Toad In The Hole Special

Ooh no more is it a sad day when there's no sausages to go to make toad in the hole , in fact you can you up your left overs ! And toad in the hole us very warming these dark evenings as the leaves blow by.

Ingredients


200g Wholemeal flour (usually it is plain but I had run out)
a pinch of English mustard powder
pinch of salt ( used Maldon salt)
3 eggs
300ml milk
Left over cubed beef, chicken, lamb etc
1 onion chopped to go in the gravy later.








Method

Heat your oven to 220c

Divide the oil into the individual Yorkshire tins or a  baking tin

1. Combine the sieved flour mustard and salt in a bowl then stir in the eggs. Then with a whisk , whisk until smooth.

2. Pour the mixture into either individual Yorkshire tin or  baking tin.

3. Stir in the cubed beef/ lamb chicken etc

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

4. Caramelise the chopped onion in a pan and add it to gravy when the Yorkshire pudding is ready.

If your Yorkshire suffer from soggy bottoms then you could add a little batter to the bottom of you individual tins or large baking , adding in the remaining batter for the last 15 minutes .

I think you can get wholemeal to raise more with a fair wind and the Mary Berry behind you , or Paul Hollywood I wouldn't say no to his help.

Last Night A Ramekin Saved My Life

Last night a ramekin saved my life.

You see all the times when you say....

"I'm going to IKEA "

And you actually buy those tea lights you swore you weren't going to buy , well those tea lights and the ramekins you hoarded have come in useful , then the Cosmos smiles at you.

But before that The Cosmos arranges a power cut whilst you are making a cheese sandwich , and you are at the point when you have the grater in your hands , you politely curse


"Blooming heck "


Now no one can actually vouch for the words that I said and unfortunately or fortunately Kate Burley from Sky news wasn't on scene to add gravity and ethos to the situation.

I've counted that I own 20 ramekins ...

My name is Claire and I've a Ramekin habit ....

Fixing My Depression Short Circuit

I was thinking something of which I do rather a lot .

How boring the world would be if we were all  the same.

Monday was when I realised I wasn't quite over my depression, and that's really OK I'm not sure I'll ever really be over if I'm honest . Depression isn't really something you can wall paper over , we all react and recover in our own way.

Depression is simply put like an electrical circuit you don't know if and when you might short out.

What's the fix I hear you cry ? 

Mmmm the fix could be a bar of chocolate , a friendly word a phrase of a song In fact anything ! 

" brown paper packages tied up with string " 

Who knows ?!

It could be days before I short out again , months or indeed a year or years , after a momentous melt down last year I'm wary but I don't let it rule my life. I might shut down emotionally but it's my way of recovering so I don't go back to last year, every step I take away from last year is one more plus.

It's the old old adage of a swan calm on the surface but paddling like fury underneath , just because on whatever day I looked Ok, I wasn't really.

So I'm off to find my fix to my short circuit unless someone has eaten my fix ...

Till then I leave you with happy toast .

Keep Fighting Till The Fight Is Done

Sometimes I wonder who I am?

I see myself but sometimes it doesn't feel quite real.

How brave is it to bare your soul.


So I keep fighting till the fight is done.

What the fight is varies , it could be to motivate myself to do something as simple as vacuuming the house , or it could be to take myself off to a blog event. But as I am ever the rebel I make my own rules up as I go along and I pick myself constantly out of a hole , people don't always understand how mortified I can be when I talk being shy.

The little things are what makes me brave and see me through  , a cup of tea a walk home through the village with the sun breaking through by the church.

I blog .

Earlier I was tweeting my blog friends on Twitter who are at #Bligfest15 and I tweeted :

"My blog is a star in my hand I just need to let it shine "

Say this when you feel down blog wise 

#blogfest15

You can turn this phrase to anything !

I'm embracing difficult situations more .

Do you think you can ?

Keep fighting till the fight is done .

Wander Must

I am approaching a midlife crisis.

I think with a midlife crisis you are meant to buy a sports car or a motorcycle  or a scooter as my husband did years ago (that looked like a motorcycle ) his midlife crisis lasted a few years but he got rid of the scooter some time ago

So much so that I have a restless niggle to travel , I could quite happily roam the world with my wanderer lust spirit.

I don't drive , I haven't have much luck with that mode of transport , myself trying to learn to drive has included the car I was learning in being crashed into.

" I'm taking the car in to swap it for a new one "

You can guess what happened next can't you .....

Then on another lesson I clipped a kerb near a canal and I was made to help change the tyre , so ended my trying to learn to drive. I have other people to do it for I think of myself as

"Driving Miss Daisy "

So cycling is where I'm at and I have my Pashley it's not cheap it would buy 7 bicycles for people but a bicycle with a basket is what I desired . So I set my mind to this but I couldn't win one I really did try but to no avail, so I obtained one through my works cycle scheme , I don't earn enough to get the tax benefit from it. I am paying for it monthly through my wages and it's all mind , it has a sweetie shop bell to die for.

I can't swim so cycling is my salvation , I'd like a racer again like I did in my childhood but I'll pay for this first and then work on that idea. Today I cycled down the lane dinging my bell and I couldn't be happier , I can ding to my hearts content , whilst I am cycling all the troubles melt away and to be corny.

I count my blessings , as there as those who are less fortunate than I .

Cycling is a celebration of my being , of how far I have come and how far I will go .


I just want to have the privilege to ride my bicycle always .