Beetroot & Walnuts

No post for a few days because I have been very busy with a knitting project (more to revealed very soon). The last few days of the first week of budget eating went smoothly. The last of the roast chicken went into a brown rice pilaff on Wednesday night, perked up with some smoked lardons, a tin of cannellini beans, a handful of frozen broad beans found lurking in the freezer, rosemary and parsley from the garden and a little lemon juice. Dusted with Parmesan this makes a lovely meal and is one of my favourites when trying to stretch the remains of a roast.

Brown rice pilaff

Lunch for the next day was a very purple beetroot and walnut hummus (a fantastic recipe from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg Everyday - buy this book, it's great) with some of the raw vegetables remaining from the week's shop. You get some funny looks eating this, it really is very purple (as is everything that comes out of you for a few days!) but it's lovely and hopefully very healthy too.

Purple goodness!

The fridge is getting a little bare towards the end of the week so Thursday night was soup. Tomatoes were on special offer but they were a rather ordinary tasteless variety so I roasted them with a red pepper, onion, garlic and a pinch of dried chilli before blitzing them with a blender and serving with some fresh basil. Again, I made enough to leave some for lunch which I took to work ice cold in a flask as it has been so unbearably hot this week.

Roast tomato and red pepper soup

The Olympics officially starts today and I have to say that I have been quite swept along with it (and I'm a dedicated sport atheist, totally non interested normally). I think it's because (despite the moans) everyone is really proud to show off London and I have to say that London is definitely much more friendly than normal. I specifically chose to stay at work during the Olympic period because it's quite a buzz to be traveling into an Olympic city everyday. This really is once in a lifetime so why not? As such I snuck out of the office to see the torch come down the Thames this morning and even felt quite emotional as it rowed by! Tonight I'll be curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine and fish and chips (from the freezer and within the budget!) watching the opening ceremony with I expect, most of the UK.