A lot of cooking

So how was your weekend? Mine was very busy but very good. I managed to get a lot of things done which is especially nice this time of year.

Thursday night we had our company Christmas party. It was a little weird having it on a school night rather than a party night but it was a nice evening. I took a few photos from Thursday night but for now i just have two to show you. One of me and well....one of the back of me...lol

Saturday we decided to put up the Christmas tree and decorations. This is our tree this year. We also have lights but i couldn't get a nice photos with the lights on so this will have to do.
Friday morning my foam wreath arrived in the post. I had ordered it off of eBay and was so pleased that it had arrived in time for the weekend. I pulled out my Christmas fabric and spent about 45 minutes making this for our front door.
Saturday afternoon we went braved the crowds and went shopping. I came home with a new steamer which folds away to practically the size of a pot which is just fantastic for my small kitchenand a whole bunch of blank stretch canvas's. I had run out of them but since Saturday evening i have already started on two of the small ones. I am hoping to to finish one of them tonight and the other one later in the week.Sunday was filled with cooking. After visiting my parents for a few hours i came home and made some Bacon, Potato and Leek Soup for my lunch for the week. This photo is the soup only half way through but it has turned out very nice.
Ingredients
Serves 5

4 rashers rindlesss lean bacon, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 leek, trimmed, halved, thinly sliced
750g Sebago potatoes, peeled, chopped
1L (4 cups) Continental Real Chicken Stock
1/4 cup cream or plain low fat yogurt
1/4 cup chopped chives

Method

Cook bacon in a large saucepan over medium-heat for 5 minutes or until crisp. Remove to plate lined with paper towels.
Add oil and leek to saucepan. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until soft. Add potatoes. Toss to coat in leek mixture.
Add stock to saucepan. Cover. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Blend, in batches, to desired consistency. Return to saucepan. Add cream and 3/4 of the bacon. Stir over low heat until heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with remaining bacon and chives.

Then after i had made my soup i decided to try some Christmas cookies. These are from the Splenda website and had some really great reviews so thought i would try them.
Serves: 36
Ingredients

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream butter, brown sugar, SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener and vanilla together in a medium mixing bowl. Mix until well blended and creamy.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Scrape sides of bowl. Add flour, baking soda and salt.
Mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips.
Place level tablespoons of cookie dough on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire cooling rack.

These are really tasty but they turned out to be more of a chocolate chip sponge cookie than they are cookie.

And finally on the knitting front I have probably knitted this now for the third time. First time I didn't have enough stitches. Then it was too big and now look what i have gone and done! Argghh. Now i am going to have to frog back to that row and carry on.
Well, its been a long post today. Hopefully tomorrow i will have a canvas to share.
Have a great Monday