It’s nearly 6 months since I started my shop local challenge and it is now the way that I live and cook rather than a challenge. I’ve got a range of shops: butchers, bakers, farm shops, farms, and independent stores that I visit on a regular basis. This is now how I do my shopping, and I don’t really think about it.
However, I do love to cook, and I love my recipe books; which have been a bit neglected over the last few months. And, I need to get back doing some recipe testing and research recipes for my nutrition business HillStart, which has been neglected a bit since the shop local challenge: so, I’ve decided that for the next chapter in my shop local challenge I will allow myself to visit the supermarket ONLY for items that I cannot get from local independent shops. I’ll continue with my blog, but will blog on a monthly basis, and included information of what I’ve bought from the supermarket, and an idea of the cost – this I’m hoping will stop me just wandering around and picking up random items, which would have the potential to set me back into bad habits.
As always, I’ll include what has been good, and what is a challenge, and for me the new challenge will be to ensure that my cooking is a seasonal as possible. Hopefully this will allow me to do more recipes and I’ll link to those wherever I can.
So, what has happened in the last 3 weeks in the Cook Eat Enjoy household? Winter has started to make its presence felt, both in the temperature and the food we’ve eaten. There has been a return to slow cooker food, and we’ve had liver and braised steak twice already this month. I’m actually not a big fan of liver, but I know how good it is for me and so always make sure I have a bit!
My veg box has had lots of great veggies, and until last week I was still getting tomatoes, which was a real treat. However, this week I had the first of the old potatoes, which are not get good mashers, but it really feels like a sign that the winter is just around the corner.
Best things about the last few weeks:
- New types of veg as a sign of the change in season
- Rare breed beef from the farm
- Coming home to a great smelling house courtesy of the slow cooker
- Lying in bed watching Sunday Brunch whilst writing my blog
Biggest challenges
- Clearing our the freezer ready for the side of pig this week
- Dealing with the mess from the builders
- Making 7 cups of coffee, 5 with two sugars each!
At home the extension is coming along quickly, but the kitchen is still horrid, and dark and bits are still falling off my oven on a regular basis, but I keep reminding myself it will all be worth it in the long run.
We had some rare breed beef from Woodhouse Farm last week and next week I take delivery of a side of pig that I ordered (goodness knows where I will put it) I’ve been researching recipes which has been fun, and I’m looking forward to trying out some new recipes.