22 years of wedded bliss!

It was the 80s so excuse the hair (on both of us!)

Its amazing to think how long we've been together, and I'm totally surprised we haven't managed to kill each other over the years. I know I could have happily killed him on a number of occasions and pleaded insanity. I'm sure I could have got away with it too, my hormones made me do it your honour - he's beaten me for years!!! In truth the only abuse I have suffered over the years is from his music collection, his jokes and his ability to cook only two meals, beans on toast and his speciality.... cheese on toast! I don't think that would be considered adequate grounds for murder though, seen as I very rarely allow him into the kitchen, unless its to do the washing up that is!!!  The good thing about this blog is I get to write it so he doesn't have a chance to tell you how many times and why he'd like to have killed me over the years! But hey, it can't be all that bad, we're still here and still smiling and soppy as it sounds we're still best mates!

Jam and Coconut Sponge with thick Custard

For the past 12 months he's had to work away from home, this has meant he's had to fend for himself, making sure he stores the 4 tupperware boxes of prepared food in the fridge or freezer properly then heat them up without giving himself food poisoning! So far so good, he has not suffered any untoward symptoms. Over the year he has gone from strength to strength, heating up my homemade lasagna, boiling pasta 'al-dente'  and adding my sauce to it. We are now heading into summer and he is cooking marinated chops and boiling new potatoes and steaming fresh vegetables! I am, if truth be known rather proud of him. He's always ringing to check on cooking times and letting me know how dishes have turned out. He's making great use of his Pampered Chef small bar pan and his medium pizza plate, don't tell him but if you slap a  chicken breast on one of those you're not going to go far wrong, juicy on the inside and no amount of cooking with turn it dry. But hey he's doing fine so I'm not going to knock him.

It does make me come all over domesticated when he comes home on a Friday though. I try really hard to make sure I have his favourite dishes ready for the weekend, the cake tins are filled on a Thursday night so he can dive straight in when he lands on Friday afternoon.

Cherry Jam Bakewell Slices

Today being our anniversary I racked my brains for something that would be special. I didn't want to go down the steak and chips route which is usually one of our celebration menu dishes so I got to thinking....

When we were courting (such an old fashioned word!) we used to eat a lot in Pizza Hut, there they used to serve pizza pies, our favourite was a meatball one called the Verona, every time we went we'd choose this! It was delicious, a pizza dough pie filled with their famous sauce, meaty meatballs and oozying with melted cheese. So using my never fails quick pizza dough I lined my deep dish baker with the rolled out dough, creating the base of my pizza pie. I had homemade meatballs in the freezer ( I use Kittencal's meatball recipe) so used them along side the Pizza Hut Copycat tomato pasta  sauce. filling the cavity of the pie, I then topped it with another piece of dough rolled to fit the top of the pie, trapping all those lovely meatballs and sauce within. I then sprinkled grated cheddar cheese on top and baked it in the oven for 35mins until it was all bubbling and golden.  It wasn't as heart attack inducing as the real thing but served with a homemade garlic mayonnaise and a mixed leaf salad it made the perfect meal!

This is how it turned out!

Ooooozy Cheese and succulent meatballs

Verdict?  He still loves me!