When your alarm sounds …

… and your chicken is ready if you do nothing else remove it – carefully – it will fall apart and set aside in a dish or foil tray and most importantly strain the stock, cool, cover and fridge. You don't have to strip the chicken if you don't have the energy – cool, cover and fridge until tomorrow.

This is what you've achieved by doing virtually nothing :

2 x 200g bags of chicken breast

500g of stock – I'd suggest you split it into 2 x 250g bags

150g approximately of chicken suitable for adding to soup

or sandwiches

Fridge the bags of chicken for the moment – you may decide to use some before committing the remainder to your treasure chest (the freezer).

Watch this space!

Mood food and no faffing …

… in other words you have to be in the mood for good food and not all the junk you've inhaled over the holidays - which is why we have to be smart and prep and cook ingredients ahead so that you're more likely to fancy your evening meal - “mood food” and less likely to hit the speed dial button for your favourite takeaway!

There are no rules here, just a menu for the working week – 5 evenings. You can swap and change to suit yourself or change it altogether for that matter. These are suggestions to motivate you to do one thing – get organised, two if you include plan! There'll be options along the way.

Your Menu

Chicken, pear and chestnut salad with chorizo

Kedgeree – the fastest ever - with or without rendang sauce

Miso roasted mushroom orzotto with optional bacon bits

Carrot, coriander and chickpea soup – optional chicken

with vegetarian dumplings

Home-made burgers with wedges and a tomato, onion

and sweet pepper salad with a Balsamic glaze

What you're cooking for your Sunday lunch is up to you. I would just like to ask you to complete four small tasks whilst you're at it!

Wrap six large baking potatoes in foil and bake. (180fan/200c/Gas 6).

I would bake for an hour and a half and then test – you want your paring

knife to move firmly through the potatoes. Remove them and

set aside to cool – bear in mind they will continue cooking

because they are insulated by the foil

Line a baking sheet with foil and cover with bacon of

your choice – I prefer smoked. Bake for 15 minutes (180fan/200c/Gas 6)

turn and repeat - it will be crisp! Let the bacon cool and break into

small pieces, box and fridge

Grate a large box/bag of mature cheddar cheese

and fridge

Slow cook a whole chicken – it takes 5 minutes -

check out the Chicken label on the blog “Slow, strip,

strain and stock” for the recipe

all you need to do is leave a trail of post-it-notes or

perhaps a more modern technique is to set your phone

alarm for 8 hours time!

Are you with me so far?

Post holiday blues …

… whether it's an over indulgence of your guilty pleasure(s) or that overwhelming feeling that you never want to see another shopping list ever again!

Sadly we don't have much of a choice since we have to eat. Added to which there'll be pressure now for that gym membership or, worse still, an invitation to join a weight loss plan.

How depressing.

We're so fed up with feeding people and all that goes with, it's time to take a moment, take stock and breathe.

If you'd like some help, try this on for size, pardon the pun, get organised.

If Santa gave you dosh for Christmas, why not invest a small amount on Splitting Atoms and Grating Cheese, or, life's too short to faff around. Please don't panic, it's not about diets, weight loss or the gym. It's ideas and help to get organised, the knock-on effect of which is to save you precious time not to mention save you dosh and reduce your stress levels into the bargain!

Life's too short ...

Food guilt is a terrible thing …

… it's too late for recriminations - “Why did I eat my way through that giant box of chocolates … I don't even like chocolate!” I'll bet you have a pixie on your shoulder whispering in your ear “you don't want healthy, balanced food you want junk – in whatever form - sugar, salt or both!” The final straw is that your favourite jeans are, shall we say, a little snug?

I'm not a lover of resolutions, they are destined to be broken and done by the middle of January. What I do love is being organised and in a routine where food and meals are concerned. Life is so much easier when you have a plan.

If you must make a resolution to change the way you eat, can I make a suggestion – keep it to yourself – should you “fall off the wagon” for a day, just get back on, there'll be no-one – pixie or work colleague (who is watching you like a hawk, willing you to fail) any the wiser – no pressure.

What makes matters worse at this time of year is the weather – usually wet, cold and miserable - that makes us want to “stoke our boilers” and comfort eat. You can comfort eat, just with the right stuff.

The trick here is to make it easy on yourself and plan.

That's exactly what we're going to do – plan a weeks worth of suppers, with may be the odd lunch thrown in. We'll be doing as much work and prep when we're already in the kitchen, cooking for example a Sunday lunch – you're in there anyway so why not make the most of your time.

You'll be glad you did …

Using up the Camembert - photo guide

There's nothing like dunking fresh bread into warm cheese :

We have chopped pistachios, honey roasted cashews, sweet chilli sauce, chopped cranberries and redcurrant jelly. It's difficult to know where to begin!

I fancied beer bread for a change.

If you'd like to treat yourself buy a ceramic Camembert Baker suitable to fit the 250g cheese or a larger “dip baker” version, here they are :

A baked Camembert is not just for the holidays!

And finally, using up the bits and bats

I think most of us finish up with an excess of cheese after the holidays – here's what I did with the Camembert I didn't get around to using with my cheese board.

I suppose you have to be a lover of cheese for this dish. An ideal partner for either the soda or beer bread and a great idea for a sharing appetiser – getting messy is part of the fun. Before we begin a note – make sure the box is stapled – not glued!

Baked Camembert

250g Camembert

1 clove garlic or garlic paste

olive oil

Bread of your choice

Pinch of sea salt

Handful 25g of chopped dried cranberries

Handful 25g of chopped mixed nuts

A bowl of sweet chilli sauce - 75g

A bowl of redcurrant jelly or cranberry sauce - 75g

Preheat your oven 160fan/180c/Gas 4. Leaving the Camembert in the box, score around the top about half cm in and cut off the top layer of skin. Slice the garlic clove and poke into the top of the cheese. Drizzle with a little olive oil then bake in the oven for 15 minutes – or until gorgeous and oozy in the middle.

I served the Camembert with warmed fresh beer bread.

Option 1 – dunk the bread into the cheese and then into the cranberries and nuts – repeat!

Option 2 – pour sweet chill sauce or a spoonful or two of either redcurrant jelly or cranberry sauce into the centre of the baked cheese and dunk.

Retro stuff at its absolute best.

What's not to love – hmm, may be bake two cheeses – it's difficult not to keep dipping.

Yum!

Photos next.

Just before we leave the holidays behind for another year …

… a bit of fun.

The stocking filler and the Rocky Road fest!

Each year when we travel to visit the family we take an extra – a stocking filler if you will. Over the years it has been a luxury panettone, amaretti biscuits or posh crackers for Christmas Day.

My idea for this year began when a friend of mine was waxing lyrical about the Middle Eastern version of Rocky Road and so I decided I'd make her some as a Christmas gift. That gave me the idea for the family “extra” - Rocky Road - me and my big ideas.

I made the Middle Eastern version batch first since I had to deliver to my friend before we left for the holidays and I decided my hairdresser might like it too - I froze the rest.

I should have realised that it was a tall order – leaving aside the Middle Eastern version I made two more batches of original Rocky Road and divided it into eight containers, bagging the remainder to transport, the thought then occurred – will it all fit into the car with all the stuff we have to take … blind panic!

Here's what my kitchen looked like :

First family visit was to Daughter in Law (Dil for short, it's much easier and so much more affectionate!) - Granddaughter, Partner and Great Granddaughter call in – that's four containers delivered. We left another two containers for Son and Dil to be passed on on Boxing Day. The final two containers delivered other Son and Dil – a great sense of achievement I can tell you.

Fast forward to later in the day …

… and an extract from a text received from our Granddaughter :

… the Rocky Road is the nicest thing Lee has ever

eaten in his life!

I think that definitely guarantees a repeat order!