Therapy.

Whenever I've had a bad day (read: today) I come home and want to bake. Anything will do, so long as it's sweet and requires little effort in the making. I'm so fed up with many things right now, and today hasn't helped, so when I got home, I made cookies for the second time in my life.

Cinnamon and raisin cookies, to be precise. 

I love the chewy version you get from a well known supermarket, so I researched for a recipe and found one from here which very helpfully had measurements which I could use, so off I went! 

Here's the result:

The recipe said it would make 24, but I made 16 from the dough (7 not pictured). 

The pictures aren't great, I realise but it gives you a look! They were thicker than the supermarket version ones, but oh-so-yummy, and made with things I had in the cupboard. Bonus! My better half has already eaten two, so I think that he approves.

See, therapy, just in biscuit form. 

N xx

Let them eat cake.

Some weeks I try and use food stuffs that we've already got in for some meals, just so the food budget isn't stretched during the month. Tonight I made risotto (only my second time making this!) using risotto rice from the cupboard, peas and bacon from the freezer and a stock cube. The only thing I had to buy towards this meal was a small onion, which didn't cost too much. 

It was really really tasty! Straight forward, quick and fairly cheap too. A definite keeper for a swift midweek meal.

Remember I mentioned my friendship cake the other day? Well, today was D-day! It was the day to mix in all of the ingredients and wait for the results. To mine I put in some chopped cooking apples, cinnamon, raisins and chopped almonds in. The end result was this:

Nom nom nom. Of course, me and other half had to try it, just to check it tasted okay.... ;)

Verdit? Very yummy, and if we get another starter given to us, definitely one to make again! 

N xxx

A new trend?

I've been trying to eat from our store cupboard lately, and to make meals out of things we already have in. This week I have used 2 onions, some couscous, many spices and other bits and bobs to make lovely meals with. 

Today, for me at least, was no exception.

I found a couple of days ago, in the fridge, a half eaten broccoli tree. Oh no! I must have forgotten about it during last week and it has sat and languished in the corner of my fruit and veg tray in the fridge. So, last night I had Moroccan style chicken stew with a side of broccoli and tonight I had this:

May I introduce to you broccoli bolognese? It's the healthier cousin of spaghetti bolognese, designed to use up the broccoli in the fridge, but also making the whole dish much more healthy. This is what I had for my tea tonight. My other half did himself a massive portion of spaghetti to have with his sauce, and was much amused when I sat down with half my plate filled with green trees. 

I said I thought I'd start a new trend.... 

He was rather sweet today though, and got me some beautiful flowers:

He's not all bad.... ;)

N xxx

Lazy sundays and cake.

Me and DH have had a really lazy Sunday morning - we didn't get up til past 10am and even then we've just been sat around. I love weekends like this, where we can just be happy in each other's company and that's it. No rushing around to be somewhere. 

So, what goes really well on a lazy Sunday is an equally lazy breakfast (brunch?) when you get up. I'm not the biggest fan of bacon and eggs, plus we don't have any in, so this is what I had for breakfast/brunch this morning:

This is homemade banana loaf with strawberries and raspberries. Breakfast doesn't get better than this. If I thought that I could eat cake for breakfast every day of the week and not end up looking like a house, I totally would.

Speaking of cake, I've had a herman cake on the go for 7 days now. That's a german friendship cake, where you have to tend to it for 10 days before you bake a cake. It's quite a long time to be thinking of making a cake, so I hope it's worth it! Not had one before. This morning Herman looked like this:

This is before I stirred him, as per the instructions for day 7. The cake mix is just left on your kitchen side with a tea towel over, and it bubbles away quite happily. In fact, if there are no bubbles, them Herman has died :( but, mine seems to be very happy bubbling away. Once stirred the mixture goes back to looking like a regular cake mix, but tomorrow it will look like this again before stirring. I can make the cake on Wednesday, so I will let you know the results! 

Ahhh cake. Yum.

N xxx

The Honeymoon.

So, for our honeymoon, me and my new husband (!!!) went to Sorrento, Italy. It was lovely, the weather wasn't particularly great but it didn't matter. The hotel we stayed in was a couples only hotel, all inclusive and very very nice, so when the weather was awful, we just stayed in the hotel lounge and read books and drank hot chocolate! 

The local views were excellent:

The day we decided to go to Vesuvius and walked up to the crater, the weather was the worst! It was sunny when we set off on our walk to the top, and it was misty and cold when we got to the top. The next thing we knew, it was torrential rain/sleet and me and OH got drenched very very quickly, which meant a very swift walk back to the bus. We were soaked through to our underwear, which meant a very uncomfortable bus ride, so we didn't see the volcano under the best of circumstances!

I did manage to snap a quick photo of the crater, not that you can see much....:

We also went to see Pompeii, which was very impressive. I can't believe how much of the town was preserved so well! Things like the painting on the walls, pottery and statues, to the columns and mosaics on the floors. 

This next picture is showing how an unfortunate person lived their last moments. They made it from pouring down cement like mixture into the cavity where the bones were, and then they can get the imprint of the person, including the outline of their clothes, from the space left from the ash. It was amazing, and sad at the same time. 

Of course, you can't go to Italy and not eat pasta/pizza/tiramisu/ice cream, and I ate quite a lot of all four! Italians have pasta as their starter course, and at our hotel, the pasta portions were massive! This:

is a starter portion of spahetti with clams and cherry tomatoes. It was beyond delicious, but very filling. I never finished the pasta course whilst we were there, so I could fit in all of the main course and pudding!

I also ate a lot of pizza. Oh the pizza. It was amazing. So good and so simple. The dough was soft and chewy, the tomato sauce simple yet really tasty, the cheese oh-so-good and then whatever topping you wanted. In the following picture, it is just anchovies on the top:

And, last but definitely not least, the gelato! Nom nom nom. It's so creamy, and moreish and just so so yummy. 

This is one scoop of nutella, and one scoop of pistachio. 

We had the best time and will remember it forever.

xxx

The wedding.

As most of you know, me and my other half got married recently! 

Well, the day was amazing! I was so nervous on the all morning - getting my hair done at the hairdressers whilst feeling sick is not the best combination...! The only minor hiccup to the whole day was about 20 minutes before we were due to leave (I'd still not got my dress on at this point!) one of the bridesmaid dresses split - the zip had broken! So cue emergency sewing into the dress...! That was the most stressful part and I thought I was going to be sick... but it was all okay in the end. 

I got a bit emotional during the service and then during the speeches, so there are some interesting pictures of me during that point, but it was all lovely, the registrar was excellent and put me at ease straight away. Walking down the isle and seeing everyone there made me a bit teary, and when I was standing next to OH during the ceremony, I was shaking like a leaf! 

The wedding breakfast food was amazing, but I didn't eat very much - wasn't hungry and my dress was quite tight! Didn't get any wedding cake, but never mind, everyone else commented on how delicious everything was. 

The evening do was also great - lots more people arrived, some of whom I haven't seen in ages! So that was good to get round everyone and have a mini catch up. The day was so quickly, but everyone made it the best day ever. 

This picture of me and OH sums up the day well; I have married my best friend, wearing the most gorgeous dress and wish we could do it all again! 

N xxx

Simple Suppers.

What I love most at the moment is finding quick things to have for tea when we get in from work, that are easy to make but still taste great.

Enter chicken fajitas. 

Have I mentioned my love for chicken fajitas? I. Love. Them. If I could, I'd have them every week, without fail. I think I may have mentioned this before. I love how easy they are to cook, how quickly a meal comes together and how simple ingredients turn into something amazing.

You start with these:

Sliced chicken breast, two small peppers and an onion. 

Healthy stuff

With a tablespoon of oil, fry everything in a pan, making sure everything is fully cooked through.

Add the fajita mix spices (I also add some spinach here too, try it in a fajita, it's a lovely addition!), then plonk some in a fresh wrap and then you get:

One GIANT fajita! My OH bought massive wraps so it equals one massive fajita. Nom nom nom....!

N xxx