Posted on 2 Comments

Roasted Stuffed Peppers with ONION, MUSHROOM AND CHEDDAR CHEESE, SERVED WITH QUAILS EGGS AND SALAD

Filling peppers is a very cheap and tasty way to fill bellies.  There is no limit to the amount of combinations that can be filled and roasted.  Add some lovely side salad and eggs, and the plate looks lovely.

Roasted Stuffed Peppers – Onion, Mushroom and Cheddar Cheese, Served with Quails Eggs and Salad

Lesley Smith
4 from 1 vote
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Mains, Starter
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 6 Whole Peppers Red, Green or Yellow (can be mixed)
  • 500 g Mushrooms Chopped
  • 2 Large Onions Chopped
  • 250 g Cheese Grated
  • 12 Quails Eggs
  • Salad
  • Salt & Pepper
  • 3 tablespoons Olive Oil

Instructions
 

  • Put your oven on to pre-heat at approximately 180 C.
  • Slice the top of your peppers and put it to one side. I had to take slivers off the bottom of mine to make them stand up, otherwise they just toppled over. If you buy your peppers loose, you can look for the perfect peppers to do this with. Hollow out the peppers and remove the seeds.
  • Fill the peppers with grated cheese, pop the lids back on and place them on a baking tray. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the top, and drizzle olive oil over the top of the peppers.

  • Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until the peppers are soft.
  • Lightly fry the mushrooms and onions in a frying pan and put the Quails eggs on to boil. 4 minutes in boiling water only.
  • When the peppers are cooked, place them on a bed of lettuce or salad leaves. Take off the top and fill with the onions and mushrooms, add sliced quails eggs and serve.

How to cook quail eggs.

Stuffed Peppers2

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Review: Lego Star Wars – The Empire Strikes Out

Thanks to Twentieth Century Fox for this Special Edition review copy of Lego Star Wars -The Empire Strikes Out. 

Darth Vader LEGO® mini figure unleashes the dark side around London and its landmarks inspired by the DVD, LEGO® Star Wars™The Empire Strikes Out. (OUT now to buy)

Child Group Shot i-jgKtWF7-L

Darth Vader has certainly been getting around London recently, but he also managed a sneak up to Aberdeen for the Scottish Mum household.

Littlest was most happy with the lego minfigure on the front of the review box, and has been very patient waiting for the time that it could be opened and let him finally get his hands on the exclusive and collectible Darth Vader LEGO minifigure for his own Lego Collection.

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It’s a 21-minute special feature with familiar territory and a completely new story for the LEGO Star Wars characters.

All the favourite characters are there and this story is actually good for us adults to watch too.  I’ve often found myself engrossed with the kids and some LEGO products.

HOLD ON TO YOUR BRICKS….FOR AN ALL-NEW ANIMATED ADVENTURE!

Your favourite characters are back to save the galaxy in LEGO® Star Wars®: The Empire Strikes Out™. The heroes of the Rebel Alliance including heroic Luke Skywalker, swaggering Han Solo and steadfast Princess Leia have no time to celebrate their victory over the Empire as a new Imperial threat arises. But as Jedi-in training Luke embarks on this next mission, he discovers that his celebrity status as a “Death-Star-Blower-Upper” can be a double-edged lightsaber when he’s constantly mobbed by crazed fans. So much for secret missions! Meanwhile, Darth Vader and Darth Maul are locked in a hilarious “Sith-ling” rivalry as they compete for the Emperor’s approval. It’s an action-packed comic adventure that’s out of this world!

What did the kids think?

“Mental, it’s brill.”

“Can we watch it again at bedtime?”  (success any time)

Mini Darth at Big Ben

Lego Star Wars DVD Launch, London, Britain - 14 Mar 2013

 TM & © 2013 Lucasfilm Ltd/Lego, The Lego Logo, the Brick and Knob Configurations, the Minifigures are trademarks of The Lego Group. ©2005-2013 The Lego Group. All Rights Reserved.

 

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Facebook Fears

Facebook

“It’s where we talk to our families, isn’t it?”

Yes, and no.

Although Facebook is one of the most popular social networks in the world, to use it effectively as a business requires a little bit of time and investment in a Facebook business page to stand out from the crowd.  The benefit of a page is that there are no other users posts to trawl through to get to your favourite followers or customers.

What you do have to do, is make sure that your information is going to be interesting and relevant to the people reading it, or they may very well “unlike” your page again and disappear from view forever.

Facebook does take a little hard work and planning, but the biggest problem we face with it, is information overload.

While we’d all love to sit and chat over a cup of tea and a coffee, and find out about Auntie Jeannie, business needs to use the time spent on Facebook wisely.

Using it wisely really means factoring in some time in the day where you can really spend some quality time deciding how you are going to approach Facebook, and how it fits into your marketing plan.

It’s pointless sitting and spending 4 hours a day talking on Facebook, to people from London and further afield if you sell socks on a market stall in Aberdeen City Centre and don’t plan to ever go online.    That’s an extreme example for sure, but unless you want to get to the end of the day with no pennies in your pocket but plenty of gossip under your belt, you get the gist of the idea.

There are success stories galore on Facebook.

  • The Pampered Chef has built themselves a very nice reputation with nearly 450,000 likes.
  • Appliances Online with over 300,000 likes, holds competitions, giveaways and very popular web camera chats with customers.
  • As a store, Toys R Us are a favourite dislike of mine due to a bad customer service experience, but they can’t be faulted on their use of Facebook, with nearly 3 million fans, regular interaction, competition, and even with it’s own blogging circle of parents who repeatedly advertise their company through blogging about their toys as Toyologists.
While we’d all like to end up as Richard Bransonesque successful, small start-ups can’t be guaranteed that kind of success, but we can begin to think about where our target markets are and how we can reach them.  If that includes Facebook, then planning our approach would be a good place to start.

Facebook is the one social media that I just can’t seem to find much time for.  I have a blog account and I have a personal account that really only has close family and adoption contacts on it.  I’d love to find the time to do more on it, but if the time fairies could send me some extra seconds in a day, I’d be forever grateful.

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Budget Versus Quality Food

Just by choosing to eat some cheap ingredients, it doesn’t mean that we have to eat tasteless and horribly boring food. Cheap ingredients mixed with slightly more expensive ones can make us some fantastically wonderful meal options if they are combined in the right proportions.

oatcakesprep

As a family, we tend to eat much of the same things quite often, with the differences being how it is cooked and what accompanies the meal.  Eating good food on a budget can be done if we shop around.

The cheapest ingredients we tend to think of are things like:

  • Pasta
  • Pulses
  • Grains
  • Eggs
  • Breads

bread1

Food can become tiresome to make when we’re short of ingredients, but more experienced cooks (and mums) tend to know that tasty food doesn’t stop with the actual ingredients.

So, what can we do to make it better?

Expensive Ingredients

Reuse

Using what’s left from a Sunday roast to make food for other days is the easiest way to spin out expensive meat enough to last for a few days.   Leftovers need to be put in the fridge as soon as possible after they are cooked to keep them at a safe temperature.

Cooking Methods

Buy cheaper cuts of good quality meat and cook it slowly.  Cuts such as pork belly and stewing steak will give great food for everyone when they are slow cooked.  Be warned that the taste and smell as your food cooks may well convert you forever.

Additives

  • Make your own burgers and mince with steak bought from a good butcher.
  • Mix oatmeal and vegetables with your meat to make it last longer.  It’s not just meatloaf that you can add things to.

Local Produce 

Eat local, eat seasonal.  If it’s in season, there will be more of it, and it will taste better.  Strawberries in January look fabulous, but the ones I buy tend to taste like raw neeps.

If you can get hold of an abundance of in season fruit and veg, make jams, chutneys and sauces for the rest of the year.

Wild Berries

At the bottom of our street, wild blackberries grow in bushes.  There used to be a few women who went and picked them every year, although I see them less and less.  A good tip is to pick from above waist height, as anything lower could well have been sprinkled on by the local dogs.

Raspberries570

Grains

As a family we find this hard to do.  We all like rice, but quinoa, bulgar wheat, cous cous and others don’t seem to go down well here.  I would wish that my family would eat more of them, but they rarely do.  I’ve given up with this family of foods as it wastes money buying it not to be eaten, but it is a very real and cheap addition to food.

Breadmaking

I love fresh bread and so do the family.  I bought a cheap breadmaker that was a disaster, but it made me realise that bread is really achievable.  I splashed out on a Panasonic a few years ago and have never looked back.  Pizza bases, softies for sandwiches, full loaves and more get made in mine.  Over the years, we’ve saved a fortune in buying bread.

breadmaker

 

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Fresh Mussels in a Sherry and Shallot Broth

HHH Logo

I grew up with fish from an early age as I lived in a fishing community.  Up until my own parents generation, all my ancestors were into food farming of one kind or another.  On my grandmothers side, it was fishing and on my grandfathers side it was farming, although he left the industry as a second son who inherited nothing on his own fathers death.

My ancestors had 4 fishing boats as a family at one time, but the great storm in 1881 took most of them.  Three generations of family men were lost in one day and I believe the youngest was 15.  In those days, there were no insurance policies, so everything was instantly gone.  As the eldest of the surviving children, my great grandfather had to go to sea at nine years old to earn enough money to feed the children left alive.

Fish is what the industry survivors passed down to the bereaved families to keep them alive.  The traditions spread down the generations until it got to us.  Eating it all their lives left my mother and grandmother as complete fish fans and we were never very far away from a fish pie, fish cake or fish in ruskoline.  I don’t have much in the way of memories for shellfish and I’ve not been one for giving that sort of fish a try, but that is all about to change.

Fish is the Dish have a new campaign going which set an Edinburgh family the challenge of eating fish twice a week to help transform the way the family look and feel for the long term.   Over on the Fish is the Dish website, they have been releasing new tips, recipes and advice from their three Healthy Happy Heart Experts.

Anyone can take on the challenge and you can register on their website to join in.  As an incentive to help 6 lucky readers along, Fish is the Dish have added a fabulous competition to their Facebook page, with 6 fishy family hampers on offer to help get started.

Mussels 1

The Healthy Happy Hearts Campaign runs for a 6 weeks spell to introduce families into eating more fish, more regularly.   I agreed to be up to the challenge of eating two portions of fish a week with my family for 6 weeks.  Fish is the Dish sent us enough fish for the whole family to eat two portions of fish a week for 6 weeks.  We needed to eat the Mussels quickly, so they are our first recipe.

The fish we have to make incredible dishes includes haddock, cod, scallops, prawns, fish pie pieces, pollock, salmon, swordfish and more.

Fish helps us with our health by providing us with marine Omega-3 fatty acids that are good for us.  With an FAS child living here, the association with brain development could be an interesting one and I’d just be happy with reduced joint pain.   Ironically, given our family history, fish is probably the one food that our family has not eaten enough of over the last few years.

I had no idea how to cook Mussels, so I had to look up how to prepare them for the pot.  Most of the Mussels will be beard free when they arrive, but if there are any traces, you need to scrape them off.  I used the back of a knife to get the last wee bits off.

Mussels in Sherry & Shallot Broth

Lesley Smith
I didn't know how to cook Mussels, but as long as we stick to the steaming, it seems we can cook them in just about anything we want to.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Mains
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 1 kg Live Mussels
  • 4 Shallots Chopped
  • 1 Clove of Garlic Chopped
  • 1 tablespoon Butter
  • 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 200 ml Sherry
  • 1 Lemon Juice Squeezed
  • Salt and Pepper To Taste
  • 200 ml Water
  • 2 teaspoons Chopped Parsley

Instructions
 

  • Mussels need to be cleaned, rinsed several times and have any traces of beard removed. Most prepared Mussels will be prepared for you just to rinse with perhaps a little beard to remove, but with wild Mussels you need to take a little more care.
  • Tap the shells of any Mussels whose shells are open when you are clearning. If there are any Mussels with open or broken shells left, remove them and bin. I only had to discard 3 Mussels out of my bag. Mussels must be cooked live, so they need to be fresh.
  • Use a large pan, add the olive oil, butter, shallots and garlic. Shallow cook until the shallots are soft and then add the water, sherry, parsley, lemon juice and a touch of salt and pepper. Simmer for a minute while stirring.
  • Add the live Mussels to the pot and steam them for 5 - 10 minutes. Mussels don't take long to cook. Shake the pan a couple of times while cooking to move the broth and the Mussels around. When the shells open, the Mussels are ready.
  • Remove any unopened Mussels and serve them in a dish with their broth and some bread.

The easiest way to eat them is to take one Mussel out of a shell and use it like a pincer to pull the next ones out of their shells and eat them.  Eldest tucked in, as did the Scottish Mum Grannie.

Mussels 2

Mussels 3

 

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Sponsored Posts & Reviews Using Free WordPress Blogs – Not Allowed

I was asked  a question today so I thought I should look up the answer quickly.  It was a simple one and as I’ve never used the free blogging platforms, it’s not one that I had paid any attention to in the past.   All she wanted to know was if it was within WordPress.com Terms and Conditions that she could accept sponsored posts on a blog.

I know there are plenty of people out there who have taken the risk of using freebie blog hosts to take compensation in goods, services or cash for the written word on the blog, but I didn’t know the actual rules for or against.

Checking against WordPress.com TOS, it seems that it is forbidden to actually take any form of paid posts in sidebars, posts or anywhere else.   Looking deeper in, it seems that people who do flout the rules have the potential to have their blog pulled out from under them at no notice.

I am quite surprised at the complete ban on using blogs in this way, but I’d guess it would be so that they are not responsible as a company for being associated with anything advertised on blogs within their network.   It looks like Google Blogger allows sponsored posts and reviews as long as they don’t breach the content policy, but everyone should check that out for themselves.

The WordPress Terms and Conditions on Advertising clearly say that sponsored posts on WordPress . com, (or paid posts) are NOT allowed.  Moderators on their forums have cleared up that payment via goods or services, eg by doing reviews are also part of the prohibition although that doesn’t seem clear in the Advertising Terms and Conditions.

So, pretty much, a lot of parent blogs accepting freebies on the free blog software are doing so against the Terms and Conditions of the hosting companies.

I think I’m glad I took my blog down the self-hosted route when I changed the name to Scottish Mum.  At least I don’t have to worry about my blog disappearing if I upset someone and they report my blog.

In answer to the question I was asked, we’ve shelved the free WordPress option and I’m in the middle of setting my friend up as self-hosted blog.

Being on a free platform might be nice, but the risk is too great for her and we found a great little host that supports the self hosted version of WordPress and will allow sponsored content from the start.  She gets webspace, and WordPress support with her own domain name for about £16 a year.  It’s not an advert for them so I’m not going to post their name here, but if anyone wants to know it – send me a message as it’s been very reliable for my husbands work website.

To be clear, these types of posts are NOT allowed on the FREE WordPress blogging software option.

  1. Ad – Sense Ads Unless Placed by WordPress themselves.
  2. Sponsored or paid posts.
  3. Affiliate or referral links.
  4. Clickthroughs or MLM networking.
  5. Sponsored Content. (I presume this means reviews where a product is the payment)

If you are in any doubt, contact WordPress support to see where you stand.

Post amended after comments on Twitter about Google Blogger allowing sponsored content.

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Frugal Tips For Any Scottish Family

I’ve always spent time with the kids making sure they salt a few pennies away for when they’re older, and I think it’s something that we do tend to do when we have kids.  My kids have their wee bank accounts that we opened 7 years ago and they put half of any birthday and Christmas money they receive into it to hopefully make them a bit sensible with money.

I try to get my kids to see the value in things and to live as frugally as we can.  I don’t think it is sensible to waste money, nor to let our kids think that money is so easy to get, it doesn’t actually mean anything.  I’m not advocating living in a shoe box and going back to nature with vegetable plots and chickens in the garden (though I would dearly love to have chickens in the garden.)

Here are my top 5 tips for being sensible and not wasting money.

Shopping Basket

1. Look At Your Shopping Trolley & Take OUT What You Don’t NEED

Living frugally starts with shopping.  As a family, when we go out with the kids, I tend to find myself at the checkout with lots of things in the trolley that I didn’t put there.  It may be wishful thinking on the part of the kids, but I’ve now got into the habit of checking my trolley every aisle to see what we don’t actually need.   I do often find myself getting to the checkout and almost scared at what the bill will be, but I am much better at actually saying no, I don’t want something after all and putting it back.  I don’t do it with fridge or freezer stuff, but clothes, household stuff and the kids drop-ins are great for excluding at the checkout.

2. Shopping Again – Bulk Packs And Freebies Don’t Always Add Up To Savings

We get vouchers through from our supermarkets, but do we really need or want what they’re for.  A jumbo roll of toilet rolls may look a snip at £2 off, but if that brand is £3 dearer than the one you usually buy, what’s the point.  If the voucher is for something you need, go for it, but otherwise, let it go.   Similarly, the special “deals” for multi packs can sometimes be more expensive than the items bought individually.  Look at the amount of product you get with the special deal and work out the actual cost to you.  I never used to do this, and I’ve found huge savings by being a bit more vigilant about what I put into my trolley.

3. Do We Need Throwaway Goods?

This is the hardest one for us as we struggle with buying light.  There are 6 of us and 4 animals at home, and we do need to make an effort to actually use less packaging, products and recycling. In the caravan, I used to use paper plates for ease, but replaced those with cheap plastic ones we can wash.  We no longer use paper towels often in the kitchen and I keep plenty old dish cloths in reserve that can all go in the washing machine with the regular cloths.  I’ve not found a replacement for toilet paper, but if there was one, I’d be happy to get rid of the rolls and rolls of the stuff we go through.

4. Set A Budget For A Month And Stick To It

I tried this in December and I found it really difficult to do, but it was a start on the money-saving exercises I am determined to get on top of.  I set us a budget per week for clothes, incidentals and entertainment.  Christmas was on a separate budget so not included in the lists.   The kids had no budget of their own and had to get anything they wanted out of the family one.  I found that we all had to sit back and really ask ourselves if we really wanted what we were looking for in the shops and online.  We decided to sit on something for a few days if we thought we wanted it.  The boys wanted a comic, but we agreed to sit on it, and after a few days, they were glad they hadn’t, as there wouldn’t have been enough left in the budget to go to McDonald’s.  It was tough, and I’d hate to be so strict all the time, but it was a good experience.

5. Making Our Money Work For Us

Although I’ve set up accounts for the kids, as a family, we’ve not really done our bit in making sure we get the most out of what we’re entitled to.  My bank is the Halifax and browsing through my accounts last week, I saw a cash isa from Halifax option in my list.  I decided to take a peek and see what it was all about as I’ve never actually been too sure about how an ISA works, or even if we should have one.  I’ve always known it’s a tax-free account and my mother has often told me that we are losing out by not having one.   I was happy to see that one can be started with just £1, so it is well within our budget to actually contribute.  It’s always nice to have something that helps us say no to the tax man and it’s certainly made me decide to take my money more seriously.
Halifax Bank Logo

 

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50 Things To Do Before you’re 11 ¾ – Easter is Coming

What’s 50 Things about?  The National Trust aims to get our pampered and cosseted kids out in the great outdoors.  We all know how important it is to get our kids outdoors but too many kids are still sitting inside when they could be out and about doing what kids should be doing.

When my kids were little, if there was any shouting in the house, the dog used to jump up and down, run herself ragged and race for her lead.  She had been conditioned to know that if the kids were playing up, we’d be heading outside for walkies or to the local park.

With the Easter Holidays coming up, we should maybe get our kids away from the front of their screens and outside to play more.

If it’s true that kids don’t get to go outside because their mums and dads won’t allow it, that’s sad.  Our worry about stranger danger shouldn’t stop our kids getting outside.  If you don’t want them to do it alone, go with them.  Think what fun you could have too.  Kids can join the website and get involved in the fun online.  That’s the best of both worlds.

family

It can be hard to get going if you’re not the outdoors type, so the National Trust set up 50 Things to do before you’re 11 ¾.

We’ve done a fair few as we are tin tenting fans, so I’ve marked up the ones we still have to do in red.   Camping in the wild isn’t terribly safe these days, so I suspect that is one we’ll never manage.

How many do your kids still have to do?

1. Climb a tree

2. Roll down a really big hill

outdoorkids3

3. Camp out in the wild – I guess our garden or a campsite just doesn’t count for this.

4. Build a den

5. Skim a stone

Country Kids Stone Skimming

6. Run around in the rain  

7. Fly a kite

 8. Catch a fish with a net – hoping a tiddler covers it.

 9. Eat an apple straight from a tree

 10. Play conkers

11. Throw some snow

12. Hunt for treasure on the beach

outdoorkids1

13. Make a mud pie

14. Dam a stream

15. Go sledging

16. Bury someone in the sand

17. Set up a snail race

18. Balance on a fallen tree

19. Swing on a rope swing

20. Make a mud slide

21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild

22. Take a look inside a tree

23. Visit an island

24. Feel like you’re flying in the wind

25. Make a grass trumpet

26. Hunt for fossils and bones

27. Watch the sun wake up

28. Climb a huge hill – hoping Bennachie counts for the kids.  I’ve done Lochnagar about 10 times.

 29. Get behind a waterfall

30. Feed a bird from your hand

31. Hunt for bugs

32. Find some frogspawn

outdoorkids4

33. Catch a butterfly in a net

34. Track Wild Animals

35. Discover what’s in a pond

36. Call an owl  (They live in the woods outside our house so this was easy)

outdoorkids2

37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool

38. Bring up a butterfly (I’m not sure what this actually means)

39. Catch a crab

40. Go on a nature walk at night

41. Plant it, grow it, eat it

gardening4

42. Go wild swimming

43. Go rafting

44. Light a fire without matches

45. Find your way with a map and a compass

46. Try bouldering

47. Cook on a campfire (unless a barbecue counts)

48. Try abseiling

49. Find a geocache

50. Canoe down a river – I don’t think a boating lake would count.

Posted on 6 Comments

Review: Argo from Warner Bros.

Thanks to Warner Bros. for the review copy of Argo.  It’s fabulous viewing if you like this sort of thing and I do.

Argo4

This movie gives a whole new meaning to the great escape stories of post war times.  Without giving away too many details that might spoil it for you, it’s set in Iran from 1979 onwards.   It’s a topic that has memories for me as I remember the news about the Embassy Attack.   It’s not the fastest moving movie off the block, but it certainly has been popular on the awards circuit due to the atmosphere and tie to real events, even if the story has a fictional element to it.

Despite that, it won plenty Oscar success, although denying the director and main actor, Ben Affleck a nomination.  He plays Tony Mendez who masterminds the process of rescuing 6 Americans who are hidden in the Canadian Embassy after fleeing from the attacked American one.

Argo1

There is a fair bit of poetic license to the story as I believe the Canadians played a very big part in the rescue in real life, but it’s an American blockbuster and has a movie plot line that was a surprise to me.   The mad scheme is to get the Americans out with fake Canadian passports and posing as film makers who are researching fictitious film “Argo.”  With the help of Hollywood, it seems crazy, but it really did happen.

Most of us over a certain age will know how the story pans out as it’s based on real life events, but if you don’t, the end could be an even more interesting watch.  I don’t think we give enough credit to the people who lay their lives on the line to help others finding themselves in danger.  If films can make a story compelling, then they deserve to be winners.

Argo3

To make the story more interesting, there are undercurrents of family life and personal angst.  It is a great watch, yet I would have liked to know more about the characters of the 6 and a bit more of how Tony Mendez gets on with his own personal life.   I’d have liked it to be a little faster paced, but that’s a personal preference and not something that should affect anyone watching it.

Argo2

It was a great wee watch, and all from the comfort of my armchair.  It also adds to my ever-growing collection of Ultraviolet movies which is a great selling point for me.  It’s 2 hours long so make sure you set aside a good chunk of time to enjoy it

The awards Argo won are:

·         BAFTA Award for Best Film

·         BAFTA Award for Best Direction

·         BAFTA Award for Best Editing

·         Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama

·         Golden Globe Award for Best Director – Motion Picture

·         Academy Award for Best Motion Picture of the Year

·         Academy Award for Best Achievement in Editing

·         Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

At the moment, you can pick it up on Amazon for £10.

Argo 1
Find on Amazon

 

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Fair Trade Banana Milkshake Recipe with added Marshmallow, Maltesers and Strawberries

Littlest came home with the instructions to make a fair trade recipe and have it typed up, cooked at home and to take a photograph to school of them making the said item.  Needless to say I had one night warning, so it was off to the local Co-op to see what they had in stock.

In the end, it boiled down to chocolate, coffee or bananas, so we skipped the coffee and went for strawberries, bananas and maltesers.

Fair Trade Banana Milkshake

Lesley Smith
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Appetizer, Shake, Smoothie
Servings 6 - 8

Ingredients
  

  • 4 Bananas Fair Trade
  • 25 g Brown Sugar Fair Trade
  • Maltesers Fair Trade
  • Milk To make up to 1.5 Litres in Blender
  • Mini Marshmallows
  • 500 g Strawberries

Instructions
 

  • Get all your ingredients together and get a knife and chopping board ready.
  • Peel and chop up your bananas.
  • Add the bananas to the blender and then top up with milk until it reaches the 1.5 litre mark.
  • Crumble in the sugar.
  • Blend for 3 minutes using a hand blender or a machine.
  • Pour into glasses and add in a couple of maltesers and the marshmallows on top.
  • Wash the strawberries and cut in the centre at the bottom to let them hang over the end of the glass to decorate.

 

 

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Review: Bailey & Quinn Leather Purse from Debenhams

Bailey & Quinn PurseA big thank you to Debenhams for sending me the lovely Bailey and Quinn Black Leather “Cumbria” Matinee Purse to review.

My own purse was pretty much worse for wear and was one of my mums old ones that I borrowed to tide me over until I found a new one.

For the last year, I’ve meant to get round to looking for a new one, but it just never happened.

Now that I have this lovely shiny new purse, I am feeling rather annoyed with myself for putting up with one that was falling apart.

My new Cumbria is longer, slimmer and altogether far more stylish than the one I used to hide.  I can take this one out of my bag with pride.

It also comes with that lovely new leather smell that oozes quality and style.

purse2

In the wee tag on the front, there is a little phrase that says.

“She dreams of strawberries and cream in the summer, cashmere in the winter, and a beautiful handbag all year round.”

I think I might aspire to the handbag.

There is a little care sheet in the purse telling us how to look after it, and a little pouch to keep it in if we’re not using it.

It is really rather pretty and just my kind of purse.

To be honest, it could have been made just for me with 12 credit card slots, a large coin pouch and three different areas for separating notes.

I don’t know how they knew to get it so right for me, but they did.

At £39 the purse is a fair price for such quality leather and Debenhams do have other ranges that cater for all price ranges.

purse3

Thank you again Debenhams, this is one lovely purse.

Disclaimer:The purse was provided by Debenhams for review purposes.