7 Quick Takes: The Not about the Pope Edition

1.

I'm loving all the Pope coverage from my favourite Catholic bloggers. But I'm here in the UK and, trying to get myself well post-op and with a chest infection, it's all about the food with me. Starting with, HOW GRATEFUL WAS I that our curate visited to pray with me and administer home communion?! (OK so while this is a religious take I can't keep completely quiet about the Papal Visit - I am absolutely stoked that Pope Francis drew attention to one of my heroines, Dorothy Day, and served food to the homeless instead of dining out with the political bigwigs.)

2.

Hopefully with enough vinegar...

Amongst foodies and the world in general there seems to be a pickling craze going on. Even when I was pregnant I wasn't that bothered about pickles, although I do love gherkins on burgers. (The ones you get at our local Thai restaurant are to die for, too.)  But I found myself spontaneously making a jar of brightly coloured beetroot in red wine vinegar. Why, you ask? Let me replay the following dinner conversation.

FabDad: Yeah, that beetroot doesn't have enough vinegar on for my taste.
Me: ENOUGH vinegar?
FabDad: Yeah, I like it more vinegary than that.
ME: Well, the beetroot didn't have ANY vinegar on, because it was deliberately served fresh, like a side vegetable dish, not out of a pickle jar.
FabDad: Oh, that's why I didn't like it. Can you make it with vinegar next time?

(Aren't I a great wife sometimes ? Because next time - the picture is the proof - I did!)

3.

Funnily enough, I have been escaping overt dinnertime criticism lately because we're trying to get our family meals in order following my enforced bedrest. I returned to find the girls seemingly feral and unable to keep quiet when I was trying to talk or listen to another person. (My husband says they were always like that, I just forgot.) Now, to enable us to enjoy our food and time together, we allow them to go to their room once they have finished eating and put their plate in the dishwasher, and said "thank you for making my (lovely/delicious) dinner"! I am also cultivating an attitude of gratitude by suggesting when my husband should say "This is a lovely/delicious/mouthwatering dinner you have made, here, wife" when he doesn't do it spontaneously or makes a comment about the lack of vinegar in beetroot.

4.

The first recipe I want to rave about is Deliciously Ella's Gluten, Dairy and Sugar Porridge. Honestly, I generally find porridge quite yucky, unfilling and tasteless, but she soaks the oats in boiling water and then heats them through with added almond milk and serves with berries. Obviously I found it tasted better having the berries separately and pouring a little maple syrup on my porridge, but for those of you who don't want to have sugar in any form, stick with the berries!

5.

And then, having tardily just cottoned on to the zeitgeisty food bloggers who write for UK Vogue, I made Hemsley & Hemsley's Ginger & Miso Broth which I am convinced has wondrous healing powers for body and brain! SO tasty and uplifting, especially on an Autumnal UK day.

Bad photo of lush broth

Random photo of raw ginger root

6.

The basic chicken stock (or bone broth as they call it) that I used for that soup and will henceforth be using in ALL soups I make from scratch sat on the stove all day and all night before my husband remembered to turn it off, but still didn't reach the requisite 12 hours simmering. Nevertheless, cooking the leftover chicken carcass and neck for such a long time resulted in a beautiful broth with definite mineral and calcium content. Hemsley and Hemsley say this is also good for the complexion and cellulite so I will let you know if any transformations occur!

7.

And finally, tying in with the piece I wrote yesterday about not needing to be perfect because, you know, JESUS - yes, I did cook an organic roast chicken this week. Go me! Then I made bone broth out of the carcass. I served chicken with carrots batons, celery sticks, olives, tomatoes, red peppers, beetroot (ahem!) and a green salad, along with oven-baked french fries. But yesterday - I made a chicken pasta bake using a jar of bought sauce, for ease and quickness. Tonight, it's processed curry with white rice and two types of naan. And the other night I ate, almost in its entirety (and it would have been the whole of it if two other people hadn't made me give them some) one of these:

It's not Terry's, it's mine!

Join Kelly and all the other bloggers who have stuff to tell us about the Pope rather than what they ate this week at This Ain't the Lyceum!