Morning peeps
I think (because all the days merge) I chose last Monday, a couple of days after I got home from hospital. Sadly porridge is not agreeing with me right now- I should not have had it in the hospital as now it reminds me of that. Hmph. Hopefully in a few days I will be back to it. I also had a bit of a dodgy tum my last day in hospital so was wanting more crunchy foods. Plus I get really full really quickly at the moment, but then hungry soon after- think when my stomach gets full it might press on the cyst? Anyway, less rambling, more food pictures!
Breakfast:
Seedy toast with rainforest nut butter and blackcurrant spread.
Lunch:
Tomato soup (good old Heinz not home-made!) and some tomato and goats cheese flatbread. Plus 2 clementines- so delicious.
Afternoon tea! My favourite!
Gingerbread spice tea! So yummy!
Dinner:
Pasta with red pesto, veggies and cheese (I did not manage all of this as I got so full though).
Dessert: A bit later on.
Baked apple with raisins and caramel alpro.
Do you have foods that remind you of being ill or foods that you feel make you feel better? For a long time, weirdly, tomato soup reminded me of being ill so I would never eat it when I was not unwell, but now it makes me feel like I am getting better. I always feel that citrus fruit help me with a cold- a bit late with the vitamin C once you have the cold but it helps my brain believe I will get better- placebos are proven to work even when people know they are placebos after all!
for white chocolate fudge) and just adapt that instead.
Gently melt the ingredients, stir to stop it burning to the bottom. Then let it bubble away until it reaches the soft ball stage (113C). At this point turn off the heat and add in the Christmas pudding crumbles.
Then get out the electric whisk and beat away. (Traditional recipes seem to say to put the pan in some cold water and beat by hand, but this way always works for me).
Keep going until it gets harder to whisk. If you take the beaters out the fudge will drip off in a sort of stalactite way. Then pour into the lined pan.
Leave it to cool- I leave it at room temperature as I find it much easier to slice when it is still a little soft- in the fridge it goes too crumbly and can snap when slicing. I left this for maybe 2 hours and then it was super easy to slice.
Then bag it up ready for giving as gifts. (I had a friend visit me yesterday so she got the first bag).
Bag up the rest (and optional- keep a little pot for yourself).
It did take a while (and his ears kept falling off at first) but I am really pleased with how he looks! Too pretty to eat! I had fun with the edible glitter too, but you had to dampen the icing for it to stick and that had not dried when I took the photos.
I also did one with gingerbread men and candy canes.
Although I made the mistake of using the gel icing for the eyes- it is super sticky and does not dry. The holly was tricky as you were meant to have cutters but I didn’t so had to make do with a knife- easier said than done!
In the box from Dunelm Mill ready to be given away.
The boxes are so good, as they come with the boards too. Normally I either give them away in tins that I want back, or have to wrap them carefully in a lot of silver foil and things. I will have to remember that for next year. 🙂
A black one that says “Just one more mile…” and a navy one with “Run <3 ” on it. Now they arrived while I was in hospital, so at the moment I have not tried either one out (and won’t get to in the near future either). So anyway I have decided that the winner will get to choose which band they like the most, and I will keep the other one to try out once I am better.
This was so delicious! It was from 
A card made by my class (how sweet- it is a stained glass style-they cut out the holes then covered in tissue paper- this is the style we did for the Christmas cards this year only they did a tree/star shape)- they all signed it too (made me quite tearful), and some lovely flowers from work.
I also feel rather strange as I keep on getting “Get Well Cards” through the post. I am not one used to being unwell, and I did not really feel like my situation warranted the cards. Andy keeps telling me off- I suppose I was in hospital last week.
On went the marzipan (stuck down with warm apricot jam- I did the top as a circle and then the edges as a long sausage shape which I then moulded together). This had to be left to set/ harden overnight as then the icing would stick better to it.
Then on went the icing. This was rolled out into a huge circle, draped over, smoothed on top and then smoothed around the side. All the extra bits were cut off and used for the next cake.