Pride comes before a...sandwich

Hubby started work early this morning, so the boys and I had breakfast together, then we (mainly I) spent the rest of the morning doing the usual Sunday tidy-up. The mustard-and-cress Christopher and I sowed on some damp kitchen paper a couple of weeks ago was raring to go, so we sampled a little with our lunch. Chris is very proud of his little crop, as you would expect. I'm proud of it too. Egg and cress sarnies tomorrow, I think.

After lunch, when James had gone for his nap, Chris and I took folding chairs out into the garden and spent a pleasant hour or so reading together and making sandcastles in the sandpit. Later on this afternoon, I got the baking urge, so with a little help from Christopher, who loves switching on the KitchenAid and from James, who was simply in a very good mood and happy to play, I made some coconut biscuits. This is one of my select group of regular biscuit recipes – we don’t go long without these in the biscuit tin. They’re lovely, sweet and crisp, plus they keep very well and pack into Karl’s lunch bag for work without disintegrating into a mass of crumbs.

Coconut Biscuits

110g butter
175g golden caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
80g sweetened desiccated coconut
175g self-raising flour

Preheat the oven to 180°c. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, half the coconut and the flour. Form about 30 little balls with the mixture and roll these in the remaining coconut. Place well apart on baking trays, and then bake for 12-14 minutes until golden brown. Leave them briefly on the sheets to firm up, then transfer the biscuits to cooling racks with a palette knife.

Supper tonight was some chicken pieces, simply cooked in the oven, with some herbs, lemon and black pepper. I stirred more herbs and lemon through a big bowl of (150g) couscous made up with some (300ml) of yesterday’s enormous batch of chicken stock, took a portion out for James, and then added sultanas and flaked almonds for the rest of us. With some green salad, the only other thing needed was a bowl of this lemony sauce to drizzle over.

Lemon Crème Fraîche Sauce

200ml crème fraîche
zest 1 lemon
juice ½ - 1 lemon (use enough to get the consistency you want)
fresh parsley, finely chopped

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl, along with a fine grinding of black pepper. That’s it. I also add a pinch of sea salt (I use Maldon) if the baby’s not having any, but tonight he was, so I didn’t.

Very simple and very tasty. It goes with so many things, too. We have it most often with chicken, but it also goes very well with fish (in fact, I first came up with it as an accompaniment to salmon steaks). Almost best of all, though, I like it, thinned down with a little more lemon juice, as a salad dressing or, left nice and thick, as a dip for crudités. To be honest, I'd eat it with a spoon if I got half a chance, but sadly there are rarely any leftovers.

Pizza & Pampering

Hubby's day off. The boys and I went to playgroup as usual this morning, then came home to find that Karl had vacuumed and mopped the downstairs floors. Bless him! We had a bit of a tidy up and did some dusting and polishing elsewhere in the house, then - disaster! - the rotary airer collapsed, with all the clean washing on it! So that's another expense, grrr.

On a brighter note, I went to get my hair done this afternoon, in time for James' christening on the 17th. Anyone with small children will know how things like haircuts plummet down the priority list after their arrival, so it was a real treat to go out and be a little pampered, with no nagging little voices urging me on! With that in mind, I made a batch of pizza dough in the bread machine earlier today, so that when I got home I could just roll it out, top it and whack it in the oven. I always make more pizza than we can eat, as cold pizza is one of my secret snacking passions.

Pizza Dough (in the bread machine)

Obviously, add the ingredients in the order that suits your machine - mine is a Panasonic Bread Bakery, so the ingredients go in yeast first, liquid last. If you want to make it by hand, or in a mixer, go ahead, but I would use 30ml olive oil in that case, for ease of mixing the dough more than anything.

1 tsp easy-blend dried yeast
600g strong white (bread) flour
1 tbsp sugar
15g butter + 15ml olive oil
2 tsp salt
400ml warm water
30ml milk

Put all the ingredients in the machine and set it for a pizza dough cycle. It takes 45 minutes in my machine, then I usually bung it in a floured freezer bag until I want to use it. Rolled out thinly and topped with tomato purée and mozzarella, plus whatever else you fancy, it will take about 12-15 minutes to cook at 220°c. Cook it on a very lightly oiled baking sheet

Karl and Christopher had pepperoni on their pizzas (Chris had some sliced yellow pepper as well, but he was already eating when I took this pic). I had anchovies on mine, again with some sliced yellow pepper.

James is a bit small for pizza, really (and there's salt in the dough, in any case), so I made him some hummus, which he had for his supper, along with some organic mini rice cakes from the baby range at Boots. It's not terribly authentic hummus, as it hasn't got any garlic, nor any tahini paste, in it, but it's close enough. James likes it, it's good for him and very easy to make. I use Biona tinned organic chickpeas, which have no sugar or salt added. One can of chickpeas will make at least two meals, probably three, though you might want some yourself. I like it in a granary roll or wholemeal pitta, with grated carrot and some raw spinach.

Hummus for the baby (and you too, if you like)

1/3 of a 400g can chickpeas, drained (see above)
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch ground cumin
squeeze lemon juice

Whizz all the ingredients in a blender or mini processor, adding enough cool boiled water to acheive the consistency you need. Serve with toast fingers, rice cakes and/or vegetables (either lightly cooked or raw, depending on the eater's age).

Tasty Tarts

I spent today, in the few minutes available between sorting the boys out and doing an unprecedented massive amount of laundry, trying to get the house back to some semblance of order. It amazes me how just one or two days away from my usual schedule can reduce the house to an unbearable tip. But at least the worst of it is sorted and the rest can be dealt with tomorrow when we get back from playgroup, as Hubby has the day off.

Thinking about what to cook for supper tonight was difficult - it was too warm to want anything too heavy and we fancied eating out in the garden again. Rummaging in th fridge I found some courgettes and the last bit of some St Helen's Farm goat's cheese that my Mum had brought with her, so decided to try doing something new; a courgette and goat's cheese tart. I made some pastry and lined a tart tin while James was having his afternoon nap, then Christopher and I made some little jam tarts with the pastry trimmings. He has a little set of baking trays that his Granny and Grandpa gave him, so it was a good chance to use one of them. We made three tarts filled with blackberry jam (homemade) and three filled with lemon curd (sadly not). One of them made a nice afternoon snack for Chris, and another provided a nice surprise for Daddy when he got home.

Karl took the boys to the park in the village for a bit before dinner, which gave me chance to cook uninterrupted, with The Beatles turned up loud, which was a lovely treat.

Courgette & Goat's Cheese Tart

For the pastry:

300g plain flour
150g butter
cold water to bind

Make the pastry, using whichever method you prefer. Roll it out and line a 20cm deep fluted tart tin. Mine are made by Silverwood™ and I recommend them wholeheartedly.

For the filling:

2 courgettes, sliced into rounds
knob of butter and a little oil
few sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
150g hard goat's cheese, cut into small cubes
1/4pt milk
2 eggs
15g fresh parmesan, finely grated

Preheat the oven, with a baking tray already on the shelf, to 200°c. Fry the courgettes with the thyme leaves in the butter and oil until soft and just starting to brown. Layer the courgettes and thyme with the cubed cheese in the prepared pastry case. Beat the milk and eggs together with some black pepper and pour this into the pastry case. Scatter the parmesan over and transfer the tart to the oven, putting it on the hot baking tray. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the top is nicely browned and the centre of the tart just set. I prefer to eat tarts like this once they have cooled a little, warm but not hot.

It was very tasty, and for a first attempt I was thrilled with how well it had turned out. I baked some potatoes and cut up some salad vegetables (cucumber, carrots, peppers and the like) to accompany it. A glass of rosé wine, from a bottle we opened the other day, was a perfect addition to our meal in the garden. . It really feels like summer...

Dinner for the workforce

Today we've been putting up the new shed. Not so difficult, however dismantling the two other sheds it replaces and taking them to the tip was less fun. Karl was really quite taken with the whole 'Shedopolis' look of three(!) sheds in the garden, but that was never going to fly, was it sweetheart? Now that it's all up and painted with wood preserver stain thingy, it looks great. Chris enjoyed helping his Dad with some of the painting, althought 'muggins' here volunteered to climb around behind the shed to do the back wall, which is probably less than a foot from the neighbours' fence. Still, at least it's exercise. James just sat, in his Bumbo, under a parasol, watching us and chewing on a selection of toys. Never mind a dog's life...

Because we'd been hard at work in the hot sun, we had dinner tonight in the garden. I made a risotto, something we all love but that we haven't had for quite a while. I really enjoy making risotto, a mindless half an hour spent stirring means some much-needed down time. Today I listened to good old Radio 4 while I was cooking dinner, but I always have the radio on or some music playing.

I prefer to use carnaroli rice for risotto, which has larger grains than the other two kinds I've tried (vialone nano and the most widely available type, arborio). I can't find it locally, so it's another of those things that I have to stock up with when I'm away from home, or chat up visitors into bringing some for me. The stock should be homemade, but chicken stock is so easy to make that it shouldn't be a problem. My freezer is normally full of the stuff since we have roast chicken so often. It's not the same, but the Knorr liquid stuff called 'Touch of Taste' will do if you really can't face it. I should probably point out that James eats this because it's made with homemade (and therefore salt-free) stock, but if you use a prepared stock it won't be suitable for babies. Put the stock in a saucepan and keep it hot, but not boiling, at the back of the stove while you cook.

Bacon & Pea Risotto

25g butter and a drizzle of olive oil
1 onion, diced
200g risotto rice
glass white wine
800ml hot chicken stock
170g chopped bacon or lardons
100g frozen peas
fresh parsley, finely chopped
20g fresh parmesan, grated

Melt 15g of butter with a drizzle of olive oil in a deep, heavy frying pan. Soften the onion, then tip in the rice, stirring to coat all the grains with the fat. Pour in the wine and cook for a minute or so to evaporate the alcohol. Then, still stirring all then time, add a ladleful of chicken stock at a time and allow it to be absorbed by the rice each time before adding the next. After you've put in 2-3 ladlefuls, add the bacon and continue cooking in the same way. When only one ladleful of stock remains, and the rice is almost cooked through (test as you go, scooping out a grain of rice with a fork), stir in the frozen peas and the last of the stock. When this is absorbed add the parsley, parmesan and the last 10g of butter, cut into pieces. Give it all a good stir, then take the pan off the heat, cover it and leave it for a couple of minutes while you finish off any last minute bits.

Serve with a green salad and another glass of wine for the grown-ups (or at least the over-18s!).

Sickbeds, Stickers and Strips

Poor Hubby had to call in sick to work today - he had a migraine but actually I think they're just pushing him too hard and he's exhausted and stressed out, which is not a good combination for someone prone to migraine.

So, the boys and I had to keep things down to a dull roar. After breakfast we got the toy cars out and Christopher played them for ages. We keep most of the toys in big plastic storage boxes in the boys' bedroom and bring different things downstairs in turn. They each have an additional toybox downstairs in which to keep a small (in theory) selection for every day. It's a good idea to put toys away for a bit when their popularity wanes; after a while they seem quite novel and exciting again. The other huge advantage is that our sitting room can easily be returned to a more adult-friendly living area, so we don't feel as though we're wading through an ocean of garish bits of plastic and things with odd faces on them all evening.

After lunch, during James' "official" nap time, Christopher and I had some art-and-craft time. I do keep a rather extensive collection of this kind of stuff in the house, but it's fun for all of us (even James, who loves to watch and play with bits of crinkly paper and ribbon) and it comes in handy on a day like today when we need a quiet activity. Using some stickers from a colouring & sticker book I picked up a month or so ago, Chris made a great collage of the Mr Men in the park. I helped him a little, mainly by peeling stickers off the backing paper. I also made the pond, as he had a duck sticker and insisted it needed water to go swimming.


For supper tonight, I was glad to be organised. Anticipating Karl's original shift of 10am to 7pm, I'd planned to sort the boys' supper out at the usual time and then cook again for us later on. James enjoyed a bowl of Cheddar & Parsley Mash from the freezer, which I make simply by baking extra potatoes when we have them, then ricing them with some grated mature cheddar, some chopped parsley, a knob of butter and a little black pepper. It freezes very well in individual portions and can be microwaved from frozen whenever we need it. Christopher had some chicken strips with a bit of pasta and some peas. He's going through a big chicken phase at the moment and he loves these! It does mean thinking ahead a little, slicing the chicken and marinading it, but it's not really hard work. You can buy cartons of buttermilk in the supermarket, but I prefer to mix this homemade substitute up as and when I need it, for scones mainly, but also recipes like this. One chicken breast makes enough strips for two children, or for Christopher's supper and a snack for me when I'm going to have dinner late. I tried the idea for using toasted breadcrumbs for the first time tonight. It came from the June issue of BBC Good Food magazine and I think it works really well, but you could use crumbs of whatever kind you like, as long as they're not too soft.

Chicken Strips

1 chicken breast fillet
1/4 pint semi-skimmed milk
1 tsp lemon juice
2 slices of white bread, well toasted and crusts cut off
1 egg, beaten

Stir the milk and lemon juice together in a jug and set aside while you slice the chicken breast into small strips Put the strips into a freezer bag or a shallow dish, pour in the milk and either seal the bag or cover the dish with clingfilm. Leave in the fridge overnight.

Whizz the toast into breadcrumbs in a food processor. Lift the chicken strips out of the marinade and dry them on a clean tea towel or a bit of kitchen paper if you prefer. Dip them in the beaten egg, then in the crumbs. Transfer them to a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake at 200°c for about 10 minutes.

"Cath's School Dinners"

My Mum was still here today, so I finally made James' christening cake this morning while she looked after the boys for a bit. The recipe comes together quite quickly, then it needs a good long stretch in the oven, which gave us time to pop down to the park in the village before we had lunch and Mum had to go home (boo). This is the cake I make for special occasions like birthdays and christenings when a fruit cake is needed (or simply desirable). It's also the cake I make every year for Christmas. When I was still working full-time outside the house, I used to take one to work just before Christmas to share in lieu of Christmas cards, as I thought it a little excessive to give cards to people I saw every day. I think the cake went down better anyway.

Celebration Fruit Cake

175g unsalted butter
200g dark muscovado sugar
750g mixed dried fruit
Grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
100ml brandy
3 large eggs, beaten
100g ground almonds
200g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp each of ground mixed spice, cinnamon and ginger
¼ tsp ground allspice

Put the butter, sugar, dried fruit, lemon zest and juice and brandy into a large pan. Heat gently, stirring to melt the butter. When it reaches boiling point, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to cool for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 150°c. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line it with baking paper. Stir the eggs and ground almonds into the fruit mixture. Add the flour, baking powder and spices to the pan and mix well, then transfer the mixture to the lined cake tin and level the top. Bake for 45 minutes, then turn the oven down to 140°c and cook for a further 1 hour until the surface is dark golden brown and firm to the touch. Put some foil over the tin if the surface starts to colour too much. Check that the cake is cooked through by piercing the centre with a skewer. It should be clean when removed. Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin, then wrap the cake in a double layer of baking paper and foil. It will keep in a cool, dark cupboard for two or three months.

If you like a boozier tasting cake (I do), you can make little holes all over the top of the cake with your skewer, then spoon about 60ml of extra brandy over the surface.



For the last couple of days, Hubby has been bringing home some lovely things from the end-of-the-day reductions at work. Included in the haul was an organic free-range chicken (reduced from nearly £7 to 9p!) and dozens of sausages (ditto). Most of it is now in the freezer.

Thinking I had better do something with some of the sausages, I made something tonight that was my absolute favourite when we used to have it for lunch at school when I was a child. In light of the recent hoohah about school meals, I feel very proud to look back with such culinary nostalgia. The food we got was GREAT, God bless Mrs Owens! I honestly can't praise it enough, and this recipe, based on the memory of my schooldays, goes down very well with everyone I give it to. Christopher adores it, as does Karl. I think its pretty much ideal food as far as they're concerned; after all, when you look at it, it's a big sausage roll! On that note, I should add that leftovers are great cold the following day, as you would no doubt expect.

Sausage Plait

For the Pastry:

300g plain flour
150g butter
a little cold water

Make the pastry. I use my KitchenAid, but use a processor if you prefer, or do it by hand, rubbing the fat into the flour and using a knife to mix in enough cold water to bind it.

For the filling:

12 pork sausages or 800g pork sausagemeat
1 large onion, coarsely grated
2 tbsp chopped fresh sage leaves
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 tbsp fine semolina

Mix all the filling ingredients together. Using your hands is easiest (and quickest), but a spoon will do if you feel a bit squeamish about handling raw meat. Please remember to take off your rings, or one might go astray and break someone's tooth! Wash your hands well before and after.

Roll the pastry out into a largeish (about 30cm) square. Spoon the filling down the centre, then make cuts down the sides at right angles to the filling, every 3cm or so. Fold these strips over the filling to form a ‘plait’. Tuck the ends in, then transfer it to a oiled baking sheet. Brush with beaten egg and bake at 180°c for about 40 minutes, or until cooked through.

I served the plait with baked potatoes and a big bowl of salad. For pudding we had some of the lemon tart my Mum bought for us to eat while she was here, which we didn't eat because we were all too full of curry lunches and other good things.

Not Gonna Stop!

The last week has just been so hectic. After a week of barrelling around with Hubby's parents and our nieces, doing all sorts of fun things, I am definitely ready for a rest. Thankfully, my Mum has come to stay for a couple of nights, so the boys can play with their Granny for a bit and we can all be a bit spoiled.

We took the boys into Aberystwyth this afternoon. Because of a combination of holiday traffic, roadworks and the like, it took us an hour to drive 10 miles! We were definitely ready for lunch after that, so we took the boys to Shilam, a lovely Indian restaurant in the centre of Aberystwyth. They run a lunchtime buffet, with 'all-you-can-eat' for a very reasonable £5.99. I'm very proud to say that Christopher loves his curry. Today he was especially keen on the onion bhajis and potato pakoras. Despite having taken some food for James with us, he still tasted a good variety of the dishes on offer.

After that huge meal at lunchtime, Mum and I decided on bread and cheese for supper - so that meant a trip to Ultracomida to buy some lovely Welsh cheese. We decided on Drewi Sant, Perl Las and, as an experiment, Caws Preseli, which we haven't tried before. Cheese, bread, a few tomatoes and a good bottle of red wine - what a treat.