Monday

. . . and what a damp, drizzly, misty morning it is too.  More like November than October although, to be fair, we're not so far off the eleventh month, are we?  I don't think it's all that cold but, when I opened the window to check, it felt raw.  The weather forecast is none too promising either.  Wet and gloomy until Friday and then turning considerably colder.  Well, that's no good.  If we're to have a snowy day, it needs to be in term time, not when half term starts!  I blame the weather men myself, they're just not what they used to be, are they?

Cobweb in the rain last night

After that bit of nonsense, on to a few recipes.

The lentil 'sausages' (which ended up as patties) were really most tasty, easy to make and frugal.  I finely chopped some red onion and put it in a pan with some lentils, some smoked paprika, marigold, pepper and enough water to cover and then simmered it until it was a thick puree.  It needed stirring regularly.  When it was done, I mixed it with some thick mashed potato and added a knob of butter.  It then went in the fridge, covered, to chill.  I turned the oven on to about 200C.  I formed the potato and lentil mash into patties, floured, milked and breadcrumbed each patty and placed it on an oiled baking sheet (I use that teflon lining stuff).  They cooked in the hot oven for about half an hour, turned once after about 20 mins.  They flattened, of course, which was a shame, but the edges went all crunchy and they were really tasty.  I made nine, had two myself and Beth and Alex accounted for the other seven.  I made a nice tomato sauce to go with them, enriched at the end with a dollop of philly light.  Mmmmmmmmm

The chocolate oat biscuits consisted of 1 ounce (an old recipe) of butter rubbed into 4 oz SR flour, mixed with 1 oz of sugar (or a little more), 45g oats, a pinch of salt and 3/4 oz cocoa powder.  As an extra, I added some orange oil but some grated orange and/or lemon zest would be nice.  Add enough milk to moisten and bring the mixture together - going in with your hands (as Delia so often said) works best here.  Break off walnut sized bits, roll and flatten on a non stick or oiled baking sheet.  Bake for about 15 mins at 190C.  When cooked, sprinkle over some castor sugar and cool on a wire rack.

I shall make both of these again.  There was nothing left which is always a good sign and both were very simple to make.  The first, failed lot of biscuits is now all crumbed and in the freezer and I found a nice looking recipe for toffee apple (not toffee apples on sticks) which will, I think, go nicely with the crumbs as a crumble topping.  The 'toffee' bit is sugar, golden syrup and butter so rather naughty, but OK for a treat.  I might make it next weekend to celebrate a birthday!

I need to work up some energy.  The children should all be bringing their teddy bears into school for the week for Bear Week, together with their entry for the Bear Catalogue.  I'm looking forward to it, but must get to school early and clear some space for our visitors.  All twenty nine of them . . .