Fun At Crealy + Tahini Carrot Salad Recipe

Yesterday, we went to Crealy. We did all the things we usually do at Crealy, but also some new-to-us things...

We started off with lunch at the Italian restaurant we'd spotted last time we were there (when we'd taken packed lunch, much to my annoyance!). All you can eat pizza, pasta, salad and drinks buffet for only £6.99 adults, £3.99 children, and we didn't have to pay for Toby, bargain!

For my first plate, I had a slice of mixed pepper pizza, some tomato and basil pasta, potato salad, grated carrot and cucumber...

Plus a cup of Fanta from the drinks 'fountain' (I'm really not a fan of fizzy drinks though, I should have asked for tap water. The pasta was ok, but not really hot enough. The pizza, however, was really good! I went back for a second slice, alongside a slice of garlic bread pizza, more potato salad, coleslaw and croutons...

After lunch, we were all pretty full so decided to go for a walk around the park rather than immediately heading for the rides! First, we went to see the goats...

The children loved this!

Cute!

We then headed to the bridge trail. Not really pushchair friendly, so Toby and I stayed on the main side taking photos whilst Liam and Izzy ran from one bridge to another!

We then went to see the ducks.

Can we pretend she's being cute here rather than having a tantrum?!!

 Yesterday was a lot more relaxed than our usual Crealy trips - we did still go on the pirate ship a couple of times, soft play etc, but we also had lots of walking around in the sunshine which was enjoyable!

We also saw a few "healthy signs" as we were wandering...

An apple a day keeps the doctor away!

Pumpkin seeds are extremely nutritious

and saw some more goats...

before making a quick stop at the sandpit before heading home...

We all had a really good day, and definitely appreciated the sunshine! It was really grey when we got there so I thought we'd be spending most of the day indoors, but the sun came out just after lunch, result!

For dinner, Liam cooked him and the children spaghetti bolognese. So I had the second frozen nut roast wellington with a delicious salad...

Inspired by the delicious falafel pittas we ate at the start of August...

Festival-Inspired Tahini Carrot Salad
(serves 1 - this made the above pictured portion, so next time I'd make more!)

• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 2 medjool dates, chopped
• half tsp poppy seeds
• 1 tsp tahini
• few drops soy sauce
• few drops water

1. First, mix the grated carrot, chopped dates and poppy seeds together.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the tahini and soy sauce, plus water if needed to thin.
3. Add the tahini dressing to the carrot salad and eat!

In the falafel pitta, the carrot salad had really juicy raisins in it. But there was no way the sultanas in my cupboard would've replicated that, whereas the medjool dates were lovely and juicy in the salad, delicious, a new favourite!

The nut roast wellington was delicious too, I adore the goats cheese and apricot in the centre!

What are your favourite salads? Do you tend to eat them as a meal in themselves or a side salad? I want to get better at eating salads. At the moment I find them a bit of a faff to prepare, and can never normally think of a dressing to use either. The carrot salad only really came about because I asked Liam to grate some extra carrot for me when he was grating some for their bolognese, so he did most of the work! I'm glad I remembered the falafel pittas though, the tahini and the dates went so well with the grated carrot and made it seem much more special than a standard side salad.