baby its cold inside...

Today is window day. Today all 3 windows at the front of the house were taken out and replaced with new ones! Ones that actually shut all the way! However. Today is also a wet, miserable, rainy, cold day. The baby is ensconced in furry blankets supervising the proceedings and I..I am sheltering in the relative peace of the kitchen making muffins and dinner and writing this. In a jumper. With another massive cup of really hot tea.

After my usual Thursday routine--going to Aldi and Sainsbury's in the rain -- I came home to utter chaos all over the house. We like to give ourselves a challege on our days without Joel, to see how messy we can make things, and then see how fast we can tidy them up before people come over for the church joining in course at our house in T minues 3hrs 20mins.

So I did what I do: stay out of the way, keep quiet, let the men get on with the job while making cups of tea and cakes. Days like today call for a quick muffin recipe and a dinner that you can throw in the slow cooker. Ideally make it a slow cooker dinner that reminds you of a chinese takeaway!

Courgette mini muffins

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 cup sugar (I like to mix brown and white)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil (you can substitute 1 mashed banana or 1/2 cup applesauce)

2 cups finely shredded courgette (zucchini) peel it first.

Grease a mini muffin tin (if you use papers, then you'll pull off most of the muffin with the paper.) Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.  Mix together all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle and add the eggs and the oil and mix together until just moistened. Then fold in the courgette. You can add chocolate chips or raisins or craisins to the mix if you want.
Spoon into the greased mini muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown and they spring back when touched.


                                                    Peking Pork for the slow cooker             

1 pack of diced pork shoulder about 450g/ 1 lb
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1 large clove chopped garlic
splash of vinager (cider or sherry work well)

Cook on low 6-8 hours. I like to steam some broccoli and carrots and throw them in at the end. Serve over rice or noodles. Serves 3-4 people.
This also works well with stewing beef-cook it all day, or chicken- cook 4-6 hours. Also good with chinese veggies thrown in, some bamboo shoots/spring onion/bok choy---whatever you like best.

a day to celebrate new beginnings

Yesterday I was privileged to celebrate the upcoming wedding of my friend Sarah in the afternoon and then in the evening got the wonderful news that my friend Claire had given birth to a healthy baby boy. Fabulous. I love happy days of looking ahead- whether its a baby and the promise of a new little life or a wedding and the promise of a new together life.

There is that feeling of giddy anticipation, like when you set out on a really long trip and you think ...Have I got everything? ...Did I pack pants?..Do you have the directions? ...Where will we stop? ...When will we go? ...Will it be okay? ....I hope its good...I hope we don't end up in hospital...I hope its a laugh...Did you pack socks? ....

Only this time it's not just a trip there and back, its a trip into the unknown. A trip of faith. A first step on a strange and winding road. An adventure waiting to happen. A story yet to be told.

As you set out on new journeys my prayer for you is that you would embrace the new. Forget about the 'what could have happened?' and enjoy the happenings. Remember that it is never too late to learn or to try something new. When you hit a low, look up and remember the highs. That will help carry you through to the next one. Remember you are more than 'just a' whether its 'just a wife' or 'just a student' or 'just a mummy' or 'just another guy'--YOU are an amazing person created by God to do great and wonderful things. You will never be 'just a'.  And, whatever direction the road goes, know that somewhere, maybe way back at the beginning, maybe in the middle, or even if it's near the end...
I am praying for your journey, wherever you are. x

Its an easy choice for the cake that goes with this memory...
for Sarah -your quick reference!  for Claire - you cannot fail!

Microwave Chocolate Cake (adapted from BBC good food)

4 tbsp self-rising flour
4 tbsp brown sugar (or white if it's all you have)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
1 egg

splash of vanilla or almond or orange extract (to make the cake a different flavour)
You can also add in chocolate sauce or a spoonful of nutella or a handful of chocolate chips if you want.

Stir it all together in a deep cereal bowl or a cappuchino (big) mug.
Microwave on high (800) for 2 minutes.

Serve warm with cream/ ice cream/ clotted cream - whichever is your preference.
It serves 2 self controlled people with ice cream or 1 very greedy woman by herself after the ironing is done and the children are asleep and she's standing in the kitchen poised with a spoon for as soon as the microwave beeps to pull it out and go omnomnomnomnom......

Thursday also known as Quick!!do everything you can while Joel's at nursery -day

3 loads of laundry to do. 2 cups of tea already had. 1 fairly decent poached egg on toast for breakfast (done in the microwave! genius!)

So how to approach such a day? With a loose plan, a very large cup of tea and a sit down.

Rest is really hard. Especially for a type A personality. It's really important though- make sure that somewhere in your day is time for something you absolutely adore doing, even just 15 minutes.
For me- that's nothing.

I adore doing nothing. So for 15 minutes while Joel's at nursery and Luke is watching "baby television" i.e. the washing machine....I can do nothing. and its everything I hope it can be. I know that life will resume, as it always does, at a fairly breakneck speed, but I also know that that's okay. For now, quick!!! do nothing!! ....while I can.

Now that I have enjoyed doing nothing, I can do the next enjoyable thing: baking
Today is a rainy gloomyish sort of day that requires a baked good that is a bit dunkable with a hint of spice to warm you up from the inside out. I like making these because they don't fail on me like flapjack does. You also can't really dunk flapjack.

Jammy Oatmeal Bites

1 1/2 cups porridge oats
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (pumpkin pie spice also works really well)
1 cup butter (225g) -- melted. (I use dairy free margerine in these)
Jam of your choice (anything in the berry family works really well.)

Mix all the ingredients together in the order given, except for the jam. Mix the oatmeal mixture up really well and spread half of it on the bottom of a well greased 13x9 pan. spread liberally with the jam. Then crumble the remain oaty mix on the top of the jam. Bake at 175C/325F for about 30 minutes or until they look golden and yummy.

Makes about 20-24 squares. Tested, loved and approved by multiple uni students.

comfort food is the best food.

what's not to love about the following items:  sausage, pasta, butternut squash and apples.  Therefore you should be able to put them all together in one lovely scrummy yummy pot of delishiness.

Pasta with creamy sausage sauce

4 pork sausages casings removed or 250sausagemeat
2 tbsp oil (omit if using non-stick pan)
225g / 1 cup of cubed roasted butternut squash (I like to roast the squash and then freeze it in portions to defrost and use when needed.)
1 granny smith apple, peeled, and diced.
150 ml water
3/4 tsp dried sage
a little less than 1/4cup of flour
450 ml/ 2 cups milk (we use soy milk to make it dairy free)

250g cooked pasta small shells

Cook the pasta as you do and drain it.  While that's cooking, get out a large saucepan and put the oil and sausagemeat in it. Break up the sausage into chunks as you cook it, if you aren't using a non stick pan, then get ready for some scraping and an arm workout as the sausage cooks!

Add in the apple and the water and cook till apple is softish. Add in the butternut squash-- it will not stay in cubes it will fall apart and just look lovely. Add the sage. Add a bit of veggie stock cube if you want. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook until sausage is cooked through, then add the flour and stir it together. Then slowly add the milk 1 cup at a time, stirring all the while. Simmer on a low/med heat until thickened but not gloopy. add more milk if you want to. Stir in your cooked pasta and mix it all together. Serves 4 people if you serve a side salad and bread. Serves 2 fairly hungry adults and 1 toddler with 1 adult meal leftover if you just serve it as a main dish.