Happy Father's day

To all the (good) dads....you rock!

Beef Stew and Homemade Sweet Chilli Sauce with a twist!

The kids, Brian and Grandpa were served beef stew with mashed potatoes tonight. The weather has been so mixed and it has been quite cold so a good, hot stew seemed appropriate...and Grandpa likes stew a lot!

I cooked the beef as normal: I covered the cubes with flour, salt and pepper,and fried in hot oil until browned and sealed and then added an Oxo cube, stirred, added chopped onions, sliced carrots, 2 bay leaves and a sprig of thyme. I poured in some red wine and let it bubble over a hight heat. I then made up a mix of beef stock, Oxo and tomato puree and poured it over the beef. Once it came to the boil I turned it down to a slight simmer and added some thyme leaves off the stalk and some black pepper. It was left, covered, on a simmer for 2 hours and then served with creamy, buttery mashed potatoes. It was polished off really quickly.

I had prawns instead(shrimps)as I thought buttery mashed potatoes and beef weren't really conducive to losing weight and as I'd also walked for miles today I was pretty motivated...and shattered! I decided to have them on their own but with a little sauce so I set about making my own sweet chilli sauce and the twist was using sesame oil...really amazing, particularly with the prawns. I think I'll have this tomorrow too but add peppers, onions and either noodles or rice.

Sweet Chilli Sauce with Sesame Oil
1 whole red chilli, seeds removed
2 cloves garlic
Ginger, peeled and roughly chopped, around 2 inches
Tablespoon sugar
Good big pinch sea salt
Around a tablespoon white wine vinegar (added a little more near the end)
Around Tablespoon and a bit more of sesame oil

Put chilli, garlic and ginger into blender. Blend well and then add sugar, salt, vinegar and sesame oil. Blend on a low speed then turn up to high. Scrape all the ingredients together and add a little more vinegar and oil if needed. It should be thick but still liquidy.

Empty into bowl, scraping out all the bits of chilli and garlic that have clung to the side. Taste and add more sugar/salt if required. This is a spicy version so watch out...a little goes a long way. The smell is divine.

This would be great as it is, cold as a dip or with chicken or fish or even as a marinade, but I heated up a tablespoon in a frying pan and added a good handful of prawns, emptied into a bowl after a few minutes of quick stir frying and sprinkled with black pepper. It was really, really good.

Cocktails on the Patio?

Not exactly. After Kelly's outstanding Titanic performance yesterday (the performance was about the Titanic, not that her performance was actually Titanic...although it kind of was...), the girls and I gathered at the Burnbrae for a night of 'Music and cocktails on the Patio!'. This being Glasgow, Scotland, we chuckled at the irony and the actual optimism. Of course, as predicted, it was indoors.

The cocktails weren't to my liking...no French Martinis (eh, Anne, Karen?) so we stuck to a rather tasty Sauvignon Blanc and antipasti...you know how I feel about their antipasti of course. Wonderful. The lovely and charming Andrew served us, yet again and we had a grand time with Maureen and Siobhan joining us....the singer was pretty good and I enjoy a bit of cheese now and then.

My plans today involved shopping, cooking, painting, cleaning, hoovering, making a tent in my daughter's room, gardening, walking, baking and yoga. What did I actually do? Drunk coffee, watched The Gilmore girls, had coffee, made a tent, sipped more coffee, talked to Shona on the phone for 50 minutes (I had 3 visits with her yesterday including the Titanic production and the pub), some more coffee, tried to show my husband some yoga moves but he went to put on the coffee after a few minutes and blogged. Now, I have ten minutes before the kids come back, with sleepover friends and in that time I must cook, clean, hoover and bake. The shopping, painting, gardening, walking and yoga shall have to wait.

I so wanted a new menu plan today but it shall be here tomorrow whereby I shall shop, cook, paint....... Ok, we'll play it by ear.

Now for that chicken.........


Kelly The Titanic Stewardess


Madeleine Astor, 1st Class Passenger (Me) with Kelly the Stewardess

Mortification and Unfrozen Freezers

So, I'm sitting on the computer, trying to blog get a little work done whilst the kids are having their baths. There is a lot of carry on coming from their general direction and I'm getting mad because yesterday, the bathroom was practically flooded and I had to clean it, wash 3 1000 towels and confiscate a water gun. I'd already got a little crazy annoyed at the space hopper ending up in the bath and the bang, bang, banging was the last straw. So, rather than deal with it like a normal, rational person, I screamed up the stairs “STOP THAT AWFUL BANGING NOOOOOWWW!”. This was after I'd sent Kelly up to tell them to stop. The banging stopped immediately. How wonderful but highly unusual, I thought to myself. Maybe shouting does have a place after all.

Well, within seconds, Kelly came down to tell me nonchalantly that there was no banging going on upstairs and in fact, she thought it was coming from outside. I sat, suspended in a slow forming heat and mortification: it wasn't my children banging away like hooligans but in fact, my lovely next door neighbour doing a few home improvements. I sat for an age, wondering what on earth I should do when the quietest little tapping came at me from the ceiling once again...or as I'd figured out by this time, the wall. I rushed to the conservatory to see if I could catch my neighbour to apologise but he wasn't there. All there was left was the last few, quiet, apologetic taps ringing in my ear, the taps of a man horrified to hear his neighbour scream at him like a banshee and probably embarrassed that his banging had caused so much offence.

I feel terrible. And I'm the colour of a pink...thing. So, yes, my neighbour thinks I'm a freak and will no doubt avoid me from now on. My husband thinks it is all hilarious of course and wants to explain, just so they can laugh about it. Sigh.

The day can only get better, right? Wrong. I noticed a smell eminating from the general direction of the fridge. I'm not good with smells, I don't like them and I'm scared to find out where they are coming from. I thought I should investigate though as it was the fridge after all. But no, all seemed ok though the smell didn't waver.

After a few hours, I determined that a further, deeper investigation was required so I opened the freezer to have ice lollies, prawns, pies and lasagna's droop, seep and laugh at me. Yup, the freezer was f...um, not working.

You know when you are tired, you're feeling a bit under the weather, a bit cold even and you discover your freezer has defrosted £100s worth of food? Do you know that feeling? It isn't good is it? Bah. I opened both fridge and freezer, emptied them, saved what I could and binned the rest, shedding a little tear as they went to an early grave. At this point my husband intervened, cleaned up the mess, cleaned the fridge and freezer including the containers (even if he did do them in the bath...!!!) and left them all out to dry. Thank you, husband. We're turning it back on today....the freezer....and hopefully, fingers crossed because I'm not going shopping for a new bleedin' fridge freezer! Unless I really, really have to.

Food tonight? Who knows.

Wordless Wednesday

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.

Tired today...and yesterday.

I usually work through the tiredness; I think "If I wasn't doing this, I'd be sitting doing nothing" and that can't happen as there is always so much to do. Well, yesterday I kind of took the day off. I still cleaned and hoovered and ironed. I still made dinner. But I stayed in my tartan trousers, I applied no make-up...I didn't even pull a comb through my hair.

There was no frantic running. There was not a sign of urgency. Instead, I shuffled.

I walked slowly from room to room, half completing tasks and kicking the occasional teddy bear. Most of my time was spent blogging. Having never blogged as much before, I have to say it was great fun although my head started to hurt after staring at the computer for so long and my body went into a mild shock at not having done any walking. But that aside, it was fun.

A holiday.

I'm still tired today. I still have my tartan trousers on. You should see my hair; I went to bed with it wet and now I'm a fully signed up member of the Hair Bear Bunch (anyone younger than 35 won't have a clue what I'm on about!). I haven't yet placed a mascara wand near my eyes.

So, I'm at a crossroads: do I get dressed, do the housework, cook, do some paid work, go for my usual walk and generally run around like the proverbial blue-arsed fly or do I have another chillin' day? I think I already know the answer....*sigh*. Better go put on another pot of coffee....

Pasta Supper

Want a really quick, tasty but low fat (and cheap) pasta supper? Then try the following recipe I just made for my tea; it was really good, it took 10 minutes to cook, preparation was minimal and I couldn't eat it all as it was incredibly filling.
Pasta Supper
4 Tomatoes (or more) cut into quarters
Pesto (yes, I know but I love the stuff and I made A LOT!)
Goats Cheese
Salt and Pepper
Spaghetti (100g)

Put oven on to around 200 Celsius
Drizzle pesto over tomatoes, around a tablespoon and add sea salt & black pepper.
Crumble over a little goats cheese to taste...feta would work just as well.
Place in oven. After around 5 or so minutes, put water on to boil for spaghetti. Cook spaghetti as per instructions and drain.
Take tomatoes out of oven and blend 3/4 of them in a blender...if no blender then mash with a fork.
Pour blended mix over spaghetti and bowl up! Arrange the remaining tomatoes around the plate. Enjoy.


I'm not a calorie counter...life is too short, right? However, I'd say I'm more aware these days and for future reference, I've worked out that this pasta comes to 458 calories for the full serving. See the following breakdown:
350 calories for 100g uncooked spaghetti
0 calories for tomatoes
58 calories in pesto although as you are all well aware, mine was made without pine nuts!
50 calories for the goats cheese (the creamy kind, used around 25g)
Total calories 458 which is pretty good going; I didn't finish mine tonight as it was too much. The amount of sauce was enough for 2 so if you were to add another 50g pasta then the total for two would be 633 or 316 per serving. No wonder I'm losing weight.

The approx. cost of this per serving is 55 pence. Yup, you heard right.
Asda Spaghetti on offer at 2 for £1, 1kg pasta. Per 150g therefore is 15 pence.
Tomatoes approx. 14 pence each x 4=56 pence
Goats cheese cost 25p (Asda £10 per kg)
Pesto I'm just going to estimate at 15 pence per tablespoon although it could well be less.
Total Cost=£1.11/2= 55 pence per serving!! Goodness...who says you can't eat well for less?

Ritzy Chicken Nuggets or Battered Chicken!

I changed my banner. Yeah for Photobucket!

For years, I've been feeding my kids Nigella Lawson's 'Ritzy Chicken Nuggets'. They don't particularly sound fabulous but actually, they are and are just as tasty if not more so in an adult salad with a mustard dressing. They are very moreish and I always have to remember the old adage: 'Little Pickers Wear Big Knickers'. My advice? Don't make too many or you'll be squashing them boiling hot into your gub before the kids catch you.

The chicken is marinaded for at least a day so you need to buy the chicken and buttermilk in advance for tomorrow's tea!

Ritzy Chicken Nuggets
2 chicken breasts
1 tub buttermilk (usually 285 ml)
150 g Ritz crackers
125ml vegetable oil

Place the chicken in a plastic bag and get rid of all that pent up aggression by battering them with a rolling pin....very cathartic. Probably best doing one breast at a time or wee holes appear in the bag and the chicken starts trying to escape...not a fun sight.

Take out of bag and cut around 8 goujons per breast. Place chicken in a freezer bag or bowl and cover with buttermilk. Leave to marinade for 1 or 2 days. The chicken turns opaque and is very, very tender so these cook quickly.

Put the Ritz crackers into a bag and have another go at releasing that pent up anger by smashing them to bits with said rolling pin or shoe or even head...whatever takes your fancy that day. I must admit to adding a little salt and pepper but there is no real need. Roll the chicken in the crumbs and then heat oil in frying pan. These nuggets will take only a few minutes each side to cook...as soon as they turn brown, turn them over. Transfer to kitchen towel and blot dry.

I serve these with either rice, baked potatoes or potato salad and vegetables. Tomato sauce or mayonnaise is a pre-requisite. Watch kids devour them and look on in jealousy, hoping someone leaves you a morsel.

The results are in...

Well, I liked it.

Huff.

Frozen Yoghurt

I tried to make frozen yoghurt. I do not know if I shall succeed. Did I bother looking out a recipe? Noooo. I don't know who I think I am but if it doesn't work, it is a waste of good yoghurt, Green & Black's dark chocolate, a handful of sugar and some vanilla.

I am waiting with baited breath until 10pm. Is that too late to be eating frozen dessert?

Nah. 'Course not.

Sunday Chilling

It's Sunday already and we're chilling, tidying up and generally making a nuisance of ourselves. Tonight's dinner will be:

Soy Sesame Chicken Skewers and Rice.

2 chicken breasts
soy sauce
honey
lemon juice
sesame oil
sesame seeds
Onion
Peppers
Rice
Cucumber
Yoghurt

Chop chicken, onion and peppers into chunks and marinade in the following mix:
4 tablespoons soy sauce, a drizzle of sesame oil and honey, juice from 1 lemon. Leave for 4 hours or overnight. Lightly toast sesame seeds and coat chicken pieces, quantity to taste. Place onto skewers alongside onions and peppers (mushrooms also work well) and cook on griddle, frying pan or bbq until brown and cooked through. You can also cook these in the oven, if you prefer. Soak the skewers first to stop them from burning.

Cook rice as per instructions and mix with chopped cucumber.

Place yoghurt, approx. 5 tablespoons in a bowl and mix with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Serve rice, skewers and yoghurt with some pitta if you feel like it. Enjoy.