Ready steady cook

What a lovely array of foods!

I roast a load of root vegetables with garlic and olive oil, similar to your collection - ate some that day and the next, plus 2 portions in the freezer.

Cauliflower & broccoli cheese

Butternut squash soup

Sounds good! Thanks!

Last week there was a surplus of lettuces, so I've had lettuce soup nearly every day for lunch. Butternut squash soup will make a nice change.

Lots of soups there growstuff. Have you tried curried parsnip soup? It is very nice.

CraftyGranny

Lots of soups there growstuff. Have you tried curried parsnip soup? It is very nice.

I've seen a recipe for it. Would curried butternut squash soup work?

Thanks!

I think I'm going to be busy today - hope I have enough room in the freezer for all this soup.

growstuff

Sounds good! Thanks!

Last week there was a surplus of lettuces, so I've had lettuce soup nearly every day for lunch. Butternut squash soup will make a nice change.

To save you from endless soup:

If you ever get those little gem lettuces - I half them lengthways, cut side down brown in butter, small amount of veg stock, handful of frozen peas, pinch of dried herbs, seasoning, then simmer for a few minutes.

Nice selection there.
To get away from soups, have you ever made your own cauliflower rice or couscous? You could then chuck it in a skillet with the kale, broccoli and mushrooms like a sort of stir fry.

Another vote for soup here. We made soup yesterday with a few potatoes, carrots and onions we had left over. We added some lentils and it was delicious.

Are they still slightly crispy?

I'll try most things.

I'm off to cook the beetroot. My partner eats it with anything! I'm slightly annoyed because I bought some yesterday, so he's going to have loads of it this weekend!

Joseanne

Nice selection there.
To get away from soups, have you ever made your own cauliflower rice or couscous? You could then chuck it in a skillet with the kale, broccoli and mushrooms like a sort of stir fry.

Good idea! I was wondering what to do with the kale.

Kale is nice braised with onions and toasted almond slivers served with fish. You could make a lovely stuffed butternut squash or a Thai style curry. Mixed vegetables and barley risotto is gorgeous with meat fish or on its own.

Thanks! That sounds a bit more exciting than plain kale. I'll give it a go.

There's some panettone, so I'm going to make some bread and butter pudding for my partner (I might have a teeny weeny bit ).

I have some protein main dishes in the freezer from previous batch cooking, so I think I've got our weekend food sorted. I'm dead chuffed because this food would have gone into landfill and I got it for free (apart from the few bits I already had in the fridge/freezer/store cupboard).

My daughter uses FareShare too growstuff it saves so much from being wasted, this is one of her recent ‘boxes’.

I like finely chopped kale in a curry. It's more robust than spinach.

We adapt a delicious recipe for butternut squash pudding. We omit the eggs, cheese, light cream, using vegan alternatives.

Recipe is of an American cooking site, easy to fix.

Butternut Squash Bread Pudding
2 pounds peeled seeded butternut squash, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 6 cups)
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt plus additional for sprinkling
7 large eggs
2 1/4 cups half and half
6 tablespoons dry white wine
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 day-old baguette (do not remove crust), torn into 1-inch pieces (about 10 cups)
1 cup chopped shallots (about 4 large)
2 bunches Tuscan kale (about 1 pound), ribs removed, kale coarsely chopped
8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated

Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss squash with 1 tablespoon oil on rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt; bake until squash is tender, turning with spatula occasionally, 20 to 25 minutes.

Whisk eggs in large bowl. Add half and half, wine, mustard, and 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt; whisk to blend. Add baguette pieces; fold gently into egg mixture. Let soak 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté until soft, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Add kale; cover and cook 2 minutes. Uncover and stir until kale is wilted but still bright green, about 5 minutes (kale will be a bit crunchy).

Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.

Generously butter 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Using slotted spoon, transfer half of bread from egg mixture to prepared baking dish, arranging to cover most of dish. Spoon half of kale over bread. Spoon half of squash over bread and kale; sprinkle with half of cheese. Repeat with remaining bread, kale, squash, and cheese. Pour remaining egg mixture over bread pudding.

Cover bread pudding with foil. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil; bake uncovered until custard is set and bread feels springy to touch, about 20 minutes longer.

Preheat broiler; broil pudding until cheese browns slightly, about 2 minutes. Cool 5 minutes and serve.

Bon Appétit
November 2009

Risotto. Roasted butternut, saute mushroom slices, finely torn steamed kale - folded in before serving. Really most anything in risotto

I'm no cook, but that is a very impressive haul! 🙂

It certainly is * MissAdventure*

You can use Butternut Squash to make chips instead of using potato.
I also like Kale “crisps” basically put on oven tray sprinkle with herbs or chilli powder, squirt with spray oil cook for about 15 mins.
Some good ideas here.

This is the plan:

This evening:

Curried parsnip soup
Sausage casserole (already prepared) and savoy cabbage
Raspberries and yoghurt (already in fridge)

Tomorrow lunch:

Mushroom omelette, salad and garlic bread
Fresh fruit (already in bowl)

Tomorrow evening:

Beetroot soup
Chicken Cacciatore (already in freezer), kale with almonds and cauliflower "couscous"
Panettone bread and butter pudding and creme fraiche (already in fridge)

Sunday:

No idea!

I've prepared everything I can and the excess is in the freezer. Thank you everybody!

I'm getting hooked on this! This was this week's haul.

I hardly bought any food last week (thus saving many pennies!) and I've still got stuff in the freezer.

I'm also feeling virtuous because this lot would have gone to landfill.

Another good haul.
Is that chicken chunks in the bag? If so, I might do a salad with lettuce leaves, crunchy peppers, chicken, topped with mandarin slices, with a balsamic dressing, (a bit River Cottage or Jamie type). If you would prefer a hot meal there must be some Asian dishes with chicken, mushrooms and an orangey stir fry sauce to include the rind. But I am not at home at the moment to consult my cookery books. I like mandarin slices in dishes to add vibrant colour and flavour.
On the other hand, my DH would just eat the mandarins as snacks.

There are two bags. One has unsmoked bacon bits, which I'll use for frittata, soups and other things. The other bag has a cooked half chicken. It's from Nando's, who freeze all excess at the end of the day. I had one last week - the cats had it, but I might eat it myself this week. I was thinking of doing some kind of salad too.

I'm with my partner this weekend and he'll probably get bread and butter pudding again - he said he liked the one I made last week. Shame that I can only have a miniscule portion.

I swear by Pru Leith's Vegetarian Bible. She lists the recipes by vegetable family, and within that the veg themselves, so you can go straight to ideas for the things you want to use up, or have found a glut of in a market.

With that lot, I think I'd do chicken and mushroom pies, parsnip soup and twice-baked jacket potatoes, freezing some of each, as there will be more than you'd need for two. What's in the bag above the chicken pieces?

Beautiful food, I could use most in nice dinner dishes. Well done.

Your soughdough bread might not keep fresh beyond today. You probably know this, but you can bring it back to life by sprinkling some water over it and popping it in the oven before eating. If those are mushrooms in that bag (?) I might fry them with garlic to have on the sourdough as a weekend brunch.
Or just freeze it.