Chickpeas With Braised Onion , Peppers And Green Beans

I wanted a change from potatoes so instead I literally threw this together and what is good about it it can also be used as a base for a fakeway Chinese for another day , this is my favourite lockdown sort of cooking where I can can make the best use of what I have to hand.We have been cooking for our son who was forced back form university when lockdown struck and so we have had to be inventive with the meals .Lockdown has not only made an impact on our food but also on our finances as well so I have to be inventive where I can and I hope in helping ourselves then this little old blog post can perhaps help someone else.But I don’t want to have to long a backstory that leaves you reaching for a pot noodle instead.






Ingredients

Sliced Onions

Sliced Peppers

Green Beans

Onion Gravy powder



Method

Start off add some water in to a pan heat up and then add the onions , sliced peppers ,green beans and onion gravy powder.


Keep cooking until the onions are really soft


Then add the chickpeas and continue to heat through for little longer

Then you’re ready to serve with whatever dish you like from steak to adding into a Chinese .

Luxury Lockdown Macaroni Cheese

Ingredients 

90 g of Macaroni per person I made this for 4 ( so my husband could take leftovers the next day )

whatever small bit of cheese I had left 

and a basic white sauce which the cheese got added to 

2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard though any mustard will do 

I added garlic with Italian herbs

homemade crotons 

left over soft cheese spread and 3 rashers of bacon

2 Tablesppons of plain flour

500 ml of milk ( I used some longline stuff I had bough mid panic )

Knob of butter/spread

Method

First I cooked the pasta to just about 2 minutes under to what it should have been and set aside 

Next I made a basic white sauce by mixing the knob of butter/spread to the flour and mixed it together to make a paste

Next I added a little milk to it and gently heated it all up while constantly stirring and adding the rest of the milk , I kept going till I had a thick white sauce I added the cheese and Dijon mustard to this as well as some Italian herbs.

I Placed the macaroni in an oven proof dish and poured the white sauce over it for about 15 minutes at 180 while prepared the luxury topping .

I fried some chopped bacon then added in some soft cream cheese and some croutons I’d already made.

How Technology Can Help If You’re Autistic

Technology can really help anyone it can be a marvellous thing except if you’re my old dishwasher that is and you decide to have a midlife crisis and break down! Especially after you’ve treated it to a luxury dishwasher clean the equivalent of going to a 5 star Spa and having all the very best treatments. The technology that has really helped me is my Bose headphones and yes they're worth the price and they really have kept me calm and centred and combats me feeling overwhelmed.Headphones help you create your own piece of nirvana wether you're at home due to the current pandemic or you're on the daily commute or even out exercising.


Noise cancelling headphone are truly the wonder of the modern age because they help tune out any unwanted noise and there can be plenty of that at times.And I remember the old headphone I had as a youngster where I sat tethered to the stereo listening to The War Of The Worlds least now I can wander about and do other stuff !


I love my Bose QuietComfort 35 II and they are the headphones I am going to stick with , they're the right comfort and weight and do not pinch my head at all.I would say when you can with what's going on wait to try some out and see what suits you , but you do get what you pay for in the terms of headphones and I would rather buy one pair and they last a long time then keep buying loads of cheap pairs and have to throw they away.

Lockdown LOLs

Yeah I know Lockdown LOLs trips off the tongue and it has been taken up by ITV ( whispers no it hasn’t but you know I’m open to offers and even a spot on This Morning)

So what are my Lockdown LOLs this week well here goes :

You know that face when they don’t like something as a toddler trust me they still pull that face at 21 😂 you think I was trying to kill him with blueberries.

I only gave him some blueberries and raspberries with Elmlea so it wasn’t like I was trying to give him prunes and custard .Trust me prunes and custard was a thing to serve kids in the 70s and 80s.I mean didn’t we suffer enough with out bowl haircuts?

And also there’s a Starling imitating my neighbours mobile phone ring tone !

Lockdown With Your Cat

Your cat will not failed to have noticed by now that you are home all the time every day apart from when you're taking the bin out which for me is a Friday ,strange how bin day has now started to signify the yay in Friday ... strange strange times. Your cat will mostly likely be giving you more strange looks than it ever did before and certainly it will not care that you're spooked by this.Everywhere you go your cat will be watching you , I am sure the Police song

"I will be watching you " was really about a cat





One way I am helping my cat and my sanity with coping with the sly looks etc from my cat is to give it quiet /safe spaces and one of these is a day bed and a night bed .I know it sounds very very hipster of the cat but this is how my cat is , it has a Danish design deep cat bed so it can curl round.As my cat has got older and it isn't that old it doesn't seem to like those cat bed that have a roof and I have had to give away several of these type of beds.

And as soon as you start any task that your cat doesn’t deem worthy then they’ll appear and let you know ..