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.