Slow Cooker Sausages in Onion and Mushroom Gravy

This meal couldn't be easier - My boys absolutely love this one and prefer it to any other sausage dishes as the skins are so soft and the sausages absorb the flavour of the stock.  Little does the 7YO know but it's a sneaky way of adding nutrients to his diet as although he eats fruit - he avoids most veggies.  It also works well on the nights that they have football practise as I can prepare it at lunchtime then spend the afternoon with Ben, before taking 20 minutes to finish it off when they get home - essential for hungry mouths who don't like waiting, otherwise the snacking will start!  Plus, the smell of dinner when you first walk in us unbeatable and always extracts excited comments from them.

Preheat Slow Cooker on high and boil the kettle

Grill sausages as per normal

Whilst sausages are cooking, peel and quarter 3 onions

Prepare potatoes and veggies as normal and leave covered in cold water until you're ready to cook them

Heat stock in the microwave (I saved half my chicken and veg stock from yesterday!)

By the time this is done, the sausages should be cooked

Transfer sausages to the slow cooker, add the onions, stock, plus some mushrooms

Turn the slow cooker to Low and it will be ready within 2 to 3 hours

When ready to serve, remove the sausages, onions and mushrooms from the slow cooker and transfer the stock to a saucepan (I use the one I've just cooked the potatoes in to save washing up!)

Bring up to the boil then add some gravy granules and cornflour to thicken to own preference.

Slow Cooker Tips:

Don't be tempted to keep tasting, despite the yummy smells - everytime you take off the lid, you need to add at least 15 minutes to the cooking time

Try to brown your meat before adding to the slow cooker otherwise the final meal will look really insipid

By cooking the sausages fully first, it removes most of the fat - it would be possible to cook chilled sausages from raw but the resulting stock will be greasier

Never cook meat from frozen

Always add hot liquid, not cold as this reduces the heat of the slow cooker and therefore the ingredients are at a dangerous temperature for bacterial growth

Family Bits from Today!

Well, finished the cooking bloggy bit so on with the family!

Ben returned to Tumble Tots today after the Christmas break and what a difference in him!

Before Christmas, he would only go on the climbing apparatus once per session, and it took so much cajoling that it felt like I was forcing him, but today he absolutely loved it!  He only played with the footballs for about two minutes, and "Bam Bamed" on the trampoline three times as he just wanted to climb and slide.  He even sat down and joined in the group songs without complaining.  I'd spent a while before going today, weighing up whether it was really worth the £5+ per session fee, but I was so pleased we went.

Ben also learnt to drink from a normal cup, unaided today - with minimal spills, thanks to him forcing it on his Daddy at lunchtime, who very kindly gave him about a centimetre of lemonade.  Unfortunately, this has meant that Ben has spent most of the afternoon and evening telling me to "Mooooo" (Move) and forcing me into the kitchen to pour another few drops into his cup!

It was also the first time that Ben really seemed to listen to songs on the radio - he heard Palomo Faith's song "Upside Down" twice and each time got excited with the word "Down" and joined in!

We had a very quiet tea time as James was out at a birthday party and then spent what felt like most of the evening acting as Mum Taxi for party pickup and Boys Brigade.  Si's working away tonight but feel that my evening as a "Single Mum" went very smoothly with Ben in bed from 7.30, and the boys asleep by 9.30.  One small confession - it only went so well because Grandad was here and helped with the final pick up!

And so, time for a chat with Si then a relatively early night!

Slow Cooker Chicken Soup

I had a conversation with one of the mums at Shining Stars on Friday, then another conversation with a friend on Facebook about my homemade chicken soup, so I thought I'd post a quick run down of how I make it.  Hopefully, by breaking it all down, it may make using a Slow Cooker slightly less intimidating!

Chicken Stock

Preheat the Slow Cooker on High for 20 minutes (or as per the instructions)

Peel any large pieces of chicken off the carcass and pop in the fridge for later

Peel and quarter 2 onions

Peel and crush 1 clove of garlic

Place the carcass in the slow cooker and cover with hot (not boiling water) - it's ok to leave some of the bones above the level of the water

Add the onions, garlic and a Knorr Chicken Stock Pot, any left over veg, the water from cooking veg (be aware that this may make your stock very salty if you add salt whilst cooking)

Leave on High setting for an hour, then reduce to low (or use the Auto setting) and leave overnight.

To Make the Soup:

Drain the stock using a colander, straight into a large saucepan

Add peas and cooked rice (or fine noodles) and the chicken from the fridge, heat for 10 minutes and serve.

I've left the stock in the slow cooker on Low overnight and the rest of the next day until tea time and it was still lovely - by leaving it on Low, it doesn't burn or evaporate.

For quickness, add a bag of Express Long Grain rice - no need to microwave beforehand, just squeeze the bag first to seperate and empty in. 

This recipe is great for Slimming World as it's all free food (providing you use normal rice).  If you're not worried so much about loosing weight, then try adding half a pint of milk to the soup, and thicken with cornflour.

As I make other meals in the Slow Cooker, I'll try to remember to take photos and blog how I made them!

Just Another Sunday.......

Little Ben managed another good night and slept until 8.15 but he was really off his food again, but eventually ate a banana and I got on with cooking Sunday lunch - really just a mini Christmas dinner;  roast chicken, stuffing, carrots, roast parsnips, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, bread sauce, homemade Yorkshire puddings - and everyone's plate was completely cleared!  Even Ben, so no worries about his appetite, it's just finding what he really wants to eat.

Popped out shopping this afternoon then stopped off at the Sports Complex on the way home for Robert and Ben to try out their new mini skateboards (Yes, I did mean Ben - he was so determined to get one and absolutely loves being pushed around on it - he has to be like his big brother!)

Quick tea then time to try out one of my Christmas presents - a doughnut maker!  It was a massive hit with the family and makes really tasty little treats - the same as the ones you get at the seaside, but at a fraction of the cost!

We had the usual playtime after tea, with Ben demanding his "Bam Bam Time" with Daddy (Bouncing on the bed while watching CBeebies), but he decided it was hard work and wanted to lay down to watch TV, much to the delight of his Daddy, as he assumed he would get to have a little lay down too, but oh no, if Daddy even attempted to sit on the bed, let alone lay on it, Ben went crazy telling him to "Mooooo" (Move!) and pushing him off.  Ben also learnt a new babble tonight, which I managed to catch on tape - I really think it sounds like he starts with "Bugger, bugger" but you have to listen closely!

Played with James and Robert on Si's Band Hero before their bedtime, I'm really not sure how much they enjoyed it, maybe when they're a bit older they may get more out of it, but I'm really looking forward to next weekend when they're away and Si and I get our time!

Finished the evening being a good wifey and mum, all the ironing's done and the slow cooker's on with the chicken carcass ready for soup tomorrow teatime.  All ready for the start of the week!

Snuffles and Family Time

Despite the bad signs of last night, our little man slept in until 10am this morning and didn't seem too bad but has been off his food so we've been allowing him to snack all day as any big meals have been rejected with barely a forkful.

Spent a lovely afternoon with Si's cousin Mark, his wife Gemma and two children, Jade and Logan.  James and Robert had an especially excellent time, playing on the X-Box Live and then playing on the trampoline outside, even though it was so cold!  Ben and Logan pottered around giving us a chance to catch up.

Then a chilled out evening with a fish and chip supper (pasta for me so I can have wine later - I know where my priorities lie!).  Poor little Ben's snuffles have been getting worse as the day's gone by but he's tucked up in bed with euycalyptus oil on his radiator, and is quiet so far!

Short Blog Tonight!

Unfortunately,Ben seems to be a bit unsettled tonight - hoping it's not really the start of a cold,but the snuffling's getting louder, and there's the occasional whimper, so could be a long one!  I really hope that if he has got a cold, it won't completely upset his sleep routine - the 12 hours a night have been wonderful and now I'm hoping I haven't wasted it by not catching up enough, myself.

Today's main achievements have been Ben negotiating the slide at Shining Stars on his own for the first time (check out the Cheesy!)

And Robert, (with help from me!) finishing the Kinect Rollercoaster.

And we have a photo of James' work in progress:-

"And this is what I'm doing next!"

Effect of Girls on Boys, Ladder Climbing and Meccano Building!

Some of you may remember from my Facebook post a couple of months ago, that I had a broken hearted son when his girlfriend dumped him and went out with his best friend.  This was soon fixed on that occasion with a homemade pizza.  (To follow that event, two days later, she dumped his friend and moved onto her next victim!)

Today, I was marched into town after school with the demand of getting his haircut.  This from a child who was determined not to have short hair until the summer as he said he wanted to keep his head warm.  I had tried nagging, cajoling and bribing to try and get him tidied up, but he was absolutely adament that his blond locks were staying - in the end I'd taken to blow drying it after his shower to try and keep it under some sort of control.

Eventually, whilst cooking tea, he told me the reason why he'd had such a massive change of heart - a girl in the other class had asked to kiss him whilst they were lining up to go into lessons!  Tomorrow will be the big day when he and his friend are going up against each other to attempt to win her affections, therefore he needs to look his best, complete with new spikey hair (only slightly spikey as it's now so short!), and the request of a squirt of his step-dad's after shave (compromised with some Lynx shower gel tonight and a little Lynx body spray in the morning!)

All this and he's only 7!

And then, to top this evening off, Ben pottered off to play with Robert in Robert and James' bedroom, for me to be called by an excited Robert because Ben had managed to climb the ladder of his bunk bed and was happily bouncing up and down!

Aaaaarrrrgggggghhhhhhhh!  I went upstairs and found Ben looking very pleased with himself, cuddled up with Robert's teddy (shh! don't tell the potential girlfriend he has a teddy in his bed!), perched on the top bunk!  After much persuasion, I eventually got him down, encouraged him downstairs, then promptly blocked the way to the ladder with a toy box and wash basket.

Within five minutes, Ben was dragging Robert upstairs to play again, two minutes after that and I was being called again because Ben had scaled the box and the basket and was bouncing away quite happily again on Robert's bed.

Now I'm left desperately trying to outwit my little monkey, without inducing the frustrated nearly terrible two's screaming session!  Who will win this battle?  Worse case, I've shown him each time how to climb down the ladder backwards, which when combined with his Tumble Tots sessions, may limit any damage!

In other news, James finished building his Christmas Meccano car - very proud of him because he managed it almost completely on his own, and persevered with it over about four building sessions!