Mud Cakes and Wine

You may wonder why I am publishing a winter flower bedding review in mid-August. We got our winter bedding from Thompson and Morgan, they sent an email about them being on special offer, we got  Pansy and Dianthus barbatus (sweet Williams). Due  to my lack of gardening knowledge and the fact I clearly did not read the details on the plants properly, I thought we were getting some bedding plants to provide us with flowers through the cold winter months. Garden ready winter bedding plants We watched them all through the winter do nothing, just sitting there looking sad, then all of a sudden they started to grow. But the snow came, leaving them completely covered, but these are hard plants and did not die, no they grew and grew. I was hoping for flowers maybe early spring but I   just got the tiny signs of buds but still,  nothing happened, then late spring early summer and finally they came alive.  The plants have been amaz...

How did we get to the end of August it seems to have disappeared so fast along with the summer weather. Friday - Maple glazed sausages served in hot dog rolls. The boys will have simple spaghetti as the eldest has been a little poorly. Mapleglazed hot dogs with mustardy onions Saturday - Thai Style Rice  Sunday - Charlie Bigham steak pies (i had these in the freezer after seeing them reduced) with mash and green veggies. The boy will have chicken fingers, waffles and green veggies Monday - Chicken Kiev with new potatoes and salad.  Tomato soup with crusty bread for the boys. Tuesday - Tuna melts. Tuna pasta bake for the boys. Tuna melt potato wedges Wednesday - Ham and Mushroom Frittata. Ham egg and chips for the boys. Ham, mushroom spinach frittata Thursday - Gnocchi with mushrooms and broccoli from Jo Pratts Madhouse Cookbook. This will be for us all.

For the next week or two I have got to really get our food spend a little closer to our budget. I have been buying lots of treats for the boys as it is the holidays and the fact they are eating machines and the weekly shop has been going higher than I would like. So the next two weeks are going to be watching what we are buying and spending Friday - Smoked Mackerel Salad, I use the one below but add beetroot. Fish Fingers, Waffles and peas for the boys. Warm new potato and smoked mackerel salad Saturday - Spag Bol for us all Sunday - French Chicken for Mr MC&W and I the boys will have sausages and jackets French style chicken with peas and bacon Monday - Tortellini Pasta Bake for us all Tortellini with pesto and broccoli Tuesday - Summer courgette risotto for us all Summer courgette risotto Wednesday - Fish, Lentils and Bacon. Fish pie for the boys. Braised peas with bacon lentils and cod Thursday - Bacon and Mushroom Pasta. Cheesy pas...

I was thrilled when Anja from Mud and Bloom said she liked my blog and would love for us to try one of her boxes out. Mud and Bloom is a monthly subscription box sent through the post which contains a gardening activity and nature craft ideas. My blog in the main is about gardening and with three young boys this seemed a perfect product for us to try out. Though I love the garden I can not say the boys share the love, the eldest is into scooting around the garden, the youngest is only 2.5 years old so likes picking flowers and the middle boy shows interest but only for a few moments. This beautiful box arrived and I was surprised at how many ideas were in it. We had seeds to plant and plenty of craft ideas for us to try out.  We all have enjoyed elements of the box which is amazing, having a box that had something that all of the three boys enjoyed was perfect. ATM tried out the seedbombs with me and loved planting the seeds in the little pots of compost provided, what...

As I sit writing this it is like someone has turned the switched for summer off and we have entered autumn. I am so trying to get back into the meal planning routine as doing it so late is making my own life rather stressful. Friday - Posh Fish Finger Sandwiches for us all. Saturday - Sticky Chicken Chinese tray bake for us all. Sticky chinese chicken traybake Sunday - BBQ Monday - Bacon Spaghetti for us all. Super smoky bacon tomato spaghetti Tuesday - Portobello and blue cheese melts for us the boys will have beef burgers. Portobello and blue cheese melts Wednesday - Chicken Tikka skewers for us all. Chicken tikka skewers Thursday - Pizza shop brought for us all.

I am so behind on the meal plans as time seems to be going so fast and before I know it the meal plan is late again Friday - Chicken burgers using birds eye chicken fillets for us all Saturday - Ham, egg and chips - I have got so fed up with the ham that I brought a small piece of gammon and cooked it in coke and it was amazing  Sunday - Chicken roasted on peppers, courgette and red onions - will be writing this one up as it was lovely  Monday - Stuffed courgette from Gino healthy Italian. Carbonara for the boys. Tuesday - Crispy Greek Style Pie. Pizza style stuffed triangles using the filo for the boys Crispy greekstyle pie Wednesday - Chestnut mushroom, fennel pasta - this should have bacon in but we had so much meat on our holiday we decided to have a veggie week. Cheesy pasta for the boys. Chestnut mushroom fennel bacon fusilli Thursday - Jackets, Beans and cheese

I love my garden but sometimes I look and sigh, today is one of those days. We have had a tough time gardening, late frosts followed by constant rain then came the long hot and dry summer, all this combined with three kids including a toddler has led to what follows. T his is the view from the climbers on the far fence at the moment. We have leaves fallen from the lollipop trees due to the heat and lack of rain, the climbers are very slow in growing and we have quite a few dead branches, however the bindweed is growing very well among the climbers and loving the location. This is the border just in front of the lollipop trees, we planted what I mistakenly though was winter flowing bedding, in fact, they have been flowering since late spring but are now starting to go over, adding to the beauty of half dead flowers is the grass doing very well at the bottom of the sleeper. The next area of mess is the new border we created when a new fence was put up. We brought ...