It's been a beautiful balmy Spring day today. It almost made me wish we'd waited a couple of days, so izzy could have gone out and enjoyed the sunshine. We didn't, though, so I shut that train of thought down. Apart from writing it here, of couse.
I opened the bedroom windows to let the fresh air in. Then the kitchen windows and door. The living room windows. The hall window. The downstairs toilet. The lobby. All day we've had gentle fresh air coming in.
I pent about an hour trying to do some deeper cleaning in the kitchen. It started with me trying to sort out the at food cupboard (Izzy had different food to the kittens, her choice). Then I had to clean all the cupboard fronts. And the inside bits of the dishwasher that the dishwasher cleaner thing doesn't reach.
And then I started batch cooking. It takes hours, but it then provides us with many, many meals, and is (overall) much less hassle than cooking separately. There's less mess to clear up (as I only have to clear up once), there's slightly less washing up (most of the stuff is used and reused).
It's also a good way to use a whole load of onions, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, leek, whatever, all at once. I defrosted all the meat, which means I won't stop part way through, even when get fed up. Which I do. Every time. But afterwards, I always look back and think it was the right thing to do.
I started with mutton mince for Shepherds Pie, and I've got 5 pairs of meals from that, plus extra gravy. While that started to simmer, I made diced mutton, for tonight and some leftover to freeze. I pressure cooked some Cypress potatoes which I'm going to put in the airfyer tonight. (I'm a bit concerned that my Greengrocer thins that Cypress potatoes are the "any potatoes as long as they are floury not waxy" option).
As soon as that was on, I started the bolognese. I normally start with this as it takes the longest, but the mince was not defrosted, and it was in biodegradable boxes so I couldn't put them in a water bath to speed them up. I did it on the stove in the pressure cooker pot, and then I put the pot into the Instant Pot on slow cook. I'm not sure how masny meals that will produce, but I'd estimate 10-12 pairs of meals. Finally, again started late because it hadn't fuly defrosted, I made beef casserole using shin of beef. That needs slow cooking, so its on the hob at the moment on a low heat (in my spare pressure cooker pot). That'll probably be 4 pairs of meals or so.
I was going to do chilli as well, I cheat and use Spice Entice, so it normally only takes about 30 minutes.I hadn't got the meat out, I wanted to make sure I had enough of everything first. However, a couple of the onions I had delivered by the greengrocer yesterday were not good, so it's just as well I hadn't defrosted the meat for that.
I was also going to make cottage pie (or Teviot pie...mmm suet pastry) filling as well, but I didn't think I'd have enough vegetables. I was right. I also don't think I'd have the energy.
It's starting to cool nw so I need to go round and shut all the windows.
I hope it's cleared out the air.
