Summer Watermelon Spritz

You can find frozen diced fruit in most supermarkets for making smoothies but I found something I'd not come across before recently - Tesco has frozen watermelon balls in beautiful little spheres which are good for so much more than throwing in a blender!

I made this drink which took just moments but tasted delicious. It's a glass of lemonade straight from the fridge with frozen watermelon balls instead of ice cubes and some fresh mint. If you like tonic water you can try that and I bet it would be nice with a splash of something alcoholic!

I muddled the fruit around in the glass as it softened and ate it at the end using a milkshake straw - a straw that has a little spoon on the end. It was just the thing for this hot weather we've been having!

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Meal Planning Monday 2018 Week 30

My husband has finally got some time off so we can spend the week as a family - we haven't really planned anything to do yet, but I know he's coming along to baby massage and My Gym to see what baby S gets up to every week, and we will have at least one afternoon out, and hopefully do a few other things like finish decorating the nursery.

Then at the weekend my sister and her 20 month old are coming to stay so we've got some fun but low key activities planned. I will also adjust the menu depending on what my niece prefers to eat and whether we are eating our dinner at the same time as her, or later.

Monday
Lunch - sandwich
Dinner - barbecue

Tuesday
Lunch- pasta bake or bacon sandwich
Dinner- gammon and new potatoes or macaroni cheese with sausage

Wednesday
Lunch- homemade sausage rolls with puff pastry
Dinner- barbecue

Thursday
Lunch- pasta bake or fresh rolls for sandwiches if I buy any
Dinner- chicken stuffed with boursin in a red wine sauce

Friday
Lunch- ham and cheese toasties
Dinner- gammon and new potatoes or macaroni cheese with sausage

Saturday
Lunch- probably something easy like a bacon sandwich
Dinner- barbecue

Sunday
Lunch- crumpets and Scotch pancakes
Dinner- pizza-topped chicken with mashed potato or new potatoes and veg

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Age is Irr-elephant Birthday Card

 

I couldn't resist buying a card making magazine recently when I saw the free cover gift was a sheet of zoo animal clear stamps, including an alpaca, as I love alpacas! The set included some great sentiments and phrases to go with the animals as well; here is a card I made using the elephant stamp, the 'tree in the savannah' stamp and a sentiment saying 'age is irr-elephant'.

I inked the background using a cotton wool ball and an ink pad which also came with the craft magazine, pressing more firmly on the bottom half of the card and lighter on the top half.

I'm sharing this with CCEE stampers where the theme is zoo animals for national zookeepers week and Moving along with the times where the theme is wild animal.

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The Diner, Ganton Street London and the Regent Street Festival

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Oreo Marshmallow Fluff Cheesecake

Whenever I buy a jar of marshmallow fluff for a recipe I end up eating the whole jar  - not in one go, but it doesn't usually end up being used in the recipe I intended!

This time around I bought two jars so I could definitely make the recipe I wanted! My husband loves Oreos and I decided to make an Oreo cheesecake and use the marshmallow fluff in the filling.

I kind of made the recipe up as I went along and it didn't set particularly firm - you need to eat this with a spoon rather than a fork - but it tasted really good!

See the recipe below..









You need:
1 packet Oreos
50g butter
213g jar marshmallow fluff
200g tub soft cheese
100ml crème fraiche
100g icing sugar

 

Crush the Oreos either with a rolling pin or in a blender. Melt the butter in a small pan over a low heat or in the microwave and stir in the crushed Oreos.

Press into the bottom of a 7 or 8 inch loose-bottomed cake tin.

In a large bowl, mix together the marshmallow fluff, soft cheese, crème fraiche and icing sugar and spread over the crushed Oreo base.

Allow to set in the fridge, ideally overnight.

I'm sharing this with Baking Crumbs and Casa Costello's Bake of the week (even though there is no actual baking involved!) and CookBlogShare.

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Meal Planning Monday 2018 Week 29

I had a great weekend with a friend visiting going into London twice, once with my daughter and once leaving her with my husband - we went to CatFest and the Regent Street Festival. While I was there I had macaroni cheese in a restaurant which reminded me of how much I like it, so I'd like to make it again soon - though with the weather so hot at the moment we will probably be barbecuing a lot again!

Monday - barbecue

Tuesday - out for a family birthday

Wednesday - barbecue

Thursday - stir-fry for me, chicken chargrills for him

Friday - gammon, new potatoes and apple sauce

Saturday
Lunch- bacon sandwich
Dinner- barbecue

Sunday
Lunch- crumpet pizzas
Dinner- macaroni cheese and sausage

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Meal Planning Monday 2018 Week 28

It's too hot to think - and to cook! Unfortunately my husband doesn't eat salads or I would consider doing those for dinner every night. Instead we plan to barbecue a lot.

Since having a baby I don't have a lot of time to prepare food so while I'd love to be trying out new barbecue recipes every time, I'm more likely to be found ordering ready-marinated meat and ready-to-cook things from the supermarket, but there are a few easy but tasty things we can do to liven it up a bit.

Monday
Tuna steak, hot dog and potato salad for me, beef kebabs and hot dog for him

Tuesday
Burgers plus chicken kebabs

Wednesday
Watching the football, like most of England - which starts around the time my husband gets home from work so I'll put something easy in the oven from the freezer

Thursday
Burgers, mozzarella sticks, potato salad, garlic bread

Friday
tuna steak, beef steak for him, chicken kebabs

Saturday
Lunch - I'm out with a friend at CatFest (Google it!)
Dinner - barbecued whole chicken, sausages, mozzarella sticks

Sunday
Lunch - I'm out again with friends so will get food while I'm out
Dinner - probably something easy from the freezer

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