Generally my husband is happy if a meal contains a bit of flavour and some cheese! There are lots of  tasty recipes on the web, but I decided to combine his favourites into a dish. Here is my recipe for Chilli and Parmesan Coated Chicken Kievs.

Serves 2

2 chicken breasts
25g of Butter
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of Schwartz Parsley
1 egg
1 slice of bread made into breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons on grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon of Schartz crushed chillies

Start by making the garlic butter. Chop 2 small cloves of garlic and mix it with the butter and parsley.


Partially cut the chicken breasts to make a pocket to put the butter.


Make breadcrumbs and mix with the chillies and Parmesan


Dip the chicken breasts in the egg and then into the breadcrumb mixture.
Cook the chicken breasts for 20-25mins at 180 C
I served mine with some fried gnocchi and broccoli stems.

Have you been to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 this half term? If so then here is a simple activity you might like to try with the kids - making your own pickles!

My biggest tip is to buy jumbo gherkins as mine were a bit small. Middle man will happily eat them with his new found love of pickles! Here is my attempt with some teeny tiny gherkins.

Last weekend we visited Peppa Pig World with the boys. Middle man kept disappearing but it was soon easy to work out where he would be. You see unlike in the supermarkets these all worked (well Mummy didn't have to pay for them as you just sat in them and pressed a button!)

With our Halloween party planned for Friday we have spent this afternoon testing out some of our ideas for food and games with a couple of friends. There have been many sweets and cakes consumed and the kids were even worse!

So here are a few of the games we played.

The Flour Game

A favourite of mine as a child and my boys love it too. A great one for looking spooky too if you are the "un"lucky one that gets to eat the chocolate.

Fill a small bowl with flour, make a castle and pop some chocolate in the top
Take it in turns to cut away the flour until the chocolate falls
Eat the chocolate without using your hands!


Dangling Doughnuts

Nice and simple and made me giggle as well as the boys.


Apple Bobbing

A must for Halloween. I have seen some people use red food colouring to make it look like blood, but I wasn't keen of the mess that it could make so we stuck to plain old water. Apples are a favourite of middle man's so he was keen to play this!



Frame it

Not so much of a game but a way of taking photos that my boys don't mind being taken. They love watching Art Attack so like their photo being taken with a frame and shouting frame it! Add a few Halloween masks, headbands and decorations for some more fun.


Yucky Dip

I made a dip using cornflour water and spaghetti and hid a black bat ring in there to find (and some orange ones to make it harder. Middle man did not like this at all as it felt too yucky!





For dessert, I made some jelly with hidden jelly skulls in and chocolate mousses topped with jelly snakes and crushed digestive biscuits. The jelly skulls had melted a bit so if you have a go, make sure the jelly isn't too hot when you add them. Chocolate mice are good too and big man would have preferred these.


For party favours I put a few sweets into some mini pumpkins that I had purchased from 99p stores.


I also made this pumpkin sweet holder. My neighbour did one of these for Halloween last year and it is a lovely way to put sweets out for trick or treaters, if you are out trick or treating yourself. Just pop a LED candle in it to light it up.



I still have a couple more pumpkins to carve, so if you have any good ideas on what to have a go at let me know. I have seen a nice looking spider one that I may try.....

My boys are fans of Scooby Doo, but this is Scooby with a difference. The Mystery Map uses puppets instead of animation. I wasn't sure what to think at first. Same Scooby Doo style movie but with Sesame Street type puppets. However, the boys love it. Especially middle man who has adopted his usual standing infront of the TV approach for his favourite programmes.


The boys like the story and it isn't too scary. They seem to like the large "evil" parrot. There is also some singing which makes them run round the sofa in circles. All in all, the DVD got a big thumbs up from my little men and it is perfect for a rainy afternoon, especially with Halloween coming up. You can purchase it from Amazon here. I have also found that middle man has been asking to eat a lot of pickles recently which I put down to one of Scooby's snacks being a pizza with pickles on!


We were given a copy of the DVD for the purpose of this review but the opinions here are my own.

Three months after the arrival of big man, I decided to throw my husband a surprise birthday dinner party. I wanted to make him a star wars cake but there was one problem. I have never managed to stay awake through a whole episode of Star Wars! However, thanks to the wonder of you tube and a fabulous star wars fanatic friend, I came up with this cake. I'm afraid I can't tell you which film it is from! The best part was that his friends stopped singing Happy Birthday when they realised what it was and started discussing it! Now I have another problem. Big man wants a star wars cake for his birthday too! And no I still haven't managed to stay awake through a whole film yet!

Are you a star wars fan? If so any great easy cake ideas for me? Or are you like me and no matter how hard you try find the films as dull as dishwater? (Controversial statement there!)

Every now and again, I get a bee in my bonnet about starting a new blog. My husband then reminds me that I struggle to find the time to write this one so maybe now is not the time. He is right. So why do I want to start another one? Well I like cooking so I like the idea of a food blog. I am worried that if I put loads of recipes on my "parent blog" then my readers wont like it. This got me thinking about how people read blogs.

Often I see bloggers worrying about how many reviews they should or shouldn't do. There are some strong views on this. Are they bloggers or blaggers? Do I read reviews on blogs? Now and then. Does it stop me from reading a blog? No.

I may be slightly controversial here, but I don't read a lot of blogs inside out. If I see lots of text I am put off and dare I say I sometimes skim read them. I prefer short and sweet posts. There are a handful of blogs that I read the majority of posts from. They generally aren't the top blogs in the rankings, but for some reason, in the past 18 months, I have built a bond with them. Whether it be that I have met the writer, they are funny on twitter or they started their blog around the same time as me. Other blogs I drop by on. If someone comments on my blog, I try out of politeness to visit them back. If I join a linky, I try to view as many blogs joined up as I can. My Bloglovin feed gets e mailed to me and I flick through to see what looks interesting. The same goes for twitter, if there is a tweet that catches my eye I have a quick look.

Another topic of debate is people claiming they have been fooled into reading sponsored posts. The way I view it is, if the blog is written well it is no different to the writer having a prompt. You don't have to click on the link and what is wrong with them wanting to make money from their blog?

So my conclusion is that I read blogs where I have built a bond with the writer and I click on those I see which take my interest with nice pictures and ideas of activities. I am pretty sure that I am not the only person that reads blogs like this. Am I? So, for now I will continue with my mishmash of parenting, cake decorating, crafting and competitions and hope that people continue to enjoy my writing. I don't expect anyone to read my blog cover to cover. I just enjoy writing it and at the end of the day I would still do it if no one read it. So it is just one blog for me until I get another bee or stop wearing a bonnet!

How do you read blog posts? Do you hate blogs filled with reviews? Are you put off my sponsored posts? Do you read the same blogs in full or are there a selected few that you return to and look at the others when they catch your eye.

My Dad does the BEST bubble and squeak ever. Once a year at Christmas. So when he was over recently, I asked him his secret. I can make bubble and squeak but it never tasted the same. His secret was simple. Fry it in butter. So here is my bubble and squeak recipe. Perfect for Christmas, but great to use with leftovers from a Sunday roast.

Bubble and Squeak Ingredients - serves 4

4-5 medium Maris Piper potatoes
120g of Spring greens (or left over cabbage/brussels from a roast)
half a red onion finely chopped
Butter

Boil and mash potatoes with a knob of butter. If you are using spring greens, steam them in the microwave for 5 minutes.


Finely chop the red onion and fry for a couple of minutes


Add the onion and the cooked greens to the potato and mix. Then fry in butter until it is golden brown.



I served mine with some honey roast ham and some Garners pickled onions. Yummy!



This post is an entry for #MarisPiperBritMums Linky Challenge sponsored by Potato Council for Potato Week 7 – 13 October, celebrating the varieties of potatoes and how we like to eat them. Learn more and find recipes at www.lovepotatoes.co.uk

Any Mum of boys will know the importance of getting them out and about each day to run off some excess energy. If I don't let mine into the back garden to play, they really do want to climb the walls! This is our garden at the moment.



This year we took away the two side flower beds in a hope to give the boys some extra room to play football. Unfortunately, big man has mainly used these goals as a means to make a den rather than shoot goals! So our garden is in need of some TLC and some thought into what the boys would actually like to play with in it.

In planning our dream garden, I thought I would ask the boys for their views. Middle man wanted acorns, big man a climbing frame and little man apparently wants an enormous water gun according to his Daddy!

Looking at the Activity Toys Direct website, this leapt out at me.

TP Toys Castlewood with CrazyWavy Slide Extension (£429)

The Castlewood tower playset would be great for so many reasons. Firstly there is something that would please all of my boys. Climbing for big man, a slide for middle man and the bottom could house a sandpit for little man (where he could sit with his large water gun.) I am also sure that big man would be able to attach a few sheets here and there so it could be a fantastic den for him and his brothers. The tower isn't too big, so would fit in our garden, but if in a year or two we move to somewhere a little bigger then it could be extended further. I am sure they would love to have the swing set added.

TP Toys Castlewood Double Swing Arm (£89)

This summer my boys played outside a lot and moved their slide into their old hippo water tray to make a splash zone. I can pretty much guarentee that they will be too big to do this next year so this aqua slide would bring them hours of fun

TP Toys The Original Aqua Slide (£26.95)

I would then make my purchases up to £500 by buying some of these protective rubber mats. They make it safer for the children and would make my lawn stay nice too!

Plum Protektamat (2 pack) Green (£14.99)

But what else would I like in my garden? Well the winner of this competition would have £250 to spend in a garden centre, so I have made a Pintrest board of some of the this I would like to buy.


Big man loves his bee house, so a bug house or two would be great. A hidden fairy door could be where the tooth fairy lives. A patch to grow some veggies and herbs would help the boys learn and help Mummy with the cooking. A nice bench to sit and enjoy my coffee on, surrounded by my favourite flowers of tulips and daisy's and the sound of my boys laughing and playing together. What a perfect dream garden full of activities, fun and joy. Maybe, just maybe, my dreams could become a reality......

This blog post is an entry into the Tots100/Activity Toys Direct garden makeover competition

When Organix asked if I wanted to review their Winter Warmers range, I was going to say no, thinking that it was baby food. Then I realised that it is aimed at children aged 1-3. I have been having problems with little man throwing most of his dinner on the floor, so I thought I would give them a go. We started off with the soups with little success. He seemed to like dipping bread in but not actually eating any of it. I think that part of the problem here was the fact that I have been guilty of not really giving him soup before.

Next up we tried the pasta dishes. I gave middle man one too so that they looked the same. He did complain it was bland so I added some salami and cheese and he gobbled it down. Little man wasn't keen.

I realise that this might sound like a negative review, but I really don't want it to be. I think that maybe they just weren't right for little man. If you have a one year old and want to move them onto chunkier food that is more like the rest of the family eats then they are great. They don't have strong flavours but have more than a jar of baby food. I would definitely recommend you give them a go and some of the ones we were given had money back guarentees on. . I was hoping that the softer, and milder flavours were what little man was wanting. However, he must be going through a phase of fussy eating.

Are your children fussy eaters? Have you tried the winter Warmers range? What did your little one think?



We were given the winter warmers samples for the purpose of this honest review.

Big man is nearly 6 and has only just found any kind of interest in drawing and writing. So to do my best with encouraging him, I told him about a competition on This Mummy Loves. He was very excited to take part and has been asking me to get the drawing stuff out after school today.

I just love that he is trying hard and having a go at both drawing and writing at last. He might not be the best, but it is a step in the right direction. Clearly he will become a scientist like Mummy as his spelling isn't great and he insisted labeling his picture!

Here is his picture:



And here is some of his amusing commentary whilst drawing it!

"Mummy I hope that the person that judges has very good eyes so they can see the orange against the black as that's the pumpkin growing. Just so they know I might write down pumpkin growing"

"Not many people will draw bricks on houses, so if I draw bricks I might win..... unless someone draws better bricks.... but I might be the only one that draws a house!"

He was upset that he had written a d instead of a b for bricks. I pointed out that bricks had an r in as he had written bics "There is a silent r in it I guess?" Hmmmmm I wasn't ready to talk about the k too!

Just to clarify big man's picture is of a Mummy trick or treater, knocking on a house made of bricks with pumpkins outside, one of which is growing. In the sky there is a giant star and a moon.

Pushchair Trader is a website where you can find reviews on pushchairs, sell or purchase used pushchairs and enter competitions. Their current Bump to Toddler competition which is running until the 31st October is pretty fantastic. One winner will £6134 of baby products! looking through the prize list my particular favourites are the Gro company products, Trunki and Bibetta products.


The competition is open to UK entrants, but if you become a Pushchair Trader VIP, you automatically get 100 entries without even having to fill out a form. Becoming a VIP costs £12 a year and gives automatic entry into this and all competitions for a year. In addition you receive £5 voucher to the PT shop, exclusive discounts and the chance to apply to test products. Even better is that each new VIP subscriber currently receives a photobook from Albelli worth £15.95 too! Sounds good to me especially if you are expecting a new bundle of joy.

I am pleased that I can offer 5 of my readers a VIP membership to Pushchair Trader. Just fill in the Rafflecopter below and make sure that in the comment there is a name or twitter id so I can identify you when I moderate entries. Don't forget to read the T &C's. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You would think that after meeting Marti Pellow in my dentists waiting room, I would be there at every opportunity in a hope that he was there again. This time I would have enough courage to get my picture with him. I must admit though that I am not the best at finding time to go. It is on my to do list, but so are a lot of things and it always slips to the bottom.

I don't massively hate going to the dentist. I have a nice one. He does seem to think that anyone with more than 2 children has had "an accident" but apart from that he makes me feel at ease as he prods around my mouth counting my teeth. I do, however, always feel like a naughty child when I go. The main reason for this is that he tells me to take care of my gums every time I visit. So when I saw that Oral B and Britmum's were hosting a linky I thought I would try out their Pro Expert Premium Gum Protection toothpaste. I have no idea if it's doing the job, but I haven't noticed my gums bleed recently so that is a good sign. It also has a dentist kind of taste to it too, which makes me think that it must be doing a good job. The test will be my dentist. I shall get to to the bottom of the tube and book myself an appointment. All being well I will come away without feeling like a naughty schoolgirl, and if I am really lucky a photo with Marti!



This post is an entry for BritMums’ #ORALBLoveYourGums Challenge  sponsored by Oral-B, promoting healthy gums – something especially important for pregnant women. Get tips and advice on www.oralb-loveyourgums.com.

On Monday I got little man to bed for his afternoon nap and then was set to tidy the house.

But I got distracted.

I saw a blogging competition which looked pretty fun and thought I would raid the fridge for fruit that was past its best. Alexa and Alexa have challenged bloggers to post their spooky fruit creations and so I had to have a go.

First up is my vomitting orange. I particularly like the fig for a great vomit effect.


Next I got a pear and had a go at a skull (little man's favourite halloween decoration!?!)


Grapes, a very old plum and some cocktail sticks were quickly transformed into a spider.


I felt like I was on a roll, but wanted to come up with something I hadn't seen before. What do you think of when you see a fig? A vampire bat of course!


It was no good, I was out of time, I needed to go and pick up big man from school. He returned, not shocked to see that Mummy had spent the afternoon making fruit creations but wanting to have a go himself. Here is his creation. He added a grape for a more "wicked" effect.


I know I am sometimes a big kid, but this was lots of fun and I would highly recommend it as a half term activity for the kids. So which do you like the best?


This is my entry to the Alex and Alexa Spooky Fruit Halloween Competition