Even though it's cold, I feel like eating salads

Especially as I seem to have added somewhat to my weight just recently!
So Imade a salad from the following ingredients.....
half a leek, chopped finely
a handful of both rocket and lamb's lettuice
Half a little gem lettuice, shredded
Half a hard pear, sliced in half moons
about a third of a cucumber in fine batons
There was some puttanesca sauce left. so I mixed in some more olive oil, and poured that over the greenery, chopped some fresh mint,and then scattered the mint and some sunflower seeds over the top.
 it was very tasty.

Then I made another one,
Some cooked py lentils,with a soy, honey and balsamic vinegar dressing poured over them while still warm,  Two red onions cut into half moons  and some sweet potato in pieces,both  tossed in olive oilsalt  and cinnamon before roasting in a hot oven for 30 minutes.Leave to cool . Salad made with some rocket leaves, and goat's cheese crumbled over  the lentils and vegatables plus a little salt and a grind of black pepper,if needed.

Finally ., my fix on chilli. I really do love chilli!

Some nests of fine egg noodles,(I used two)  Put in a bowl and pour boiling water over them, and leave to cool.
One red  red chilli very finely chopped, 2 shallots finely chopped, a handful of Coriander leaves,
Sesame oil, Soy sauce ,some honey to taste and the juice of a lime. Enough to mix in well, but not be too wet.
Good on it's own ,or with roasted meats.

My most useful pieces of equipment.

Well I could show you them, but as usual, I don'rt seem to be able to get the pictures from the folder into the blog. This is the second try.... here's hoping!  God, it's round the wrong way, but this is the spike that I use for cutting vegetables and hard fruits.have to put a dampcloth underneath to keep it from slipping.
The next is the body clamp, which I use by fixing it onto the worksurface,and pushing my body
against it(that's why it's called what it is!) The T bar presses against the jar or whatever it is that needs opening, just watch that it doesn't twist round.  Apologies for the inept ness .

What I have cooked this past week.

The Soda bread was a great success.
I mixed wholemeal flour with some seeded flour and polenta, and it made for a very interestingly tasting loaf.
Made a Risotto with Prawns and Mussels  for Thursday evening, using the stock I made from the prawn shells from the week before,and adding some finely chopped leeks to the basic mixture of celery and shallots. Frozen peas were just stirred in at the end,as they cook so quickly ,as do the prawns and mussels ,and I wanted to retain their bright colour ,and then some chopped parsley ,a spritz of lemon juice and a good slug of olive oil....job done!

Made an apple cake yesterday, as the boys came up after watching  the football match,  they were absolutely FREEZING COLD,as  it must have been around -6 degreesI haven't seen so many layers of clothing for a long time. .

Apple cake

2 eggs,their equivalent weight in flour, butter and sugar. Some powdered cinnamon and ginger
3 eating aples half chopped small, the rest in slices.Put the slices in some lemon juice to stop them from going brown.

Cream the butter and sugar ,add the eggs with the flour and the spices, ten added the chopped aple to the mix. Put in a greased and lined tin, and spread the slices over the top. Cover the slices with Demerara sugar,and put in the oven at 180o for 45 minutes. The apple makes the cooking time longer, but test the cake with a skewer if you think it is cooked before then.
Take from the oven the leave to cool. No need to ice ,as the apples make a good topping.

Sorry ,no picture ,as it was allmost all eaten, and they took the rest home with them!