Sad lonely cook makes raspberry ripple porridge

Sad lonely cook

This is going to sound so sad but I'm just gonna say it. I miss my wife. She's away with work for a few days and I've hated every minute of it. We have never spent more than a night apart and it has made me realise something. Men are boring. Well this one is anyway. When my wife is home I'm interested in all sorts of things, art, culture, current affairs, gossip. Without her I play on my daughter's xbox and go to bed early with no interest in anything. Told you I was sad!

Since Friday we have eaten lovely scrambled eggs on toast, homemade cheeseburger and fries and spaghetti with my own version of pesto which is just like regular pesto but with a handful of spinach, lemon zest, dried chilli, anchovy and a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts. I used the seeds as they are much cheaper and are a fine substitute. The spinach is a great opportunity to hide something super healthy in a dish. They don't notice any difference. Suckers!

My 'other' kids are driving me nuts at the moment. They are spoilt rotton. I made homemade cheeseburgers for them on Monday and added a little thyme to the meat to season and they didn't like them! The staff consensus was that they were a fine burger, big, juicy and so good...kids eh! 

Raspberry ripple porridge

Let's be honest, porridge has got an image problem. I don't know why as its cheap, versatile, healthy and delicious. I've adapted this lovely recipe from a chain of porridge bars called Stoats, who are doing a roaring trade selling the stuff. If your kids are like mine (well, like my youngest, Seren) then they will mock vomit at the mention of porridge. Its all about branding with these darn kids...so could anyone out there come up with an alternative name?

Serves 2
100g porridge oats
50g sugar
500ml water
100ml milk
Handful of raspberries
2 tbsp cream
Squeeze of honey
Squeeze of raspberry sauce*

1) In a large, non stick sauce pan, toast the oats over a medium flame, stirring often, for a few minutes. Add the sugar and let it melt but not burn. Keep some of this to sprinkle over the top.
2) Add the liquids and let boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes.
3) Add the raspberries, cream, honey and sauce and stir in. Eat straight away. 

*Make up some raspberry sauce by simmering 500g frozen raspberries with 100ml water, 100ml sugar, a sprig of mint and a squeeze of lime and then sieve. Keeps for ages in the fridge and can be used on ice cream and anything else you might fancy. Champagne cocktail springs to mind but thats another blog entirely...