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
#RealMumsAllBran 5-Day Challenge
http://instagram.com/p/p9d-M2xI-J/?modal=true I'll let you in on a bit of a secret. I'm a breakfast cereal addict. I love the stuff. The sweet ones. The healthy ones. The ones that turn the milk chocolately. The whole lot. When I'm home alone my guilty pleasure is a bowl before bed, and it's rare that a morning passes when I don't have a bowl of some cereal. When I heard that BritMums were looking for bloggers to take part in the #RealMumsAllBran 5-Day Challenge I stuck my hand in the air instantly. The way the challenge worked is that we were sent three All-Bran flavours (Golden Crunch, ... read more
Review: Vimto Squeezy
Who doesn't love Vimto? That fruity taste that you can't quite put your finger on just reminds me of childhood summers every time I have it. When I was emailed to ask if I wanted to try their new Vimto Squeezy I was therefore intrigued. I've seen the TV ads for these new "water enhancers" as they are called and I wondered what all the fuss was about. The main target market is people, in particular children, who just don't like the taste of water on its own. You can then carry with you one of the small bottles and add a squirt of it to water when you're out and about and hey presto it's just ... read more
Featured Post: When Paddington took over #Warbeartons
Just the mention of marmalade sandwiches and several generations instantly think of Paddington Bear. Has any one person (human or bear) ever had such a strong association with a specific food? He was always prepared for any adventure with his sandwiches packed carefully in his little brown suitcase and that's what makes him the perfect bear for Warburtons to team up with this summer. I fondly remember reading the Michael Bond books as a child and also enjoying the television adaptation of it. Strangely I still recall the phrase "Mr and Mrs Brown exchanged glances", which seemed to be used ... read more
Salmon, Shiitake and Mixed Mushroom Egg Fried Rice #MushroomMeals
It seems that Master C isn't the only picky eater in our family. As my mum is keen to remind me, I went through my own fussy patch when younger and for quite a while the only two things I would eat were mushroom soup and baked beans. Cold. Neither sound particularly great cold, but when you consider how fussy some kids can be about mushrooms also a surprising choice. We're still struggling to get Master C to put any non-bread food past his lips at meal-times, but luckily Little Miss C seems to have put her fussy days behind her (let's hope I'm not tempting fate by saying that!) and is ... read more
A woman’s world of whisky
About 12 years ago I had the pleasure of a week away in Scotland, staying on the small island of Easdale with friends. A lovely holiday and a great opportunity to get to know a part of Scotland that I hadn't visited before. One rainy day we headed over to the mainland and the town of Oban where we decided to kill a couple of hours visiting the Oban distillery. Up until that day I'd never really drunk whisky before, but a small glass there, followed by some more from the gift shop had me hooked. A love affair between me and whisky was born. Now, I should come clean here and say that I tend ... 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
Little Yeo’s for Little C’s
It's hard to believe that it's nearly two years since I went to visit the home of Yeo Valley and really started to understand what a fantastic company they are with a brilliant ethos. If you don't know about them then please, please do go and read the post I wrote after my visit and learn all about this wonderful British family business. Back then I was blown away by the company and its products and the same remains true now - I regularly buy their yogurts and also visit their website frequently for recipes and interesting blog posts. I was therefore delighted to be invited to go ... read more
Juicy recovery on the Couch to 5k programme
Now that I've revealed what I'm up to I can turn my attentions to one of the things which kickstarted this whole process - the Currys Juiced Up challenge to make a perfect post workout juice drink. Now in my case my "workout" was actually the first week's part of the Couch to 5K training programme and boy was it tough! Week one is a relatively easy start (compared to what I'll be doing at the end of week 9) but for someone who hasn't run in months and months it was hard work and by the end I was exhausted. I'm someone who always feels incredibly ... read more
JML Ceracraft Ceramic Pans
When I went to the Product of the Year Awards back in January I happened to be on a table with some of the JML team who were there to collect the award for the General Household category with their Ceracraft ceramic pans. I was lucky enough to be sent one of their ultra non-stick frying pans (the 24cm model) from the Ceracraft range to review a couple of weeks later. Ceramic pans are bit of a new invention, especially appealing to people who want to avoid the PTFE toxic chemicals that are used in many other non-stick pans. These ceramic pans are described as being ultra non-stick so that you ... read more