I have reacted

I do not know why but I cannot when I am scrubbing things down wear a pair of Marigolds for long and I inevitably end up discarding them.  This is what happened today as I was cleaning in the kitchen.  I should have known better as I have reacted to the cleaning fluid and my hands have gone really dry, sore and are splitting.  Fortunately, I had a salve from my friend Kirsty at Sage & Bellflower Sage and Bellflower Shop, and that is helping to soothe them no end. It was originally made for my psoriasis, for which it is excellent and keeps it at bay.  Kirsty is an Aromatherapist, a very good one.  If you are into natural treatments and techniques go have a look at her website.  It really is gentle stuff that works for me, and it smells wonderful.  

Memo to myself must keep those Marigolds on at all costs!

I have scrubbed part of the kitchen out today, and also had the cooker to pieces to give that a good going over and deep clean also.  It has come up pretty well in the circumstances.

Mind you I have had the Supervisors in the kitchen with me all afternoon (or should I say the Management)! They do not often put in an appearance in the kitchen and certainly not together, and I therefore felt slightly honoured that they stuck around so long.  They of course kept their beady eyes on me whilst the cooker was in pieces and of course hung around whilst I was cooking tea!

That is the Pantry door that the gruesome twosome are in front of, perched on Dad's toolbox.

I plan on stripping out the main Pantry next!

After the Pantry is done, then maybe will be able to do a lot more cooking.

I bought a couple of packs of chicken thighs the other day from the Co-op at £4 for two packs which I think in the current climate is a very good price.  I normally use both packs to make a stir fry meal for the pair of us  (as we have the meal two days on the trot) and I normally get them on the bone, as I think it gives the meat a little more flavour; but these had been deboned. I did not have much veg in-house this evening as I am planning a visit to the Veg shop in the next couple of days.  I had a jar of sauce in the Pantry and was just going to make the proprietary stir fry with the meat in the sauce and then serve it on rice or noodles.  I do not like wasting stuff and as there was a little veg lurking in the fridge, I decided that I was going to use it up to make the meal go that little bit further.

I started off by frying some onion in a pan; 

I then added chopped leek, and then the chicken until it was cooked through and nice and tender.  

At this point I took the chicken out and then chopped it into cubes and set to one side.  

I then set too and added little florets of Broccoli and sliced chopped carrot and some peas until cooked through. I also added some crystallised ginger which was thinly sliced.  A  little water was then added, not much in with the sauce.  This was a Sharmans Sweet and Sour that I had had in the Pantry for a little while and needed using up.  

I had this cooking on a gentle heat whilst I warmed through a pack of noodles.  They are usually just boiled in a little stock or water.

I often have noodles in place of rice.  I do keep both in, and usually buy the dried noodles either medium or fine as you can do a lot with them as well.

Tea went down very nicely and quantity wise there were three healthy servings.  Needless to say, OH had two portions!

The other pack of chicken thighs will be used later in the week, maybe on Saturday and probably in a stew together with veg. Time for warming and filling meals at the moment.

A nice padder-outer meal, making the most of a small amount of chicken and also veggies, sauce and flavourings, which is also very tasty.  Also good for pie fillings, my mum's chicken and veg stew (or the chicken and veg stew and then turned into pies) whichever takes your fancy. Also makes a very nice cream of chicken soup.  There is always something useful and tasty that you can make with chicken.

We finished tea off with a punnet of reduced Strawberries and a pot of single cream.  Being tight as usual, I have reserved some of the Strawberries for a sweet treat with tomorrow night's tea together with the remainder of the cream.  I am finding that I appreciate a few Strawberries that much more than loads of them.

Tea for tomorrow night is a couple of Lamb chops, which I plan on serving with mash, peas, cauliflower, carrot and broccoli and maybe some roasted Leeks.  It is not always the meat that is a star in a meal.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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