Food Fight Friday - Recycling Pickles & Food Carte Blanche

Time to put on my boxing gloves but my head's a'spinning with all the food I've been cookin' from sunrise till sunset.

We run a self-catering establishment but of late more and more apprentice mechanics check in to train at a college nearby and their companies order breakfasts AND dinners.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm truly truly thankful for the business, plus they're all real nice young guys, sometimes dolls as well; yep training as motor mechanics, but I'm not a morning person, so breakfasts are not my favourite thing-to-cook!

This is my kind of breakfast, I'm really not too keen on fatty breakfasts!

The students all arrive on Sundays so they can get to college on time on Monday morning, but no guessing who has to get up before the sun has even shown it's face?

I've tried coercing their companies to only order dinners, offering a big discount for that; saying I'll give them juice, cereal, bread and spreads free/gratis but none of that is wooing them! Breakfast they want so I'm doomed to the kitchen at the break of day every weekday morning!

Cooking for hungry young men can be quite challenging as you never know if you're giving them too much or too little; some arrive with special dietary requirements but this week I had carte blanche:)

Sunday night I served a Roast Chicken dinner and as we had gone out to celebrate 88 year old Mom Lily's birthday and gorged on seafood as I told everyone yesterday, we skipped dinner.
Of course there was plenty of leftover chicken so for Monday's dinner I made a Chicken, Leek & Mushroom Pie with an easy pie topping that's poured over the filling; saving the juices from the pan made the filling absolutely scrumptious.

Tuesday was Cottage Pie, real comfort food and one of my favourite meals; Wednesday was a tad chilly so perfect weather for a hot and spicy Beef Curry served with a minty Cucumber, Carrot & Onions sambals and Peach Chutney.

That pic I showed you at the beginning was what a friend brought us; a bottle of real tasty sweet and sour pickled Onions. I bow my head in shame to admit I hid it away from everyone and hubby and I polished it off in no time!
So we had the bright idea to recycle the delicious vinegar mixture and added whole green chilies and chunks of raw onions and within only three days we had ourselves some pickled onions again; very chuffed with ourselves, and they were so tasty, that I'm showing it to you again ;);)

Back to the meals - I realise we had a whole load of chicken this week but no one complained; in fact I don't know many young people or even older people who will turn up their noses at juicy fried chicken with a crispy coating on the outside.

Chicken pieces were marinated in fresh lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, sage and thyme for a good couple of hours, before being dusted in seasoned flour and fried in hot oil and drained before placing into the oven next to a yummy potato bake.

The potato bake was a variation on the theme and not the usual creamy one. I mixed white onion soup powder with melted butted and poured it over thinly sliced potatoes and baked it in a hot oven; scrumptious!

Served with lovely fresh veggies, this was a very satisfying meal; I would have loved serving this to all my new #fff friends before you get into the ring tonight!

I hope you're all rearing to go this Friday night for Food Fight Friday or is it Friday Food Fight?
Our referee tonight is @jlsplatts who totally confused me with his Food flingin’ Food Fight Friday Fantastic Family Fun... or is it the grey hairs confusing me?

Whichever it is, good luck, no cheating as our ring judges @dandays and @idig will have their beady eyes on the fight. Please make it go the full distance as well so it will be an unforgettable championship fight, just don't get knocked out in the first round!

May the best man win and enjoy your Saturday and Sunday as well!

A quick last look at the meals I cooked this week to sustain you for the big fight.

Oh dear I see that funny little cellphone crept in here; it's a real phone, can make calls and do most things cell phones are known to do, but why so small I have no idea, it's too much for this old gal!
Plus something else crept into my gif, our Friday night fish & chips takeout dinner; a gal needs a night off from the kitchen not so;)

Original Content by @lizelle
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