Mud Cakes and Wine

This week is a little crazy in the Mud, Cakes and Wine household. ATM has been invited to a trial for a gymnastic club, I was rather proud and then I discovered half the class have been selected. But it is an hour and a half after school. I am dreading it with the toddler and the eldest having to hang around for the whole time.  Friday - Fish, Chips and Peas Saturday - Fajitas for Mr MC&W and Homemade macaroni and cheese for the boys Sunday - Slow cooked lamb shanks with roast potatoes, orange juice carrots and green veggies Monday - Mary Berry Tuna Salad and the boys will be having tinned spaghetti on toast. It is the trial day. Tuesday - Chilli in the slow cooker Wednesday - Ham Cobbler Ham and leek cobbler Thursday - Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Broccoli with garlic bread

The eldest two are at school and the toddler is safely tucked up in bed for his nap. The sun is trying to peak through the clouds and I need to get outside into the garden. Type 1 is ruling our lives at the moment, OBs blood sugars are crashing every night. This means he is having a very dangerous hypo, if missed he could fall into a coma and never wake up. We have a Dexcom, this continuously monitors his blood sugar levels and sounds an alarm   when he is about to hypo. It has now been over two weeks this has been happening and we are exhausted. We wake to an alarm, that you never know when it will go off, feed him apple juice and then, in theory, go back to sleep. But you are awake and worried, sleep is light and combined with constant waking up to check his levels. We are working with our amazing hospital team and think we have identified why this is happening. We are reducing his long-lasting insulin but each decrease takes a week to take effect.  With all this going...

Wow how did we get to half term already? We are having a very peaceful holiday as next term is always so crazy.  The food this week seems to have a theme of me not wanting to start winter quite yet. Friday - Pizza and Salad for Mr MC&W and myself. It will be a brought pizza and time to chill out after a busy week. The boys had fish and chips at school so its a picnic dinner for them. Saturday - Pizza for the boys and for us a Cannelloni (brought in) Sunday - Mr MC&W is playing a spot of golf and we have friends over so its a simple dish of hidggy pies with new potatoes and coleslaw. The boys are having chicken pies with mash and peas Monday - Roast chicken, Peppers and feta - though I will be using chicken breasts not a whole chicken. Boys will have chicken curry Roast chicken with peppers and feta   Tuesday - Halloumi and Flatbreads. The boys will have pinwheels Halloumi flatbreads Pizza puff pinwheels Wednesday - Take out treat. The boys will have...

I came up with what I thought was a brilliant and simple idea. To plant snowdrops and bluebells under the  LolliPop Trees Elaeagnus ebbingei and  Viburnum Tinus  trees. It would look beautiful in the cold winter months, white snowdrops peaking up in late January and as we begin to enter spring the bluebells would then come into flower. We have the perfect woodland setting and I felt the Snowdrops and Bluebells would compliment the trees. As I like to think about nature, I chose the snowdrops hoping it would provide any early bees with much needed flowers in the hard late winter and early spring. I ordered some English Bluebells and single flower Snowdrop bulbs from J Parkers, 75 of each. I could do with more but they do naturalize, so in theory we should get more every year. This is enough to start with and the bank balance had to be considered. There I was all excited and ready to plant, as I attempted to get the bulb planter into the ground the reality o...

October is flying by at the moment, last week it was ATM birthday and this week it is Mr MC&W birthday.  We have another family get together on Sunday. School next week is rather crazy I had to get organised. Friday - Charlie Bigham - Sweet and Sour Chicken. It has been a long week and needed an easy put in the oven and feet up meal. Boys had fish and chips at school so picnic dinner for them. Saturday - Is Mr MC&W birthday so it is his favourite meal - steak, chips, mushrooms and peas covered in a peppercorn sauce. Boys are having pinwheel pizza Sunday - Charlie Bigham again, our feeling was that I should not be in the kitchen cooking the whole time. Mr MC&W decided upon Beef Stroganoff, followed by cheese and biscuits Monday - Ham and Potato Hash Ham potato hash baked beans healthy fried eggs Tuesday - Sticky Chinese Chicken Traybake Sticky-chinese chicken traybake Wednesday- Lingune and Tuna Sauce Linguine with tuna sauce Thursday - Saucy Roast Sa...

I can not believe how time has flown past. We have had ATM birthday and it is Mr MC&W birthday next weekend. The meal plans have been a bit of a nightmare and done very last minute. If your wondering about the two squash meals, the school had a farmers market and the boys brought a massive squash for 50p..... Friday 29th September - Pizza - Waitrose do an amazing sour dough one, we will have this with a salad. The boys have fish and chips at school so it's picnic dinner for them Saturday - Treat of a Charlie Bigham Spanish Chicken for us and the boys pizza Sunday - Mushroom risotto, boys have risotto with peas and ham. Monday - Slow cooked sausage casserole with mash Tuesday - Fish Curry - a made up one with lots of coconut milk and curry powder Wednesday- Gnocchi bake Gnocchi and tomato bake Thursday - Slow cooked Mexican chicken Mexican chicken stew Friday 6th October - Four cheese tortellini for the boys. We are having a bacon and mushroom...