Small Family Cooking Showdown

No, I haven't watched BFCS yet! The reviews seems fairly good though, and the presenters are all people I have enjoyed watching in other shows.
But I have been enjoying my holiday, looking after my grand-daughter...and doing my own cooking!
It is very tempting, on a 'self-catering holiday' to lapse into the 'I can't be bothered, let's eat out all the time' mindset.
Not in this family! We planned a few special treats beforehand [street food on Norwich Market, lunch on The Albatros, tea at Wiveton] and we are fortunate to have family around, so we have eaten great food with Liz and Jon, and with Adrian and Marion. The pre-ordered groceries from Sainsbury's meant there was food on hand - and we have foraged plums, blackberries and apples...and availed ourselves of the generous 'courgettes-free-help yourself' box round the corner.
But here we are, well into our second week, and it is time to re-assess the stocks. Bob is particularly creative with leftovers and loves having the free time to work in the kitchen. 

• The leftover chicken and ham went into two pies [one eaten, one in the icebox] Bob made the filling, and turned the carcase into stock, for soup on Saturday. The pastry crust is 'potato pastry' - made with leftover mash. I do this by instinct now, but there's a wartime recipe here. The baking powder makes it rise, so you do need to roll it out thinly.
• I harvested the rhubarb in the garden, and roasted it whilst the pies were cooking. Two boxes- one for now, one in the icebox for later in the week.
• Leftover veg, on the edge of going soft, went into the oven to make ratatouille. Long slow cooking on a gentle heat, and I'll have a tray redolent of Italian summers...

As well as the rhubarb, we have also been able to pick our first crop of apples from the tree we planted some years back. half a kilo of small, but beautiful, fruit.

And the figtree has produced fruit for the first time since we moved it here in 2014, from the spot in our Kirby Muxloe Conservatory where it had lived for 10 years. It seems to have adjusted to living outside - and I picked, and ate, the one small fig.This does give me hope for future harvests. I am sorry to report that the crab apple tree has died and been removed, as has the plum tree. You can't win 'em all.

Other delights of holiday food have included full English Breakfasts, and kippers - eaten at a leisurely pace, because neither of us has to go off and do something important elsewhere.

But the best part of holiday meals has definitely been watching Rosie enjoying her food. She learns 'Baby Signing' at nursery, and can show us 'more', 'milk' and 'all gone!' etc. Signing hasn't hindered her speech in any way - she chatters about all sorts of things. I hope Rosie will be as good a cook as her parents as she gets older. Looking forward to the day when she says "Here's a cake I made for you, Grandma"