Toddler Meal Ideas: Cheats 3 cheese sauce with pasta and chicken

Ingredients

Chicken breast

Onions

Peppers 

Mushrooms

Garlic

Basil

Pasta

For the cheese sauce

4 Dairylea triangles

Tbsp Philadelphia

Tsp Parmesan

Splash of milk

Pinch of mustard powder

 

How to make the pasta dish

 

1.  Dice chicken breast and chop vegetables. Cook in a little olive oil and season with garlic and basil. 

2. Cook pasta according to packet instructions. 

3. Place the cheese, milk and mustard powder in a saucepan on a low heat and stir until melted. You may need to add a bit more milk to loosen the sauce up.

4. Mix all ingredients together and serve. 

This would be good with all kinds of vegetables. For a variation use this recipe with tuna or smoked haddock.

NOTD: Rimmel Salon Pro Purple Rain

I love this colour and picking this up for £1 makes it even better. It's a gorgeous springtime purple which is opaque in 2 coats and is a dream to apply. This stayed chip free for 5 days. I'm in love and think this will be on my nails a lot during spring and summer.

Toddler Meal Ideas: Omelette Pizza

Today's recipe is a quick and easy dinner or tea time meal which can be packed with veggies and your toddler won't notice.

Ingredients

2 eggs
Splash of milk
Vegetables - I used chestnut mushrooms, onion and peppers
Herbs - I used basil and oregano
Sprinkle of cheese

How to make your omelette

1. Beat eggs and milk together.
2. Chop vegetables up small and soften in a little olive oil with the herbs.
3. Turn heat to lowest setting and add the egg
4. Preheat grill.
5. Once the omelette is almost cooked sprinkle a little cheese on top and place under the grill to finish cooking.

You can serve this on it's own, with a salad or with wedges. It is also really great served cold the next day.

NOTD: Bourjois and W7.

This nail look is courtesy of Bourjois and W7.  The Bourjois polish used is the Anti-Choc No chip in number 15 and W7 in Multi Glitter on the accent nail. I loved the look of these two together.The Bourjois polish was opaque in one coat.

The Bourjois polish claims to last up to 10 days, I got a day and a half before chipping occurred which is probably why I managed to pick this up in a poundshop.

NOTD: Nails Inc Porchester Sqaure and George at Asda Pink Glitz

Today's nail features Nails Inc and George at Asda. Generally I am not a fan of Nails Inc and think they don't last as long as an £11 bottle of nail polish should. I got Porchester Square in my Boots advent calendar and loved the colour. I had previously worn it alone and it had chipped after just 24 hours wear. This time I teamed it with a Pink Glitz from George at Asda which I love. It looks great over most polishes and with it being shimmer it lasts a long time. This look was on my nails for 4 days before it began to wear off at the ends, no chipping though. 

Porchester Square is a lovely mushroom colour which is sensible enough to wear for work but really good to wear at weekends. Pink Glitz is a sheer polish with pink, silver and blue shimmer running through it, it is best used as a top coat.

Toddler Meal Ideas: Gnocchi with Smoked Fish

I see a lot of people asking for meal ideas for their toddlers so thought I would begin to document some of the meals that I give to Charlotte and that she enjoys, first up is Gnocchi in a tomato and basil sauce with smoked fish.

I make a big batch of the tomato sauce and freeze as it's handy to have with pasta, chicken, fish, gnocchi and over potato.

Tomato and Basil Sauce

1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
Huge bunch of fresh basil.

How to make the sauce.

1. Finely dice the red onion and crush garlic. Soften in a small amount of olive oil.
2. Add chopped tomatoes and basil and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Place in blender and whizz up. When Charlotte was small I did this until it was completely smooth, I now leave it a bit chunkier.

Charlotte loves smoked fish and won't entertain unsmoked. Place fish in some tin foil with a squeeze of lemon juice, wrap up and oven cook until fish flakes apart.

Cook gnocchi according to packet instructions. Serve with a side salad or vegetables.

My Mothers Day

This year marked my second year as a Mummy and it was nice to be treated on Mothers Day. Every day since becoming a Mummy has been special, however, it is lovely to be appreciated and treated a little extra special on Mothers Day.

Below is what I got from Charlotte.

I absolutely adore my gift and card. Here is Little Miss and me on Mothers Day, it's the best we could manage all day, an active toddler doesn't have time in her busy schedule to fit in a photo!

Hope you all had an amazing Mothers Day.

Review: Flavourly Box March 2014

I came across the Flavourly Box when browsing on Groupon it was on offer for £4 for the box plus £2 postage. Normal selling price is £13 with £2 postage.  Flavourly states that it is the 'easiest way to discover new and exciting fine foods, snacks and delicious craft beer at an affordable price'. 

From the dispatch email being sent to me the box was delivered within two days which is always good. The box is shoebox sized and comes neatly packaged with brown paper and just like the beauty boxes you get a few leaflets. The first is a meet the makers which tells you all about the products inside. A recipe card and offers for Hello Fresh and Simply Cook which will be getting used.

Below is what I received. 

As you can tell it's a pretty full box and everything in it I had never tried before, in fact, the only brand I had heard of was Beyond Dark.

Overall, I was impressed with this box so far I have enjoyed the Beyond Dark chocolate and Hectares Sweet potato crisps. My little girl enjoyed the air dried apple crisps.  I loved that all were brands from the UK and that there was a selection of sweet and savoury snacks as well as items to make a main meal.

As with any subscription box there are going to be items you either don't like or aren't keen on. I hate olives, no matter how hard I try to like them I just don't, however, these were gratefully received by my Mum. I would have also like prices of the items to be included in the meet the makers leaflet.

Family Day Out: Blue Planet Aqaurium

We visited Blue Planet Aquarium in Ellesmere Port for a family day out, with the weather being rubbish and Charlotte's aversion to her pushchair something indoors was needed. Jonathan and me visited here around 6 years ago and really enjoyed it.

Entry is £16, however, if you book online you can save £2 per ticket. At the time we went the Voucher cloud app had a 20% voucher. An added cost that I didn't expect was parking, there is plenty of car parking on site and it costs £2.50, which when you are paying up to £16 per adult to get in is a little cheeky!

There are plenty of sea life to see at the aquarium which is split into the following areas; Coral Cave; Amazing Amphibians, Aquatheatre; Underwater Aquatunnel; Amazon; Lake Malawi; Mangrove Swamp; Rock Life; Freshwater Life; Reef Magic; Venom and Outdoor Otter enclosure.

As always Sharks are always impressive to watch swimming around and even more amazing when you can see them swim above you as you walk through the aquatunnel. Seeing a Clown Fish is always a highlight and looking into Coral Cave from above was also an amazing sight. We walked around twice and liked the fact that you are able to do this, it was also nice to see the Otters being fed. There is a playground which can further lengthen your visit if it's not raining and a well stocked gift shop.

Even with my moan about the cost Blue Planet Aquarium is a really good family day out. Charlotte is 17 months old and loved looking at all the fishes and if she could speak her only complaint would be being stopped putting her hand in the water and being made to be sat in the highchair when having dinner.  So, if you are in need of a place to go in the North West I highly recommend going to Blue Planet it is much better than the one at The Trafford Centre and with Cheshire Oaks next door you can round your day off with a bit of shopping.