February already and soup time

Here we are into February already.  I don't understand it but I am utterly convinced that time speeds up as you get older.  Remember when days seemed to stretch into forever when you were under ten?

I've been making soup for our lunches for several weeks now. Along with a 10p yellow stickered loaf from Tesco when they happen : ) it makes a cheap, filling and nourishing lunch. And it is easy too.  Cook once and zap portions in the microwave until it is finished.  However, it has taken a while to convince my husband.  I'm hoping that I have succeeded now!  I think that last week's pea and ham (made with the leftovers from the meal we served at church and eaten with an 8p! loaf) did help convince him because he really enjoyed it. He requested a cheese sandwich for today but we'll have soup again tomorrow.

One of my favourite soups is lentil, carrot and tomato.  A tin of tomatoes, a handful of lentils, 2 or 3 large carrots and the obligatory onion, potato and good shake of mixed herbs.  Maybe a bit of garlic if I have any in and cooked in stock made with a couple of stock cubes.  Lovely!  Thick and warming.

If one of my soups (usually the random leftover vegetable ones) turns out to be a bit bland, then we eat them with a good sprinkle of dried Italian cheese.  We usually bought that from Aldi but they seem to have stopped stocking it.  I spoke to the deputy manager at Aldi last week who does the ordering and she said that they don't have it any more.  Sainsburys do but they've changed the packaging and they now sell it in 80g small tubs for £1.  That is quite expensive per kilo but a tub really does last a long time - in fact it probably lasts several months.

If the soup turns out thinner, then I make Jamaican dumplings. I got the recipe out of a borrowed Friends of the Earth mini cookbook about 20 years or so ago. I'm not so keen on dumplings with suet in and these don't use any. Instead, these use 1 tablespoon of flour with one teaspoon of baking powder. Mix together with a pinch of herbs of your choice and enough cold water to make a dough - about the same consistency as scone dough. Drop teaspoonfuls into the soup and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes. This produces wonderfully light and fluffy dumplings which my husband loves. When I first read the recipe, I didn't think it would work because I thought I would be able to taste the baking powder but decided to give it a go. I am glad I did! That quantity of flour is plenty for dumplings for two people.

We had roast chicken on New Year's Day cooked by my husband. I was getting quite nervous by the time dinner was nearly ready but it was a lovely meal. I'm really glad there was a gap of a few weeks between doing the deed and having dinner, though. The chicken had a lovely flavour and I was amazed at how different the texture was - far more "meaty". Possibly because he was just turned 21 weeks old instead of the supermarket 5 weeks for cheapo chickens or 12 weeks or thereabouts for the free range organic. Or maybe it was because there was NO added water. Anyway, I know he had as reasonable a life as I could give him and he had good food and felt the sun on his back (and the rain...). We had roast dinner the first day then sliced meat with leftover roasted veg for 2 meals. I stripped the carcass and put two bags of pieces of meat in the freezer which will go into a pasta or rice meal. I put the remains of the carcass in the slowcooker and made stock and there were lots of little bits of meat too. That has gone in the freezer too and with added veg and maybe a handful of barley and/or lentils, will make probably three meals. My husband is partial to dumplings with soup or stew so that might make it stretch to four meals. I feel I had to do my cockerel justice so that would be the basis for eight meals or possibly nine for the two of us.

I don't like dumplings with fat in them and many years ago I came across a recipe for Jamaican dumplings in a little booklet from Friends of the Earth that somebody lent me. These use 1 tablespoon of flour with one teaspoon of baking powder. Mix together with a pinch of herbs of your choice and enough cold water to make a dough - about the same consistency as scone dough. Drop teaspoonfuls into the soup and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes. This produces wonderfully light and fluffy dumplings which my husband loves. When I first read the recipe, I didn't think it would work because I thought I would be able to taste the baking powder but decided to give it a go. I am glad I did! That quantity of flour is plenty for dumplings for two people.