Yoga Bear

 Ploughman's

 I woke up this morning like a bear with a sore head; the reason for this, quite frankly, out of character behaviour guffaw, I hear you cry was sleeping in.   I slept in for the first time in a long while and it did me no good at all.   "Sleeping in is overrated!" I cried from the side of the bed, quickly followed by "It's someone else's fault!" and "Where is my TEA?!?".

I grumped down the stairs and was greeted with the essential cuppa and no breakfast to speak off.   "Sleeping in is definitely overrated" I grumbled from underneath my hot cup.   When coffee was offered, the family ever hopeful that the caffeine would enter my system quickly, a brownie was proffered as an apology to the mum god for the lack of sustenance earlier.   The brownie was accepted and, combined with the coffee, a new dawn broke and a wavering smile began at the corner of my mouth.   All was well with the world once again.

But still: brownie for breakfast? YUM!

No sleeping in for me this week, even if I wanted to; this morning, I head off to a yoga course which continues throughout the week.   I'm a wee bit nervous but really looking forward to it.   It has me focusing on what I eat yes, Helen, because you certainly don't focus enough on what you eat........ and portion sizes as my main goal is to have enough energy without being too full, to retain momentum throughout the day without being floored by early morning yoga i.e. having to retire to my bed mid-afternoon... I have been known or without the horrendous possibility of sleeping in...we know where that takes me see above.   My yoga week lunch although there may be a few eaten in Peckhams and dinner menu, using ingredients in the pantry and leftovers from the past week's shopping and cooking  is as follows:

Farfalle with Spinach & Watercress Pesto

Lentil Soup with Ham

Shredded Ham & Potato Cakes with Risotto

Pea & Ham Soup (from a chicken...?   Now that's clever!...aye, the old adverts were the best 'uns) 

Stirfry 

Spinach & Watercress Pesto Muffins

Ham, Mustard & Homemade Chutney Sandwich with Potato & Leek Soup

Red Onion & Cheddar Omelette with Crispy Salad and Toasted Linseeds 

Pesto & Goat's Cheese Tart Slice with Roasted Tomatoes

 
 The kids and husband will have a few wee additions to this.  This week's shopping won't be until Friday which will mean last weeks shop has lasted at least 10 days.   Woohoo!

We had Ploughman's for dinner on Saturday which consisted of Ham cooked in Coke, Homemade Bread & Chutney made with ginger, apples and raisins, Cheddar Cheese, Pickled Onions and Cucumber Slices.   It was delicious!

 Coked Ham...bet you thought it was a spelling mistake!

Quick and Easy Homemade Spicy Chutney (recipe to follow)

The Fish Pie last week was a hit:

Fish Pie with Mashed Potato Topping

Ingredients:

2 x lightly smoked salmon fillets (or non-smoked fillets)

1 x coley/cod or haddock fillet

Dash of olive oil or knob of butter

2 hard boiled eggs

Cooked petit pois or garden peas of choice

Half chopped onion

Half lemon

White sauce or light cheese sauce (follow the recipe but put in only a small handful of the cheese with some Parmesan or with no cheese at all)

Mashed potatoes

* Wrap fish in foil with a squeeze of lemon juice and the remains of the lemon and a sprinkling of pepper.   Bake in a medium heat for 8-10 minutes.   When cooked, leave to one side.

 * Boil eggs.

* Make white or cheese sauce

* Heat oil or butter and saute chopped onion for a few minutes until softened but not browned.

*Cook peas in salted boiling water until just tender

* Boil potatoes and mash with butter, cream or milk and mash again with fork

Flake fish, removing any skin or bones and add to sauce.   Add any liquid.   Stir and check for seasoning.  You may want to add some nutmeg.   Roughly chop up boiled eggs and add to pan with sauce and fish.   Stir in cooked, drained peas and sauted onions.   Pour into dish of choice, making sure the fish and sauce do not come up past half way; if it does,  the sauce will leak out when you place the potato on top.

Top with mashed potatoes; use a spoon and place the potato at the edge of the dish, working round until there is only a hole left in the middle.  Top this with more potatoes and smooth over with the back of the spoon.   Using a teaspoon, mark the potato topping to resemble fish scales.

Place in a medium oven for 20-30 minutes.

The cod was delicious:

Cod topped with spicy couscous served with rice and salad

Om, shanti shanti eh!

I spent a good part of the weekend on a yoga course, vinyasa-ing my way through updogs and asanas.   My last yoga course was interspersed with looking after a wee sick laddie, enabling me to avoid any part in meditation, already being in a trance like state!   As if by magic, the same wee laddie ended up with a bug on Saturday night, leading to a sleepless night and yet another course participation spent in a daze.   Despite the lack of sleep, I thoroughly enjoyed it and Jo, our wonderful yoga teacher did us proud.   The lunch and wine were good too of course....

I managed to make some bread before collapsing; to give Brian his due, he kneaded on my behalf!

The kids had theirs with butter and jam.

 

I had mine with tomatoes, spring onions, olive oil, herbs and coleslaw.

We have to make two; one to be devoured, another for breakfast.

The kids and Brian were visiting Grandpa on Saturday evening so I was left to my own devices; I watched 'Funny Face' with Audrey Hepburn and made myself a very healthy ...yeah, right... fry up!   Just because!

Bacon, egg, beans, homemade bread toasted and roasted tomatoes...yum!

After the course finished, I went shopping for lamb koftas, cream and smoked salmon, plus more as today I had an afternoon tea with friends.   More on that tomorrow.   My budget for the next two week's shopping will therefore be cut to £80, that's £40 per week.   Shopping list and receipt to follow.

AWOL

Forgive me, bloggers, for I have sinned, it's been five days since my last blog post and I have little or no excuse except that it was a holiday weekend and when not cooking, painting, cleaning, hanging out with the kids or exercising ha! when I say exercising, I mean the contemplation of starting a new routine, donning the gear and looking at the size of my butt in the mirror; I'm gonna stand at the back of my yoga class from now on, I was drawing, yoga-ing and shopping.

Kelly's Room, almost complete. She asked for a dove in that painting!

We're getting there....


...almost!

I had a lovely, spur of the moment drink in the Burnbrae on Thursday night with Anne and we put the world to rights. Friday was spent Ikea shopping for kids stuff, coorying in with the little 'uns, playing games and doing more cleaning, sorting and painting in the children's bedrooms. I made no plans for the evening as I had a yoga session booked in, courtesy of Jo, at the Chi Yoga Centre in Glasgow as Manju Jois the son of Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois, who sadly died this year, both world renowned ashtanga teachers was in Glasgow, teaching. It was excellent.

Saturday evening, we donned a dress or two check out my new dodgy hairdo and headed to Lyn's for Chinese food, home cooked by her husband Ken and some beverages or two of the alcoholic kind. It was a lovely evening although my thinking was, that as it was so close, we could all just walk home at midnight; not my finest hour or the best laid plan. Two out of the three children were fast asleep when we decided to go and carrying them, although an option to be considered as a last resort, didn't bode well with four inch heels. They clung to me, walking like the waking dead and collapsed into their beds in wee heaps. I've learnt that particular lesson.

We took Kelly's friend Ellie with us on Sunday to meet up with Ann and Eric and Ruiradh for bowling and a late lunch. Cooking was certainly attempted over the weekend but for some reason, my memory is vague. I did bake some lovely bread on Monday, alongside cinnamon buns. I used my hearthbread recipe but changed the toppings; I made two large rectangle bread sheets and cut a line in the middle of each. One hearthbread was drizzled with olive oil and sea salt with one half sprinkled with Parmesan and a little basil. The other hearthbread was topped with a mixture of baked garlic see hearthbread recipe, blended with rosemary, salt and olive oil. One half was dotted with cherry tomatoes.

We had the breads with chicken, egg salad, pickles, sauteed potatoes baked with cheese and a little butter. I think we sat at the table for at least two hours, eating, chatting and getting our faces stuck into the lovely cinnamon, iced buns, Kelly's, of course, laced with Nutella.

I had a dodgy hair experience on Saturday; it was actually a nice place, very friendly, lots of mugs of steaming coffee and tea and a wonderful head massage alongside a shower but that's just typical wee lassie hair washing experience but the resulting damage was not. The muted lighting of the place made my hair look like Jennifer Anniston's and, despite being severely overcharged don't get it, this always seems to happen to me, even if I object...don't think I look like the rich sort...I was happy with the do but once into the light, the donning of glasses by my family waiting in the car and the sniggering of those that passed me by made me realise that, in actual fact, I looked more like I'd been painting with a nice magnolia and dropped the paintbrush on my head. So tonight, I shall be colouring it myself. A very expensive mistake.

The next few weeks, I shall be focusing on some low fat but still tasty dinners on a budget. I have 14 pounds who would like to leave me for pastures new and, never being one to stand in the way of progress or adventure, I've accepted the need for those pounds to leave and at least they've given me some notice. I shall spend however long it takes four weeks would be nice, however, since that is a ridiculous goal and with my penchant for baked goods, curries and stews, it's doubtful really,therefore I'd be happy if it took 10 weeks and, not being one to diet, it will have to be by cutting down a little, changing some meals to low fat and plenty of exercise. Tasty and low fat? Watch this space.

Buns, pasta and randomness

The kids are sharing a room at the moment because of the painting and decorating. They are driving me round the bend. I've considered all manner of things to make them still but for the love of all that is holy, they just keep at it! They just can't stop chattering like monkeys, even with a two day ban on all electronic equipment. I've even gotten a bit of cheek; not usual in this house, I can tell ya! "I can't turn on the light for you mummy, it's electric!" with a smug grin.

I've had no choice but to pour a large glass of wine tonight what with the abuse and my sore bones....that was the yoga...my legs have seized into a permanent lotus position....I've had to crawl round the house on my ar$£, pulling myself from place to place with my upper limbs...just as well my arms are like tree trunks, what with all the vinyasas.....

I know it's a pretty crappy picture but I stole it, edited it and all in two minutes....I have wine waiting after all.

I made Nutella buns last night; they sure don't look pretty but they tasted divine. The kids bounded down the stairs, two at a time, the smell tantalising their taste buds. When I told them it was Nutella Buns, they practically fainted with happiness. I allowed them a scant half a bun each for supper but that there would be plenty, ready and waiting for breakfast. Probably the sugar rush to the head which made them so wired last night....oh dear, they had cheese and pickles tonight. It's going to be nightmares, isn't it? Sigh.

I used the schneken pastry recipe but instead of slathering over egg and milk mix with the cinnamon filling, I layered on a great big dod of Nutella instead and rolled the dough, swiss roll like and cut into slices. I let it rest for another 15-12 minutes then baked at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. The smell alone is worth it. If you are selling your home, make these. You'd sell your home three times over and for twice the cost.

I made macaroni cheese for the kids and the spinach, feta, spicy tomato pasta for us. I've adapted this from a ricotta cheese recipe and the spinach didn't exactly enthrall me....it's the smell but this is a really tasty little number. Like the Nutella buns, it doesn't look like much but totally tastes better than it looks.

Spinach & Feta Pasta

1 garlic clove, finely chopped
A pinch of dried chillies
A tablespoon of olive oil
1 tin (400g approx.) of plum tomatoes
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper
A good handful of fresh spinach leaves
Approx. 200g feta, cubed
A handful of pine nuts, dry toasted
Linguine

Fry the garlic and chili over a medium heat in the olive oil until soft. Keep an eye on it, you don't want it to brown as it will go bitter. Add the tin of tomatoes. Do not stir yet. Leave the sauce to thicken and bubble then gently mash the tomatoes with a fork. Add the vinegar and salt and pepper and set aside.

Cook the linguine as per instructions. Steam the spinach for a few minutes above the pasta water. Drain the linguine and add to the tomato sauce, add the spinach and feta and mix. Place into serving bowl and sprinkle over pine nuts. Eat heartily.

And now for some randomness: Lucy wandered round taking odd photographs tonight so I thought I'd share them with you.

A photograph in a silver frame of my first graduation, in my early 20s.


A partial shot of my party invite, still to be distributed.


We were watching Friends.


Lucy's eyeball.

Today at Yoga....

...forgive me Jo.

Leftover Pizza...

...that was tonight's fair.

After an hour of yoga I felt much better and did some work then walked to school. I took the long way and walked for over an hour and nearly got run over by a big, stupid truck. At the traffic lights too!

I then took the kids to the park until 5pm so we got back tired, hungry and unable to function properly so pizza was heaved from the recesses of the freezer and shoved into a a rather cool oven. No-one noticed how bad it was, except me but the funny thing about hunger is that even crappy, cool pizza tastes like nectar from the gods. We all ate it in front of the tv watching a ridiculous family movie (Yours, Mine & Ours) and Kelly and I even cried with the twins pointing at us and laughing.

The night is still young, Brian goes to fight pretend foes tonight and I shall look out all the summer clothes for our holiday. I'm living the life of a movie star! Have a good Tuesday everyone.

Sunshine and Sandals.

I've not been shopping this week yet as there seems to be plenty of food left over from the weekend's celebrations. I can't seem to sit still even though it's been so busy; my energy levels are fluctuating between very high and crash and burn so I'm thinking a slow and steady pace all week will keep me going.

Yesterday, I took most of the remaining basil I had left and made a pesto by blending together garlic, Parmesan, salt and olive oil. I didn't have pine nuts, yet again because I can't seem to find them anywhere! It's like they've suddenly become extinct or as rare as...well, a rare thing; the labels are there in the shops, taunting me: 'pine nuts', 'organic pine nuts', 'not quite organic but still ok pine nuts'. Yet the shelves are empty. Has there been a national shortage, a crisis I'm unaware off? Is it something to do with the disappearing bees? Who knows? Any thoughts? So, yes, back to the point, my pesto had no nuts but still tasted delicious.

I also had a good pile of tomatoes left so yesterday I slow roasted them as I did for the brunch, with basil, Parmesan, salt, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and placed them in the fridge, once cooked (after eating some straight from the oven and burning my tongue...greedy wench).

When I was hungry later on, I boiled up some fusilli and added a spoonful of the pesto, a handful of the tomatoes and a wee amount of olives to the cooked pasta.....talk about a taste sensation! It is so true that the simplest dishes are just the best...it was wonderful.

After such a great meal, Kelly, Lucy and I walked to the park whilst Fraser was at his last 'Beavers' meet. It took us around 40 minutes and Kelly took her bike; she is becoming really confident and was very safe which was good to see. After a play around the park, we wandered down to MacDonalds for ice cream...the extra ten minute walk in the sun was lovely and I only had a spoonful of the white stuff.

Today, as usual, I had a mad dash out the door to get to yoga in time and was buoyed along by the sunshine and sandals; there is something wonderful about having your feet out in the sun, not something we get to experience too often in Scotland! Yoga was wonderful and really instructive; I learnt a lot about my breathing and bandhas and felt great, if in dire need of coffee and lots of it. Afterwards, I walked down to meet Ann for our usual activity which instead of leading us all the way to Milngavie, a town a few miles away, led us instead to the Burnbrae for a plate of their wonderful antipasti and an afternoon of chat.

I shall come up with some inventive pasta for the return of the clan from swimming and give it some name which sounds Italian and like I've been cooking it for years...as long as it tastes good and is said with authority, they should believe but there are too many dishes with 'a la Helen' these days.....