January is a month when the comfort of warming food is an important part of family life and it is a pleasure to be inside the kitchen looking out (click on the links to see previous posts on these subjects).
Butternut squash became a regular feature in my shopping basket this month.
so that I could make tasty, filling soup.
I also bought red cabbage again. It’s perfect with winter meals like casserole and toad in the hole.
There have been a lot of one pot meals. This one uses swede (turnip if you are from the North-East), a vegetable that is always cheap and cheerful and surprisingly sweet and fragrant when cooked Moroccan style with cumin, coriander and chick peas.
‘Tis the season for Seville oranges…
to become…
marmalade. This year with added sparkle.
Little onions took a bath in vinegar and spices to become…
pickled treats.
The oven was busy with plenty of baking…
snowflake biscuits…
cream sponge cake with home made jam topping…
after school muffins…
belated birthday treats for work colleagues (The Husband was responsible for this feast, not me)…
more muffins, dairy free this time by substituting soya milk… 
and finally, four Christmas cakes. I said I was going to be organised, didn’t I?
