Good morning, gentle readers. The most annoying thing about the start of winter hours is that morning people like me just wake an hour earlier! So I have been up for hours now. However, the good thing is that it is still very early morning and I am starting to think of a snooze!
When I woke and just after three o'clock (new time), there was a horrible smell all over the house. Nothing dangerous like smoke, just not nice. When I checked, the lid to the bin was open and I remembered I had sorted out some old stuff from the fridge yesterday. Oh, dear.
One visit to the outside bin and several open windows later things are much more fragrant again. Mind you, it is bloomin' cold out there and I was glad to close the windows again once the pong had subsided.
I have Alex staying overnight and for part of tomorrow. I planned all the meals, got out my pizza recipe and prepared the ham. When he arrived, however, he had plans for Chinese takeaway and he even put his money where his tum was so who was I to refuse? It was jolly tasty too. The pizza will be fine for lunch today: fortunately I hadn't started the dough for the base. The ham won't get eaten today but Al and Beth will be over again tomorrow so he will make inroads into it then and anyway it is half term and I will be home a lot so a bit of ham in the fridge is always useful.
I also made Diane's sweetcorn chowder and it was very tasty. It will give me several lunches this week so in the freezer it goes! You can find the recipe here: http://goodmorningearlyreaders.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/saturday-morning_24.html
For a while I have wanted to try ham in cola. Everyone seems to rave about it. However, I have never had cola in at the appropriate time. Yesterday I did and I also had the oven on for muffins and then bread so I bunged the smallish ham (from Aldi) into my pyrex dish, poured in some very flat cola I have kept in the fridge and bunged it in the oven. A couple of hours later out it came smelling rather good. I also now have a sort of sweet/savoury/hammy tasting stock that, I think, will make a great base for a smoky barbecue sauce.
Getting the ham was a bit of an impulse buy when I went to Aldi early yesterday morning. As I pushed my trolley past them, I saw that they were looking good. Sometimes they can be very fatty and I don't like too much fatty ham - it's a waste because I don't eat it. I also bought some chipolatas and streaky bacon and one of the morning's tasks is to make the pigs in blankets and get them frozen. That will be one Christmas task done and dusted!
Today's menu is toast, pizza and salad and sweetcorn chowder with bread and butter. Sounds scrummy! But now - back up to bed to catch any snoozes that happen to be passing. I hope you haven't woken too early on this, the longest day of the year!
Hope you're still in the land of snooze! Cola is good but now I prefer it cooked in Ginger Ale or Fiery Ginger Beer. Doesn't have to be flat and it works just as well with the 'diet' version.
ReplyDeleteHi, I do ham in cola, it doesn't have to be flat. I do it in the slow cooker. I prefer the non diet version just from a chemicals point of view. But the very best is to do it in cherry cola. Trust me. Then, take the cooking liquor once the ham is done and use it to braise red cabbage. It's delicious!! I've also cooked it in ginger beer!
ReplyDeleteMine was the full fat version and it seemed a good way to use some that was flat. I still have a bit - I wonder how long before it goes off. Probably never with all that sugar in it! If it hadn't been flat I'd probably have drunk it! :-)
ReplyDeleteGinger beer sounds fab and cherry coke - must try that, especially as I love braised red cabbage! Fab idea, thanks!
I livened up again, Annabeth, but I will snooze later on. The day's mine, after all. :-)
J x