Last week, I asked for some simple Family Meal recipes on my linky. All of the ones submitted looked delicious, but I’m ashamed to say my skills don’t stretch to some of them (yet…) Some of the ingredients or cooking methods are new to me, and I wanted to ease myself gently into this. Kate from Crafts On Sea suggested a sausage hotpot dish, and I decided to go for this one because a) I am familiar with all of the ingredients and b) it was a ‘bung everything in a dish and pop in the oven’ recipe. The only thing I hesitated over was chopping onions, but I referred to the picture on Kate’s blog to see how big the pieces should be.

First, I gathered my ingredients together. I felt rather proud of my shopping trolley this week having some ‘proper’ cooking ingredients in it.

Sausages, Baked Beans, Chopped Tomatoes, 1 Onion, 2 Spoonfuls of Gravy Granules

I followed the very simple instructions and placed all of the ingredients in a casserole dish, and ended up with this…

On Kate’s instruction, I put in the oven at 180°C and left for an hour. Here, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the finished product.

Apart from the burnt splashes at the top of the dish, I have to say, I am rather proud of this first attempt. When I told my husband about the linky idea, he looked a little shocked. ‘You’re really going to cook?’ His expression turned from shock to fear. After trying the sausage recipe, all of the family were suitably impressed and have asked for it again.

So I’m on my way! Baby steps at a time, but I’ve completed the first week on my journey from Domestic Disgrace to Domestic Goddess. Thank you for the lovely recipe Kate- you’ve earned the title of Domestic Disgrace ‘Recipe of the Week’

If you want to help me on my way, I’m asking for chicken recipes this week. I’m determined to show my children there’s more to chicken than plain roasted or smothered in tinned sauce…