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Meal planning week #1

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Last month I bought a week planner blackboards and I have started making good use out of it.

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This is the second week I have meal planned and it makes life a little easier and definitely means less waste! I am not regimented about it and if I feel like a change then of course I will change it but I like the structure and knowing what I’m cooking later that day.

In case you can’t read my chalk scrawl this is what this week looked like:

Sunday : Spaghetti and meatballs
Monday : Beef stew (slowcooker style)
Tuesday : Griddled spiced chicken on a bed of cabbage and mashed sweet potato/potato with a mushroom cream sauce
Wednesday: Gnocchi and meatball tomato bake
Thursday: Beef stroganoff Pheasant au vin with cabbage,peas and boiled potatoes
Friday: Sausage and Bean stew
Saturday: Thai takeaway treat 😉

As you can see this week has already had one adjustment, Andrews Dad gave us half a pheasant and well I was eager to experiment with it – I’d never tried pheasant before and it was a pleasant (see what I did there) surprise. The sauce that I made to accompany it which is loosely based on the River Cottage Cock pheasant au vin recipe was delicious and rich.

I think I’m pretty good at using up leftovers and not overspending (most of the time) but I was still finding myself wasting a lot of vegetables and on occasions meat. It makes me angry at myself so this is a new way to try to stop that.

I am also finding that now most days Izzy will eat what we eat. This makes life so much easier.
I adapted a few of our dishes to suit her, in particular the meatballs in tomato sauce which we had with gnocchi on Wednesday I instead covered with mash from Tuesday and baked for her ..wow she loved it even pointing and wanting more.

As much as I love cooking sometimes it’s nice to take a break and order in, we are lucky to have the most wonderful Thai takeaway just minutes from our house so I’m excited to eat that tomorrow. Massamam curry is a big favourite in our house.

The simplest slow cooked supper

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Sometimes food needs to be simple and cheap.. And well easy! However you still want it to taste good, there’s no point in ever cooking something from scratch if its not going to be tasty.

This is a very brief post just to share with you a delicious recipe for a slow cooked sausage, sweet potato and bean stew.

The prep will take you 5-10 mins then its throw it all in, leave for 8-10 hours et voila.


Sausage, sweet potato and bean stew

You will need:

6-8 sausages ( I only use sausages from my butcher or Debbie&Andrews in the supermarket as they are 99% meat which is after all what should be in our sausages)
1 red onion diced
1/2 large sweet potato cut into smallish chunks
1 large carrot diced
2 tins of baked beans
1 it of chopped tomatoes
About 100ml passata
Some fresh or dried herbs ( I used oregano on this occasion)
Seasalt and freshly ground pepper

First lightly brown your sausages all over in a frying pan with a tiny bit of olive oil and your onions then scoop it all into our slow cooker with the remaining ingredients and give it a good stir. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours and then serve.

Crusty bread to mop up the incredible sauce is optional but delicious.

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Be happy, be healthy and get well soon…

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The title is from a popular song on a Cbeebies show that Izzy seems to enjoy and that I sang for about 20 minutes on our return flight from Portugal last night to try to calm my poorly child,

We have just come home from an 8 day holiday in the Algarve.. You hate me right?

This was Izzys second trip abroad following our holiday to France in June and getting her up at 4am to travel to Bristol didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest – she was excited in the airport and slept for most of the flight ( yay) the first four days were filled with fun and exploration:

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We had lots of fun, exploring the beaches and villages by day and eating out at restaurants at night but then the cough started late one night and then the fever arrived and the next 4 days looked a bit more like this:

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When Izzy wasn’t coughing or feeling miserable she just wanted to sleep. Holidaying with an ill child is no fun. Most sensible parents probably find out when the nearest doctor/ hospital is before they leave. I didn’t, it didn’t cross my mind that she would be ill on holiday. I panicked a little when trying to find out the info I needed – thankfully the hotel had wifi. Anyway we will still enjoyed our holiday but definitely most stressful than hoped!

The return flight wasn’t particularly smooth sailing and if the couple in the seats in front are reading. I’m sorry, I saw you clutch your head in despair at my daughters wailing. It was worse for us believe me.

* Taking the Mei Tai baby carrier with us possibly saved my sanity:

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Quesadillas – Simple Suppers #3

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Have you ever made or eaten a quesadilla? They are very similar to a fajita and incredibly tasty. It pretty much consists of two tortilla wraps filled with ingredients of your choice ( always include cheese) and cooked on either side – similar to a toastie.

I saw a photo on Pinterest a while back and all it said underneath was chicken, cheese and pineapple quesadilla. My mouth watered. Time went by as it tends to do and I forgot about this but when having a recent cupboard sort out I found a tin of pineapple rings and it flashed into mind. I had half a cooked chicken leftover from the previous day and a few small different flavoured chunks of cheese lurking in my fridge. It was decided.

You will need:

Tortilla wraps ( as many as you want to eat or share with lucky loved ones)
Pineapple ( fresh or tinned is fine)
Cooked shredded/torn chicken
Cheese ( I used a mixture of mild&mature cheddar and Red Leicester)
Butter

Firstly chop your pineapple into small pieces and grate your cheese. Place a small knob of butter into a frying pan and sauté your pineapple until they begin to caramelise- yum.

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Add your chicken and any other ingredients you wish to add – I finely chopped a banana chilli for some extra zing- and heat throughout. If you have a griddle pan get it on the heat ( if not simply use a frying pan) and when very hot quickly toast your tortillas on both sides and place on a plate. Now place 1 tortilla wrap in griddle pan put a big spoonful or two of your chicken/pineapple mix into the middle, top with cheese and a teeny squirt of BBQ sauce and place a second tortilla firmly on top.

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After a minute or so be brave and flip it over so both tortillas are nicely browned. A griddle pan makes a huge difference to the appearance but probably none to taste. Repeat until you have used up all your wraps/filling.

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This simple supper is delicious. It looks like you made an effort but is easy peasy and can be adapted to use up any leftovers you may have.

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Bon appetit

🙂

BBC Good Food Show Review London Olympia 2012

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Earlier this year we were planning a trip to the BBC good food show in Birmingham but typically as can happen when you have a child Izzy picked up a bug and I just didn’t feel right about leaving her with her grandparents so we didnt go and I was sad 🙁

Fast forward a few months and I was offered the chance to attend the London show for free and all I had to do was write about it. Well I was determined to be there this time!

So a few weeks ago we hopped on a train at an obscenely early hour and headed to London. When we arrived we were given our press passes (wooo) and we entered the deliciously scented mayhem that is the BBC good food show. Maybe if I was a normal person ( as opposed to a food&kitchen obsessed crazy ) it wouldn’t have been quite as ridiculously exciting but my other half and our two friends that we met there seemed to be swept up in the atmosphere too.

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There seemed to be a million different stalls and everything looked/smelled and tasted amazing .. Obviously there weren’t a MILLION stalls but there were lots and I’m still sure after a full day of perusing and sampling that I missed some. How is this possible?

Sampling toffee vodka at 10.30am would normally be something reserved for holidays but technically I was in another country and I was child free so wahoo. By the way the toffee vodka was gorgeous.. And I’m not a vodka lover.

We quickly moved onto cheeses and chutneys and the vastest selection of olive oils I’ve ever seen.

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Still not convinced you want to go? Well there was fudge.. And chocolate and the best brownies you will ever taste ( Gower Cottage Brownies ) before we even found the pies/sausages and falafels. We did a taste sensation experiment which was fun and the absolute highlight of my day was being in the front row of Saturday kitchen live watching James Martin, Pierre Koffman and Chris Evans who was hilarious. Andrew got pulled up on stage and we got to try some of the food as well as the wine (scrummy) it was like heaven to me.

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I even tried Gin from WhitleyNeil – I hate Gin but they may have converted me as it was beautiful.

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I also tried the most amazing Aubergine dip/relish/sauce from The Pelagonia range, it was amazing and I intended to go back and get some and still kicking myself that I forgot. Surely that means I need to go to the next Good food show this weekend in Birmingham .. Hmmm I really wish I was going.

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You can buy tickets for all of the Good Food shows here

I highly recommend that you go.

I definitely plan on returning in the hopefully not so distant future as I am still disappointed in missing out on seeing John Torode and Gregg Wallace showing their skills as well as Mary Berry and the lovely Rachel Allen.. Why can’t all my favourites be on the same day?

For more of my photos from the show please click here

I’ll leave you with a pic of me and the extremely funny Chris Evans:

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* I was provided with free tickets in exchange for an honest review. Any products mentioned were tested in general public free samples or purchased by myself.

Closer than close

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Baby wearing seems to be getting increasingly popular these days and I can finally understand why.

I’ve always been a fan of slings/carriers. In fact Izzy was just a few days old when we first used our babasling which was a lovely gift from a family member. We used it lots in the first few months even for breastfeeding and still use it occasionally at home when she’s a bit ratty but she’s just too big for prolonged periods in it.

Babasling – lovely and snug perfect for newborns and little babies, great for feeding

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As she got older, heavier and longer I used a Chicco carrier which I didn’t love but it did the job when needed and at festivals last summer I used a Hippy Chick ( a type of seat for your hip). To be honest I thought she was by this age (14 months) and weighing 25lbs a bit too big for a normal carrier but I am very happy to admit I as wrong.

Chicco carrier – does the job but Izzy didn’t seem as comfortable and it hurt me after a while!

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A lovely twitter friend of mine (@midwifetomum) is a big babywearing fan and quite some time ago mentioned going to a local sling library which I thought was a great idea and them promptly forgot about it. Quite some time later as we were planning this holiday I thought that it may be a good idea to see if we had a local library that had suitable carriers for this age. Yay I’m so glad I did that google search as we had one locally ( approx 15 min drive) and I managed to loan a mei tai carrier which was just £5 for two weeks (£50 deposit).

We are 3 days into our holiday and already it’s been a lifesaver. For the airport it was so convenient. She slept in it on the plane all cwtched (welsh word) up to her mammy and we have taken long walks, strolls on the beach and she loves it. I get so many kisses and cuddles that I think I’m going to really miss it when we have to give it back. The eBay hunt will commence soon I think.

For anyone who thinks babywearing is just for little babas or hippies. You are wrong.

I’ve always been a fan but now I’m a convert.

Mei tai – great for older babies/toddlers and easy to use.

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Zzzzzzzzzzzz

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Sleep on the brain. Every day, will she sleep tonight? Will I sleep tonight?

When I was in my late teens/early 20’s I slept well. I loved my lie ins and I slept like a log every night. I got to around age 22 and suddenly I was a light sleeper, every noise woke me up and lie ins were an occasional indulgence. My sleeping patterns became worse while pregnant, even before I got to the big (elephant like) uncomfortable stage I struggled to sleep more than 3-4 hours per night, this meant when I eventually gave birth I was already pretty damn knackered. Add to this having a baby who took a long time to sleep through the night and I can say quite honestly the past 2 years I have spent a lot of time in a zombie like state. I think sleep deprivation isn’t really appreciated by anyone who hasn’t suffered from it. You spend your days knowing you have a lot to do but finding it hard to actually do anything at all. You have a baby who needs/demands your absolute attention and you try your hardest to give it but I slowly starting to feel like I was losing my mind!

A few months ago we started to turn a corner with Izzy and she started to occasionally sleep thought the night or almost anyway which was amazing and it really made a difference. We would wake up feeling refreshed and every morning was a pleasant surprise when we realised she hadn’t woken us up. Yay.

Then about 10 weeks I had a traumatic nighttime experience. This will sound silly now but even thinking about it still makes me upset. At about 1am Andrew shook me awake, I had been screaming and was still screaming while awake, absolutely petrified. I was clinging to him and couldn’t calm myself. I wasn’t sure if I’d had a bad dream or if I’d thought there was someone there but I felt as if something terrible had happened – in fact I still do. Isn’t that so weird? Thinking about it in a sensible way I know nothing happened or if it did it was a dream. I spent the rest of the night sobbing with the tv and light on in our room and I was frightened all of the next day..and we’ll for quite some time afterwards. I had a few similar episodes after this in the following weeks, twice I was awake (kind of) and imagining there were obscenely large spiders falling onto me. I woke Andrew up so many times and needed him to reassure me. It was hard and he was amazing. I saw my doctor as I found this so scary, my heart rate was too fast and it was put down (mostly) to anxiety/stress. My nightmarish episode was called a night terror.Now 10 weeks on I’m finally starting to feel more relaxed about going to bed and best of all I’m getting some sleep. This has coincided quite nicely with Izzys new routine of putting herself to sleep each night in her own bed ( isn’t she a good girl? ) and I feel like I’m catching up on 2 years of sleep. I’m having lie ins ( thanks again to my oh) and naps when needed.

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Sleep is so important, I often feel we don’t rate it highly enough.

I know this isn’t my typical blog post but I was thinking about it in bed last night and felt it important to write about it and share with others as apparently night terrors are very common. Feel free to ask me any questions or tell me if you have had similar experiences x

How much,how often and what?

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The last few weeks I have eavesdropped on a few twitter/playgroup conversations about what people are feeding their babies/toddlers. There seems to be a major feeling of guilt amongst a lot of us parents over just what we feed our children. It’s a bit of a battle for me. I constantly wonder if she’s hungry or if I’m feeding her too little or not enough or just not the right food. I definitely think more advice on this is needed. I don’t mean recipe books although they are great I mean how do we know just what to do? I know when I am hungry and I know what I like to eat but with Izzy it’s a whole new big scary world for me (and for her of course)

Izzy with sweet potato chips when she was unwell

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I decided to keep a diary of what she eats. I then promptly forgot. I blame the old baby brain if I’m allowed I still blame that now that she is 14 months. So I didn’t keep a diary but this is more or less a typical day:

Between 6-7am : 6oz of milk – she’s not yet on cows milk which is something I kick myself daily about. Hoping this changes soon?

Between 8-9.30am : a fruit pot/piece of fruit and a slice of toast (sometimes with peanut butter which she loves..marmite not so much) as a special treat she occasionally has a croissant.

Mid morning: some snacks perhaps including raisins, cubed cheese, toddler crisps/biscuits or similar

Lunch 12-2pm : this differs more than most meals depending on where we are, if we are out and about I will mostly take a pouch but at home she loves pasta dishes, a mini chicken dinner, spag Bol or cottage pie. A lot of the times it’s what we (me and OH) eat the night before and I save her a serving. She normally has a little biscuit or bit of fruit afterwards. It used to be yogurts but they don’t seem to agree with her anymore.

Around this time she will also have a 4oz bottle and some snacks of carrot sticks etc in the afternoon

Tea 4-5pm: on most days this will be something like scrambled eggs/omelette with some baked beans. She also like carrot and potato waffles from asda or perhaps some fish or chicken. I do find that when she has more protein in this meal she sleeps better.

Scrambled eggs with tomatoes and spinach

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Supper 6.30-7pm : porridge every night. She loves her nightly porridge and its a big part of her bedtime routine as she has it watching in the night garden and getting sleepy.

Bedtime 7.30pm : 6oz of milk which she feeds herself in bed then puts herself to sleep. This is a new but miraculous development and we normally go in her room a little later and put the bottle away.

That’s just a standard day for us. What do you do? Is it rude to ask for your daily diary? I’d love to compare.

What foods do your children enjoy? I seem to have (at the moment) an adventurous eater and she will eat pretty much everything we try. Gnocchi and polenta are just two new dishes to add to her favourites list. She also has a very cute new habit of pointing at food that she likes and saying mmmmm unfortunately this means that my dad who is a sucker for a cute baba always wants to give her cake! I figure I am pretty strict with her sugar intake normally so I let him spoil her occasionally.

I hope to hear from you all soon!

Gnocchi and sweet potato bake- a herby one for Izzy and a spicy one for us

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Tis the season for slow cooking

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Winter has pretty much arrived.. The heating is on most nights and I’m on the hunt for thick fleecy socks.

Gas prices have once again shot up this year and with a gas hob and oven,the cost of slow cooking in the normal way can be pretty huge.

Thankfully I have an electric slow cooker which is so much cheaper to use and I’ve decided to really make good use of it this year.

So far this week I’ve made a beef casserole with dumplings, pulled pork and a Spanish style chicken stew. All with minimal effort and incredible tender but tasty results.

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I’ll be posting my recipes in a few days but I’d love it if you would all join in and share your favourite slow cooker recipes with me. I need inspiration.

Thanks in advance.

B x

The benefits of being a disorganised chef

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When it comes to my kitchen I am pretty disorganised, even more so since having Izzy over a year ago. I blame not having enough cupboard space to be properly organised but really I’m just not very good at it. This week my forgetfulness and general disorder of my cupboards has caused me to not be able to cook three meals/recipes that I wanted to but twice it meant I had to come up with something else to make and resulted in two very lovely dishes. So there is one benefit of being disorganised.

On Tuesday I had a craving for jam tarts..not to eat them but I craved making them. Sound weird to you? I lovingly made my shortcrust pastry from scratch ( it will shock you but this was my first time making it since I was young I normally cheat and buy ready made) and even rolled it and cut into discs (very ragged discs since I don’t seem to have a round pastry cutter) before reaching into the depths of a crowded cupboard to pull out my jam which was in fact a jar of plum sauce.. Frustrating and by this point I really wanted a jam tart. Since it was getting late neither of us fancied a trip to the shops so a quick scan of what ingredients I had resulted in me making custard tarts. They were really tasty and I’d never made them before so it was fun.

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This morning I started to put ingredients together to make a slow cooked beef stew, again I was missing a crucial ingredient (chopped tomatoes) I always always have a zillion tins of this in my cupboard but it seems they finally ran dry. Around the same time my OH fancied waffles .. I also thought hmmm that would be nice and pulled out my eggs and milk before realising I’d run out of flour. Disappointed and we had to make do with egg on toast.. Not quite the same.

So anyway we get to this evening and as I don’t have my beef stew I decided to try out an idea I saw on Pinterest some time ago for chicken, cheese and pineapple quesadillas.

Wow they were so good. I didn’t have a recipe to go by so I just went with what I had and it turned out beautifully.

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So I guess there are some benefits to being a little ditsy with the shopping lists and having cluttered cupboards as we had two new dishes to try which were both luckily very good!
This can’t quite make up for the disappointment I felt when getting ready tonight to prep my pork shoulder for pulled pork tomorrow and realising I’d forgotten not one or two but 3 ingredients. It’s been one of those weeks.

December sees a brand new me, well in my kitchen at least. My lovely man is working on a pantry for me and then I will have no excuse. Clutter no more. Any helpful tips for kitchen organisation will be gratefully accepted.

My “pantry” as it looks right now .. I will report back x

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