My gluten free pasta sauce...

Ingredients:
150g gluten free pasta
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
50g chorizo sausage, sliced and then halved
2 cloves galic, chopped
4 rashers bacon, chopped
50ml single cream
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp tomato puree
1 large sweet potato, cut in to cubes

1. Add the pasta to a pan of boiling salted water (this stops the pasta from becoming all gloopy and stuck together as gluten free pasta tends to do).

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil up in a large frying pan, but not too hot so the onions only soften and not burn. Fry the onions until soft and smelling lovely (I love the smell of frying onions!) Add the garlic and fry for a few minutes more. Then add the sweet potato and fry for another 5 minutes, making sure not to burn the cubes. They need turning a bit as they are fond of burning. I learnt this the hard way...

3. Add the chorizo and the bacon to the pan with the mushrooms. Fry until the bacon is cooked and the chorizo looks cooked on the side and looks a little sweaty. Sounds weird, but you'll see it happening!

4. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and stir well to combine with the other ingredients. Then add the tomato puree and the cayenne pepper and stir once again. Once that's all stirred in nicely, leave to bubble for a few minutes then add the cream.

5. Drain the pasta, then add it to the sauce. Mix well, then serve straight away.

I made this up one lunch time, and Edd loved it

A pretty epic day of getting stuff done

Today, we have been on fire. The computer desk has finally been moved out of our room and there is space at last! It's still a bombsite, but it's progress! I blitzed the kitchen, it was sparkly and clean before dinner. It's a different story now, but that's because Edd hasn't washed up. I also made my gluten free pizzas and they actually turned out nice!

We also had Emilia's friend Summer over after school for a couple of hours. I made them cakes. They were rather yummy too. I was going to make cakes anyway, but this just gave me more of a reason!

I also hoovered the whole house, got some groceries and sorted out my recipe collection. All in all, a pretty eventful day off work. Now, to bed as I have to be at work at 7am tomorrow, which means catching the bus at 6.30, Grim. Nobody should be doing anything as strenuous as catching a bus at that time of morning.

Gluten free living

It can be a little stressful. You can't just go to the shop and buy a cake. Well, you can, but it'll cost you three times as much. I took the decision to live mostly gluten free for Edd. I still have bread and breadcrumbed stuff, normal burgers and normal sausages (sometimes), but mostly, everything I cook is gluten free. I don't believe it's fair that he has to eat it all by himself, and also this means that I'm not cooking 2 different meals each night. This has meant that I have sacrificed Domino's and Pizza Hut, but isn't that what love is about? A bit of give and take? It just means that I get to bake more cupcakes, and I really do love baking!

So, in my gluten free endeavours, I am going to make mini pizzas. The pizza bases Edd gets on prescription are alright, but they're small and go quickly. The boy loves pizza. So, I found a recipe for mini pizzas, and the plan is to make a whole batch of them, then freeze them (precooked obviously), so we can use them whenever. It'll be gluten free bread after that, but I'm taking it one step at a time. Besides, my gluten free chicken and mushroom pie didn't turn out too bad....

So so sleepy

I didn't sleep well last night. Emilia woke up early for once. She has had a friend round to visit today, along with his mum and 2 year old sister. I made mashed potato mountains for lunch for everyone. I then made spaghetti bolegnese for tea. Did the washing up. Made some more jam as the strawberries need using up before they go mouldy (I'm totally getting better at it). Did 3 loads of laundry. Repotted the marrows. Sorted out the recycling only to realise the collection is a day later because of the bank holiday. I can't even begin to tell you how many plates I've washed up today. And then struggled to convince Emilia that even though it's still light it is actually bed time. Two and a half hours that "game" went on for. I was going to blog about my jam making and my night out bowling dressed as a pumpkin, but I think I'm just going to sleep instead.

I made jam today

I am unbelievably proud of myself. My own mother has never made jam before. We have one jar of gooseberry jam and 2 jars of strawberry jam cooling in the kitchen at the moment. I am so beyond Nigella and Delia right now it's ridiculous. We still have loads of strawberries left from the pick your own farm we went to today. I would upload photos with this blog so you can be amazed at my domestic skills with me, but I haven't figured out how I can do that on my phone yet. So, I will put photos up when I can.

I'm having jam on toast for breakfast tomorrow!

Ever wondered why there are no famous chef couples?

Because cooking with your other half is ridiculously stressful!

Today, we attempted chocolate and orange cookies, and chicken and mushroom pie. All gluten free of course. Anyway, the food turned out great. The cookies were a little crispy, but I was distracted by trying to instruct Edd and left them in the oven too long. But we haven't poisoned anyone, and the food left everyone full up. Emilia even ate the mushrooms in the pie without too much fuss!

But still, trying to instruct your "better half" without sounding like a bossy cow is pretty much impossible. And with the oven on raising the temperature in the room, and you getting frustrated when your boyfriend doesn't understand the words "add slowly"... it can make for a pie with a dodgy pastry crust. Still, I am very proud of our effort. Just need to stop taking my anger out on the pastry....

Life is made up of photos like this!

Life is going pretty well at the moment. I'm getting more hours at work, and as I've settled in more at Edd's, more stuff has got done. I'm going to start scrapbooking again soon. And I'm feeling crafty. I've made pink heart-shaped cupcakes today. They were rather yummy. I'm feeling rather contented with life right now.

Oh, and it's EUROVISION TONIGHT! One of my favourite television events of the year! SO much joy!



And not forgetting photos like this!

stuff and happenings

Well, I survived Valentine's Day. It's not my most favourite day of the year, as I feel it puts too much pressure on couples to buy expensive pieces of crap, like teddies with hearts and random heart-related tat, and the meaning of the day is lost. I don't feel like I should be told to show my better half that I love them on a specific day, I show him every day. I tell him every day. And besides, this year the pressure was off as he is currently in Sweden. Although he did phone me in the morning, disrupt me from my bath TWICE (I missed the first one after a frantic scramble to get out of the bath and find a towel, and when I reached the phone it had stopped ringing)... something about his mum wanting to borrow my laptop for a presentation when they got back from Sweden... and tried to wish me a "Happy Valentine's Day" to which I shouted some abuse and went back to the bath. Half an hour I later I felt bad, and told him to call back and apologised. See, that's showing love on Valentine's Day. But anywho, I spent the evening with my housemate, who brough home wine, Sex and the City and yum yums. Honestly, Valentine's Day should be about all relationships in your life, not just the romantic one. Although, I did make it clear to her that I wouldn't be partaking in any funny business as I don't swing that way and I didn't care how much she was missing her boyfriend (he's volunteering in South Afric for 6 months, they're halfway through, times are hard).

I'm currently trying (and not succeeding so well, but not quite failing) to be a domestic goddess. I have done laundry, nearly all of it. However, the bed sheets still need changing, and my bedrrom needs hoovering. But the kitchen is still clean, and so is the rest of the house so yay for me.

I'm also getting around to copying down the recepies from all the magazines I left lying around. There are some yummy food ideas swimming around in my head, I just need the money to make them! Gosh I am missing cooking new things. My culinary skills need challenging! And I am yearning to bake! Roll on payday!

Only 4 more days until Edd is back! Yipeee!

I planned to put pictures up of stuff, but my iPhone cable is upstairs, so I'll do it tomorrow.