Just call me Betty...

Tonight's tea was Lamb and Mint Hotpot, with cabbage and carrots. It was absolutely lush, and only worked out at 1 syn each - and that was rounding up, not down.

I diced lamb leg steaks, all fat removed, and cooked in the slow cooker with two lamb stock pots, chopped carrots, parsnips, onions and swede, and one syn worth of mint sauce. I thickened the mixture with two syns worth of cornflour and stirred in some garden peas. Few drops of gravy browning to darken the dish slightly.

The entire slow cooker pot made four mini casserole dishes worth. Sliced potatoes on top, sprayed with Frylight and a sprinkle of sea salt, bang in the oven and you have a hotpot. Not entirely sure that it's as good as Betty's Hotpot, but it went down a treat anyway. The gravy was left over after I filled the dishes, so the syns were already accounted for. 

So good!

I also made a lovely soup, and a... not so lovely soup. First, the lovely soup. Mr G had requested a vegetable soup that looked and tasted like canned vegetable soup. I'm not a fan of 'orange' or tomato based vegetable soups. Give me a green vegetable soup any day. But, hey, I love him and he appreciates me cooking for him so, I had a pop.

I found a forum post where a copycat recipe was being discussed. I made a note of the ingredients and basically I winged a recipe that not only looked good, but tasted so good that he ate two bowls full for lunch.

I need to make some more for the freezer tomorrow. I'm struggling with back pain at the moment, had a nasty attack of sciatica yesterday, and my batch cooking plans are going to pot. (Stop eating everything I make, Mr G).

Anyway, this was a 'chuck it all in and hope for the best' recipe.

Two small carrots, diced. A 'round' of swede, diced. About four potatoes, diced. One small onion, diced. Hot water, a good squirt of tomato puree, mixed herbs, salt, pepper and a vegetable stock cube. Cook all the vegetables till softened.

I drained the soup into a clean pan. Reserved a third of the cooked vegetables, put the rest back into the soup and blitzed it with a hand blender. I put the reserved vegetables back in, with some cooked orzo, some garden peas and about a quarter of a tin of haricot beans. Adjust seasoning to taste.

The 'not so good' soup? Well, have you seen the 'OMG this tastes EXACTLY like Heinz Tomato Soup' recipe, with baked beans, tinned tomatoes, tinned carrots and pickled onions?

Yeah, well - spoiler alert - it doesn't. And anyone who says that it does, must have never tried Heinz Tomato Soup before in their life. It tastes like you'd expect blended baked beans to taste. Stodgy. Not creamy. Not tomatoey. Vile. That's all I'm saying on the matter. Vile. I'd rather do without.

Also added to my make ahead list (ever increasing but I'm getting nowhere fast!) is Bread Pudding. Again, Mr G's fault. I've not had it for years. Not thought about it for years. I don't think I've ever made it before. But he had to go and ask if I liked it, didn't he? And it took me back to my childhood. Yes, I did like it. And now that he's mentioned it, it's on my mind, and that's where it will remain until I've had some. So, I've found a recipe that I have doctored, and if it works (if!) it will work out at 2 syns a piece, using the daily Healthy Extra B and part of a Healthy Extra A. Watch this space...

Ryan turned sixteen today. The easiest of my labours by far. Got into hospital 6.30 am. Waters broke 7.58 am. Born 8 am. Home and with a glass of wine in my hand and a pizza in the oven by four. Just as childbirth should be.