We are having "Mediterranean tray bake" tonight because ....

Evening Everyone.
Hope you are all well and looking forward to the weekend.
Well today didn't turn out as planned ( story of my life at the moment), and so the best laid plans that involved a lovely walk/hobble, a visit to my stepson and a coffee out followed by a few hours at home catching up on the ironing that seems to have piled up this week and then maybe a couple of hours just chilling didn't materialise.
Firstly I didn't get up till later than usual, I slept ok ish for me anyway, but I think the lack of sleep this week due to my back aching must of finally caught up with me. So, by the time I had got up, eaten breakfast and showered and dressed it was half ten. The plan had been to have a run out in the car to somewhere a bit different and try a little walk as I've not walked all week and I do think it does me good both physically and mentally. As we had arranged to visit our stepson at 12 we really didn't have time for this so went to a local marshland and walked/limped around the perimeter. I actually enjoyed this so sometimes its good to have your plans changed.
We then had a call from stepdaughter to ask us if we could have our grandson for a few hours as she wasn't feeling very well. We cut short our walk and headed over to collect him.
We then went to visit stepson and had a coffee there ( not my promised coffee out but saved £6 ). We decided to take grandson to see the trains at the station but on the way he fell asleep so hubby sat in the car with him on our drive reading his book while I did the ironing. ( Living the dream!)
It was then time to take him home, a journey of 20 minutes. Except that there had been an accident on the dual carriageway and so it took 45 minutes. A round trip of 2 hours by the time we had taken him into the house and handed over all the equipment that we took "just in case" and never actually used.
So we are home and I thought I had taken some chicken breasts out for our meal but no! In all the rush this morning I must of forgotten.
"What we eating tonight?" said Hubby, "I'm starving".
As I rummaged through the fridge for inspiration and all i could find was vegetables the Mediterranean tray bake was born. Hubby is a real carnivore and while he likes vegetables he usually sees them as an accompaniment to meat. He loves spicy food though so my theory being to throw in some chili flakes and hopefully I could win him over.
So, tonight we are having Mediterranean tray bake because.......
I forgot to defrost the chicken,
I am seriously short of time,
I have an abundance of half open packets of sad looking veg in the fridge,
It is Friday and the cupboards are virtually bare,
I can't be bothered to do much and so chopped and chucked into one dish which went straight into the oven. ( Less washing up too!)

For anyone who wants to know exactly what went into my fabulous creation (joke) tonight -
1/2 a bag of baby potatoes, sliced.
5 very small leeks that an old lady gave to me from her garden, sliced.
one red and one yellow pepper, sliced.
half a packet of baby plum tomatoes, slightly squishy, sliced.
1 courgette, in surprisingly good nick, sliced.
2 sticks of celery, sliced.
A shake each of dried mixed herbs, chili flakes and paprika.
Season with salt and pepper.
dash of olive oil.
You could actually use any veg you have left over though. These were just what happened to be in my fridge.

Put into one dish in a hot oven covered with foil. cook for half an hour then uncover for another 15 minutes or until cooked though.

Hubby said it was delicious and can we have it again! Who'd of thought it?

What are you having for your meal tonight? Was it planned or just decided last minute?

Oh, before I go I will just tell you about my little bit of good luck. Cant quite believe it myself! I entered a competition ( something I don't really do) for a night at a lovely hotel in a local village including dinner, breakfast and use of the spa facilities. I won! I had a message telling me I was the winner and thought it was a joke at first. It really made my day. The thought of a lovely meal that I've not cooked myself, time to relax in the pool and a lovely breakfast the day after too. We are going to use it as a mini break and on the second day we will go out somewhere before heading home. I so need it at the moment, so couldn't of come at a better time, can't wait.

Take Care
Jules x









I will try to read all comments and reply. Please be polite and kind. Thanks :)