Mum’s the word

Soooo…..

I spent this Mother’s Day like I always do; at the Mothering Sunday service in my mum’s church, where she sings in the choir. It’s always lovely because the choir sounds gorgeous, the Sunday School kids sing and then the children hand flowers out to all the women. I give mine to my mum but I also gave her these:

I made her some more of my granola, because she loves it, this time with pureed kabocha instead of the apple and a sprinkle of cinnamon – I think it was the best version yet so I’ll re-post the recipe at the end…

I also got her this, because she loves Covent Garden soups, and making her own delicious ones, and always has seasonal ingredients to hand thanks to my dad’s vegetable-growing passion.

And this, cos it just sums things up 🙂

Happy Mother’s Day to the best mum ever (in my unbiased opinion!)

Thank you for everything Mum xx

I had to leave early this morning so I set the alarm for 7.45am, but actually woke up before 7.30am. The only thing is, having extra time is almost as dangerous for an inherently late person like me as oversleeping is, which is what happened this morning…

I thought I’d download a couple of songs from iTunes for the drive but first it froze and I had to restart the computer. Then the computer froze and I had to force it off. Then iTunes worked but wouldn’t believe the iPod was plugged in. I gave up and took the iPod anyway, but when I plugged it into the radio adapter in the car, the iPod had frozen.

I expressed a loud and rude opinion of a certain computer company (which I won’t name, and I’m sure ya won’t guess at, but which I’ll just call Banana) which had held me up… but only got there five minutes late, which in my book counts as being on time 🙂

For once, it wasn’t breakfast-making that had held me up because I had this:

That’s Gabriela’s chocolate-banana chia seed pudding, kind of! I don’t like the chocolate/banana combination so I left the cocoa and sweetener out, made 2/3 quantities, with Kara coconut milk, and left overnight… and it was amazing! I’d bought the chia seeds ages ago and hardly used them but I couldn’t believe the texture of this pudding:

Delicious too; Gabriela, you’re a genius!

I had it at about 8am and was slightly concerned about how filling it would be, especially when I heard a distinct tummy rumble at 11am but I think that was just Sod’s Law because the church was quiet. And bearing in mind I left my mum an extra treat in the form of the apple I’d taken with me so I didn’t have anything else till I got home at 3.15 AND my stomach hadn’t eaten itself, I don’t think a lack of fillability is a problem 🙂

What was left of the day was spent riding Dave and getting ready for another joyous work week! Hope everyone has a good one…

Chia seeds – yay or nay? Do you use ’em?

Nearly forgot! To make cinnamon kabocha granola, preheat oven to 150C and take:

55g oats

1 tbsp pureed kabocha (or apple puree or mashed banana)

1 tsp almond butter

1 tbsp maple syrup

Cinnamon, to taste

Mix really well. (I use my hands, not only to blend it better but, let’s face it, it ain’t a hardship to lick this off your fingers!)

Spread it out well on a lined baking sheet/roasting pan and bake for 15 minutes, then break it up and spread out a bit. I crumbled it up really fine, to get all the lumps out, but if you like “clumpier” granola, leave some bigger bits.

Then, put it back in for another five to ten minutes. It’ll still feel soft but will crisp up as it cools…Enjoy!