Dinner 24 January

I realise these types of posts will be pretty boring for anyone who may be reading and isn't possessed of any voyeuristic traits but this is a handy way for me to track my eating and cooking as well as my spending so I'm going to keep it up for as long as it's working for me with an aim of getting back to a proper tracking of my food by the end of February assisting me in losing weight.

Last night I didn't get home until just after eight and, despite the mars and crisps at six I was very hungry. I needed to make soup as I had the stock out of the freezer and in a way that was good as it forced me to cook and since I was chopping veg for soup it didn't seem too much to contemplate chopping a little bit extra to make a dinner. This is exactly the kind of evening that in November and December ended in me phoning a takeaway while walking home from the busstop so that I'd have a (very unhealthy but very filling) meal delivered not long after I got in the door.

I decided to toast two small slices of bread to eat while I was preparing the food to stave off the hunger for a little while longer. First up I made some pastry and then put that into the fridge. At this stage I'd totally forgotten about the mince I'd also taken out of the freezer the night before and had decided to make a quiche. Pastry went into the fridge to cool while I chopped onions, garlic, shallots and leeks, doing enough onions and garlic for the soup as well. I also took out some carrots, potatoes and celery for the soup and a large scallion I'd completely forgotten about. I sauteed onion, garlic, shallot and leek for a few minutes and took the pastry out to roll out. Placed pastry into a dish, spread the onions etc. on that (would normally spread a bit of mustard onto the pastry first but wasn't in the mood for mustard this time), added a few sun-dried tomatoes and three or four slices of goats cheese. I used duck eggs mixed with a little milk, seasoning and herbs and the whole lot went into the oven while I made the soup.

Washed and chopped potatoes and carrots, sauteed them plus the remaining onions, garlic and scallion for a couple of minutes and then added the stock and left to cook. As I was trying to do everything so fast I'd managed to spread out over the whole counter so next I spent a few minutes tidying up, washing the dishes I'd used and wiping down the counter. Had no sooner finished this than I remembered the mince. So, back off the draining board came the chopping board and I chopped another onion and a couple of carrots while the mince was browning a bit. This mince had a huge amount of fat in it (so I was very glad the farmer had thrown in some extra without charging me for it!) so I poured most of it off into a bowl and then added the onion. Finally the carrots and some stock and seasoning and left the whole lot to simmer while I tidied up again and took the quiche out of the oven. All of that, plus changing out of my work clothes, opening my bedroom windows to air the room, bringing the compost out and lighting some incense and candles in the living room took me just over an hour and then I was able to sit down and relax while eating my dinner. Which was delicious by the way. I've just finished the rest of the quiche for lunch today - can't believe I've finished the whole thing in two meals but I was really, really hungry last night and did go back for seconds.

I added a few frozen peas to the mince and that mix is now waiting in the fridge to be made into shepherds pie, which I'll probably do tomorrow. I had the last two tiny slices of bread as toast for breakfast this morning so will need to make more bread this evening or tomorrow. One loaf is plenty for a week and of course, the joy of homemade bread is that it keeps very well for that long. I have buttermilk though so will make soda bread again this week. I got the River Cottage Family Cookbook a while back and am dying to try my hand at sourdough bread too.

I'm trying to clear out my cupboard, fridge and freezer so will be going through them this evening or early tomorrow to decide what I can make over the next couple of weeks with what I have, adding the minimal amount of shopping to it. I've a lunch with colleages next week, a work night away plus a hen night away next weekend, am due to go back to the dentist on Thursday to have two old fillings replaced and the landlord is showing the other room to prospective new tenants on Tuesday evening so need to take all that into account as well.