Christmas Market Season Begins!

Yes, I know they've already started in many areas but for me, they don't really start until the last week of November - this year I was hearing Christmas songs on the radio on the 6th! That's way too early! And I am a self-admitted Christmas lover - so today we headed off to a market at the schmancy Hoghton Tower. 

As usual, lots of lovely things! We bought some gourmet sausage rolls and limencello and PB very sweetly treated me to a beautifully handmade mohair rabbit who he named Delwyn. He's Welsh, naturally! 

As a bribe  nice thing to do for my husband considering he'd rather be locked up with a hungry xeno than go to a Christmas market, I decided to have a fancy breakfast on Saturday (it's hard to plan to do nice, more effort stuff with fibro but I crossed my fingers and was super strict on my pacing) and since I've been enjoying flicking through the wartime issued version of The Joy of Cooking, I thought I'd try one of the variations on baked eggs.

As an aside, isn't it nice in old recipe books when they list lots of variations? I easily found a recipe that fit my pantry stock but had ideas if I wanted to ring the changes when I make them again. I suppose that might be down to the war and rationing making substitutions and variations necessary for all. 

The recipe I chose was one of the simpler ones, where cheese is optional...except in this house where it is always mandatory. 

Baked Eggs

Ingredients: 

4 eggs
1/2 cup of grated cheese 
1/2 cup of double cream (I suppose you could use single here without much issue to be fair)
Breadcrumbs
Butter

Seasoning suggestions: white pepper, smoked paprika, nutmeg, cayenne, etc. 

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 200 or 180 if a fan oven.

Take a baking dish that will accommodate the four eggs once cracked open and butter throughly then line with breadcrumbs (the amount needed depends on the size of the dish). I used an enamel pie dish which fit the four eggs in quite snugly. 

On top of the breadcrumbs, crack each egg into the dish taking care not to break them. Season to your taste on top of the eggs then sprinkle over the cheese and drizzle the cream over the top.  

Place in oven and bake until eggs are firm. I ended up baking them about twenty minutes. In the grand tradition of old recipes, no fixed time is given so it's definitely a breakfast for a leisurely morning that you can spend keeping an eye on the oven while having a cup of tea. 

 And yes, it was an ideal bribe. That and the sausage rolls. 

 

Chilly Days + Cake for Breakfast

Me and PB are currently emptying the freezer as much as possible so we can defrost it then restock in anticipation of the festive season which isn't difficult, just quite slow - with it being two of us, the meals we make from the freezer last a few days while if we were a larger family, we would have finished by now. I'm looking forward to the restock phrase - prepping things for easy dinners later on really does feel like a real life cheat code. 

I'm in the starting to feel better part of a flare at the moment* so I managed to put a chunk of gammon in the slow cooker (along with water, carrots and some bay leaf) which we had with potatoes and swedish cabbage (I won't share the recipe as I wasn't entirely happy with it.) and the leftover gammon will be going back into the slow cooker tonight as part of a split pea and ham soup. 

Yesterday, I managed to bake something I've had my eye on for a while - blueberry breakfast cake - which turned out well though I think the flavour is lacking a bit of zing...perhaps adding lemon juice and/or zest would help next time. This sorted breakfast for the week, feels very decadent to eat cake for breakfast but I was very generous with the blueberries at least...

I also prepped some frozen falafel (air fryer sorted these) and a batch of lemon herb couscous where I subbed parsley for thyme (no fresh thyme on hand) and left the nuts and dried fruit out so I can change it up a bit each day. Today for lunch I had some the salad as is with falafel, yogurt sauce and cucumber. Very yummy! Definitely will be going on my rotation of lunch prepping. I have some sweet potatoes that need using up so I'll probably roast them in spices to go with lunch tomorrow. 

Coming out of a flare makes me feel a little uncertain and hesitant about things as it sometimes feels like anything can push me back into a flare no matter how well I pace myself, etc. Heading into a busy time of the year, I'm wondering how I can manage it better than last year and I'm finding I don't have many answers since fibromyalgia is such a tricky, shifting condition. I suppose all I can do is try to treat myself kindly and enjoy the glimmers of everyday life as much as possible! 

 

*the lifecycle of the flare is less a circle and more a confounding mess of squiggles as it isn't ever predictable, having a nasty tendency to veer way off past experiences just for giggles, I guess.  

Baking As Self Care

Is there anything nicer than warm, fresh from the oven, homemade cake? I'm not sure. Even a simple vanilla scented cake that has been baked in a domestic kitchen beats a mass made cream bun from a chain bakery. My two favourite baking books are Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi (found here) and the River Cottage: Cakes book by Pam of Pam the Jam fame. I haven't baked much this year apart from the epic muffin making session a little while ago and that seems quite strange considering me and PB like our sweets. So I made the Spiced Honey Cake from Snacking Cakes today which I topped with the optional flaked almonds (an addition that may well be a necessity going forward with this recipe) and substituted yogurt for the buttermilk...it just isn't a real thing here, unfortunately. 

What I enjoy most about Snacking Cakes is that they're mainly one bowl, simple ingredients, basic process recipes that taste great, much better than you'd expect for the low effort and as I'm going through a severe spoon budget reduction right now, it's nice to feel that warm sense of having done something that will lift the spirits of yourself and the people you love. 

With that in mind, I flicked through my copy of Yossy Arefi's follow up: Snacking Bakes which brings cookies, bars, brownies and blondies into the mix. I think the Date and Pistachio Coffee Cake Bars are up next for baking - I found a bag of pistachios and some dried dates that need using in the baking cupboard - which seem perfect for the chilly, rainy weather we're having. 

When I'm not resting/flaring, I've been crocheting hats and things to send to Ukraine and reading cozy stories that seem to mainly involve animals in human clothing being very humanlike. Hopefully more cooking will be happening soon - a cabbage in the fridge seems to be suggesting it is destined to become swedish brown cabbage...