What Knickers are you Wearing...?

I recently read an article about the woman who started Spanx, which, for those of you who don't know, is THE brand of what I call "Grannypants". We're talking about those big, beige, hold-yer-flaws-in pants. And if you don't need or own a pair, then GO AWAY - this blog is not for you (just yet).
So, I share with you my secret - I wore some on my wedding day and my husband doesn't know to this day. I had bought a pair of divine lacy wedding knickers, sure to inspire him even after all that partying, booze and smiling, but with my style of wedding gown, the desired effect was only to be achieved with the big pants. Before we got back to the hotel room I did the quick switch, and hey presto, none-of-your-business...
The thing is, my husband knows about these pants. Not in any great detail, but he knows I own a pair (it's more like 5 or 6 now). Last week I had lunch with a friend. She said she would never ever let her husband know that she wore grannypants. So, am I the odd one out?

Butternut Squash Soup

It's that soup time of year, and although this recipe is for butternut squash soup, you can apply the basics of this to pretty much any vegetable.

Peel, deseed and cut two butternut squashes and two apples into cubes. Chop two onions into small pieces. Get your hands on some vegetable or chicken stock. I use anything - cubes, storebought and occasionally I have some homemade.

Choose a large pot and fry the onion in some olive oil for a minute or two together with two tsps of curry powder. Add all the butternut squash and apple cubes. You'll have to keep stirring as you don't want anything to burn. Once the squash is getting a bit mulchy, add a bit of stock to continue the cooking process (hot or warm is best but don't worry) and cook until the squash is soft. Remove from the heat and use a handheld blender to puree it down to a smooth paste. Add one cup of freshly squeezed orange juice and keep stirring. Depending on whether you like a thick soup that sticks to the spoon, or a thinner one, add stock until it's the right consistency. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. When I serve this I put a dollop of plain greek yoghurt in the bowl, and then add the hot soup.

Are You a Fake?

I talk a lot. I talk to clients, I talk to friends, I talk to my family. So, I found it uncanny when within the space of a week, I found myself having the same conversation with two different girlfriends (who don't know each other).
One is a television producer, the other does special consultancy work for a bank. Both of them are working mothers, at the top of their game and really very successful, and yet, they both whispered to me, "one day I fear everyone is going to figure out that I am a fake...an imposter". Have you ever thought that of yourself? We struggle hard at a career over a number of years, we make sacrifices, we work long hours, we get promoted, we get headhunted, or we start our own companies. Is the end result a bunch of people who think that one day everyone will realise that they don't deserve to be where they are?
Ladies, if any of this resonated with you, have a hard look at your job title, your salary, your office (if you have one) and the snivelly kids who work under your direction. Know in your heart that if you are top of your game it's because your talent got you there. Don't forget that.

It's time I added a pudding to this blog. Roasted fruit might horrify you, but it ticks my boxes as it takes moments, it's idiot proof (I mean that kindly) and it can be prepped ahead of time.

Roast Fruit with Vanilla Mascarpone

The star of this dish is the mascarpone. It's italian cream cheese which I have been able to buy pretty much anywhere. You'll also need a fresh vanilla pod, some runny honey and the fruit itself.

First prepare the mascarpone: Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the oily seeds with a teaspoon. Add that to the cheese together with a good trickle of honey or maple syrup. Stir it all together (a little effort needed here!) and taste. It should be vanillified (is there such a word?) and a touch sweet. Store it in the fridge. If you do this the day before, the vanilla flavour will become intensified throughout.

Now the fruit: I like to roast pears and peaches. Pit and peel the peaches and de-core and peel the pears (neither need to be ripe). Cut both into quarters and scatter in a roasting dish. Pour in some ginger wine so it's a quarter inch deep. Add a cinammon stick, some cloves and a sprinkle of ground nutmeg. Bake at 200C for 35 minutes or until the fruit is softened. Serve it hot with some of the juice and a generous dollop of the mascarpone.

Bonus recipe idea!
Sometimes I make just the vanilla mascarpone and serve it with fresh raspberries.

Are You a Martyr Mum?

We all know a Martyr Mum. They sacrifice all their energy, time, thoughts, life, daylight hours and nighttime dreams and discussions to being a mother. For them it is all defining and all consuming. They go to bed early so they are on form for the next day, they play with their children for hours, they enjoy making puppets and home made easter cards, they volunteer for everything at school, they stay up late sewing little Johnny's Halloween costume/Dara's fairy outfit for the Christmas play and most importantly, they cook all children's meals from scratch. God Bless You All, I am not worthy. Granted, Martyr Mums are a little bit crazed, but hell some people are passionate about brewing their own beer and quite frankly I think children are a better cause... Ha. You thought I would be more controversial, didn't you? Just because I work doesn't mean I don't get it. The all consuming mom thing.

When I feel the love for my kids (and have the time) I make risotto!

Martyr Mum Risotto

Making risotto is neither scary nor difficult. It's an act of love. It's also a great way to use up an odd assortment of ingredients.

Get everything ready as once you start you can't stop: Heat some stock (cube will do) in a separate saucepan. Have lots to hand and it must be hot! Chop up an onion and all the vegetables you will be using. Choose a protein (I like cubes of chicken or tiger prawns). Grate some parmesan cheese. Now we start! Heat some olive oil in a deep frying pan and add the onion, a good shake of oregano and a handful of arborio risotto rice per person. Stir for a minute or so to fry the rice and semi cook the onion, then ladel in the first of the stock. It should sizzle impressively. Keep stirring the rice with a wooden spoon until the stock is almost all sucked up, then ladel in some more stock. Keep on stirring (this is the love part) and it too will be sucked into the rice, and so on. The whole process takes about 20-25 minutes, so if you are cooking hard veg like carrots or brocolli add them after 5 minutes and soft veg like asparagus or courgettes after 15 minutes. The hot stock and stirring eventually cooks the veg. Same for the protein. If it's chicken add it after 5 minutes so it cooks through by the time the risotto itself is done, and if you're using prawns, then add them only at the last 5 minutes to heat through or you'll have bullets. Add a generous handful of grated parmesan towards the end, and stir it in to melt. Taste the risotto to make sure it's not crunchy, and once it's oozy and soft, you're done. Serve with more parmesan on top.

Wrinkles - Do I Care?

Am I the only person in my 40's who doesn't give a shit about wrinkles? Yes I slather on the cream day and night because it feels nice, but I feel so ready and able to face my wrinkles, current and future. To be honest I don't have too many which might make it easier, but anyone I know with wrinkles is simply who they are, not how wrinkly they are. Why is it the media fawns over some super shallow celeb who has had multiple facelifts and countless botox injections? I think they look like freaks. Raise a glass, tonight, to the thought of growing old graciously, the way our grandmothers were taught. And don't forget your face mask!

I ate these last night at a restaurant and they were so good I pretended they were french fries. It couldn't be easier, and really, when is the last time you cooked a humble parsnip?

Perfect Parsnips

Slice up a few parsnips into sticks, finger length and width. Lay them on a shallow baking tray and coat with olive oil, sea salt and a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves off the stalk. Roast in a hot 220C oven for about 20 minutes (I would think?) until they are cooked, even slightly burnt at the edges. Yum scrum.

I Haven't Got Time To Do.....

I think it's a fair statement to say that a working mother is as busy as the President of the USA, at least, it feels like that sometimes. I do sympathise with part time working mothers though, because you're supposedly able to do your job and be a mother as you're only busy half the time... People often ask me how I find time to do anything that isn't work or mothering - things like going for a run, having a massage, throwing a dinner party, or writing a blog. The truth is I don't have the time at all. Not even close. And as I realised a long time ago that "free time" would never ever present itself to me one fine sunny day, I have resorted to taking it instead. I literally wrench it, wrestle it, hack it out and grab it for myself ignoring the phonecalls, emails and wails of children so that I can have some time that is spent on things that mean something to me alone. Life passes us by quickly, so the next time you think you don't have time to just sit down and have a coffee with a friend, think again.

As the weather is cooling off, I thought a warm and easy side dish might be useful.

Very Fattening Potato Bake

Thinly slice 1 1/2 peeled potatoes per person you are serving. Also thinly slice 1/2 onion or leek per person into rings. You will need some single cream, thyme (dried will do) and gruyere cheese. Grease a deep baking dish with some oil and spread a thin layer of onions followed by a solid layer of sliced potatoes, then drizzle on a coating of cream, a sprinkling of thyme, sea salt, pepper and then cover with gruyere cheese slices. Repeat this process until all the ingredients are used up, hopefully achieveing about 3- 5 layers. You can top the whole thing with grated parmesan cheese and lots of freshly ground pepper. Cover the dish with foil and cook it at about 200C for an hour or so. You can take the foil off for the last 10 minutes to brown the top. You'll know it's cooked if you can slide a knife point in easily. If you're in a rush, parboil the sliced potatoes (3 - 5 mins) before making the layers. Then the cooking time should reduce by approximately 30 minutes.

Do Your Children Bore You?

I know I know, you feel guilty even reading this one! But let's face it - we're adults and they are children and we have different interests. Me, I like to flop down from time to time and have a quiet cup of tea, and my kids? They want action, action and more action. Not everyone is born with an innate sense of how to entertain children, I mean why else is there a thriving community of children's party entertainers? Now there's a strange lot... So, my hot tip on this one is not to go out and buy yet another book like "1001 Crafts to Make out of Household Garbage on a Rainy Day", but I have been made aware of a pretty useful book called "I'm Bored" by Polly Beard and Suzy Barratt. It's packed full of silly (and inexpensive) games and activities for all sorts of age groups and situations (travelling, outdoors, indoors, etc). After doing one of those you'll feel less guilty about switching on the telly and making that cup of tea...

This is a simple but very tasty side dish, and it's not rocket science.

Roast Squash with Cumin

I use butternut squash for this, but if you can get hold of gemsquash or really any squash, this recipe suits them all. Cut your butternut squash into eight pieces - I use a big cleaver for this and expel a little rage as they are tough to slice and dice. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon and chuck them out. Place the eight pieces onto a baking tray, skin side down. Drizzle all of the pieces with olive oil, then sprinkle them with plenty of sea salt, a generous grind of black pepper and a light coating of ground cumin. Roast in a 200 C oven for 35 minutes or until you can stick a knife in with ease, and serve with...well, anything! And yes, you can eat the skin too.

Do Your Kids Eat Too Much Crap?

I am no nutritionist, but what I do know is the following three things:
1 If you make a small or large effort to cook something fresh for your children as often as you can, and if your kids eat some fruit and vegetables every day, then you're probably doing all right. I have heard that even repeating the same few items is OK, so if your kid only likes brocolli, and not beans or peas, well you can rest assured that you can still put a tick in the "green vegetable" box. Obviously a variety of fruit and veg is better, and use the colours of food to guide you, and feed them green things, orange things, yellow things, red things - you get the picture.
2 Another thing is I never made sweets a treat in my house. Sometimes they are there and sometimes not, and I try so hard not to reward good behaviour with a sweet, as the association of "I am good" with sweets can become ingrained and last until adulthood. Do you reward yourself for "being good and going to the gym" with a treat? Do you?
3 The last thing is that no child has never been known to starve itself, so if your child doesn't want to finish what is on their plate, it's OK. We are so conditioned to finishing what is on the plate that early on in life, we lose our ability to stop eating when our brain tells us we are full, and instead we stop eating when all the food is gone. Perhaps that's one reason there is a growing epidemic in obesity? Relinquish your control here and you'll end that "just three more bites" argument that makes many a meal end in tears.

Today's recipe is another stress free dinner party in a snap:

Mediterranean Lamb Slop

This recipe has such a strange start, but stay with me.

Take a tin of anchovy fillets and spread them out across a deep baking dish, oil and all. If there is not enough oil to coat the pan then add a bit of olive oil. Place 4 lamb steaks on top of the anchovies and season them with salt and pepper. Now add a variety of vegetables, cut into 1 inch chunks to fill the dish. I use courgettes, aubergines, red peppers, carrots, squash and mushrooms but any combination should work. Sprinkle on some pine nuts, fresh thyme (stalks and all) and a sprinkling of cinammon, salt and pepper all over. Add a couple of tins of whole tomatoes with their juice (never buy chopped toms in a tin as the seeds are often sliced and they release a very bitter taste into the tomatoes). Also add 1/3 bottle red wine and scatter on some pitted black olives if you like. Cover the whole thing with tin foil and at this point you can fridge it for later, or cook straight away at 190C for about an hour. If you undercook it you'll have slightly crisper veg, and if it's overdone you'll have a stew texture. Either is great so don't stress. I serve this with rice or cous cous, and if you're feeling fancy, add a tin of drained chick peas to the cous cous.