I still haven’t written my essay. I have finished watching season 2 of The Wire though. Seriously, I just can’t get into the zone. I’m going to have a go at writing something tonight when the kids are in bed but basically I’ve resigned myself to a late night tomorrow.
So, today we baked bread. Well, when I say baked bread what I mean is that Devin emptied a packet of bread mix (Parmesan and Sun-dried tomato) into a bowl and mixed it with some water before kneading and stretching it, shaping it, leaving it to rise and cooking it. He did a rather wonderful job and both he and Brodie declared it delicious.
I also received a rather wonderful present in the post yesterday. This gives me yet another opportunity to big up the amazingly talented ilovespoiltpig. My rubbish picture does not do this piece justice. I absolutely love it and have been wearing it constantly.
The deadline for the Alice in Wonderland swap organised by Meridian Ariel is fast approaching. I have a stickie note on my computer with ideas for projects but am undecided in terms of what to make. I think I may be having a crisis of confidence because I know that I’m not artistic in the slightest. I also realise that I wont have a great deal of time to make something, what with all my uni deadlines, but I want to make something cracking for my swap partner.
It’s less than a week to Christmas now and I may have found some festive spirit lurking inside of me. We put the tree up last weekend and Devin decorated it. It looks much better in real life, honest guv. I think he did a cracking job and he really enjoyed himself. This weekend I am living in the house of sick. The wee one has some sort of tummy bug and as a result is being clingy and smelly. For some reason it all fits in with my Christmas spirit. Someone always gets ill at this time of year.
I’ve been finding that, due to the cold and the SNOW (yes we have some), I’m craving warming winter foods. With Brodie being unwell and me still at work, I don’t have the time to shop or make hearty stews or casseroles. I’ve resorted to taking a dish from my childhood and tweaking it a little. This is perfect winter food for me.
Cheese, egg and toast.
The basic recipe calls for bread to be toasted on one side while you mix together a large amount of grated cheese (I used applewood smoked because it’s my favourite) and an egg. This mixture is then spread over the untoasted side of the bread and grilled until it is fluffy and golden. It is yummy like this (especially dipped in brown sauce) but I made a few changes. I like my toast very light and soft so I didn’t toast the underside of the bread. Then when I mixed together the egg and cheese I added some mustard. Before spreading the mixture I layered the bread with ham and then piled the mixture on top of that. Seriously easy and wonderfully moreish. In fact, I might go and make this very dish for my breakfast.
Yesterday I took a 500g packet of beef mince out of the freezer with the intention of making something for dinner. The only thing I ever make with mince is chilli but I fancied something different. An idea began to form. Burgers. It’s been years since I made burgers, preferring to buy the yummy jalapeno ones from M&S, but it seemed like a good idea. In fact, it was a brilliant idea. The kids wolfed down their mini burgers (served with beans) while hubby and I had our adult sized burgers in rolls with salad. We also put a cube of cheese in the centre of each uncooked burger so that when we bit into them there was lovely gooey applewood smoked.
The recipe itself was fairly simple. I mixed together the mince with an egg, some chives, salt and pepper, a handful of breadcrumbs, an onion (finely chopped and cooked until soft) and some dried herbs . This is the only thing I’ve made in ages that I haven’t done any measuring for so I was pretty proud of myself. The mini burgers took 6 minutes on each side to cook and the adult ones took 8 minutes.
I also made some wonderfully gooey chocolate cookies which we had for dessert with ice cream. Unfortunately the entire batch was eaten so quickly that I didn’t even have time to take photos. The recipe can be found on the GoodFood website.
Just a quick one because today was busy, busy. It started with Dev’s tennis lesson at 9.30, we then ditched his swimming lesson at 11.30 (due to his ear infection) and made a quick detour to Starbuck’s where we met friends for coffee. By the time we got back we were starving but luckily I’d prepared lunch, a Croque Monsieur Bake, last night. After 25 minutes in the oven we had cheesy, ham, mustardy, goodness.
Hubby dearest then decided to rearrange/spring clean the living room so I stuck the children in front of some Charlie and Lola while I whipped up a Damp Lemon and Almond Cake.
The kids and I then destroyed the bedroom by indulging in some painting and crafty type stuff. I was most impressed with the Toilet Roll People they made.
I had so much fun today, which makes up for the fact that I should have been studying in preparation for a meeting with my tutor on Tuesday and the handing in of an essay tomorrow.
