How can it be 15 February already?  What happened to January and can I have it back please?

I’d planned to go to the allotment today. But I was out every night last week – gym sessions on Mon, Weds, Fri plus the first meeting of 2016 for the allotment society committee, Tuesday, and a grass roots sustainable org’s AGM on Thursday – meant I woke today feeling shattered!

Instead it today became all about looking at budgets and clearing out old paperwork.  I’m not quite there yet and have some more comparisons to run – so there’ll be a future post about budgets/budgeting etc.

This evening has been about minimising food waste and batch cooking.  I had a few old carrots and parsnips, an ancient quarter of red cabbage and rather old bramley apple, and some cauliflowers and leeks which were tipping over. So soups and bakes it was!

The cabbage and apple were turned into spiced winter red cabbage and apple soup – melt a little butter, add a medium sized onion and cook ’til translucent, add spices (allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves) cook for a couple of minutes, add shredded red cabbage and water, cook for 30 mins, then add chopped apple, cook for another 30 mins, and liquidise. Smells fabulous – and will be frozen to make winter warming soups to go with my lunchtime salad in a couple of weeks.

The parsnips and carrots made spicy parsnip and carrot soup (yes there’s a theme): chop and cook together until tender, liquidise, add suitably large shake of cumin and turmeric, decant to individual portion pots for lunch next week (again to go with salad and protein).

Finally the sad slightly rubbery cauliflower and leeks were parboiled, popped in a pyrex dish and I added a leftover courgette and baby fennel.  Whip up a cheese sauce and add a generous shake of nutmeg, pour over and cook for 20 mins or so and there’s yummy cheesy leek and cauliflower bake – a suitable side dish to go with whatever fish plus green side dish (probably either kale or broccoli considering the contents of my fridge) I decide to whip up quickly in the evenings next week.

And even better – zero food waste.