No more food purchases for a week...

I suppose I could always add a glass even at this late stage

!!! That red wine would have made that dish.

Continuing with my endeavours to use-up leftovers I'm making Morrocan-style lamb.

Cubed roast leg of lamb (about a third of the one that was half-price at Ocado)
The last potato (large)
Red onion & garlic
Few black olives
Spices (cinnamon, cardammon, paprika, etc)
Stock
Tomato puree
Olive oil

It's simmering way and looking very unctuous!

I was going to add a glass of red wine but drank that instead

True!

Sounds good, Jings I bet you couldn't make it exactly the same again!

Elegran that turned out to be a really nice stew. Added two chicken Knorr Stockpots, curry powder, cumin and some allspice. Very tasty.

Well, I'm feeling very virtuous as I've finally finished the chocolate biscuits! It's a hard job but someone's got to do it!

Now feeling rather chubby too!

I'm having braised red cabbage with some sort of German sausages
Or I might have smoked salmon
Or I might do something with a chicken quarter
Or? Just go to bed..

Jings Curried sprouts could be lethal. Better supply everyone with corks.

A mixture of your spices sounds delicious,* Feetle* - it will never be the same two meals running. I bought a whole lot of spices after getting Madhur Jaffrey's book many years ago. Now I find that with topping them up irregularly and at different times I never seem to have the precise combination I should be using. If I were more organised I would write down the successful ad hoc creations.

I've got those too. Will add a bit of each. Should go well with the sprouts.

One thing I NEVER have in the kitchen is 'curry powder'... Turmeric, coriander, cumin, chilli powder, yes - curry powder no!

I've got some chillies. And some curry powder. Stand by for blast off.

Stick a red or green chilli pepper (whole) into it, *jings", and fish it out before serving it up. Or add some curry powder or fajita spice, or whatever spice is in the cupboard, or even some worcester sauce or tomato ketchup. Say it is an Ainsley Harriot recipe you found on the net. Tired old veg? Of course not, you were shopping for hours to find the right ingredients.

I have got a leek, some sprouts, a bit of broccoli, half a carrot and some onions. Would that all go in a stew with a bit of defrosted leftover turkey? I could add two stock cubes. Would anyone eat it?

Does it matter that it all looks a bit tired?

Will it be ok to live on mince pies and choccy biscuits?

The best and tastiest meal I've had over this couple of weeks was on Christmas eve. My ds called and asked if I would like to go and share chicken and oven chips with gravy and mushy peas! It was delicious!

Oh egg and chips, what bliss. One of my dogs is on weekly vet check ups, and when I saw the very tired looking vet last Friday, he told me his wife and one of the 6 month old twins, and their toddler had all had a gastric bug over Christmas. The other twin has croup. He said he'd been eating cold turkey and chips on his own the previous evening, everyone else in bed too ill to eat. Poor chap, but I must say, the idea of cold turkey and chips appealed to me.

I have so many different varieties of cheese and cured meats in my fridge, I could start a deli. All I need is milk over the next few days, so I'll avoid the supermarket otherwise I'll be buying bargains. This first week in January is always a cheap one - I've visited everyone or they've been here, so not as much petrol being used. I'm looking forward to egg and chips after the New Year's Day meal I'll be enjoying tomorrow.

I love the period between Christmas and New Year. The fridge is full of goodies, not much cooking needed to dish up huge portions of food at every meal. I froze the left over turkey, enough for a couple of pies. Thanks for the prompt FlicketyB, I'll freeze the rest of the ham before I take the dogs out this morning.
Thatbags, I understand your grumbles about over buying, but it's the season to be jolly isn't it. I enjoy the excess of this season, my jeans are getting a bit tight, but after 12th night, I'll be back to not over eating, and will enjoy that as well.
Very best wishes to everyone for 2014

Left over wine? ....Cannot compute, cannot compute....(explodes!)

Nellie - Theseus' theory is that there is not much difference in eating something immediately or rationing yourself, so you should eat it all at once. This referred to a large box of liquorice all sorts!

I was in Waitrose a couple of days before the 25th and the woman in front had an overflowing trolley and the cost was £323. I could not believe it. There was no alcohol in her trolley and I would not be surprised if a lot saw the bin after the big day.

What I want to know is will I put on more weight if I eat up the left overs cheese, olives etc, quickly or should I do it gently over a period of weeks?



There is some very tasty Stilton calling me from the fridge right now.

It's not just us that have a glut of food. Our local Co-op has piles of short-dated Christmas food reduced to sell. It was difficult to ignore the bargains and just buy the milk I went in for...