Dinner + Theatre

Hello! Sorry for my mini absence, it's been a busy few days around here. My phone broke on Wednesday too, grrr, so most of Thursday was spent on the phone trying to sort it out, and then emailing everyone instead of being able to send quick texts. I miss my phone! I hadn't realise how much I use it either - I have now got a basic phone to use but it doesn't have a camera or Internet, boo.

On Thursday evening I went out with Liam, Mum and Colin. We went to Plymouth to see The Phantom of the Opera - Mum and Colin had given us the tickets as our Christmas present...thank you! :) First we went for dinner - one of the occasions I would usually use my phone to take photos, but luckily Liam let me use his, sorry for the poor quality!

We went to Bella Italia which I don't think I'd ever been to before. For my main I  chose the "Pepe Rossi Ripeni" which was an "oven baked pepper stuffed with creamy red pepper risotto, basil and crumbled goat's cheese. Served with a crisp lemon dressed salad baby gem, rocket, green beans, spring onion and cucumber":

I really enjoyed this. All the others chose chicken/pasta dishes and I definitely think the restaurant took more care in the presentation of this one. I don't normally like green beans but they were really nice cold in a salad and the stuffed pepper was really tasty too. Win.

We'd skip starters so that we had room for dessert, of course. My Mum and Colin always get dessert, they love it, although they shared one dessert between the two of them. Liam and I shared two desserts, both of which I chose, but with Liam in mind too! I don't normally choose to eat chocolatey desserts when I'm out but luckily (as that is what Liam likes) I was immediately drawn to two chocolatey desserts on the menu. Cookie Dough Lava Cake and The Godfather.

The Godfather was an ice cream sundae with vanilla and honeycomb ice creams, nutty fudge brownies, chocolate sauce, fresh cream, popping candy, dark chocolate sprinkles and a wafer curl:

This was quite nice, but there was way too much whipped cream and not enough brownie chunks.

The winner was definitely the Cookie Dough Lava Cake - a "moist chocolate chip cookie cake with a melting chocolate middle, served warm with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce":

Amazing. The cookie dough cake was perfect - soft, warm, chocolatey...mmm! Definitely glad we chose that one! :)

We then went to the theatre to watch the Phantom of the Opera, which I really enjoyed. My Mum had seen it once before in London (years ago) but the rest of us had never seen it but all thought it was great. Nice to have a night out somewhere different for a change as well.

I haven't taken many camera photos the last couple of days so I haven't got a huge amount to show you. Before we went out on Thursday I was rushing around sorting out my phone, making vegetable lasagne for the children and Liam's Mum (who was babysitting) to eat while we were out, and going to a "Mother's Day Tea Party". This was at Izzy's school and was so cute. They sent home invites on Monday and Izzy must have asked me at least 20 times each day that I was "definitely definitely coming" (even though the answer had always been yes!) - she was so excited!

When Toby and I got there, the hall was already packed! It was for the two Year R/1 classes, and the children were all sat on gym benches, whilst the parents (and younger siblings) filled the rest of the hall sitting at tables. The children sang two songs for us (one about Mum's stopping the sky from being grey (??) and I'm a little tea pot) and then five of the Year 1s read out their messages to their Mums. Izzy was the first to read and said that it was "really scary"! She read really well though - this was her message to me (her best friend had written exactly the same to her Mum so I'm guessing they worked together!)

After the readings, the children came and squished sat with us and we all ate fairy cakes, biscuits and scones that the children had spent the week making. Bless. It was a really sweet thing for the school to put on.

In other news, yesterday I had my podiatrist appointment to try to sort out my feet/leg pains. The lady I saw said that a) my feet are some of the flattest she's ever seen and b) I hardly have any muscle strength in my feet and legs! She doesn't recommend insoles yet, partly because I then wouldn't be able to wear flip-flops etc in Summer, but mainly because she thinks I should build up some muscle strength first. So she's given me some exercises to do, and she also recommends finding an exercise to do that I enjoy, that will improve my core strength. Not swimming - she says I can carry on doing this if I really enjoy it, but it won't really build much muscle strength. Not Body Pump as I risk hurting my back if I do too much arm/leg weights before improving my core strength. Not weight machines at the gym for the same reason. Aaargh! What can I do??! She recommended Zumba (which I've tried before and didn't like) or Pilates. The gym with a creche does a class called "Body Balance" which is apparently a combo of Pilates, Yoga and Tai Chi so I might give that a go. Has anyone tried it? I will keep swimming too. Luckily I already swim with my head properly in the water, as she was initially concerned I'd hurt my back if I swim with my head up. I've got to go see her again in 6-8 weeks so until then I will keep doing the exercises she's given me 3 times a day, and hopefully find another kind of exercise to build up some core strength.

Does anyone have any suggestions for core friendly exercise? I'm disappointed she discouraged Body Pump as I really enjoyed that - I'd actually been planning to go again last night before she said that! But I do get where she's coming from, I do sometimes get lower back pain when doing weights, and also when using the rowing machine, all of which she said is because my core is so weak. Let me know if you've tried Pilates/Body Balance or you have any other recommendations please! :)

WIAW - Green Porridge

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! It's another green week around here thanks to the lovely Jenn!


As I mentioned last week, I do love my themes, and I wanted to have another all-green day for this week's WIAW. However I wasn't fancying a green smoothie for breakfast...so I made green porridge! I usually make my porridge with 40g oats, 200ml milk and a mashed banana but for this breakfast I blended a banana, 150ml milk and 50g spinach and used that "green milk" to cook the oats.

The colour once cooked was even brighter than the smoothie was originally! However, whilst the banana-spinach-milk tasted perfectly sweet on its own before cooking, once cooked the taste (& smell!) of the spinach got a bit stronger! I added some agave nectar after this photo was taken and that was enough to mask the spinach taste again. Plus a blob of cinnamon raisin peanut butter on top. Yum. I still prefer green smoothies but green porridge was fun for a change! :)

Lunch was green, delicious and easy! I had some bagged salad leftover from the weekend so I mixed it with a little salad dressing, and added an avocado and half a mango. I love big salads like these and the avocado-mango combination was wonderful.

This was so fresh and tasty. I know I could make my own salads much more cheaply if I didn't buy bagged salad leaves, but I never end up doing it - I'll buy a lettuce and it'll sit in the fridge going to waste. At least having a bag of salad means I'll actually use it, and if I add a few extra ingredients it ends up tasting really good! :)

Mid-afternoon, the first non-green food slipped into my day. 1.5 of these delicious chocolate cereal bars that I was sent to review:

As I mentioned in the review, I'd only been planning to eat half a one of these, shared with Toby, but when I tasted how delicious they were I couldn't stop myself from eating a second one by myself as well. Whoops!

Liam is having to do a lot of overtime at work at the moment so isn't home in time for dinner during the week. Shame he doesn't get to see the children before they go to bed, but it does at least mean that I can cook what I like without having to worry about whether he'll like it or not! Monday's dinner was definitely one of those "Lucy meals"! Cooked brown rice mixed with chopped avocado and savoury peanut sauce, served with broccoli...delicious!

This tasted a lot more appetising that it looks, promise! Izzy and I loved it - the rice mixed with the peanut sauce was really rich, but then the broccoli freshened it up again...perfect! Toby ate all his broccoli and a few spoons of the rice mix which is pretty good for him in the evening - he always eats lots during the day and then by dinner time he is too full to eat much - his little tummy is always sticking out and solid by then!!

Evening snacks included a slice of toast with peanut butter and another Doves Farm cereal bar, but both of those managed to avoid being photographed. Plus I'm sure there were a few lattes and cups of tea in there somewhere - I rarely take photos of my drinks.

What are your favourite salad toppings/mixes? As the weather gets warmer, salads are a great solution for quick lunches, and a good way to get more greens in. I love adding fruit to my salads - mango, strawberries, peaches - and I also like to add cheese to the mix sometimes. I need some inspiration for the greener parts though - I seem to just stick to bagged salad leaves, avocado and sometimes asparagus but would love to think of more interesting veg to add in for more variety.

Doves Farm {Review}

Hello! Good day? I went to the gym and swimming while Toby was in creche again this morning - it feels so luxurious to be able to exercise during the day!! We nearly didn't go as there was really bad fog and my Mum/sister were a bit worried about me driving over, but I took it slowly and it was fine. Good experience, and having my sister in the passenger seat was, yet again, a calming influence (even if she wasn't actually that calm herself, haha!) Toby did really well again at the creche - obviously this time he did realise I was going to leave, but he said goodbye happily, no tears, and carried on playing. I wish I'd known about this creche before! Great experience for him, and great for me to have a couple of hours to exercise before evening tiredness hits!

When I got home I had a bagel for lunch, this time with blue cheese and grapes:

Not quite as amazing as last week's mashed avocado bagel, but still really tasty. Bagels are a good option for days like this. I have breakfast then do the school run, drive half an hour, about 45 minutes in the gym (although only 20 minutes cardio and the rest weights), 40 minutes swimming and another half an hour drive home...so by the time it is time for lunch I am starving and need something quick and easy! Bagels do the job perfectly!! :)

Liam is doing lots of overtime this week so we ate dinner before he got home tonight. I didn't feel like cooking and the children were more than happy when I suggested porridge. Toby hardly ever eats much dinner in the evenings but he gobbled this up! Mashed banana porridge with cocoa-peanut flour sauce (they had blueberries, chocolate chips and golden syrup as their toppings instead - Izzy's choice!!)...

I made rather a lot of sauce...not that I'm complaining!! I normally use 15g of peanut flour to make dipping sauces, but this was 10g of cocoa and 20g peanut flour (plus milk and a little agave). I didn't use as much agave as I normally would, just enough to bring the chocolate out, so it was like a really dark chocolate peanut butter sauce, mmm!

Anyway, on to the title of this post. A little while ago I was contacted by Doves Farm to see if I would like to review some of their newly repackaged cereal bars and flapjacks, all of which are organic and fairtrade. I love cereal bars for carrying around in my bag for when hunger strikes (either mine or the children's!) so I was happy to say yes! Thanks you so much for your generosity Doves Farm...I was very happy when this box was delivered!! :-D

There are three types of cereal bars in the range - banana mango & brazil, sultana apricot & apple, and crispy chocolate & rice:

The first cereal bar that I tried was the banana, mango & brazil:

I always find banana flavoured things to be a bit hit and miss - sometimes they can taste quite artificial, however this one was pretty good. It had pieces of mango, pineapple and brazil nut running through it, and whilst I might have liked the chunks to be a bit bigger, the size of them did mean that they were consistent throughout the bar without it falling apart. The bar itself had a great consistency - chewy whilst still having some bite to it. I enjoyed this bar and would happily eat it again, although as you will see further on in the review it wasn't my favourite - better are still to come! :)

The next bar I tried was sultana, apricot & apple:

I wasn't a fan of this bar to be honest. I like my cereal bars chewy, whereas this one has a really crispy texture. After taking my first bite, I checked the ingredients list and wasn't surprised to find cornflakes as the third ingredient. It doesn't taste bad, but it just isn't for me. A shame, it was the only bar I didn't like, but then I suppose they can't please all of the people all of the time! ;-)

The final cereal bar that I tried was the crispy chocolate & rice:

Chocolate flavoured things aren't normally my first choice when it comes to snack bars, so I was very surprised to find that I loved this! I love the appearance - the two different layers (one cocoa rice, one just sweet crispy rice) and the mini chocolate chips on top make this look really fun. I'd originally planned to share this bar with Toby, but after taking a bite I gave this one to Toby...

...and got a new one for myself! Yum. I can't believe the chocolate flavour is my favourite, but it's so good!! It is sweet enough for me, but not too sweet (Liam would've liked a bit more sugar) - you can really taste the cocoa in the bottom layer. Delicious. I've only got one bar left in this box and will be definitely be buying some more once it has gone!

Doves Farm also sent me a couple of boxes of flapjacks - plain butter flapjacks and apple & sultana ones:

These are really tasty, and great for lunchboxes too! The first time I tried the apple & sultana ones I cut it in half and put some in Izzy's lunchbox:

I really like these - in fact I'm eating one now as I type this - they are definitely taste more sugary than the cereal bars although actually I just checked and these have 12.3g of sugars per bar, compared to 16.9g per sultana, apricot and apple cereal bars. Another reason to love the flapjacks - they taste even more "treat-like" than they actually are! The flapjacks don't have a hugely strong apple flavour, but there are small chunks of cooked apple dotted through them alongside the sultanas. I love the texture of these flapjacks. Perhaps not as chewy as homemade ones, but lovely and soft.

There are also plain butter flapjacks for those of us (*ahem* Liam!) who don't like dried fruit in baked goods:

As the name would suggest, these flapjacks use butter whereas the apple & sultana ones use (sustainably grown) palm oil. I really enjoyed these flapjacks too, again they have a lovely texture and a luxurious taste. They are perfect for Liam to take to work too - I won't let him take anymore of the chocolate cereal bars as I love them so much (!) but whilst I like these, I prefer the apple & sultana flapjacks so Liam might be able to sneak a couple of them out of the box!!

I was really impressed with (most) of these bars. The calories range from 142-196 calories per bar, which, for me, makes them ideal for a mid-morning snack with a latte, or just to have in my bag for if I get hungry while I'm out. The only one I wouldn't buy again are the sultana, apricot & apple cereal bars, but if you prefer crunchy cereal bars then you may well like these as well - it was only the texture I objected to. Thanks again to Doves Farm for giving me the opportunity to try these - I will definitely be picking up some again when I go shopping! :)

Have you tried any of Doves Farm's cereal bars or flapjacks before? Or any of their other products? I guess a lot of us will have used their xanthan gum (great for thick smoothies!) and I have also enjoyed their gluten free pasta before. This was my first time trying their snack bars though and I was really impressed. I often regret eating pre-packaged bars - wishing I'd taken the time to make my own snack - but these bars tasted really fresh so definitely make a great portable/quick alternative to home baking.

Family Brunch + Lambing Sunday

I can't believe the weekend is over already! Although having said that, we're all exhausted after a busy couple of days here, so maybe we need the week to recover! ;)

Today started with a brunch at my Mum's house. Her brother and his partner were visiting so they and my Grandma also came over to share the meal. I made some banana muffins an hour before we went over to take with us. I haven't made muffins in a while and had almost forgotten how easy they are, delicious too!

I also brought a mango to go with the pineapple and grapes Mum used to make up this lovely platter...

Mmm, I love fresh fruit so much...

As the cooked food wasn't quite ready yet, we all started with fruit and muffins. This was my main plate really anyway...

and then when everyone else had traditional fry-up food, I had a couple of scrambled eggs and some cooked mushrooms. The food looks rather lonely on this plate, but I added some ketchup after the photo and it was delicious!

My Grandma wanted me to take a photo of the chefs hard at work...my Uncle Richard was in charge of the fried eggs, Colin was doing scrambled eggs, mushrooms and baked beans, and my Mum was sorting out everything else!

After we'd all finished eating we stayed for a bit longer chatting. Not many photos were taken, but I did just find this photo of Izzy that I took - so beautiful! :)

We only stayed at my Mum's for a couple of hours as we had somewhere else we had to be - Lambing Sunday! It's an event the local(ish) agricultural college put on every year, but this was the first time we'd been. I hadn't realised it was going to be a cash only place until we got there and saw signs to "get your money ready" yikes! We gathered up all our change and managed to get to £11.60, when our entrance should have been £13. Luckily the college students in charge of the car park let us get away without paying the extra £1.40 (thank you, we were so relieved not have to drive all the way home!) but it did mean we didn't have any change to buy things like animal balloons, face paints etc...probably a good thing really!! Instead we saw lots of animals.

Horses...

and multi-coloured sheep (!?!)...

Izzy thought these were very cool!

and then a tractor/trailer ride...

Waving at the people walking past!

...to see more sheep! Well, lambs really. The main purpose of the day out. Izzy had been hoping to feed a lamb with a bottle of milk, but unfortunately they'd all already been fed, so she and Toby made do with lots of cuddles and stroking instead!

Just in case you think I wasn't there, a random photo with me in it as well...!

When Liam has the camera, he tends to take photos of scenery rather than people, but I persuaded him to take this one before the children got completely overtired! We all had a really good day, and considering Izzy usually has afternoon naps at the weekend and Toby had been having 3 hour naps every afternoon since I took him to the creche on Tuesday (and always naps for at least 1.5-2 hours anyway), I'm very impressed that they both managed so well nap-free!

Have you ever been to a "lambing day"? We live in the South-West now, so definitely farm territory, but even growing up in Surrey I remember going to a farm to see baby lambs at this time of year. The ride on the trailer with hay bales is the part that most sticks in my mind, so I was pleased to see similar here today!

Splashy Saturday!

Happy Saturday! Are you all having fun? Ours has been...splashy?!!

Splash #1 occurred early in the morning - I went swimming as soon as the pool opened at 8am. I was meant to be going with Mum but she cancelled at the last minute so I went on my own. Not my best workout to be honest - I only did 30 lengths (of a 25m pool) instead of my usual 40. I normally alternate between breaststroke and front crawl but my sciatica is really bad today, and was worse when doing breaststroke so I did almost all front crawl, but then that made my left ankle play up. Gah! I really hope the podiatrist can do sometime to help the pain when I see her on Friday! Still, 30 lengths in 23 minutes...better than nothing I suppose.

I got through the last few lengths by promising myself a trip to Costa afterwards. Skinny latte with sugar-free hazelnut syrup for the walk home:

The sugar-free syrup wasn't as nice as my normal choice of sugary gingerbread syrup, but better than no sugar at all. I can't decide which is best - it seems such a waste of calories to have the sugary syrup, but then I don't really like the idea of artificial sweeteners. Meh. Either way the coffee is good!

After I got back from swimming, Liam took Izzy to gym club and I had breakfast. Mashed banana porridge with homemade cinnamon raisin peanut butter...

I haven't told you about the peanut butter yet have I? I made it on Thursday but with the minor stress of yesterday, I forgot to take any daylight photos until today.

Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter

• 500g unsalted raw peanuts (I used redskin ones but I don't think it really matters)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 30g brown sugar, to taste (I used half each of demerara and soft brown sugar but next time I would just use soft as, whilst the demerara does mimic PB&Co's grittiness, I don't actually like that texture!)
• 100g raisins
• 2 tsp oil (if needed)

1. First, dry roast the peanuts at 160C for 20 minutes, stirring approximately every 5 minutes.

I used a second tray to roast the rest of the peanuts to keep them in a flat layer

2. Once the peanuts are roasted, put them in a food processor and process for 15-20 minutes until they reach a drippy peanut butter stage. Mine started going peanut butter-like at about 15 minutes so I processed for another few minutes to get nice and drippy. Stir as needed whilst processing to break up the clumps.

3. Now it's time to add your mix-ins. A little salt, cinnamon, sugar and half of the raisins (50g). This is where, for me, things got a bit clumpy so I also had to add 2 tsp of oil to get it to the right consistency. You may or may not need this.

Not as pretty but still really tasty!

4. Finally, add in the remaining 50g raisins and just pulse to combine so that they remain whole within the nut butter. Decant into a jar and store in a cool dry place.

So good! I love making my own nut butters, I enjoy the process as well as (obviously!) enjoying the finished product. This isn't as sweet as the PB&Co version, but I like that as you can really taste the peanuts rather than it being more like a sweet spread.

Anyway, back to this morning. As soon as Izzy and Liam got back from gym club, we all headed out to the hairdressers. Toby had his haircut, which requires me and Liam to be there - he sits on Liam's lap while I distract him!

Before:

After:

It's so short now! He looks all grown up :( Toby really likes it though, I think he was getting a bit fed up with constantly having hair in his eyes!

After Toby had finished having his hair cut, Liam took the children into town (to buy me a Mother's Day present I think, yey, Izzy was so excited to go shopping!!) and I had my hair cut. Not a huge difference really, mainly just a trim/re-shape. It was a different hairdresser to usual and I think she's put more layers in than I usually have, although it's hard to tell until I straighten it.

Before (post-swimming so I look a bit of a mess!!):

After:

Bad photo - blame Liam!

Like I say, not how I would normally style it, but I'm glad to have some shape back in my hair.

After a quick lunch - baguette with lots of different cheeses - we went for a walk to meet my Mum and Colin, and Colin's grandson. They didn't stay long though as Colin's daughter was coming back to pick up her baby soon, and no cuddles as the baby stayed fast asleep the whole time! After they'd left we had some fun down by the river...

Until Izzy fell in...whoops...splash #2!!

Bless her. She was fine, but a bit shaken up (and cold!) so we headed home for a change of clothes and hot chocolate! Now Toby is having a nap and we are watching Aladdin DVD...a quiet afternoon after a busy morning! :)

How have you spent your Saturday? Ever fallen in a river?? Liam was trying to make Izzy feel better by telling her about a time when he (after lots of alcohol) fell backwards into the sea...mobile phone and all! Apparently the tide had crept in whilst he and his friends had been having a BBQ on the beach, and Liam hadn't realised so lent backwards!! I don't think I've ever had an experience as wet as Izzy's - a few times I've fallen into rivers/wet patches on the moors up to my knees, but Izzy was soaked all the way up to her chest...poor little thing! She's fine now though, snuggled up watching one of her favourite Disney films = happy Izzy!!