I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the ACT, the Ngunnawal people. I acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

TTWC 2007.59

Saturday

Apart from the Vodka and Tonic it was Cook from the Cupboard all the way. Coffee, bagel (2 actually - I burned the first one) and tandoori chicken from the freezer. On weekends, meals and mealtimes are flexible; it rather depends on the other stuff on the to do list.
The coming week will be a busy one - something on every night until Friday, so the last of the pumpkin, silverbeet and cauliflower (there was half a one in my fridge - we used Mum's up earlier in the week) went into a curry with garlic, onion and fish sauce. I use the Maesri brand Mussamum base with a can of light coconut cream and equal parts water and soy milk. It's in the fridge for dinners this week.

Sunday
BREKKIE: Porridge, coffee

LUNCH: Orange

AFTERNOON TEA: Coffee at Starbucks, $2.10 (filtered coffee with discount for taking in a Starbucks travel mug bought at an op-shop years ago for 50c. It has paid for itself MANY times over)

DINNER: Mushroom risotto (see below), white wine.
SUPPER: Crumpets with peanut butter. This is the last of the peanut butter and may not be replaced. I love it but always feel guilty about buying it - because of the fat content and also because of the amount of jam in the larder. Speaking of jam - I'm in need of another source of apricots since my grandmother sold her house. Anyone know of a neglected tree?

Yay - Southside Farmers' Market is on to stock up on veg.
  • Sweet potato, carrots, celery, broccoli, beans and zucchini $26 (exactly half of which was the exorbitantly priced zucchini but I crave zucchini. I'm hoping there's still pumpkin at Mum's and there's certainly silverbeet)
  • Free range eggs $3.50
  • 10k oranges (Yes, 10k. The lemon tree is heavy with fruit and there are 13 teeny mandarins on the tree - marmalade making next weekend) $5
  • and the treat in my trolley was for the dogs - 3 lamb shanks $6.40. Also exorbitant, but the bags of bones were very fatty and the actual bones too small.

Before racing out the door this morning I put some prepared some poultry stock (turkey hindquarter carcass and two bbq chicken carcasses from the freezer, celery, carrot, onion, garlic, thyme, pepper, vegetable scraps from the freezer*) and left it simmer all day. The house smelled divine when I got home from SnB. I diluted it with another litre of boiling water before taking the girls for a walk and it was still a good strong meaty stock.

A quick walk with the dogs who were stir crazy after a day at home alone, even with lamb shanks to play with, and I made up a mushroom risotto with the stock. Having forgotten to swing past the parents' on the way home there was no silverbeet to add greenery and nutrition, so I grabbed some large handfuls of parsley from the garden and added it finely chopped at the very end. Scrumptious with plenty left over for during the week.
I also scraped the meat off the carcasses and mixed it and the veg with some boiled rice, left over stock (about 2 cups) and dry complete dog food. The girls have meals for a few days as well.

GROCERIES $40.90
UNNECCESARY $6.50
TOTAL: $47.30

*For years I have kept a veggie stock box in the freezer. The ends and peelings of veg, stalks of herbs etc go into a box in the freezer and are liberated into the pot for stock. It always needs topping up/balancing out, but it's a great way to get vegetable stock happening quickly and cheaply.



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