Tuesday 17 April 2012

Pottering about

Enjoyed my day today pottering around the house getting jobs done. After taking Sherlock for his morning walk I checked in on the on-line banking then put a large chicken in the slowcooker,

then tackled a pile of this : (

Made a big pan of leek & potato soup for my lunches for the week, yum.


Then I made a big pan of chopped carrots ( I buy a 12.5kg bag of pony carrots for £1.50) and cauliflower leaves for Sherlocks meals. I top his dried food with plenty of veg to fill him up because as with all labradors, he's greedy! 

 
Yesterday I boiled, then honey roasted  a gammon. Today I got out my electric slicer and sliced the gammon, portioned into bags and froze for lunches.

 
Then I took Sherlock for a lovely walk across the rape fields. They are not fully in bloom at the moment but nearly there. Still lovely to walk by on a sunny day.


Earlier I made some shortcrust pastry. With the scraps of ham from the slicing I did earlier, I mixed them with some leftover chicken into a sauce I made with onion, mushrooms, chicken stock, flour, parsley and milk. This filling was placed into pastry  to make pasties for lunches. I cooked three whilst I had the oven on for the Yorkshire puddings. The remainder I open froze and then bagged for another day. 


I still have a large amount of chicken leftover from our evening meal which will be used later in the week for a main meal.
An enjoyable productive day.

9 comments:

  1. Your pasties look very tasty x

    ReplyDelete
  2. A very productive day!! Those pasties look tasty.

    Sue xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, you have been busy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So much achieved on the cooking front and the ironing is a bonus too, my ironing pile is way out of control again!
    Lisa x

    ReplyDelete
  5. I thought the title of this post was pottering, I'd say you were positively busy. What a productive day. I've never cooked a chicken in the slow cooker, doesn't it come out looking a bit anaemic? I do like to see a nice roasted skin, though it's only taken off and thrown away. Do you cook it on it's own or add the veggies to it? Sorry, so many questions. Those pasties look delicious, and the fillings sound scrummy.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Jo. Yes it does come out anaemic but you could brown it under a grill or in the oven for a while. The chicken is very moist when cooked this way. Mine never eat the skin anyway. I usually cook my veggies separately. I throw all the skin and bones back into the pot when I've stripped the chicken. Add an onion, carro, bay leaf and some black peppercorns and plenty of water to make stock.

    Thanks all for stopping by and for your comments.

    Karen x

    ReplyDelete
  7. A very productive day indeed. Those pasties look gorgeous - I love pasties, they are so versatile. Linda xxx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank, Karen. I think I might have a go at doing a chicken in the slow cooker, especially if it comes out really moist.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I do love those kind of productive days, too. Just by myself, listening to the radio whilst 'pottering around'.

    ReplyDelete