* 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.

* Sausage Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

I love it when a recipe works better than expected. These Sausage Meatballs in Tomato Sauce were absolutely scrumptious in a non *in yer face* way. They were so easy to put together that I expected to be bowled over with blandness.... plus I haven't had much in the way of taste in the past couple of weeks because of my VERY BAD COLD.

There.

I will never mention it again.

The sauce was slightly sweet and light due to the use of a carrot. I've not done that before, but they needed using up (doesn't everything?!?) and it was worth a shot. I know it's not a new idea - people have been sticking carrots into tomato sauce since time immemorial (whatever that means), but I haven't - so I wasn't sure that we... I... would like it.

But we did. Well, of course we did. I could hardly write a recipe up and say "Don't do this, it's dis-GUS-tin'!", could I?!?

Well I suppose I could, but then you'd hardly come back for more.

* 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!).

* Smoked Sausage, Tomato and Watercress Tart

It's actually a Smoked Sausage, Sun Dried Tomato and Watercress Tart in a Parmesan Polenta Pastry (try saying that once, without tripping up, when completely sober.... now have a glass of wine... and try again... much easier, wasn't it)... which is waaaaay too heavy a title to put on a recipe. It's almost a pedigree, and I'm hardly entering it into Crufts.

Food gets a bit *samey* sometimes, in this house. I don't always have the time or the inclination to cook much more than something that goes in a pot and will sit happily with rice or pasta... but occasionally, my need to use food up and make space in my fridge for another, fresher, culinary rainbow of vegetables - gives me enough incentive to become a bit more inventive, if not adventurous.

It was watercress that needed using up this time. I had been inspired to buy it, by a recent trip to The Finnygook Inn, for dinner. They served it with steak. I liked it enough that I bought a bag. That's how most stuff gets into the fridge. I have a moment of "oooooooh... what a nice idea, I think I can make *this* a part of my everyday diet"... and I really can't. There's a LOT of watercress in one bag. Enough to go with several steak servings, not just one or two.

I didn't buy steak. I only like steak, in any form, when someone else has cooked it. This is a constant disappointment to Neil.

Neil would eat shoe leather if I put it on his plate and told him it was steak. This is most probably because when I have cooked steak, it has resembled shoe leather... I'm really inspiring you with confidence in my cooking right about now, aren't I.

Back to my Tart... it worked a million times better than I had imagined it would. It really was one of those surprising successes (I am always surprised when I have a success). I experimented with the pastry and if I only ever make one pastry again, it'll be this one. Using up the watercress in the tart was also a success...

... Now all I have to do is work out what the hell I'm going to do with a ton of Marshmallow Fluff.

* 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.

* 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.

* Sausage and Red Pepper Chilli

Today is my Weigh Day. I picked a Friday instead of a Monday, because I reckon that I always weigh more on a Monday morning after being unable to use the words "No, thank you." over the weekend. These words seem to disappear from my vocabulary on a Saturday morning, around about the time I discover the bacon and breakfast muffins in the freezer... where I put them the night before.

So, Friday seemed a better choice and more likely to grant me a modicum of success - I lost 1lb this week. Which is better than 4oz, and waaaaaay better than putting weight on, which is what I actually expected. I got on and off the scales three times, just to check. I even opened my eyes on one occasion.

The sun has finally put in a long awaited appearance, so I'm off out for the afternoon to walk the dog and talk myself into not ordering my own body weight in Nachos when I meet my girlfriends for lunch tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

* 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.

* Penne Milano

Yesterday I spent my entire day off, on my feet and they are now threatening to go on strike, so tonight's dinner had to be something quick and simple. I settled on pasta, with crumbled sausages and a rich, creamy tomato and rosemary sauce (sounds complicated but it isn't) because yesterdays dinner was anything but easy...

I had invited my mum over for a curry night - with all the odds and sods to accompany it - and when I'd finally got the table laid up with all the food, Neil just had to pass the comment that "It would have been easier if you'd dished it out"...

...NOT a bad thing when taken on it's own - but add it to the catalogue of "What no dumplings? What no cheese in my mash? No garlic bread with my chilli?" and my all time favourite "What no onions in my gravy?" - the proverbial was bound to hit the fan.

... man hath no fury than a woman who hath goneth to a lot of troubleth only to be toldeth that man wouldeth have liked hith dinner therved up on a thilver platter... eth.

Hum.

Ever seen a man wearing a Chicken Tikka hat?

* Italian Sausage & Cannellini Bean Casserole

When you keep a record of what you cook, in the form of a blog (or any other form), you slowly begin to realise that you have definite eating habits and penchants for certain foods... The evidence is right there in front of you, so cannot be denied.

Apparently I like beans.

And sausages.

And chocolate.

There's probably a recipe in there somewhere, but I'm not sure I'm the one to discover it.

The original joy at the evenings drawing in and being able to put the salad spinner away in favour of the crock pot - has faded. I'm fed up with it already and long for Summer. Mind you, I think the great British public are all longing for Summer, as we didn't actually get one this year. Or a Spring. Somewhere around April we were being told that we were in the midst of the worst drought in blah-blah years... and someone with a warped sense of humour must have been listening - because it started to rain and I have no memory of it stopping.

So... I decided to cook a casserole that had a taste of Summer in it.

No matter the weather. Only 8 more weeks and I'm going to Egypt.

Hah.

* Sausage, Bean and Macaroni Stew

It seems that my weekend spent with my two favourite girls, has left me with a rotten cold. I'm going to blame the littlest one, because I can... and because she's the most likely culprit. Still, I would not have missed snotty hugs and cuddles from either of them, for the world.

Last night's dinner needed to be something that would make me feel a little less delicate, so I grabbed a few sausages out of the freezer, checked I had enough macaroni (I was 6g short), and raided my cupboards for a tin of beans. Flageolet beans.

I love flageolet beans. I could (and often do) eat them straight out of the tin. This was my last tin. I never use the last tin. I go out and buy a million more tins before I use the last tin.

I used the last tin.

Even now, while sitting here and typing this - I'm wondering when I am going to be able to re-stock them, because I can't get them locally. This is Cornwall, and I live in The Forgotten Corner. We don't have flageolet beans here. Or buses.