A Sunday at home

When you work 6 days a week (or if I was to be honest it's more like 7 these days) you look forward to that one day when you don't have to set the alarm; you can take a few moments to listen to the rain outside before thinking of getting up and better yet, you have the option to roll over and go back to sleep!

This is what I did this morning folks and I loved every minute of it. I even decided the rain wasn't too heavy so I could have my first run for the week on the last day of the week! It's all about the little things I can achieve outside my working world these days.

What does one do on a day like today?

Sydney was having a wet one and that suited me just fine.  I was in the mood to potter about and do a spot of cooking at home for a change. After my run it was a family affair in the kitchen this morning. Max is now our poached egg man, so while he ordered me around with jobs to do like, heat the baked beans and cook the bacon, he was at Nic to cook the toast and make the coffee (juice for the boys), while Alex informed us all he was our waitress as he set the table and then wondered off until breakfast was ready.

This is about the only time you can get three of us in the kitchen at once without causing a scene. Sunday morning- calm and relaxed, I love it!

With breakfast all done and dusted it was my turn to have a flip through some of my old recipe cards and see what I could make that I hadn't got to in a while.  I'd bought some pistachio nuts on Friday and wanted to do something with them, so when I spotted my recipe for zucchini bread I knew they would be a perfect match.
I have made zucchini bread before this is true but I altered the measurements yet again (after all that was was back in 2008!). I cut the sugar down to 1 cup, cut the oil down to 3/4 of a cup and only put in 1/2 cup of nuts. This recipe seems to be very adaptable and I was not disappointed with the end result. The bread was moist, and soft just as it should be. I really don't like it to taste to sweet, so cutting the sugar by half has finally gotten me to my perfect sweetness, however if you have a rocking sweet tooth then stick with my second recipe!

While the bread was cooling the lunch hour was approaching. Nic was up to his ears marking papers for work and wanted something to warm him up- soup. This is when I O.Ded on zucchini because the only veggies I could see for a quick yummy soup were asparagus, potatoes and zucchini.....I wondered if the kids would notice?

Seriously easy soup
50 grams of butter
1 large brown onion,peeled and roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
4 medium zucchini, thickly sliced
1 bunch of asparagus, chopped
300 grams potatoes, chopped (I had leftover chat potatoes and left the skin on)
chicken stock
2 tablespoons light sour cream
lemon and chilli flakes to serve

Melt butter in saucepan on medium heat.
Once melted add onion, saute for a couple minutes then add garlic, zucchini, potatoes and asparagus.
Stir until slightly softened and great smell fills the kitchen.
Add chicken stock (now important info here- only add enough stock to not quite cover veggies, you want to see some still poking out).
Bring to a boil and simmer for about 6-8 minutes.
Once veggies are some, remove from heat, add sour cream and a pinch of salt and pepper then blend until smooth. (I use my stick blender but any blender will do).
Serve soup in bowls, squeeze lemon juice over soup and sprinkle with chilli flakes

The soup is VERY green (picture doesn't do it justice), a fact I couldn't hide. When I was asked what type of soup it was I really didn't want to tell them zucchini and asparagus because they are two veggies the boys struggle with, so I stated it had lemon, potato and 'did you notice I made cheese toasties to dip in your soup?'

Max dipped a little corner of his toasty in the soup and announced he loved it and that was all Alex needed. Seriously yummy soup and the kids were devouring it!
I did tell them what it was made with when they only had a few mouthfuls to go. Max looked at me, thought for a second then said he loved pumpkin soup but hates eating pumpkin, so that's cool(?). I think Alex felt like he had betrayed himself and told me he didn't actually like it after he had eaten 3/4's of it.
No matter, I just told them it was nut bread for afternoon tea and I think Alex was the first to finish.
Cunning mum = happy mum!