Very cold here today, blizzards on and off, and snow laying from last night. An ideal day for cosying up inside, venturing out only to pick some sage and rosemary and to empty the compost caddy from the kitchen.
I spent the day largely in the kitchen, cooking and baking and organising my larder. Yep, the culling and cleaning up of the chaos continues. First I have to show you the results of a wardrobe cull - a '30 minute' job I did on Friday.
Sorry, you may have to stand on your head to see this properly! I bagged it up and took it to the re-cycling centre on Saturday morning. Can't tell you how virtuous I felt!
Yesterday I began purging my larder cupboard, cleaning up, chucking the out of date stuff - though to be fair there wasn't much - and re-arranging things more logically and usefully. This took me well into today too, and I still have the corner cupboard to do, but that can wait. Here are the finished shots.
Top two : sugars, cornflour, custard dried fruit; grains, rice, seeds nuts and lentils.
Middle two : honeys, nut butters, marmite, coffee, breakfast oats. vinegars, mustards and sauces. Various pastas. Gravy powders and stock.
Bottom two : pesto and other pasta sauces. Beans of all varieties, peas. Tinned soups. Tinned fish, such as tuna, sardines, sild and salmon. Coconut milk, and tinned tomatoes. That's it.
Now this really did give a lot of satisfaction. It can be taken a bit too far though; I read one 'organising blogger' who confessed that her tinned foods were kept in a cupboard where she couldn't see them, as it would upset her to see all the different labels - this is a woman who Tupperwares as if her life depended upon it, and really could not deal with foods which were not in a plastic container which matched all the others. I'm not criticising. I'm just amazed at how some people take this organising to an extreme degree. There is a lot of OCD out there, folks! Now where are those wipe-clean boards I ordered the other day..............
In between sorting and wiping and re-arranging I was making a huge lamb stew with meat from the big freezer in the garage (I'm trying not to spend any money on main ingredients for as long as I can, to use up my back-log.) There was enough for supper tonight with herby dumplings (yummy), and enough for two very decent portions for the freezer.
While the stew was simmering in the slow oven I was roasting some peppers, cherry tomatoes and garlic for tomorrows pizza.
Also in the top oven was a large spelt loaf. I love this flour, it gives a soft, nutty flavoured loaf.
Very pleased with the way this turned out. There is a lump of dough in a bag in the fridge to make pizza with tomorrow. I did my menu plans on Sunday along with the shopping list for the week - a much reduced list because so many ingredients are already in the larder or freezer, and because I know exactly what I want so hopefully will not be diverted! Watch this space!
Monday : lamb stew and dumplings
Tuesday : Homemade pizza with roasted veggies, ham and mozzarella. (Just some salad to buy)
Wednesday : sausage bean-pot and green beans. (nothing to buy)
Thursday : Pork chops, mushrooms and rice. (just the mushrooms to buy)
Friday : plaice fillets, garden peas, home made chunky 'chips' (nothing to buy)
Saturday : pasta with meatballs in tomato sauce - from freezer.
Sunday : Chicken pot roast (chicken and some veggies to buy)
I'll probably get a butternut squash to make soup for lunch, and some for adding to pasta, some fruit, replenish the veg basket, some eggs, cheese...and that is probably it. I know from your comments that these posts are spurring some of you on to try and make a few plans around the home, it'd be good to hear how you get on. Sorry no textiles today, but Wednesday I look forward to having my Stitch and Bitch friends around so that will pull me up sharply on the sewing front! Til then, keep warm - unless you are enjoying sunshine and high temperatures, in which case I wish you coolth!
