Fish pie & stuffing/ Mexican beans / Sweet potato cake

On Thursday made fish pie.
Used 2 bags of frozen fish from Sainsburys, one cheapie cheap bag of white fish and a small pack of wild salmon to add some colour and omega 3.
Poached the fish in milk.  Used milk to make a white sauce.  Fried some onion and celery and then made the roux around this.  Also sprinkled some cheese on top of fish and on mashed potato topping.  Served the finished pie with sweetcorn and some really good onion, leek and chive stuffing from sainsburys (Taste the Difference).  This was a combination which worked really well and added a real 'big meal' factor to the fish pie which with teenagers sometimes to be forgotten 1/2 an hour after they've eaten it.

Yesterday, Saturday, cooked some really beautiful black Mexican beans I got in a fancy jar for £2 from TKMax. I soaked them overnight, boiled for 10mins then simmered for 40.  Tasted them to see how they were getting on and found them so good I ate loads of them there and then.  Later finished off: frying onion garlic and a finely chopped red pepper, adding a tin of tomatoes and the beans with a little of the black cooking water. ( I had translated the Italian cooking instructions on google and it said 'add the beans just short of their water').  Seasoning, I added salt and honey (just a couple of teaspoons).

I thought they were very good and served them with boiled millet (complementary protein set).

Sunday, Caribbean Rum and Raisin cake made with sweet potato.  This was a really exciting looking recipe I came across the other day when sorting out some other papers.  You boil and mash the potato before mixing it in the cake with eggs, flour, spices, vegetable oil (I used Rice Bran Oil).  There is also orange rind and juice, rum soaked raisins and coconut.  The icing was also made with orange, rum and coconut.  I think this is going to be a useful cake but for me may be spoiled by the coconut.  I like coconut but I think it is an ingredient which tends to dominate others it is with.

Weather this weekend is much milder than of late which is a relief.  Jon and I went to the cinema last night to see the Tourist with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp.  We had a delicious meal at Bella Italia and when we came out it was nice not to be hit by a wall of cold.  Jon repaired a broken headlamp on the car yesterday.