On the Menu - Roast Chicken for Dinner Monday Night Tea

On Sunday first thing whilst I was still asleep, G nipped to the Butcher without me and came back with a big 2.5kg pack of Bacon, a 1.6kg Large Chicken for £6, a pack of cooked Ham, a very large Black Pudding, and a pack of sausages.  In any event I already had the Chicken Thighs in-house  from the other day, and as we do not want Chicken everyday, I will use them up for soup, and stock a little later in the week as I need to put a supply of Chicken stock on the Pantry shelf for use in everyday cooking but specifically more for the Winter months. I go through a lot of stock then.  I also want to get some Soups on the shelf as well as some Chicken pies, which is what I may well do. With the remains of the Chicken tonight, the remains of the stuffing and the remains of the Bread Sauce and some Cranberry or Redcurrant jelly and fresh Shortcrust Pastry will be turned into either a large pie or individual pies for going into the freezer.  The stock will be made with the Chicken carcass and some of the Chicken Thighs and left in the Slow Cooker to reduce down and then eventually heat process for the Pantry shelf. There is a lot to do both in respect of everyday and future eating and making sure that there are supplies of very useful preserves available on the Pantry shelf.

Earlier on Sunday though, I did manage to buy some reduced herbs for drying, some of which is needed for preserving things later on or used in general cooking.  I managed to get some Mint, Parsley and some Dill (2 packets of each for 35p a packet).  I have also been using far more Garlic recently as well and I do need to find a better source of Garlic than where I am presently buying it from.  One of the supermarkets that I did buy the Garlic from was very much not what I call Garlic as it hardly had any flavour, despite putting quite a few Cloves in.  I therefore intend to purchase a decent quantity of this for use in cooking moving forward.

Sunday though as we were not really hungry, we ended up having Cheese on toast for tea.  G had, as per usual had a big breakfast in any event.  Me, I am just not hungry.    Therefore today's tea is Roast Chicken with all the trimmings.  I shall also cook a couple of sausages each, and some homemade stuffing and Roasties as well as using up some of the veg in the fridge such as Broccoli, and some French Beans before they are past their best.  I bought a new Cauliflower and a couple of packs of Carrots and some more Broccoli today in any event.  I may make a Cauliflower Cheese to go with the Roast, as we are pretty partial to it and I do have some Cheese to use up in the fridge.

Tuesday though, I think that we may well be having a Cottage Pie.  It is a while since we have had one and it is one of our staple meals during the cooler months.

I do not know about you, but we have been fortunate enough to receive a lot of much needed rain in the last few days.  The resulting temperature has gone down which we are also pleased for overall, but it has started to affect my movement with stiffness in the morning again, which for the best part of this very hot Summer that we have had has for the best part been non-existent for me.  

To me, I am feeling a change in the air.  It now feels as though we are in the throes of Autumn and further along than we think we are.  Therefore we need to work with what we have about us and prepare as much as we can when we can. I am very much thinking ahead to Christmas on the food front and into the New Year making the basics initially and then adding in one or two new items to see if we like them. I do have the preserving pot on the bubble and am slowly getting back into things on this front. I am very much concentrating on using Plums at the moment.  I am normally able to buy in Plums by the case from near Wisbech.  The chap usually advertises on Facebook Market place and we end up going over there to buy a couple of cases.  We have been doing this for quite a few years.  However this year I have not seen his advert as yet and I have been checking for a while.  In the interim I am not letting that stop me and am buying in Black Purple Plums for making jams and sauces and chutney. One batch of Plum jam has already been made.  More on that in a later post.  I also have Christmas Chutney to make and some Plum mincemeat, Plum jelly and a host of other items as well. 

I am hoping to grasp the reins a bit and get back into the groove of what I normally do and to posting a little more than I have been doing.

I have hardly done any preserving really this year. Some bits and Bob's as my focus really has been elsewhere. Hopefully that is about to really change though.  I had wanted to get down to the Caravan and spend some time in Cornwall. I am in need of a change of scenery and some time to be able to craft.  The crafting has also suffered this year.  Unfortunately it looks as though will not make it as it is a matter of priorities i.e.keeping the household stable on the food front and the flow of money available bearing in mind the expenditure we do have coming up moving forward.  This is particularly so when you are on a pension as the pay day from one month to another does vary throughout the year with payments being made every 28 days.   As I have said before, I tend to work out what is coming up and prepare as best as I can for at least a couple of months ahead on all fronts.  Sometimes though despite the fact that you want to do things, it is just not possible and for many of us keeping the home running comfortably is the main overall priority.  I know I do well compared to so many others however I am sensible enough to know when to pull the reins in and say Whoa!

Well will see what the coming days bring overall.  

Keep on doing what you do, as something is better than nought.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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