Prosecco Mojitos

• 3 limes (2 1/2 squeezed and the other half for decoration.)
• 2 handfuls of ice
• 4 dessert spoons of caster sugar
• 50ml of Bacardi
• 1 mini bottle of Prosecco. I used Premier Estates.
• Fresh mint.

After this recipe, I am unsure I will want to make a standard mojito again! Have you got any other good Prosecco cocktail recipes that I should try?

If you ask my husband. he would say that the planning of our wedding was really simple. It was for him! He mainly just needed to collect the suits and turn up at the right time. Both of which he managed. I, however, spent months planning everything. Unless you have an unlimited budget, you have to think carefully about what parts of the wedding planning you want to prioitise. I have been thinking about our wedding and there isn't actually anything I would change, so I am going to share my top priorities, as well as how we saved hundreds of pounds.



1. The Venue.

We wanted the reception to be able to hold around 80 people, with more friends able to attend for the evening reception. We wanted a place where photographs would look nice whether the weather was good or bad. Unfortunately our venue no longer exists. It has been made into private housing. But the sun shone and we have some beautiful pictures and great memories.


2. The Photographer

When it came to choosing a photographer, we wanted someone who we were comfortable with and who would take a a mixture of staged and unstaged photographs. Choosing a wedding photographer you get on with and whose work you like is so important. They are documenting what is hopefully going to be the best day of your life. Things have moved on in the world of photography in the last twelve years. If you choose well you will get some beautiful images. You will also see parts of your day that you didn't actually see. Shots of people enjoying themselves at the reception were some of my favourite shots of our day.


3. The Cake

I love cake and I wanted a chocolate one. Whilst you can make savings on your wedding cake, by buying tiers from a supermarket and adding flowers, I was happy to spend more money on something special. I had a fantastic white chocolate cake with dipped strawberries and even made my own version for our 10th wedding anniversary.


So how did we save money?

Luckily the dress that I fell in love with was actually reasonably priced, but that was luck more than anything. Our biggest savings came in the things we did ourselves.

1. Stationery

I made all the wedding stationary myself. From the invites to orders of service and menus. I felt it made it more personal. You don't need to be particularly creative to make your own wedding stationery.

2. Favours

Now favours are a funny thing aren't they. I think the loveliest favours I have received at a wedding were some homemade biscuits by the grooms family. They aren't really necessary, but everyone does them - a grown ups party bag! We chose to do something very simple and combined our two favourite childhood sweets. My husband went for a swizzle lolly and I opted for a drumstick. I tied these together with some curling ribbon.

3. Flowers

Now I have my Mum, friend and IKEA to thank for these. I wanted my flowers to be quite simple and went to my local garden centre the day before and bought a lot of roses. My Mum made the bouquets for me and the bridesmaids. My friend the button holes and I did the table decorations. I bought some cheap vases from IKEA, white stones from the garden centre and simple added some roses to some oasis. Altogether, we spent less than £150.


4. Make Up

I am not the kind of person that likes to be heavily made up. I felt more comfortable doing it myself. A few weeks before the wedding, I went to my local Benefit counter and had a makeover. I then practiced at home and felt comfortable with my make up on my wedding day.

5. We stayed at home rather than a hotel.

As our reception venue was 15 minutes away from where we lived, we didn't really see the point of spending an expensive night in a hotel. Instead we got a taxi home. It was actually really nice after a fantastic if exhausting day to be back in our own home.


What were/are your priorities on your wedding day? What ways did you make savings?

Now when it comes to Quorn products, I will be honest and say that I don't regularly buy them. Why? My husband likes meat. He will happily eat the Quorn snack eggs as he thinks these are a better alternative to "who knows what goes into" a standard one, but I haven't really convinced him on the rest. However, thanks to a lovely evening with Pussycat Doll and celebrity Master Chef winner Kimberley Wyatt I am hoping this will change.


Kimberly is the new ambassador for Quorn and I think they chose her well. She is passionate about healthy eating, lowering her meat intake and creating a sustainable way of living. She was one of the nicest celebrities I have met. Down to earth and beautiful inside as well as out. The recipes she shared with us were all delicious, but I have chosen the taco recipe to focus on as it can easily be made family friendly.

For me, the things that make these tacos stand out are the pickled red onions drizzled in fresh orange and lime juice, combined with the flavours of the chipolte and corriander. However, my little ones are spice averse, and turn their noses up at anything new, so I made the same recipe for them, missing out the kidney beans and chipotle sauce. I am pleased to say it worked really well. Everyone was happy, there were clean plates and no one complained there was no meat. Infact middle man said how much he liked the meat!

One of the key things I have found using Quorn is that I have to appreciate it is not meat, I know, that is obvious right? Well it hasn't been to me before. I have tried frying the mince and ended up using loads of oil, going against the healthy meal I was aiming for. Kimberley advised to add some extra water as the Quorn soaks it up. This tip alone is great and means I will now try some new recipes using Quorn.

Kimberley Wyatt's Chipotle Quorn Mince Tacos

•  1 Pack of Quorn mince
• 1tbsp oil
• 1 medium onion diced
• 2 garlic cloves chopped
• 1 vegetable stock cube, crumbled
• 1-2 tablespoons chipotle paste (I missed this out and used sauce at the end so it wasn't spicy for my little ones.)
• 50ml water
• 1 large can of chopped tomatoes
• 2tbsp tomato puree
• 1 large tin of kindney beans
• chopped corriander to garnish

So you may have noticed that I have been missing in action the past couple of weeks. After nearly a year, we have finally moved our family home. Now I am not one for change, so it was only a mile away and the boys are still at the same school. We said goodbye to the house we had bought our babies home to, and I am so pleased I made a little tour of it, before it was filled top to bottom with cardboard boxes.



Having not moved for 10 years, what has struck me more than anything is how much there is to do. We chose a house that we could live in from day one. Ok, some of the decor isn't to my choosing but we can change that as we go. The people we bought from were possibly the loveliest people ever. They left us furniture, curtains, lights, white goods. More than we could possibly imagine. Now trust me not everyone is like this. When my sister moved into her (more expensive) house, the sellers even took the lightbulbs!

However, it is the little things that you don't realise you will need that all start to add up. My sister kindly offered to have the boys to stay the weekend after our move. This was a Godsend. We can just about bribe them to look around one department store with the promise of a happy meal or cake, but as we had several plus ikea on the cards, doing it as a couple was much easier. So the night before our mammoth trip my husband and I wrote lists of what we needed.

My list:

Toilet roll holders x 2
Bath mat x 2
Pedestal mat for the kids bathroom
Free standing towel rail
Bins for the bathroom
Hanging rail for middle mans room
Pots for the two plants we had moved from our old house
New lightshade for the light in our bedroom
Low level storage for conservatory
Look for a bed for little man
Look for a desk and storage for big man
Wipe clean tablecloth for kitchen/placemats
Storage boxes for middle mans room
New frying pan
Bedside tables


My husbands list:

New sheet for our bed
A big TV
Sonos system

Needless to say we now have a stereo system that can be accessed from multiple rooms, have a lovely nights sleep and are currently deciding just how big a TV screen we require.


Have you moved recently? What would your top priority be?

Having read Have Your Cake And Eat It recently, I decided that I should make some bakes with fruit added rather than chocolate. These peach and raspberry muffins were simple to make and tasted great. I used some tinned peaches and frozen raspberries, which is a great alternative when the fruit aren't quite in season (and works out much cheaper too!) 

Peach And Raspberry Muffins

• 4oz butter
• 4oz plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 oz of caster sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3-4 raspberries per muffin
• Half a tin of peaches cut into chunks

The Charlie and the chocolate factory inspired afternoon tea at One Aldwych has been on my to do list for some time so when my sister suggested it for my Mum's 70th Birthday celebrations, I was very pleased. My biggest concern was how would my boys enjoy it. When looking at the children's menu the only thing that was different was that they had jam, ham and cheese sandwiches. However, it turned out to be no problem and they were soon keen to try my sandwiches too!


The Charlie cocktail had us all intrigued. Presented in a clear teapot bubbling away it was quirky and tasted divine. It was a mix of whisky with cherry, grapefruit and champagne. I would highly recommend you try it.


The sandwiches were then served along with our chosen teas. It was a lovely selection and I particularly enjoyed the vegetable wellington. These were filled up once we had finished them. The teas again were lovely. I chose the mango noir whilst my husband had the heavier chocolate tea. The boys were pleased to have hot chocolate.


Then came the cakes and desserts which looked beautiful and my boys faces just lit up.


A firm favourite was the candyfloss which was rhubarb and custard flavour. I personally enjoyed the black forest gateau and cocoa bean financier. As we were filling up fast, they kindly provided boxes so we could take the remaining cakes home.

As it was a special occasion they also bought my Mum a special Birthday Cake.


The afternoon tea was lovely and a good one to take children too. The service was second to none. So what did my boys think about afternoon tea? Big man piped up "I didn't like it Mummy. I loved it! Can we go again for your Birthday?"

What afternoon teas do you recommend? It's not a bad bucket list to make!

Bob The Builder Dig This DVD

Fress is a recipe book by MasterChef finalist Emma Spritzer focusing on bold flavours from a Jewish kitchen.

ROBLOX fans will be pleased to know that series 1 ROBLOX Toys have arrived in the UK and my boys were lucky enough to be sent a package to review.


As an adult who doesn't really understand the game, I wasn't really sure of the attraction of the toys at first. However, middle man loves small characters of all varieties. Lego men, Grossery Gang, Moshi Monsters back in the day. He just loves these little things and the ROBLOX people are great as they come apart. You can mix and match them. We received Mr Bling Bling and  Work at Pizza Place, both of which come with online codes to redeem an exclusive online item.  Middle man has had their legs on their arms, wearing different hats, making different people. It has kept him happy and he has played with them every day since they arrived.

Personally I find these type of characters good, when they decide they want a ROBLOX themed cake for their Birthday!

Middle man really likes the mystery packs and was excited when he saw that there were 40 to collect. I can see some of his pocket money being spent on these.

Are your children into ROBLOX? Have they got any of the characters yet?

One of my favorite bakes is a lemon drizzle cake, so last week I decided it was time to have a go at some lemon cupcakes. I love the sweetness of the sugar combined with the sharpness of the lemon. I have to say these cupcakes didn't disappoint and the lemon buttercream worked really well.

Lemon Cupcakes With Lemon Buttercream

• 4oz butter
• 4oz caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 oz self raising flour
• zest of 1 lemon
• A squeeze of lemon juice