• Cooking - cooking - eating - recipe

    Sweet potato and tuna fish cakes

    There’s something about this time of year that makes me want to make good food for the family. Today I wanted to share my recipe for Sweet potato and tuna fish cakes. It’s a simple recipe, quick if you use left-overs (which I’m a big fan of doing) and a great use of store cupboard essentials, such as canned fish which is really convenient for family mealtimes. Ingredients to make Sweet potato and tuna fish cakes: 2 medium sweet potatoes peeled and cubed Princes tuna chunks in brine lemon juice black pepper vegetable oil Two slices of bread or breadcrumbs bunch…

  • Cooking - eating

    Chicken teriyaki and egg fried rice

    I love to save money, by recycling and upcycling or scouring my local charity shops for a bargain. I like cooking for my family but sometimes I can be pretty thrifty in the kitchen too. Faced with leftovers from yesterdays’ delicious homemade curry, I thought I would use the leftover rice to make egg fried rice for today’s dinner. Ingredients needed to make egg fried rice: rice (1 day old works well with this recipe) spring onions 2 eggs peas oil soy sauce Add a dash of oil to a wok or saucepan, add your cooked rice, peas and chopped spring…

  • Bento - eating - tutorial

    Gruffalo Bento Box

    Yesterday I told you how much fun we had at the Gruffalo Activity Trail at Wendover Woods. After running about in the woods, building dens, climbing trees and hunting for the Gruffalo we had all built up quite an appetite. We took a picnic as we were out all day and I made a special Gruffalo Bento Box for the children. I had so much fun putting together the Gruffalo Bento Box that I thought I would share it with you today. How to make a Gruffalo Bento Box I knew I wanted to give the children Roasted Fox, Owl Ice…

  • baking - book review - eating - homestyle - What I'm reading

    What I’m reading: Making Bread Together

    I hope it’s clear from reading my blog that we love cooking and baking together. My 4 year old has wanted to make pizza for a while and we finally got round to it. We made our pizza over two days, leaving the dough overnight in the airing cupboard. The children were very excited and fortunately patient. Finally the next day they were able to make their pizzas with a little help from daddy.  Everyone was able to roll their dough and make their own pizzas. Whilst they were having fun with the dough I prepared a plate of toppings.…

  • days out - eating - shopping

    A little Bank Holiday shopping

    Are you enjoying the Bank Holiday Weekend so far? Today we visited the Shuttleworth Collection and enjoyed lots of fresh air and sunshine. I’m not sure if the weather is going to last all weekend, no matter as we’re planning on doing lots of DIY tomorrow and Monday. Fortunately we don’t need to leave the house as we have already done our food shopping for the weekend thanks to Morrisons. Little Sis helping me shop at Morrisons Since last Thursday Morrisons have cut the prices on over a thousand of your favourite products. Not temporary reductions or supermarket smoke and…

  • ASK Italian - cooking - eating

    Fettuccine Bolognese

    First of all I need to say how lovely the ASK Italian cook book is! The recipes are mouthwatering as are the photographs and it’s a real joy to sit and look through it. You may remember I’ve been working with ASK Italian over the last few weeks on their campaign to #respectthepasta. My first challenge was to enjoy a family meal at our local ASK Italian, and the second challenge was to cook the perfect pasta at home. The latest challenge was to try and recreate a dish from the ASK menu in my own kitchen. I was sent…

  • ASK Italian - cooking - eating

    The perfect Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

    I’m currently working with ASK Italian to promote their brilliant campaign to #Respectthepasta! A couple of weeks ago I visited my local ASK Italian in order to tell you about their delicious menu. This week I wanted to share some tips for cooking the perfect pasta at home. ASK Ambassador Theo Randall, has had a huge hand in creating some of the delicious menus at ASK Italian, he has also created a set of rules for creating perfect pasta: Pasta DO: -Use LOTS of boiling, well-salted water -Cook for two minutes less than the packet instructions and finish cooking in…

  • ASK Italian - eating - eating out - food review - Local Review - London

    A delicious family meal at ASK Italian

    On Sunday we headed to our local ASK Italian for a Mother’s Day meal. We ate in the ASK Italian in Northwood which is in a converted Post Office. I’ve often walked past but never gone in so I was excited about finally venturing inside. I booked online in advance as I knew it would be busy so when we arrived we were immediately taken to our table. The building is really light and airy and makes excellent use of the old sorting office for a spectacular environment to eat. Although there was a special 3 course menu we opted to…

  • baking - Easter - eating - Spring

    Carrot shaped Easter biscuits

    A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the Hobbycraft Spring Press Show at Homemade London. I got to meet Kirstie Allsopp (again) who was launching her new range of craft kits for Hobbycraft and watched lots of fun crafty demonstrations. I came away with some lovely baking and home decoration samples and have been busy making all kinds of things from them. Today my son and I made some Easter biscuits. I used my never fail Biscuiteers biscuit recipe and cut out lots of bunny and carrot shapes. When they were cool we decorated them with…