Lasagne and Garlic Bread @Morrisons #MorrisonsMum

Today Mike and I made lasagne for ourselves, our friends and their three kids.  We made two dishes which worked out as twelve good sized portions of lasagne and cost a grand total of £4.66.  That was a mere 39p per person. 

1 pack of lasagne sheet            75p

1 jar of bolognese sauce           89p

1 jar of white sauce                    89p

200g of grated cheddar        £1.00

500g of minced beef             £1.00

Onion                                             10p

-------------------------------------------------------------

Total                                         £4.66

We also had:

Tear and share garlic bread  £1.00

Treacle Tart                              £1.00        

Tiramisu                                    £1.00

3litres of fruit juices                £2.00

------------------------------------------------------------

Total                                           £5.00

The entire meal cost less than £10 for four adults and four children. That is phenomenal value especially when I tell you it tasted as good as any meal out for about a sixth of the price.

Well done Morrisons; you have surpassed yourself.

Italiano

Choosing my meal
I look up at the wall
And notice something
Very very tall

Looking down at us
She seemed to be
Looking right at
You and me

Did she want my pizza
Or my tasty garlic bread
I couldn't keep eating
I was watching her instead

By Rachel (age 7)
Xxxxx

This picture by Kim Nelson reminded me of a picture in an Italian restaurant.  I wrote this poem about what it would be like sitting in the restaurant eating pizza.

Simple Christmas Biscuits

Today Rachel fancied doing a bit of baking so we made these super simple and terribly tasty Christmas biscuits.



These are the simple ingredients:

250g butter , softened
140g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
300g plain flour


And all you do is:

Mix the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon.
Add the egg yolk and vanilla and briefly beat to combine.
Sift the flour and stir into the mixture.
Use your hands to make a ball of dough.
Roll out the dough about 1cm thick and use cutters to make shapes.
Bake the biscuits at 160 degrees C in a fan oven for 15 minutes.
When baked allow to cool and then decorate.

We made hearts, hearts with heart holes, bells, stars and candy canes.


The decorating was bright and cheerful. Perfect for Christmas; here are Rachel's favourites.

Caramelised Nigella Lawson

Have you seen this front cover of Nigella's magazine?

I was looking at it and wondering how lovely it would be to be coated in caramel; I was in my own little world. As a mum of course I was quickly snapped out of my ponderings by Rachel who sensibly said....

why has she done that? it will be really sticky and hurt to get off.

bless her, always the neat freak :)

A feast of delights at the big feastival

A feast of food
What can I say about the food except WOW!  The most amazing dishes for just £5 each, what a culinary experience it was.  And we had 9 dishes to eat between us, so we selected and shared.  We ate:
- Burger with spicy tomato relish
- pulled pork belly sandwich with apple and tarragon
- haggis and mash
- rabbit stew
- fish and chips
- Mango mousse x2
- Chocolate mousse

The mango mousse was fantastic, the rabbit stew amazing, but chicken tikka pie takes the award for most original and flavourful





A feast of fab music
In two venues there was music galore today and it'll get better over the weekend.  We danced away at the main stage and funked out at the band stand.  Although it wasn't really Rachel's thing.




A feast of fun
Going to the big feastival as a family was obviously very different than going as a couple, but the amount of entertainment and fun was fantastic for us all.

Rachel loved the little dudes tent.  


She had her face painted


She painted a picture of a bowl of pasta which was then displayed on the main tent board.  


She saw a magic show and she joined in with a singing and dancing workshop.


There was one down side of the little dudes tent - closing at 7pm is too early for those of us who had travelled a fair way and wanted to bribe the kids to stay a bit longer!

I was (surprisingly) disappointed by the WI tent; I thought there'd be more and with more space.  


It was however saved by the gorgeous Stacie of the Beehive Bakery and her delectable brownies.


And Mike; he was in his element with music, food, food and more food and drink in the July sunshine.


A feast of fabulous flavourful chefs
Chefs who were all using the Jamie at Home products; tongs, rimple dinnerware, knives, flip jars, chopping boards, pans, bowls. You name it, chefs used it; now if that's not an endorsement for Jamie at Home I don't know what is.
[want to know more? Visit my site at http://www.jamieathome.me/emmamajor]

First Michael Caines stunned us with his extraordinary creations; then Jamie and Gennaro topped it off with a double act of hilarity and Italian flavour.




Including Gennaro making holes in a royal wedding biscuit tin to make a mini smoking oven 


The cooking was great to behold but the men themselves were a joy above all.  Michael hung around happy to chat, Gennaro gave me a big squishy hug and Jamie both spoke to me and winked at Rachel.  It's a shame that Mike's camera skills are slow so evidence is non existent, but the memories will remain with these prompts...

Here's Michael cooking duck 


Gennaro right in front of me


And he was next to me in this group as we tasted his Tuscan bread salad


And here's Jamie walking away from our encounter



A feast of fundraising
A truly charitable event, as the big feastival website says:
This is a festival with a heart. All profits from The Big Feastival will be shared between The Prince’s Trust (charity no. 1079675)* and The Jamie Oliver Foundation (charity no. 1094536). Both charities run successful programmes for helping young people overcome disadvantages and create better futures for themselves. They have a fantastic positive impact on the lives of many young people, giving them the skills, motivation and inspiration to get into employment, education and training.

And we got to be a part of if.  Rachel was asked if she'd like to take part in a salad and dressing workshop with sone other kids.  She fancied it and it turned out to be being led by chefs from Fifteen and being filmed for the Foundation to show how easily kids can gain cooking skills.

She selected salad leaves and tomatoes


She made a lemon dressing


She mixed the two with Jamie Flair


And ATE it all!





The Big Feastival was fantastic, so fantastic it wore us out completely.  


Well done Jamie for what I hope will be an annual event.

Birthday Party Planning - theme

This is the sixth part of the series on Birthday Party Planning which started with the introduction. This post discusses party themes.

I'm all up for theming a birthday party, it's so much easier to make the majority of choices if you're constrained by a theme. Yes I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but it's always worked for me.

If you've followed this series from the beginning you'll already know the themes of each of Rachel's birthday parties and then upcoming 6th:
1st Birthday - Teddy Bears Picnic
2nd Birthday - Fifi party
3rd Birthday - Painting party
4th Birthday - Tinkerbell disco party
5th Birthday - Pottery painting and crafty party
6th Birthday - High School Musical 3 party

I chose the first two, focussing on things in Rachel's life which she loved. She then selected each of the following party themes, that's where she always starts in April when she's thinking about what party she'd like. She comes up with a theme, this year High School Musical 3; we discuss how this might work as a party and what she'd like to do and from there it all takes off.

So this year we started off by re-watching, for the dozenth of so time, High School Musical 3. Rachel's first suggestion was that we could play the film at the party and start and stop it to have games. We ruled this out for it's technological complexity. I looked at whether anyone can be hired to run a HSM3 party but the only options were a straight disco or a cheerleading party, neither of which was quite meeting Rachel's exacting standards. Eventually we came to the actual plan which we will be hopefully achieving in 3 weeks time; to play the HSM3 music and have games associated with each one.

Where else does the theme take us? It forms the basis for:
- invitations
- food
- birthday cake
- party bags

Themes work for us, they are a focus and ensure that I don't get carried away. It is even easier now Rachel chooses the theme, that's one less concern off my shoulders.

Snakecatcher problems in Brockenhurst

I'm a positive sort of a girl.  I like to celebrate success and big people up.  Hence when I blog I only review things I like.  But today I will break new ground, needs must.  I've found a subject on which I must blog, here goes.

It's a pub.
A family pub, apparently.
In Brockenhurst in the new forest.
Family holiday destination and all that.

We walked in at 5.15pm looking to have a drink and order dinner when that started, we guessed about 6pm.

The place was nice, fairly busy but with a distinct lack of families.  We headed to the bar to ask for a menu.

They were NOT interested in serving us or even talking to us.  

Eventually, upon direct questioning they   told us there are no meals until 6.  No problem, we weren't starving, yet! 

Then came the punchline.
"Perhaps you'd prefer the more pub-by meals 100 yards down the road."

You've got to be kidding? 
You're a pub. 
We'd like to have the opportunity to see the menu.
No chance they were letting that happen.

So we turn from the bar to leave and another customer asks us if he heard us right.  He said they'd been told 530 for dinner orders and they'd been given menus.  

This lovely couple were obviously as taken aback as we were.  They allowed us to see their menus, which looked perfect for us. 

But nothing was keeping us there!

I had the distinct feeling they were dissuading us because they didn't want kids.  Not a good experience! 

Oh and it's worth saying that Rachel was standing beside us, good as gold and quiet as a mouse the whole time! 
She did not give them any cause for concern.

I always try to avoid snakes.
But now I know to...
Avoid the Snakecatcher in Brockenhurst like the plague!
You've been warned.

Masterchef review

The new series of Masterchef started on the BBC this week. I love it, always have since it was hosted by Lloyd Grossman; and since I introduced Rachel to it last year, and especially since Juniour Masterchef, she has become a fan as well.

But this year it's changed a bit, well a lot really, following closer to the format of the Australian version. I have heard and read a lot of criticism about it, especially these audition episodes, for example:

too like x-factor
we want food not emotional turmoil
new kitchen is like a space ship

But I like it, in fact I really like seeing this stage before they get their aprons. I always wondered what happened beforehand, and although I'm betting it was nothing like we've seen this week, it's still nice to see. I am glad to see how important it is to the contestants; it's a massive competition with huge pressure and the chance to change your life.

Rachel thought it was a bit mean for those who didn't get through, but then she thinks that most weeks anyway. Mind you she can be ruthless if the food looks "silly" or if Greg (her favourite) doesn't like the taste.

So we are looking forward to the coming weeks; the highs and lows (of the souffles), the sweet and sour, the tears and laughter, the massive new kitchen!

What do you eat at family film night?

Come out of the silence and share with me; what do you eat on family film night?
is it popcorn?
chocolate?
sweets?
crisps?
nuts?
hot dog?
pizza?
sandwiches?
nachos?

and what about drink?
coke?
lemonade?
water?
something a little stronger for the adults?


Rachel likes popcorn or chocolate, Mike joins her. I love grapes, well that's not exactly true; I love chocolate and popcorn but grapes are a healthier option.