Last day of the school holidays!

I should have posted this yesterday really but did not have time.

It was Alex's last day of school holidays so we went to Tescos's to get him trousers & socks etc. At his old school he could wear pretty much what he wanted but here they are a bit more strict! Grey socks...dark grey trousers....no more red Arsenal socks & jeans for Alex!!!
He tried on a pair of 7-8year trousers but bless him they were too big around the waist & too long in the leg so we ended up getting age 6-7 and they still needed a belt!




Then home to play for a bit with Ollie before getting ready for his big day at his new school. He was nervous but I think he was looking forward to it!!!

Love this picture of the boys at the kitchen gate!!!

Cherry & Coconut Loaf

I was cleaning out my cupboards this am when I came across a tub of cherrys & some designated coconut that really needed eating!!!
So I googled Coconut & cherry cake and this is what I found!

Coconut & Cherry loaf

350g/12ozs Self raising flour
Pinch Salt
125g/4ozs Butter
75g/3ozs Light muscavado sugar
50g/2ozs Whitworths Desiccated Coconut
50g/2ozs Glacé cherries
2.5ml/½tsp Vanilla essence
15ml/1tbsp Clear honey
1 Egg - beaten
225ml (8fl ozs) Milk

How to make
Oven temperature: 180ºC 350 ºF Gas 41. Grease and line a 1.5 litre (2½pt) loaf tin.
2. Sieve flour and salt into a bowl, rub in the butter.
3 Stir in the sugar, coconut and cherries.
4. Stir in vanilla essence, honey, egg and sufficient milk to give a dropping consistency.
Bake for 1-1¼ hours and cool slightly in the tin before turning onto a cooling rack.

I found that the cake was ready in about 50 mins but then I do have a fan asissted oven so that is probaly why.

It is very moist & yummy!

Been a bit slack

Well.....March since last post, that is terrible!

Am going to try and be a bit more regular now and include a lot more about our little life not that anyone wants to read it!

I am also going to start my picture a day again as I have been very slack with it.

Chicken Curry

oil for frying
onion chopped
curry paste 2 tbsp such as Madras
4 tomatoes
4 choppedskinless chicken thighs, or thigh fillets
100 g young spinach
4 tbsp plain yoghurt

basmati rice or naan bread to serve

Heat a little oil in a deep non stick frying pan and add the onion. Fry for about 3 mins until tender then stir in the curry paste and fry for a min. Add the chicken and tomatoes and a splash of water, cover and cook for 15 to 20 mins until cooked through. Stir in the spinach until just wilts then stir in the yog and coriander.

This is yummy & even my sick husband & 8 year old son eat it all up.
Easy to prepare aswell.

Tomato & Basil Soup

Tomato soup

12 tomatoes
1 red onion
4 cloves garlic
olive oil
half a pack of fresh basil
stock made from veg Oxo cubes

Cut the tomatoes into quarters and put in a roasting pan. Cut the onion into wedges and add to pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and salt, put in the oven at about 200 for half an hour, then add the garlic (still in skin) and leave in oven for another half hour until the toms are going a bit black at the edges.
Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins into a pan, also chuck in the tomatoes and onion.
I made a pint of stock but didn't use quite all of it. I put about half a pint of the stock in the pan with the veg and brought it to the boil, then blended it. I added the basil before I blended it too. Then I just kept adding the rest of the stock until it was the consistency I wanted.

Caulifower, Sweet Potato and Cheese Puree

I am cooking all my son Olivers food for him & so far I am really enjoying this.
I have the Annabel Karmel cook book which to begin with I followed! Now I just bung what ever is in the kitchen into the blender & feed it to him!!!
I am going to post what I have tried & how it went down (or up as normally in Ollie's case!)

Today we have moved on to dairy which is fun!
For this I literally used a whole sweet potato & approx the same amount of cauliflower. I always steam my veg in the microwave as I find it quicker & less hassle! Once they were cooked & still hot I grated a modest amount of cheddar cheese over it & went to work with the hand blender!!! The reason I did it when it was still hot was so that the cheese melted into the veg.

Ollie then had this for his lunch & the rest went into the freezer for later! The verdict was that he eat every single mouthfull!

Pesto, Feta & Tomato Tarts

I can take no credit for this recipe what so ever, I found it on a fellow 'Damsels' blog & thought I would give them a go as Graham loves Pesto & I love Feta!!!

They are lovely & one of the simplest things that I have ever made!

I am not going to go as far as copying the recipe from Cherrypie so I will put a link to the blog instead!

http://onebiteofthecherry.blogspot.com/

Rigatoni with Traditional Pork Bolognaise

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: Cooking Time:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 40g (1½ oz) butter

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 1 celery stick, finely chopped

• 1 carrot, finely diced

• 250g (9 oz) lean minced pork

• 200ml (7fl oz) full-bodied red wine such as Montepulciano d’Abruzzo

• 400g (14 oz) can of chopped tomatoes

• 2 tbsp chopped fresh tomatoes

• 2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• A little flour, mixed to a paste with water

• 350g (12 oz) rigatoni

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serveMETHOD

• Heat the oil and butter in a deep pan, add the onion, celery and carrot and stir well. Cook over a gentle heat for 5 minutes, until just beginning to soften

• Increase the heat and add the minced pork. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly for the first 3 minutes to break up the lumps. Add the red wine and simmer for 3 minutes

• Stir in the tomatoes and season well with salt and pepper. Partially cover and cook over a low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until the meat and vegetables are very tender and the juices have thickened. Stir in the parsley. If the sauce isn’t thick enough, ass a little flour and water paste and cook for a further 5-10 minutes

• Bring a large pan of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the rigatoni, stir and return to a gentle rolling boil. Cook for 10-12 minutes, until al dente, then drain. Add the paste to the sauce and mix well. Serve in deep bowls with a sprinkling of Parmesan

Tana Ramseys Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are to die for!!!

I have tried to make cookies before but failed miserably. These were Soooooo easy and taste delicious.

300g/12oz good quality milk chocolate (I used Diary Milk)

200g/8oz Softened Unsalted butter

100g/4oz Caster Sugar

150g/6oz Light brown sugar

2 egs beaten

300g/12oz Plain Flour

1tsp Vanilla Essence

1tsp Bicarbonate of soda.

1- Preheat oven to 180/350/GM4

2- Lightly Grease a baking tray.

3- Firstly, break the chocolate into small chunks, then place into a plastic bag & hammer with a rolling pin to make smaller. Watch your fingers!!

4 - Beat together the butters & the sugars in a large mixing bowl (make sure this is the largest you have) untill light in colour & smooth. Beat in the eggs, stirring through. Add the flour, Vanilla Essence & Bicarb of soda, & stir in the chocolate chunks.

5 - Spoon mounds of mixture onto your baking sheet, ensuring you leave space around each mound as they will spread!! (I put 6 on a sheet)

6 - Bake for 10-15 mins untill golden brown. They will continue to set whilst cooling, so be carefull not to over cook. Once removed from the oven allow 10 mins to set then place on a wire cooling rack.

Enjoy

My 1st feeble attempts!

Well I have always enjoyed cooking but my idea of cooking was heating stuff up! On the occasions that I have cooked 'properly' it always went wrong & never looked like it did in the picture!!!
I then started cooking for my baby son from scratch & found that I really enjoyed it. So I thought if I can do this for Ollie I can do this for us as a family.
I asked for various cooking books for Christmas & got Jamies - How to cook, Gordons Sunday Lunch & Tana Ramsey's Family Kitchen.
So far Tana's book has become my new bible!!! I have made meat balls & Choc chip cookies. These have both gone down so well it has given me a HUGE boost in confidence & I have decided to carry this on! Graham does not know what has hit him, he thinks I have turned into Delia overnight but as he loves his food & will try anything once I see that he is a good guinee pig! He will also be brutally honest with me if need be!

So..........let my cooking blog begin!!