Aiming for January!

Hi everyone, just a quick hello from me! Things have been very difficult here and I haven't been in the mood to blog. I'm hoping that life will get easier after Christmas and I can settle down back to some kind of normality with the children. 

We are busy with Christmas too and I will share some photos of my Christmas baking when I can. Daisy and I have been doing a little baking and cooking but I always forget to photograph it!

Rock cakes

Charlotte's birthday cake

Cornflake cakes

My easy cauliflower cheese...simply chop the cauliflower quite small, pour over a pot of double cream, a flick of parsley and black pepper, then some grated cheese on top. I bake it in the oven while the meat is cooking (covered with foil to begin with) and this one was with pork chops. I've found this to be an excellent substitution for mash. I actually feel full up. 

Finally...

Daisy's advent calendar...dairy free :)

I hope all your Christmas preparations are going well. Please feel free to share any Christmas thrifty tips you have in the comments below. It's all about the children for us so I won't be doing a huge food shop as I normally would...just a few treats really.

Mandy

Fresh food grocery haul

Hi everyone

Thank you so much for your comments and advice on eating a low carb diet. I am eating more protein, particularly eggs but I'm still finding lunchtime difficult. As this is a lifestyle change, I've given up bread altogether. I have missed toast for breakfast but I'm finding lunchtime harder without a sandwich! I'm looking on Pinterest for salad inspiration as I easily get bored. I have the same dinner as my family but leave out the potatoes, pasta or rice.

Today my shopping was delivered. It was really expensive as I had to buy ink for the printer, and a few more bits that I wouldn't normally buy. 

One thing I have noticed is how much more fresh food I'm buying. I thought I'd do a little haul for you...

Cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, sprouts, mushrooms, swede and onions.

Peppers, red onions, spring onions, little gem and round lettuce and cucumber.

Out of these we will have salad, roasted veg and loads of extra veg piled on my plate!

I love fresh pineapple. I also got some apples and strawberries and we have pears and plums left over from the last shop.

I won't eat much of this apart from the beef and ham with my salads.

I actually hate milk (and yoghurt) but I do eat a lot of eggs!

There's mine and stewing beef for the slow cooker. Sausages and bacon and a whole chicken for meals in the week.

Not for me!

I'll try to remember to photograph my meals  this week.

Thanks 

Mandy x

Low carb diet...any advice??

Hi everyone

Thank you for your lovely comments :)

I'm looking for advice today if anyone has been on a low carb diet before. I'm doing well but I'm finding it difficult to feel full. I'm not eating any bread or potatoes and only a tiny portion of pasta or rice occasionally. Carbs seem to be in everything so I'm removing the obvious ones and eating lots of fresh food.

Any tips or ideas would be gratefully received...you can email me from the contact me page, or leave a comment.

Thank you xxx

Yesterday we had lasagne for tea, so I just removed the lasagne for me...not the same but I'm committed this time as a lifestyle not a diet. I don't want to cook separately everyday as I'm really short of time now.

Hopefully I'll be back soon with some tips on how to cut the grocery shop each week.

Mandy x

Major life changes...

Hi everyone

I'm so sorry I haven't been around for the last month. As the title says, we've had some major life changes. I'm not able to talk about them publicly but it's all good and everyone is fine. We have a lot of appointments and a lot of professionals visiting the house. It's all part of a process but it's been hard. Hopefully by Christmas I can say a little bit more. Until then please bear with me! I have very little time and very little sleep at the moment! We are getting into a new routine now so things should settle soon. There is also a huge amount of joy in our lives :)

Money saving is really important now! I will try to post little snippets as I can, but my day is so busy now that I can't promise much. The huge grocery bill is about to be reduced so much to accommodate the different things we need to buy now plus coping with Christmas. 

In other news...I am addressing my weight seriously and have already made good progress. I am eating a low carb diet and need to fit this into a smaller food budget. So many challenges!!

Thanks for being so patient xx

Mandy x

Sunny Sunday...

Hi everyone

Yesterday was so beautiful and sunny so we went for a long walk...

Jake had a lovely time wandering about and paddling in the stream, while Daisy collected some bits and bobs for some autumn crafting. It was good to get out in the fresh air and walk off our Sunday roast...

Daisy was in charge of making pudding...

This was peach flan with chantilly cream and sprinkles! I just snipped off the end of a disposable piping bag and let her be creative :) as Daisy is lactose intolerant, she also made a pudding just for herself...lemon jelly and dairy free ice cream. 

Today we've been crafting with all her treasures...

I'll show you the picture tomorrow.

We also bashed and squashed some blackberries to make paint...

We love autumn...do you?

Mandy x

Food hoarding

Hi everyone

Life is extremely hectic at the moment...big things are going on which take up a lot of time so I just haven't found the time to blog.

I am a food hoarder! I'm trying hard to stop buying more than we need. I am happy if the cupboards and freezer are full but we really don't need that much. So I have a plan...

The plan is not to plan! No meal planning for a couple of weeks and just going through what we've got. I hope to have tidier cupboards so I can see what we need at a glance. I also want to go back to trying out new recipes.

As I'm short of time, I think I will maybe just post up photos of our meals for now.

The slow cooker is my friend at the moment!

I love dumplings...

Are there any other food hoarders out there? Or is it just me?!!

Mandy x

I love autumn :)

Hi everyone

I've been a bit busy but I thought I'd drop in to share a few things with you...

I really do love autumn (except for the pesky wasps!!) I can't wait to get using the slow cooker more and eating all those comforting foods...casseroles, dumplings, puddings with custard, porridge, hot chocolate! Plus autumn walks to burn it off! Yesterday I began my autumnal food with this...

A jug of chocolate custard. I mixed a shake of cocoa into a packet of cheap instant custard then added the boiling water...simple!

We had some little chocolate fairy cakes leftover from Daisy's birthday, so used them up.

Porridge! It has to be golden syrup :)

Since I wrote this, I've had the slow cooker going...spaghetti bolognese. 

There will be loads more autumn food to follow!

Mandy x