what else?

this weekend i have been pretty busy in the kitchen, but not doing anything worth taking pictures of!!

Big Meat Shop! and getting ready for our party...
yesterday morning after my ww meeting i went meat shopping, hoping to stock up and prepare for the party ahead of time. i ended up with $300 worth of meat! (not all for the party lol it will hopefully last us for at least a few months)

i got about 15kg of chicken, packaged in double breasts and all marked down $2 per packet (originally $12.99 / kg - which was the cheapest i could find anywhere - so not bad, especially on the smaller packets. it was only marked down because they had too much stock too which was great, as i prefer not to take chances with nearly out of date chicken - i'm not quite so fussy with other meats)

at least half of those have been diced and placed on skewers with a marinade / dressing and then into the freezer so all i need to do is defrost. i do have one lot of chicken left, waiting for me to buy some fresh thyme tomorrow so i can put this marinade on it. i'll also use some of that marinaded chicken to make meatballs later this week (will post my menu plan later today).

i also bought a whole rump (though unfortunately i could have got it $2/kg cheaper at the second shop) - i'll cut this up shortly and make mince from at least half of it - i'll make a heap of rissoles / hamburgers for the bbq. i'll dice some up to go into the freezer for curries etc too.

i got quite a few other meats for our own eating, including some lamb cutlets - really nice ones with not much fat and lots of meat - for christmas day at $23.99/kg - compared to the $32.99 we have paid the past few years :-0

Chick Peas galore...
i don't think i had the slightest idea how many chickpeas 2kg of dried peas would be when cooked!!! though honestly it was probably only enough for 4-5 meals plus the roasted chickpeas (which are becoming more crunchy as they cool - yay!). i also picked up a packet of this chick pea bhaji mix at the butcher and it will be an easy crockpot meal before christmas.

in non-kitchen news i have also (nearly) made my christmas cards (soon to be featured on my craft blog) , done the F&V shopping for the week and taken the kids swimming at the dickson pool so i have been very very busy!