Predominantly Food

I am quite sad (not literally) when I do not have anything to do of a dinner time as I tend to wander round the shops and have a really good nosey.  Yesterday is a prime example.  I was in M & S and I had no intention of buying anything at all.  Until I spotted their meal deal of the week for £10 was a wood fired pizza.   I have had my eyes on these pizzas for a few weeks and at £6 each the jury was still out until I spotted the meal deal.  They have about four different options. The one I chose was full of mozzarella, salami, sweet chillis, red sweet pepper,and the sides were a loaded bread, a bag of salad and a bottle of wine.  For £10 not bad.  The sweet chillis were interesting they had sight heat but were the size of the top of my little finger.   However they are very sweet.  Interesting nonetheless.

We had this for tea last night and it really was delicious (although both of us were not quite keen on the loaded bread) but everything else went down very well.  The wine was also from about 4 different choices.  I chose a white Frizzante a light sparkling wine  - I had a glass and enjoyed it - it has been a very busy week at work.  So both of us enjoyed last night's tea very much.  In fact we both said that we would have this again.  It served two of us very nicely and was a nice light tea that was very tasty. It was lovey to have salad for a change. OH went to the Doctors this week and it would appear that his blood sugar is a bit high again at the moment so I am watching his diet whilst he is at home like a hawk.

There are a lot of new items on the shelves in M & S.  As I have said I  tend to go navigating the shelves and the fridges to see what is in.  I am the same at Waitrose but I do not usually buy prepared food I normally just buy the ingredients, but because I was tired and we needed a sensible meal that was not too heavy that is what we ended up having.  However I do keep an eye on price.  I will not pay through the notes at all,  Especially if I can get the same or near enough for a cheaper price; mostly depends on the quality in the first place.  For the best part though I usually do things from scratch.

I also bought one of their larger chickens (an Oakham chicken) which had been stuffed.  That cost £7 and we have had that for tea this evening served with the broccoli I put in the freezer the other week, fresh carrots, frozen peas, and mashed potatoes and gravy.  That was very tasty indeed and because it was a larger chicken we still have half the chicken, the pickings and the skeleton to make into stock to use up; and it was already stuffed and that was tasty too.  I am not sure whether we will have a roast tomorrow - I suspect not probably will be a case of using up the chicken probably with some home made chips - neither of us are keen on bought frozen chips and some bread and butter but then again it could be with veggies.  So we have not done too badly for the past couple of days where meals are concerned  I will probably buy both items again.

Please note that the above is my subjective view and is not subject to any influence from any third party.  I tend to speak as I find.

I also bought a small gammon joint which will do for some sarnies for work for both of us and (then if there is any left- I hope there will be) I will make some pea soup and serve the shredded gammon on the top served with some buttered toast to dunk in the pea soup which is delicious.

Other things in the pipeline for this week include making some cranberry and apple jelly (frozen cranberries), some cranberry and apple cheese, bottling some apples, making some swede and carrot crush, starting the sourdough starter off again - I have some grapes.  The starter needs to be going for about ten days before I can use it.  So I have a fair bit to do.  Next weekend I hope to make some pastry and make some pies for the freezer so during the week we are going to have to do a bit of eating as both freezers are full, but I want to get some meat pies and fruit pies into the freezer.  Trouble is one you have one or even two freezers you can always fill more.  Especially if I start growing things again.

Right upwards and onwards hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

Take care.

Pattypan

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