Mushroom & Pepperoni Pizza

We regularly make pizza, and it is always mushroom and pepperoni. Sometimes there is a sneaky sun-dried tomato or a splodge of blue cheese, but the main theme does not vary. Pete makes the base and I make the topping. Either of us does the assembly work. Tonight Pete assembled, and he likes to put some of the cheese on top, which I think makes it look less attractive. Doesn't stop it from being delicious, though.

Bernard hasn't eaten much today, but did make short work of a kiwi fruit at teatime.

Sausage and Chips

Chips have become something of an UborkaHaza standard lately. I peel the spuds in the afternoon and leave them in a bowl of water, which soaks some of the starch out. Pete coats them in oil and cooks them in the oven at 200, along with the sausages or pie or whatever I found in the freezer the day before.

Tonight it was Sainsbury's Taste The Difference British Pork Sausages with Caramelised Onion, which is a lot of capital letters for one packet of bangers. They were nice, but the sicilian ones we had last week were better. They were served with organic carrots, peas and gravy.

Earlier, Bernard and I had a strong disagreement about whether or not he would eat his chicken. He wore most of it, and then sweetly scoffed all of his pureed fruit compote for pudding. I don't know whether this should be discouraged or not; I don't want him to be hungry.

Spaghetti al mascarpone

I don't know if that's good Italian or not. Anyway, the veg box came today, so we have been feasting on delicious vegetables. No broccoli, hurrah!

Tonight's dinner was spaghetti with a sauce made from sauteed garlic, organic leek and organic mushroom, with some sneaky bits of very unorganic smoked sausage, which I love. Secret ingredients included lots of black pepper, a pinch of thyme, and a slug of hungarian chilli vodka. Then it was smothered with mascarpone cheese, which went all runny.

Bernard also had pasta with organic spring vegetable stew, which consisted of potato, leek, carrot, mushroom, cabbage, tomato and garlic, with fennel and oregano. I blitzed it with my new stick blender, and he scoffed the lot. I gave him half a kiwi fruit for pudding, and he managed to eat about half of the slices, but was very shouty and cross, so I supplemented this with the pureed fruit compote that I made yesterday, and then he sat on the floor beside the sofa and played with an empty envelope for half an hour before bathtime.

Quinoa with bacon, avocado and halloumi

I think we now agree that quinoa is a superfood. Pete watched me prepare it tonight, and was impressed at how much it expands, and interested in the part of the process where the germ separates and all the water is suddenly absorbed.

Quinoa has a much better flavour than cous cous, although cous cous does have a great texture. It is also much, much more expensive. So, it was mixed up in a bowl with bacon, grilled halloumi cheese, avocado, and sliced cherry tomatoes. Over it, we drizzled a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar and fennel seeds. It was delicious, the sort of meal that I want to eat all over again, as soon as it is finished. Sadly there were no leftovers.

Earlier on, Bernard had vomited up his entire bedtime feed, which at least answered my concern about how much milk he is getting. I reckon there was over half a pint, which came back in an Aira Force-esque gush, precipitating a full change of my nightwear, and a clean sleeping bag for the baby. I have no idea why. I hope it was just a random weirdness.

Cheating, Twice

I completely forgot to blog last night's dinner, which was the regular Friday night habit of Waitrose ready-meal curry. That is, three Fridays in a row. I'm sure it will happen again, and I'll blog about it when it does.

Tonight was even cheatier, owing to me being too tired to do anything with the bacon that I got out of the freezer yesterday. We had a pizza from Dominos, who irked us somewhat by insisting that they don't do free delivery outside the town centre on orders under a tenner. This has never been a problem in the past, and we do eat a lot of pizza, so our loyalty to Dominos may be under some strain now.

It wasn't a bad pizza, though: pepperoni and mushroom, an UborkaHaza standard.

Meanwhile, Bernard has eaten well. He finished off Friday night's beef stew, pureed but not to a mush; and followed it with some random jar of Hipp Organic pudding. I am not so good with puddings, being a savoury preferring kinda girl, and the fruit'n'veg box doesn't come until Monday, so I do rely more on jars for puddings than for main courses. Bernard doesn't seem to mind. Yumyumyum, he says.

Easy Beef Stew

Slow Cookers are awesome. I got mine when I was at university, and apart from a couple of years when it lived with my dad (and didn't get used), it has been an important feature in my life. Not only is it the easiest kind of cooking in the world, but it also turns the stringiest old bits of meat into tender pieces of deliciousness.

Yesterday evening I cut up a few potatoes, some red onion and garlic, and some braising steak; and threw it all into the pot with some carrots and parsnips out of the freezer, a tin of tomatoes and a splodge of tomato puree, and my usual handful of seasoning: pepper, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and a teaspoon of paprika. I think it is edes (sweet) paprika. I got it in Hungary, so it is rather old.

Pete switched it on at lunchtime, and although the potatoes were somewhat al dente, the stew as a whole was just what we needed on a rainy february night after a full day of work - in the office - and on his part, a full day of childcare. Oh, and we're having some very nice red wine with it.

Bernard had the aubergine and potato mush for tea again, and ate the lot, followed by yoghurt with prune, pear and apricot puree, and then a bath. Tomorrow he will be trying the Easy Beef Stew. On Saturday we are lunching with vegans, so it's best that he gets tanked up on red meat in advance...

Pie and Chips

Chicken pie out of the freezer, home-made oven chips (Pete's job), frozen green beans. Quite satisfactory.

Baby Teatime was the usual food-flinging messfest. Bernard started off with a few lentil cakes, which make good finger food, although they did fall apart a bit. He enjoyed them, but we were picking bits out of his ears at bathtime. Then he had aubergine and potato mush, which he wasn't mad about, followed by a little bit of yoghurt mixed with pudding, and a piece of honeydew melon. He seemed to like the melon, but he wasn't quite able to bite pieces off. It will all change when he gets himself some teeth.

Aubergine Stuff

This is different to stuffed aubergine, which I also enjoy on occasion. The majority of what I cook is thrown together, and this definitely fits that description. It contained aubergine, red onion, lots of herbs, mushrooms, tomato, smoked sausage, and minty halloumi. I have never cooked with halloumi before, so that was my main point of interest.

We ate it with quinoa, which was another first. Pete said he didn't think he would call it a superfood, but still scoffed the lot with enthusiasm. I had seconds of aubergine, because I'm greedy. Pete is now making pancakes, and I am supposed to be helping.

Before adding the sausage and cheese, I took a portion out for Bernard to try tomorrow. His childminder and I are wondering if he is objecting to the lumpy texture of the food he has been offered lately, as we get crying, head-shaking, raspberries, and sleepy signs during the main course, but he usually perks up for pudding. This is the case even when the pudding is unsweetened natural yoghurt. Conversely, he eats jarfood, which is so smooth as to be textureless, with no protest whatsoever. So tonight he had smooth main course: tuna and potato mush, followed by yoghurt with melon bits. The melon was supposed to be more slushy, but the blender seemed to reduce it to chippings. Wrong sort of melon? Who knows. Anyway, he ate most of the tuna mush, and refused the melon.

Lentil & Spinach Dahl

Dahl should probably be thicker; I'm just using the term for any kind of lentil mush. I cooked the lentils this afternoon, with some onion, carrot and tomato puree, cumin seeds, thyme, garlic, and half a teaspoon of paprika.

I took a bowlful out for Bernard, and he had it with spinach, quinoa and creme fraiche for his tea. It was quite lumpy for him, but he seemed to like it. When I offered him a spoonful, he pushed his head right back into the high chair and gave it a hard stare, before agreeing to eat it. After a while, he decided to help out, by taking the spoon in one hand, wiping most of the food off it with the other hand, and then pushing the spoon into his mouth. Vast quantities of it made their way into his neckfolds and down his vest, despite using a bib and two muslins. I guess this is the way it's going to be, with lumpier food. At least purees congealed safely on his chin.

After Bernard was in bed, I heated up more spicy spices in some oil, and tipped the rest of the lentil mush in, along with half a tin of tomatoes. Served with rice and creme fraiche, and there is some left for tomorrow's lunch.