Sunday Family Lunch - cottage pie and lots of desserts!

My Mum invited us all round to her house for lunch today. Between us, my sisters and one sister's partner, my Mum, her partner, and her partner's daughter (Clare) and husband, there were 11 of us! It was a bit of a squeeze to get us all sat down to eat, but it was nice to catch up for everyone.

My Mum decided to make cottage pie, so I made a meat-free version for Clare and I. I based it on my previous lentil cottage pie recipe, but added a punnet of finely chopped mushrooms to the mix and made it stock based (well boiling water and lots and lots of vegan Worcester sauce!) instead of tomato based.

This was really tasty. Which is a good thing, as I have loads of leftovers for Liam and I to eat tomorrow. The children will be eating something slightly *spookier* as I'll show you in my next post!

My Mum had also made 3 different desserts for lunch! Apple crumble (I just had the leftovers of Izzy's but it was really good):

Triple chocolate brownies (nice, but very very rich - dare I say it, a bit too rich for me even!):

And the cutest little pumpkin pies:

I ate half a chocolate brownie and half a pumpkin pie...

and then went back for several more pieces of pumpkin pie, yum! After begging Mum to add pumpkin pie to her list of desserts, I was a bit worried when she said she'd decided to make individual ones. I'm not the biggest fan of pastry and individual pies = more pastry, less filling. However, luckily, when she'd got the pastry out of the freezer, she hadn't realised it was puff pastry not shortcrust! It worked really well, a great alternative for non-pastry lovers! :)

After everyone else had left, Mum and I went upstairs to try on the dress I bought yesterday. I have decided to take it back - I knew the lining on the bottom half of the dress was tight, but when I tried (unsuccessfully!) to sit down, I realised that actually the whole of the bottom half of the dress was much too tight for me! There would've been no point buying the next size up as this dress was already slightly too big on the top half - not the right shape dress for me. Instead I tried on a dress that my Mum already owned. I think it works, and it's saved me some money which is always welcome!! What do you think?

This dress is certainly a lot more comfy (read: loose!) and with the green bag and scarf, I think it looks more like a complete outfit. Obviously my hair will be looking less voluminous on Friday - I tied my hair up this morning when wet, and my sister made me take it out for this photo so it was rather wild!!

How have your weekends been? Best thing you've eaten/done? I can't believe schools start back tomorrow - this half term has gone by so quickly! Izzy is looking forward to seeing her teacher and all her friends though, I'll just have to make sure we all wrap up warm for the walk to school in the morning!