Sep 30th: Stir Fried sweet potato with lamb and green beans

recipe source: Vegetables by Sophie Grigson

notes: this was lovely. We all enjoyed the taste and the texture of the sweet potatoes was great - not too mushy. I did make my own black bean sauce (fermented black beans, soy sauce, rice wine, etc) as I didn't have any pre-made in the house, but I can't imagine that would make it much different in terms of taste. Yes, I know, it does say something about me that I have the ingredients for black bean sauce in my cupboard but no pre-made sauce!

Birthday cake

I am accumulating ammunition for those times I get accused of being horrible and unfair - Sarah is having 5 friends sleepover for her birthday. It's a little loud and giggly, but I think they are having fun...

...and of course, there was chocolate cake.

Sep 28th: Bang Bang Chicken

recipe source; Good Food magazine, I think

notes: we always like this. And other similar things. 

Victorian Schoolboy

Alex had a trip today to the Victorian Schoolrooms in Guildford (connected to the Guildford Museum). In year 5, they do a topic on Victorians, and this trip gives the kids an idea what school was like in Victorian times (without the beatings). It's always a fun trip and Alex had a great time.

Happy birthday, not-so-baby girl!

I already posted this to Facebook but might as well blog it, too - happy 15th birthday to Sarah - can't believe it's been that many years!

Sep 25th: Gooey pasta bake

We had this back in July - as Olivia had a friend coming to tea, and I needed something quick, it seemed a good option. I had half a large bag of spinach which needed using, so I shredded that and threw it in - worked very well. I think I used a little less sauce this time - it probably works marginally better with a little more sauce. Still very nice, though.

Sep 23rd: Vegan Lancashire Hotpot

A firm favourite which I have blogged before. Yum. 

Sept 22: Chicken Curry

no recipe - Geoff cooked as Alex and I spent the day at Chessington World of Adventures (theme park) with the Cubs. Fantastic to have a gorgeous smelling house to come home to!

Sep 21st: Rice & Lentil Pilaf

recipe source; The Bean Book

notes: this tasted ok, but was much too mushy in texture. If I were going to make it again I would probably reduce the cooking time by 5-10 minutes. However, I'm not sure it was interesting enough to bother with doing again.

Sep 18th: Cauliflower and Potato Curry

recipe source: Vegetables by Sophie Grigson

notes:  Yummy.  Nice leftover for lunch, too. 

Sep 16th: Roast pork, roast potatoes and cabbage

Bananagrams/Ingenious

A couple of games this afternoon (Sarah says I never blog anything but food these days, which isn't strictly true, though there is a bias toward food - I suppose because eating a meal is something we do every day, whereas there are lots of time when we don't do anything else interesting...) - the top is a game of bananagrams - kind of a boardless scrabble type game - my words at top and Alex's beneath - this is the state of the game when he decided to go around to a friend's house (there was a knock on the door). I did help him a bit, especially with spelling, but he did well - the words are pretty much his, except for "starlet", though he did make "star" originally. I always handicap myself by not allowing myself two-letter words, and by not using "scrabbly" words - i.e. those words which aren't really proper words, even though they are allowed in scrabble...

And then Olivia, Geoff and I had a game of Ingenious, which is a colour-matching, points, strategy game...

Sep 15th: Broccoli and Gorgonzola Pie

Recipe source: Plenty, Yotam Ottolenghi

notes: this was very nice, though I might use a slightly larger pie dish next time, as it was very high. We ate about half and will have the other half leftover for dinner on Monday.  Served with new potatoes and salad.

Sep 14th: Pork & Peanut Noodles

recipe source: Good Food Magazine

notes: I added some carrots to this, and increased the quantities of noodles and sauce to feed 5. Used fresh rice noodles instead of dried.  And we had a few dumplings in the freezer, so they made a nice addition.

Sep 13th: Honey, mustard and creme fraiche baked chicken (Sarah)

recipe source: Good Food Magazine, March 2011.

notes: Sarah's second dinner. A nice one pot, easy to assemble.  We all thought this was really tasty, though we wanted a lot more beans than were in it. Next time - more beans!

Sep 12th: Green Curry of Prawns and Thai Aubergines

recipe source: The Observer Food Monthly.  A long time ago.

notes: I simplified this by using a pre-made Thai Green Curry Paste. It was quicker and easier, and anyway, my supermarket didn't have fresh lime leaves.  We also used regular aubergines (but small ones). It was really lovely, I thought. My various children were less keen - mainly because they aren't fond of aubergines. They liked the rest of it, though.

Sep 11th: Butterfly pasta with squash and spicy lemon sauce

Recipe source: The Great Vegetarian Cookbook, Rosamond Richardson

notes: this had a lovely sauce - I couldn't find the type of curry paste  listed, so used a different masala paste, which worked fine. We all agreed the squash would be better if roasted first. And maybe cut even smaller.

Sep 9th: Tarragon Chicken Salad

Source: Good Food magazine

notes: tasty. I poached the chicken breasts, but would also work nicely with leftover chicken.

Sep 8th: Lasagne al Forno

notes: no recipe on this one; it's a classic lasagne with a meat sauce and a white sauce, layered with cheese. This is the first time I've made this lasagne in my Very Big Dish and I think I could have used a bit more white sauce, as it wasn't quite as gloopy as normal. Next time I'll know!  And the bonus is, there's enough ragu (meat sauce) in the freezer for another meal, with pasta probably. 

Sep 7th: Spicy one pot

recipe source: Good Food magazine

notes: this was one of those recipes that was less interesting than it should have been. It was fine, nothing bad about it, just not very zingy. And not very spicy, even with a chili added. Oh well, not every recipe is a keeper!

Sep 6th: Hot Dogs, Oven Potatoes, Peas (Sarah)

notes: this might not seem like a very complicated meal (and it's not) but it's noteworthy as it's Sarah's first night cooking dinner... We have a new routine on Thursdays, as our schedule is very tight. Olivia has diving from 5.15 until 6, so we won't be getting home until nearly 6.30 from that, and I have to leave at 6.45 to get to my 7pm yoga class (which doesn't actually start for another few weeks).  Not a  lot of time for cooking dinner. So Thursday night will be a combination of Sarah cooking, cooking ahead at the weekend, and probably sometimes Geoff cooking - but although Sarah can cook a lot of things, and is handy in the kitchen, what she doesn't have a lot of experience with is coordinating a whole meal, so we're going to let her have a go this year on Thursdays...  We started simply - the only thing requiring any preparation is the potatoes, which have to be scrubbed and cut up. The rest was fairly easy.  But everyone likes hotdogs, right?

Sep 5th: Squash and cauliflower curry

source: Woman and Home magazine

notes: This was lovely; a nice Thai curry, sweet rather than fiery. Roasting the veg separately from making the sauce really enhanced the flavour. A definite keeper.

Sep 4th: Chicken & bean enchiladas

Recipe source: Good Food Magazine

notes: this was really easy to make. I didn't have ready-cooked chicken, but I had a couple of breasts in the freezer as well as some small bits and pieces - I cooked these, along with a small amount of beef skirt bits I had in the freezer from making pasties a while back (got lost in the bottom of the freezer!) and put both meats in - worked well. 

Sep 3rd: Spaghetti with peas and crispy bacon

recipe source; Waitrose magazine

notes: good, quick, tasty.

Sep 2nd: Apple and Blackberry Crumble with Hazelnuts

recipe source/notes: no recipe, just some apples that wanted using. I don't ever use a recipe for crumble, and I have to say, this one has perhaps a little too much crumble to fruit for my taste - I think it has the same amount of crumble I normally do, just a bit less fruit. Still tasted nice, though.

Sep 2nd: Quiche with beetroot tops and feta

recipe source:  no recipe. 

notes:  we had leftover beetroot tops and stems from the roast beetroot last night, so a quiche seemed in order. This one had the beetroot tops (stems lightly cooked and leaves chopped and steamed first) and some feta cheese.  It was lovely. Even Olivia, who isn't huge on eggs, liked it.  If you've never eaten beetroot tops, they are a lot like Swiss chard, and not a million miles away from spinach.