Weekly Baking: a summer berry tart with good intentions

I try to bake something every week. I don't always achieve it. There are after-school snacks to take care of, the occasional pudding, and those empty-tummy moments that seem to accompany my life working from home. I've been trying to bake more healthily, with Ella's book, the Hemsley sisters and Sarah's lovely book. Yes there have been the ubiquitous date balls, raw food brownies, and oat-banana cookies in my kitchen, just as you've seen all over the blogosphere. 

And then this last weekend, I just needed a good old-fashioned fat & sugar blow-out.

Nigella to the rescue!

This is Nigella's No Fuss Fruit Tart. Brownie point one (pardon the pun): it was so easy to make. Brownie point two: no unusual ingredients. Brownie point three: no oven involved. Brownie point four: it's absolutely delicious. And those berries: just look at those rich red to blue hues. You can't help but want slice after slice.

The down side is that I couldn't in good conscience give such a sugar/fat-fest to my young children twice a day. And my husband and eldest son are both on a pudding-free health kick (which means one slim slice only). And my very youngest Tiny One, who is the lone picky eater in a family of adventurous eaters (I can't even begin to tell you how draining it can be), didn't like it.

Conclusion: make it for a dinner party, or a big family gathering, or friends for a barbecue. It's so easy, everyone will have a slice, and pretty much everyone will love it. 

Don't make it like I did, just for your family who mostly won't eat it. Otherwise you might end up eating about three-quarters of it all to yourself a week before going on holiday when you're supposed to be being good (swimming costume shame, blah blah).

Consider my wrists slapped. I'm back to the raw health food. Once I've polished off the last slice that is.

Cooking a little healthier, a little more gluten-free: Sarah's Big Comfy Sweet Potato and Simple Gourmet Granola

I'd say I eat well 80% of the time, and the other 20% is basically cakes, biscuits and chocolate. I tried giving up the latter for January and got about half-way through. At least I joined the masses with that one! But I've noticed that I'm basically a bread-and-cheese girl at lunchtimes and that my breakfast is the time of day I most crave healthy, bolstering food. And coming from a family afflicted with various gastro-malfunctions, I figure these two meals are ripe for a bit of a nutrition punch. The chocolate in the evenings, well, that'll have to wait!

This is a preamble to me introducing you to the My New Roots website that I recently discovered (via an oblique reference on instagram). I don't think I could eat this way all the time but I'm up for a lot of it for breakfast and a fair amount at lunch too. I've actually been feeling really inspired on the food front recently. You may know that I cook from recipe books about 95% of the time for dinner, and for a lot of our weekend lunches too, but while it's always nutritious and homemade it can often involve less healthy fare (beef pie anyone?). We've eaten mostly wholegrain and wholewheat for years but it'll do us good to rely less on the wheat family. And I hardly ever go to the recipe books for breakfast or my weekday lunches with the Tiny One. So it's nice to have a new focus to reinvigorate my recipe love. I'll keep you updated.

(Top picture, My New Roots Big Comfy Sweet Potato for lunch; and bottom picture, My New Roots Simple Gourmet Granola, out of the oven and waiting for the raisins to be stirred in - or whatever other dried fruit you prefer.)

Wondering: a little update, in the moment

There's beauty outside in a spring that unfurled late and is hanging around. Daffodils when they've usually left us. The quiet earth, parched but cold for so long, suddenly verdant with grasses and new growth now that the rain has been coming. Some days it's a sprinkling here and there, other days fine and sideways but constant. Either way, we had about four or five days of sunshine and warmth over a week ago and that was it. Early spring weather, so ironically late to start, has just stuck, the clouds above viciously cycling and no sign of that mid- to late-spring warmth we'd have expected.

 

Some days I say I'm fed up with it, but today I'm trying to roll with its punches. Summer, which should be just a fortnight off, is something we can barely remember let alone expect. I suspect this year may end up being another damp squib, as the Gulf Stream - source of all our old glorious summers - slows down and drifts away from our shores. I find myself thinking of my Geography degree all the time now, and the uncanny truth that global warming will actually cool our country down. I still believe in fairy tales, and the story of hot summers to come, but we all have to grow up sometime.

 

Speaking of growing up, the Tiny One is talking like he was a year older than two, and we're all so lucky to experience his personality, his opinions and his quirks as a result of it. He is such a big boy in a small boy's body, and follows his older brother around all the time, echoing his sentences, hoping for his attention, laughing at his jokes. The Little One is nearly four. Serious, strong of opinion, fragile of emotion at times, and yet with such a fun and funny side. He rides, balances and plays like a child several years older, and I know that as soon as he's old enough to join in our village's cricket and football activities, he'll be flying. Despite his activity and physical prowess, he's also a wonderful concentrator, meticulous and imaginative in his play, advanced in his questioning, keen on his pattern finding, logical in his thinking.

 

The Big One, oh my. An early GCSE, girlfriends, hill walks with friends, Warhammer championships... he is such an independent spirit, in some ways so mature for his age, in others still so adolescent. This year has been easier than the last, as his body and mind become more accustomed to the testosterone of late childhood; as he walks more comfortably in the footsteps of a man. Sometimes I feel that he's so independent, he's almost and not quite my boy any more. I often view him as another adult (yet a surly one) in the house, and grasp tightly to those moments when he still needs me or shares some of himself. It's a funny thing, this growing up. When you think of it with your toddlers, you don't realise that as they reach their teenage years it's not so much growing up as growing away. It's an education for both of us, and while it's a little sad, it's also lovely to see glimpses of the man he will become.

 

My lovely husband is still working hard, but despairing of the cuts, bureaucracy and nonsensical decisions in his work, and dreaming of better times. He walks up hills alone most weeks, and we've come to a fair arrangement whereby his half day of walking while I 'babysit' is matched by a half day of sewing for me. Though, as you can imagine, my half day always gets curtailed one way or another! I love him but miss him. It's hard living with a man working shifts, small children taking all your time, and constant DIY and errands to do on days off. We try our hardest to get family time and couple time every week, and are still dreaming of a future when the whole family can head up a hill together, once all our legs are strong enough (and hoping we all have the passion for it).

 

I am sewing more at the moment, and my heart and soul are steadied, settled and smitten by it. My brother's quilt is finished, I've made and gifted a lovely drawstring bag, and I have two more and a cushion cover on the go. It's still often a difficult and frustrating balance between the sewing, all my responsibilities and everyone else's needs, but while things are flowing a bit better I'm going with it. I'll be showing you some of the sewing very soon.

 

I'm baking once a week; the craving to eat sugar versus the craving to bake seems to have lead to this sort of regular irregularity. I'm also making almost all our bread in the bread maker, and have been doing so since November. It's a lovely habit to have gotten into, and satisfying in every sense of the word. I'll be sharing some of my loaves here soon too.

 

The Little One is at nursery and the Tiny One is playing by my feet, little men and vehicles engaged in important work, and lots of talk of spiders. My lovely husband has just returned from his walk (he worked at the weekend, and is now on two days off - this walk earns me my sewing tomorrow!). There's a shoulder of lamb slow cooking in the oven, very gently softening til dinner time, and I've got a loaf of seeded bread due to get started in the breadmaker, a pea and lettuce soup awaiting cooking for lunch, and some peppers to blacken then skin. The sun is out, though rain is threatening, and I'm debating whether to plead for a few hours of family gardening after lunch (the lovely husband needs some heavy persuasion to garden, despite an alleged interest in it), ditch the gardening idea and go through a walk through our local gorge, or force myself to take the boys swimming before the Big One needs collecting from astronomy after school.

 

You may notice that none of those activities involve me sitting here, writing on the computer, and so I say goodbye and thank you for reading!

 

 

Baking: butternut squash muffins & pantry re-stocking

Baking has been on my 'to do' list ever since Christmas, but other than the breadmaking (that's next week's post!) there hasn't been any baking going on. There's always so much chocolate hanging around after Christmas, not to mention the post-festive pounds, that baking always takes a back seat in January.

 

But I had a butternut squash sat in the banana basket (who knows why) and a Jamie Oliver butternut squash muffin recipe, so I thought: go for it!

Result? Lovely muffins. Very quick and easy to make (since the recipe calls for a processor). But I over-mixed them (blame the food processor's - well, my -inaugural muffin mixing) and they're a little more like cupcakes than muffins. The topping is lovely (sour cream, vanilla seeds and citrus) and almost sugar-less. But the muffins, let me tell you, are sugar-full. I figured I could call them healthy due to the squash but who am I kidding? It's not stopped us eating them though. Especially the two little boys. The Tiny One keeps spotting their container and shouting "cake! cake!" He takes after his mother, that one.

 

If you want to make them, go to Jamie Oliver's 'Jamie at Home' book, page 364, or check out the website here.

On the same morning, once I got into the non-meal-making-still-cooking groove, I also made bread, made soup for lunch and made a double batch of my grandfather's famous apple chutney. It goes fast in this house and is a lovely one to make so long as you have time for all that apple slicing and dicing. I'd give you the recipe but since Poppa's not around any more, I can't ask him for permission and he wasn't the sort of man you'd want to get on the wrong side of! Maybe I'll make you some one day.

Storing, sorting, preserving

Yes, it's a very dark, bad picture. But this is a little peek into my pantry and it's a shame there's no tempovision on computers yet or you'd be able to touch that picture and find that the chutney's still warm! (And no, sorry, there's no such thing as tempovision; I'm just a little weird).

When in doubt, work on storage.

In the last few days I have sorted out the storage in the over-the-stairs-cupboard (sounds strange - we have stairs that used to lead to the attic, then we converted the attic, built new stairs, sealed off the top to the old ones, but left them there behind a door. You just climb them til your head hits the ceiling. It's like living in Alice in Wonderland. I.e. freakin' fabulous... only most of the time they have suitcases, boxes and sleeping bags resting on them). I have also sorted bits of the eaves storage (the bits that don't involve toys the Little One is too young for but would go crazy for if he discovered them).

Last week I sorted the drawers in the utility room (finally put the winter scarves and gloves away now that it is just about warm enough to do without them... just). And the sewing storage (pretty ribbons were organised into boxes = pretty ribbons are now jumbled on the floor out of boxes = the Little One found them).

In a sort of storage tangent, today I have turned three punnets of organic plums into plum chutney, using this Delia recipe... only I had the old version from her 1970s books and didn't know about the 'thick enough' test. I don't think it was thick enough. Oh well. But it felt good to make it. It's that classic psyche-yourself-out technique: when you are not doing the everyday things that need doing and instead do an added extra, and it makes you feel super-capable. Only, don't tell anyone, those everyday things are still waiting to be done. You should see the toys on the floor around me. They'll only be strewn around again tomorrow so, tonight, I choose not to bother putting them all away again.

It's been a bit of a tough fortnight. I figure if I spend some time sorting, storing and preserving all around me, it might encourage a bit of spontaneous, tandem sorting, storing and preserving of my insides too.

Bank holiday eating

I'm not doing too many cooking posts these days, just sticking to baking. But since it was a Bank Holiday weekend, and the lovely husband's birthday, I thought I'd show you some of what we fed him...

Duck salad from Jamie's 30min Meals. It was really delicious, especially as duck isn't something that crops up very often for us. I bulked it out with some plain rice and some sweet potato chips (you have to have these, they really helped complete the meal). The Little One decided he really liked garlic bread. And his pomegranate obsession continued!

We had a prosciutto & melon salad for lunch one day (same book), followed by bread and cheeses. The salad was really good - amazing how a little basil dressing completely changes the bog-standard melon-wrapped-in-ham experience.

And for another lunch, Superb Squash Soup with giant croutons, from a different Jamie book and, again, delicious. We do like a bit of Jamie. We eat a lot of his recipes and the chance of us not liking one, finding it too complicated, or it not filling us up enough is very, very unlikely. In fact, it's hardly ever happened. He's always reliable, our Jamie.

We ate other things of course, but didn't photograph them. If they're not snapped, they don't exist! You really should try all three of these recipes. All are great for entertaining, or just for a pimped-up meal at home

The pizza quest

Well here it is, the answer to my pizza prayers!

Let me backtrack a bit. Take-away pizza is seriously expensive. Pizza from the supermarket is okay, but usually means waiting for an offer on the Pizza Express ones and then there are only one or two toppings to choose from.

Pizza's a treat. And I always have in mind the pizza night that recurs in Barbara Kingsolver's personal story, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (read the book!), where they make pizzas with homemade tomato sauce as a regular Friday thing.

So I started the pizza quest: to find a pizza I could make at home that was delicious, authentic, but not too difficult. I started out with short-cut pizzas. You know, the kind that are made in frying pans in half an hour, or in the oven using scone dough. I must have made about five or six. Oh the disappointment. The crust is never crusty enough, the flavour's been too bland, and the crust also becomes very 'deep pan' when we're after the more original (and healthier) 'Italian' style thin-crust.

Then, for some unknown reason, on a whim over Easter I made bread again. I don't have a breadmaker, so this involves the full-on kneeding, proving and rising process. Surprisingly, it wasn't hard or onerous, or any of those negative things I had expected. In fact, I sort of enjoyed it. And my wrists didn't ache for hours from the effort (one of the great side-effects from carrying toddlers too much, I think). So all of a sudden, the pizza dough I had avoided making for so long didn't seem so scary any more.

I made the pizza dough from Jamie at Home. The recipe is here. It makes enough dough to feed our family (2 adults, a teenager & 2 toddlers) twice over, so half of it is now a giant clingfilmed sausage in my freezer. It cooked a dream - crispy, real pizzas. The one you see above is the lovely husband's. He topped his with quick tomato sauce, sliced mushrooms and mozzarella. Once it came out of the oven, on went the prosciutto, rocket leaves, dried chilli flakes and extra-virgin olive oil. Now, the lovely husband is a bit of a pizza snob. He's been the biggest critic of the previous scone-type versions. And he really liked it. Winner!

We'll be making pizza every few weeks now, if I have my way. Yum!

Nine things

The week that was; the week that will be

Lotta Jansdotter's 'Moira' in apricot, from the Echo collection & found here

1. We had a lovely walk, just myself and the two littler boys, across a gorge and up into town. There, we visited charity shops to buy provisions for our village May Queen celebrations (and toys too, of course), and checked out our new lovely greengrocers (wicker baskets!).
2. The lovely husband and I talked about ways to better manage our time, so that I can concentrate more on the sewing.
3. The Big One joined the army cadets. Downside: I'm not so into the soldier thing. Upside: discipline, sport and community. Good things for a teenage boy to be doing.
4. The two littler ones have been hard work. Tantrums and arguments. The Tiny One certainly knows how to stand up for himself now.
5. I baked a lovely rhubarb and stem ginger crumble. But we gobbled it up so fast, I forgot to photograph it to show you.
6. Finally ordered a new phone, with a decent camera. This is my solution to the whole blogging-without-a-camera problem, when I have to rely on a lovely but forgetful/busy/opinionated(!) husband to take blog photos for me.
7. The Bank Holiday weekend has mostly been filled with walking and cooking. The cooking has been good. So far, I have made the crumble, squash soup, hot dogs with homemade ketchup, prosciutto & melon salad, lemon meringue cake, fish pie, and boiled ham with pease pudding. I have so enjoyed myself!
8. This week I plan to focus on more sewing and more friend-seeing/calling.
9. And I'm aiming to try getting up at 5.30 for a bit of 'me time' or sewing/blogging before the little ones wake. I know, I'm going to be knackered. But the Tiny One wakes around then anyway, and if he's not gone back to sleep by 6.15/6.30, I have to give up and get him up. I have come to accept and not feel guilty about needing to start the day with time to myself. I just need a bit of 'me' before I spend my whole day devoted to everyone and everything else. Dawn it is, then.

Eat the week... Tana Ramsay's Family Kitchen

We ate from Tana Ramsay's Family Kitchen this week...

• Porridge with Blueberries, p.9... It was Burn's Night, and I'm no haggis eater. So Burn's Breakfast it was instead! The 'recipe' uses too much liquid: just follow packet instructions. But it was just what I needed for the return of winter mornings.
• Lime & Ginger Salmon Fillets with Noodles, p.116... These were good. Always looking for new ways to vary salmon as we eat it every few weeks.
• Pork with Apple & Juniper Berries, p.150... Oh yum, yum. (Pic on right, with peas, cabbage and swede/potato mash) Another wintry meal. Juniper berries are an acquired taste. I've definitely acquired it (despite disliking gin), but if you haven't don't bite down on them, just enjoy their subtle flavour in the sauce.
• Bolognaise, p.154... Want a bolognaise with lots of hidden veg in it that still tastes meaty? Well here you go. Eaten by all.
• Chicken in a Pot, p.168...Lovely flavours (leek, chicken, tomato, carrot, bacon - what's not to like?), but very saucey. Serve with a spoon for the remaining puddle, and potatoes to soak up most of the juices! (Pic on right with broccoli)

There was also another turkey and ham pie made, using Nigella's Chicken Pot Pies recipe as a guide. Our Christmas turkey just keeps giving. This was the last batch of frozen turkey with Boxing Day ham, but I also defrosted the turkey carcass and made stock from it (labelling it Turkey Lurkey - is that wrong?!), and the stock made the pie sauce. Even tried uncharacteristic pastry design in a hurry, which turned out alright. I'm definitely having a pie phase. Perhaps it's down to the lovely round Le Creuset pie dish my brother gave me for Christmas? From stock to tummy - see photos below!

Eat the week... Nigella's Feast

It was Nigella's Feast this week for our menu planning...

• One-pan Sage-&-Onion Chicken & Sausage, p.226... I made this when my parents were here, to stretch a pack of 10 sausages around 4 adults and 3 children. It worked, it tasted great, and it was all in one pan. Only downside: I like that the fat cooks out of sausages and you leave it behind in the roasting dish, but in this recipe it mingled to make a very fatty sauce and I'm not sure we'd all want to eat that in virtuous January.
• Chicken Pot Pies, p.240... I varied the recipe a bit, to use up some frozen leftover Christmas turkey (this bird just keeps giving), and making one big pie rather than several small ones. It was oh so good. Great recipe for leftovers and everyone ate it. I was in a silly mood so the holes I cut in the pastry to let the steam out made a big, happy pie face. I thought it looked fab. The husband took the photos for this post though and said it looked silly (that was the point!), so no picture for you today!
• Scotch Pancakes, p.254... Made for the boys. Always a winner. Every time I make them I wonder why I don't make them more often, and why anyone would ever buy them. Invariably, I then forget to make them for ages and end up buying some.
• Nursery Fish Pie, p.451... I am trying various ways to use fish bought frozen (because it's cheaper), as it never tastes great when on its own. Pasta and pie are the answers, and this fish pie (pictures above and right) really was the business. Except I'd run out of frozen peas (used in the chicken pie), so made do with a mixture of soya beans and sweetcorn.

I didn't cook a lot of recipes this week, as the husband was working late shifts. I like to have easy, basic suppers with the boys in case they surprise me at cooking time with tantrums, battles or misery! But I did make a few things from the Baby & Child Vegetarian Recipes cookbook by Carol Timplerley (a classic I return to over-and-over, that I cooked from when the Big One was small and we were both vegetarian). One was hummous (see left, with hand-processor still in: much enjoyed), one was parsnip and apple soup (they didn't like it; I ate it).

That's it! See you next week when I start my Tana Ramsay fortnight.

A list for 2012

I am a little list-obsessed. Having written one for what I'd achieved (or otherwise) in 2011, I feel I ought to set myself a bit of a plan for 2012. You could call these plans resolutions, but they're a little less stern than that. Intentions, maybe?

• Family - They are always top of my list. And though there are eight other items below this one, I will try to remember not to resent the time I spend giving to my family when I may have had hopes to be working on one of my other 'intentions'. My husband is my rock, my heart and my home. I am still giddy about him, eight years in; and so I hope to still have butterflies this year. My boys are my joys and, as we struggle through adolescence, potty training and emerging willfulness with each in turn, I hope to keep counting my biggest blessings, one, two, three. Last but no means least, my parents and brothers. Absence has made the heart so much fonder. They have given so much to me, and I hope to rebalance the scales in 2012.
• Writing - My soul is type-written. 2011 brought me back to it, and I hope to take it for a long walk in 2012. I'd like it to be read more, for my voice is not mute. Hence the blogging. Will I write anything else than the blog this year? I hope so, but I'd like to let that idea jiggle around in my mind for a while before I set any specific goals.
• Sewing - I was in the flush of new love in 2011. In 2012 I'd like to build a long-term relationship with my sewing machine. Sew, sew, sew more. Sew gifts. Sew for others. Sew for me. Sew for the house. Sew quilts for the boys. Sew to sell. Learn, learn, learn more. By the end of the year, I'd like to have had my own stall and opened an etsy or folksy store. We can but dream.
• Cooking - Well I've always loved this, but I want to make more myself (especially since the revelation of processor-made pastry) and more for the littlest boys. And I'd love to delegate the stove to the Big One one night a week, since he shows the kernel of such enthusiasm. But I have yet to ask him!
• Baking - The problem with cake-making is it lead to cake-eating! So I hope to bake more for others to eat, and bake more savoury goods (I have dreams of a breadmaker, since my tiny hands and wrists are too wimpish for regular kneading). And gosh darn it, I will get my piping bag out of its packaging and decorate a cupcake before the year is out!
• Making - Keep making my cards, and actually get good at it! If I could make them on time, well that'd really be something. Make more decorations to mark the seasons, celebrations and patterns of the year. And of course I'll be making my gifts, but that's covered under 'sewing'.
• Nesting - This house, just over a year in, needs some window-dressing! It was home from the moment we first turned the keys in the door. The painting can wait (no time). The rotting window frames can wait (no money). But the odd cushion, quilt or curtain will, I hope, have the same effect as a blush of red lipstick on an un-made-up face.
• Nature - Get my footprints in more mud, paths and trails. Get my head in more wind, sky and weather. Convince the Little One to walk in the rain! Bring the outside inside more - my vases look embarrassingly naked too much of the time.
• Nurture - I will nurture my family (see first point!). I need to nurture my friends more. There has to be time to pick up the phone. My close friends are like sisters to me now, and, surrounded by boys as I am, I need more of their oestrogen in 2012. And to nurture myself? Is there time?! If there ever is, I hope to use it wisely. And to read a book, what luxury!

I hope we all make it to the end of 2012, and that I can look back and above all else find I was happy and I made others happy. And if I've found my vocation (sewing? writing?) and found a way to make a living from it, then so much the better.

The ghost of Christmas past

I thought you'd like to see what we ate over Christmas! Well, to be fair, I'm sure very few people would be interested in what we ate, but I got my amateur photographer husband to photograph it so I'm going to bore you all with it anyway. Ho ho ho.

Breakfast muffins! They were an optional extra, depending on whether I had time to knock them up. I woke up at 6am too excited to go back to sleep, but my husband wouldn't let me wake the boys up. They woke at 7.30. Breakfast muffins made! They were flavoured with cranberries & clementines and were delicious. We also had a late-morning brunch of home-made American pancakes with scrambled egg, bacon and maple syrup but we ate them too quickly to catch on camera!

The big meal... clockwise from top: roast potatoes; maple roast parsnips; spiced & super-juicy turkey (having relaxed in its bath for 24hrs); sprouts with pancetta, parsley & chestnuts; chestnut stuffing (made the day before, minus the egg); cranberry sauce (made two days before and still deliciously giving by new year's); pigs in blankets. And there's allspice turkey giblet gravy on top. I made everything from scratch, and even allowed myself a bit of smugness! It was many, many times yum. I expected to get stressed but instead I found the whole thing - from turkey bathing to plating up - such fun. But then I was only catering for three adults and 2.5 children. If we'd had my side of the family here instead of my husband's it would have been seven adults (three of whom have huge appetites), 2.5 children and a mutt. Maybe next year!

We finished with this: a home-made chocolate log. Swiss rolls are supposed to be a nightmare to roll up but mine was fine - did I do something wrong? I often think recipes that are supposed to be difficult often aren't if you don't know about it beforehand. It's the confidence of the ignorant. I have been similarly ignorant about whisking egg whites and making risottos. Yet I can't make Bird's custard without it going lumpy or staying runny. Oh the peculiarities of the kitchen.

And this was Boxing Day, for those who care to know. The Fully Festive Ham from Nigella's Feast, which we ate with more roasts, peas and red cabbage cooked in pomegranate (Nigella again). We then ate mince pies and too many cranberry, pecan and white chocolate cookies. The day after, I made a ham and turkey pie from the leftovers of both meals and froze enough for at least three more pies in January. This Christmas ghost just keeps on giving.

1 day til Christmas

Christmas Eve!!...

Here was the table for a lovely lunch with soup, salad, cheeses and some seasonal fare. Yes, that is a full wine glass you spotted. Having spent three years either pregnant or breastfeeding, we decided to enjoy my first Christmas of neither!

And here was the turkey in its aromatic bath (Nigella's Spiced & Superjuicy Turkey), where it wallowed for 24hours (and yes, it was worth it). And the last of the Christmas sewing ready for gifting away.

And here is the Christmas window at the front of our house: birds, pears, and homemade decorations in a nudge towards 'My True Love Gave to Me'. It went up a week ago but I did say I'd show it to you.

And of course there was more Christmas baking from Nigella's bible... here are the lovely geometric lines of her cranberry, pecan and white chocolate cookies that were baked on Christmas eve, a few gifted later that day, and the rest kept for Boxing Day pudding. Oh. My. Goodness. Too delicious to only make at Christmas: I think they'll have another outing soon. And we ate Jamie's fish pie with hard-boiled eggs hidden within like the coins in a Christmas pudding (which I didn't make this year - only I like it). It was the perfect fishy Christmas Eve supper.

And before I go, here are the Little One's glittery decorations, made with a kind friend, and now adorning our back door. He has embellished his decoration corner considerably. With the help of a ladder (one of his favourite things) he's sellotaped all manner of bits of plastic, bubble wrap, and even hangers to the door. He is yet to discover the true meaning of decorations but, despite all my hard work at tastefully decorating the house, this little corner is my favourite spot of all.

2 days til Christmas

More chutney was made. This time mostly by the Big One, and it was Nigella's Christmas Chutney to be gifted as Christmas presents. I was told I had to help, and that one of the jars would be his present to me. Somehow that doesn't seem quite right! But I like chutney making, so I went with it.

The Cranberry Sauce (another Nigella Christmas recipe - we are having a Nigella Christmas) was made. How easy, how much, how yum! And it sang Jingle Bells to me in a Scandinavian accent, since it perfectly hit my red-and-white Christmas notes.

I made Nigella's Sticky Gingerbread Cake. It was a) huge; b) impressive; and c) delicious. And I can tell you, after the fact, that it improved with age. Despite being a gingerbread cake, I earned major brownie points with it. And my mother-in-law, the daughter of professional bakers, said my Christmas baking was worthy of her parents. Which made me prouder than a peacock.

There has also been a lot of last-minute Christmas sewing going on, but I can't show it to you until the presents have all been given out. Oh how I do like the secrets of the season!

3 days til Christmas

I made chutney with the Big One. The family recipe, 14 jars, and they will go in a flash as always. But it felt good to get it done, as we're scraping the bottom of our penultimate jar. I felt normal and I felt successful, and there's not much more I can hope for right now. Christmas is coming.

10 days til Christmas

When there were ten days to go, I started making these...

Seven (yes I know there are only six here - I've already gifted one) Christmas star decorations. One for me, six for presents. Red on the back, red gingham on the front, with lovely Scandinavian ribbons and neutral buttons sewn on too.

Before you ask (and everyone who's seen them has), they are deliberately skew-wiff. I would have spent a lot of time (that I don't have) with a ruler and compass trying to get them perfect otherwise. So I drew them freehand and I think I prefer the results anyway. The Tiny One has been trying to get his hands on them ever since they were finished! He is one week into crawling and already fast, committed and determined!

I also made soup. Not sure why I need to show it here, but the green colour was so splendidly spring-like in the midst of the snow here this winter that I had to photograph it. It is pea and courgette, which doesn't sound that interesting, but with ham stock and herbs to lift it it was glorious. It put quite a spring in my step. Boom, boom.



Joy

When I was not too well, cooking fell by the wayside. For a while, someone else did it. Then I did it, but the simplest of things - no recipes, just veg and something from the shop. Oh the joy of cooking again! It means so much to me: health, happiness, sustaining myself and my family. Above is cannelloni. Yum.

And you wouldn't believe the joy to be found in the folding of egg whites. Just look at them! Admittedly, a poor picture, but it was like folding clouds into honey. Though what it really was was American pancakes. With maple syrup or sweetcorn. Lapped up by the brood of boys.

A cake! Yes an actual cake. Big, big joy, though it was a small, small cake. A little Victoria sponge. But it was yum scrum and may as well have been decorated with the words 'You're back!' By the way, that's my new Polish pottery butter dish in the back. Thank you mum.

Now we start getting a little show-offy... meringues. The best I had ever made. Unrefined caster sugar for the caramel, nutty chewiness it provides. The perfect cracks a-top. And, for once, no sticking to the the baking paper! Do you like my jug in the background too? I have something veering on a jug obsession.

Last but by no means least, chicken stock for the soul. You know you're kitchen is powered up and singing again when the chicken carcasses make their ritual movements from meat-picking to freezer, then into pan, cooked down into stock, into the fridge (satisfying layer of fat; glutinous demi-jelly wobble if you're lucky), into containers and back into the freezer again before becoming soup, risotto, or something equally satisfying. The picture above (yet again, with cheap Ikea bowl - oh for a lovely ceramic one) shows it glistening with tinkling rolls of steam as it cools, surface rippling like gelatine. Chicken stock may be thrifty and basic, but it feeds the soul as well as the stomach. Joy.

It wasn't me, guv

I didn't make this. I have been in bed with a kidney infection. Nasty. Don't ever get one.

The Big One made this. I keep finding cookery books in his bedroom. The Primrose Bakery is the current fave. We are encouraging meal cooking (saves us a job) over excessive baking (doesn't save our waistlines). I think this is the kind of teenage pastime he should indulge in.

Isn't he clever?! I am liking this blossoming of my cookery genes in him. Mince pies are next on his list. Mmmmm.

It's time for lunch

Most days lunch a deux (me and my Little One, while the world is at work) is hurried and usually involving sandwiches. Some days I have a bit more time, a bit more cooperation, and look what happens!

I made myself a Jamie Oliver-inspired, dill festooned Greek salad. And it was delicious. The Little One had a deconstructed, diminished salad - tomatoes, olives, avocado and cucumber. He enjoyed eating half of it and squishing the rest.

I am off to peruse Nancy's list for a bit of inspiration for next week.

Eating the week - Nigella Bites

Last week we ate from 'Nigella Bites'. It's much shorter than Nigella's other books and there's less to choose from, but there are some real gems. Here's what we ate and what we thought...

• Soft-boiled Eggs with Asparagus Soldiers (p.157) - Yes, it's true that asparagus and egg go together like - well, like any other perfect flavour combination. But the problem is, you can't get a lot of soft-boiled egg to stick to a stem of asparagus. So it was nice, but the egg/asparagus ratio was off.
• Chicken with Chorizo & Cannellini (p.60) - Oh yum. And easy. And quick. My only 'but' was that there was a bit too much chorizo for my palette. We used spinach to bed it all on instead of kale - we get enough kale in our vegetable box without voluntarily buying more! Also, this is my go-to recipe for poaching a chicken breast. I love a bit of poached protein, but there are so few recipes for it. It's also easier to clean a poached-chicken saucepan than a griddle, frying or baking pan!
• American Pancakes with Wafer-bacon & Maple Syrup (p.10) - A tasty, unusual, filling lunch. But we didn't do enough streaky bacon to go with them, and they are a little bit too decadent for much repetition. And better for brunch I think.
• Salmon Fishcakes (p.34) - These are the best fishcakes I've made, and I've made a lot. Most fall apart on cooking; these don't. Most don't have quite the flavour of a good shop-bought version; these do. I coat them in breadcrumbs instead of matzo meal as I can't get hold of it.
• Italian Sausages with Lentils (p.154) - Another really good, hearty, family meal. I made it for my parents who came to stay and we were all very satisfied! Very filling, and there are usually leftover lentils to pick at the next day.

As there are less recipes in this book, we also dipped into Nigella's 'How to Eat' and had...

• Chicken Patties (p.487) - They were in the children's section but they made for a great family meal, with two sausages adding lots of flavour to what was otherwise a plainish batch of chicken cakes. I'd make them more often but we can't get free-range chicken thighs off the bone up here, so my poor husband spent half an hour de-boning and de-skinning the meat first. Why is it so hard to get free-range chicken portions outside of Greater-London-Foodie-Land?
• leftover hummus from Hummous with Seared Lamb & Toasted Pine Nuts (p.262) - Ha, ha, I made this recipe as it said, as the meat didn't look much for serving four. Big BUT - I failed to read that it was part of a mezze feast for three times as many! Hence a glut of hoummus that had to be gifted to neighbours as well as eaten constantly here. But it was SO good. As good as good shop-bought hoummous. And I was so proud of myself: usually a good meal shows a good reader (it's simply accurate instruction following), but I kept tasting and tweaking to get the lemon/chickpea juice/seasoning combination right, so it felt like a little less Nigella, a little more me.

More weekly menu news next week! Do tell me if it's dull/unhelpful, and I'll stop.