a recipe for cooking a 3kg leg of lamb (with 5 or 6 variations). Then there will be 5 or 6 recipes following that use cold cooked lamb.