I felt very tired when I woke up today and would have liked to stay in bed but there was too much to do.  First of all, before I even had a cup of tea, I started making a shepherd’s pie.

How I wished I was relaxing in bed with my kindle and a cuppa, gently easing myself in to a day of gardening.

My little man, who rarely complains, did point out the other day that he had not chosen dinner for a long time.  It is true.  Before I embarked on my healthy eating regime,  we used to discuss what to eat and choose together but now I tend to decide.  So I asked what he wanted and he decided on shepherd’s pie.  If that is what my son wants, then that is what my son gets.

Can you see what these are?  I like the photo round at quiz nights 🙂

Yes, a stack of foil cartons.  Working Mother’s guilty conscience was in over drive so I made shepherd’s pie for supper tonight plus 5 more for the freezer for midweek suppers.

While I was boiling potatoes and frying the carrots, leeks and onions,

Harvey, who is nearly 10 years old (he asked me to point that out), made himself a delicious smoothie which I was allowed a small glass of.  He put in strawberries, blueberries, a banana and apple juice.  It was lovely and I would like to have been allowed a little more.

I tried to make the shepherd’s pie as healthy as possible.  I drained the fat from the meat to reduce the saturated fat content of the meal and added extra goodies, starting with a layer of raw kale in the bottom of the dish.

I then added a can of pinto beans, for extra fibre and to make the meat go further.

The meat and vegetables were added with some thickened stock to make a gravy

and finally the mashed potato.

I made extra portions for Harvey but without the kale and beans in the bottom of the dish.  There was no kale left and I was not sure if beans would free well.

And this lot is destined for the freezer.

We fed William some dandelions – his favourite food.  We have been a bit worried that he is not eating very well so we tried to entice him out of his flowerpot house with some treats.

Finally we could have breakfast.  I made porridge which I have not had for ages and it was lovely.  For two of us I used 1 cup of oats, 1 and ¼ cup of soya milk, 1 cup of water, 1 tbsp chia seeds and 1 banana chopped up.   When it was ready I topped it with strawberries, blueberries, pumpkin seeds, Goji berries, an almond and some dried fruits.

We couldn’t decide if it was a delicious bowl of nutritiousness or a nutritious bowl of deliciousness.  Probably both, it was fabulous.

It was sunny, warm and bright outside and I wanted to spend the day in the garden but we had to go to Ramsgate.  To tell the truth, I was really annoyed about having to spend the day cleaning up after our latest guests instead of nurturing my vegetables and relaxing at home.

When we were there, I kept looking out of the window and thinking the view was so amazing and the harbour looked so lovely in the sunshine that I needed to photograph it.  The water was sparkling and the boats bobbed up and down.  Unfortunately, by the time I got my camera, there had been a torrential down pour of rain and it was cloudy and looked miserable.  I felt miserable too and had eaten some Kit Kats the previous visitors had left.  I have eaten so much chocolate and poor quality food recently!

On the way home, we had to drive through an extraordinary storm.  The rain poured down so hard it was hard to see through the windscreen and the thunder was frighteningly loud.  Then it hailed.  All very extreme.  James tends to morph in to Victor Meldrew in the car so there was an element of criticising everyone else’s appalling driving so I retreated in to my kindle.

It was good to get home and a relief to know dinner was ready.  It just needed popping in to the oven and it was pret a mangez.  Oh look, my half seems to have cheese on it 🙂 .

This is totally nursery food.

I do like meals with the meat, potato and veggies all in one dish.

I serve mine with Branston pickle.  Harvey likes ketchup.  Unfortunately James is feeling unwell so was unable to eat his.

So that was rather a dull day, despite the glorious sunshine of earlier, which I enjoyed from a distance while I tidied, cleaned and moped about mopped.  Thankfully Harvey enjoyed his shepherd’s pie.