It has been a quiet day here today....

 Nothing much done apart from doing a little planning for meals during the week with items I already have to hand and using up items out of the fridge and pantry store.

Tonight's treat has been the Rib of Beef joint which was bought for Christmas.  I have cooked this rare as it was such a lovely joint and roasted it with potatoes and shallots and a head of garlic.  The garlic is going to be used in another dish later in the week but as I was roasting the meat it seemed an opportune moment to get it prepared in readiness.

I also used Brussels off the stem which are still doing very nicely and keeping fresh, carrots, broccoli and petit-pois which I did have to go and buy.  Served with lashings of gravy, using the remnants from last night's meal, adding further flavourings, vegetable juices and the meat juices it turned out to be a delicious and lovely meal.  I even got a little beef fat to use towards some more roast potatoes for OH.

We had Yorkshire Pudding last night with the pigs in blanket Toad which worked out very well.  I therefore chose this evening not to make it again and enjoy the meal simply just as it was.  It turned out to be the right decision for us this evening as we were still slightly full from last night.

There is plenty left for tomorrow night's tea.  I am going to cook fresh veg again, probably along the lines that we have had tonight, although maybe with some Carrot and Swede Crush this time round.  Home made of course.  I also have the bones and will probably turn this into some beef stock in the slow cooker for use in veggie soup later in the week.  It stores quite well in the fridge in Kilner jars short term but the way really to keep it is on the Pantry shelf after being pressure canned.  It is also making something out of nothing which suits my ethos all the way.  Something out of nothing is always a bonus, especially with food prices as they are at the moment.

This evening when I nipped to get some frozen petit-pois from the shop I also picked up a bag of carrots for 29p and a bread loaf reduced to 45p.  The carrots were used for tea this evening well some of them and the bread is going to be turned into breadcrumbs for homemade stuffing to accompany future meals.  A good way of padding out a meal as well as Yorkshire Pudding.

I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend.

Take care.

Pattypan

x