I knew at the start that this could be a tough week. Lots of travel, a few end-of-year things at work, combined with lots of people on leave meant I already knew time would be at a premium. Add to that a bit of a sniffle for me, full on vomiting from E on Wednesday evening, and a bit of a grey and damp week, and it hasn’t been a brilliant time.

There have definitely be rays of sunshine breaking through, though. Last Sunday the sun came out, and it was actually warm, at least with the sun on you. I got into the garden and planted a few things, and generally felt better about the state of things. The first of my tulips have started showing their heads. And in between being a bit tired and under-the-weather, E has been very funny. In the Disney store, she spotted a clip of ‘Snow White’ playing on the monitors, and started dancing along with the dwarfs. I bought her a pack of farm animal stickers, and she sang ‘Old Macdonald had a Farm’ to them.

Knowing it wasn’t going to be an easy week, I planned some easy meals to get us through. A bought lasagne for midweek. A big batch of curry at the weekend that saw us through three meals. A fridge-tidying soup that covered a couple of lunches and a dinner too.

Recipes:

• Idiot biscuits (picture above) – something I used to make at primary school. I found the recipe in a Guardian piece – via this blog – apparently it comes from a Stork cookbook.
• Banana buttermilk bread – from The Violet Bakery Cookbook (which sank. I have no luck with loaf cakes lately).
• Homemade yoghurt (that failed – going to try that again next week)

Without a recipe:

• Charlie Bigham lasagne with a grated carrot salad and some radishes and cucumbers
• Egg fried rice
• Fish and chips from the freezer
• A green minestrone, using up lots of leftover veg from the fridge, with a parmesan rind, a can of cannellini beans and lots of parmesan grated on the top.
• Leftover coconut curry – reappeared twice

Reading:

• Ms Marmitelover has some a good formula for tacos, and a recipe for making your own tortillas.
• Alice Hart describes her kitchen and the way she cooks. I also rediscovered this old article of hers, on writing your first cookbook.
• A lovely David Lebovitz essay about his favourite knife.
• Today I will be leaning on a (slow cooker version) of this ragu: A really good ragu to rally you through the week
• If you fancy a bit of easy Easter baking, Butcher Baker Baby has these currant-filled Easter biscuits, or try the easy Idiot Biscuits above.
• For something more ambitious, Claire Ptak’s vanilla shortbread and Darjeeling vanilla custards sound lovely.
• They’ve revised the ‘Eatwell’ plate for the UK dietary guidelines. Zoe Harcombe is not impressed.