Apr 24, 2013

Whats for tea? Annabel Karmel’s Meatballs with tomato sauce ⁰

On Sunday I decided to cook meatballs for tea. I really like it when we all sit down together and talk about what we have all been up to. Mimi is not a big meat lover, but I am keen for her to keep trying it so I decided to cook Meatballs with Tomato Sauce from Annabel Karmel’s fussy eaters recipe book. I did adapt the recipe a bit. I added an egg instead of water to the meatball mix to help bind it together and prevent them from falling to bits when cooking and rather than adding tomato ketchup to the sauce I added tomato puree and a couple of teaspoons of caster sugar. Neither Mimi or I were very keen on the end result. Mimi liked the sauce but not the meatballs (but to be fair she doesn’t like meat especially mince very much). I generally found the meatballs to be tasteless and a bit bland. Mike however loved it and even had seconds.

I’m not really too sure why I originally brought this book as on the whole Mimi eats most things. Generally I haven’t found the book that helpful when cooking for the whole family. I have found a lot of the recipes to be a bit bland and very similar to all of her other books. You won’t learn anything new by buying this book.

Apr 22, 2013

Project Scrapbook: 5 ⁰

by MummyandMimi • Project Scrapbook

I feel like spring has finally decided to show its face, the flowers are out and leaves are starting to poke their heads out. It feels great to see the sun. We have had an action packed week. We took advantage of the good weather. We walked to school and back across the fields and took a trip to the zoo where we saw the cutest ever baby goats, I reckon they were only hours old. We treated Mimi to a trip to Pizza Express on Friday night courtesy of our tesco clubcard vouchers and spent Sunday on the beach at the Sailing club. Mimi helped choose Harri a cute pair of feet finders by Lamaze and we spent an afternoon painting a canvas for the wall.

Apr 20, 2013

Taxi for the Kids ¹

by MummyandMimi • Family, Money Matters

We all know that mums and dads all over Britain have a second job – their children’s very own personal taxi driver.

Whether it’s ferrying them to dance classes, football, different friends’ houses or weekend birthday parties, it all adds up. Wherever it may be, mums and dads wait patiently at the requested time and pick up point.

Of course, parents don’t mind this (most of the time), but have you ever considered how much waiting around could cost if you were a real fare-commanding taxi driver? This Mum and Dad cab calculator may give you some idea.

Mums and dads across the UK provide over £19 billion worth of free taxi services for their children every year according to recent Sainsbury’s Bank research.

WHAT £19 BILLION COULD ROUGHLY PAY FOR:

80,000 Ferrari F12s
380,000,000 bottles of Champagne
475,000 speed boats

Additionally, over 207 million miles are covered weekly ferrying the kids about. If parents charged for the miles covered and time spent waiting, at Hackney carriage rates, this would total over £370 million per week. Mention this when they next ask for a lift. It could get them thinking!

Once you’ve had fun checking out the taxi calculator, consider how you could save money:

TIPS TO CUT MOTORING COSTS :

SHOP AROUND FOR FUEL
SOURCE A LOW COST, RELIABLE GARAGE FOR SERVICES
COMPARE PRICES FOR CONSUMABLES, E.G. TYRES
FIND THE RIGHT CAR INSURANCE COVER [3] FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY
WALK OR CYCLE SHORTER JOURNEYS INSTEAD OF TAKING THE CAR
TURN OFF THE ENGINE WHILE YOU’RE WAITING

This guest post was written on behalf of Money Matters, the Sainsbury’s Bank blog. The views expressed in this guest post are of the author and not of Sainsbury’s Bank. The tips and information in the article do not constitute advice and should not be used as a basis for any financial decisions. Sainsbury’s Bank accepts no responsibility for the opinions and views of external contributors included within this post. All information in this post was correct at date of publication.

SUZY DARKE

SAINSBURY’S BANK MONEY MATTERS BLOG

WWW.SAINSBURYSBANK.CO.UK/MONEYMATTERS

Apr 19, 2013

#Baby Bits: Mamas and Papas Bouncy Chair ⁰

by MummyandMimi • Shopping, Uncategorized • Tags: baby products

Our previous bouncy chair was nothing special. If I think back it was a hand-me down which Mimi used. Anyway it had defiantly done the rounds and it finally decided to give up and stop working. Whilst it might not have been anything fancy it was perfect for what we wanted and did the job. When looking to replace it I just wanted like for like. The closest match I could find was the Mamas and Papas Bubble Bouncer.

Initially I was really pleased with it, but now its really starting to bug me. Harri loves the attachable arch with soft toys but they literally just clip on and off. If Harri is in the chair you have to lift her in around it or you have to remove it and re-clip it afterwards. It is not very secure when attached and Mimi can remove it. I have caught her trying to re-attach it whilst Harri was in the chair, waving one end around very close to her head and face. I know you get what you pay for and I did only paid £24.95 (Its now in the sale at £15.00) however I wish in hindsight I had done some more research spent a bit more money and opted for something slightly better.

Apr 17, 2013

Whats for tea? Annabel Karmel’s Pork & Caramelized Apples ⁰

by MummyandMimi • Food, Recipes

Just lately I have realised that poor Mimi has been having a it of a rough deal when it comes to what she has been eating for her tea. She is a creature of habit and out of ease I have fallen in behind her. She loves plain pasta with cheese which is fine but not every night!!! I also think that we have been eating too late. With the arrival of little Harri and no routine we have all fallen out of sync. So this week I decided to do something about it. I have tried bring tea forwards again to 5.30 – 6.00pm (otherwise Mimi becomes over tiered and hungry and starts picking at biscuits and moaning about her tea). Last night we had “chicken casserole with cheesy herb dumplings” from Rachel Allen’s Home Cooking Recipe book. Tonight I used a recipe from Annabel Karmel’s “the fussy eaters recipe book: Pork medallions with caramelized apples”. I thought it was really delicious plenty to feed all of us and was super easy to cook and prepare. I served it with a baked potato and some green veg. Mimi wasn’t so keen but I think she was just too exhausted and was in bed by 6.45pm.