Having a bit of a blog overload at the minute. Or am I a blog over loader? I think that's it. But I still have a sore throat, neck and ears (did I mention that?) and after a day of overworking that in my throat which still is attempting to work, I may have decided to take the day off tomorrow and see the doctor about my significant pain. But, like this morning (when I rang in sick but turned up anyway), I may change my mind.

So I'm sat here with a bit of time on my hands, watching Barefoot midweek with online Christmas shopping just waving at me. I did get quite a bit done last night too. All the nieces and nephews are catered for - and two arrived this evening, though one has the 24th of December as a delivery date. Risky. Am I admitting to much to say they all have slightly different versions of the same thing? Of course not! They won't read Working Mum Cooks - aged from 7 to 19, I think I'm a little too uncool for that, but I shouldn't even give them that little clue.

Food hasn't set my world on fire today - weetabix, sachet of soup and two slices of 50-50 followed by pain inducing spag bol, usually a great favourite. So I'm having a think about Boxing day to cheer myself up - one of the highlights of my entertaining year. Having a gluten free sister doesn't make things easy and I realised last week that the lovely Bullfighters Beef isn't gluten free, thanks to the beurre manié. Nor is salmon en croûte. Okay, I knew that one. So what can I make?

Having recently made a delicious lamb tagine - my own recipe, including lamb neck fillet, tinned tomatoes, stock, ras-el-hanout, apricots, dates, carrots, onions and courgettes, I'm wondering about that. But the ras-el-hanout spice mix I have is spicy and there are lots of kids coming and I like them to try...Mushroom stroganoff usually works well and that goes well with Dad's best basmati rice. I will never learn how to make it in that way, but it is the best ever plain boiled rice - absolutely no sarcasm there. Could I make the chicken and chorizo in cider? Not sure if chorizo contains gluten, but I bet it does. Chicken in cider - would have to replace the whole bird for a lot of thighs, but will there be enough bone to thicken up the sauce, I wonder?

Once upon a time I made a lovely buffet each year, but I was single, childfree and relatively rich. I spent the early hours of the 27th of December washing up by hand, drinking Christmas Baileys from Nanna's glass whilst listening to the latest Christmas CD. Those were the days! No time for that malarkey so I want one dish that I can slow cook, one I can do on the hob and a third for the oven. Aforementioned rice goes in the microwave, new potatoes go in the oven to roast or the hob if there's room and then there'll be bread - defintely not homemade, though. As for pudding, my thoughts so far have also been far away from the gluten-free zone: jam roly poly and tarte tatin (husband #1's speciality). Of course I know a lovely hazelnut meringue recipe but am always wary of nuts with the kids around. Plus it's time consuming and requires refrigerator space once made. Iles flottantes are good, but not easy to make for twenty-two greedy, potentially drunken, baying relatives. Last year I made an odd thing - it was a frugal, but promising lemon mousse to which I added white chocolate on the off-chance and then called Panna Cotta. Whilst the EU failed to sue me on misrepresentation, I was lucky as it did go down well and diners even had to be rationed - people were fraudulently coming to take portions that they had no intention of eating to pass onto those who had already had some - a sin on Boxing Day when all get served once before seconds are allowed!

So what do I have? Mushroom Stroganoff, rice and Lemon and White Chocolate Faux Panna Cotta. That's not a full table yet, bear with me.

(Iles Flottantes, just to share a picture!)