Sake Seabass

Last night I made sake Seabass with wilted greens from the nigella express cookbook. It had been a really long day and every inch of my body was desperate for Chinese takeaway but I held strong and cooked!

I chose this meal as it was supposed to be 30 minutes to prep and cook, and it did take 30 minutes, or actually a couple of minutes under. A simple fish baked in oven with stir fried vegetables dish.

When I plated it up I have to admit I was worried.... Had I thought this through? Fish with green vegetables.... For a 3 year old?

My worries were unfounded. They ate up and loved it. Would definately recommend to others. 

My chilli 😊

Tonight it's the night the kids eat at the in-laws so I decided to cook something really spicy for a change.....think I got carried away 😜

Just a few chilli's!

Tonight once kids were in bed I put rice in steamer and set on timer, threw all ingredients into pan for chilli....

1) soften onion and bell pepper in olive oil spray 

2) add chilli's and garlic cook for couple of minutes

3) add lean steak mince and brown 

4) add can of drain rinsed kidney beans

5) add cumin, paprika, salt & pepper to taste (add a little at a time until it suits your taste buds)

6) tomato purée

7) tin of chopped toms and chopped fresh coriander.

8) water (enough to ensure it doesn't dry out for 20 minutes, normally a cup)

Then cover, simmer and go and do yoga! Well ok you don't have to do yoga it's just what I did. By time I finished my session about 20 minutes everything was cooked, ready and I can tell you it's gone down a treat.... And yes I made enough to freeze a portion... As if I wouldn't!

Roasted squash soup!

I had 2 squashes (butternut and a pumpkin) and was stuck for what to do for lunch so I decided on a roast pumpkin soup.

Very simple, just peel, deseed and chop the squashes then chop an onion and throw them all into a big roasting tin. I chose to spray with olive oil and sprinkle over;

Cumin

Smoked paprika 

Touch of cayenne

Salt & pepper 

Then put it in the oven and roast until soft and golden.

Take out of oven and blend until the desired consistency, adding vegetable stock to thin the mixture out (I wanted a smooth thin soup).

Then serve - yummy!

Now that should be the end of it.... However even though myself and my husband loved it the kids both hated it! Eugh and yuck I believe were the comments, so my husband made ham sandwiches while I ate mine grumbling into the soup the whole time. So lesson learnt... The kids don't like roasted squash soup!

A few snapshots of a hectic few weeks!

Weeelllllll, officially I can announce I have had the most hectic few weeks ever, hence the silence on this blog spot. Apologies to anyone out there that missed me (admit it.... you were frantically trawling the internet to make sure no major tragedy had occurred to me) *cough*. I have been sitting here thinking.... do I go through all major issue etc I have encountered during the last few weeks and get you completely up to speed, or bore you to death, whichever way you want to look at it. Or I could do several smaller posts documenting certain key moments..... Or I just share a few of the recipes I have tried that were successful and start again from tomorrow. I have chosen the later/easier option as I am a little hungover (I will fill you in on that at the end).

Aubergine Jambalaya (LEON - fast vegetarian)

This was meal from my meat free night, it was from the 'LEON Fast vegetarian' cookbook and it was a huge success. It was very easy to follow and quick to do. I have my worries about whether this would go down well with the kids as admittedly they are not aubergine fans, but they literally licked the bowls clean. The addition of smoked paprika actually gave it the chorizo taste, and it was well and truly yummy. If I can remember I believe it was done in about half an hour.

 

Rare sunshine day in UK!

 

Yes the sun is actually trying to shine in the UK. On a beautiful sunny Saturday we packed the car up, kids, dog and a picnic. I love picnic's. I spent an hour that morning preparing, homemade potato salad (simple new potatoes, mayo, spring onions, paprika and salt & pepper), hard boiled eggs, salad, chicken drumsticks, fresh bread, cooked sausages and bacon. I love doing this, cooking up sausages and bacon wrapping them in tin foil then cutting and buttering fresh bread, you then have the option of sandwiches or meat with salad. Then of course for my hubby dips and nachos..... I will not mention the brand name, but you can guess. Gorgeous day out over 'Severn Valley Country Park'. Lots of walking to build up an appetite then tucking into the goodies and a few games of Frisbee.

 

 

                                               

 

 

Morgan's Birthday Cake :-)

 

Each year I make my daughters birthday cake and the tradition in our family is that I put a picture of them on it (you can buy icing pictures off the internet you just email your picture). This year I decided to make an art cake as Morgan loves art. This took awhile and I took a day off work to do it but it worked well and she loved it.

 

I ordered a piece of chocolate with her face on it, and this was to be the canvas, I decided to make the cake multi-coloured to look like paint. But it's easier to show you in pictures.

 

 

 

 

So there you are... a small snapshot of things that have stood out over the last few weeks.

 

Today has been a lazy day, woke up with a hangover after going out last night for a meal for my husbands birthday. The wine flowed a little too well and I appeared to lose all self control and could not prevent my glass miraculously refilling over and over again, seriously was a miracle. The gastro pub we went too was so lovely we actually spent awhile today looking at houses in the area... haha! Gorgeous pub called the 'White Hart' in Hartlebury. So we have had a cheat day and off we went to the Chinese buffet restaurant for a quick lunch and then this evening we have just made snacks out the fridge.



 

Now going to put my feet-up and watch game of thrones from the planner as we still have an episode to watch, laters peeps x