Poached Eggs and Chorizo Ketchup

Comforting, healthy and cheap, this is perfect food for January!  Added to which, it is quick and easy to make and ideal for a warming breakfast lunch or supper!

For two people

100g chorizo (a chunk rather than slices)

1 small onion/large shallot

1 stick celery

2 cloves garlic

1 400g tin tomatoes

4 eggs

salt and pepper

pinch of oregano and pinch cayenne pepper

To serve:

Toast and butter (or a pile of steamed greens if you're being suuper healthy)

Guacamole (see here for a fabulously quick and delicious recipe!)

Cut the chorizo into little cubes and fry in a splash of hot oil until crisp.

Finely slice the onion, add to the chorizo and fry gently until soft and golden.

Finely slice the celery and garlic and throw them in too.

When everything is soft add the tomatoes and seasoning and simmer for 10 minutes uncovered.

Meanwhile, poach the eggs according to your method of choice.  I found this perfect little poacher in a charity shop and it is utterly brilliant and absolutely the best way to poach!  This would also work with fried or scrambled eggs if poached isn't your thing.

Either simmer the veg or toast and butter the toast. (...one of my better sentences...)

Arrange a hearty dollop of ketchup across the toast, top with 2 eggs, freshly ground pepper and a splodge of guacamole.

Eat straight away while everything is piping hot!

Snow!

This morning when we woke up, the light through the curtains seemed brighter than usual and the general birdy hubbub quieter.  A quick peep revealed our little close all covered with snow!  Mathilda still has milk first thing so I scooped her up and we hopped back into bed for some deliciously cosy pyjama-y snuggling.

We wrapped up Mathilda in a thousand rather mismatched layers, (she chose today to suddenly outgrow her all-in-one suit) and set off into the snow.

With all her layers on she was a bit unstable on the sledge so we had to try different positions...

...once I had stopped laughing I just carried her for safety/comfort!

We found a nice gentle hill, Ed pulled us up it and we whizzed down!

Mummy was definitely more excited about it than Mathilda!

I love her hilarious 'thumbs up' mittens!

And now all the snow is melting and I will go back to desperately wishing wishing for Spring/extremely dreaming of glorious summer.....

Fudgy, Fruity, Sugar-Free Flapack

After December's scoffing nibbling munching chomping and general over-indulgence, January is for many of us a little bit Healthy (the kind that comes with a capital H...).

I am sort of trying to be healthy, but with the weather as grey and cold and miserable as it is, there is a definite need for cake.  This flapjack is full of energy and tastes deliciously sweet and fudgey but actually has no added sugar...so it's practically healthy!  It would make a quick and easy breakfast for those days you hit the snooze button just a few too many times, and a little slice when you need an afternoon pick-me-up will fix the winter blues without too much impact on the diet!

A

4oz butter/coconut oil

3oz dates

2 tsp tahini (full of calcium but optional if you don't have any!)

1tbsp fruit paste/honey

0.5 large banana

B

2oz sultanas/raisins

2oz seeds (sunflower/pumpkin/linseed)

1oz chopped walnuts/pecans

1oz dessicated coconut

8oz oats

The fruit paste is a fab invention, you can find it in health food shops, not sure if it turns up in the supermarkets.  It is just concentrated fruit, no added sugar and is delicious!  If you can't get hold of any you can use honey instead.

Put all the 'A' ingredients in a pan and warm until the butter is melted and the dates are soft.

Blend until smooth.

Return the gloop to the pan and add the 'B' ingredients.

Stir well to combine and press into a tin (approx 30 x 25cm).

Bake for 25-30 minutes until turning brown on top.  Leave to cool 10 minutes before cutting into bars and leave to cool in the tin.

Now put it carefully away in the cupboard and try not to eat it all at once.....

(It was a total success with Mathilda, who scoffed a whole piece while I wasn't looking!  Not really a bad thing as since it has no sugar in, it is perfect baby fodder too!)

Happy New Year!

As the very last hours of the twelfth day of Christmas tick tock away, I am in need of a jolly re-cap of the last few cheerful weeks before we slide drably on into gloomy January!

We have had such a wonderful Christmas holiday; very relaxed, spending lots of time with family and eating vast quantities of delicious things!

As with the rest of the year, I ended up being rather disorganised with my Christmas preparations, I was a month late making my mincemeat, and despite usually getting all the decorations up on the 1st December, I was several days behind and didn't even get the wreath made until two weeks in.  We went on a lovely (if rather damp) walk in the woods to gather foliage and berries to make the wreath and I spent a gorgeous but prickly few hours winding the thing together!

As there has hardly been any frost there are still crabapples to be found, which are such a rare and jolly addition to a Christmas wreath.

The best bit about going out in December is being able to come back home to see our jolly Christmas tree twinkling merrily through the window.  It is one of my favourite December activities to go walking around streets of houses peeking through windows at other people's Christmas trees!

We had a gorgeous day catching up with my family, doing all the things we always do when we get together - a lot of talking, a muddy walk and stacks and stacks of food!

Then suddenly it was Christmas eve and in a flurry of wrapping paper and mince pies we packed the car full of treasures and whisked off down to London for Christmas with Edward's family.

Mathilda of course had no idea what was going on apart from that she had a spectacular few days with endless entertainment from her doting aunts, uncles and grandparents and hilarious games with wrapping paper and sparkly ribbon.  She managed to look very serious for our photo though!

We rolled out Christmas day evening for a wander round Trafalgar Square in order to stretch our legs and ease our tummies to make space for just a little bit more delicious food!  Mathilda and I got photo-bombed...

London was all twinkly.

Mathilda had the chance to figure out George the cat, and after some uncertainty and deliberation, decided he might be ok.  (Excuse the carrot she has plastered all over her face...)

It is hilarious and fascinating watching her constantly discovering new things, working out what she thinks and interacting with them!

We came home to a few days footling at home together, braving the cold for damp walks and hot coffee, and snuggling at home playing games.

Sadly in this house we have to make do with radiators as there is no open fire like we had in Plymouth, but we do have the next best thing - a film of a fireplace with a fire crackling merrily in the grate.  It's neeearly as good as the real thing....sort of.

We ended up having a romantic evening just the two of us for New Year's Eve.  Mathilda went off to bed and we settled down to canapes and prosecco in front of the makeshift fire.  It was the perfect way to end a wonderful year and welcome in the new one (very briefly before we scuttled off to bed, so sleepy!) and all the exciting things it has to bring.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, Happy New Year!