Blimey….where have I been….?

I cannot believe it has been so long so I posted a blog for you….I did sneak off and do a little writing elsewhere, plus a few major life changes….but here I am …I’m back….still cooking, still me, still spending too  much money on food.

Living in a place where I now have ready access to food shops, markets and off course online delivery, I have gone crazy….It’s got to stop, because I’m skint…and it’s a waste.

So let’s still cook, we can still have treats..and the occasional flash meal (haha…who am I kidding, I mean free range chicken.) But I do need to stop feeding the compost heap with veggies that were too cheap not to buy, then die a  slow death in my veg rack. I need to wake up and smell the brocolli (sorry). I need to realise I do not have the time or energy to make cauliflower cheese from scratch in the middle of the week. It is not realistic to cook a meal that takes 3 hours to cook on a week night unless we want to eat it as a midnight feast.  There are 27..yes 27 open bottles and jars of random ingredients in my fridge!!

So tonight, tonight is lucky dip night……I will not shop…but I will cook, I just need to decide what…….hopefully I will let you know…..or I might disappear for another couple of years, distracted whilst wading through my collection of dusty packages and tins of chickpeas….

It feels good to be back 🙂

love and savoury hugs

Sky x

 

 

 

 

Monday…it has to be simple

Monday is the day I dig out the house after the weekend…collecting stray cups and hoovering up the dust bunnies.

Some times I shop, but generally we eat up what we have. We converted to wholemeal bread over the weekend, so the feedback from packed lunches and dinner will be interesting…

Tonight shall be eggy bread, bacon and beans,(even I shall miss the white bread on this one 😦  Mushrooms for me too (the children wont even try them. grrr).

I shall light the wood burner and put clean sheets on the beds. There is something homely about the start of the week, when we return tired from school and work.

If I get my butt in gear there may be flapjack or cherry buns for supper (and packed lunches), but more likely bananas and custard for them…crisps for me. (hey I am not perfect and need some Mummy time..I might even have a glass of vino when they finally sleep.)

I must make sure I don’t sit down too soon and lose my momentum…

Happy Monday 🙂

Sky @ http://www.thesideplate.com

A glass of red wine and some birthday beef :)

41…where did the time go???

Arrghh..it is so long since I have blogged I am now another year older. Time is flying faster than ever, but cooking is still a priority.

I love quiet parties..so it was just the 6 of us. Myself and my 5 favourite loved ones.

It is easy to overcomplicate celebration, so I was gentle with myself..(sort of.)

There was wine..obviously…and beef, which I never thought I could cook well. But I liked the idea of hot sandwiches and cold sides and plenty of chips 🙂 (all hail the Actifry.)

It must of being a birthday blessing, I managed to cook 3 pieces to cater for all, one well done, one medium, one rare. More luck than practice, but easy and care free….the cake was provided by my Love and I think we all ate well. We took photos..Never let teenage boys be incharge of a camera lol.) and made more memories.

Simple things make me smile.

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy day..it was.

And now well pjs, a beef salad, the last glass of wine and an early night….I am getting old after all 🙂

love and hugs

Sky @www.thesideplate.com

The depression cloud is lifting and I finally feel like cooking again :)

 

Well, it’s been a while. A bit of a rollercoaster ride, but thankfully the downs are being exchanged for ups, and life seems like fun again.

Obviously we have been eating, just not as well as we used to. There have been too many fish fingers, a lot of roast chicken, (the smell always cheers me up.) and quite a few pizzas. On a plus note my daughter has developed a passion for spaghetti bolognaise, my son is still to graduate to having spaghetti actually in a sauce..but he is getting there, (slowly).

A few days ago I fancied a curry. Indian food is not something I generally cook, but decided to give it a go.

It was amazing….simple, delicious, even healthy! And that was it…I remembered how much I loved to cook…I found a missing piece……..Hello kitchen…hello world…I am back 🙂

Love and hugs….

Thanks for reading

Sky @ http://www.thesideplate.com

I cook when I am happy…

Hello,

I’ve missed you…I’ve missed me too.

Life as been a bit crazy with too many stupid things. I now know I cook when I am happy…and struggle when I am not. We have been content with the humdrum..fishfingers..chicken…sausages…pizza…but no pushing of boundries…no getting my Bubs to taste spaghetti carbonara…chicken pie and minestone soup.

 

Food is a funny thing..If we can find the time and energy to create..sit at a table, eat and chat …then I think to world is a better place.

I am going to put the breadmaker on (not literally lol )…make cannelloni…and venture back into a wonderful world of delights…

 

keep smiling and thank you for reading

love Sky @ http://www.thesideplate.com

 

 

 

I can no longer tolerate boring vegetables…

Sometimes , somedays….well, I just give in. I lose the will to live over the vegetable wars.

I am lucky that my daughter does love carrots and will eat broccoli, peas and occasionally sweetcorn…My son on the other hand, pulls a face that indicates he ihas been poisoned, should anything other than baked beans appear on his plate.

I will be honest, I am not the greatest vegetable eater either. And today this will change.

I read an interesting article online that indicated children can be fussy eaters in order to survive..It would seem our cultures have evolved way faster than our basic instincts. What it comes down to, is that children like familiar stuff because they know they ate it before and didn’t die.

Now I grant you, this might seem like an off the wall approach, but I am going to run with it. But on my terms. We will not longer have boring peas, I shall add chopped bacon and maybe some onion. Brocolli will be stir fried with sauce instead of steamed. sweetcorn will be encased in a fritter..or god forbid actually mixed in with the fish pie. sweet potatoes will be appearing twice weekly (yum).

I can no longer tolerate a boring vegetable….let the vegetable carnival commence 🙂

Best wishes….a soon to be much healthier Sky x

http://www.thesideplate.com

 

A broken toe…not concentrating ..and a new recipe…

What can I say…

Well I was going to say most days don’t turn out as planned…but that may lead you to think I planned, and to be fair I generally don’t.
But I did think about my routine (breakfast, make lunch, drop kids at school, walk dog etc.) and it was ok…until I kicked a chair….hard…by accident lol.

I have broken my toe…pfftt dammit. And it has distracted me from my cooking.

It was spaghetti.

Now I consider myself an ok cook, and lets face it, its not hard to cook a pan of spaghetti! The pain generating from my foot must of distracted me (that’s my story and I am sticking to it).
It is hard to make carbonnara, which is my all time comfort food..in a pan with pasta stuck to the bottom of it. On a plus side we have a new recipe…I promise I will post it shortly.

After I have eaten a baked carbonara, topped with mozzarella and breadcrumbs……Oh My.

All well that ends well 🙂

Happy Eating…and don’t turn the lights off then walk through a darkened room..you may kick something..Doh xx

Sky @ http://www.thesideplate.com

I have gone off parsnips…but It’s helped me understand my children…

I have gone off parsnips….I am not sure why! I know it’s not the greatest breaking news, but I have always loved them. Generally roasted, and a long time ago as fritters but I have since lost the recipe.

Obviously it’s not a massive problem, the kids wont even try them. It has made me realise that maybe when kids suddenly decide they don’t like something anymore…well it may be true. I am not sure of the science, but am sure our tastebuds change with age. Maybe my hayfever is affecting my taste, maybe parsnips aren’t what they used to be. They are certainly better after a frost, which we have lacked this year.

So my darling children, you will be pleased to know that when in future when you tell me you know longer like what used to be a favourite. I shall not serve it anymore…However I will look on it as an opportunity to get you to try something new…

After all as they say…Variety is the spice of life 🙂

Keep cooking…

Love Sky @ http://www.thesideplate.com

Please feel free to contact me if you have an amazing parsnip recipe that may convert me back 🙂

So many meals …so little time..and a curveball

If you are still reading my blog …then all I can say is thank you. Gosh life sometimes throws a curve ball and an uphill struggle.
I am still here..still loving to write…and still cooking.

I think that may be one of the reasons I love food..it doesn’t matter how hard life gets..how little there is..how many arguments there are. For me there will always be a dinner to make. Its my rock I guess, I don’t want to gush..but I write and cook from my heart…and when it feels like nothing is going right for us..I can still make dinner.

Tonight it was meatloaf.
I will be honest, it wasn’t the best. My daughter loved it and asked if we could have it again. I ate it with pickles and salad, and a small glass of wine. dear son moaned, but he is in a bad place…however he got through two slices. There was garlic bread and homemade chips..no one was going to starve.

whatever life throws at us..there is still washing up, but I shall be glad there is because it means we have eaten. There are grumpy children to wash and tuck in bed.

Our tummies are full, puppy is walked, we have comfy beds to go to ….for now I shall be just glad of that.

love and hugs

Sky @ http://www.thesideplate.com

Am I over re-acting??? Again

So there I was with my cooking ABC..

Yes we made it to C…chicken on the BBQ ..chocolate eggs..Chinese lol
Then I realised food is just too damn fun, tasty and interesting to get stuck in a list.

We always eat well in the school holidays because we have time..and that kind of shocks me!!

Shouldn’t we always have time for a good breakfast, a leisurely lunch and a dinner that we helped to cook. Is this not important to just about every other aspect in life?? or am I over reacting again??

How can we function if we don’t eat properly? ( I am not preeching..I am the worst culprit). I am just dumbfounded how we don’t put importance on the fuelling of our body and soul. How we aren’t even educated on how to. And how I am conforming and stumbling through life like everyone else I guess.

So I sit myself down and I think, What is important??

Fuel?
Joy?
Family?
Education in life?
Enjoying life and food??

So where do I go from here? Can I make more effort, do we go to bed later…get up earlier…fit fun into life??
Really is this how it works..or do I take a leap..defy convention…rebel now I am 40 lol ?

The truth is I don’t know. I am trying to figure it out. You comments are more than welcome..

Love, hugs and good eating
Sky @ http://www.skybendelow.com

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