Meal Planning Monday - the distinctly Autumn edition!

Yep, definitely Autumn out there even though we have had a, few nice days recently. I've just looked at the meal plan and the food reflects the season - cobbler and soup to name but two. The ham hock from last week never got made, partly because I didn't manage to get hold of a ham hock. I need to go to a proper butcher's to buy one, I think.

Apart from the fact that I am out most of Friday and therefore not cooking because I won't be home until nearly 7pm, it's a pretty uneventful week for us.

Eyes down, here we go.


Monday - Sausage and bean cobbler
Tuesday-  Turkey tortilla pie
Wednesday - Low fat chicken biryani
Thursday - Curried root vegetable soup
Friday - keeping free
Saturday - Ham hock with pinto beans
Sunday - keeping free

(There's no links because most of the recipes are from this month's BBC Good Food and they take a little time to get them onto their website.)

Is your menu feeling distinctly autumnal? Tell me what is on your plan this week and then head over to Mrs M's to find more MPM entries.

How not to write a manifesto

Who couldn't fail to be swayed by this?

Both children were on School Council last year and apparently, they are holding elections again this week. The children have decided they would quite like to do it again so they started work tonight on their election posters. This involves them coming up with ideas about what sort of thing they would like to change about school and why they would be a good person to represent their classmates. Kind of like a manifesto.

To say that this was at first difficult is an understatement. Policy meetings at the National Apolitical Party (note - does not exist) would have been more exciting. I like to ensure I don't suggest things so I tried to prompt their thinking by asking them questions about what they liked about school, what they didn't like and how it might be better.

Suddenly, Monkey's face lit up. "I know!", he said excitedly and started scribbling something down. "I think the breaks should be shorter, so we can get more learning in."

Somehow, I don't think that's going to be a vote winner or make him popular with his classmates, do you?

A foodie round up

People like to send me stuff from time to time and y'know, it's quite nice. I like trying out new foods and all that. But really, quite often there is not a lot you can say about them so I tend to save them all up for posts such as this.

First off, the lovely people at Bear Nibbles who celebrated their 3rd birthday by launching a new YoYo snack in mango flavour. Now, I actually didn't get to try this because the children snaffled it up before I had the chance to do anything, but they assure me it was "yummy". They were also rather taken with the lunchbox they sent us.

Next, Waitrose invited me to an event trying out drinks for that time of year that is coming up. As I couldn't go, they sent me this little lot.

Hubby tried the Jaipur IPA and said it was nice if you like that sort of thing. The bottle with the label is Heston's Earl Grey and Lemon Gin which was quite nice with the tonic water although I am not a huge gin fan. The popcorn was very popular with the children, unsurprisingly. However, I cannot bring myself to try the Bloodshot which I think is vodka or a liqueur infused with Bloody Mary flavours. Ew..

Then, PeerIndex sent me a little perk just because. It was some Cravendale Epic Straws and vouchers for a month's supply of Cravendale, which actually turned into two weeks' worth as we use so much milk in this house! The straws are like those Connecta Straws that were all the rage in my childhood and the kids had a blast building with them. I don't think they have actually used them as they were intended - for drinking but they can make some very long straws!

Finally, Kellogg's sent me a couple of boxes of Special K Cracker Crisps to try. A bag of these crisps - or 21 if you buy the bigger boxes - is just 95 calories and only 3% fat. I am usually a bit dubious about diet food because they usually replace one lot of rubbish with another. However, I did like these - I was sent the sweet chilli and sour cream & chive flavours to try, and much preferred the sweet chilli flavour. They are quite moreish but what crisps aren't? I didn't like that they were potato and wheat based because those with wheat or gluten intolerances couldn't have them but they were and are a decent option if you need to have a low fat snack (although you are only saving yourself about 35 calories compared to having a packet of regular crisps, so it's your decision whether you think it is worth it or not!).

I think that's it for now! Thank you to all the above companies for sending us such lovely treats.

Meal Planning Monday - the emptying my freezer edition

I have these moments every now and then when I decide that some things have been in my freezer for far too long so get round to planning in meals that will use them up. Not that I ignore what's in my freezer, it's just there are a few bits that have been languishing for a while and need using up. It also keeps the food bill down for the week. It's a fairly standard week for us, apart from the fact that Missy Woo has a friend coming for tea on Friday and I'm off to Blogcamp in Manchester on Saturday.

Here's what I've cobbled together.

Monday - Red lentil loaf with mash and peas
Tuesday - Slow cooker lamb chops
Wednesday - Pea and pesto soup with fish finger croutons
Thursday - Crock pot hoisin chicken
Friday - Meatball pasta bake
Saturday - Green pork chilli tacos
Sunday - Ham hock with pinto beans (if I can get a ham hock!)

That is our menu, in a nutshell. What does yours look like? Remember I'm after some nice things to make that can be reheated now that husband is working twilight shifts Monday to Thursday.

And don't forget - Mrs M has all the Meal Planning Monday entries over on her blog.

My MAD Weekend part 2 - getting Set4Sport with Judy Murray

Judy explaining Set4Sport to the parents

After a fab night on Friday at the MAD Blog Awards, I woke up on Saturday morning early with a dry mouth but thankfully, no hangover. (And no hiccups - I'd had hiccups for about an hour before I went to bed, but thankfully sleep cured them!)

After a shower and a breakfast, I said goodbye to everyone and left the hotel for London Zoo. Not your average venue to turn up at with a trolley case, but I had a purpose. I'd been invited to an event where Judy Murray, mother of Andy, was to demonstrate her ideas for getting kids active and practising the skills they need to be good at sport.

When I was first invited to this event, I knew I couldn't say no. I was in London anyway, so why not? I had time before my train to get there. I am a huge fan of Andy Murray as well. The only problem was that the children weren't able to come with me as they were still 200+ miles away at home.

On arrival at the venue, the Mappin Pavilion in the middle of the zoo, I went straight to find a place to put my case and coat. Who should be a few feet away but Judy herself. Within seconds, we were shaking hands and chatting. We actually got talking about Myleene Klass and how lovely she was. Then I told her that I had lived every moment of the US Open final that Andy had won just a couple of weeks before, and she told me that she got really worried when it went back to 2 sets all as she was worried he was going to lose. I can sympathise with that - you always want your child to do as well as they can in such situations and you want to protect them at the same time. Judy was really lovely and friendly - I felt she was as genuine and lovely as Myleene had been.

After a brief introduction, everyone started to try out the games that had been set out at stations around the room. This is when it became slightly odd for me as I had no children to watch, or play with so I just watched from the sidelines and generally felt a bit of a spare part. I don't have too many photos of the event because I didn't want to take pictures of other people's children but I did get one when the children were busy eating food.

The premise of Set4Sport is that when Judy's boys were young, she developed games to play with them and without realising, helped to develop their coordination skills. This was even before she trained to be a tennis coach - Judy is from a sporty family so it was just natural to her to play games with them.

The games in the programme help to develop what she calls ABCs - agility, balance and coordination, which are critical to all physical activities, as well as passing and catching for ball sports. Developing the skills at an early age gets children set for sport but also helps confidence and self-esteem, as well as learn how to set goals and challenge themselves. Everything is designed so that most of the equipment you need, you probably already own. Everything can be learned without going to gyms, clubs or without a trainer and so are very low cost activities.

Watching the children play the games set out reminded me of when my children used to go to a club called Storybook Sport which is very small and very local to us. Monkey was one of the first children to take part in classes and Missy Woo joined in, even though she was only two when she started. They only stopped going when they got too old. During the sessions, the group leader Scott would tell them a story and the children would be part of the story using standard sports equipment to do various activities involving running, jumping, hopping, throwing and catching. They loved every minute of it, and it definitely helped them as it was noted that they both had good coordination when they started school. I even managed to tell Judy about it during the latter part of the session when she came to ask me if I had any questions about the programme. I think Scott was amazed when I told him on Twitter a few days later that I'd told her about it!

After everyone had had fun trying all the games, they demonstrated how you could set up a tennis court at home using canes for the lines and tying some string or rope between two chairs for a net. All very simple, all very low cost. Even in a tiny room, children can learn how to control a ball with their racket. That is how two   Grand Slam winners (Jamie won the mixed doubles at Wimbledon, remember?) started out, so there has to be something in it.

I had to make a quick exit with my trolley case as lunch came to an end. Sadly, I didn't have time to explore the zoo like everyone else did, I had a train to catch from Euston. As I left and said goodbye to everyone, Judy said I looked like I'd just been sacked by Lord Sugar! I certainly did look slightly out of place walking through the zoo trying to find the exit trailing a case behind me, but I can report I didn't get into the back of a taxi to be filmed. It was definitely an amazing weekend - meeting two celebrities who more than lived up to their billing. The only disappointment was that the children were not there. They would have loved playing the games and the zoo, but it was not to be, plus they were back home having fun without me.

If you want to learn more about the Set4Sport programme, visit their website or you can download a free Set4Sport app from the App Store (for iOS devices) or Google Play store (for Android).

My MAD weekend part 1 - Myleene and me

You may remember I was a finalist in the MAD Blog Awards last year and this year, I was a finalist in two categories. The awards ceremony last Friday so off I set to London on a train. The journey down was torturous as I ended up sharing a table with a Geordie and two Norwegians, who all appeared to be born again Christians and one of them tried to convert me by giving me a leaflet to read. I declined and instead tweeted to pass the time to London. My timeline was certainly an interesting read. 

Being one of the earlier arrivals, I had been lucky enough to get myself hair and make up appointments but they were a good couple of hours ahead of the festivities starting. I strolled down and a lovely lady from Regis Salons straightened my hair in the blink of an eye. Next, I waited in a busy hotel room as the ladies from Arbonne got ready as I'd arrived a little early and so I became the first to have my make up done whilst the consultant told me about their products (Swiss) and their business (all the consultants work through recommendations). 

By 4.30, there I was, all made up but nowhere to go so I headed back to the room I was sharing with Elaine who was a finalist in the best business blog category and is also an NCT friend of mine going back several years. I hadn't seen her in 18 months but this was the second time in two weeks! Still, we managed to spend the next hour and a half putting the worlds to rights in the room before we got dressed in our finery.

Once finally fully glammed up in our outfits - mine was a lovely red dress that the lovely people from Simply Be kindly sent me along with a fab pair of silver shoes - we wandered downstairs to join the waiting throng, accessorised by a Seksy Sekonda watch from Find Watches. Luckily, arriving a little late meant we weren't waiting too long before we were ushered through to the reception. I decided to wander over to look at the table plan. I found my name and looked to see who else was on my table. There were a few names of people I knew, or wanted to me but one name on my table stopped me in my tracks. 

Oh my goodness me. 

Not only that, I then found out she was brand ambassador for Start-Rite Shoes who were the sponsors of the Best Schooldays category. And the sponsors wanted a photograph of us with her too. Within a few minutes, I found myself sat next to a very beautiful (and very slim!) Myleene on a couch. Very unreal. In my head, I was screaming "oh my God" whilst trying to smile and look vaguely cool at the same time. 

Over dinner, she was opposite me on the table but during the ceremony itself, she ended up this close again. 

Tweeting on her Blackberry, my kinda girl! Honestly, she was totally lovely - she was prepared to chat with people about anything and everything, have her photograph taken, and showed a real interest in people. When one of the categories for which I was a finalist came up, she was excited for me and when I didn't win, she patted my arm in consolation. 

And no, I didn't win either category. I hadn't expected to. In both categories, I was up against some bloody great bloggers. I hadn't expected to win; I just went to have a fantastic evening. The winners of my two categories were firstly Multiple Mummy, who has been very ill in hospital following a brain haemorrhage caused by an aneurysm. Her husband was there to accept her award and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.  And in the schooldays category, the lovely Actually Mummy won against some very stiff opposition. 

It was fantastic night. I met some lovely bloggers I hadn't met before as well as renewing the friendship with some I've seen here, there and everywhere - and yet there were still loads that I never got to speak to that I would have loved to have met. It was a true celebration of blogging where I felt everyone was genuinely pleased for the winners. 

Huge, huge thanks to Sally and her team for organising a fantastic awards ceremony. Thanks to those lovely people who sponsored awards or gave me lovely things to wear on the night. I had a brilliant time and was made to feel very special. Not everyone won an actual award last night, but we were truly all winners. 

(I was sent the items mentioned above to wear at the ceremony and my hair and make up were also done for free for me. All opinions, as ever, are mine!)

Meal Planning Monday - a late-night, cobbled together edition

So it's 13 minutes to midnight on Sunday and I still don't have a meal plan together yet. For that, you can blame my mad weekend during which I met both Myleene Klass and Judy Murray, then spent today catching up. This evening, instead of meal planning, I followed the Ryder Cup, first on Twitter then on television for the last hour or so. Now I'm in a state of mild panic as this is not like me.

Cobbling away merrily, here is my meal plan. By the way, from this week, my husband is working evenings Monday to Thursday so won't be around for teatime, so everything is going to be reheatable for him to eat the next day.

Monday - Cauliflower cheese soup
Tuesday - Cheese whirls (a request by Monkey)
Wednesday - Curry in a hurry
Thursday - Minced beef cobbler
Friday - Mauritian Pork Satay
Saturday - keeping free
Sunday - I might just get that flipping chicken in my freezer roasted!

What's on your menu this week? And do you have any suggestions of meals that reheat well for future weeks? Let me know... then pop on over to Mrs M's for some more Meal Planning Monday action.

(Edit - this apparently is my 600th post on this blog... go me!!)