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Over To You

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2014 was a big year for my blog. As well as having more readers than ever before , I was chosen to be an ambassador for both the BBC Good Food Show and Camp Bestival. I worked with brands I loved, both new and old and I really enjoyed interacting with you my readers via blog comments, social media and emails.

I had some rather surreal moments interviewing Paul Hollywood and The Hairy Bikers at BBC Good Food Show, I had a dream day at Marcus Beans cookery school and visited London more than I ever have in my life. I made new friends. Discovered the good that be can done via blogging and went to a LOT of foodie events. I had support from people I’d never met over a very tough year and discovered that I wasn’t along in feeling the way I did. My family were there for me as always and cheered me on in my blogging adventure.

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I experimented more with my cooking and had the confidence to enter ( and win) an Italian cookery competition.

There was a lot of good in 2014,particularly with the blog although it was hard to see it at the time.

And now it’s over to you….

I would love it if you could answer one of the following questions for me:

1. What was your favourite post or recipe of 2014?

2. What type of posts do you want to see in 2015?

3. Is there anything I could change about the blog, be it layout or the way I explain my methods which would make my blog easier to navigate or for you as a reader to enjoy?

Or ask me a question. Anything you like and I will answer in another post.

Thanks in advance. Look forward to sharing another year of food, family and everything else with you.

Happy new year.

Dear Readers…

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This is a quick post.

Just to say thank you.

And Merry Christmas of course.

But mainly thank you. Every one of you who reads my blog, who shares it, retweets or comments. You. I’m thanking you.

This has been a huge year for my blog. Some days I’ve no idea why any of you read it but I’m so glad you do.

I’ve had some amazing opportunities and met some truly incredible people via blogging. I’ve made friends, gained support and it’s helped keep me sane during a really hard year.

In the last three years a lot has changed in my life. Some of you have read my blog from the beginning and your support, your kind comments and emails are much appreciated. I look forward to another year of blogging. More recipes. More competitions for you lovely lot and more of my rambles.

I am taking a few days break now away from the internet ( although I can’t promise I won’t pop up on Instagram with some foodie love ) to concentrate on my family and friends at this special time.

I wish you all the very best for this festive week.

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you.

Xxxxxxxxx

Cranberry Sauce Recipe – Hob & Sous Vide Versions

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I picked up a pack of fresh cranberries last week and since then I’ve been trying to decide whether to make something extravagant with them or just try making homemade cranberry sauce. Today I went with the lazy option but made it in two different ways. I used the same recipe and cooked one batch of it on the hob and the other batch in my sous vide supreme with very different results.

Cranberry Sauce

You will need:

150g of fresh cranberries
60grams of soft brown sugar
50ml of fresh orange juice
15ml of Port ( I used Cockburns)

For the hob:

Place your orange juice, Port and sugar in a pan and bring to boiling point. Now add your cranberries and simmer for about 5-10 minutes. You want the cranberries to pop and soften. The liquid will thicken even more as it cools.

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For the Sous Vide method:

Heat your Sous Vide to 80C.
Pour your orange juice, port, sugar and cranberries into a ziplock food grade bag and give a shake to combine. Now extract as much air as possible from the bag before zipping shut and place into your Sous Vide Supreme for approximately 30 minutes or until most of the cranberries have popped. After you have removed the bag, mash it slightly with your hand. Cool immediately using the quick chill method unless serving that day.
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Both methods worked really well. The hob method gives a more Cranberry jelly type result whilst the sous vide gives a more typical sauce. They both taste incredible! Looking forward to having them to accompany my Turkey next week.

Clear A Plate This Christmas

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You may have heard about the #clearaplate campaign from Unilever or even seen the video starring Jimmy Doherty. But have you really thought about it?

The #ClearAPlate campaign from Unilever Project Sunlight, supporting its partnership with Oxfam, launched in November with the Waste Not Want Not research which shows that ‘food poverty’ and ‘food waste’ are issues closer to home than many of us think. The research reveals an alarming paradox:

Over a fifth of parents in struggling households have
skipped meals themselves, in order to feed their children

Yet 75% of us are throwing away food, even struggling families

20% of struggling families have actually borrowed money from family or friends in order to buy food

Yet half of comfortable families in the UK over buy

7 in 10 adults in struggling households feel anxious
and stressed about not having enough to eat

Yet 1 in 10 of us think food is so cheap it doesn’t matter if we throw it away

Things need to change.

#ClearAPlate to help the hungry.

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Unilever has launched the #ClearAPlate campaign which pledges to provide an additional half a million meals to families in need through its partnership with Oxfam and calls on people to do their bit to address food waste, in order to help fight hunger.

People can show their support for the #ClearAPlate campaign through three simple steps:

• CLEAR their plate of food and take a photograph
• UPLOAD the image on their social media using #ClearAPlate to raise awareness of the issue
• VISIT www.ProjectSunlight.co.uk to find out other ways to support the campaign, including donating meals or time to Oxfam. People can also find tips and advice on reducing food waste and clever recipe ideas

I’ve got a fabulous hamper of goodies that you can win to help us raise awareness of the campaign. Simply enter the rafflecopter competition at the bottom of this page and you could win the following:
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The giveaway hamper is worth £50 and will contain:
· Colourful kitchen whisk
· Measuring spoons
· Fridge magnets with imperial/metric conversions
· Measuring Jug
· Multicoloured/stacking food containers
· Reusable cupcake cases,
· Egg Timer
· Shopping list/meal planner notebook
· Window planter with seeds
· Leftovers Cookbook

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Christmas Drinks Guide

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Most of us have a drink or two at Christmas time, whether it be at the works Christmas Do or around the dinner table. We don’t tend to drink that much at home but at Christmas and New Years we like to try different drinks or make cocktails etc.

Here are a few of the different drinks we will be enjoying this festive season:

A Pretty Pink Prosecco – I use Villa Vincenta Prosecco NV from Waitrose to make this drink along with raspberry or strawberry sirop from The Preservation Society and it’s just incredible. You could garnish with a strawberry or raspberry to make it look even more appetising.

Salted Caramel Hot chocolate – I use the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate from Gu along with Tesco Salted Caramel Liqueur for THE best hot chocolate. Served of course with piles of cream and chocolate shavings. YUM.

After Eight Cocktail – I use Baileys or any supermarket Irish Cream to make this cocktail and add some whole milk, chocolate milkshake powder and peppermint flavouring. You could garnish it with an actual After Eight on the side of the glass or a candy cane.

As well as cocktails and hot chocolate we need wine for the table and to have with cheese and crackers. I’ve got all my wine needs covered with this Festive Box from Waitrose
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And the Bin series from Lindemans
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After dinner we may indulge in a glass of Cockburns Port:

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And we always, always have mulled wine and of course Bucks Fizz! What drinks do you always enjoy over the festive period?

* Some of the products mentioned have been gifted.

Christmas Presents for 3 Years Plus…

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Christmas with a 3yr old is going to be fun. Izzy is excited and actually really understands what is going on this year. She also has some ideas about what she wants for Christmas and luckily for us she isn’t aiming for anything too expensive!

So here are some of the things we are buying her and some of the other bits I’ve liked or that she already has and loves.

Dolls are high up on her list. We like this:

Baby Annabell:

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And this Tiny Tearsimage doll

And of course all of the accompanying accessories:

A Baby Annabell highchair,Izzy has wanted one of these since playing wdith her cousins a few months ago.

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Some Duplo:

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Fuzzy Felt – we love Fuzzy Felt and this Doc McStuffins set is pretty cute.

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Do you have little ones who love to splash in puddles? These Bogs winter boots keep feet dry and warm..plus they look funky!

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Every stocking needs chocolates and these chocolate gingerbread men are fun and taste great too.
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We also buy at least one book for Izzy for Christmas and as well as traditional stories we also love Busy Books, we have bought most of them including the Christmas one but I’m sure Izzy would adore the Frozen one..if we could find it in stock anywhere!

How about encouraging the reading even more by buying a Leapfrog Read With Me:

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How about some cute Peter Rabbit figures for stocking fillers?

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* Some products have been gifted to us.

A Bootiful Day With Bernard Matthews

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Myself and Izzy were recently invited to a day at The Horniman Museum with Bernard Matthews.

It was a pretty exciting day although travelling to London with a 3yr old who is overtired was a bit of test of my patience but it was mostly enjoyable 😉

Tip for train travel with toddlers – book table seats and get some icing pens and gingerbread cookies.
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We had a cuddle off Paddington when we arrived in London:

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We had some food styling advice from Olia Hercules a renowned food writer and stylist and then we all got to work ( kids included) at styling our own food.

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We then had a delicious lunch which was full of Bernard Matthew Goodies including the dinosaurs which I’d never tried and the turkey drumsticks which took me back to my childhood!

After lunch we tried out some of the new crumb coatings that Bernard Matthews are hoping to introduce – my favourite was the Indian Spices.

All too soon it was time to go and we were on our way with a mound of goodies – including the makings of a Turkey Munchkin:

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Izzy ate nearly all of our ingredients on the train journey home so we haven’t had a chance to try this out yet but we are hoping to soon!

Look out for more info on what we think of Bernard Matthews products as we are now part of The Family Panel. Coming up soon we try to become food artists!

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Christmas Presents for 1 Year Plus…

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Buying for a 1 year old can be awkward. They can’t actually tell you what they want or like and they are just as likely to be excited by the box the toy it arrives in as by the toy itself.

For this reason I would say there is absolutely no need to spend more than about £30.

Here are a range of gifts from stocking fillers to main gifts all at a reasonable price:

Items under £10:

Kiddicare have some great offers in their Buzzing Brains collection including this Pull Along Dog for just £3.99
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And this soft Learn To Dress Ella doll which is just £3.50 at the moment:
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Items under £15
Plush talking toys such as this Peter Rabbit will go down well. Especially if they have an older sister who is obsessed with the TV show.
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These bath toys from Munchkin are great for both toddlers and older children, the tea set in particular would be fab for younger and older siblings to play together.
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Items under £20

Crayola My First Doodle Mat – all the fun of drawing and colouring without ANY of the mess, this genius product from Crayola was adored by my eldest from age 1-3.

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Maybe the parents of the child you are buying for have asked for NO MORE TOYS. I know we have had to do this once or twice and for this age group the item I suggest the most as a gift for the parents and the child ( ok maybe not the child) is a safety gate. Lindam have a massive range of gates to suit all needs including this rather stylish one:
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*Some of these items were gifted.

No More Boobie Milk

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You may have noticed I’ve been a little quieter on here lately. I’m on some medication which has made me feel a little fuzzy headed and I’m having some difficulty in concentrating on things. Hopefully this marshmallow head feeling won’t last too much longer.

I’m a bit emotional this evening because yesterday I made a rather huge ( to me anyway ) decision to stop breastfeeding. For a number of reasons, firstly I’m on medication which although my GP says it’s safe for me to continue feeding it still states on the info leaflet that it passes into the milk and I’m not 100% comfortable with that, secondly I think it’s affecting her sleep – she feeds for comfort at night and that needs to stop really at over 1 year old. Thirdly I’m just rundown. I’m always unwell, tired..drained and the feeding doesn’t help with that at all. Lastly we think Chloe has a milk allergy and although this probably sounds very selfish I don’t want to give up dairy. I’ve given up caffeine and alcohol ( for the most part) for over a year which has been hard and I don’t want to give up anymore.

So plenty of perfectly valid reasons for ending our breastfeeding journey but I still feel guilty. I’m sat here with swollen breasts and it would be so easy to pop upstairs and feed her but I can’t. I know it’s the right time. Although she still loves to feed and will poke at my chest with her tongue out when she wants it, she doesn’t actually NEED it much anymore. She is eating a lot more food and she only really has short feeds and only at night time. I’m trying to convince myself that it’s for the best. Because it really is, in the long run it will leave me with more energy for her and for Izzy. She won’t be as dependent on me for comfort at night and hopefully she will be less tired.

I should be proud of feeding for over a year, through trying, emotional times and when it felt extremely hard. We didn’t even stop after I had an emergency lumbar puncture and had to stay in hospital.

But instead of feeling proud tonight I’m a bit weepy.

I will miss it.

Her first feed:
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Slow Cooker Ham In Mulled Cider With Salted Caramel Glaze

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I always make a ham on Christmas Eve and I like to try out different recipes in search of the ultimate ham. A few weeks ago I had a supermarket festive food catalogue through the door and in it was a ham with a salted caramel and bourbon glaze. It’s been stuck in my head since then and I knew I had to try and create something similar with a festive twist.

I was sent some Westons Mulled Cider to try out and as good as it is to drink I managed to somehow save some to cook my ham in.

This recipe is incredibly simple to follow and gives an absolutely divine result. Perfect Christmas Ham.

You will need:

1 pint of Westons Mulled Cider
Ham (mine was 1.5kg)

For the glaze:

Shop bought or previously made salted caramel sauce

Or

150g of Caster Sugar
100ml of water
80g butter
1/2 tsp of sea salt

Place your ham in your slow cooker and pour over a pint of mulled cider and turn on low. Leave for 8-10 hours.

Preheat your oven to gas mark 6.

At the end of the cooking time, remove from the slow cooker (turn it off but leave the stock inside) and place in a roasting tin to rest (I scored the fat at this point and studded with cloves – optional)

In a pan heat your sugar and water together until golden, remove from heat and carefully add your butter and 1/2 tsp of sea salt, shake the pan gently to combine and return to the heat for 2 minutes before spooning over your ham. Place in your hot oven for 10 minutes,remove and baste before placing back in the oven for a further 10 minutes until bronzed and beautiful.

Rest before carving.

You can also make an amazing sweet sauce to accompany your ham by adding two cups of your stock to your sticky roasting pan and stirring until it all combines, them tip into a small pan and simmer over a low heat until it reduces.

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I cannot tell you how good this tastes, the ham is beautifully tender and the flavour of the mulled cider comes through in every bite and the sticky sweetness of the caramel is just incredible.

* I was gifted Westons Mulled Cider to sample and review.