• Monday – xx
• Tuesday – Fresh Pea, Bacon and Bergkaese Risotto
• Wednesday – BBQ Sausages, Tomato & Mozarella/Panir Salad
• Thursday – Courgette & Pea Tian with New Potatoes
• Friday – Pogacice with Vesper Selection
• Saturday – BBQ
• Sunday – BBQ with Pasta Salad

• Monday – away
• Tuesday – away
• Wednesday – Cowboy Chicken with Cheesy Corn Triangles
• Thursday – Spicy Mince Wraps with Guacamole / Sour Cream
• Friday – Pizza
• Saturday – Subway!
• Sunday – Tortellini, Feta and Fresh Pea Warm Salad

Or, as they’re called in our house: Pupischnutzis (no idea why!).

This recipe is the result of many, many, many trial-and-error-bakes. There was one 2-week period where we were eating fresh brownies pretty much every day. Of course, after that we couldn’t face another one for months. Anyway the first recipe below is the successful winning recipe which we liked best. It gives a firm, sticky but not too gooey brownie.

The second variation is what I came up with last night when I suddenly really fancied brownies but didn’t have quite all the ingredients necessary at home. So I improvised, and the result was rather good. I’d need to try both brownies at the same time to directly compare and see if I preferred one to the other, but the new, improved recipe from last night really was rather excellent!

Brownies - Recipe #2

Recipe #1
Ingredients

• 250g plain flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1  egg, beaten
• 100g sugar
• 50g cocoa
• 100ml oil
• 200ml milk
• 100g chocolate (half melted, half chopped OR all melted)

Method

1. Mix together and bake in a lined tin at 180°C for 15 – 20 mins.
2. Cut into squares when cool.
3. Keep in an airtight container – they get better and stickier after a day or so!!

Recipe #2
Ingredients

• 250g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg, beaten
• 100g sugar
• 50g cocoa
• 100ml oil
• 100ml milk
• 100 – 200ml natural jogurt
• 1 large heaped tbsp chocolate nut spread eg Nutella

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients together to a thick, smooth batter. If it seems a bit dry, add more jogurt.
2. Bake in a lined tin at 180°C for 15 – 20 mins until the top is dry and a wooden skewer poked in comes out clean (or cleanish, but def. not covered in sticky batter!)
3. Cut into squres when cool.

I’m sure if you keep these in an covered container they would also get better, but we polished the lot off last night, so I can’t confirm this.
As to the flavour, I felt the jogurt added a rather pleasant slight tang, but no-one else seemed to notice it, so it could just be that I tasted it because I knew the jogurt was there. Using chocolate spread meant I didn’t have to faff around melting chocolate, which is a bonus as far as I’m concerned, so I will be using that again. I didn’t factor in that there is already quite a bit of oil in there though, so next time I would reduce the oil that goes into the recipe by about 20ml or so.

This is for those nights when my son is so tired I know he isn’t going to make it until I’ve cooked dinner for all of us, so I have to give him something beforehand. It’s very, very quick, super easy and actually very tasty (I end up picking at it quite a bit!).

Ingredients

• any filled fresh pasta eg tortellini / or / fresh gnocchi
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp mixed herbs

Method

1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions (I usually just boil the kettle and let the pasta sit in the hot water while I’m preparing the sauce). If using gnocchi, I would really recommend frying it rather than boiling it – it gets a nice crispy outside and doesn’t go so mushy (fry it in a little of the butter).
2. Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the herbs.
3. Mix in the cream cheese.
4. Throw in the pasta / gnocchi and stir until they are well covered with the sauce.
5. That’s it!

Believe it or not, it’s very tasty (sort of reminiscent of that Italian classic of butter and sage). The sauce just covers the pasta, clinging it to it, so it’s actually good to eat even with fingers!

Week 24

• Monday – Mushroom Risotto
• Tuesday – Ravioli, Feta, Asparagus/Green Bean Salad
• Wednesday - Boy Vesper
• Thursday – Stir-Fried Tofu (alt. turkey) with scallions, egg-fried rice
• Friday – Bagels with cream cheese, tuna pate, beetroot and pickles
• Saturday – Whatever you can find!
• Sunday – On Holiday!!

Not sure what to do at the weekend yet, but this is the plan for week so far:

Week 23

• Monday – Homemade Pizza
• Tuesday – Gnocchi with Cheesy Sauce
• Wednesday – Wraps with Spicy Minced Meat
• Thursday – Turkey Schnitzel with Potato Salad
• Friday – Kedgeree
• Saturday – ?
• Sunday – ?

Obviously should have put this up last week, but better late than never

Week 22

• Monday – eating out (Schäfergässle Weinkeller)
• Tuesday – BBQ Salmon and Corn on the Cob
• Wednesday – Boys’ Vesper (mum’s night out!)
• Thursday – Chinese Noodles with Chicken and Beansprouts
• Friday – Homemade Fish and Chips
• Saturday – Subway Sandwiches
• Sunday – erm….