Our weekly meal plan! 16th - 22nd March!! #MealPlanningMonday

How was your weekend? I had a good one. I had quite a busy Saturday despite not really having much on my to-do list. I planted a ton of seeds and they're all now sitting on my kitchen windowsill. I usually complain about the length of our window in the kitchen. It's about 7ft long but it fits in a lot of seed trays, which I am grateful for and it gets all the sun for most of the afternoon. I also stuck the bathroom mats down. A few weeks ago, I got new bathroom mats and they have been slipping around ever since. I got some sticky things offline and now they're not moving. Apparently they do come up easily and are washable, we'll see. Sunday was Mother's Day and I was spoilt rotten. My girls got me some very nice gifts and cards. I really do love my girls. I ordered myself an Indian takeaway as the rest of my family are not that keen and spent the day doing absolutely nothing productive!

Last week's meal plan mostly went well but we ended up having left over pizza on Saturday night so we didn't have the Sage & Onion Pork Stuffing Yorkshire Pudding Wraps. Becky was at work, which I didn't think of and it would have meant making hers just after 6pm so she had time to eat and get ready and then make the rest of ours for when Stu got in from work to eat at about 7pm. I did not want to be in the kitchen for over an hour on Saturday night. It has been bumped to tomorrow so I can cook it all at the same time and we can all eat together!

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Gousto meal - Mushroom Wellington With Onion Gravy And Mash!

This is one of our favourite meals from Gousto which is surprising considering my family are meat lovers. I think the first time we ate this I didn't tell them there was no meat in it. hehehe This plant-based Wellington gives beef a run for its money. Puff pastry is stuffed with mushrooms, sage and walnuts baked and served with mashed potato and covered in caramelised onion gravy.

Tuesday - Gousto meal - Sage & Onion Pork Stuffing Yorkshire Pudding Wrap!

I am so excited about trying this one still, it was bumped from Saturday. The Yorkshire Pudding Wrap is filled with sage and onion stuffing balls, roasted vegetables and spinach, then covered in plenty of onion gravy.

Wednesday - Gousto meal - Indonesian-Style Chicken & Mushroom Rice With Satay Sauce!

This is a new one for us. This Indonesian-style chicken rice is a spicy, nutty, one-pot wonder! Served with a drizzle of spicy satay sauce and a squeeze of fresh lime!

Thursday - Gousto meal - Hearty Sausage & Baked Bean Hotpot With Minty Peas!

Cannellini beans and sausages cooked in a tangy tomato sauce, topped with potato and baked until bubbling. We have had this before but not for a long time. It's a delicious meal and the only time we seem to have minty peas, which is a real shame as we all love them so much! All they are is blanched peas cooked and then when they are drained you add a knob of butter and some chopped mint!

Friday - Chippy tea!

Friday night is a chips shop tea! No cooking, no fuss and the biggest drama is deciding what we fancy.

Saturday - Gousto meal - Lamb Burger With Minty Mayo And Wedges!

A couple of years ago, my family wouldn't eat lamb, not because they didn't like the taste but because they didn't like the idea of eating baby sheep. I've won them round after plenty of lamb meals from Gousto but this is a new one for us. I love the sound of the minty mayo!

Sunday - A help yourself evening!

A help yourself evening is a good idea for a Sunday, especially since I sometimes just want a break from cooking. It's not like my family rely on me to feed them, they are all quite capable of cooking for themselves and I don't even think Becky is here over the weekend as she has plans.

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 8th - 14th March Week 11 of #Project365

Happy Sunday and happy Mother’s Day too! Sending lots of love to every kind of mum out there and a few extra hugs to anyone who can't be with their mum today. Mother’s Day is one of those days filled with a lot of emotions. For some people it’s all flowers and breakfast in bed and for others it can be a sad day full of reflection. I hope whatever the day brings, it is a good one for you!

My weekend has been a quiet one with Becky sleeping for work, Stu at work and Ellie being busy doing her own thing. I think now is the end of the home improvements that we have been doing. I love the new things we have added in the house and all the painting we have done but I feel I need a rest from it and now the weather is warming up I am going to focus more on the garden. With my compost arriving on Thursday and the sun shining, I was keen to get out into the garden yesterday. I gave it a tidy and started with the planting.

Today I am planning on doing very little. I want food and drinks brought to me, I won't be doing any housework and I am also very tempted to order a takeaway tonight. I’m thinking Indian food because it’s something I rarely get. No one else in the house is keen on it, which means it doesn’t get ordered very often. Today feels like the perfect excuse to say its Mother’s Day, so that’s what I'm having!

Now for a photo every day!

67/365 8th March

The first race of the new F1 season happened and Ellie and I ended up playing catch up and watching it later in the day. Of course, we already knew who had won thanks to social media but we watched anyway because half the fun was seeing how everything played out during the race. There's another today, so I am very happy about that!

68/365 9th March

I bought us a little bin that hangs on the outside of the kitchen cupboard. It’s for food waste. With our bin collections changing next month and we’ll need to separate everything properly. I have a feeling this is going to take some getting used to.

69/365 10th March

I got on with painting the fireplace and all the wood around it. The paint went on easily and I managed to keep it where it was supposed to be without decorating the carpet, the walls or myself much. It took 24 hours to dry, which was a pain but it looks fantastic! You can see a photo on my Word of the Week post yesterday.

70/365 11th March

Once all the paint had dried properly, I could start rearranging my shelves. It is one of those jobs that I love doing. My Funko Pop figures ended up getting a new home on one of the shelves. I thought it looked great but the rest of the family were suspicious about them being stacked so high. They think they're all going to fall on their heads but I think they are quite safe.

71/365 12th March

Just a plate full of fish fingers which we had for tea along with home-made chips and baked beans! Sometimes the simple meals are the best ones.

72/365 13th March

I went to my dad's and of course he had a job for me. Take some photos and send them to a man who sells vintage car parts. I had no idea what I was taking photos of apart from that they were something to do with the brakes on his old car. I got my dad sorted and the man was quick to email back saying he has the parts needed. Phew!

73/365 14th March

With my compost arriving and my seeds ready, I got around to doing some planting. My kitchen window is now full of pots and seed trays waiting for something to grow!

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This week my Word of the Week is: Improvements!! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

Over the last month, Stu and I have made a lot of improvements around our home. It all started with him painting the dining room, putting some new shelves up and me getting a new sideboard for the living room. Since then, it has all snowballed, one job has just led to another. The girls keep coming in and look around suspiciously to see what has changed or what has been added to our house.

On Saturday I spent a good few hours putting another little sideboard together. You would think smaller would mean simpler to put together but no! There were so many fiddly bits and the instructions were not great. Well, to my eyes they weren't. Ellie said she had no issues understanding them. It would have been much easier with an electric screwdriver but Stu's wasn't charged and I had no idea how to charge it. I battled on and resulted in a sore hand but a very nice looking sideboard/bookshelf. I felt very pleased with myself for putting it together and getting a bargain. I saw it on the Wilkos website for £42 but actually bought it from Temu for £29.53!

On Monday my new washing basket arrived. I feel like I am getting old because I got excited about a laundry basket. lol The old one was round so this being rectangular seems to fit better into the kitchen. My family complained that it was smaller, they're never happy! It turns out it must be around the same size as they've not been able to fill it yet. hehehe

Another improvement in the house has been the vacuum situation. Our Dyson vacuum cleaners have served us really well over the years. I was actually sent a couple to review back in 2017 and they’ve been absolutely amazing but all good things must come to an end. The upright one wasn’t quite as powerful as it used to be. It still worked but it definitely felt like it was losing a bit of its oomph, so I decided it was time to get a new one. I went with a Russell Hobbs cylinder vacuum. It's not quite as fancy as the Dyson but it does the job! I didn't even realise Russell Hobbs made vacuums but the kitchen appliances we've had from that brand have always been reliable!

Next up came me painting the fireplace and all the wood around it. It was an easy job apart from waiting for the paint to dry! That took way longer than I thought it would. I took a tip from my brother and wore latex gloves, so I wouldn't get paint all over my hands, which in theory is great but I covered my hands before the paint even touched a brush when I was getting the lid off without the gloves on. Oops. I bought 2 tins of the black paint and it turns out I only needed one, so I have decided to sand Ellie's computer desk down and paint it. She is not overjoyed about it but I said at least I will be able to take it outside and it should dry quicker. After that, all the furniture in the living room will match!

When the paint was dry I rearranged all my shelves again. I love all my trinkets, Funko Pop Characters and knick-knacks. I felt like a child again when I used to play with my doll's house, rearranging the furniture. I've said now that nothing will be moved unless I am dusting or until Christmas when I put the decorations up. hehehe

I think the home improvements are done for now. Now it's time to focus on the garden since my compost was delivered. It was much later in the week than I expected, so I haven't got any planting done yet. That might be a job for today!

How has your week been? I hope you have had a good one! I am of course linking up with Anne who blogs at Raisie Bay to join in with her Word of the Week linky!

What I have loved this week! Week 11. #FridayFavourites

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a good week whatever you’ve been up to. Mine has been a bit of a mixed bag of random little things, good food, funny moments and the usual family fun. As always, I’m linking up with Erika and Andrea to share the things that I have loved over the past week.

A weekend of sport!

For someone who isn't a big fan of sport, I sure watched a lot over the weekend. First up was the football and a couple of FA Cup matches. I hadn't planned on watching either but found myself in front of the TV shouting like I was a life-long supporter. I was rooting for Wrexham to beat Chelsea. I'm not a Wrexham supporter but Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) owns the team and I just love the whole underdog story surrounding them. They lost and then Newcastle were playing, which is my family’s team. I was feeling hopeful at first but they lost too. Ugh! It was not a good day for football. Sunday was all about catching up with Formula 1 and there was no disappointment as I don't have a favourite yet. I like about 10 of the drivers but I don't mind who wins. We had to wait until the afternoon to watch the replay as it was live too early in the morning from Australia but it was worth the wait! We then spent the rest of the weekend sending each other TikToks and memes about F1 drivers, funny race moments and random clips from interviews. I love it!

A dinosaur top!

This was a top I found again when I sorted my wardrobe at the start of the year. I was looking for something else but came across this dinosaur top and decided it needed to be worn straight away! I wore it when I went to visit my dad and it got a reaction. My little nephew absolutely loved it but my dad was not impressed. He looked at me with confusion and said something along the lines of me looking like a children’s TV presenter. Dinosaur tops are not quite his idea of grown-up clothing but I found it hilarious. Life is far too short to only wear serious clothes.

Sherbet Dips!

My eldest daughter Becky is an adult. A full-grown adult with her own money and responsibilities but every now and then she still does things that remind me she still sometimes has the mind of a child. This week she bought a box of 48 Sherbet Dips. She saw them and it unlocked some deep childhood memory and she decided she needed them. The good news is that they tasted exactly like she remembered them. Phew!

A Minecraft Movie!

I finally got around to watching the Minecraft movie this week and it was so much fun. I started watching expecting something silly but I ended up laughing out loud far more than I thought I would. My girls have played Minecraft on and off since they were really young and despite hearing about the game for years, I somehow never properly thought about the name. It only clicked while watching the film. First you mine, then you craft! Minecraft! I felt a bit silly for not realising it sooner.

A weird lunch!

My dad got me onto this and at first I thought he was mad! Tea cakes with marmalade and Wensleydale and cranberry cheese on top. It sounds a weird combo that shouldn't work but it's really good! Wensleydale cheese is something I usually only buy at Christmas but now it seems to be making it onto the shopping list most weeks.

My fella!

He does have the patience of a saint. On Monday his day off work, I felt like such a nag. I kept saying "can you just do this, can you do that? Can you find this and move that. I seemed to be following him around the house adding to his to-do list. I was very needy and had him doing all sorts of random little jobs and he just kept saying yes every single time. If it had been the other way round, I’m pretty sure by early evening I would have snapped and said that’s enough. do it yourself! Most of the things I was asking him to do were jobs he’s much better at than me anyway. Things like changing the shower curtain, finding the sandpaper in the garage, carrying an overfilled basket of clean washing upstairs and hanging some pictures on the wall.

Painting!

Midweek I got around to sanding down the fireplace and giving it a fresh coat of paint. The sanding wasn't too bad, neither was the painting but it took forever to dry. Well, not forever, but around 24 hours, which was longer than I wanted. It was definitely worth the wait though. I think it looks fantastic and it finally matches the rest of the room properly.

Reese's Bunnies!

I love this time of year when all the Easter chocolate appears in the shops and suddenly my willpower disappears. This week I discovered mini Reese’s Bunnies and they might be my new favourite Easter chocolate. I have eaten a couple of bags this week but in my defence, there are only about eight in each bag which really isn’t very many when you think about it. Now I’m on a mission to see if there are bigger bags available somewhere because the small ones don’t last long enough

What have you loved over the past week?