STAY SANE. SIT DOWN.

First festive bake of 2016 ... the classic mince pie!

Ingredients: Large jar of mincemeat (about 600g), 375g plain flour, 260g butter, 125g caster sugar, 2 large eggs

Time Taken: Up to an hour to make, and then 20 minutes to bake.

Hi readers,

Happy Friday!!

That’s it you have OFFICIALLY made it to the weekend… high five!! Hopefully, you've been able to walk out of work and leave it all behind, put it out of your mind, chuck your workwear in the wash, grab a drink, and look forward to some free time over the next couple of days, spent with friends and family.

If your work is anything like as busy as mine right now, with the December rush going on, then it’s crazy and I bet you’re bloody relieved to have made it to the weekend! I certainly am. In the week, my To Do list at the moment seems never-ending. I’m trying to fit bits and bats of Christmas shopping in around daily life. I’m living out of an overstuffed handbag. I’m running around ticking off notes written in biro on my hand.

Not good! Does this sound like you?? If it does then CALM THE FUCK DOWN. I say that both to myself and to anyone over-stretching themselves at this time of year. Don’t do it! The stress has already taken its toll on me – I’ve had a wisdom tooth explode this week and now I can’t drink my festive litre of Baileys for seven days, as I’m on a week-long course of anti-biotics. What joy.

 

Advent calendar chocolates are now all I have left

Sucks to be me and LET ME WARN YOU this could happen to anyone. So if you value your booze and if you would like to stay healthy over the festive season… then slooooow things down a little. That’s my plan for the weekend, readers, and I highly recommend you do the same.

Think – in just over two weeks all this madness will be over! It will be behind us for another year! So slooow things down and try to enjoy Christmas while it’s here. Make the most of all the festivities going on around you – and also remember to take some time to chill at home with your Christmas tree. Find a classic film on TV. Look after yourself and your sanity.

My tree <3

This week, readers, I admitted defeat to my poorly mouth on Wednesday night, cancelled plans I’d made to go out with the Father Bear, and instead settled in to enjoy some rare time at home. With the tree up and the house trimmed and Smooth Radio playing its Sanctuary at Seven. Life was glorious. I donned my comfy pj’s and launched festive baking!!

There’s so much fun to be had baking at this time of year, readers, with gingerbread, and mince pies, and Yule logs, and Christmas cake, and Christmas pud… tis the season for baking! I thoroughly intend to make the most of this, readers, and kicked things off on Wednesday baking some classic mince pies.

Love them or hate them – it wouldn’t be Christmas without mince pies. They travel well, so they’re ideal for taking into the office, and out of X number of colleagues there’s bound to be at least a few who will eat them.

Storycatchers do fine dining ... and mince pies

So, that’s just what I did this week. I baked my first batch of mince pies on Wednesday night, took them into work the next morning, and by 11am on Thursday they were all gone! I spread some cheer for at least an hour or two with my baking. No joke – I had an email from someone saying it was the best mince pie they had ever eaten. A success!

Ready to whip up the best batch of mince pies you ever will bake??? Using only 5 ingredients?! Here’s how it’s done…

1.     Pour yourself a boozy beverage.

2.     Heat your oven to around 200C.

3.     Measure out the flour and butter, and rub together in a large mixing bowl until your mix has turned to crumbs.

4.     Add the sugar and one egg to the bowl, and mix together using a wooden spoon.

5.     When your mixture starts to come together, get your hand back in the bowl and press it all together into one big ball of dough.

6.     Tip your ball of dough onto a plate and then pop it in the fridge to chill for ten minutes.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Our fridge is feeble at chilling so I made an executive decision and put my dough in the freezer instead for ten minutes. No harm done – use your best judgement here.

7.     Wash all that dough off your hands and then enjoy ten minutes of Christmas tunes.

Get rockin' around the Christmas tree

8.     Top up your beverage, locate your rolling pin, and then sprinkle a clean kitchen surface and your rolling pin with flour.

9.     Remove your dough from the fridge and roll out until it’s maybe half a centimetre thick.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: I didn’t measure my pastry thickness so this is just guesswork here – but we’ve all eaten pastry before. You’re aiming for not-too-think and not-too-thin, y’know?

10.  Get your muffin tins out and grease 16 muffin holes with butter.

11.  Use a round pastry cutter (or the rim of a wine glass) to cut 16 circles out of your pastry, and then press each one into a hole in your muffin tin.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Make sure to patch up any holes in your pastry, as we don’t want the filling to leak out later on!

12.  Use a tablespoon to add a generous dollop of mincemeat into each of your pastry cases, so that they’re all around three quarters full.

13.  Use a small star cutter (or a sharp knife) cut 16 star shapes out of your remaining pastry – you might need to re-roll to get enough stars.

14.  Place a star atop the filling of each mince pie.

15.  Crack your second egg into a mug and then beat with a fork.

16.  Use a pastry brush to glaze the stars and the edges of your pastry cases with egg – this will help them to turn a nicely baked colour in the oven.

Here are my mince pies... glazed and ready to go!

Used leftover pastry to make a giant mince pie!

17.  Carefully transport your mince pies into the oven, and leave to bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

18.  Use this time to clear up the chaotic scene around you! Wash your dishes and top up that drink again.

19.  Safely remove your mince pies from the oven and run a sharp knife around the edge of each, to make sure it doesn’t stick to the tin.

20.  Leave to cool in the tin for at least 20 minutes, and then either serve your mince pies to your guests, gobble them up yourself, or Tupperware for friends and family.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: I wouldn’t advocate trying to eat a mince pie until it is properly cooled as the filling can be MOLTEN when they’re freshly baked. You have been warned.

And, readers, that’s all there is to it. You’ve spent an hour or so of your time, festively de-stressing and drinking, in the comfort of your own home. And from this wonderful hour you’ve produced enough baking to offset an hour, possibly two hours, of office madness.

My beautiful golden mince pies!

And a giant mince pie for my grandad

Give it a go!! Is this the best mince pie you’ve ever eaten?? Am I right or am I right?? C’mon! Have fun baking and let me know how it goes!

Get your bake on. Stay sane. Sit down. Eat mince pies.

Drink-bake safely readers,

(try to remember which glass you’re using a pastry cutter and which one is filled with wine)

Hayley

LIVE LIFE TO THE FULL ... JUST LIKE THE MOB.

Recipe of the week... Soprano Salad

Time taken: Quarter of an hour max

Ingredients: Rocket, yellow pepper, cherry/plum tomatoes, black olives, sun-dried tomatoes, salad dressing, mozzarella, Italian red wine

Hi readers,

How are things today? How’s the weekend kicking off?? Have you had a fun start to it? There are only 2 days in a weekend so you have to use them wisely! If you’re looking back on today thinking yeahhhh great Saturday… then good for you! Keep up the good work tomorrow!

If you’re looking back on Saturday like… where did the day even go? This is meant to be ‘me time’ it doesn’t look that way?? Do not fear, readers, for there’s still time! You’ve got a whole other day to go at yet – you can turn this weekend around. Sit yourself down and form a plan for tomorrow.

My plans for Sunday tend to be either entirely things I will do – like I WILL feed the squirrels at the park, and I WILL run a bath, and I WILL do a new colouring in my colouring-in book. Or entirely things I won’t do like I WILL NOT check my work email, and I WILL NOT put on make-up, and I WILL NOT spend any money online shopping.

Will just have to see how my Sunday outlook is in the morning! Either way, on quiet weekends like this one I like to have a leisurely time on a Sunday. Often, this involves lounging around in the morning watching Sunday Brunch and then breaking out in the afternoon for some fresh air and human/squirrel contact.

And this is great! I’ve barely been in my home all week, readers, with work and family commitments. And with self-inflicted pressure to make the most of my gym membership. And then today I’ve spent the whole day trying to clean the house – to make it homely and habitable once more – and cleaning the clothes I’ve been running around in all week.

Feels good to have the chores all done. But if that were my last day alive... then I’d feel cheated.

So tomorrow is the day for fun. Guilt-free! Four things happened this week that make me realise just how important it is to take time to enjoy life…

·      First, I read an article in Grazia written about the singer Adele and the struggles she’s had, as many first-time mothers and fathers do, with becoming a new parent. She's said that not a day goes by, where she doesn’t at least once wish that she could just go back… to doing whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Which you can’t always do as a mum.

·      Then, after struggling for two months, one of my best friends quit the teacher training course that they were enrolled on this week, because it made them unhappy every day. They don’t know what else to do in life – but know that it isn’t teaching that will bring them happiness.

·      And my boss told me that he doesn’t care what my working hours are as long as I’m well rested and able to do a good job, working whichever hours suit me.

·      Plus, this week my grandma finally got to leave hospital after 2-3 months there. But she can’t go home and won’t ever go home again – she has to go into a care home instead. If she’d know when she left the bungalow in September that she wouldn’t ever get to go back again – would she have taken one last look back as she walked down the drive?

Readers, all of this adds up to me sitting here on a Saturday night with a large glass of wine and a wonderful plate of food, watching back-to-back episodes of The Sopranos, with nothing but fun lined up for tomorrow.

 

Not a terrible Saturday night in

If I want to read a Sunday newspaper on a park bench with a festive coffee? Then – so help me – that is what I will do. If I want to swim? Go see a film? Give something warm to a homeless person? Discover some place I’ve never been before? That’s what tomorrow is for.

Readers, whether you have ten children or none at all, whether you have a bath tub, receive work emails, live near a park with squirrels, own a colouring book… or just not at all. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. It’s important that you do.

So tonight, fuelled by my newfound love for The Sopranos boxset, I’ve thrown together a pretty impressive Italian-inspired insalata for my tea. Fancy rustling up your own Soprano Salad in just 10 easy steps?? Course you do. Well here’s how it’s done…

1.     Light a candle and set the table nicely. This is not on-your-knee settee fodder… this is a dish that demands Soprano-style respect.

2.     Take either half of a full-sized yellow pepper, or a few mini yellow peppers, and slice into bite-sized strips of pepper.

3.     Take a dozen cherry or plum tomatoes and chop each one in half.

4.     Fish a dozen black olives from your jar, pat them dry with some kitchen roll, and then slice each one in half.

5.     Fish half a dozen sun dried tomatoes from your jar, pat dry with kitchen roll, and then chop into bite-sized chunks.

6.     Tip a load of fresh rocket out onto a dinner plate, until the plate is covered with leaves.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: If you don’t have rocket, or don’t like rocket, then you can sub in any other leaf – but make sure the country of origin on the packet reads ITALY.

7.     Artistically sprinkle your pepper, tomato, olive and sun-dried tomato over your plateful of rocket.

8.     Drizzle your salad with any dressing you like – I went for a balsamic vinaigrette.

9.     Fish several mini mozzarella balls from their pot, pat dry with kitchen roll, and then top your salad with these.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: If you aren’t shopping in the wonder that is Lidl (finding weird and wonderful ingredients in the fridges!) then just sub-in a regular ball of mozzarella – pat dry and use your hands to tear it into bite-sized chunks of cheese.

10.  Serve your salad with a generous glass of Italian red and as you HAVE been terribly good throwing together a healthy salad… maybe raid the freezer for ice-cream and tuck into some tasty gelato for dessert??

What do you think, readers? Is this good or is this good?? No fancy or expensive ingredients required – just basic Mediterranean flavours thrown together to form a salad that defies winter. You wanted something warm, I hear? Well, feel that wine warming your belly!

So many people say Italian is their favourite kind of food to eat – but they mean pizza and pasta. When there’s so much more of the Italian cuisine that you can enjoy! From rice dishes like risotto and arancini, to a whole host of warm and cold salads options… adorned with Italian meats, cheeses and breads (for those of us who find life too short to be vegan).

I feel like Soprano Salad could fast become a favourite of mine! Such flavoursome ingredients and lots of colour on the plate. Very tempting and then very tasty once you tuck in. What do you think?? Any ideas for how we can make this even better? Fire away! If this can be bettered then Soprano Salad Take 2 it going to blow everyone away.

Readers, I’ll leave you to your boxsets. And your wine and Italian cuisine. But I hope this post has inspired you to give a winter salad a go… and to plan a super fun Sunday for yourself!

Enjoy life safely,

Hayley

Give it a go! Soprano Salad