Tonight's sausage supper

Yay, I've caught up! This was what we ate tonight - Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Toulouse sausages, with olive oil/garlic mashed new potatoes (the new favourite, again) and tenderstem broccoli. I added grainy mustard and ketchup to my plate too - you can't have sausages and mash without ketchup, and mustard adds a certain kick. A fairy garlicky meal - but a good and filling one. I couldn't even finish my potatoes, and that doesn't happen often.

Valentine's Day cosy supper in

Wow, it's been some time since I've blogged. I hate that. Everything else has just taken over a bit recently - I've got a new job, I'm working from home too, whenever I get the time and I guess it's just even harder to find the time to do this. I've not stopped eating and cooking though, so I've taken the photos of food I've eaten over the last ten days (not all of it) from my camera and I'll try and remember what, when and why I was eating...

Here's the first. This was our Valentine's dinner. It was seriously lacking some green - I think we were going to have salad on the side but we didn't quite manage it. I don't buy steak very often, but every time I do I think we should eat it every week. It's just the best taste in the world. I was trying to use a few pans as possible, so I griddled the flat mushrooms, onions and tomatoes, then kept them warm and griddled the steak. Meanwhile, the salad potatoes were simmering, then I lightly mashed them with a drizzle of olive oil and a big clove of garlic (this is fast-becoming my most used potato accompaniment - it's just so quick and easy and goes with everything). It was good. Then we had something else I hardly ever buy - chocolate ice-cream (Ben & Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie) - that was great too. I'd get bored of chocolate ice-cream if I had it every day (maybe) but when you don't have it for ages, it's even better than you can imagine. This may not have been the most romantic of meals, but we liked it.

Bangers with mustard mash

I suppose I didn't leave it very long before more roasted sausages... Yesterday's meal was so welcome that after a late breakfast/brunch of scrambled eggs on toast, we had a 4 o'clock lunch/supper/tea of Taste the Difference Ultimate Pork Chipolatas, roasted with more onions, carrots and a courgette, served with mustard-mashed new potatoes.

I had to drain the pan again though as there was so much watery liquid - I think I might grill these sausages next time.

Friday food (b) salmon with sweet pototo mash, leeks in white sauce and broccoli

Mmmmm, this was great. And it looks so nice and colourful. It was quite quick too - I simmered the peeled and cubed sweet spuds while I made leeks in white sauce. The salmon took about 4 minutes in the microwave, steamed above some milk, with a slice of lemon on top of each, and I bunged the broccoli in with the sweet potatoes to simmer for a few minutes before I served (to create as little washing up as possible). Lovely, especially with a glass of white wine - who cares about January detox anymore? Not me it seems...

Christmas Eve gammon lunch

We normally have this meal in the evening on Christmas Eve - I'm not sure why we had it at lunchtime. Perhaps it was because this year Christmas Eve is on a Sunday, or perhaps it was to ensure my twin brother arrived home in the morning - I'm not sure. But anyway, for lunch we had delicious moist gammon, simmered for a couple of hours with an onion, peppercorns, a bay leaf and cloves, mashed potato and celeriac, leeks in a white sauce and sweetcorn. We served it with my apple and tomato chutney (really easy to make - I promise I'll put up the recipe soon) which went surprisingly well with the gammon (although I prefer it with cheddar) and lots of grainy mustard on the table.

To follow, as is our family tradition, we had mum's homemade trifle. Unctious and creamy, with raspberries from the garden via the freezer, it is wonderful. And as I write there's still loads left, slowly slipping down the side of the bowl to make a sticky, creamy, fruity mess in the middle for tomorrow or boxing day. I can hardly wait.