busy cooking day. made everything is orange soup for my son along with some mango puree. right now i have batch of vegetarian manicotti and a batch of meat ones.

everything is orange soup

• 1/2 a small sweet potato chopped up
• 3 inch hunk of butternut squash chopped up
• 1 carrot chopped up
• 1inch hunk of swede(rutabaga) chopped up

toss the chopped veggies in a pot with about a tablespoon of olive oil. sauté around for a few minutes. i added some onion powder, garlic powder and about 1 teaspoon of veg bullion and stirred everything together. i then added enough water to just cover the veg.

i brought everything to a boil, reduced the heat and let the pot simmer until the veg was tender- about 30min. i let everything cool a bit and then blended it up with my stick blender.

i put 1 ladle full(6oz) into a container with a hunk of cooked turkey i did yesterday and blended it up again so the turkey was nice and chopped up. i then did 1/2 a piece of toast and crumbled that into the container, mixed everything together and my son devoured it.

mango sauce we covered the other day- peel and chop up with mango, put in a pot with a little water, cook until soft and blend with the stick blender. i put 3 tablespoons in a bowl with 3 tablespoons of plain yogurt and mixed them together.

manicotti
some kind of filling, ricotta cheese and dried pasta tubes, super easy.
for the veg ones i took some of the leftover ratatouille and blended it up with my stick blender. i then added some ricotta cheese to it and mixed the two together. for the meat i took some homemade bolognese sauce we had in the freezer and let it thaw out i then mixed some of it with a little bit of ricotta cheese. you can also just do plain ricotta or ricotta and spinach is popular too. ok so how do you get your filling into the tubes? i used a plastic freezer bag. put the mix in, push it to one side of the bottom, get the air out and twist the top closed. when you pick it up it should form like a cone shape in your hand. snip off the corner and insert the open end in the tube. give a little squeeze from the top and it goes right in the tube. sounds kind of hard but it's really easy.
ok then get your baking dish, put down a layer of sauce. lay down the stuffed manicotti. cover with another layer of sauce and some shredded moz cheese or parm. cover and bake in the oven at 350 for 35min. uncover and bake another 10min or so.
serve with garlic bread
slacker garlic bread

cut a part baked baguette in half- the long way. spread each side with butter. put some garlic paste on the knife and spread down the length of the baguette, sprinkle on some dried parsley. i also sprinkle on some garlic powder because i don't think garlic paste is strong enough. bake in the oven until golden brown.

i've had a very long and somewhat frustrating day dealing with my toddler. gah. turns out the two heads of broccoli i bought for super cheap from the crazy vegstand lady really need using up. 50p for two super nice bunches, total bargain. in the grocery store that would have set me back at least £2. so i cleaned the broc up and got rid of the nasty bits. one head i decided to add to a batch of baked mac and cheese. the other head i set aside for husband's dinner.
so homemade mac and cheese, i don't really have a written recipe for this. i just add stuff to the pan and hope for the best.

2 tablespoons butter or marg
2 tablespoons flour
milk
whole wheat pasta of some kind- penne, fusilli
steamed broc
grated cheddar cheese
bread crumbs
oven proof dish/bowl

ok, now here's what i do. i get a pot to cook the pasta in. i put water in the pot and set it on a burner to heat up. over the pot i put a colander(strainer) holding my  broc. i put a lid over the broc so it's covered. while the water is heating up and later cooking my pasta, the broc is getting steamed. you kill two birds with one stone. i just give the broc a light steam, you don't want to cook it too much since it's going in the oven later. when it's done i set it aside. i let the pasta cook until almost done, again doesn't have to be totally cooked because- oven. i strain the pasta and set that next to the broc. now in the pot i cooked the pasta in, i put that back on the stove. i add the marg in and let it melt. when it's melted i add the flour. mix it up and you have a thick paste. i stir it around the pot a bit and let it cook for a few minutes. i add in about 1/4cup of milk and stir things around with a whisk. the marg/flour paste blends into the milk and you get really thick milk. then i slowly add more milk and whisk some more. i add milk about a 1/4 cup at a time and let it cook a bit until i get a nice white sauce that's not too think and not too thin. when the mix looks to be the right consistency i turn off the heat and add the grated cheese. how much cheese? i don't know i've never really measured. try 1 1/2cups and see how you like it. the cheese melts really quickly. give it a good whisk and add the broc and pasta. dump everything in your oven proof dish, top with some breadcrumbs and bang it into an oven for like 30 to 45min at 350.