A good party dish

 I didn't make a pizza after all yesterday, I changed my mind after seeing a recipe on FB from a Canadian cook called Marie Rayner, she also has a blog/website called The English Kitchen (she lived and worked as a chef here in England for a number of years).  The recipe was for Baked Spaghetti - I have a lot of pasta in the cupboard so decided to make that instead.  It's dry spaghetti in a sauce of tinned tomatoes and stock (I used veggie stock), with fresh tomatoes halved, herbs and grated cheese all mixed together in an oven dish, then baked for half an hour or so, stirring the spaghetti halfway through.  I added sliced chestnut mushrooms and a couple of finely sliced shallots to mine.  Once I'd got the dish out halfway through to stir and mix the spaghetti (I used wholewheat spag), I added the sliced smoked mozzarella on top for the final 15 mins.  We had it with a crusty roll each, it was delicious and I'll definitely do it again.  Husband said he'd like minced beef or bacon in it next time, although he did like the veggie version.  So next time I'll split it in two and put some meat in his.  Although I halved the quantity of spaghetti in the recipe (Marie used 500g), it still made loads and I've frozen another 3 portions.  The full quantity would make a good party dish actually, a big steaming dishful on the table with bowls of grated cheese, cubes of ham, salad and a basket of garlic bread would feed loads of people with little effort required.  And minimal washing up!

Betty's annual jab on Friday really knocked her out, she was sleeping all afternoon and most of the evening, which made for a quiet evening - she normally comes to life and wants to play in the evenings, just when we're tired and want to relax!

Very cold again today but at least it's forecast to be dry, the wind chill is going to make it feel even colder.  I'll try putting washing on the line but doubt it'll be fully dry.  But hooray it's going to be warmer by the middle of the week!