So here we are: 2019 week 13 of Meatless Monday…

Here’s what I wore:

JamJarGill: Meatless Monday {2019 - week 13}

Jumper: Next (Thrifted from Barnardos in Ampthill), Belt: Vintage Fair, Jeans & Vest Top: GAP, Shoes: Clarks

What’s in my ears:

I went back to one of my favourite podcasts this week, Rise Together from the Hollis Co. is such an insightful, honest, interesting and thought providing dig into married life and in Rachel & Dave Hollis’ own words tells you how they get through “all the stuff” which crops up in married life with a young family. If you are yet to give this one a go I can highly recommend it.

Here’s my week in 4:

We went on a lovely trip, on the one properly sunny day this week, to Bekonscot Model Village whilst my sister and nieces were over from the states for a visit with my local sister and niece too, it really is a magical place to visit with young children (ideally outside of school holidays), I have very happy memories of going there in my childhood too.
We had our 2nd staycation day out together, my husband and I, this week and spent the day in St Albans, it was such a lovely day, in spite of the cold weather we went to the Waffle House for lunch, which I’d be longing to go to ever since hearing about it about a year ago and then took a reminisive trip to St Albans Cathedral (photographed above) which neither of us had been to since first school, and it really was breathtaking, the craftsmanship and age of it was just amazing. It was so nice to spend the day together kid free, and so important too. We are making a conscious effort to have days like this together every couple of months when schedules allow to actually date each other. It is amazing how different the dynamic is without kids for the day, it does give you the time and space to reconnect and have a proper conversation 🙂
I’ve been working with a wonderful local gardening firm called WoodCourt Gardening Services for the past few months and this week they built me a raised bed out of some lovely reclaimed wood, this was a great step as I am excited to grow some homegrown vegetables this year and this gives me a proper place to do it 🙂
The week ended with a fond farewell to my sister and nieces for another year, it is so tough living so far away from them and busy schedules and time difference make it very hard to communicate regularly between trips, so we just make the most of seeing each other each trip. Hopefully one day finances will allow a trip to either visit them or meet in the middle somewhere, but for now we say farewell for another year.

Right onto food…

Breakfast:

Started with hot lemon, honey and ginger after my morning yoga and then went on to Crunchy Nut Cornflakes with fresh strawberries and raspberries, the boys had apricot wheats with fresh berries, I then had a cup of Earl Grey tea with milk and honey.

Lunch:

I had falafel, pesto mayonnaise and salad (mixed leaves, carrot, pepper and pumpkin and sunflower seeds with Pizza Express Caesar dressing), the boys had a cheese and marmite bagel. We then had some Pom-Bears, some clementines, an apples and a caramel bar to snack on.

Dinner:

I actually followed a recipe for dinner, BBC Good Food’s Best Ever Macaroni Cheese, I did add a couple of things to make it my own, please find the recipe below:

Best ever macaroni cheese recipe

Ingredients

50 g baguette (I used the ends of a sourdough loaf I had left over from the week) cut into small chunks
2 tbsp butter
A good swig rapeseed oil
500 g macaroni Pasta
2 garlic clove finely chopped
1 tsp English mustard powder
3 tbsp plain flour
500 ml whole milk
250 g vegetarian mature cheddar grated
50 g parmesan grated
1 whole bell pepper diced
1 handful leftover tomatoes diced
salt and pepper and italian seasoning to taste

Instructions

This bit I did the day before:
Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Spread 50g baguette chunks over a baking sheet, drizzle with a good swig of rapeseed oil and season. Bake for 6 mins until crisp, then set aside. Once cool store in a tupperware box until needed.
This is where I started when I went to prepare the meal:
Boil 500g macaroni pasta for 2 mins less than stated on the pack, then drain.
Meanwhile, melt 2 tbsp butter in a saucepan. Add 1 clove finely chopped garlic and 1 tsp English mustard powder, cook for 1 min, then stir in 3 tbsp plain flour.
Cook for 1 min more, then gradually whisk in 500ml whole milk until you have a lump-free sauce.
Simmer for 5 mins, whisking all the time until thickened. Take off the heat, then stir in 250g grated mature cheddar and 25g grated parmesan. (I used a electric hand blender here to make the sauce super smooth)
Empty your drained pasta back into your large pasta pan, add diced bell pepper and tomatoes followed by your cheese sauce
Tip into a large ovenproof dish, or 4 individual dishes.
Scatter over the bread and remaining 25g grated parmesan, then bake for 20 mins until crisp and golden. Can be frozen before baking – defrost thoroughly before cooking.