A Hygge-licious sort of day

Sitting on the settee, the fire quietly crackling away, half completed mug of tea next to me.

Actually, we are all sitting here, contentedly allowing Sunday to slide by. Eldest is frowning with concentration as he types out a report on the causes of animal extinction in the UK, Youngest is surfing the web looking at cars and motor bikes, Himself is doing something similar - occasionally they share their latest find and compare vehicle laden anecdotes with each other.

We are still on our new style of eating and Himself and I agree that we feel so much better for being on it. Not that we were particularly unhealthy before (at least I don't think we were) but omitting purchased breads, reducing salt and animal fats and trying to have as near as every meal cooked from scratch is paying off. I still bake for the boys - they would 'wither away' and wonder what the world had become without biscuits and cake. So - no - we are not 100% virtuous and I don't pretend to be.

Today's lunch was a thick and warming soup we affectionately call 'Skye Soup' with hunks of soda bread. It is good watching three hungry menfolk wolfing down bowls of steaming soup. 

The soup is so named for a couple of reasons. We've been up to Skye on holiday and discovered and visited the Isle of Skye Bakery in Portree. The food there is to die for, home made, rustic, filling and very very tasty. The following year, when a dear friend went up to Skye, she was clutching a list of places to visit which we'd pressed into her hands, of which this bakery was fairly near the top!

So she did, and like us found the food to be filling and wholesome and ordered a take-away of a thick and warming butternut and lentil soup. We both did a little internet delving and found a version which we think is as near as the original Skye Bakery recipe - hence the name 'Skye Soup'.

The recipe I use is HERE - the only difference is I usually add a red pepper but today it was a glossy yellow one :)

The soda bread - now a staple which I bake every second or third day - comes from HERE and is as simple as simple can be. My only addition is a generous tablespoon of chia seeds for good measure.

As for the baking for the boys? Well seeing the oven was hot for the bread, seemed a waste not to utilise that heat and baked a batch of the all essential bird buns and a pile of peanut butter cookies - which I am still experimenting with. The original recipe is far too sweet for us so I have reduced the sugar by more than half and added loads of oaty goodness! I will bake them again (all in the name of science of course) and shall share the recipe once I get the proportions correct :) In the mean time the boys are happily eating the results of the test kitchen baking :D

 Any hoo, Sunday has turned from a snowy cold day to a crisply cold evening. I'll have to return to the kitchen shortly to start the evening meal. Eldest has requested a frittata and roast veg before he sets off back to uni. Just need to finish my mug of tea and chatting with you first - what a good way to end the weekend :)