Autumn is creeping in

September 10, 2022

Autumn is creeping in

I have had a really good summer pain wise this year hardly any pain at all. Thank goodness which has meant have been able to get out and about and enjoy myself. The past couple of days though I have felt the temperature change and have needed the quilt on the bed plus a blanket. I feel the change in temperature before everyone else seems to, so whereas OH may be very warm, I am freezing cold. It is just how it is. Just one of those things a side effect of a couple of the conditions.

We have also had rain today, quite heavy rain here, and it has been grey and overcast in-between with odd spots of sunshine trying to get out.

I felt cold on the inside and did not feel as though I was firing on all cylinders this morning - I therefore decided that I would try and make a stew for tea this evening with what I had in the fridge. I had a pack of Beef Skirt left over a 1lb package so I sliced this and then chunked it and put it to one side.

The food was prepared in my Ninja Foodi . This is not an advertisement, just my own point of view on something I think that you would find very useful when it comes to cooking. There is a link here to the one I have:

Link to Ninja Foodi

Apparently, it is a lot cheaper to run than the cooker, and I can have a whole pressure-cooked chicken, which has then been air fried within an hour. Any remains are then brilliant in stir fries or in a soup. There is so much you can do with these machines. I would not be without mine now.

I popped the machine on to Saute and gently fried a whole chopped onion in a little butter, then added the Beef Skirt, then a chopped carrot, a leek and a potato with 1 pint of stock. Then changed the function to pressure cooking and cooked for 25 minutes. This tenderised the meat beautifully and once the pressure cooking had finished, I then popped it back on to Saute again and then proceeded to add in some frozen peas and all the flavourings, some Lee and Perrins, Cranberry jelly, mixed herbs, some Marigold stock powder, some Engavita yeast which I love, beef and chicken stock, pepper, etc until I was happy with the flavour. This is something you have to do by taste and each of us is very individual. It was then thickened up with a little slaked Cornflour and water. Simply served with creamy mashed potatoes, it went down very nicely indeed. Similar ingredients to those used yesterday, but completely different items and flavours at the end of the day.

However, it provided a lovely warm and tasty meal which I thoroughly enjoyed. Shall be making this again.

Think we are off to the Butcher tomorrow to see what we can find to stock up on. Was very pleased with the Beef Skirt, it worked out at about £6 per pack pricewise, but gave us quite a bit for our money. We have another stew meal to have tomorrow for which I will have to make some more mashed potato but at least it is a substantial but filling warm meal. Went down very nicely.

Good comfort food especially as the evenings become darker. One good, cooked meal a day makes all the difference. Lots of soups, casseroles etc, to have in the coming months. We always find that the first time you have them the meal is always delish, but if you leave it to go cold and then warm through again it seems to release so much more flavour. I shall as we sink deeper into autumn start adding in pearl Barley or dried soup mix or Lentils just to give the stews and soups something a little bit more substantial and of course to add to the flavour that little bit more.