* Celeriac and Potato Mash

This celeriac and potato mash came about because I had rather a large celeriac to use up, that I bought on a whim and I didn't fancy any more soup (I'm souped out. Can you believe it?!?), which is usually the obvious choice for me - when it comes to using up veg - so I thought I'd liven up some mashed potato with it.

I will definitely be doing it again. The celeriac seemed to lighten up the texture of the mash and the flavour too, giving it that almost peppery taste of celery, but somewhat milder.

I wasn't sure if it would go down like a sack of lead cr@p with Neil, because he's a bit of a purist when it comes to his mashed potatoes. He'll eat it with oodles of cheese, but otherwise he tends to regard any alteration to his beloved mash with a bone deep suspicion.

It's incredibly difficult to sit across the table from someone who is eyeing up their mashed potato as if it's going to pull a gun on them.... especially whilst fighting the urge to shout "BANG".

When I presented him with his dinner, he looked at the mash that was swirled through with parsley and said "That doesn't look right... what have you done?" This is usually where I get defensive and start on at him about a variety of past grievances that have absolutely nothing to do with the mashed potato and what I've supposedly done with it. However... all I said was "Eat your dinner." I'd had wine. He then regarded me with suspicion and took a forkful of the mash.... and then another.

When his plate was clear I got the "Lovely darlin'." that I'd been waiting for.

He didn't ask again, what I'd done.. and I didn't tell him.

* 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!

* Easy Cheesy Bubble and Squeak

I need to make more food with Easy Cheesy in the title. I like that title. I like anything even vaguely childish at the moment because I've got a rotten cold, which seems to go hand in hand with a more juvenile sense of humour.... my dreams are pretty freaky too - in a fun way!!! You are so rude!

I dreamt I had magic, the other night (stop groaning, you knew this is where I was heading), and that I was the most powerful magician/sorcerer in the entire world but I hadn't been challenged and therefore didn't know how powerful I was - then the dream jumped a little bit to me saving a load of people by letting them in my front door (apparently this dream could not afford much in the way of special effects)... then this *being* appeared in the sky - now don't laugh - it was Adam Ant. Moving swiftly on... I yelled out of my half open front door (that I was hiding behind - magicians get scared too apparently) at the Adam Ant cloud in the sky..."You don't want to take me on..." then imbued the last two words with a huge majestic power reminiscent of Charlton Heston in various movies "DOOOO YOOOOU?"....

Thing is.... I BOOMED the last two words out loud. In my sleep. As the Adam Ant cloud dissipated into vapour  - I heard a voice beside me snigger and say "Well I suppose this is going to be as interesting as "I'm a giraffe"...".

*sigh*

I'd woken Neil up.

12 hours later when he walked in the back door after work...

... he was still sniggering.

NOTE: There is no one real recipe for bubble and squeak - it's traditionally made up of left over vegetables from a Sunday Roast, all mashed together and fried in a pan on the stove in butter. Sometimes as a mash up, sometimes as a large cake and sometimes as patties. I find a general rule of thumb to follow is whatever weight of potatoes you use, use half that weight of vegetables (or thereabouts) - also, if you do happen to have creamed the mash together with butter and/or milk - you're best bet is to make a mash up and fry it as is, as the wetter the bubble and squeak mix, the less likely that it will be able to hold its shape and make decent patties (or cakes). Dry frying (no fat) also helps the patties to keep their shape and not take on extra moisture and become sloppy (but that might be just me!).

* Homemade Potato Gnocchi

I spent an entire afternoon making gnocchi, a few weeks back. It only took that long because I stopped to watch a film half way through cooking the potatoes. As you do.

I've never made gnocchi before, not that I can recall at any rate. If I have made it before it would have been when I was at Catering College and I was so busy partying "back in the day" (Oh My God I Feel Old Never Using That Sentence Again... Ever), that I was lucky if I remembered to turn up to class, let alone what I cooked when I was there.... though I do remember making a cassoulet and dropping it on the floor. It was in my shoes for weeks.

Back to the gnocchi... by the time I'd finished, I had a ton of the stuff - reminiscent of the quantity of marshmallow fluff still sitting in my kitchen cupboard (though I have attacked at least one jar of it with a spoon (and my finger when I couldn't find a spoon quickly enough)). I'm digressing again. Aren't I.

THE GNOCCHI... was actually pretty therapeutic to make, and even though it felt like it took forever to do it, the end results were well worth the effort. It was a bit like mucking about with a sticky, starchy play dough, and I'm not sure that I didn't find some on the back of my neck and in my hair later on that day. The only frustrating thing - for someone with mild OCD tendencies - was the lack of uniformity in each little dumpling. But they all tasted the same when cooked, so for a first (remembered) attempt - it's all good.

I saw an Italian/Welsh girl on the TV a while back, putting stripes in her gnocchi and I couldn't remember how she did it, so I just attacked a few of mine with a fork rather randomly until I realised I was sabotaging my potato pillows... and stopped.

Then I did it again. Because it was fun.

* 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.

* Sweet Potato and Spinach Gratin

It didn't matter what I did with this gratin, it would NOT take a decent photograph, and I'm not photographically skilled enough to make it look awesome. Which it was. Totally. So please don't let it's somewhat Seventies demeanour, put you off.

It was lush.

It was also incredibly easy to wack together whilst I took a lunch break from spring cleaning my lounge. Yes. I said "spring cleaning my lounge". Yes. I have hit my head. Bashed it on the breakfast bar yesterday when I was fishing around underneath it, for Neil's slippers. Stood up before I had cleared the bottom of the thing and 24 hours later I find myself covered from head to toe in dust bunnies, sporting this seasons "Mop and Bucket Look". Tres chic.

The dog spent the entire day crashed out on my bed, for fear of getting roped into helping. That and the fact that at seventy seven human years old, she couldn't take all the whirling dervish that was going on, so I took pity on her and treated her to a trip Upstairs. Upstairs is somewhere that she's not usually allowed access to, unless mummy is staying out for the night - in which case, daddy sneaks her Upstairs at bed time so that they can snuggle... without mummy knowing...

... that is, until she discovers the dog hairs all over the bed (Eeeeewww), and the chew toy wedged under her pillow (Double Eeeeewwww!!!).

Obviously, it's okay when I let her up there. I'm in charge.

* Sausage Hotpot

It's bitterly cold here again, so I'm still turning to warming, hearty meals rather than salads. Neil appreciates it when he gets home from work, and I'm still feeling guilty about the fact that I'm now only working weekends... so I'm soothing my hubby with his favourite foods and salving my conscience.

Yes. I do have one. I keep it in a box with a very tight fitting lid and only let it out when there's a blue moon.

No. I have not suddenly turned into a sharing, caring, loving, housewifey type - who stands at the door at night waiting for hubby to get home, with his slippers in one hand and his pipe in the other.

I am, in fact, manipulating my man into wanting me to stay home. He has mentioned in the past how much he likes to come home in the Winter to the lights shining through the windows, my music blaring out of every crevice and his dinner cooking on the stove.

If he'd ever actually demanded this... he'd be dead.

Instead, he uncomplainingly gets up and goes to work five or six days a week, at an ungodly hour and returns home when most people are putting their kids to bed for the night. Sometimes even later than that. He never says a word when presented with fried egg sandwiches for his dinner, after he's been slogging his guts out in the cold all day... and when I lose the plot, and my temper flares, he walks around the kitchen with his t-shirt pulled up over the top of his head, waving his arms in the air and pretending I've just bitten his head off.

What's not to love?

I'll tell you.

The man can sulk for Great Britain.

* Leek and Potato Soup

Unbelievably, even after Minstrelgate last Sunday... I have lost 3.5lbs this week.... that's 8.5lbs total in 3 weeks.

...I'll be right back...

Gets up and flings self round room "Birthday Dance Stylie"

Hold on. 

I'm still flinging....

Done.

That's got to have earned me some activity points... and perhaps a glass of wine (or three)... and maybe a piece of chocolate cake. A very small piece.

No. This is not a huge lead up to a recipe for a chocolate cake of any description. This is a recipe for soup... did someone just gasp in shock?!? I KNOW... more soup. I like soup. If you've read any of my previous entries you already know this. Soup is my *go to* food. No matter whether I am trying to lose weight, eat healthy or just stuff my face - soup has a firm hold on my heart, and my stomach... and sometimes my chin.

This is yet another family favourite, Neil's in particular, and is lovely sopped up with Cheese and Mustard Scones or a chunk of Courgette and Cheddar Loaf.

Yes. I am shamelessly plugging my own food.

One day... I will rule the world.

* Chicken and Butternut Casserole

Neil's been getting up a half hour earlier than usual, as he has further to travel to work for a while - and this means he's home a half hour later as well... and much as I love him - I'm not slaving over a hot stove at stupid o'clock in the evening, so's he can have his beloved Sausage, Egg n Chips - when I can prepare something ahead and have it ready to eat 10 minutes after he's walked in the door.

It always surprises me how much easier it is to choose what you're going to eat when there's less to choose from. My cupboards are bare until Wednesday when I can get to the supermarket in Plymouth, so I've no *tricky bits* but have plenty of the basics and bits to use up.

Sometimes the basics - with a little imagination - make a much better dinner. If I'm honest, it's me that likes food to be a bit different. Neil is more than happy to eat stews, casseroles, roasts and pies. "Proper Food" as he calls it. I much prefer pasta, rice and vegetable dishes - but occasionally, when I do cook something... ummmm... lets say "manly" - I often end up wondering why I don't do it more often.

It smells so GOOD!

* Celeriac and Carrot Soup

We were going to go the cinema today to watch 'Looper', but as we haven't had a *chill out* weekend in quite some time, we decided to stay home and flake out in various rooms for the day.

Well, that was the plan. Hubby is fantastic at vegetating... I'm not good at sitting still unless I have a book to read that's so amazing I'll try to justify swapping a day at work to stay home and read it. That hasn't happened in quite some time and I had ants in my pants today - so I've managed to get a load of odd jobs done to set me up for the week ahead, and I made a soup.

It was very, very tempting to make another soup with sweet potatoes, because I love them - but I had a large nubby celeriac, that  held up it's hand and shouted "Pick me! Pick me!", when I was rummaging - and he'd been waiting quite long enough...

...sadly, the okra that I'd bought on a whim must have died in it's sleep - so we had a quick funeral for it before embarking on the road to Soupdom.