Packing it all in...

I have mentioned that we have a trip coming up but have given out very little detail up until now. Myself and Jay are off to Portugal for 5 days, it was our Christmas gift to each other. An all inclusive 5 star accommodation,  flights and transfers for us both at a bargain price.

We felt that rather than buy each other useless gifts that we neither needed nor wanted that this was the perfect gift for us. This time of year is always tough for everyone and a little bit of sunshine does wonders to give you the boost for the coming year (hopefully).

Whenever we book a holiday we usually book a last minute deal and by doing it this way we can sometimes go away more than once. There are lots of different websites that give great last minute deals, we often use Icelolly * and so far we have been very pleased with the results.

I have been battling with the internet and trying to download certain documents that needed printing, they are now all done and ready. I now have the task of packing and I am unsure of what to take. I know the weather is not going to be soaring heat and sunbathing weather, would be nice though. However we only have hand luggage so everything has to be essential and right.

I have been through my wardrobe and selected what I would like to take and now I have to narrow it down again to essential items, oh decisions decisions!

Dinner last night was a rummage through the fridge to see what I had to go with some chicken fillets. Our menu had got a bit mixed up due to people not being here for dinner and changes have to be made. There was half a butternut squash, a swede and a bag of carrots and a tub of soured cream. I chopped the vegetables up quite chunky and put them in a pan and added some frozen mixed vegetables and a pint of chicken stock. I added a teaspoon of English, French Grain and Dijon mustard and a dessert spoon of honey.

Once the vegetables had started to soften I added the chopped chicken fillets to the pan and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Whilst that was cooking I made some breadcrumbs out of some rolls and the last few slices of granary bread.  grated some cheddar and mixed this in with the breadcrumbs.

I added the sour cream to the chicken and vegetables gave it a good stir and then using a slotted spoon I put the chicken and vegetables into a casserole dish poured over a little of the sauce and then covered it in breadcrumbs. I cooked this in the oven on gas mark 6 for 30 minutes and had the sauce simmering on the gas so it would thicken.

A super meal to feed six people and cost about £5.50. If you don't add the chicken but just use vegetables and add pulses it will obviously cost a lot less. Unfortunately for me the boys and Jay would probably hang me out to dry if I served them a pure vegetarian meal.

There was quite a lot of vegetable so I chopped it all up and cooked them in chicken stock and added split peas and have frozen it in batches and I can then make this dish again or even add it to a stew or a curry.

All I have left to do is a trip to the hairdressers and a quick dash to get some food in for the boys and then I can relax with a glass of vino in readiness for our little vacation. Until next time x

* No money was earned by this endorsement, it is my own opinion.