Weekly Meal Plan #38

Hey there! It's another Monday which means it's time for my weekly ramble and meal plan too! I hope the weather was as beautiful as it was here. It was such a lovely chilled weekend. Lazy day in the garden on Saturday, followed by a day at Nanny's while my husband went off to cricket practice. It was just lovely and makes me crave those warm summer days.

As we are still on half term we've not done the shopping yet but we will be doing that this morning. I've finally uploaded last weeks video which you can see here. I'll also be filming this weeks too and hopefully another video. Also I've set up a RSS feed so you can't get an email when there's a new post which means you won't miss a thing. I would love if you could sign up! 

As always you can link up your meal plan to #mealplanningmonday

An InLinkz Link-up

As for this weeks meals we've got:

Peanut Noodles

Teriyaki Mince Rice Bowl

Mozzarella Red Pepper Pasta

Honey & Garlic Meatballs

Tuscan Garlic Chicken

All of these recipes will feature in my ebook I'm currently writing but until then you can see my inspiration behind each meal on my Pinterest board.

Also my Weekly Meal Plan newsletter will be landing into your inboxes tonight so make sure you're subscribed to that too. It will have all of the latest news on my ebook. Sign up here.

What's on your menu this week?

Mini Egg Hot Cross Buns

I've said it once and I'm going to say it again. Dried fruit ruins Easter, and Christmas too but really, does it need to be in everything. Now you may not feel so strongly about dried fruit but don't worry as even if you love dried fruit you will still love these. I wanted to do another take on the hot cross bun. A few years ago I made Chocolate Orange Hot Cross Buns this year step forward the mini egg hot cross bun. 

Little chunks of mini egg and chocolate combined with spice flavour. Oh my. It's good. These even make a great breakfast. Well not healthy, but filling and delicious. They would make a perfect Easter treat.

I know that hot cross buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday but these are just too tasty to wait until then. Whip up a batch this weekend. No need to thank me!

Mini Egg Hot Cross Buns

- Makes 12 - 

100g milk chocolate, finely chopped

90g mini eggs, finely chopped/crushed

300ml full-fat milk

50g butter

500g strong bread flour

1 tsp salt

75g caster sugar

1 tbsp sunflower oil

7g sachet fast-action or easy-blend yeast

1 egg, beaten

2 tsp mixed spice

75g plain flour

- Bring the milk to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the butter. Leave to cool.

-  Place the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a bowl, keep the yeast and salt away from each other in the bowl. 

-Make a well in the centre and pour in the warm milk and butter mixture, then add the egg. 

- Using a wooden spoon, mix well, then bring everything together until you have a sticky dough.

- Tip on to a lightly floured surface and knead by holding the dough with one hand and stretching it with the heal of the other hand, then folding it back on itself. Repeat for 5 mins until smooth and elastic. 

- Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hr or until doubled in size and a finger pressed into it leaves a dent.

- With the dough still in the bowl, tip in the mini eggs, chocolate and mixed spice.

- Knead into the dough, making sure everything is well distributed. 

- Leave to rise for 1 hr more, or until doubled in size, again covered by some well-oiled cling film to stop the dough getting a crust.

- Divide the dough into 12 even pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball on a lightly floured work surface. 

- Arrange the buns on one or two baking trays lined with parchment, leaving enough space for the dough to expand. 

- Cover (but don’t wrap) with more oiled cling film, or a clean tea towel, then set aside to prove for 1 hr more.

- Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.

- Mix the flour with about 5 tbsp water to make the paste for the cross – add the water 1 tbsp at a time, so you add just enough for a thick paste. 

- Spoon into a piping bag with a small nozzle. Pipe a line along each row of buns, then repeat in the other direction to create crosses. 

- Bake for 20 mins on the middle shelf of the oven, until golden brown.

5 Top Tips for an Easter Egg Hunt with a Toddler with notonthehighstreet.com

Although it's not Edith's first Easter last year she was too little to care about chocolate, which meant that I got to eat it! This year she is very much in to her "choc choc". So we decided that it would be really nice to have a little Easter Egg hunt.

I can remember when I was little and I would always want to have an Easter Egg hunt, my Mum, who was rather sensible, always suggested we hold it inside so we didn't have to worry about the weather so that's what we did. I bagged up little eggs for everyone in plastic sandwich bags and then hid them around the house. The problem was I couldn't remember where I had hidden them all so my Dad couldn't find the last bag. Ooops. He shared with my Mum in the end but I don't think they were too happy. A few weeks later we found the bag of eggs hidden in my dolls pram. How we didn't find them I don't know but it's such a great memory to look back on.

Curated online marketplace notonthehighstreet.com are "Doing It Differently" this Easter and I think they're right. So instead of a normal Easter egg from the shop why not treat the family to an Easter Egg Hunt like never before. We had a great time and we learnt a few things along the way! 

1. If you have a toddler, hold an Easter Egg Hunt at home.

I don't think Edith really understood what she was doing and it took a little while but she did have great fun. Maybe when she's older we will take her somewhere but I think holding it at home meant that we could take our time.

2. Get a personalised sign.

How else will you know where the Easter Egg hunt starts? We adore Edith's Personalised Egg Hunt Sign and it's going to hang up in her bedroom ready after Easter, ready for next year.

3. Let the Easter Bunny make an appearance.

Edith will probably hate us when she's older but oh my. Look how cute she is dressed as an Easter Bunny. I love the fact she has her bright trainers on too! She's going to be wearing this outfit for the next 2 weeks!

4. Don't let the weather spoil your hunt.

The weather was dry when we held ours but not sunny. It didn't matter and if it does rain you could always hold it inside like I did when I was little. Or why not get your wellies ready just in case it chucks it down?

5. Make the hunt extra special and have lots of fun!

Get yourself a bunny bag and a luxury chocolate egg hunt kit. Hang the "Egg Hunt" plaque above the start of your treasure trail, write the names of all the participants on the edible name cards with the icing pen, and hide them, along with the large flat chocolate eggs and golden mini eggs, in the best places you can find. There's even a chocolate medal for the winner. Everything comes packaged in a luxurious hamper box. This would make a delightful Easter gift for you and old alike. Just have a really great time together as a family and afterwards? Well. Eat all that chocolate you've found!

Happy Egg Hunting!

* This post is in collaboration with Not On The Highstreet. All opinions are my own. *

Weekly Meal Plan #37

Happy Monday and Happy Easter Holidays too! Most of you know my husband is a teacher so I love the holidays as it means we get to spend time together as a family! Wahoo. It also means I get a few work days which means I can crack on with my ebook and there's going to be a weekly meal plan video too. 

Last week someone asked if this includes our breakfasts and lunch etc. It most definitely does. I'm pretty resourceful and we often have leftovers or homemade soup with both Edith and I love. My husband takes a packed lunch to work and he doesn't have a huge appetite (unlike me!). I may to a what I eat kind of video/post if people are interested.

As always link up to #mealplanningmonday.

An InLinkz Link-up

We're doing the shop today as I was at a wedding show yesterday with my photography stand so we had no time to fit in a shop. I've been pretty slack on my newsletter but I'll be sending it out tonight with our weekly shop receipt and how much things came to or head over to my Youtube Channel and see the haul! 

This week we're eating:

Homemade Cheese & Onion Pies with Homemade Potato Wedges

Hawaiian Pasta Salad

Homemade Burgers & Homemade Chips

Beef Kofta Curry

Ham & Mushroom Pitta Pizzas

If you'd like to see the inspiration behind my mealplans visit my Pinterest Board.

Sign up for my newsletter here. You can access back issues here.

What's on your menu this week?

Celebrating My Mum with Songfinch

Mother's Day is so much more special when you're a mum and finding the right gift for your own mum can be pretty hard now you know what she had to put up with, haha! I tend to go for something practical that she can use or something that's really sentimental. Luckily a few days before an email landed in my inbox from the lovely people at Songfinch. They write personalised songs for special occasions. Now to begin with I thought this sounded super cheesey and I didn't think I would like them. How wrong I was! I listened to a few examples and fell in love.

The whole process is really simple. You just write your story, about how you know the person, what they've been through and what you want to say to them. You the pick the genre, I opted for folk as both my Mum and I enjoy it. You can even pick the singer, I didn't mind so opted for surprise me. 

A few days later the song was ready. How amazing is that! Something so personalised. 

When Mothers Day came along I played my Mum the song, now I was never expecting tears. She's a tough cookie but she really loved it! It was such a nice thought. And it just so happens that a good few years ago she did something similar for my Nanny, not as personalised as this but still, great minds huh?

If you'd like to have a listen you can do that here. And I've popped some of the lyrics below. 

" That it was the messy days

In the kitchen learning to cook

And I was taught to keep my love and my laughter

In the same drawer as the cook book

And I was there with you

My mother dear

And now I’m here to say

That you are patient

Loyal and good

And I wish that I could love you 

As well as I should 

But I will never match 

The love that you give

It fills the oceans 

And it’s for your love I live"

Songfinch have given we a discount code for you to use. So if you have a special occasion and you just don't know what to get. They've got you covered. Just enter PAPERSWANS

I couldn't recommend this service enough, my husband was really impressed and wanted to know all about it and it's great that we have that song as part of our family history! 

*This post is in collaboration with Songfinch and I received their service free of charge in return for an honest review All opinions are my own*

Make Your Own Giant Kinder Surprise Egg

I remember growing up having a Kinder Egg. It was the biggest treat as they we're pretty expensive and with all four of us kids wanting one it would have cost a lot. Now a days Kinder Eggs seem to fuel toddlers! Watching videos online, my nephew is a huge fan of this, to having one as a treat. Edith loves an edge although I do like to limit them as treats.

So I got thinking, what would make a great Easter egg and the answer was simple a giant Kinder Egg full of toys and mini eggs too. What a treat! My sister in law came over and we set to work on creating the egg.

You can either make up a full egg and hide the surprises inside or make half an egg and then cellophane and tie it up with a bow and give as an Easter Gift. Or why not get the kids involved and let them make their own Surprise Egg, it could be a great rainy day activity!

Giant Surprise Egg

- Makes 1 - 

300g milk chocolate, melted

300 white chocolate, melted

mini eggs

Surprise Egg toys. (I collected them over a month but you could always use other eggs and hide toys inside.)

an easter egg mould (standard size)

Pour your milk chocolate into the mould. Ensuring an even coating and no gaps. Place in the fridge to set. 

Add another thin layer of milk chocolate over the top of the previous layer. Leave to set.

Add the two thin layers of white chocolate, leaving to set in between.

Once fully set, pop the egg out of the mould. Fill with mini eggs and toys.

Take the other half and take a heated knife and run the flat side of the knife around the rim of the egg.

Carefully but swiftly, place on top of the other half of the egg. Leave to set.

Gift wrap with cellophane.

Weekly Meal Plan #36

Can you believe I've been writing these meal for 36 weeks? I still love doing it and so many of you seem to love them too. Over the next few weeks I'm starting work on my Meal Plan eBook which will hopefully be available by the end of May. It will be the first "product" I've ever created so I'm a bit nervous but I hope you guys will love it.

I'm writing this Saturday evening as I'm not planning on working on Mother's Day. I'm terrible at taking things easy but it's about time I took a day off. We have plans to visit the zoo so hopefully that's what we got up to. Follow me on Instagram to see more.

As for #mealplanningmonday it's still going strong. I would love for you to link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

And don't forget to grab your badge.

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.hijackedbytwins.com/p/meal-planning-monday.html" rel="nofollow" title="Hijacked By Twins"><img src="http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab170/kirstyphillipsonlowe/mealplanningmonday_zpssrmdmpnn.jpg" alt="Hijacked By Twins" style="border: none;" /></a></div>

Generate your button code

As for our weekly shop we did it Saturday afternoon. We shopped at Tesco and it came to a grand total of £25.68. Not bad huh! Last week I didn't get a newsletter out but there will be one heading out this evening. I would love for you to subscribe to my newsletter, which you can do here.

Don't forget to head over to my Pinterest board for all the inspiration behind this weeks meals.

This week's meals:

Mushroom risotto

Chicken pittas & roast veg couscous

Honey & garlic meatballs

Chicken & chorizo jambalya

Chicken soup with homemade flat breads.

What meal do you love the sound of?

Spring Goals - Things I want to Achieve

Image from my Instagram.

As we’ve headed into a new season I thought it would be a good opportunity to share some of my goals that I’d like to achieve by the summer. Some of them are personal and some are related to my blog but they are things I’d like to improve or achieve. I feel like writing them down will give me that extra push I need.

Driving Goals & Car Care

I need to get more confident behind the wheel. I tend to let my husband drive everywhere as I don’t feel as confident as I should. I know I can drive safely and I just need to do it more, I’d love to improve my parking too! Car care is a huge part of driving and such an essential to ensure safe journeys. Checking oil, wheels and brakes before setting off on big journeys are so important. Brakes are so important to check as not if they are not timely repaired they can cause fatal accidents, which just doesn’t bare thinking about. Car brakes repair from Dat Tyres will help you stay safe on the road.

Film a Video

We’re hopefully going to be getting out this weekend so it’s the perfect time to film a day in the life video. I don’t know what’s stopping me from filming videos. It’s crazy to be so shy of just a camera. I will be filming videos over Easter, please nudge me if I don’t! 

Start Work on My Ebook

I’m going to be writing a meal plan ebook over the Easter holidays. It will be my favourite meals, written in an affordable meal plan. I need to write the recipes, photograph them and then design the book.

Sell a Product

Not only am I writing an ebook I’m also going to be selling some stock photos for bloggers to use. Pretty flatlays and images that will be perfect for bloggers. It’s about time I put my photography skills to a good use via blogging.

Meet More Creative People

I already have another date in my diary to meet with another local photographer. I left our meet up feeling so inspired and it helped clear my head and set me in the right direction.

Spend Time Together

With us both working we don’t get that much time just to be together. I want at least 2 days over the Easter holidays of no work, no social media updates just us together as a family. 

I’m going to leave it at those six. They are all achievable I just need to go out and do them. Wish me luck!

*This post was written in collaboration.*

Sweetcorn Chowder with Cheesey Tortillas

We've got a little bit of a lunchtime obsession. It's soup! I used to laugh at my mum who would eat soup everyday for lunch. Well I'm officially turning into my mum and soup for lunch everyday sounds amazing. 

It's a great way of getting veg into Edith and easy meal to prepare and I can use up leftovers. This week I had sweetcorn leftover from when we made our own pizzas. My thoughts instantly turned to soup and I've always wanted to try sweetcorn chowder and it seemed like the perfect opportunity. I took influence from a Nigella recipe. But me being me has to adapt recipes. Mainly because I didn't have everything I was supposed to but it turned out really good! 

The cheesy Topped tortilla chips are what makes this. Edith wolfed it down and so did her mama!

Sweetcorn Chowder with Cheesey Tortillas

- Serves 2 - 

325g tinned sweetcorn

1/2 leek

1 tsp garlic salt (or 1 clove of fresh garlic)

800ml vegetable stock

32g couscous

2 tortilla wraps

100g grated cheddar cheese

1 tsbp olive oil

In a medium pan heat the oil and gently fry the leek until golden.

Add in the sweetcorn and fry for a further 2 minutes.

Place the leek and sweetcorn mix into a blender and blend until smooth. 

Pour in the half the vegetable stock and blend for 30 seconds.

Pour the mixture back into the pan and add the remaining stock, coucous and garlic salt.

Simmer for 10 minutes until thickened.

Whilst waiting for your soup to thicken. Place the wrap triangles onto a baking tray and cook in a hot oevn until golden and crisp. (This takes around 5 minutes) Sprinkle the grated cheddar on top and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Bowl your soup into serving bowls and top with the cheesey tortillas. 

Sprinkle with a few dried chilli flakes if desired. 

Adapted from here.

The Affordable Mothers Day Mini Gift Guide

It's Mother's Day on Sunday and everyone is publishing their wish lists and gift guides and whilst I would love what's on them, I mean if you want to buy me a Mulberry bag Edith, I'm not going to say no! I thought I would share an affordable gift guide. All of the products are under £2. Which is perfect for kids who might have a little bit of pocket money and they can choose a gift out themselves. It also shows just what you can pick up if you look and at the end of the day it is the thought that counts. So here's my mini gift guide.

Notes & Scribbles Memo Pad £0.99 Home Bargains 

What Mama doesn't need a bit of organisation in their lives? This has bonus points for the cute polka dot pattern and the mint green pen. 

Blush Pink Tea Cup & Saucer £1 Poundland

Perfect for tea or frothy coffee. I adore anything in this colour although they did have a lovely mint green or a plain white too.

Marble Wish Dream Love Candles £1.29 Home Bargains

Its marble with rose gold writing. I mean that's pretty much all of us bloggers favouite things in one thing. These are totally gorgeous and would make a perfect gift.

Bits & Bobs Trinket Tray £1 Poundland

Perfect for a bedside table or in the kitchen for taking jewellery off. The writing and doodle are pretty cute too! 

Monochrome Chalkboard Milk Bottle -  £0.59 Home Bargains

Why not write a message on it? Or fill it with sweets. At £0.59 it's just too cute not to have. 

So there you go. You could pick up all of these for less than £5 and make your Mum rather happy, You don't have to spend a fortune to treat your mum. 

What's your favourite piece? 

Weekly Meal Plan #35

Another week, another meal plan. Although it went quickly last week was a long old week. Edith's "mama" stage is in full swing and I'm exhausted. I've got lots of work to get on with but little time to do it. Edith is also wanting to spend time with both of us. Basically we are all in need of the Easter break. Only 2 more weeks to go!

Last week's #mealplanningmonday saw 13 link ups. There are some great meal plans so  make sure you click back to read through those and read through this weeks too. Kirsty and I would love you to link up and you can do that below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Don't forget to grab a badge. 

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.hijackedbytwins.com/p/meal-planning-monday.html" rel="nofollow" title="Hijacked By Twins"><img src="http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab170/kirstyphillipsonlowe/mealplanningmonday_zpssrmdmpnn.jpg" alt="Hijacked By Twins" style="border: none;" /></a></div>

Generate your button code

As for our weekly shop, my husband was in charge this week. He ventured to Lidl and then we topped up with ASDA as we were missing a few bits. The total shop came to £28.12. Yay for being under budget. You know the drill by now, subscribe to my newsletter here and my Pinterest board here.

This weeks meals:

Lasanga 

Chilli quesdilas

Ham & mushroom pie

Mushroom & cream cheese pasta

Homemade fish cakes with homemade chips and mushy peas.


What's on your menu this week?

What Edith Wore #4 & 17 Month Update

These updates are getting later and later and I do keep wondering if I should just go to every 3 months but she seems to change so much in a month and I want to document that. I already love to read back through her updates from when she was a tiny baby. 

It's been a really great month and we have definitely seen her grow up and awful lot. We are full on toddler now and not baby anymore. (Well she's always my baby!). 

We were fortunate enough to receive this beautiful jumper dress for Ted Wears Organic. This dress is perfect for Edith's personality. She definitely isn't a pretty pink princess, this girl has serious style! The jumper dress is made from beautiful organic cotton and fits Edith perfectly. There is nothing worse than ill fitting clothes on children. They are a struggle to get on and off and Edith needs clothes that she can run around in, this girl does not keep still. Even if I try to bribe her with chocolate!

Sleep

We've had a really good month. Minimal wake ups and most days she sleeps until 5:30/6. Naps tend to be a solid 2 hours too, which is pretty amazing!

Feeding

Edith is still having her "mitch" and is not ready to give up anytime soon. As for food she can eat loads one day and not touch much the next. We're just letting her take the lead on it, and offering her a selection of food. Cheese and "na-nas" are her favourite foods right now. 

Size

I've still not had Edith weighed in a long time but I'm not worried about her. She's still very tall for age and compared to other children her age is way above them. We're back into size 5 nappies and 18-24 months is sneaking in a lot more!

Milestones

Walking a lot more confidently outside.

Spinning around in circles until she falls over.

Saying: "I did it" "Where you go" "Blueberries" "Peeta - Peeta Boo" (Peek-a- Boo)

We got her first lot of books from the library.

Eating things properly, biting bits off instead of shoving the whole thing in. 

Edith Loves

Taking all the cushions off the sofa to wrestle her Daddy.

Her small character toys, she loves to line them up. 

Hey Dugee is still a huge love, as are the Twirlywoos.

Her hide and seek game has been upgraded and she now hides under cupboard doors.

Bath time.

Filling up buckets, watering cans of water in the garden and making "duddles". (Puddles)

"Na-Nas" which is bananas and strawberries and sometimes grapes too.

Edith Hates

Daddy going to work.

"Piders" - even though she's only ever seen one. 

Happy 17 Months!

Mothers Day Treat: Prosecco Pavlova

I'm bringing you the ultimate Mothers Day treat. I  mean what more could you want. Prosecco in a dessert? Isn't this the stuff dreams are made of? I was trying to think of a bake/dessert that I could make for Mothers Day for a blog post and I couldn't think of anything new and exciting. 

So I sat down and had a think about hat I would like to eat. And naturally that lead me to what i'd like to drink. Prosecco. I mean it is always the answer. So I wondered how I could get that into a a dessert. Now chocolate is my go to dessert but I just didn't think the flavour combination would work so instead I went to my second favourite Pavlova. Crispy meringue with a gooey centre, covered in strawberries and blueberries and then inside cream. Not just any cream. 

Cream spiked with Prosecco. 

Oh yes.

It was glorious. One of the best things, other than how delicious this is? You then have 3/4's of a bottle left, which as it's for Mothers Day you get to drink. Win Wine Win (excuse my typo ;) ) 

This does make for quite a showstopper dessert. I mean Mary Berry would be proud of me. I can almost feel her smiling at it already haha!

So I guess you want me to stop talking and get down to how you get your kids to make this. 

Prosecco Pavlova

- Serves 8 - 

6 medium egg whites

300g caster sugar

1 tsp corn flour

300ml double cream

300ml Greek yogurt

2 tbsp Prosecco

1 punnet of strawberries, hullled & sliced

1 punnet of blueberries

Preheat the oven to 120ºC/Gas 1/2. Line 3 flat baking trays with baking paper.

In a clean, grease free bowl whisk up the egg whites until stiff peaks. I recommend using an electric whisk to save your arms.

Once at stiff peaks add in the caster sugar 1 tbsp at a time. Carrying on whisking until all the sugar has been added.

Add the cornflour and continue whisking until fully combined.

Divide the mixture between  the 3 baking trays. Spread the meringue into a circle and using a back of a dessert spoon make peaks. 

Bake for 1 hour, keep watch as meringue can burn quickly. The meringue will lift of the paper easily once cooked.

Leave too cool completely. 

In a medium bowl whisk the double cream into soft peaks, add in the Prosecco, you may want to add more depending on your tastes but don't add too much as it will make the cream runny. Add in the yogurt and mix.

To assemble spread a layer of Prosecco cream onto the meringue. Add a few berries. 

Place the next layer of meringue on top and add another layer of cream and berries.

Finally place the last meringue on top and place the cream and berries in the middle.

Dust with icing sugar and serve to your mum/ yourself with the rest of the Prosecco.

Enjoy. 

TIP: The pavlova will keep in the fridge for 2 days so make sure you eat it all on the first night, just to ensure there's no waste! Haha.