Toad in the hole

I made this with my mum for dinner. It's delicious! We left the bacon out because I don't like bacon. This is from the same book as chunky monkey cookies. "Children's Cookbook" by Sara Lewis. Serves approximately 2 adults and 2 children

  Ingredients

125 g (4 oz) plain flour
Salt and pepper
small bunch of fresh thyme
1 egg
300 ml (half a pint) milk and water mixed
400 g (1 lb) extra lean pork sausages
8 rashers smoky bacon (optional)
2 tablespoons sunflower oil

             How to make

1. Set oven to 220 centigrade/ 425 Fahrenheit/ gas mark 7
2. Put the flour salt and pepper into the bowl
3. Tear the leaves off the thyme stems
4. Add 2 tablespoons as well as the the egg
5. Gradually whisk in the milk and water until the batter is smooth and frothy
6. Separate the sausages with a small knife or scissors
7. If using stretch each rasher of bacon by running the flat of the knife along it 
8. If using wrap the bacon around the sausages
9. Pour the oil into the roasting tin and add the bacon wrapped (if using) sausages
10. Cook the sausages in the oven for 5 minutes, whisk the batter again
11.  Take the tin out of the oven and quickly pour in the batter 
12. Put back in the oven for about 20 minutes until the batter is golden and well risen

    Serving Suggestion: Serve hot with baked beans
  

Cheesy sauce

My cousins friend showed me how to do this when I went to her house, it's really simple and really nice. It works well with fish and as the sauce on top on lasagna but I'm sure you'll think of many other uses. Sorry I don't have the measurements as when we made this we weren't following a recipe.

Ingredients

Butter (the stuff you get in a packet don't use spreadable)
Flour (any type, one time we used brown self raising flour!)
Milk
Cheese (we used cheddar but you could experiment with different types)

Method

1. Grate the cheese
2. Put the pan on the hob at a low heat
3. Add a bit of butter it doesn't really matter how much (well it depends how much sauce you want)
4. Heat and stir until it has all melted don't let it boil, if it starts bubbling then take it off occasionally 
5. Add a bit of milk and stir, then add flour (it may look a bit brown when adding the flour but don't worry!) keep doing this until you feel you have enough sauce and it has a nice consistency (remember the cheese will also make it less runny)
6. Without taking it off the heat add the cheese which you should of already prepared
7. Stir well so the cheese mixes in (if it looks a bit runny don't worry!, it will soon harden don't add more flour, if it is a bit hard that's fine too but don't add anything else after the cheese)
8. Dip a spoon in and try a bit to check it's OK.
9. Enjoy!