The diet bit the dust for the Christmas break.  Variously, I can recommend:

• Mary Berry’s Christmas Chocolate Log.  Recipe here. Picture of our version above.
• Nigella’s Roast squash and sweet potato soup with buttermilk blue cheese sauce. No need to peel the squash or the sweet potato; we used low fat yogurt instead of buttermilk. Recipe here.
• The Hairy Baker’s Old-fashioned sweet mince pies. Recipe here. Pastry has orange zest and juice in it. Yum. Even if mine were a little chewy – I think due to my adding too much juice.
• The Hairy Biker’s Gammon with Spiced Marmalade Glaze and Two Zingy Salsas. Recipe here. As seen on Saturday Kitchen when both bikers and James Martin seemed very flirty with Dervla Kirwan. You boil the gammon in fruit juice, then when it’s cooked roast it with some glaze, and finish with pineapple & chilli and beetroot, apple & mint salsas. Easy enough to do (especially when you can wash up as you go).
• Homemade cranberry sauce. Very easy; boil cranberries, sugar and orange juice and zest until done. Beats the stuff in a jar into a cocked hat.

Gym (to work all of that off) starts again on Monday!

The last Sunday before Advent is often called ‘Stir-up Sunday.’  Traditionally it’s when Christmas pudding was made.  As we’re not having one of those this year, we made our cake instead.   I forgot to post this last week; the cake is now safely tucked away coming out only to be ‘fed’ with brandy on an occasional basis before being covered in marzipan and icing.

Why ‘Stir-up Sunday’?  The best explanation I can find is on the website of Woodlands Junior School in Kent – read here.