Where's Popeye when you need him?

Baby James is still really struggling with his teeth. The teething powders are still holding their own, but I did have to bring out the big guns today; good old Calpol. It's no surprise the little lad is so miserable - we can see quite a few hard little white patches just below the surface of his gums. I'm just glad they forget about it quickly...

We were labouring under something of a surfeit of roast chicken, having a lot of leftovers from yesterday's bird. I put roast chicken sandwiches in hubby's packed lunch today, plus I had some at midday, too. I made a Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake for dinner, to use up the rest of the meat. I've put all the bones and bits in a freezer bag and shoved it in the fridge for now; I'll make some stock tomorrow morning.

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake

350g pasta

Cooked chicken (we had a breast, plus 'pickings' left), cut up

Spinach leaves (I love spinach so I used a whole bag)

850ml milk

50g plain flour

50g butter, diced

150g cheddar cheese, finely grated

nutmeg

Cook the pasta. Meanwhile, put the milk, flour and butter in a large saucepan and bring to the boil, whisking pretty much constantly. When it boils, turn the heat down and simmer for a minute, then remove from the heat. Stir in half the cheese and grate in some nutmeg.

When the pasta is al dente, drop the spinach into the boiling water, stir it in, then immediately drain the pan. Stir the chicken into pasta and spinach, then mix in the cheese sauce. Turn it all into a large ovenproof dish, scatter over the remaining cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes at 180°c.

With the amount of spinach I put in it, I didn't think it needed anything else, but a green salad would probably be nice if you feel less inclined to Popeye-ish quantities of spinach than I do.