Dip-tastic!

Hello! I thought I'd try writing a post earlier today as I've been running out of energy by the time evening rolls round lately. We are definitely on the countdown to half term break here!

Today has been a good day so far though. Once Izzy had gone to school, Toby and I didn't have any plans so when Mum invited us round to her house we jumped at the chance! Her new house is about 15-20 minutes walk away from us, but it is through fields and woodlands so it was a nice walk. Today is sunny but freezing!!

We got to Mum's about 10am, had a cup of tea and a wander around her house (it's really coming along now!) and then she tried to offload yet more stuff on me. This time it was lots of clothes and old photographs...when will it end?!! ;-)

Then she was going to Waitrose so we decided to catch a lift with her. Toby took a liking to the carrots in Waitrose... So embarrassing - he grabbed one off the shelf and started biting it! I took it back off him to weigh it so that I could at least pay for it, and then he carried on munching on it all the way round the shop, cringe! Not a bad snack though, apart from the embarrassment factor - only 16p and it kept him quiet!

It kept him entertained on the way home too. He hates the cold but refuses to wear gloves/scarf/hat...I always feel so bad as his hands are bright red and freezing by the time we get home, but there's only so many times I can stop and try to persuade him to wear his gloves. Any other suggestions I can try?? He also has a fleecy cosy toes on his pushchair, but he refuses to sit down long enough to make use of it! Having a carrot in his hand seemed to keep him happy, if not warm, today anyway (!)

When we got home, there was something I had to do before I could even think about unpacking the shopping...

Oh yes. I was a bit dubious about whether this would work, but of course it was just like eating cheesecake filling straight from the tub. Divine...

So so good.

I decided I better eat something savoury as well as cheesecake filling for lunch, so I got out another dip that I bought in Waitrose. This is only a small plate as I had already eaten half the tub of chocolate cheesecake was more interested in dessert. Carrots with caramelised onion houmous is still good though!

And then the fun really happened. Apple, cherries and chocolate cheesecake - the inclusion of fruit makes it ok that I ate the whole tub in less than an hour right?!!

After I'd finished the tub off [blush] I was thinking about whether I'd buy it again. On the one hand I clearly have no self control around it, but then I thought that maybe it would be a good alternative for when Liam is having chocolate cheesecake. This Philadelphia cost £1.57, the cheesecake slices we normally get cost £2.29 for 2 slices, so this is slightly more expensive, but Izzy has started staying up late enough to want cheesecake now so she'd be able to eat "my" slice. I thought the Philadelphia would win on calories, but actually a slice of cheesecake is approx 400 calories whereas the whole (160g) tub of this is 456. Boo. I'd much rather have cheesecake filling with tasty fruit than cheesecake filling on a biscuit base though! 

I think that's about all I've got to say today. Yesterday's was Izzy's half birthday and, as I posted on my Facebook page, we had iced buns to celebrate. My Dad started the tradition as both my sisters have close-to-Christmas birthdays, and whilst Izzy has a summer birthday I still decided to keep it going. It'll be nice for Toby too as his birthday is so early in January.

These were actually iced buns round #1. My sister, Sarah, came round to see us after school so we had these with her, and then we had another two after dinner with Liam (one for him, Izzy and I shared one) - lots of sugar! The price of them is ridiculous though - 70p each - I'm sure they never used to be that much!! Next time I'm just going to buy the finger rolls (for 25p each) and ice them myself.

I'd planned to make paneer and pea curry last night, but Izzy requested pasta bake instead. Boring, but her favourite. I didn't even take a photo - I'm sure you can imagine what pasta + peas + sweetcorn + passata + cheese looks like!

Have you had any interesting food finds in the shops lately? What is your favourite type of dip? I love guacamole, but only homemade - the shop bought stuff always has too much chilli for me. Houmous is a good runner up though, and cheese and chive dip...I always manage to convince myself that veggies + dip is a healthy option, even when it's perhaps not strictly true. Even I can't say that about the chocolate cream cheese though...dangerously delicious!! :)

Oh and finally, I just wanted to say happy 60th wedding anniversary to my Grandparents!! I can't imagine being married that long - a whole lifetime! They are having a celebratory lunch on Saturday (which is actually also my Grandpa's birthday) which we will be going to, but today is their real anniversary. I spoke to them earlier and they've already received lots of lovely flowers and are going out for lunch just the two of them, so hopefully they're having a nice day :)