Super Easy, Super Yummy, Vegetarian Rigatoni Bolognese

Hi Honeys 

How are you today?  Do you remember all of that lovely snow recently?  All gone now, replaced with rain and a breeze, so icy and sharp it could chill a nose off a face... or feels like it anyway.  It's definitely still mittens, scarves, hats and layers weather outside ⛄ 

I'm so wishing for spring to arrive.  Only eight weeks to go now until the clocks change here in UK and it really can't pass quick enough.  We're starting to see glimmers of sunshine now and again but I so long to peg lots of lovely laundry outside and to see our much loved garden wake from it's long, long winter sleep.  I miss seeing our beautiful roses when I open the front door honeys 🌹

It's January and my resolutions for this year are pretty much the same as they were last year.  Last year I promised I'd make some headway into organising and downsizing the amount of clutter we have in our home and I also promised I'd try to take more control of my health too.

I have the most wonderful Doctor and I'm blessed to attend a great clinic at the hospital for my arthritis, but last year was truly awful, health wise, for me.  The constant joint and muscle pain went off the scale, restricting my mobility even further, to the point I wasn't coping at all well anymore. 

As if that wasn't enough, in the later part of the year I had a chest infection which turned into bronchitis. I battled this for over four months leading to yet another new experience. I had to go have a CT scan.  I was taken off my arthritis medication (it flattens my immune system) for several months to allow my chest infection to try to heal but this allowed the arthritis pain to run riot.

The result was that I didn't do much de-cluttering or have a chance to look into the pilates or yoga I'd been told might help my spine pain or anything else to be honest honeys.  I wasn't in the driver seat last year dear ones. I woke up every day and tried to make it to bedtime. 

Not a good way to live and I'm so determined to make an effort this year.  I really can't live another year like last year so, first thing first, I'm hoping to pro-actively do something about my health.  I've gotten myself two beginners Yoga and two beginners Pilates dvds, and I'm changing our diet to a far healthier one. 

To that end I was rummaging about on Pinterest looking for recipes and stumbled across a fabulous vegetarian version of one of Hubby's favourites, Bolognese 😊  I clicked on the link and it took me to a wonderful recipe and a fabulous blog written by a lovely lady called Trinity.  I'll include a link to her blog so you can go say hello honeys but first I'll show you a version of her Vegetarian Bolognese.

I hope Trinity doesn't mind but I left out some things (neither Hubby nor I are fans of celery) and added others (I had to add the rigatoni pasta it's taken over from macaroni here lately as favourite pasta 😊) I would have loved to use fresh basil but I didn't have any on hand  but I'll show you what I did and you can tell me what you think of it 😊

To the kitchen dear ones....

Fresh Snowfall, Feeling Calm & A Happy Furbaby...

Hi Honeys,
We had a fresh fall of snow yesterday and it was so beautiful I wanted to capture it before the never far away rain arrived and washed it all away.

So, I grabbed my camera and out into the garden I went with our furbaby Jade...

I do adore our little garden.  I still miss our gorgeous sycamore trees since the local council cut them all back.  They hid the view of that large ugly metal fence in the lane behind our garden, but more than that honeys they gave our beloved garden the feel of a secluded little space where I could escape the world when life got overwhelming.

In the Spring we're hoping, when the always unpredictable weather allows of course, to create a little seating area.  We were hoping to do it last year but with what must have been one of the wettest years ever it just wasn't possible.

Do you remember the beautiful bench Hubby bought for me a while ago?  Almost two years ago in fact.  It's still in it's box waiting to be assembled and take pride of place in the garden.  I can't believe the weather has been so dreadful for so long.  Maybe this year we'll be surprised by mother nature with an actual summer 😊

As you can see, it has a wrought iron fretwork design of roses on the back rest. I can't wait to see it as the centre piece of our little seating area and to be able to sit out in the garden, watching lots of lovely laundry floating around in the breeze 😊

For now though, we have snow and, as I said, I wanted to capture how beautiful the garden looked before our almost inevitable rainy lead up to Spring begins.  Let's have a look shall we?

Spring Is Coming! Peonies Have Appeared...

Hi Honeys
I'm so happy I could just burst!! Having opened the back door to let our furbaby Jade out into the garden to see if her squirrel friends are about (like the ducks on the canal she loves to visit, she adores the squirrels but they don't ever want to play with her bless them) well standing at the back door I noticed something...

I then wandered over to the huge pot our much loved peonies grow in to see if I was actually seeing what I thought I was seeing and.....

It's true! I did spot tiny, precious shoots fighting their way through the soil looking for sunlight!  This is wonderful honeys! I always judge how close spring is by our beloved peonies appearance each year.

Part of my brain tells me that, according to the calendar at least, we have a little over nine weeks till the clocks roll forward and we welcome Spring, and as much as I look forward every year to losing that hour.... don't judge me honeys.  I'm awake before the birds are every day so an extra hour in bed is just an extra hour for me to wait till anyone else wakes up to keep me company 😊

Well, anyway, as I was saying 😊 as much as I look forward to losing that extra hour (I don't mind the hour itself, more time for me to read or do a puzzle in the morning but it can be lonely) well it takes us closer to spring you see.  I am so not a winter person. Spring is my release from the cold and the long, dark days that seem to drag on forever.

I'm reminded of the wonderful Harry Secombe singing "If I ruled the world, every day would be the first day of spring"  and I wholeheartedly agree 😊  Such a beautiful song with wonderful lyrics 💖

So now that the peonies have begun to grow it'll be no time really until they look their gorgeous self and make me smile every single time I open our back door...
 

What's making you smile today honeys?  Are you looking forward to spring as much as I am?  I've just glanced out of the living room window and the snow is coming down heavily again.  I have to leave for work in around half an hour too, time to get all bundled up warmly 😊

Stay warm and safe dear ones, till next time, huggles always xx

I'm Back! Snow, Rainbows & Praying For Spring...

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to promote any products, but have included links for a product that's helped me during the current snow & ice in case it can help other fellow spoonies too. Stay warm and safe honeys x

Hi Honeys
Happy new year dear ones 💋 I hope you had a great time over the holidays and that your 2018 is off to a fabulous start already. 

I'm so sorry I've been missing for so long honeys.   Last year for me will go down in memory as the year the battle against my various health issues (almost) became too much.  They nearly beat me, a few times if I'm honest, and I hate that. This might be a long post so it might be worth fetching a coffee and maybe a cookie.. I'll meet you back here in a few minutes....