Saturday at Home

I love Saturday mornings and being an early riser the first couple of hours are my favourite. I have a couple of very large cups of tea, read my emails, read my favourite blogs and usually watch a carboot bought DVD.  I am always restless so cannot watch a film without doing something else, so it's usually sewing, reading or doing the ironing at the same time. This morning I woke very early at 4.37am (usually it is 5am) and although I tried to get back to sleep I couldn't so got up just before 5am.  

By 7am I had drunk my two cups of tea, tidied the kitchen a little, made the ratatouille I said I would in yesterday's post and started on the ironing. I like using my slow cookers for a lot of recipes as they are so easy to use and economical. I can also leave them switched on when I go out and not worry about them. I had bought courgettes and peppers yesterday so made a start on the ratatouille first thing.

Ratatouille
Courgettes
Peppers - I used yellow today

Red onions

Tomatoes - I used baby ones today
Mushrooms - because some needed using up
Garlic
Herbs
Seasoning

The original recipe asks for aubergines but I knew I did not have any of these. I am not a slave to recipes and use what I have to hand (within reason). I cut everything up into bite size chunks and put them into the slow cooker with half a pint (250 ml) of water and put the slow cooker on medium. Once it had cooked for about an hour I turned it down to the low setting and left it for about 5 hours. I divided this into portions, freezing some of it and using the rest for our evening meal. There is nothing better than home cooked fresh food and I love eating colourful meals. We are going to have steak with new potatoes and the ratatouille.

I have spent the rest of the day doing housework and catching up on chores. I change the bedding on our bed every week and usually every Friday or Saturday. I stripped the bed this morning, let the bed air with the bedroom windows open and then put crisp white bed linen back on the bed. I always spray the pillows and sheets with Avon Sleeptherapy pillow mist. This is £4.50 from Avon but I have got the last three bottles from the Cheshire car boot sale at 50p each time. The last time I bought it, it was in a gift set along with a bottle of bath gel and body lotion and was still 50p!! There is nothing better than getting into a freshly made bed when you have just got out of the bath. One of life's free delights.