Pasta with Peanut Butter and Bread Sauce

Some time ago I saw a recipe for Spaghetti with peanut butter on The Blue Bear Wood. Today I noticed a tweet about the recipe and I knew that my struggle to decide what to make for dinner tonight was over. It's near the end of the week and our fridge is almost bare but I had all the ingredients apart from the spaghetti, but I did have plenty of Penne instead.


A while ago I made a similar pasta dish using breadcrumbs instead of the peanut butter so this time I thought I would use both to fill it out a bit.


I used :
Olive oil
2 small onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves
tsp mixed herbs
1 heaped tbsp Crunchy peanut butter
2 slices of bread, blended into crumbs
Can of chopped tomatoes
2 tomatoes, chopped
Penne pasta, cooked

• Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion & garlic and herbs, fry lightly for 2 minutes
• Stir in the peanut butter,breadcrumbs and tinned tomatoes, along with enough boiling water to give your desired consistency, simmer until onions have softened
• Stir in the fresh tomatoes, cook for 2 minutes
• Stir in the freshly cooked Penne and serve with grated Parmesan over

It went down well with most of the family, although Hanna complained that she didn't like the seeds in it (from the bread), but a certain little fussy eater ate the lot!

Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

It's been torture making this as I know that I can't have any (due to my diet) but at the same time it's a good test of my willpower. I did lick some of the mixture off the spoon to make sure that it was edible, although I washed it down with a pint of water so that makes it ok right?


Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
275g Digestive biscuits, crushed
60g Butter or Margarine, melted
1 pack (135g ) Orange jelly - I used a block not the granules
100g Dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
200g Cream Cheese
2 x 125g pots of Mandarin yoghurt


To Decorate
Grated chocolate
Orange segments

• Stir the melted butter into the crushed biscuits.
• Press biscuits into the base of a loose bottomed or springform pan.
• Refrigerate until set.
• Place the jelly in a microwaveable bowl, add 4tbsp of boiling water and microwave until the jelly has dissolved
• Add the chocolate pieces to the jelly and stir until melted - if it doesn't all melt then return to the microwave for 10 seconds and stir again. Repeat if necessary. Allow to cool slightly, stirring regularly.
• Beat the yoghurt and cream cheese together until smooth.
• Slowly add the melted chocolate/jelly into the cream cheese and stir until combined.
• Pour onto the biscuit base and return to the fridge until set.
• Turn out onto a plate and decorate with grated chocolate and orange segments. I segmented a fresh orange but tinned mandarins would be just as nice.

I have it on good authority that the cheesecake was good, I suppose I will just have to take everyone else's word for it - except Jack who said it was 'yeuck'!