Friday Five - Simple Suppers (on a Sunday)

Hey there, another Friday Five on a Sunday, I do genuinely have an excuse, a 10lb bundle of screaming joy! Not only has Chicken gotten a cold and mastered the smile this week she has learnt to roll from her back on to her side, we'll have to watch her more closely on the change table!  The other new skill she has learnt is prolonged crying at night, not colic at 5ish but when we are trying to put her to bed, any time between 7pm and 11pm.  And it seems to last for an hour or so, hard on our eardrums, the neighbours, my blogging and of course her.  To help this, we are starting to introduce a night time routine, bath, massage, feed, cuddle, sleep, mum and dad time!  Two nights in and the score is Chicken 2- parents 0, but hey ho we will persevere.  I think she's getting enough sleep, its just not when we want it!  I'm going to buy a baby monitor this week so that she can sleep upstairs without being disturbed, currently we are putting her basket in the darkened hallway, but it seems there is too much action there!

Anyway back to the topic at hand, simple suppers, another Friday Five from Kat.  For us a simple supper is what you make on a week night when you come home and are really hungry and need food in a hurry/can't be bothered cooking/there isn't that much 'exciting' food in the cupboard/doesn't have a recipe, is just made.

1. Meat, bag salad and carbs (cous cous, wedges, boiled new potatoes etc)
This is my favourite summer meal, especially when you barbecue the meat, grab a bag of salad leaves and cook your carbs.  Total cooking time: 20 minutes.  If I'm feeling snazzy I'll have corn on the cob instead of potatoes, or have both!

2. Spaghetti bolognese.
For years I didn't like spag bol, I blame Bryant Hall, my hall of residence at uni.  While most of their food was good, the spag bol was dire!  I like spaghetti and meatballs, but making meatballs takes that little bit longer.  Slowly Andrew introduced spag bol into our dining repertoire and made a few changes for me - fusspot that I am.  Firstly the onion - its got to be cut up very small, I like the flavours onions add to a dish, but I don't like the texture, slimy yet crunchy, blergh!  Secondly, you have to use cans of whole peeled tomatoes.  I also have a 'thing' about tomatoes, like them cooked, but raw, well they are the only food I think I'd refuse point blank to eat, nuff said.  Cans of whole peeled tomatoes are better than chopped tomatoes because they've left the skin off, obvious really!  Now it has to be said, spag bol is one of my favourite week night meals!

3.  Sausage and mash.
Living in England means that we get to choose from a huge variety of sausages, and man there are some good ones out there!  My current favourite is a plain pork version that we buy at our local farmers market.  The market is only on once a month which means we have to stock up and freeze them.  For mash, I like a fluffy, lump free mash with grain mustard stirred in for a bit of extra flavour.  The gravy is the ultimate simple supper, straight from a packet!

4.  Chicken drumsticks/thighs, and wedges/chips and salad.
We flavour the chicken in a couple of different ways, for example sprinkle with chicken stock (thanks Ange for the idea), or honey and soy or honey and mustard and bung it in the oven with chips or wedges.  If we're feeling particularly perky, they'll be home made, otherwise Aunt Bessie comes to the rescue!  Add bag of salad and voila!

5.  Pizza (from a box)
This is the ultimate in simple suppers and to be honest we don't have it that often, but occasionally (on a Thursday it seems) we're just too tired/disorganised to cook.  My favourite pizzas have ham/pineapple/olives on them while Andrew prefers peperoni/chillies/onions/peppers.  It can make choosing difficult, which is why we usually get two small ones from the supermarket (thin base of course) and bung them in the oven when we get home, and ten minutes later dinner is served!

So there you go, our 5 Simple suppers, enjoy!