Although we're habitually given to taking Jackie and Jillie out to our forested ravine for long, leisurely walks on a daily basis, invariably, though infrequently nature throws conditions at us that mitigate against habit. And yesterday was one such day. Not that it was very cold, mind, since we can cope with that for the most part, but that it was just cold enough to produce rain instead of snow. We can forge our way outdoors happily in snowy conditions but when we get unrelenting freezing rain that's another story. And yesterday we had freezing rain alternating with cold downpours all day. Rain+cold doesn't work out very well for small dogs even if they're clad in little snowcoats. So yesterday was a stay-at-home day.

Lots to do at home. Besides housework, that is. Reading, writing, talking, playing with two little bored dogs. And on cold, wetly miserable days there are meals to plan that are appropriate to the occasion. On winter nights we usually have a robust bean-and-vegetable soup. And sometimes baked rolls.

I had prepared a bread dough a few days earlier, used a small amount of it and refrigerated the rest in a tightly-sealed, well-oiled bowl with plans to use it for other things. The day I made the dough it was for dinner rolls. I was curious; this bread dough was a little different. I had an excess of milk with a 'best before' date looming, so I used milk, a small amount of butter, salt and flour. Yeast, of course. And then, because I also prepared batter for a cheesecake for dessert, I poured a scant half-cup of that cream-cheese batter consisting of cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, eggs and sour cream into the bread dough.

I ended up with a lot of bread dough, as a result. So I determined to apportion it for different things. And the day I made the soup (yesterday) I also used it to bake croissants. In the croissant preparation while rolling out the dough I added sesame seeds and grated old cheddar. Just as the combination made for a different, but really good-tasting, slightly-sweet bread roll, it also produced a mouth-watering croissant.

As for the soup, I'd been buying packages of mixed beans that didn't need overnight soaking. They cooked in fact, in a matter of hours without being soaked overnight and I really liked that. So they were used for the soup, along with tomato paste, chopped onion, garlic, celery, carrot and sweet potato. I'd first quickly sauteed the onion and garlic with fennel seed, ground cumin and Masala mix for flavouring, along with a small amount of salt and lots of pepper.

Great meal on an evening when you wanted the fireplace going and took comfort from the interior of your home, while missing a daily walk in the forest.