Mud Cakes and Wine

It has been a strange old week but ideal for a six on Saturday post
1. A trip to the frost covered garden centre, the weather was so cold but yet so beautiful and I thought this view was stunning.



2. Then the rain came and our clay soil turned into a series of muddy puddles.



3. Cheeky snowdrops, we have this tiny group snowdrops, I love them so much and just want more, but the last lot did not work so hoping to try again in autumn.


4. Tiny signs of life, this is the rose I pruned the other week. Look you can see small signs of it waking up.



5. Cleaning out the bird boxes, we thought we needed to get the bird boxes ready for spring, when I opened the front and found this nest I nearly cried with delight. It is perfect and shows how we need all the moss and little bits in the garden to help the birds.





6. We took down the kids swing and slide as it was getting dangerous and recycled a lot of the wood as edging. Full blog to follow, but our middle kid loved helping us out

Only one more week till half term we keep repeating to ourselves over and over again. This half term seems never ending and We all need a break.

Food is easy this week and comforting.

Friday - Warm new potato salad with bacon and blue cheese for Mr MC&W and myself. The boys are having Fish fingers, mash and peas

Warm new potato salad with bacon and blue cheese

Saturday - Chili for us all, cooked in the slow cooker

Sunday - Chicken and Red Wine Casserole. I can not make dumplings so its going to be with jackets 

Chicken and red wine casserole with herby dumpling

Monday - Pizza and mixed salad as we have friends round for tea and Mr MC&W and I have not had a pizza in ages

Tuesday - Tuna Pasta Bake - The ultimate comfort food with lots of veggies

Wednesday - Some kind of breaded chicken burger 

Thursday - Its is valentines day so for us that mean a bottle of fizz and a Charlie Bigham meal. The boys will have spaghetti with tomatoes, ham and mozzarella

Not sure where the time has gone last week, we were very busy but I can not really say why.

Friday - Steak and Chips for us as we are having the MIL over. Pizza for the boys.

Saturday - Sticky Chinese Chicken for us all - made this one up and need to write it up as it was quick and easy

Sunday - Spag Bol for us all

Monday - Tomato Soup for the boys. Mr MC&W and I are having this Salmon Dish which is easy but feels healthy

Mustardy Salmon beetroot and lentils

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Butter Chicken Curry for us all

Slow cooker butter chicken

Wednesday - Ham, Egg and Chips for us all

Thursday - Jackets, Beans and Cheese for us all

The weather has suddenly started to feel like winter. Today was cold but at least it was sunny, much easier to wrap up warm and get outside. My problem is my toes, they do hate the cold and despite two pairs of socks I still only managed around half an hour.

Today was the day I pruned (it felt more like attacked) the standard rose, we brought this about two years ago. Mr MC&W fell for bits big pink flowers and it came home with us. Then it was a lovely compact rose full of beautiful flowers.

Last year I did not prune it and to be honest it looked a mess, the branches had grown long and were trailing. When it was windy the whole plant nearly fell over.





This year I was determined to do something about it, I did a few google searches and I watched an excellent video from the Garden Ninja on YouTube. He made it all sound very simple so off I went with my secateurs and enthusiasm.

All I had in my mind was cut to outward facing buds and remove dead wood. So I looked carefully and chopped do…

Wow winter has truly hit us the week and we have been in the words of frozen Cold, Cold, Cold this has not made me want to get out into the garden to be honest but this is what I have noticed

1. Frozen Flowers - these primroses look just stunning covered in frost





2. Wall flowers have so far not done that well, hoping maybe they will do better in the coming months.




3. Autumn flowering bulbs that never flowered. I still have them in pots so think its time they went and we had some flowers in here.







4. What is happening to my violas they have lost all their flowers and are looking very sad, just when we need them looking at their best.





5. The daffodils are coming up but this reminds me how much I need to sort this area out as they are not very bee friendly








6. Broken bird feeder needs to be replaced, even the robin was using it and all the feeders both food and water need to be kept topped up during this cold spell

Last weeks meal plan went well, we did not have gnocchi but had a take away instead as we both were tired and wanted a treat.

The weather has been so so cold it has made me want comfort food all week long.

Friday - Fish, Chips and Peas

Saturday - Lasagna (thanks Charlie Bighmas) the boys are having spaghetti with ham and veggies

Sunday - We are going out for lunch or dinner not sure so one meal will be sandwiches and picnic food

Monday - Sticky Jacket Hot dogs - Boys will have jackets and and beans 

Sticky hot dog jackets

Tuesday - Fish Tacos for us all

Fish tacos

Wednesday - Chicken and Mango Creamy Curry for us all

Creamy chicken and mango curry

Thursday - Spicy Ratatouille with eggs this is from Gino's healthy Italian cookbook. The boys will have Spaghetti Carbonara.