Blisworth Tunnel and Stoke Bruerne

We left off earlier today in hopes of getting a bit farther along the way home as this is the last day we have to travel until next weekend. We already know that we will not make it to our marina this week as we lost a day to a repair part getting lost in the post. We have only been managing about 5 miles a day and we’re mentally preparing to stop for the week before Blisworth tunnel; however, the lack of locks at the beginning means we have gotten farther than we expected and at about 10:30 am are at Blisworth and ready for the tunnel.

Blisworth Tunnel is 3076 yards long (so about a mile and a half). It was cut by hand in the 18th century and was completed and opened in 1800. It is just barely wide enough for two boats to pass and this is likely to be a game of bumper boats. Once we get past the tunnel we will be in the village of Stoke Bruerne where we can drop off our rubbish at a refuse point. They have water there as well but thankfully we do now have water already.

1. Entrance to Blisworth Tunnel. 2. Inside the tunnel (two boats wide)

Go into the tunnel and realise that our headlight has gone. Turning around was not an option so we are headed through a mile and a half of pitch blackness with just our inside lights and a couple flashlights. Our driver is directionally challenged and we are following a day boater and hoping for the best. This boating thing is turning out to be much more stressful than I expected.

Following on from the tunnel is the Stoke Bruerne flight of 7 locks. One of these locks was closed for repairs recently but reopened on the 10th on November so fingers crossed the flight is in tip top shape.

The flight was not in tip top shape. We were not in tip top shape. That was a battle and I was struggling with some lock rage. Oh my god I think that locks will be the end of our marriage.

1.Going into the first lock 2. Already in the lock

The locks are at slight angles requiring you to kind of aim at the wrong side of the canal to line it up right. I took several locks to figure out why it all was going wrong. Another lock and Alan got deep into conversation with on lookers and my rope to away from me. Another onlooker had to catch it and give it back. Then another lock was failing to completely empty and it took ages for Alan to realise he left something open on the top gates so water was coming in while we were letting it out. Then there was the lock that was only half working (at least half was) so it drained out at a snails pace. With all that happening we did manage to finish the flight by 2:30pm and will cruise a bit longer and find a mooring for the week.

Yup, looks like 5 days in the Thrupp area. Alan will get a taxi (fingers crossed) and go back to Braunston to get our car and bring it down to as near the boat as we can manage. Alan has to get back to work and I need to get more of our stuff and do some shopping with K.

Today’s cruising was eventful but we managed more progress than we could have even hoped for when we left this morning. Oh and the headlamp on the boat turned on just after we finished the tunnel. Guess we need an electrician to have a look at the lighting situation here as it seems to be a bit finicky.

Day two of our boating adventure

Last time I left you we were moored up just outside of Norton Junction and our lights had gone out mysteriously. We turned off the fuses and turned them back on and still no dice. Just pitch blackness in the middle of nowhere. I joined Alan in the engine “room” and also had no idea. We finally decided to try starting the engine as all the battery stuff looks happy but no light. Alan reaches up to open the hatch and the lights just magically come back on all by themselves. Not a clue what happened but we have light so thanking our lucky stars and moving on.

Our first night was challenging and nasty. We had some trouble getting to sleep which isn’t too shocking being in a new place. The curtains drawn and the lights out was a level of darkness I have not known before and I loved it….however my cat did not! He had been fine in his little hidey hole all day without a single meow but once the lights went out he was NOT happy! He meowed at us regularly during the night and at some point while we slept he lost patience with us not paying him enough attention. The angry pissed in our bed at my feet. I woke up with all our blankets wet with cat pee. So we have learned that he needs a bit of light up in the living end of the boat to keep him happy and us still enough in the dark.

The criminal in his favourite spot

So, all of that happened the night before our second day. You can imagine we are not feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed today and our day starts straight off with 6 locks. The first couple were fine but then we came to one that kept refilling as we were trying to empty.

Just as we would get to a point when it looked like the water levels were equal so we could open the paddles a rush of water would come from above the upper gate and float me back up a bit. Then it would calm down and start going down before again a rush of water from above floated me again. This happened two or three times before another boat turned up at the lock also wanting to come down.

Now this is the great thing about boaters, they weren’t annoyed that we were in their way or anything. They just mucked in and helped find a solution. They checked all the top paddles with Alan and then shock about the gates a bit (they don’t really move when under pressure except to seal harder) and the water coming in slowed down enough that the bottom paddles could release more than was coming in. It is normal for there to be some leakage but not so much as to reflate a boat. After that we came down the last few locks together which makes the locks so much quicker and easier to do. We parted ways at Wilton but Narrowboat Glevum you have my thanks.

After the flight of locks we were done with locks for the rest of the day. Around lunchtime I told Alan to find a mooring so he could eat and as we happened to moor at Weedon which has a shop we did a little walk to Tesco. Picked up all the necessities like chocolate, whisky, and salsa but forgot the Fabreeze for the bedding as washing it isn’t yet an option. Oh well, task for another day.

Just after Weedon was a water point. Thank God!! The marina told us they had filled the water tank after refurbishment but apparently they did not. We got a ways from the marina before we realised we were completely empty. Sadly the next point was a challenging position so we didn’t have water until tonight. Found the water point and checked with those using it and it would be about 40 minutes. Ok…no problem.

Problem! Turns out that the former owner had not left a connector with the hose for filling our tank. The people ahead were leaving immediately but the people that moored up behind us said they were mooring for the night so we asked if they had a connector we could borrow. Thank you so much Narrowboat Dacre for not loaning but gifting us a connector so we could finally have water. This couple were heaven sent!

Now I have to move us to the water point ready to fill as I am apparently the better helmsmen. Alan made me parallel park a 65 ft Narrowboat in a space that was about 65 feet at best. I did it! I hated every moment of it and needed him to be pulling me in on the centre role as I backed into the space but I did it. It took about 1.5 hours to fill completely and we are heading off again. The light is getting low and we will need to find a mooring place soon.

we haven’t managed to get as far as we had hoped today. We will not make it to our marina by tomorrow night as we had hoped. As Alan has to be at work on Monday and there is no light after before or after his working hours we will be a bit stuck. I can’t manage locks by myself and between where we will likely get tomorrow and our marina is another flight of locks and one single. With no one to help we will likely have to be on the cut for the week and cruise again for our marina next weekend.

Must be off now to help moor up for the night. Check back again soon to see what happens next!

Mooring for the night

We Bought a Boat

A narrowboat to be more exact. Her name is Adam’s Apple but we just call her Apple and will likely change her name soon. She is 65 ft long and we bought her at Braunston Marina. After months of waiting and surveys and repairs we were finally able to set off for Milton Keynes this morning.

Our first cruise has been a baptism by fire. Within 100 metres Of leaving our mooring at the marina we had a near miss with another boat when Alan couldn’t get the boat into reverse. No harm done and now Alan knows how to manage our gears. Moments after that we were at our first flight of locks to manuever.

So we started off our first unsupervised lock work with Alan at the helm and me on the lock. I immediately panicked as I couldn’t remember what to do. There was a man and a dog watching which made it 20x worse. After a bit of panic and stopping to just think I was able to sort myself out and get to work. The lock went smoothly and e went on the the next one which had both gates open requiring me to walk back and forth across the tops of the gates to get everything sorted. As I have terrible balance this was a bit scary.

After the first two locks of the six, I decided that I would rather helm the boat and let Alan do the heavy work. Three of his locks went well but one was so slow in filling and the gate didn’t want to move. Turned out the pound (where the water comes from to fill a lock) was low on water and the gate was pretty much grounded. We were luckily ok and able to get off to the next lock without further problems. Following the locks we stopped for a breather and lunch.

Settled down for a few minutes to eat lunch at about 1:30pm which meant not that much time left before it would be dark at 4pm. As we had a tunnel to navigate next before finding a mooring for the night we had to get going again quickly. Within moments of pushing off again we were at the mouth of Braunston Tunnel. It is about 2km long and pitch black. We got all our lights on and plunged into the darkness.

Alan helmed Apple for the tunnel and got wonderfully lucky that no one came through the tunnel while we were in there for about 30 minutes. He kind of bounced off the walls of the tunnel a bit but only slightly. I sat at the dinette and watched out the front doors but all I could see was a bit of the wall to our right just barely in front of us.

As we broke back out of the tunnel and into the light we found ourselves in a tranquil area of trees lining the canal. We didn’t go too much farther after the tunnel. Maybe about 3 bridges along before Alan was feeling a bit too still and sort to keep going. As I had been studying the map I knew Norton Junction was just around the corner and the beginning of another flight of locks. The time was getting close to 4pm and the sun was going down. We decided the best thing to do was moor up for the night.

Home for the night

I was about the sign off this post about of first day on our boat but just now our lights went out. Alan has tried the other lights and turned off the fuses and all with no luck so our first evening shall be in the dark. Luckily the electric outlets seem to be working fine so still able to charge up and have WiFi….just no lights. We have a few push lights and lanterns so we will be ok. Tune back in for more on our adventures.

Diet Changes

So I am no longer plant-based. I decided that trying to restrict my diet in that way was stressful to me. In addition to that I can honestly say that being plant-based did not improve my health or make me feel better in the long run.

I know this will disappoint many of my readers. I jumped into this with excitement and truly believed that plant-based was the key to health and weigh loss. Nine months later and I was stressed out, my random pain was worse, and I had gained 40lbs.

I do believe I gave this a good go. This wasn’t a 2 week thing and quitting. I did have an initial weight loss with pb eating but after several more weeks the weight started climbing. I kept believing that if I just kept my focus it would reverse and all would get better. It didn’t!

Nine months on and my clothes no longer fit. I joined a gym and weighed in on their handy dandy boditrax. I had no idea it was 40lbs up from my pre-plant based diet and 50 lbs up from the initial pb weight loss . I felt pretty damn disgusted with myself.

Since dropping the food restrictions I was lost almost 2kg (5lbs) without calorie counting. I have felt a bit less hungry than since allowing meat back into my diet so I think that is the main difference. While plant-based I was hungry all the time.

I am not sure where I am going to go with my food choices in the future. I will continue to have plant-based recipes on here and probably add some that aren’t. I still have a vegetarian in the house so I am still balancing cooking for different diet choices so I will likely try and do more posts about how to walk that tightrope.

I am on a Break

I thought I might do a series on the various things I am doing for my mental health as I have been struggling for a while. Nothing serious….just been in a funk for the last 6 months. With university work and family always around everything got a bit on top of me. Add in a move along the way and a second big lockdown for added stress i just needed to do something. So what did I do? Lots of little somethings.

Today I will tell you about one of the bigger little somethings. I decided to take a Facebook break. I have been on Facebook since 2008 and have never needed a break until now. It had always been my way of keeping up with family and friends near and far. It had helped me find home education support back in my home ed days. It was always a nice place for until recently.

What happened to push me to log out? I have found that society has gotten particularly hateful and being hidden behind a keyboard that previously annoying poster that would, occassionally, grate on the nerves got more incessant or tipped into vitriol. I was finding it in big groups dedicated to one subject or another and in the local community groups. When I started feeling it in the more personal posts I knew it was time to get out of society a bit.

I am very introverted. Most of the last year has been refreshing for me as I have not had to go out ad socialise as much. I could heroically hide out in my home watching movies and it was socially approved. That is not normal.

So for the last week or so I have not been on Facebook. It is the only social media I generally would communicate on so the only one I deleted. I do have Instagram but as that is for comics and cat pics it is not partically stressful. So far I have been ok. I have missed the lazy scrolling through while watching tv but that is about it. I know that if there is anything important I need to know someone can message me. If i have an urge to read it I can log into the website but I am not planning to bring back my apps. It is nice to not find myself reacting to notifications all day or getting upset about something stupid.

If you would like to know a few other things I am doing to try to de-stress and calm my life stay tuned. Facebook is really just a drop in my bucket.

My COVID Vaccine Experience

On the 17th of March, at about 3pm, I had my first COVID vaccination. For me it was Astra Zeneca. I thought for those on the fence and just so people can be prepared I would share my experience.

I stood in my line, 2 metres apart like always, and checked in with my centre. Waited in another line before before checking in in full indoors. Another little line and I was with the Royal Stabber, aka vaccinator. All of my line standing probably was about 15 minutes. The man jabbing me that day asked a few questions like if I had recently had any other vaccinations, was on blood thinners, or might be pregnant. Big old no with a curse on anyone trying to declare me knocked up (now I am imagining them asking 90 yo women if they might be pregnant). All good so the stabbing begins.

I am sure the needle was small but I didn’t look. Not a big fan of needles and they are not a mere sharp scratch for me but a burning pain (suspect it has something to do with my nickel allergy). Now most shots I have had have been a quick in and out situation but this one must be a bit bigger as it took a bit to get all the vaccine into my arm. It did hurt a bit, not gonna lie. As I had someone to drive me home they let me go immediately but if you were driving yourself they asked you to watch 15 minutes in case of reaction.

That is my little vaccination site. No big deal at all.

After the vaccination I walked back to the car and had to wait for my husband to finish his business meeting. So while other waited 15 minutes I was stuck for 40. In those first few minutes though I only noticed one thing, a creeping warmth radiating out from the vaccination site. It wasn’t painful or anything. Honestly, if I had been doing something at all I wouldn’t have noticed it but I was annoyingly bored.

I had not seen anything about when the side effects might start so I expected to feel bad within a few hours…that is not the case. I a managed to make dinner for the family ad relax in the evening. I was good for the rest of the day with only a tiny headache start near bedtime at 10. As I am a migraine sufferer, I took my migraine meds and ibuprofen and nipped that headache in the bud. I headed to bed happy all seemed good.

Got home from my jab and had sushi bowls for the family. Yum yum!

First thing in the morning I got on my iPad and was reading my Facebook when my mother in law messaged to see how I was. Did I have any side effects. I had to report that other than the small headache which I nipped in the bud I had been good. Then I got up and started my day. That is when I noticed my arm hurt. It was tender to touch and achey to use. Now I deal with hand, wrist and arm pain on a daily basis so I really did have to consider what was vaccine and what was just me but the extra minor ache and heaviness along with the tender to touch was definitely new. My usual pain is very electrical in nature and the vaccine side effects were more muscular/ joint.

As my morning went on I got more tired and achey. The achey was not severe or really painful. I just felt like I had run a half marathon in welly boots. I had run half marathons before so I know the exhausted,worn out, ache of which I speak. Around noon I headed up to my room and spent the next several hours just resting in bed. I did have a few minor headaches threaten to start but I had my ibuprofen regularly through the day ( I was a bit scared of a knock down, drag out migraine being triggered) and luckily that seemed to stop anything getting worse for my head beyond a bit of extra brain fog.

By dinner time I felt much better but I was not about to get up and cook. Alan ordered pizza for us as that is what I most wanted. Nothing healthy about it but it was vegan from Dominos and yummy. I continued to feel a bit better through the evening and went to bed.

The next day I think my arm was maybe a bit more sore but the rest of the symptoms had passed. I wasn’t achey anymore, I had no headaches, and I was probably feeling less brain fog than usual. This was a good thing as I also had to drive Joey to college which is about an hour round trip. I was concerned that some other side effects might pop up but they didn’t and I was all good.

It is now the 21st of March and my arm is less sore to the touch. Just a bit of acknowledgment of the great stabbing of 2021. It did stay sore all of the last 4 days but never anything too bad. Leaning against a wall on day 2 was ill planned but I shall survive. The bit of ache in my arm when moving it has been like having had a good arm workout with the weights. Nothing so bad as to stop me from getting my stuff done but enough to remind me of the jab.

Overall, I would have to say that for me the side effects were not so bad. I was mentally prepared for an excruciating migraine and horrible joint pain but that never happened. I must admit I am an expect the worst sort of person. So, if you are going in for your shot and are feeling a bit nervous I hope this helps. Everyone will react differently though so you might better or worse than me so always take with a grain of salt.

My Sustainability Debt Snowball

I was listening to a talk with the author of a book called The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide, Jen Gale. I found this video at the right time. When I was in the right mindset. This post is about my take on what she said and how I am implementing my next imperfect sustainable step. If you are interested in listening to it yourself the video can be found at https://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature-environment/being-sustainableish .

In the talk, Jen discusses the need for us to do something to help or at least stop hurting the environment. That we don’t need to be perfect environmentalists but imperfect ones. Now this isn’t the first place I have heard or read this sentiment but it does come at a time I feel ready to hear it again.

She warns about becoming overwhelmed and getting frozen into inaction because you don’t know where to start or feel like you can’t do enough. This is a problem I often find myself in. It all seems a bit too much. I feel too small to do enough to make a difference. I get fatigued trying to do everything to the point that I eventually do nothing. I have been in this do nothing place for several months and I don’t like this place.

Jen’s message is to do something no matter how small. Sort of like the way Dave Ramsey talks about paying off your debts starting with the smallest and getting rid of them one at a time in a debt snowball. We need our sustainable snowball and it might look different in every household and maybe for each person. So what might be my next step be?

Right now I am stressed by my rubbish and recycling. Where I am living I have a smallish wheelie bin each that is emptied every two weeks for rubbish and the other recycling. In addition we have food waste and glass but these I don’t completely fill and struggle to not overfill. Yesterday our recycling went out and the bin was so full we couldn’t put the last indoor bin into the wheelie bin and rubbish is often the same. So my small sustainability debt is to reduce my waste enough to not overflow the bins.

The question for me is how. I have to look at my waste and think about what is taking up the most space so I can find ways of cutting back. I know a big issue in my recycling is plastic.

I have an addiction to Dr Pepper. Yes, that chemical shitstorm that does nothing to nourish me in any way. I usually get it in plastic bottles because it is cheaper that way but plastic can’t recycle indefinitely and never really goes away. It is also bulky in the bin. There are many other plastic items in there because so much is wrapped in plastic at the store but those bottles are my first stop.

I would love to just switch to water but I have tried that and failed dozens of times since I was a teenager. They say that a sign of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome. I am choosing to stop trying to stop and look at a plan b.

For comparison, 6 cans is roughly the same amount of drink as the one bottle. The crushed cans take less space than an uncrushed bottle, more than a crushed bottle but the cans can fall into smaller spaces in the bin.

Right now I am trying to switch to cans. Cans can be recycled forever until plastic so I am hoping that means it is a better choice. In addition to its ability to be recycled the cans also are less bulky (I have a can crusher) and can fit down the nooks and crannies of the bin so take up less space I hope.

The big questions I am not sure of are : Are the cans, in fact, better for the environment? Will this in fact reduce my recycling waste enough to not overflow the bin? And how to get the cans without them wrapped in plastic (in the U.K. supermarkets only coke tends to be in cardboard cases)? I don’t have these answers yet but will keep reading. If you have the answers please let me know.

Is this one thing enough to solve my immediate overflow problem? No! Partially because I need to deal with both rubbish and recycling bins and that only deals with one but it is a start. I will need to take note of what else is in the bins and research what I can do.

Is reducing my waste to merely not overflowing enough to save the world? No, obviously not but it is one imperfect step forward. It is a start. It is movement. It is action. What will be the next step in your sustainable debt snowball? Let me know in comments and maybe you will inspire me too.

Squeaky Bean

Love the name of this product! Let’s start out with…I am not affiliated with this product or any other at this time. I just tried it and thought I would let others know about it. Now if someone wanted to send me free vegan foods to review HONESTLY I would not stop them. I am just a tiny little blog though so nothing free coming my way.

Back to the Squeaky Bean! It is lunch “meat” or deli slices and chunks. That doesn’t sound all that nice….chunks….but it tastes really good. If you have ever been in a UK supermarket then you have likely seen the packs of ready to eat meat pieces near the lunchmeat. This is a vegan version of that. It is pieces of plant-based meat alternative with favours like bbq, hot &spicy, falafel and tikka. They are high in protein and taste so good. They are also very filling!

Before going plant-based I did a high protein diet which helped me lose a lot of weight. One of my favourite lunch ideas was a pack of that cooked meat from the supermarket along with a pack of berries. This filled me up, was easy, and I enjoyed it. Going plant-based my options plummeted for that favourite easy meal then came Squeaky Bean with their chunks. It fills that space perfectly and I can see having that favourite lunch back again.

In addition to that lunch idea I have a few other uses for the chunks. We have had wraps a few times lately. Just chunks, salad, and a bit of a plant-based sauce of choice. Once we even added hash browns which was too filling but yummy. This week I plan to make a pesto pasta salad with the hot&spicy chunks chopped up in it along with veggies. Normally this is more of a summer meal for us but it is striking my fancy. Another is to add to your salad just like a meat eater might add cooked chicken. They are great cold but would be good hot as well I am sure. I have not cooked them myself nor submerged in liquid (soups) so not sure how they would hold up there but if anyone tries that let me know how it goes in the comments.

The first is the nutritional information for one of the chunks and the second is for the pastrami.

I have added a picture of the nutritional information to show how high in protein they are. I realised too late for the pictures that the ingredients is likely helpful too. I would make note that the chunks are a product of the UK and that I believe Squeaky Bean is a UK company (based on these labels). The pastrami looks to be produced in Italy .

Now for the deli slices. I have tried several favours with two as my favourites. There are pastrami, ham, kebab, and roast chicken that I can recall off the top of my head. My favourites being the pastrami and ham. I think most everyone knows how to use a deli slice so I won’t get into that. I will say that these are popular enough in my home that I am buying 6 packs a week and still running out before payday. I would buy more but the price is a bit high for me.

Let’s talk price. The deli slices are 90g a pack and cost £2. For comparison, Tesco has ham slices in a 125g pack for £2. That is about 38% more product for the same price. The chunks are in packs of 160g for £2. Ready to eat chicken chunks are 180g for £2.50. For this one it is 12.5% more product for a 25% more money. That is my point here? It isn’t that it is horribly overpriced but this is definitely in the realm of how you make eating a vegan diet expensive compared to an omni diet. As I bought 2 packs of ham, 4 packs of pastrami, 2 packs of bbq chunks, and 2 packs of hot& spicy chunks last night, I spent £20 on this stuff. That is shocking to my wallet! I can’t afford to keep that going now that I have done the maths. OUCH!

Are they worth the purchase? If you have the money to spend on it then I wholeheartedly recommend these products. If you are trying to feed the family on a tight budget you will probably need to give this a miss or save for a special treat. If you are a vegan that is out of the house for the day and needs lunch, the chunks and a pack for fruit might be a decent lunch option.

I really have loved these items as evidenced by the excessive amount I spent on them last night. Squeaky Bean products taste really good and fill the sandwich filler gap perfectly. Have a go for yourself and enjoy.

Pandemic diaries….day 5299

I woke to darkness which was glorious only to be plunged into the light. The day had begun!

I read about the fall of America while my tea went cold before dragging myself downstairs to reheat my tea and have breakfast. I would have a filling breakfast sandwich to get me through my morning of study. Afterall, I am a first year student in university even if I am 45 million years old and the mother of a girl preparing to graduate university herself this year. I need my fuel.

Having heaved my full figured carcass back up to the computer desk and logged in with this soul sucking dread screaming out to me. I couldn’t get the cut and paste of the module coursework to work. Cut and paste and it didn’t work! So I head to the forum here I am told I must be in the editor not the shell but what does that mean? The man explains the meaning which only tells me still that I am in the wrong place but the app we were instructed to use only has one place as far as I can understand so I am not sure how to get to the shell. Moved on.

Worked on the online activity which was reading about an online notebook that seemed more complicated than needed and notes have never worked well for me anyway. Did the quiz questions (which just means homework we are encouraged to discuss in forum) only to find that it is too early to help despite there being at least two of us asking for help. The reasoning being that they need to give everyone the chance to do it on there own because obviously if it is discussed amounts those that want to discuss it the others are forced to log in, search down the forum post and ogle all that unwanted information….ffs!

After all that I decided to work on the assignment only to be befuddled by the need to download a file which I couldn’t find anywhere. I was about to head back to the forum from hell when I mis-clicked something so had to wonder my way back and accidentally found the file but by then it was 1pm and I was tired and hungry.

After lunch I got my audiobook going and headed up all the mother f*cking stairs with the plan to clean the bathroom when I realised I forgot the cleaning cloths. I declared (to no one in particular), “F*ck it all!” And went for a nap.

Now we all know a nap can’t be a nap. I listen to my book in my room and went to the toilet to pee every 20 minutes because I am 45 million years old and I did fuel my day with tea and diet Dr Pepper. My cat declared his love for me incessantly on one toilet trip because he wanted me to feed him for I believe the third time of the day. After feeding him….again….his love disappeared and I stopped existing again.

Dinner of Mexican chicken less rice was my next task. I poured the salsa over the This isn’t Chicken at lunchtime along with a tin of taco beans. I pulled out the rice and went to measure only to find that I didn’t really have enough….damn. I just decided to f*ck it and keep going. Into the instantpot went the “marinaded” fake chicken, salsa, beans, some frozen corn, rice and water. Put the machine on rice and walked away. Now the rice function is normally 12 minutes but an hour later it started counting down from 16 minutes. WTF! It finally finishes and it looks like soup. FFS!

Once dinner is over I am finishing off this day watching the end of the world (?)….aka the last season of Supernatural. I am a year late? No, I am just in the U.K. with the shittiest TV imaginable and eventually had to buy the last season because the sodding tv channel that was showing it for the first 13 seasons just decided not to finish showing it. I am definitely routing for those conspiring to kill god at this point.

Did I mention that hubby and I thought it a great idea to avoid alcohol until the end of February as we had been drinking too much this last year? Oh yeah, we decided this and vowed on it just days because the latest lockdown. FML!

Mushroom Filling

I know this isn’t the most delicious sounding title but I was at a bit of a lose to describe this recipe. I have used it to fill a pot pie as well as mixing it with pasta. It is versatile and moreish. As I am planning to use it as a topping on a puff pastry this week I am certain that will be one of the pictures but I shall try to dig out another picture or two to help do the recipe justice.

Mushroom Filling

2 onions

2 leek

600g sliced mushrooms

150g spring greens

2 tbsp butter (I use vitalite)

100g cream cheese (I used a vegan one with herbs though don’t recall the brand)

75ml soya milk

1tbsp liquid seasoning

1-1 1/2 tsp black pepper

1tbsp mixed herbs

1tsp garlic purée

1tsp meat gravy (the one I have seems to be vegan)

Method

I start by sautéing the onions and leeks in the butter. When they are soft I add the garlic, mushrooms, and greens. Stir around a bit without letting it burn on. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until all is soft with a bit of a creamy sauce.

As the best laid plans go and all my mushroom tart did quite go to plan for the picture. I had the lid on a bit too long and the liquids built up rather than cook down so I had to add a bit more gravy powder. So the picture shows it a bit darker than usual. It still came out rich and delicious though. I had also needed to switch out my spring greens for spinach so this might have added to my liquid issue.

I actually had enough filling to make two mushroom tarts with this filling. I just bought two ready rolled puff pastries from the store s I am not a crust making person if I can help it. Came out so well that everyone had double portions.

I don’t have a picture of the pie I made with this recipe last month but I do have a couple from the pasta version.

Versatile and gorgeous. I am also 100% sure it would go gloriously with rice or as a baked potato filling. If yo have a go at this recipe let us know how you serve it.

%d bloggers like this: