Mud Cakes and Wine

As I write this I am sat at the kitchen island with a cup of tea looking out on a beautiful sunny day. For five mins I am away from everything going on in the world at the moment. The garden has been a total escape from the worry and sadness surrounding Covid-19. So, let's get thinking about the new GYO season starting to kick off, well for me anyway. Last year was a real roller coaster and not that successful so I am hoping for better this year. If you want to see a review here it is -   GYO review 2019 I have planted some bits out, according to the seed packets I could, but they are not doing anything at the moment which is a little disappointing. I have done carrots, beetroot and chard. I have spaced very carefully this year and let much more room between crops last year everything got too cramped and then they all failed. Maybe it is just a little early for them we shall see and I can always try again. I have in the propagator some sweetcorn, peppers, aubergin...

Wow we have not been out of the front gate for a week now it is feeling a little bit groundhog day and it has only been a week. Thank goodness we have some sunshine. Meal planning is kind of odd at the moment, I am thinking of meals and seeing what gets delivered and then going from there. Last week we were meant to have chicken and mushroom pie, no chicken so had to do a tuna pie which was not too bad. We have a couple of online deliveries left and then no more, I am not sure how they are being taken so quickly, I even logged on a midnight and it said full one min later.  What has come from this how little food we are wasting. We are hiving more random use up lunches but this is no bad thing.   Friday - Tortilla pizzas ever since we tried the pinch of nom one we have loved them so ours is their cheeseburger pizza one with added American mustard. The boys make their own up. Saturday - Spiced Halloumi burger the boys are having chicken burgers Sunday - Mushroom...

The whole world is still very crazy at the moment and now the kids are at home and we have to be very careful with our eldest who is a type 1 diabetic. We have mums who need to be asked a lot if they have enough food and what food they have it is really rather stressful times for us all. I am still being careful with what we buy and trying to not buy too much, though with the kids being at home this is going to be hard. We did this weekend buy a pasta machine, with all this pasta shortage we thought it was a new skill we could learn and I managed to get some flour delivered in the shop. As the boys are not at school I will be getting them to do more with the cooking and meal preparation. I think its a good opportunity to allow them to have skills they may not have done at school. We have also been starting off our seeds for this years GYO . The chickens are laying eggs who knew how vital they would have become though my amazing farm shop has lots, all our meals mid week we can get wh...

As we enter another week of uncertain times my meal plans are showing me how good it is to plan what as a family we eat and need. I also realised I operate in a very last-minute system. I order what I need, but I do not really operate a store cupboard, I grew up with a mum who always had extra of everything but I have got out of that routine. This whole C word virus has made me think about this shopping method.  I also have used a couple of cans of condensed soup again used by my mum a lot easy way to make a creamy mushroom or tomato sauce and you can add loads of flavour to them as well.  We are still being careful to order what we need but this can be hard when listening to the news, the Ocado app has been down for days I have an order with one bottle of expensive gin in that I can not change (well may come in useful when the schools close hahaha)... Friday - Scampi and Chips and peas the boys are having fish fingers Saturday - Fajitas good old El Passo for us Sund...

We had our food delivery on Sunday I was not sure if we would get everything but we did including the loo roll we actually needed. But we did so that was fantastic. I am hoping this panic buying all will settle down soon. Friday - Fish, Chips and peas a la freezer Saturday - Pizza for the boys. Pinch of Nom curry for us. Sunday - Homemade Lasagne Monday - Chicken Mozarella tarts for us and tuna tarts for the boys with salad. Chicken, mozzarella, pesto filoparcels Tuesday - Tortellini Bake. I am making this one up a little I could not get passata so chose condensed tomato soup with some cream added and lots of veggies I will report back. Wednesday - Classic Sweedish Meatballs Classic swedish meatballs Thursday - Thai Prawn and Pineapple rice for Mr MC&W and myself. Paella for the boys. Thai fried prawn & pineapple rice

We are all over the place at the moment, Mr MC&W next work assignment has not been confirmed so meal planning is near impossible. I had to just put some meal ideas together that can be done quickly or slowly or did not matter if we had to change our plans. I am hoping come this week it will be finalised and we can get back on track. Friday - Pinch of Nom Cheeseburger pizzas and the boys made their own too. Saturday - Sticky Chinese Noodles Sunday - Sausages and Lentils bake. The boy's sausages, Yorkshire pudding (ala Aunt Bessie) and broccoli. Monday - Pasta with bacon and tomato sauce - I have some creme fraiche to use up and this is an easy meal everyone likes. Tuesday - Spiced Noodles and Cod from Pinch of Nom. Tomato soup and homemade cheese scones for the boys. Wednesday - Omelettes and Jacket potatoes Thursday - Veggie Spag Bol again from Pinch of Nom