One of my best moments of 2017 had to be seeing Paddington 2 at the cinema. I absolutely loved that film and it wasn't only the kids that were desperate to go and see it again. I am therefore absolutely thrilled that Paddington 2 is out on DVD today (12 March 2018) and to celebrate I've been asked to take part in the Paddington 2 Marmalade Challenge. "What is that?" I hear you ask. Well, we all know that Paddington loves marmalade sandwiches - and rightly so as they are absolutely delicious - and I've been challenged to come up with my very own marmalade sandwiches design. Now, the brief ... read more
Pork Pasta Bolognese #HealthyRedMeat
Over the summer life at home has been somewhat disjointed. Moving house, and changing family dynamics, mean that I've followed the advice of someone who very early on told me that the key thing in the early days of all this change was to remember to eat something, and to remember to make sure everyone else eats too. For a little while I was allowed to not aim for a nutritionally balanced home cooked meal every evening, but I just had to make sure that I had a meal every day and that the kids didn't go hungry either. It was quite seriously one of the best bit of advice I could have been ... read more
PornBurger – Mathew Ramsey
Burger Porn. Now I don't know about you, but when an email came into my inbox featuring those two words I simply had to read on. I love a burger. The juicier and larger the better. There's something about them that is just utterly gorgeous but at the same time slightly dirty. Let's be honest, eating the best burgers is often a messy affair. The whole process normally involves juices dripping everywhere and you're bound to get sauce on your fingers too. And then there's the whole matter of whether or not you can actually fit it in your mouth or not. Eating one in front of someone else always ... read more
Introducing Warburtons Giant Crumpets
Blogging and reviews have taken a bit of a back seat here since the summer - mainly in favour of crochet and crafting - but those crafty people at Warburtons seem to have worked out how to get my attention and get me back here. It's amazing what a sucker I am for a new mug and accompanying teapot, especially when they are gorgeous Le Creuset ones! It's not unusual for parcels to be left with one of my neighbours, as the delivery people always seem to have a habit of coming when I'm on a school or pre-school run. What is unusual though is for my elderly neighbour to hand over a parcel ... read more
Dinner at the Vitamin D-iner
Today was just like a return to November weather-wise. Grey, wet and significantly colder than it has been of late, making it appropriate to think about how little Vitamin D our kids are getting here in the UK. Vitamin D is crucial for the under 5s to ensure that they grow healthily and that their bones and teeth develop correctly. But with the weather the way it is here it can be very difficult for children to get enough vitamin D from the sun alone. Now, my kids spend a good amount of time outside every day. We walk to school every day, I walk to town with Master C about three times a ... read more
Food, glorious food!
I've had my suspicions for a while that Master C has been rather hungry. Firstly he went from sleeping 6 or 7 hours at night through to at worst waking every 90 minutes for a feed. And it was only a feed he needed in the night as he would go back to sleep as soon as he'd had some and general comforting wouldn't have any effect at all. His feeds were also starting to last longer and longer and this was accompanied by chewing on his own hands and anything else that he managed to get into his mouth. When I took him along to my weekly knitting group he'd sit there completely ... read more
Toddler friendly hidden vegetable bolognese
I'd put money on Little Miss C not being the only toddler out there who isn't particularly keen on fruit and veg. After a Christmas season in which she went to several parties that presented her with the opportunity to eat her own body weight in crisps we thought it about time to try to reverse this unhelthy eating trend. LMC has always been a fan of meat dishes and would quite happily snack on sausages or similar in the same way that other (healthier) children might eat a banana or an apple. Over the last couple of years I've therefore become quite good at trying to squeeze as ... read more
Three hours
I'm sure I can't be the only person who gets to the end of the day and wonders what I've actually acheived that day. When you're at home with little ones it can be quite easy to just concentrate on "surviving" and it can be easy to lose track of what has kept you busy all day. Realistically though, stay at home parents usually acheive loads, but they simply don't have the time to step back and take stock of just what they have done. This morning Mr C went out to a first aid course so I thought I'd keep track of just what I got up to in that time - admitedly, ... read more
Baked couscous with chicken and spices
As I'm now into "due date territory" this week's menu planning revolved around things that were pretty easy to make, specifically so that they could be done either whilst heavily pregnant or with a newborn in the house. I picked up my copy of Nigel Slater's Real Cooking to look up a particular pasta recipe that we've done a few times now and whilst I had it out I managed to find a few others that looked simple enough - one being baked couscous with chicken and spices. What appealed about this recipe is that while there is a little bit of preparation ... read more
Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Gratin
Pulling meals together from what's in the fridge isn't my speciality. It shouldn't be difficult, but somehow I always struggle and sadly end up throwing away far more food than we should. I'm making a real effort at the moment to change that and reduce what goes into the council compost bin and I'm delighted to say that this last week I've succeeded and come up with a great new simple meal as a result. Based on the Waitrose Baked Pumpkin Gratin recipe that I picked up on one of their cards a while back I managed to concoct a delicious sweet potato and ... read more