Month: March 2017

Are you like me and sometimes struggle for inspiration for your family meal plans? Life is just so busy and often after all the other things I need to sort putting together a meal that we will all eat that is healthy and filling seems to fall by the way side.

I have sadly done what I said I would never do and always kept fish fingers and chicken nuggets in the freezer and though I try to always have fresh fruit and veg sometimes it feels impossible to plan in advance when exactly I will need and use them.

We like so many other families have to contend with work, school, after school clubs, weekend clubs, birthday parties, homework, reading books, food shopping, clothes shopping, exercise and let’s be honest I could go on. So when you get home sometimes the thought of cooking a meal from scratch can be a bit daunting when all you want to do is chill with your little people.

This week the lovely people from Dolmio challenged us to do just this using a variety of ingredients and showing that you can make a hearty and delicious meal in not too much time at all. We decided to go for a Traditional spaghetti bolognaise using the Dolmio traditional sauce. We added in plenty of vegetables which I would often struggle to get the boys to eat like aubergine and courgettes as well as some of the ones they eat ordinarily like carrots, mushrooms and onions. The good thing about this dish is that you can hide the dreaded veg they turn their noses up at and the yummy flavour disguises them!

The boys helped with stirring the pan and licked the spoon a fair few times! I laid the table and we sat down to eat. This was on a busy Monday evening after we had done the school run and bowling club. The sun was shining as Spring is finally breaking through and we all sat down to a lovely family meal together that had only taken 25 minutes to prepare (that was with the boys ‘help’ slowing us down!

Being outnumbered by boys we get through a lot of food in this house and one jar of Dolmio was enough to feed us all as well as offer enough leftovers for Karl to take some in the next day for his packed lunch. This was using only a regular sized packet of mince and some of one packet of wholemeal spaghetti.

The boys of course ended up with food all over their faces and covering much of the table but they were happy and full. I often feel guilty when it’s been a busy day and we end up eating freezer food as it seems the simpler option however it is possible to have a home cooked meal with minimal prep and cooking.

Now I am not for one second suggesting I am some kind of domestic goddess (if you could see the mess in the kitchen now as I type you would gasp!) But I would like to be able to have some simple meals that I can easily cook on my own if Karl is working or we can cook together when he is here. I do cook spaghetti bolognaise but I had forgotten how much easier it is using a sauce like Dolmio.

This post is an entry for the #Dolmio #ThankGoodness Challenge, sponsored by Dolmio. To find out more click here.

Hey all, happy Saturday evening to you.

Today was one of those days where I made loose plans as you never quite know what will happen and thank goodness I did.

Leo who has numerous food allergies the worst one being to cows milk protein had an allergic reaction to something he had eaten. Often we aren’t 100% sure exactly what it is but it leaves him poorly and miserable.

This isn’t anything too much out of the ordinary, we have been dealing with his allergies since he was two weeks old so we know how to deal with them it’s just not ideal when it’s the weekend and you want to meet your friend and her children at a local wildlife park.

Karl had to work later on today so we had the grand idea of me taking Nate out for a bike ride so I could get a nice walk (exercise to burn off cake) in and Karl and Leo would stay at home so Leo could chill and Karl would start cooking an early dinner so we could all eat together before he went to work.

It sounds perfect doesn’t it and I will be honest I was quite excited about some one on one time with Nate as Leo had been having the majority of my attention all day. So he donned his cycle helmet, talked me through his gears and off we went. We are lucky to live near some fab footpaths that are away from the road so we went along one of those that heads up to some woods. 

My only rule was that Nate wasn’t to go so far that we couldn’t see each other but luckily as the path is straight and quite wide I could see him easily. We came to a big hill and Nate was so chuffed with himself peddling all the way to the top without needing to get off his bike and push.

I noted some lovely cream coloured blossom on one of the trees and thought for a moment about stopping to take a snap but decided it would be best for the return journey so hopped along after Nate until we came to the bottom of another even bigger hill.

Now this hill I know well as I run up it (when my only exercise isn’t chopping said cake up!) Nate wisely decided to push the bike up the hill half way and then that he would come down on the bike and I should film him on my phone to show Daddy and Leo. 

We communicated by shouting and he announced so loudly that the birds flew out of the trees, ‘I’m Coming, start recording!’ So I did as any mother would and excitedly filmed him shrieking with excitement and with a huge smile on his face as he came down the hill. 

I reminded him to use his brakes as loudly as I could just incase he forgot but then chastised myself as an overprotective mother as he knows the hill and has been down it before so why would he forget?

Well can you guess? He forgot, the bike wobbled and I filmed my eldest son, my gorgeous boy crashing his bike in a cloud of dust. 

I sprinted to him as he wasn’t far ahead of me and found that the bike had fallen on top of him. He was covered in mud and crying his eyes out as you can imagine. I was quite concerned about his knee which on examination looked swollen and already bruised but he was more concerned about a nasty scrape on his arm. 

I did all the first aid stuff and made sure nothing was broken (thank goodness as on a footpath in the middle of the woods I have no idea how an ambulance would have got to us!) I then had the dilemma of being a good mile away from home with a heavy bike, an inconsolable Nate and hills to combat. 

Nate wanted an ambulance and for a good five minutes all he said was ‘A and E’ and then when I explained that an ambulance wouldn’t get to us he said ‘get the emergency helicopter then’!

I got him to sit on the bike and pulled him along, at one point my cardigan got stuck in the ‘engine’ bit of the bike (yes I hear you, I’m an idiot!) and had to try and untangle myself with Nate still on the bike and holding one of my arms.

I called Karl who confirmed what I knew that I needed to get him home and that he couldn’t get to me any quicker. I later found out that actually Leo was having a tantrum anyway so poor Karl was dealing with that! 

By the time we had gone the mile or so back to the end of the footpath I was dripping in sweat, I could feel the muscles at the top of my arm swelling and my back felt like it would give in. I decided that the best thing to do would be to leave Nate on one side of the road so I could cross with the bike and put it on our driveway and then run back to carry Nate across. He would be in my sight the whole time and I didn’t want to make him walk anymore. One because I didn’t want him to be in pain and two because he sounded like a wounded animal and was getting increasingly louder and I imagined our neighbours would panic. 

So I calmly explained my plan to him and went to get ready to cross the road when he said, ‘I can’t stand here on my own! I could be kidnapped’! I then heard laughter from a lady who was gardening her flower beds in the garden just next to us. I imagine she like me was imagining the millions of times I have said just those words to Nate when he has asked to go off and do something on his own.

So we get home to survey the damage and bless him he has some awful scratches and bruises and feels very sorry for himself. He was put onto the sofa in his pyjamas and we cuddled and then Nana came round for some added TLC.

You can imagine how shitty a mother I felt, being the bloody idiot who filmed her son crashing his bike and then had to somehow get him home. Karl assured me though that for a boy this is one of life’s valuable lessons and he did something similar crashing a bike into a fence at Nates age. 

I know that as parents we can’t wrap our children up in cotton wool but the guilt I felt and the feeling of my heart being in my mouth that my baby had hurt himself was truly awful. Next time I take him out he will be wearing much more padding and I imagine I will stick to a flatter path.

I’m not for a second suggesting that any of this was funny in anyway however it was only when we got home and had calmed down that I went through what Nate had been saying in my head and couldn’t help but giggle to myself. I have two amazing, bright, excitable and occasionally challenging little boys and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Is this is a good time to say I failed my cycling proficiency test at primary school?!