Been cooking moms kind of food...

Thursday 26th October 2023

I've slept till the alarm this morning so a little blurry eyed and tired still.  It's almost as if the kitchen knew because I put my water in my mug and then realised there was 2 teabags in the cup a I poured the water in it, so I've made two cups of tea, I'm sure I can drink both, especially as they taste good!  :)

After our huddle yesterday morning, I drove straight to the gym and did an hour on the recumbent bike, passed the time listening to Britney's book and playing solitaire on the screen of the bike, it does make time go quicker.  I've not been able to do an hour of cardio of any kind for a very, long time. 

Came straight home, was going to have a coffee and read in the cafe but it was much too loud for me to concentrate.  Instead I had a mess about with some cooking, made some bread pudding, now I remember my mom using cold tea not milk in her recipe in my head and I did find different recipes a couple of really old ones using tea, it would've been cheaper back then wouldn't it!  The lovely Liz made me some a few weeks back using the BBC recipe which uses milk and it was delicious so yeah, it makes sense to use the good stuff, but curiosity got the better of me so I had a go with the other version, tweaked the recipe a little, my tweaks in red) and had to cook it for a lot longer than it said on the one recipe and it worked really well, just how I remember it.  

Tea and Bread pudding.

1 pints of cold tea

8 slices of bread (I added an extra on because the mixture was so wet, thin it could've took another, I used wholemeal bread because that's what I had, use about 400g I reckon)

8 oz dried mixed fruit (I only used sultanas, I'm not a mixed fruit fan)

4 oz soft brown sugar

1 beaten egg

1 1/2 tsp mixed spice 

Cooking Instructions

Step 1

Make up 1 pint of tea and let cool. Break up the bread into small pieces in a large mixing bowl. Pour over the tea, mix well and allow to stand for 10 minutes.  (I added my sultanas here and left them to soak up the remaining tea)  

Step 2

Add the mixed fruit, sugar, beaten egg, mixed spice and mix well. If it looks very wet at this stage you can add in a bit of sifted flour, however the overall consistency should be slightly more loose than a standard cake mix.

Step 3

Grease a tin / pyrex dish with butter (I lined mine with baking parchment) and pour in the pudding mixture. Bake on 175 for 35 mins (I cooked it for a hour or more!). Allow to cool before tipping onto a serving dish. Cut into slices.  

I've just took this photo, not my best work of photography but it's very juicy so yeah I'd add another slice of bread, I'd use the 400g next time, because I like mine a little more SOLID in texture.   It makes about 16 pieces at 130 calories a piece using the ingredients I used and 10 slices (400g) bread.  I know there's sugar in it but to be able to get sultanas and brown bread in my boy is worth that sugar addition!  With custard on, nom nom, a bit like christmas pudding but not as dense. 

Anyway, I'm all washed and sitting in my new towelling dressing gown, I treated myself, I've wanted one since Aryn came to live with us so I can get out of the shower and not rush to get dressed, I don't like to get dressed straight away because for one, I don't dry myself properly!  Now I don't have to, this beast of a robe is huge, I bought the biggest and it's not showing anything :) plus it's gonna keep me warm, it's like wearing a giant towel with arms - I bloomin love it. 

Back to yesterday, my lovely mate Anita bought me a packet of grey peas on Tuesday and I had a pack of gammon rounds in the fridge that needed using so yesterday I made me a pot of grey peas and bacon and they were bloomin delicious.  Such an easy meal with two ingredients, yeah usually I'd use bacon bits with a bit more fat on but this worked, I did add some salt as the gammon wasn't as salty as it usually is, but nom nom, I enjoyed it.  

Proper bonfire night food this is, just one of the meals my mom could successfully make - she wasn't renowned for her cooking skills, she hated being in the kitchen.  She actually never cooked again after my dad died, I remember her saying, 'that's me done in the kitchen', it was a blessing when she got bad with her Alzheimer's and Dementia because I didn't have to worry about her having an accident in the kitchen. 

Let's get this day started shall we, not sure what's on the menu today, but the bellydraft Aryn defrosted didn't get cooked, I spoke too soon, he couldn't eat much yesterday, he was having stomach pains :( 

I need to go get dressed and get ready for work or I'll be rocking up in my dressing gown with wet hair! 

Oh I finally washed the sofa covers, all clean and nice again now, see it all gets done in the end and if it doesn't, it's not important. 

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx