I am not usually a salad person, but when I saw a butternut squash and halloumi salad on the menu at lunch the other day, it grabbed my attention. It was delicious so when I got home I decided to recreate it. The one in the cafe had beetroot in which was lovely, but I only had pickled beetroot which wouldn't have been the same so I missed that out.

You will need:

Little gem lettuce
Cucumber
Cherry tomatoes
Halloumi
pine nuts
Butternut squash
A high quality balsamic vinegar. (I used Due Vittorie.)

Start by roasting your butternut squash. I keep some butternut squash cubes in the freezer and these take about 25-30 mins to cook from frozen.

Chop the lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes and drizzle with some balsamic vinegar.

Heat the halloumi in a frying pan until it goes golden on both sides.

Add a small amount of oil and toast the pine nuts. Quantities for this recipe are really dependent on how hungry you are.

Add the roasted squash, halloumi and pine nuts to the salad and drizzle a small amount of balsamic vinegar on top.

One of the tastiest salads I have had in a long time. I hope you like it too!

This time last week I was on the way to Birmingham for this years BlogCamp sponsored by The Wood Window Alliance. This is a free conference where all you need to do is pay to get there! Trust me blogging conferences can really add up so this is great!

I am always nervous at these things, especially if I don't know who is going to be there, but luckily Emma, Kate, Julie and Jamie all made me feel at home. As always you have to make decisions over which sessions to attend. I opted for DSLR Camera Basics, Food Styling and Photography, Stats and Metrics, Building Your You Tube Channels and Advanced Pinterest. So what did I learn?

1. Let your camera do the work. If you have a DSLR shoot on automatic to start and then play around with it as you get more confident. Tom advised to shoot on P mode to start. Then try AV. The flash is the work of the devil, so stay away from using it.

2.You can make the background blurry by shooting on AV. F1-4 will give you a blurry background on a portrait. I had no idea of this and thought I could only do this if I put on a different lense.

3. Use the colour wheel when planning food photography. I knew this already but hearing it again has made me start thinking about it more.

4. I should stop being lazy and use the tripod for photographing food. I would also be able to do pouring etc then.

5. I need to plan my posts. I am rubbish at this. I need to think about what I am cooking, when I will photograph it and what props I will use.

6. Sally has to put up with a lot of moaning about Tots Scores. It is all relative. It takes lots of things into account. Food bloggers have much higher pageviews than parent bloggers, but parent bloggers link more. Main message. Be nice to Sally!

7. You can change your thumbnail on You Tube. Who knew! Well I suppose I should of. But now I just need to change them.

8. I need to get a little bendy tripod for my phone to vlog with. Again vlogging has been on my to do list for about 2 years now, but I am thinking that as little man is starting school in September then maybe I will have more time to do this.

9. I need to apply for Rich Pins on Pinterest. Again I knew this and tried but gave up. I need to have another go and email them if I can't sort it out.

10. Having blogged for 4 years I still have so much to learn. Every blogging conference I attend I come home with loads of ideas. There are so many things to improve. I now just need more hours in the day. Damn I should have gone to the Time Saving Tips For Busy Bloggers course!

Did you go to BlogCamp? What was your favourite session?

Churros and chocolate sauce are a real treat, but not something I had ever thought of making at home until now. Let's Cook Spanish: A Family Cookbook is the latest recipe book in the Let's Cook range, following the success of Let's Cook French and Let's Cook Italian.

It follows the same layout as the other books in that the recipes are written in English on the left page and in Spanish on the left. There are no photographs of the dishes, but there are drawings to brighten up the pages. Personally I would recommend this book to families whose children are a bit more adventurous with food than my boys. Many recipes contain onions, chorizo or paprika. Whilst my husband and I love these flavour, my boys complain that they find them too spicy.


There was one recipe that I knew big man would be happy to help me make. Churros and Chocolate!
It is not something I have ever made before and I really had no idea if we were doing things right or not. The end result suggested we were!

Ingredients:

Churros:

250ml water
1tsp salt
1tbsp olive oil
120g all purpose flour
1 egg white
3 cups of olive oil for frying
100g icing sugar

Chocolate sauce:

470ml milk
200g dark chocolate
granulated sugar to taste.

To make the churros:

Place the water, salt and olive oil in a pan. Bring to the boil. Add the flour and stir until the dough comes away from the side of the pan. Allow to cool.

Whisk in the egg white. I will warn you it is a thick mixture!

Place the dough in a piping bag with a star tip and pipe lengths of dough into a deep pot of oil at 180C. Fry for around a minute.

Sprinkle with icing sugar.

For the chocolate sauce:

Pour the milk into a pan and bring to the boil. Break the chocolate into pieces and add to the milk. Stir until it is melted.

The chocolate and churros were a big hit with the boys. Personally I think that you could get away with half of the chocolate mixture for the amount of churros. Big man enjoyed making the dough and sauce, but I felt he was too young to be involved in the frying of the churros.

The book has some lovely recipes and I shall be trying out some of them for my husband and I.

You can purchase Let's Cook Spanish from Amazon.

Let's Cook Spanish

www.theprizefinder.com - See more at: http://www.theprizefinder.com/content/lets-cook-spanish-recipe-book#sthash.wYLUG75E.dpuf

Oh I so wanted to add a picture title with a baby scan onto this post. Perfect click bait material. But don't panic Mum, that is not the announcement! And, no we aren't moving to Dubai either. Although with the weather here at the moment it is something I would consider. Read on and it will become clear.

I have been feeling lost for the last few months. When big man was in nursery, I longed to be a SAHM. Six years on and I feel as though a part of me is missing. There is more to me than just my boys and not having a proper conventional job has it's issues alongside its rewards. I have to work around the boys. I have to miss opportunities as we have no childcare. But the thought of juggling a teaching role and the boys whilst my husband works away so much, just doesn't seem the right thing to do. So I decided to do what any normal person would do in this situation. Start a new blog!

Yes it is something I have been thinking about for years. Usually after I have returned from a blogging conference, inspired and full of ideas. Then I have put it to the back of my mind as it is too time consuming. That it may be, but the challenge of working out how to use wordpress has put a smile on my face. Given me things to think about when cooking the tea. Sparked my brain into ticking over.

So my new blog is called A Strong Coffee To Go. It is going to cover our days out and travel. It is the perfect excuse for me to hassle my husband into more holidays. Our big trip this year is to Costa Rica. It may turn out that my husband and I have totally lost the plot by taking the boys on an 11 hour plane journey to the rain forest. But if you don't try you will never know. Big man is already listing things I shouldn't touch thanks to Steve Backshall and Deadly 60. I don't even know why he thinks I would lick the back of a poison dart frog! There will be days out over here too, and it leaves this blog to focus more on food and my ramblings about the boys. If you would like to follow me on Facebook, I have a new page that is looking extremely lonely, so please give us a like, or if Bloglovin is your thing then follow me here.

If you like giveaways, then pop over to win a Thermos King Flask - could be the thing for picnics this summer - if it stays hot for more than a day.

So just to wind my husband up, where would my readers like me to visit next?

With my 40th Birthday hurtling towards me at a rate of knots, it has sent me back into the tantrum throwing teenage years. Infact, my behaviour has probably been worse than my 4 year old. Decade birthdays are a big thing. Well at least Facebook tells me they are. Yes, I know I really need to keep my distance with that social media platform.  Massive parties, extravagant trips, celebrations that continue for months. All my friends are turning 40 and doing it in style.

So what am I doing? Well not much is the answer. If money wasn't an object, then I would be on holiday. Lazing around a swimming pool with one of those giant piña colada's in a pineapple. 

There are two problems with this:
1. Money is an object
2. I have 3 kids. I haven't lazed around a pool since my early thirties. Generally these days it is more of a case of perching on the side of a splash pool hoping a bucket of water doesn't pour on my head.

So what should I do to mark this momentous birthday? Well after a lot of thought, I have decided that denial is the best option. I don't feel forty and until I decide on what I would like to do, I will continue in my bubble where I will turn twenty again. After all, what forty year old would insist that for a date with their husband they should go to Thorpe Park and ride the big 5? When they haven't been on a roller-coaster since there twenties and now have the fear. That is far more the kind of thing that someone in their twenties would do!

As the saying goes, you are only as young as the woman you feel, so I am 38 and have 2 more years to work out what to do for my 40th. For now I will just sit back and smile in the knowledge that I plucked up enough courage to do Stealth and loved it! 

This months Bostik box was filled with weather themed craft supplies. Little man and I decided to make a weather wheel. A simple craft and nice as little man enjoys changing the dial depending on the weather. And at least recently we have been able to point it to the sun a little bit!

You will need:

A paper plate
A paper fastener (or a button and a pipe cleaner)
Some foam shapes cut into weather symbols and a pointer
Bostik fine and wide glu pen
Blu Tack


Start by making a hole in the plate by centering the blu tack in the middle at the bottom and pressing a pencil through.


Do the same with either the paper fastener of a button and pipe cleaner. Secure so that the pointer can be moved around.


Fix the weather shapes around the paper plate using the wide end of the glu pen. Allow to dry.



Attach a pipe cleaner to the back of the plate so that the dial can be hung up.

A simple craft to do with a pre schooler and hopefully over the coming months that pointer will be pointing a bit more to the sun than the rain cloud!

I always find it hard when I am asked by my family what I would like for my Birthday for Christmas. You get to an age where you have pretty much everything you need. Having a sister who works for Red Letter Days is good as she gets to see the special offers. For Christmas she treated me and my husband to a voucher for lunch at the Riverside Brasserie in Bray. They still have the 2 for 1 offer on and you can buy it here.



The restaurant is located at Bray Marina. You would not know that it was there. Even when you drive into the car park. The side that faces the car park is the Marina Office. It is not until you walk round the other side, that you see it is a restaurant. Set on the side of the river, it is an idyllic on a summers day.

The voucher covers a 3 course menu with a prosecco cocktail each. Some items have an additional surcharge. It is worth noting that you will also be charged service on the entire bill, not just the extras you purchase. It is also worth noting, that like a lot of restaurants, it doesn't open on Mondays. This is the set menu for the Red Letter Days voucher.

For starter, I opted for the caesar salad. The sauce was light and delicious.


My husband went for the ham hock which he enjoyed. All beautifully presented.


For main we both opted for duck with red cabbage. My husband also added a side of fat chips. Again a really tasty dish.


There was just enough room for dessert and I opted for the Eton mess as it was such a warm day. The strawberries were full of flavour. My husband enjoyed the sticky toffee pudding.

The food was lovely and the scenery was particularly beautiful on the day we chose. I always like to see if these kind of offers are any good or not so I checked out the food we ate on the day on their regular menu, and sure enough it is a massive saving. To be honest I think the voucher price is a fairer price to pay for this lunch than the ones quoted on the menu.





My sister works for Red Letter Days but she bought this for us as a gift and did not ask me to write a post. It was just really lovely and a good deal so I wanted too!

So school places have been dished out. The chances are you are either as smug as hell that you got your first choice or scared as anything that your child will never learn a thing at the hell hole the council has put your precious little Johnny in. We were in the latter camp 4 years ago. My friends had jokingly named the school "Sunnyside nursery" and swore to home-school if their children got there. I had visions of big man's arms being pulled off by some horrible child and no Buzz Lightyear to come to the rescue.

Fast forward 4 years and it was the only school we put down on little man's form.

Anyway I digress. Starting school is a minefield. If it is your first time round you haven't a clue. I ordered a jumper for me rather than big man! So here is my guide on what you really need to know.

1. School Uniform. If you are at a school that allows you to have a mix of branded and non branded school uniform, then do just that. It doesn't mean you are poor if you have bought your uniform from the supermarket. No, in my book it means you are sensible. Whilst it is lovely to have a couple of branded tops for a first day photo, for example, that is all you need. Trust me you will be in tears when little Johnny has finished his first week at school and every branded top is covered in a combination of and not limited to; dry wipe marker, grass, mud, and grease. I have no idea what reception kids do in their day but I do wonder if they are working in the local mechanics at lunchtime. Honestly, I have no idea where all the oil stains come from.

2. Labels. You are a good Mum. You love your kids so much. The best way of showing this is by spending your evenings, 2 months before school starts, by sewing on name tags. No. Just no. What on earth was I thinking buying 100 sew in labels? My husband should have directed me to a doctor after the 20th "Oh bugger!" when I had pricked my own finger. I mean the school even gave me a sharpie in my welcome pack. It was a sign. The easiest way to label clothes? Actually no it isn't. As ultra lazy Mum (aka Smart Mum) I now buy stick on labels. And I am so smug in my smartness (aka the laziest Mum ever) I only print the surname. It doesn't matter if clothes are passed down or if your kids get the wrong water bottle. BOOM! #winningatparenting!

I should point out that labeling is very important as reception seems to be some kind of clothes swap when they aren't at the mechanics. It is also perfectly acceptable for little Johnny to come home wearing clothes back to front and shoes on the wrong feet - especially is they all belong to him.

3. Lunch. Do whatever is easiest. Personally I find that is the free school meals to all infant school children.

4. Learning. Do not compare your children to others. Full Stop. I spent far too long worrying about whether big man was at the right reading level. If they have reading books, read with them. If they don't, don't worry. Schools do things differently. Do not panic about government standards. My son failed his phonics test because his reading was too good. Oh the irony! Do not compare with friends at other schools. Treat your child as an individual and help them along the way without turning them off education before they have started.

Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY a set of Biff Chip and Kipper from the Book People. No matter how much of a bargain it is. You will hate those kids by the end of reception and will have another couple of years of their ridiculous and boring adventures. (I was never allowed to end a story at junior school with " and they woke up and it was all a dream" so why are Biff and Chip allowed too?)

5. Water Bottles. There are some lovely metal water bottles for under £10. Kids drop them ALL the time. They won't stand up after a week. Don't say I haven't warned you.

6. Coats. You want to economise. Who doesn't?  Don't buy coats with inner fleeces that can be removed depending on how cold it is. And definitely don't be really smug and order them in the sales for years to come too. These coats are a great idea. In theory. I am sure they would be great for adults. Give them to a child and they will forever be in a tangled mess. Unable to get their arm in the right hole as it is tangled inside the coat. Just buy a winter and a summer coat.

7. Birthday Parties. Don't stress over them. (This is more a point for myself to remember than to share!) The fact of the matter is that at any given time, if your child is asked to pick their best 12 friends, it will change EVERY time you ask them. Some kids are popular. Some kids get invited because their Mums are friends with the Birthday child's parents. Most parties have some kind of number constraint. If your child is invited then that is lovely, If they aren't then it doesn't mean they have no friends. If they are happy at school, then don't worry about if they have or haven't been to Birthday parties.

8. School plays/assemblies. Oh God, Where do I start? From the beginning I suppose? For big man's first harvest assembly I was really excited to go. It was at 1pm. We are lucky to have a community centre nearby. I thought I would get there at 12.30, grab a coffee and go up. I was lucky to get a seat at 12.15 after a Mum's staus update at midday had caused me to think I had got the time wrong. I can't believe I now even think there should be a ticketing system for school plays! It is mayhem. People get their partners to queue when they are dropping their children off. It is sad that the people who have the stars of the show are sat at the back and can barely see. If you don't have any younger siblings with you then it is often easier to stand at the back.

9. School competitions. Let your child enter. It is not a parent competition. However, if you are on the PTA, I reckon an additional parent competition with entry fee might be a good money spinner on occasions. Often judges will pick a child that has put in effort. OK middle man's scary rabbit hats have failed to win any prizes yet, but his "fake bearded Santa" for the Christmas Fayre won him a book token.

10. Last but not least, your child will be fine. Infact, like it or not, your child will thrive without you. They will find out who they are and what they want to do. They will often not do anything at school when you ask, and then you will later find out that they can maypole dance. Let your child choose their friends, their hobbies and have a say in their life. They will be fine whatever school they go to. Every school has A grade students. Some just find it easier than others. Just realx and let your little Johnny fly. I bet he soars higher than you would imagine.

Whilst a decade ago, I may have chosen to sky dive for a Red Letter Day, now I am less of an adrenaline junkie. So when Red Letter Days asked if I would like to review one of their experiences, I decided to opt for a cookery course. Choosing one was easier said than done, as there is an array of courses to suit any foodie. I finally opted for the Tuscan Cookery Course at La Cucina Caldessi. Having only done short cookery courses in the past, I was keen to see how a half day course would compare.



About two weeks before the course I was emailed to say that due to other commitments, Giancarlo Caldessi would be unable to make the course. At this point I was able to defer to a different course or continue with the head chef Stafano Borella taking the course instead. I was happy with the latter and it appeared everyone else was too as when I arrived at 10am on the Saturday the course was full.

There was a variety of people on the course, from early twenties upwards. All sharing a love of food and cooking. Many were return customers and one couple had even traveled from Switzerland for the cookery course. Most people came with a friend so I paired up with a lovely man called Bernard. He had received vouchers as his retirement present.

If you haven't been on a cookery course before, it is worth noting that you don't cook your individual dish. You work as a team. With a menu as large as this one was, it would be impossible to do each dish yourself. Stefano went through the techniques as a group and then each pair took on their own part of one of the dishes.

Our menu was:

Black crostini (with chicken liver pate)

Deep fried sage leaves and anchovies

Fettuccine with Tuscan pesto

Tuscan roast stuffed baby chicken

Oven-baked potatoes and red onions with pancetta

Spinach sformato

Classic tiramisu

Soft sienese biscuits

I have to say that I turned my nose up at the anchovies and crostini, but of course when it came to tasting them they were delicious. After the course you are e mailed all the recipes so you can recreate the menu at home. You will have to watch out for the sienese biscuits as I will have to give them a try soon.


As you can see from the menu it was extremely varied. We learned how to bone a chicken. However, in future I think I will leave that delight to the butcher! Pesto was so simple to make with fresh ingredients.


Pasta was much easier to make than I had realised and Stefano told us the key was to use Italian 00 flour. Apparently the supermarkets do a 00 flour but it doesn't work as well with British wheat. Whilst we were busy making pasta, the table was being set for lunch.


The course was packed full with tips and there was more food than I was able to eat! Stefano was a fantastic host who made you feel at ease and encouraged you. If you are able to get a lift/public transport to the course then do. There is plenty of wine to enjoy with your meal.

My biggest tip if you decide to book on this course? Do not book to go out for dinner the same evening! Thankfully I hadn't, but if you haven't done a course like this and are staying in London then you may think it is a good idea. Trust me, you wont have room. I was really impressed that we were encouraged to take our leftovers home. My husband was also pleased by this as he loves Italian and was more than happy to sample my days work. We also got to take our aprons home as a memento of the day.

If you are a foodie and love cooking then I don't think you can go wrong with this course and would certainly recommend it to others.







Red Letter Days sent me on this experience in return for this review, however, all opinions expressed here are my own.

I have always loved the Mr Men and it is lovely that middle man is such a big fan of them too. What better way to celebrate two more editions to his Mr. Men library, than to hold a Mr. Men Party! Little man and I prepared the party whilst middle man was at school. With a Little Miss Princess cake from Tesco and some easy to make Mr. Messy biscuits.

Little man helped me make the biscuits and they can be as easy as you want. Personally, I like the easier option when it comes to party catering and instead of making my own cookies we decorated some rich tea biscuits.

All we did was make some pink icing and place it in an icing bag. I didn't have any pink gel so I used some juice from some defrosted raspberries to get the intense pink colour. You then add a big squiggle to the biscuit using a piping bag. Let this icing dry before adding the eyes and smile. I used some Betty Crocker's fudge icing for this.



Next up was a costume. We decided to get all messy, making Mr. Messy! To make this costume you will need:

Pink paint
PVA glue
Wool
A large piece of card
scissors
black foam



Mix the pink paint with a generous amount of PVA glue. Cut the wool into long lengths, dip it in the paint mixture and then place on the white card in a Mr Messy shape.


Allow to dry before adding foam eyes and a smile. Then use the wool to secure it around the body. Here is my little Mr Messy!



But why are we celebrating? 9th of May would have seen the creator of the Mr. Men, Roger Hargreves', Birthday. So Mr. Men Birthday Party is being released. I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. Mr. Birthday is ill and he is meant to be organising Mr. Silly's Birthday party. Little Miss Helpful tries to help, but things go astray and Mr Forgetful forgets to send the invites! Luckily more Mr. Men come to the rescue.


You are now also able to personalise your own Mr Men book. Such a lovely idea for a Mr. Men fan. You get to choose the the features of the Birthday child, eg hair, skin tone and clothing. As well as this you can use the child's name and that of a friend in the story. Middle man was very excited to receive his own special copy. Your child is asked to help arrange a Birthday party but everything is a bit silly. Can you guess who the party is for?

Mr. Men have some exciting giveaways to celebrate. If you love Pinterest then this Pin to win competition is for you. Full details can be found here, but you could win a Mr. Men party of your own!


I am delighted to be able to offer my readers a 20% discount code to purchase their own personalised Mr. Men book. Just use the code: pblogger20

I am also excited to be able to offer a copy of The Mr. Men Birthday Party as a prize to one of my readers. Just complete the Gleam entry below. Good Luck!

Mr Men Birthday Party

A couple of  weeks ago I was invited to L'Atelier Des Chefs to cook some Street Food. Located in central London, the idea is that you can take a thirty minute class to learn something new and eat what you have made. I think it is probably a good idea that I don't work in central London as I would be booking up all the time.




Our chef for the afternoon was Ibolya Olah. She was really friendly and explained everything which is important in a mixed ability class. I have never been on a cookery course before so all the hints and tips she gave us were really useful. We made a frittata in truffled tomato sauce and chicken shawarma with homemade wraps. Both were delicious and simple and I have made both at home since.

Although a frittata is an easy dish to make, I have to confess that I have never managed to get it right. Part of the reason is I have cooked it on the hob and then had to grill the top rather than put it in the oven because of the frying pan handle. This is not a problem with the ingenio range as you just take the handle off!


The key to cooking a perfect frittata is to chop the ingredients finely so that they cook quickly, and make sure they go in the pan in the right order. Potatoes first, a few minutes later the pepper and lastly the onion. This should mean they are all cooked through perfectly. The tomatoes complement the dish really well, and from cooking it at home, I now realise that it is best to use fresh ingredients rather than a pot of smoked paprika that has been in the back of the cupboard for ages. Of course you can mix around with the ingredients in the frittata and I am looking forward to trying one with come chorizo in.


The chicken shawarma was equally delicious. I had never even considered making my own wraps before, but again it was really simple and it is worth checking out the recipe.

The class is run so that you are working in a group to make the dish and then you share it out. I hadn't really considered this before but it makes sense and everyone chips in before sharing the meal together.

I had a lovely afternoon, learning lots and enjoying using the Ingenio range. Have you tried any cookery classes that you would recommend?