Day 25

The only thing I did wrong this evening when I made Chicken, parsnip and potato bake was that I didn’t make enough of it. Apparently, the drumsticks were that nice that Dear Husband could have eaten more of them.

The recipe was extremely straight forward and one of the things I loved about it was that it only required two dishes – one to prepare the ingredients and one to cook. No saucepans and one roasting dish to fling into the dishwasher after. Yay!

First of all, I had to mix the drumsticks in a large bowl with oil, red onions, cubed potatoes, parsnips, cloves of garlic and then salt and pepper. Then, I spread them out on a roasting dish and into the oven they all went for 45 minutes.

The verdict…

Dear Husband gave the dish 7.5 marks out of 10. He really enjoyed the chicken but could have eaten more than the two drumsticks with all the veg so next time I will double the quantities. Dear Husband said the chicken was so juicy and tender but I think that was more to do with the fact that I used free-range chicken drumsticks.  He said that even though there were onions in the dish, they didn’t taste too oniony and really lovely. All I could hear from Dear Son was the sound of him going ‘nom, nom, nom’ so I knew straightaway that I will be making these again very soon. I then asked him what he thought and he said they were “excellente!” in an Italian accent which obviously he has picked up from someone somewhere. Hmmm, probably from one of the many cooking programmes I have on the TV in the kitchen while I make dinner!

Seeing as it was a bank holiday weekend and I didn’t make dessert on Saturday night, I decided to venture into making Vanilla buttercream squares. I particularly love desserts but, to be honest, it’s hard enough at times getting a dinner out on the table without making dessert too so if I make dessert once a week, I’m doing well. Plus, Dear Son is on a sugar-free diet 90% of the time; otherwise, he goes beserk and literally bounces round the place! So, without sugar, he is much calmer and can concentrate much better.

The recipe was pretty much like any cake-type recipe – butter, sugar, eggs, milk, flour and baking powder with the addition of two teaspoons of vanilla extract. The mixture took 40 minutes to bake and, once cooled, I smothered the cake with a buttercream icing. Actually, I could hardly wait for the cake to cool properly so when I started icing it, the buttercream started to melt slightly so I did it as quickly as I could and then fired it into the fridge. Meanwhile, I put the kettle on for some lovely Barry’s tea. Another staple in our house. I really do think Barry’s tea bags are the nicest.

The verdict...

By the time I made the tea, we had a visitor which was great as I now had another independent taster. Dear Husband gave the squares 9 out of 10 and our visitor gave them 9 out of 10 also. Dear Son really, really liked his and wanted more but he got the one square and that was it. I gave them 9 out of 10 also but couldn’t help but think they’d be even nicer with some chopped nuts on top which is what I’ll probably do tomorrow. This dessert has made my list so I’ll be sure to make them again. Somehow though, I don’t think the leftover squares will make it past tomorrow…