A picture (yay! phone found!) of the shortcake bars.

We seem to have done well this week barring; about 1/2 cup of yogurt that looks dicey to me, half a pack of fresh mint (grrrr…), 3 venision pepperettes (this is the husband’s fault-I am not fussy on these in the first place) and one serving of pea soup that just didn’t get eaten or frozen (grrr…again).

Somehow though the fridge still looks REALLY full. I don’t know why-we’ve eaten what’s in the house and even brought lunches everyday but we’re going to have to be super careful with items this week or next week’s post is going to be pretty embarrassing.

I actually said to two people this week that my Friday Food Waste post is keeping me on top of what is in the fridge and making me mindful of what might just be thrown out.

Tonight will be a fridge night with everyone getting whatever they want reheated AND a really big salad.

As a special dessert we’ll have…Molten Lava Babycakes. I’ve made this recipe LOTS of times and just want it again and again. This recipe is from Nigella Lawson and ALWAYS is a treat. It’s a pretty good guess that none of these will be wasted.

Tomorrow is also supposed to be really crappy weather so I think that the batch of bacon brioche will be made.

Yield: 6 Servings
Time: Total 25 minutes
Ingredients:
50g soft unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
350g best dark chocolate
150g superfine sugar
4 large eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50g plain or Italian 00 flour
6 individual pudding moulds, buttered
baking parchment

1. Unless you are making these up in advance, preheat the oven to 400ºF,putting in a baking sheet at the same time. Lay 3 of the moulds on a sheet of doubled baking parchment. Draw round them, remove, and then cut out the discs as marked. Press them all into the base of the tins.

2. Melt the chocolate and let it cool slightly. Cream together the butter and sugar, and gradually beat in the eggs and salt, then the vanilla. Now add the flour, and when all is smoothly combined scrape in the cooled chocolate, blending it to a smooth batter.

3. Divide the batter between the 6 moulds, quickly whip the baking sheet out of the oven, arrange the little tins on it and replace in the oven. Cook for 10–12 minutes (the extra 2 minutes will be needed if the puddings are fridge-cold when you start) and as soon as you take them out of the oven, tip out the babycakes onto small plates or shallow bowls.

At work we play a game often called “what will I have for dinner tonight”? I find that my colleagues help me out quite a bit when I have an ingredient and I’m not totally sure what to do with it or if I am starting with a big fat NOTHING!

Last night my peep, Sophie needed to play this game and I remembered a dish that my mom used to make (just don’t cook it for 2 hours so that the meat is dry as the Sahara) as soon as she mentioned baked potatoes.

Restuffed potatoes:
Take baked potatoes and scoop them out (don’t wreck the jacket). Mix with any of the following; shredded cheese, butter, bacon bits, bits of onion, chives, cream cheese… Restuff the potatoes and top with more cheese. Rebake until they are warm through and the cheese is melted.

Mayo Chicken (Gee…that sounds appealing, doesn’t it? This is really quite good though and really quick)
Cut chicken breasts or thighs into finger wide strips, coat with mayo and then bread with a mixture of; parm, breadcrumbs and crushed cornflakes (mom used to only use cornflakes). Bake approx. 15 minutes on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees.

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