* Smoky Sausage and Beans

I started this post with the pre-requisite "This Smoky Sausage and Beans.... yadayada" and got bored before the first punctuation mark. You can read the recipe then... maybe even cook it... to find out just how yummy it is, but it'll have to sell itself because today my legs feel like jelly  -which is far more important (and apparently affecting my ability to concentrate)...

... My legs feel like jelly because I walked a million miles yesterday in the pursuit of a Curly Wurly Thick Shake from The Terrace Cafe/Bar on Plymouth Hoe... and a packet of Cornish Clotted Cream Fudge from the Barbican.

After consuming both (and a panini - go me) within a one hour time slot I confess to feeling a little bit sick and a lot guilty. I hate feeling guilty about being indulgent - so I came home, knackered myself on the exercise bike then dragged my Boldest and her Bairn out for a bimble around the neighbourhood... then this morning I got on the exercise bike again.

In a minute I'm off out with Boldest, her Bairn and my Little Man for a stroll along the Cornish Coast from Lantic Bay to Polruan... where no doubt another panini awaits. I'm not sure I'll be able to stand upright by the end of the day.

If there's a fudge shop in Polruan I'm selling the bike when I get home.

* Sweet Lamb and Chickpea Casserole

I'm just going to leave this here... and pretend that I have been updating this blog on a regular basis over the past three years, that my food photography skills have vastly improved (hahahahahaaaa), that I totally planned this and didn't actually just take a random photo of my cooking and think "Dammit I'm never going to remember this recipe unless I write it down... where can I put it so that I don't lose it?"

Perhaps if I slope quietly off into the ether that is my life, I'll get away with it... Not that I'm expecting some sort of hidden fan base to suddenly arrive and start crying with joy - though maaan that would feed the ego somewhat (it has shrunk in recent years to size of a small barge - it no longer has it's own seat at the table and even gave up the spare bed at some point when I wasn't looking).

This Sweet Lamb and Chickpea Casserole is the most recent recipe I have converted to as low fat as I can handle in my never ending endeavour to drop a dress size. I've probably lost the same 10lbs a million times over in the past three years. I blame wine.. and the husband, of course.

Should you stumble back across my path after all this time and decide to give this recipe a shot - I hope you enjoy it. Please excuse my less than professional photo - my camera got destroyed by sand in the lens a few years back whilst on holiday in Crete and I never bothered to replace it. I'm still working out how to get the best out of my S7's built in camera...

... and the rest of my life ;-)

* Slow Cooker Turkey and Chorizo Chilli

Over the Christmas holidays I went to my oldest BFF - Kerry's house, for dinner. It was just the two us (tres romantic) and we stuffed ourselves stoopid on her slow cooker beef chilli, cheesy nachos, all the trimmings and cheesecake. Kerry knows how to entertain when it comes to food. If she'd come to me she'd have had a bowl of chilli and rice placed in front of her, with a fork... and possibly some cheese. I may even have grated it in advance.

Her chilli was *to die for*, and though she has promised me the recipe - a bit like the cheesecake recipe of yore - she has yet to come up with the goodies (this is a not-so-subtle hint). The only thing she 'fessed up to was the use of chorizo sausage and a can of mixed beans.

After waiting very patiently - possibly a day, maybe two - for the recipe... I decided to create my own Slow Cooker Turkey and Chorizo Chilli recipe, that was inspired by Kerry's flavours but different enough that when I'm old and gray and wrinkly and she finally gives me the recipe for hers (laying it on super thick here)... that I can add it to Abbe's Cooking Antics. 

I've used chickpeas in this recipe, in place of beans and turkey instead of beef - partly because it felt right and partly because I could. It really is one of my best slow cooker recipes yet, right up there with the Moroccan Lamb Tagine and the Mexican Meatballs.

But you really should judge for yourselves... which is code for "Cook it, you'll love me".

You really will.

* Slow Cooker Chicken with Chorizo

I'm not a fan of meat on the bone, any meat... but most especially chicken. I want to eat my food, not play with it, struggle with it or get covered in it - so it's incredibly rare that I buy a whole chicken or jointed chicken. I mostly buy chicken breasts, and although they are convenient - they aren't where the flavour is. The flavour is all in the meat that's wrapped around the bones.

If I buy chicken thighs (I never buy drum sticks), I de-bone them before I use them. Which can be a royal pain in the backside.... so... my slow cooker has been amazing to use when it comes to chicken thigh recipes. When cooked, the meat just melts off the bone - no muss, no fuss - and I end up with a delicious dinner, that was easy to throw together, easy to throw on a plate... and easy to throw down my throat.

This Slow Cooker Chicken with Chorizo is one such recipe that I've just adapted (yet again) from The Slow Cook Book by Heather Whinney.  I can honestly say I have not yet had all of the ingredients to make any of her recipes, off the bat. But they are so easily alterable that the book has to be amongst my top ten cook book purchases for this year... and there have been a few.

This freezes beautifully, especially if you pull the meat from the bone before hand, and goes with everything from Celeriac and Potato Mash to Chicken Flavoured Rice... or even couscous. I can't be bothered to cook tonight, so we're having it again (from the freezer) with Jacket Potatoes and some cheesy garlic bread.

I'm incredibly good at being lazy.

* Slow Cooker Beef and Bean Hotpot

On Sunday we decided to steal a march on the Christmas shoppers and not go Christmas shopping at all. Read it again. It makes complete sense.

Instead, we decided to see if we could hunt down the perfect flooring for our bedroom - which we are in the midst of decorating - from a wood floor specialists in town.

I didn't want to have to muck about sorting a dinner out when we got home, so for the very first time I loaded up the slow cooker and... left the house...

... I never, ever, do this. Not with anything. Not the dishwasher, not the washing machine, the dryer...  nothing. Stuff happens when I'm not in the house. Things flood, break, block up, fall over, fall off, seize up, singe... leaving the slow cooker on was a real risk. REAL. RISK. I walked super fast through town to get to the shop, ran around the shop dismissing all but one type of flooring, asked for a sample and was handed a whole plank of wood... a whole plank of wood... who does that?!?... then literally ran through the high street home, leaving the plank of wood in a passing bin because it was just too random, even for me.

When I fell in the back door a couple of hours after I'd left.. with Neil following at a leisurely "What is wrong with you, woman?" pace behind me... my Slow Cooker Beef and Bean Hotpot was very gently bubbling away, minding it's own business. The dog was guarding the floor space directly in front of the kitchen counter that it was sitting on - just in case it happened to explode and leave the kitchen covered in minced beef and vegetables - ready to perform clean up duty... and the cat was sitting on the shed roof wondering where we'd been and what was all the fuss about?

Our flooring hunt might have been a dead bust, but dinner certainly wasn't.

The poor dog was disappointed, yet again.

This recipe is linked up on Foodie Friday at Simple Living and Eating, so please pop over and see what other wonderful recipes you can find!

* Lamb Stew with Rosemary Dumplings

It's taken me about a year to get round to cooking this Lamb Stew with Rosemary Dumplings recipe for Neil. He spotted something similar on "Lorraine" one morning, when he didn't have to leave for work until a bit later than normal and was watching what the chef of the weeks was cooking - and he said "I'd eat that".

He's been waiting expectantly ever since.

Or so I thought.

I was finally feeling a bit better yesterday (I've had a bad cold - there was self pity and everything) and had remembered to get the lamb out of the freezer but forgotten what for, when I had a light bulb moment and remembered the stew recipe from a year ago. Sort of.

So. I slaved over a hot stove. SLAVED I tell you. Stopping only to blow my nose, cough, sneeze (and occasionally fart) out of the back door in a bid to not spread my happy.

At dinner time I did a whole "Ta-Daaaaaahhh" thing. Big reveal. Aren't you a lucky blokey Neil. Aren't I super duper wifey even though I'm very, very poorly. Look what I made you.

"What is it?"

"Lamb Stew with Rosemary Dumplings - it's a bit similar to that recipe you saw on Lorraine, about a year ago."

"What recipe?"

Hummpfff... "The one where you said "I'd eat that" ".

"I say that to everything."

Deep breaths. Don't kill him.

"Right... Eat your dinner. When you're done you can say "Thank you darling, that was delicious. How thoughtful that you cooked such a lovely meal for me when you were feeling like a pile of poo." !"

He grinned at me, cleared his plate and said "Lovely darlin' ".

That's his version of a cartwheel.

* Beef and Bell Pepper Goulash

Beef Goulash is the ideal food for the weather that we're having at the moment. It's not quite as heavy as a stew, but it's hearty, sweetly spicy and warming with a bowl of rice to soak up the juices.

This isn't a quick recipe, but more a slow burner - though still very easy to throw together and walk away from while it cooks.

After the lovely summer that we've had - it's almost inevitable that my welly boots now need their own welly boots. It isn't just raining - it's pouring.

The dog is speed pee-ing whenever she has to "go tinkles", to get it over and done with as quickly as possible and I wouldn't be surprised to walk into the kitchen at some point and find her with just her backside hanging out of the dog flap while she does her business. She never used to mind the rain, but as she's grown older she doesn't tolerate any level of discomfort well.

I sympathise completely.

I really don't like the discomfort of being hungry - which would probably explain the size of my bum. This 5:2 diet I'm on is making even cat food smell appetising when I catch a whiff of it as I trundle past the cats bowl on my way to the tap for a filling glass of water.

And toothpaste.

Toothpaste smells like gourmet fare.

I really need to go lick something.

* Creamy Chicken and Tomato Pasta Bake

I'm becoming the "Queen of Hate Food Waste" just recently, with all the food I'm managing to use up. I think it makes me just slightly more inventive when I cook based on need rather than on want.

I'll try to explain....

I occasionally buy ingredients to cook for a specific recipe that either I have come up with, or I've found whilst trawling through various cook books or across the interwebz. It's really satisfying to cook from a recipe, but I often have half a jar of this or half a tub of that left over when I'm done - because I mostly use fresh ingredients when cooking. I then get left with an ingredient or three that has a shelf life.... like spinach, creme fraiche, harissa paste, cream cheese (never, ever do I have chocolate anything left over... ever) - to name but a few. If you're a repeat reader you already know about the spinach and the creme fraiche - if you're not a repeat reader - go do your homework... links have been supplied!

This Creamy Chicken and Tomato Pasta Bake made use of some cooked left over chicken and the remnants of a tub of Philadelphia, and I honestly don't think I'd have come up with it if Melanie Jean on my facebook page hadn't made a request for a chicken and tomato pasta dish with no basil and only a little garlic. I was just gonna bung the chicken in a sandwich for Neil and eat some cream cheese on crumpets until both were gone. Not overly inventive, eh?

This was one of those meals that you could cut the time in half by simply not baking it in the oven, just dish it out straight from the pot if you're in a hurry and grate some cheese over the top. I baked mine because I had the time.

It was nommy.... and there were left overs.... 

... Be still my beating heart ;-)

* Moroccan Style Chicken Stew

This Moroccan Style Chicken Stew was one of those "bung it all in and hope it works" recipes... that worked. Well of course it did - I don't feed you lot any old horse manure, do I?

The stuff that doesn't work, gets spoken about in an aside. I don't give it a recipe title, a picture and a page of blurb - I give it to the dog.

This time, I had half a jar of Harissa Paste that needed using up (something always needs using up), or this might have ended up as something completely different - without the chickpeas and the sultanas. I had thought that I'd got a packet of dried-ready-to-eat-apricots sitting in the back of the cupboard that I could make use of instead of the sultanas.... and I sort of did... but I'm fairly sure that apricots are supposed to be a pale orange in colour - not blue and furry and beginning to evolve - so I ditched that idea, along with the apricots.

It was lovely anyway, with a huge bowl of unfussy couscous and a generous glass (or two) of wine.

Neil enjoyed it, because it had chicken in it. He's really starting to notice when a meal is vegetarian just recently. I had some Butternut and Bell Pepper Curry left over in the freezer, and he guilted me out so much about the lack of meat that I grilled a chicken breast and chucked it into his when I used it up.

I almost regretted it when he gave me an "Atta girl!" upon spying it in his curry. I told him if he slapped my backside and called me a wench he'd be wearing his dinner. Not eating it.

He got the hint.

Dinner was a quiet affair that night.

* Chicken Chilli

Because I knew I was going to be out all day today, I cooked dinner in advance - I'm not normally this organised, but I have my moments... and they never last. I made a chicken chilli, because I didn't know what we'd be eating today and knew we could have it with or without rice/bread etc, depending on how hungry we were both were.

You wanna know where I've been? You do?!? ... I have spent an entire day sitting in my cousin's garden in Newquay - in the sunshine - with my weird and wonderful family. They are mostly women with a few men thrown in to prevent any fits of uncontrollable girliness... though occasionally it slips through in the form of a blinged up Dorkie.

We've eaten barbecued hot dogs and chips... and trifle. I loooooove trifle. Never quite liked the idea of it as a kid and apparently kicked up merry hell whenever my mum used to put it on the table... then always asked for a second helping. I don't make trifle at home because I love it with a layer of custard, and Neil doesn't eat custard. Neil doesn't like being in the same room as custard. His face distorts into an "I don't like custard" grimace and his whole body physically shudders.

When he does this, I have a hard time not throwing stuff at him. He has never been able to say a polite "No thankyou" if he doesn't like something. He pulls out the whole "I don't like custard" facial/body move at every opportunity - even when faced with something like strawberry ice cream...

Him - "What's for dessert?"

Me (from the kitchen) - "Sod all."

Him - "What. Nufink?" He's common.

Me (opening up freezer to have a gander - I'm common too) - "Errr... there's some strawberry ice cream if you want it....?"

Him - lip curls up, shoulders suddenly appear by ears as if to protect them from the infiltration of strawberry ice cream... aaaannnddd.... "I don't like strawberry ice cream" aaaaand whole body shudders... shoulders relax... lip moves back into normal place.

Me (still in kitchen) - "Did you just pull an "I don't like custard" face? With the body shudder? DID YOU?!?"

Him - "Nnnnnno."

Liar.

Anyway, we had a fab day with fab company and fab food and then we came home and ate this.

It was lush.

* Sherry Chicken and Mushroom Casserole {for Elephants and The Coconut Trees}

I've met some lovely people over the past year of food blogging, and a few weeks back, Meena, from Elephants and The Coconut Trees asked me to do a guest post for her blog. My happyometer hit a new high.

I love Meena's blog. Her food, recipes and photography are absolutely beautiful. I'm really hoping that some of her style will rub off on me, but I've a ways to go yet!

Meena asked that I share a recipe with her readers that I would typically cook, preferably either vegetarian or with chicken to suit the tastes of her readers. So I decided that this Sherry Chicken and Mushroom Casserole, was the right one.

It's good enough for a special occasion, and simple and cheap enough to be included in an everyday menu. As long as you love chicken and mushrooms, you'll love this. Honest.

You know the drill... CLICK FOR RECIPE...

Meena made me a thankyou card. I love her.

One Year Ago: Cappuccino Cake

* Chicken Cacciatore

I know. Long time no see. Don't pretend you've missed me.

If you're British you've been at the beach soaking up the rays of the first heatwave that the UK has seen since 2006. If you're from the rest of the world I have no clue what you've been doing. I just hope you were enjoying it, and if it wasn't legal you didn't get caught.

Me... I... have been with the rest of the UK. Enjoying the Summer. It really has been such a long time since we've had one. My oldest niece is five in September and this has been her first experience of what a British Summer can feel like, and how differently we all behave when the sun shines for more than a day or two at a time. Everyone has soaked up "the happy" to a point where even the British Economy has finally begun to surge in the right direction (upwards).

I've been in the garden. Barbecuing stuff. Then eating the barbecued stuff. There are no photos of barbecued stuff. We ate the barbecued stuff. Very quickly. We have also drunk copious amounts of wine, got drunk with the neighbours (very, very, drunk), been paddling in the river Tamar with Isla Joy (oldest niece), admired Zoe Valletta's (youngest niece) sun glasses and her amazing ability to eat a million plums (Glad I didn't have to change that nappy!), been swimming in an English sea (first time in 10 years), been out to dinner (A LOT) and generally had a holiday at home.

It has been heaven, but now the heat wave has passed and though it's still warm and occasionally sunny, the magic is fading.

My blog has suffered because I've hardly cooked in the past month. I haven't had time. Maybe if I was earning an income from it, I would have paid it more attention. But I'm not. It's a hobby. So I shall warn you now - if we get another heatwave this year... HIGHLY UNLIKELY... I may well disappear again.

I have actually missed cooking (little bit), and this Chicken Cacciatore was the perfect meal to cook on the stove in a warm kitchen with all the doors and windows wide open to let the air in. It doesn't take too long to cook and is absolutely GAWJUS with a glass of red wine...

... or three.

* Slow Cooker Prawn and Sausage Jambalaya

Yeah Baby... YEAH!... Another success in my slow cooker. "OOooooh Happy Daaaaayyyyyyyzzzzzz".

I'll be honest (when am I not), I was expecting this to be a disaster because of the rice. Not out of any sort of psychic knowledge of what rice does in a slow cooker, but from one experience a couple of weeks back when dinner went in the dog.

I had discovered a weight watchers chicken rice type recipe for the slow cooker and followed the method and ingredients precisely and maaaan oh maaan "disgusting" just doesn't cover it - I could have cemented a house together with what came out of the pot. Sammy (the dog) thought it was Christmas (for the third time that week... don't even get me started on the beef skirt I wasted on a casserole in the bloody thing). I didn't give her the whole pot all at once - I made it last for a few days at dinner time for her - but she still couldn't get her belly up off the floor for a week afterwards. When Neil tried to play tug-o-war with her, which she loves, she just kind of rolled her eyes at him in a "stupid boy" fashion, rolled over, farted and went back to sleep...(I also do this when Neil wants me to play tug-o-war... but for entirely different reasons).

She didn't get any of this though. It was scrumptious.

Yet again it's a recipe that I adapted (quite a lot) from The Slow Cook Book by Heather Whinney. There was a bit of pre-cooking involved, and I have to admit that's not what I bought the slow cooker for. I really wanted to be able to just bung everything in it, turn it on and "Hey Presto!"... dinner is cooked and ready to serve a few hours later.... however... the end result is always worth the extra bit of effort, and I have the time to do it (mostly) - so why not?

As typically as ever, I didn't have all of the ingredients for this to begin with. I bought okra thinking I had everything else... and when I checked, the only thing I had, was the okra. Thankfully I got my car back from Neil on Monday, so was able to go shopping (I was born to shop) and get the rest. I suppose I could have played about with the main ingredients, but I've had such little success with the slow cooker that I didn't want to jinx the current turn of events.

I'm building up the courage to tackle making a cheesecake in it. Though I'm not sure my brain is on the same page with this one.

Which could be interesting.

* Slow Cooker Spicy Sausages with Red Lentil Mash

I am very slowly falling in love with my slow cooker. 

It's taken it's sweet time, but is finally producing edible, tasty food that doesn't resemble something out of a Cow & Gate jar that you'd serve to a baby... or attempt to.

I hadn't really thought about the fact that I'd be able to use it on hot days, when I don't want to run the oven and fill the house with even more heat. I'm afraid I was thinking *inside the box* and honestly figured I'd have put it into the back of a cupboard somewhere by now (after experimenting), until the cold Autumn weather returned.

Not so.

It's absolutely perfect in the warm weather we've been experiencing the past week or so because I can finally get out into my garden and do all the jobs that are on a list somewhere that I have been ignoring with a vengeance... and whilst I'm beavering away pressure washing patio slabs and painting garden fences outside... the slow cooker is puttering gently away inside, cooking our dinner (I helped, of course).

This particular recipe is adapted from a book I bought a few weeks back - The Slow Cook Book by Heather Whinney... and so far so good. It's chock full of recipes that I want to try, so be warned - you may be inundated... especially as the weather is so bloody GAWJUS right now.

This doesn't even feel like real life at the moment. That glowing yellow ball in the sky is something that us Brits have not seen much of in the last two years and the entire country is going D.I.Y. crazy, including me! I've even given the BBQ a spray paint because it hasn't been used in two years and was looking slightly gnarly underneath it's cover.

I also managed to spray paint my ankles.

Black.

It'll be all the rage, next season... trust me.

* Slow Cooker Chicken Brunswick Stew

Finally, I've had another success with my slow cooker!

The dog looked on in desperation as we cleared our plates (this time)- the poor thing actually starts to get excited when I pull the slow cooker down off the top of the fridge. She's so sure that whatever is going in it, is going to end up in her - whilst Neil and I eat fried egg sandwiches... again.

NOT this time!

Okay. So. It's not exactly a very original recipe, and it was designed to go in a slow cooker... which makes me feel like I'm cheating somehow (don't ask me why. I don't know why!!!)... but it was lush. Very. I'm not normally a huge fan of chicken thigh meat that has been cooked in any sort of liquid because the texture differs from dry cooked thighs, and can be almost rubbery...

NOT this time!

The meat was melt-in-the-mouth GAWJUS. Even if I do say so myself.

The original recipe called for almost twice as much sweetcorn and beans, but I wanted a chicken stew with veg in it. Not a veg stew with chicken in it. It also required flour, but quite frankly I figured it would thicken up enough when cooked, without any additional help, so I left that out too. It worked. I have super powers.

Amazingly, I did NOT stuff a wodge of spinach into this one, because I didn't have any. GASP!

I make no promises for the next one though.

Me and spinach... we is in a rel-AY-shun-SHIP.

* Slow Cooker Moroccan Lamb Tagine

I JUST BOUGHT A SLOW COOKER!!! Oh yes I did. I've been rebelling against this one purchase for yeeeeaars. Rebelling. Truly.

I love cooking gadgets and cooking gimmicks but until recently, a slow cooker/crock pot was at the bottom of my list. Purely because I honestly believed the only thing you could cook in it, was Chicken Chasseur.... This is because as kids, whenever we saw that mum had got the crock pot out, we knew it was chicken chasseur for dinner, and don't ask me why, but we'd spend the whole day dreading it. Possibly because mum got the crock pot out A LOT. I think we ate almost as much chasseur as we did bolognese!

I no longer have an aversion to chicken chasseur, and have in fact, included a recipe for it within the walls of this blog - however, up until recently I've had no designs on owning a slow cooker. None whatsoever. That's until I started up this blog in an endeavour to make our food a tad more interesting for us to eat - we'd fallen into a food rut. Since starting Abbe's Cooking Antics, I've spent a lot more time surfing the net, looking at what people are cooking and eating, and I had no clue that there were quite so many things that you could cook in a slow cooker... cheesecake for example (really?!?).

So, I gots me a slow cooker to slowly cook stuff in and what do I do? I don't cook a slow cooker recipe... meh... too easy... I adapt a stove top recipe that I've never actually cooked before. There's a time adapter/conversion thingy at netmums.com that converts times of oven/stove top based recipes to slow cooker temperatures and times. Brilliant.

Coincidentally, Genie at Bunny Eats Design, has invited me to join in a monthly link up party - Our Growing Edge - designed to connect food bloggers and challenge/inspire them to try new things and share the end results. I think this is an amazing idea, especially for someone like me that occasionally needs a push to experiment. I really can be quite lazy when it comes to trying new stuff. I do tend to stick with what I know works! This month's link up is hosted by Sonya at and more food and the recipe I'm submitting for it - is this one because...

It was lush.

* Moroccan Style Chicken Soup

I have a new passion... Instagram! Yeah, I know the rest of the world discovered it when men were still living in caves and wiping their backsides on badgers, but it's a very recent discovery for me... AND. I. LOVE. IT.

I sort of knew it was there, but honestly wondered what all the fuss was about. Then about a week ago I was bored and somehow or other I downloaded the App. I no longer remember why. I no longer care why. I just know that I. LOVE. IT.

All of a sudden, every opportunity is a photographic one... taking the dog for a walk, meeting my oldest BFF - Kerry - at the beach for lunch and a stroll, the cat snoozing, the cat stretching, the dog eyeballing me while I should be taking her for a walk.... fooooood (obviously). I even took a photo of the washing blowing on the line. Oh yes I did. Didn't share that one though. That would have been passé.

There's a heck of a lot of feet, on instagram. Just random photographs of feet. I've painted my toenails (and shaved my toes) just in case I'm over taken by an incredible compulsion to point my phone-cam downwards and click away.

I'm fairly sure I will. In fact... I might have already succumbed.

If you wanna see what colour my toenails are, come say hello at abbes_antics ;)

I really should try to remember the point of all this, shouldn't I. There is a recipe, there always is. It's soup. Or stew, depending on what time of day it is and how hungry you are. This one is "to die for"...

... much like my undercoating.

* Sausage, Bean and Vegetable Casserole

This time last year, I'd put my boots in the back of the cupboard and swapped them for an array of sandals. My thick cardigans and jumpers were folded up, put in the top of the wardrobe and were being ignored in favour of t-shirts and light weight jackets... and my toenails were painted in spring colours...

This year is a little bit different.

...I've just walked the dog... in a woolly hat. Of course, I was wearing more than just that (don't even go there)... but a woolly hat? In April? I almost came back and got my scarf when the wind picked up as I walked down the hill! Last year on my birthday (which is around this time of year), I was wearing chiffon... chiffon!!! ... with my sandals et al when we went out to dinner to celebrate. This year - boots, jeans and a long black snug woolly jumper... and a jacket. The woolly hat would have spoiled my strategically messy hair or I'd have worn that too. One can't really sit down to dinner with a bad case of "Helmet Head" and feel that ones husband is finding one attractive.

Chiffon!!!

What on earth is going on? Didn't we have a bad enough year weather wise last year? Did it not rain cats and flippin' dogs from April until December? I so desperately want to blame the government for the weather... or people with really bad hair... or New Age Travellers (who are sooo new age that they don't actually travel)... but I can't. Because apparently it's not their fault.

The only comfort - other than turning the dial up to three on the electric blanket - is that warming winter recipes manage to find their way to the table a bit more often than they might otherwise... and this one fits the bill rather nicely.

I debated whether or not to call it a straight forwards "sausage casserole", but it's got soooo much in it, that the other ingredients were worthy of a mention. It's one of those meals that will take virtually any vegetable that you have at your disposal, that you want to use up. I had half a butternut squash and a slightly sad parsnip that were perfect for bunging in with the rest of the veg.

There's so much in it, that you really don't need anything more than a few thick slices of crusty bread to go with it.

...and some grated cheddar if you really can't help yourself. 

Which I couldn't.

* Country Beef Casserole

I made cupcakes this morning. Chocolate ones. They were from a recipe I have never used before and will never use again... I ended up with 15 (the batch was supposed to make 24?!?) mini chocolate volcanoes. There was no way I was going to waste decent chocolate icing on them, so we ate them naked... the cupcakes... not us. The cupcakes were naked. They were surprisingly yummy, considering their bid to be the next Mount Vesuvius but they were not blogworthy in any context other than this brief paragraph.

I felt a need to destroy the evidence of their existence almost immediately. Neil and Josh helped.

There are two left.

The only thing that would cure my disappointment... was dumplings. I find that dumplings can cure just about anything, except maybe cellulite... and tennis elbow... and a fat bum. I have a fat bum. But as I am never actually walking behind it and looking at it, I figure other people can worry about it... whilst I eat dumplings.

Obviously I needed something to put the dumplings in, and as it's bitterly cold outside again I made a Country Beef Casserole. The smell of it cooking in the oven filled the house and drove the dog nutty. Poor old darling's on a diet. She too, has a fat bum... and seeing as I'm the one that's usually walking along behind it, looking at - it's me that has to worry about it.

The dog did not get dumplings.

* Chicken, Chorizo and Borlotti Bean Stew

Yes, it's yet another recipe with beans in it - this time they're purple ones. Sort of. I can promise you that it's not the beans recipes that you're going to get sick of though -it's the chorizo ones. I bought a *job lot* because I LOVE IT and have had to use it up whilst it's still fresh. Which I don't mind at all, because I LOVE IT but you might not. So... I'll try to be kind and space them out a little, but I'm promising nuffink... because... well... I LOVE IT.

Apparently, I also love a lot of other food. Weight watchers has not been going well for at least the past 4 weeks - I haven't tracked my food intake, even though I have tracked the points for 99% of my recipes. My weight remained the same for 4 weeks - which is better than going up, but not as good as going down. Which disappointed my brain no end.

I think me and my brain need to have a conversation about what constitutes a miracle. It has much higher expectations of weight loss, than I do. It also has a nasty habit of making me keep my eyes shut when I get on the scales on a Friday morning. How on earth am I supposed to see how much I weigh, through my eyelids??!!??

Imagine our surprise (yes, I am referring to myself with a plural...) when I managed to prise my eyes open this morning, and we discovered we had lost 2lbs. My brain had a little party that involved streamers, popping noises and an imaginary kazoo... and I got straight on the phone to ask my mate if she'd like to go swimming again... at which point my brain caught up, stopped blowing on it's imaginary kazoo and put on it's swimsuit.

A frilly pink one with yellow spots.

I can't take her anywhere.