A little homemade goodness.

Decorating has started in the lounge - the first coat of paint is on and the second will be done tomorrow. We went for a light grey in the end, and it's already looking fab - can't wait until it's all done! I keep thinking about the accessories I want and colours to fit in with the scheme, I just need to not get carried away...!

Tonight was a little bit of indulgence; I made me and DH homemade pizzas. He had bacon and mushrooms on his. I had spinach, mushrooms and capers on mine. It was very yummy, though it needs a bit of tweaking to be perfect - DH said he doesn't mind being the guinea pig in the meantime! 

Here is mine:

Still can't get the hang of getting it into a circle, but I can practice! Tasted good though. A nice homemade meal that was definitely cheaper than a takeaway pizza. Plus you can choose exactly what you want on it too. 

Homemade definitely is best. 

Friday night.

Gosh, I'm so glad it's the weekend.

This week has been so strange and the weather hasn't helped. It hasn't snowed here today really, nothing has settled. There's still plenty of ice around though, so driving near our house is still a bit tricky.

Friday night normally means a slightly unhealthier tea than normal, and something that is straight forward. Tonight was no exception:

Gammon, pineapple, egg and chips. Just lovely. 

Have a good weekend, everyone. 

Snow is falling.

Yes, we've had quite a lot of snow, which has now frozen which makes driving to work quite tricky! Yesterday whilst I was driving, the trees looked so pretty with the snow on their branches, and a very pink sunrise behind them. I wish I'd had a camera on me, it was lovely!

I'm trying to avoid putting the heating on more, but if it doesn't get any warmer, I may have to. When I arrived to work this morning, it was -11.5 degrees! Brrr.

Tonight was a very simple but tasty dinner:

Mushroom stroganoff with rice. So tasty, very simple and comforting after a long day at work.

Followed by this [which is the worst photo, ever]:

Homemade christmas cake with a slice of cheese [which is how it's done in the North.]

Is it nearly the weekend?

A simple supper.

This evening I made one of the most simple, yet tasty, dishes for tea. 

Spaghetti with tomatoes, anchovies and capers (a modified version of spaghetti puttanesca). 

You need:

- 2 garlic cloves, crushed

- a tin of chopped tomatoes

- 1 tbsp of capers

- 1 tin of anchovies, in olive oil

- spaghetti

- big pinch of chili flakes

Drain the olive oil from the anchovies into a frying pan. Add the garlic cloves and cook for about a minute, stirring so it doesn't become brown. Add in the chopped tomatoes, capers, anchovies and chili flakes. Simmer for 10 minutes or so. The sauce should thicken beautiful into a lovely thick sauce. The anchovies will disintegrate into the sauce, leaving a great deal of flavour behind.

Boil some water and cook spaghetti. Then combine sauce and spaghetti, grate on a bit of parmesan if you have some in, and serve.

 This amount serves 2, and I always add all of the anchovies, as both me and my husband like anchovies, and I find if I leave some in the tin, they just end up getting thrown out anyway, so it's better to use them up.  And the best thing? This takes less than 20 minutes from start to plate. Perfect after a long day at work.

N xxx