TWO RECIPIES

My son survived his return to work but I can not help being glad that there are only two days to go before his week off. He is so tired all the time and seems completely demoralised, normally nothing keeps him down for long, he puts a brave face on things but I can not help worrying. Something is very wrong with my normally happy son, we will see what his Doctor says on Monday.

I have been asked for the recipe of our tomato soup so just for Karen here it is.

Tomato and Roast Vegetable Soup

1 medium sized sweet potato
1 red pepper
half a medium sized butter nut squash
1 parsnip
3 carrots
2 red onions
8 cloves of garlic
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
half a tube of tomato purree
half a pint of milk
1 pint of chicken stock or 2 chicken stock cubes
salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
pepper
half a cup of olive oil
Peel the vegetables and cut in to chunks, place in a large baking tray add the olive oil and toss the vegetable chunks until they are covered in oil.
Bake in a hot oven 220oC for about thirty minutes, they need to be slightly charred at the edges.
Pour one can of chopped tomatoes in to a blender than add some of the vegetables sugar and stock , blitz until smooth then repeat with the other tin of tomatoes then with stock until all the vegetables are used. The soup at this point should be very thick. Add milk until you have the thickness of soup that you prefer then add salt and pepper to taste, heat in a large pan and serve. This is a main meal soup in its thick form but thinned with milk or extra stock it can be a lovely first course at dinner. If you what an even creamier soup add a small carton off crème fraich and a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. I hope you enjoy it.

PEAR, WALNUT AND PLUM COOKIES
4oz butter
2oz wholemeal flour
2oz white plain flour
2oz sugar
2oz chopped walnuts
2oz dried pears finely chopped
half a teaspoon of vanilla essence
red plum jam
beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy them add the fruit, nuts and vanilla and mix in. add the four and mix until it is absorbed . roll the mixture in to walnut sized balls and place on a greased baking sheet leaving room for the cookies to spread. Press down lightly with a fork and the with the end of a wooden spoon dipped in hot water make a well in each one. Put a little plum jam in to the holes that bake at 360 oC for about fifteen minutes. Cool on a wire rack. These cookies remind me of apple crumble, a lovely flavour for autumn and winter.

I managed to do about half of the ironing this afternoon and in the nick of time as shirts were short if you see what I mean, during my labours the cat slept in her latest favoured roost, on a pile of pillows at the head of my bed moving only to change position now and then. At the moment she is curled up around the lava lamp, a pleasure which she discovered last year and has just remembered.

Dinner tonight was a cheesy baked pasta using the last of this years courgette crop and lots of sun-dried tomato and mozzarella, nice and soft for my son, although he says that he is felling much better as far as the pain in his jaw is concerned.

I fixed up some twig lights for Pa this afternoon, in the summer I bought him a big purple glass vase in a sale and today I put in some twigs and white fairy lights they shine through the glass and look very pretty, he like this sort of thing as a night light, he is not safe in total darkness as he becomes disoriented. We have made his room pleasant, comfortable and cosy, he really loves it bless him.

Speaking of cosy I think I shall head for the bathroom before anyone else gets the mass idea and then Twiggy and I will curl up snug and warm to watch a film, it is her turn to choose the movie tonight so heaven knows what we will end up with.