Christmas Bedtime Story Advent Calendar

This weekend I've been wrapping books!  Not because I'm a super-organised Mummy who's busy finishing up my present wrapping before December arrives - I think I'd miss the last minute wrapping frenzy playing that well-known Christmas Eve game "do we have enough wrap and tape?"!  No, I'm preparing for one of my favourite pre-Christmas activities.......

Silent Sunday: What's for Tea?

Recipes: Caramel Banana Tarts

 

These are about the simplest desserts we make - and we love to vary the toppings.

Recipes:Banudge Bread

 I have always loved Banoffee flavours and we regularly make banana bread to use up ripe bananas - so I couldn't resist this recipe by Cathryn Dresser of GBBO.

Recipes: Autumn Pork Tenderloin

This delicious and simple little roast got us feeling very Autumnal this week!

Recipe: Zesty Pork Chops

As my husband does not eat beef and isn't a fan of lamb I am always experimenting with new flavours to enhance plain old pork chops - it adds a little variety to the steady diet of chicken, turkey and fish.  This oh so simple flavour combination turned out great, 5 year old C ate 2 chops!

Silent Sunday: Looking to the Future

Monthly Menu - November 2014

So the Pumpkins are put away for another year, the nights are drawing in fast and there's definitely an Autumnal feel in the air today.  Time to break out some of our favourite Autumn/Winter flavours.  More soups, casseroles and oven baked meals will start to creep in this month, although the weather is still extremely mild - not sure if that's a bad omen for the winter to come!

Autumn Fun at Stowe Gardens

We spent a fabulous fall day out at Stowe Gardens in Buckingham.  We are National Trust members so we get out to explore as many lovely spaces as possible each year.  Our son really enjoys the outdoors and, no matter the season, always finds something fascinating to learn more about on a woodland walk.  Stowe is gorgeous - the house is not National Trust but is still open to visitors - but the gardens gave us the most beautiful setting for a fresh Autumn walk.  Around every twist and turn of the garden pathways you can find another fascinating statue, temple, monument or grotto. 

Return from the Dark Side

Argggghhhh!!!  So having finally got my blog up and running, and with a great plan to build it, nurture it and grow it.....life interfered.

I guess that's just part of the daily see-saw of a balancing act so many of us have to deal with, while things are going to schedule/plan you fit everything in, but one unexpected curve ball and the seesaw loses its balance.   We have had several curve balls over this Summer, maybe some of them will provide subject matter for future blog posts, but for now all I can say is I'm back, and still raring to go.   Watch this space for new posts this week.

Superhero Powers

Living in a house with a 4 year old boy has given me a whole new perspective on superheroes.......! Previously I had this vague awareness of characters that were brought to Hollywood life with latex suits and possessed super powers.  I had to question grown men (and women) that idolized these characters and I was part of many late night debates over who the true super heroes in society may be!  I now understand that in the eyes of a small child, being able to fly or climb and make all the bad guys "go to sleep" seems like the ultimate "cool" thing to want to be when you grow up.

Sunday Recipe Roundup - July 27 2014

On Sundays I will provide a roundup of some of our favourite recipes from the past week.  Although occasionally a recipe will deserve a post all of its own!!  If you are interested in the recipes for any of the dishes on our weekly menu, and I don't feature them in the round-up, please just ask.

Weekly Menu - July 27th 2014

This weather is starting to really become draining!  I know, I know, I shouldn't complain because soon enough it will be dark, dreary and cold but you feel like you need a double dose of energy on days like we've been having this week!

With that in mind my menu for the week ahead requires minimal time in the kitchen but provides lots of great flavours.  A few tastes of Mexico this week, we really miss good Mexican food from our time living in the States and find it's often easier to make our own than try to find it here.  Tortillas are cheap and provide a good frame for so may great flavours, most of the cooking is quick so you're not standing over hot pans for hours on end, and a simple salad with a few slices of super healthy avocado make a great side for most Mexican food.

Happy Cooking and Eating this week!

A Man's Place.....................Say Hello to Shared Parental Leave

If you're thinking of starting a family (or adding an extra blessing!) your options are about to change when it comes to who takes time away from work to care for baby in the early days, weeks, months.  The UK is about to catch up with many of our European neighbours by giving parents much more choice in the matter of maternity/paternity leave.  This could be great news if Mummy is the chief income earner in the family and you're starting to think you may only be able to afford to take a couple of months off work.

Degustabox Deliciousness

I have to admit to a new guilty pleasure........the monthly delivery boxes that are now swamping the market in areas such as food, beauty, crafts, children's activities.  I subscribe to a few and I'll feature some of them on the blog in the coming weeks. There's some kind of childlike excitement in waiting for the boxes to arrive and discovering what treasures are inside!

My most recent discovery was Degustabox.  Degusta, meaning taste or sample, each month sends you a taster box of anywhere from 9-12 food/drink products for you to try and provide feedback.  I was a little scpetical that these would be unheard of brands and products I wouldn't really use but I've been very pleasantly surprised.  From wine and cider to baking shortcuts to yummy kid-friendly snacks we haven't yet had anything we didn't really like.

Sunday Indulgence

I'm not much of a baker -I much prefer to cook where the exact science required for baking isn't essential.  However, I spotted this recipe in a recent issue of Good to Know Recipes and knew I had to try it.  We don't drink often in our house but Malibu is one of my favourite long cocktail ingredients so there's usually a bottle in the drinks cabinet.

May I present, Coconut Cake with Naughty Malibu Icing - delicious and so indulgent!

Weekly Menu - July 20th 2014

Every week, on Saturdays, I plan our menu for the week ahead.  In fact, I plan out a bit further than that but I use this time each week to create the shopping list and make any changes based on our activities for the coming week.  My husband doesn't eat Beef or Lamb so we use an awful lot of Chicken, Pork and Fish - with the occasional veggie meal thrown in for good measure!  We use Turkey Mince to replace Beef Mince in most of the standard mince dishes and it doesn't affect the outcome at all.  I hope that our menus give you a few new ideas for the What's For Dinner dilemma!  As the week progresses I will post recipes and photos for our favourites so you'll have no excuse not to give them a try!

This week we have a couple of celebration meals - unusual for us to have two so close together, and during the week, but that's how the calendar has worked against us this year!  There will be plenty of prep in advance to make those evenings run smoothly so we can enjoy our family, friends and the food.

Happy Cooking and Eating this week!

Open for Business

Hello!

Thank you for visiting, I hope you'll come back often and make yourself comfortable browsing this little window on my world.

I'm a busy working Mum trying to find that perfect balance between my 4 year old, my husband, my job, my home and me!  It's like one of those plate spinning acts - when all are working in perfect sync life is good, but once one topples they all seem to follow - I'm sure you've all been there!  In the modern day we all have multiple hats to wear so I hope you will find something interesting in my posts regardless of your situation.