Breakfast of Kings- Smashed Avo, Bacon, and Poached Egg on Sourdough toast

This is my new favourite weekend breakfast or brunch. All it is, is avocado smashed up with lemon juice, salt and pepper and a bit of chilli if you like,  plus a poached egg, and some grilled bacon (I prefer streaky) on a good hunk of bread or toast. This breakfast, although maybe not low-calorie, is so good for you. Avocado is full of good fats and nutrients that make your hair and nails strong and shiny (and everyone wants that). Plus eggs are a great source of protein, and one of the best things you can eat in the morning.

So, although not totally angelic, it's definitely better than a full fry up or a plate of eggs benedict, smothered in hollandaise sauce (another of my favourite breakfasts at the moment...). Give it a go, it will totally set you up for the day!

Christmas Feasting

Christmas isn't Christmas without a badly-decorated, gaudy tree

What a greedy Christmas I've had...I don't think I've gone more than an hour without nibbling on some festive treat or another, and I'm certainly feeling it now. But that's what Christmas is all about isn't it; putting on half a stone, bursting out of your jeans, feeling awful and eating even more as a result and telling yourself 'The diet starts in January'. So now that I'm practically sofa bound, I thought it would be a good time to upload a few of the photographs I took over the festive season.

Smoked salmon is something just says 'Christmas' to me. I'm not sure if it's typically a Christmassy thing to eat (I think it is?) but we always start the festivities off with some smoked salmon canapés and Sloe Royales (home made sloe gin and champagne cocktail- pretty lethal!). I adore really good smoked salmon straight on buttered brown or rye bread with a little lemon and black pepper, or with crème fraîche and dill, or (as we had this year) with horseradish cream. Horseradish and smoked fish go together wonderfully- give it a try!

Kicking off with some smoked salmon and horseradish cream on rye bread

This year the main event in the Hodgson Household was a huge free range chicken. Controversial I know, but cheaper and in my opinion much more delicious than a turkey. I've never been the biggest turkey fan, so this year we did away with tradition and ordered this beautiful huge chicken from the local butcher. We stuffed it with a vegetarian stuffing made from chestnut mushrooms, celery, onion, parsley, sage, all chopped finely, and held together with some bread crumbs and an egg added to the mix. Then we covered it with as much streaky bacon as was physically possible, sticking to the  mantra 'there's no such thing as too much bacon' (never a truer word spoken). Heaven!

Basting time for our bronzed beauty (can you make out the chicken underneath the heap of bacon?)

The trimmings this year consisted of roast potatoes, roast parsnips, mashed carrots (a family favourite- mashed roughly with lots of butter, a splash of cream, salt and pepper), bread sauce, sausages, bacon, red current jelly, gravy and of course the brussel sprouts, with bacon and chestnuts- the best recipe for sprouts I have tried, from BBC Good Food website: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/74608/buttered-sprouts-with-chestnuts-and-bacon

Good-looking bird

Tucking in!  (Luckily my family are very patient and accept my crazy food photography...although no phones at the table once we're all sat down!)

Christmas pudding is something that the women of the family hate (including myself), so this year Mum had made the most delicious mincemeat and frangipane tart as an alternative. This is a Mary berry recipe, and it was totally yummy, and much better than horrible Christmas pudding! The meal was finished off by a cheese board of dreams and port, before everyone eventually crashed on the sofa or rolled their way home.  That's the sign of a good Christmas lunch!

Setting fire to the Christmas pud!

Mincemeat and Frangipane tart for the non-Christmas-pudding-eating girls



Food Hero! My Mum, the brains behind the operation, making the gravy. 

Exceptional cheeseboard this year, with a little help from Neals Yard Dairy. 

I hope you enjoyed these photos from my delicious Christmas. I've realised that the 'Me, Myself and Pie' blog is now a year old- (my first blog post was of Christmas lunch last year) so I'm feeling very happy that I've kept it up, am still enjoying it and am (hopefully) improving on my skills and knowledge as I go along. I have gained lots of lovely followers and met so many other great food enthusiasts along the way. I am also currently branching out and building a slightly more formal portfolio website of my food styling and photography, so stay tuned for more news on that. Here's to 2015!

PS If you want to follow my social media (I post foodie pictures most days!) please follow me on instagram (memyselfand_pie) and Twitter (Georgiehodgson1)