Chilli Bean Wraps (BFF)

It's that time of the week again. It's Boy Food Friday. I cheated a little this week. I made a huge vat pot of 5-bean chilli earlier in the week and gave some to a friend who is having their kitchen done. It means BFF tonight is technically leftovers. Except that I bought tortilla wraps (should have made them, but had a hair appointment very important meeting scheduled) and assembled a few extra bits to jazz it all up.

We also had tortilla crisps, some chopped tomatoes/cucumber, diced cheddar (would you forgive me if I admitted that I couldn't be bothered to grate it?), creme fraiche (sshhhh, healthier than sour cream, I won't tell if you won't) and hot sauce.

I can't take the credit for the hot sauce, although I have tweaked the recipe very slightly. It is a thing of wonder. You simply whizz the following ingredients in a blender:

• a tin of tomatoes
• some lime juice
• some honey
• a good amount of fresh coriander
• as many chillies as you can handle

It tastes even better the next day, if it lasts that long.

I also got my ice-cream maker out of the cupboard. I haven't used it in quite a while which is disappointing when you consider that ice-cream is probably my favourite food. Even more than so chocolate. Or cake. Or even triple chocolate and sour cherry brownies. I made a dark chocolate gelato to use up the egg yolks left over from making a pavlova* for a BBQ tomorrow. I have a feeling the well scraped plates and bowls tell me that the gorgeous husband and the amazing sons are pretty full right now.

*The pavlova has just been consumed by us and some friends, but I managed to snap a photo before it was demolished. I can recommend mixing the whipped cream with low-fat greek yoghurt to make it slightly healthier. Which in my book just means that you can eat more.......

Dimpling....

Someone recently said that when I smile I am 'dimpling', on account of the very large dimples in my cheeks. I have yet to meet anyone** who has larger dimples than me, though I would love to do so. As a child I disliked them as they were so unusual. As an adult I have come to love them as they are so unique.  These are some of the things that have made me dimple today.....

1. Lunch with a wonderful friend in an Indian luncheon club.
2. The cat purring as he lay in a sun beam.
3. The gorgeous husband coming home early from work.
4. My fringe finally being trimmed.
5. Baking 'ricky toad' rock cakes for BFF.
6. The amazing sons happily playing with Lego.
7. The ping on my phone as friends messaged me over the day.

Little things that please me much.

** With the exception of Bebe, my late Grandmother. But mine are actually getting bigger as I get older, so I am pretty certain they will end up being even larger than hers! They are developing their own wrinkles too, but that is a whole other story.

Cannelloni

I do love Fridays and in particular Boy Food Friday. Today we had ricotta and spinach cannelloni and I even made my own pasta. I wasn't intending to make my own pasta but I couldn't find fresh lasagna sheets to cheat with in Tesco's this morning. So out came the KitchenAid and my Imperia Pasta Machine. I'd forgotten how easy it is to make pasta, why don't I do it more often?

Note to self - next time put a layer of the tomato sauce below the pasta to help stop the pasta slightly sticking to the bottom of the dish.

Just a bit of mozzarella (and parmesan) on the top, because we had 3/4 of a ball languishing leftover in the fridge.

We ate the pasta with a tomato salad, a rocket/leaf salad (I know, I know salad for BFF, appallingly healthy) and homemade garlic bread (to make up for serving the salad). Followed by a Hummingbird Cake Days rhubarb and almond loaf and some rhubarb yoghurt. All fed. All happy. All good.

Fill 'Em Up - Cheesy Tuna Pasta Bake

I've had a request for more recipes on here from a food-loving friend. Now, I love cooking and baking but I don't love writing down my 'in my head' recipes. I do link to the ones I use from recipes books that are published online by the author (you see, I'm both lazy and respecting of copyright), but I find remembering and writing out ingredients and methods quite difficult. I think it is because when I cook I often don't weigh or measure or time, I just do it. So trying to tell someone else what I used and what I did so that they can possibly recreate it leaves me feeling responsible for their next meal in case it all goes horribly wrong as they try to recreate my kitchen bumblings.

Fill 'Em Up is how it goes in our house - they are boys and they need feeding. Boy Food Friday is a weekly indulgence that can't be repeated every day due to budget, time and waistline constraints. Fill 'Em Up is what we eat on a school night, a work night, a no-time-to-cook night and it's usually simple and fuss free. So, this is what we had for tea/dinner/supper last night.....Cheesy Tuna Pasta Bake.

Personally I'm not sure I can think of anything worse than cheese and tuna combined. I'm not always very keen on tinned tuna. Call it one of my idiosyncrasies if you like. Sometimes I will eat it and other times I won't. It's probably another foible from boarding school. I do love cheese though. But the thought of cheese with tuna. No thank you. But I know the amazing sons love it, so I whipped this up either side of piano and trumpet lessons for tea. There's leftovers for tonight too - that I do like. And despite my doubts it was actually very tasty and the gorgeous husband enjoyed it too. It's not fine dining, it's not haute cuisine, but it is filling and cheap and simple to make.

What You Will Need:

• butter
• plain flour
• milk
• cheese - lots, grated or cut up into small chunks
• tinned tuna
• pasta shapes
• sweetcorn
• tortilla crisps - crushed

What You Do:

1. Make a basic cheese sauce by melting the butter in a large sauce pan over a low heat.
2. Add the flour to make a thick paste.
3. Then slowly add the milk, whisking and stirring all the time until all the milk is added and it just starts to gently bubble.
4. Stir in the cheese until it is melted and season with salt and pepper.
5. Stir in the sweetcorn and the tinned tuna. Just add as much as you like.
6. Cook and drain your pasta and rinse in cold water.
7. Add your pasta to your cheesy sauce and put into an ovenproof dish.
8. Sprinkle with the crushed tortilla crisps and a bit of cheese.
9. Put in to the oven at about 180C (fan) for about 30 minutes or until bubbling.
10. Serve to hungry boys and listen to the silence as they tuck in. 

Pie and Peas

Well, it's Boy Food Friday in our house yet again. I decided to try another recipe from Dan Lepard's book Short & Sweet, and it didn't disappoint. Particularly the crispy pastry lid - no sogginess at our table thank you.

I made the chicken pie albeit with a few changes based on what I had in the fridge/cupboards/freezer. And served it with mushy peas. If Boy Food Friday is all about keeping the males in my house fed and happy, I think I succeeded!

I earned my pie and peas with a 10k (ok, 7 miles) run at lunchtime, including 3 trips up and down the infamous Park Steps to get my heart rate up. It's good to get back to my running, but I'm mostly pleased that I found the Steps and found my way home. Remembering new running routes is not a strength. This running poster sums up my day really rather well.

Boy Food Friday

Boy Food Friday or #bff in Twitterspeak is quickly becoming an institution in our house. I think it started over Christmas and New Year, and there seems to be no going back. It basically means that on a Friday I cook a meal that the males in the house will love even more than the usual fare they are served. This often means chips. I should probably point out that Sunday night is also Chip Night chez Chui. I'm now starting to think that our diet is not as healthy as I thought. Tonight I made Nigel Slater's toad in the hole with onion gravy and peas. We are now all "stuffed as a puff" and can't even manage the millionaire's shortbread I also rustled up earlier in the week. Success!

Please note the pyjamas and dressing gowns. These are essential for #bff - we have a very strict dress code. Slippers are acceptable.