• book review - cooking

    The Great British Farmhouse cookbook

    Last week The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook from Yeo Valley landed on my doorstep. My husband and I were lucky enough to eat a delicious lunch on a Yeo Valley farm tour last year so I was excited to see what kind of recipes it would contain. “From soups and pates to casseroles, roasts, salads and pies, nad from tarts and crumbles to puddings, cakes, breads, jams and chutneys, produce from the farm and surrounding countryside is imaginatively combined to produce a wonderful range of heart warming, seasonal dishes for all the family. Dotted throughout with fun and informative farming…

  • cooking - eating - reviews

    A lazy day

    This cold weather means I want to be eating good wholesome food! Ok, so I’ve already written about butterfly cakes today but I don’t just eat cake (honest). Most of the time I like to cook our meals from scratch but, like most busy mums, I keep stock of quick and easy meals for my lazy days when I don’t want to spend time cooking. Today I was waiting for my husband to come home from work to decide what he wanted to eat for dinner. For various reasons it took him over 2 hours (instead of the usual 40…

  • cooking - days out - moving

    Family time

    So far this year has been unusually busy. We’ve sold our house and bought a new one so fingers crossed everything will go smoothly and in a couple of months we’ll be happily installed in our new home. To celebrate finally having an offer accepted we decided to have a lovely family day today. The weather has been atrocious but we ventured out to do our weekly food shop at Tesco after treating the children to a couple of hours at our local soft play centre. At least when the weather is bad as it has been you don’t feel…

  • cooking

    Rice krispie chicken

    I’ve been meaning to try Rice Krispie chicken for a while. I saw Lisa Faulkner talk about Rice Krispie chicken as a family favourite and guess what, my family loved it too! It was so simple to make I know I’ll be adding this recipe to my repertoire. You will need: Rice Krispies Mayonnaise 2 x skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets, cut into goujons Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1. Preheat oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with foil. 2. Put the rice krispies into a large bowl, add the salt and pepper, then crumble with your…

  • cooking - Morphy Richards Innovator - recipe

    Morphy Richards Sear and Stew Slow Cooker

    I’ve always wanted a slow cooker, which is lucky, because I was offered the new Morphy Richards Sear and Stew Slow Cooker to review as part of my role as a Morphy Richards Innovator. Initially I turned to Twitter for help  and was inundated with recipe suggestions. So far we’ve tried pulled pork and rice pudding and I’ve ordered some Slow Cooking recipe books for inspiration. The Slow Cooker is incredibly easy to use, light and goes in the dish washer – what more could you ask for?! The Sear and Stew Slow Cooker allows searing and slow cooking in the…

  • cooking - food review - recipe - reviews

    Tuna pasta bake recipe

    I love eating fish and always make sure the toddler eats a healthy portion at least once a week too. One of our favourite recipes is for tuna pasta bake. It’s really quick to put together and I always make plenty so I can freeze a couple of portions. Ingredients: Dried pasta (I usually use 60g per adult and used 240g for this recipe) 1 onion, chopped garlic puree 1 tin of Reel Fish tuna 1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400g) sprinkle of dried mixed herbs grated cheese for the top Method: Cook the dried pasta, drain, and leave to…

  • #WWback2best - cooking

    #WWback2best update and cooking

    A couple of weeks into the Back2Best challenge and I have to admit it’s going very slowly. I’ve been enjoying healthy meal planning and trying out lots of new recipes, I’m just quite hungry in the evenings. Old habits die hard and very slowly it seems. As part of the challenge I was sent two recipe books and the lastest WeightWatchers magazine and I’ve spent many hours looking through them for inspiration. Most of the recipes are pretty straightforward and it’s great being able to make tasty meals for myself and my husband. In fact, I’m not even sure he…

  • cooking - Family Life - recipe

    Easy Butternut Squash soup recipe

    Did you know that Whitworths have recently launched a new ‘Whitworths for Baking’ range, comprising of six high quality baking sugars – fine caster, superfine icing, fine demerara, crunchy demerara, light soft brown sugar and dark soft brown sugar, as well as a ‘Twist and Sprinkle’ icing sugar duster with built in sieve. The range has been made and packaged especially with home bakers in mind. Easy Butternut Squash soup recipe The Whitworths website has some great recipes and not all of them are cakey. As well as cakes, biscuits, and desserts there are also some savoury suggestions. I liked…

  • cooking - handmade - Olympics - Pancake Day crafts

    Olympic torch pancakes

    We’ve been talking to the toddler about the Olympics and as it’s only 18 days to go I thought I would make him something Olympic themed for his lunch today. What better than Olympic torch pancakes? Make a simple pancake batter. My favourite recipe is 100g plain flour, 2 eggs, 300ml of semi-skimmed milk, a tbsp of vegetable oil and a pinch of salt. When you have cooked the pancake, just roll one end of the pancake tightly and fill the top with vanilla ice-cream. A lovely tasty and topical treat!