When I was first asked by Petits Filous to blog about mixing up the fun when it comes to my kids playtime I have to admit I was a bit stumped. It can be so hard at times to know how to snap your children out of that post school day slump where all they want to do is zonk out in front of the TV set. Seeing as we were being asked to mark the launch of Petits Filous' new Magic Squares I actually took influence from something I saw in their TV advert. I find that actually my kids do still have enough energy to engage with a fun activity, but after a day of following instructions at school and ... read more
Review: Tabure St Albans
I'm not going to pretend to be some amazing food blogger or restaurant reviewer, as I'm obviously neither of those, but what I am is someone who likes good food, excellent service and attention to detail and all three of those were completely in abundance last night when I was invited along to a special pre-launch night at St Albans' newest restaurant Tabure. Beautiful interior and really can't wait to sit by the open grill @Tabure_Kitchen Thank you for a lovely evening pic.twitter.com/pmp7LjVtEw — Food Ren (@RenBehan) April 23, 2015 Proper food bloggers like Ren take photos - I'm too ... read more
Cooking from Frozen – Chilli Con Carne #CoolCookery
In our house, when you say that you're going to do dinner from something in the freezer that usually means fish fingers, or possibly chicken nuggets, served with oven chips and (frozen) peas. Now, in my opinion there's nothing wrong with a dinner like that, but it's not the kind of thing that you want to serve up every night of the week. It was my mum who really enlightened me when it comes to cooking with frozen ingredients. She's always had things like frozen mashed potatoes in her freezer, which she swears by using when making cottage pie and similar. It was when she started living on ... read more
Special Edition Weetabix Strawberry for Comic Relief
It seems to be all about breakfast here on Being Mrs C at the moment as we're busy trying out this wonderful special edition Weetabix Strawberry this week. As part of Weetabix's partnership with Red Nose Day they have launched this special Strawberry Flavour Weetabix with 5p per pack being donated to Comic Relief. And if that wasn't enough, everyone who tries Weetabix Strawberry also has the chance to win one of many "nosetastic" experiences as part of the Weetabix Red Nose Day promotion. There are nine different experiences that you could win one of and these could be as cool as flying ... read more
Big Red Breakfast featuring Baked Eggs on Salsa
Breakfast - the most important meal of the day. Everyone knows this saying don't they, and whilst not everyone agrees with it breakfast is a meal that is certainly never skipped in this house. I don't know about you, but I find we're all just hungry in the morning and certainly the kids and I are pretty grumpy if we don't eat pretty soon after getting up! To me having a good breakfast inside you before starting the day is hugely important and that's why I'm pleased to support Warburtons and The BHF, who have teamed up to help to educate the nation on the importance of maintaining a healthy ... read more
How to make flowerpot bread
I do love it when the kids get slightly unusual Christmas presents and one of Little Miss C's uncles really came up trumps this year (not that the other two uncles didn't, if you're reading, as the kids love all their presents too thank you!) with a flowerpot bread making kit. Flowerpot bread you may think - what on earth? The idea's quite simple really. You make bread, but rather than put it in a traditional bread tin or on a baking tray in the oven, you instead bake it in terracotta flowerpots. It's incredibly easy to do and a great activity to do with kids, so here's my how to ... read more
Henry Westons Mulled Cider
I LOVE Christmas! There we go I've said it. There's probably people despairing as they read that, but this year as soon as we'd waved away the trick or treaters on 31st October I've been in full on Christmas mood. For me the moment that sealed it was sitting down with a mug of Henry Westons Mulled Cider that I'd been sent to review and my subscription copy of the Christmas issue of Country Living. Nice magazines are one of my guilty pleasures and whenever I open Country Living I'm always transported to the old village rectory that features in many of my dreams and a whole different ... read more
Review: Weston’s Wyld Wood Cider
There are some emails that you receive as a blogger that you end up reading and re-reading to check that they're really true. The one that came from Weston's Wyld Wood Cider asking if they could send me some cider to review was one such email. Some people may think me a bit queer, but to be honest when I go one a rare night out to the pub I'm someone who is much happier ordering a pint (or half pint) of something to drink than a glass of wine - although don't get my wrong, I do love wine too, but it's just a preference thing. When Mr C and I moved to St Albans years ago I discovered my love ... read more
Blackberry Muffins
Blackberries seemed to come really early here this year - back before the schools broke up for summer - so I've actually been sitting on this recipe for a while. One day after school the kids and I went foraging on the local heath and came home with a large bag full of blackberries. Neither of the kids are huge fans of crumble which is what I like to make most with blackberries - combining them with apples from our apple tree - so I went in search of a cake recipe or similar and actually failed to find anything that wasn't too complicated. I pulled together the following from several ... read more
Back to School – Retro lunchbox ideas
Dare I say the dreaded words "back to school yet"? By my calculations we're now past the halfway point in the school holidays and in my desperate attempts to be organised by September I'm starting to think about all the things that I need to do before Little Miss C goes back to school on 3rd September. There's more (bigger) uniform to buy and water bottles to name. A book bag to find and school shoes to polish. With her being at Infant School she qualifies for free school meals come September which will not only save us money, but also mean that I don't have to get a lunchbox ready every ... read more