Showing posts with label BBQ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BBQ. Show all posts

Thursday, 18 August 2016

Red Cabbage and Radish Slaw

Summer time barbecue and a good coleslaw go hand in hand. Homemade coleslaw is so quick and easy to make and can be made according to taste.

When I make a coleslaw I try to add some extra vegetables to the mix. This not only makes the slaw even better for you but adds so much more flavour.

Today's recipe is for a favourite combination of mine and has a fantastic colour too! This dish is perfect for a summers meal al fresco.

This is what I did...

Tuesday, 26 July 2016

Soy, Chilli and Ginger Pork Loin Steaks

At this time of year we all prefer lighter meals. Today I am sharing with you a great and easy way to marinade and add flavour to your pork loin steaks. These can either be grilled or placed on a barbecue and have a real summer feel to them.

Aldi have a great selection of summer dressings which are a quick and easy way to flavour salads but also meats and fish. Three of their Specially Selected sauces caught my eye:
  • Bloody Mary Ketchup
  • Blue Cheese Dressing
  • Soy, Chilli and Ginger
This got me thinking about how I could incorporate the sauces into a meal and do something different with them. Now that it is summer we are enjoying being able to get in the garden, having barbecues and eating al fresco. Today's meal is perfect for that!


I decided to go for the spicy and fragrant Soy, Chilli and Ginger Dressing. This dressing is a warm combination of ginger and chilli in a dark soy sauce.

This is what I did...



Friday, 17 June 2016

BBQ Soup with New Covent Garden Soup Co



Soup is delicious at anytime of year, but this year New Covent Garden Soup Co are urging people to not just cook sausages and burgers on their barbecues but also some soup!

New Covent Garden Soup Co are deliciously fresh soups that are not only so full of flavour but are also a versatile ingredient. With your favourite New Covent Garden Soup Co flavour combination you can easily create a tasty side dish or revamp your vegetable skewers.

Today I am going to share with you a pasta dish that has been a huge success in our house. It is so quick and easy to make and is a delicious side dish, or a main meal.

For my recipe I have used New Covent Garden Soup Co Slow Roast Tomato. Their slow roast tomato, basil and balsamic vinegar soup goes perfectly with pasta. This soup is full of the flavours of the Mediterranean. To create the soup the cooks at New Covent Garden Soup Co have used a mixture of slow roasted and sun dried tomatoes which gives this soup a real depth of flavour. They then add garlic, basil and finished with balsamic vinegar to produce a "blissfully smooth bowl of rich soup". It also contains 2 of your recommended 5 a day!

This is what I did...

Tuesday, 7 June 2016

Celebrate the Queen's 90th Birthday with Aldi

This weekend people all over the country will be celebrating the Queen's 90th birthday. What better way to celebrate than with a traditional street party! But this year why not make the street party even more exciting by having a barbecue street party!

Aldi have so many products that are ideal for a celebration that would be fit for her Majesty!

Today I am going to showcase my favourite products that I have found in Aldi which all have a true street party feel to them.


These Heartsease Farm drinks are deliciously sweet drinks made with spring water. They are perfect for children, as a refreshing drink or to use as a mixer with spirits. In other shops these drinks are priced at £2.29 so when I saw them in Aldi for just £1.59 I could not resist! They come in three truly British flavours, Raspberry Lemonade, Elderflower Presse and Traditional Lemonade.


Grove Manor British rose wine was a true bargain at just £2.59. This is a slightly sparkling fruity wine which has a sweetness from strawberries and cherries. Served chilled it is perfect as a summer wine.

Tuesday, 10 May 2016

Jersey Royal Potato Salad - #CookBlogShare Week 19

Wow it has been such a lovely week! I don't know about you, but we have been making the most of the lovely weather and eating al fresco. As soon as the lovely weather comes, out go the warming comfort foods and we welcome salads, barbecues and lighter meals.

With this in mind I thought that it would be the perfect time to share with you a delicious potato salad that I was sent to try. Each week I write a recipe using products that I have bought from Aldi. This week is a little different. This is a new recipe that has been sent to me courtesy of Aldi to try out and let you know what I thought. We are now coming into Jersey Royal season and this year Aldi will be stocking Jersey Royal potatoes for their Specially Selected range. These potatoes have a sweet, nutty, summer taste to them and are perfect for potato salads.

This is no ordinary potato salad.

This potato salad is full of so many different ingredients that compliment each other perfectly and make it a more filling salad. The homemade sauce used has become a new favourite here. The creaminess with the kick from the mustard are perfect together. This really is a royal potato salad. A Jersey Royal Potato Salad!

This is what I did...


Tuesday, 9 June 2015

Cheese and Onion Quiche - Perfect for the Picnic Season!

Summer is on it's way! Which means picnic and eating al fresco time is coming!

I love being able to prepare food to eat outside. Whether it is a barbecue or a picnic, as soon as the sun is out so are we!

This week I am sharing with you a super easy cheese and onion quiche. Quiche is a perfect summer pie. It is ideal to pack up for a picnic or to serve along side some salad and barbecue meats or fish.

As well has having delicious food for a picnic you need those all important picnic essentials. From tableware to hampers to drinks chillers to the blanket. Having a picnic to impress can be had with these beautiful picnic essentials from House of Fraser.

Friday, 16 May 2014

Planning a BBQ Birthday Party!

We are doing something that we have never done before.

We are entertaining!

We tend to keep ourselves to ourselves. If we do anything it is normally with our parents. We are happy that way and we love spending time together as a family.

Tomorrow, however, we are having guests round and we are hosting a birthday party for my mother in law! There is not going to be a lot of us and it will just be family. But there are still going to be 10 of us!

All week I have been looking through books to get ideas for the food. As tomorrow is going to be another sunny day (please don't change!) we are having a BBQ. This does ease the pressure off me a little as the hubby is in charge of the meats. But as I want everything to be perfect I won't relax until everyone is say down and enjoying their food.

This is what I have got planned...

Meats

Burgers
Sausages
Chicken

Side Dishes

Green leaf salad
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes stuffed with cream cheese
Mary Berry's Goats Cheese and Tomato Canapes
Pesto and Parmesan bread
Mushroom pate/dip on crackers
Bread sticks
Peppers
Celery

Pudding

Birthday cake - Paul Hollywood's Black Forest Gateaux with a twist!
Lemon cheesecake

I am hoping that will be enough!

Today I am preparing as much as I can ahead of tomorrow. I have got my dough proving and I am baking the cake this afternoon and preparing the cheesecake.

I hope that once everything is done I will be able to sit back and enjoy the day.

A summery glass of Pimms and lemonade will help calm the nerves I am sure!

I will be writing a post about how it all went and I am hoping that I will have a few recipes to share.

Have a lovely weekend x

Sunday, 18 August 2013

Busy Day, Bad Night

As predicted, yesterday was such a busy day.
Despite all the rushing around it was a great day!
After swimming, I took charge of the twins so that hubby could watch the football match that he had been wanting to watch for weeks. After lunch I made some more of my lemon and courgette cupcakes which have become quite a favourite. Especially with Isabella. She can say cake! Whenever she knows there is a cake around all you can hear from her is
"cake, cake!"
Whilst I was in the kitchen the match finished a draw and we were ready to head over to the field day. As I started to walk round with Joseph the heavens opened. So we had to make a quick dash home. This was not a good start to our outdoor plans! Joseph was so disappointed. We decided that we would still go to the BBQ that was planned as there would be some undercover area to shelter from the rain if need be.
On our way there the sun started to shine and the rain appeared to be going away.
It had been a long time since I had seen my old work colleagues. When I say a long time, it is probably only a few months, but it felt like a long time. As we got closer I got more and more nervous. I know that this is ridiculous, these are some of my closest friends, in fact they are my closest friends! When I was at work we all got on really well and when I was working full time, I spent the majority of my time with these people. I was nervous that I had changed too much, or that I would not know what to talk about. Come on, I'm a stay at home mum, when people ask me what I've been doing it is all children and home related. But as soon as I saw them all my worries vanished. It was as if I'd seen them last week. Of course I could still talk, the children had not taken over my brain completely! It was lovely to see everybody and I sincerely hope that we all get together again soon.
What also added to my worry was how the twins would react to new people. I really should not have worried about that either. Taylor was straight off to grab a ball to play with. Isabella was a little bit more reserved. For maybe 5 minutes she stood with me holding my hand. But then she too was off to play ball with Taylor. There was not one tear! I was so proud of all three of them. Joseph went straight off to play football and the twins relished the freedom. They loved being outdoors and being able to run around and have mummy and daddy chasing them left, right and centre! We must have looked quite comical. I'd start a conversation, then mid chat I'd dash one way to get one twins and hubby would dash in the other direction for the other. It was fun. I feel so blessed with our children. However it was nearing the twins tea time so we needed to be off. As I was saying my goodbyes I was hoping that it would not be the last time that everybody gets together as I had thought it would be. I guess it won't be if we all make an effort every now and then, and I hope that we all do.
We managed to get the twins home without falling asleep, which was a major concern for us. If they fall asleep at that time of the day you can guarantee that we will have a bad night. I sat in the back with them and had a fruit pouch on hand to give them to keep them going. Hubby decided to go home via the most bumpiest, uneven road there is. So you can imagine how hard it was it squeeze some fruit onto a spoon and feed the twins whilst trying to keep steady and stop bouncing around! We all giggled on the ride home, which also helped to keep them awake.
We were even home before the end of the field day and managed to call in for the last half an hour. Everything that we had planned may not have occurred in the original order thanks to the rain, but we did them. The rain did not beat us!
After the twins were in bed Joseph went out for a birthday tea party, my mum and dad arrived with an Indian take away. So we settled in with some great food, a drink, a movie and brilliant company for the evening.
After such a busy day I was looking forward to sleep. However our little angels had other ideas. Every time I started to fall asleep one of the twins would stir, cry out or loose their dummy. I was up and down until gone 1am. Then Taylor was in bed with us from about 4am, I think! Therefore I did not get the sleep that was needed last night. But I did not get up with Taylor until nearly 7am which is a lie in.
So here I am on a sunny Sunday morning writing whilst Taylor has his milk and watches Mickey Mouse, its a good start to the day.
I may not have my career as I did have but I couldn't be happier with my new career as mummy and housewife.

Saturday, 17 August 2013

Jam Packed Day Ahead!

Wow what a busy day ahead we have got!
As usual we are starting the day off with Joseph's swimming lesson. So I am enjoying the time out before the madness of this afternoon descends upon us!
Today is the annual village field day which we will be going to. The one thing I really do appreciate about living in a village is the community spirit. Everybody knows each other and the children look out for each other. In the village school there is under 50 children so it is a very close knit school. When I was growing up we lived in Suffolk. I remember when I moved "up north" finding it so bizarre that people I didn't know would say hello and great you in the street. After spending so long moving about abroad it is a good feeling to be settled somewhere. I really cannot imagine us leaving the village where we live. It is a so peaceful and we feel extremely lucky when we sit and look out of our window to fields.
We also ot an invitation to a BBQ this afternoon. It seems everything has come at once and on the same day. So we will be dashing all over!
The invitation came from my boss when I worked before having the twins. I am really excited about seeing all of my old work colleagues, albeit a little nervous too! Not sure why, these have been some of my closest friends and were present at our wedding and were with me on my pregnancy journey. Since having the twins I have not been out socializing and have just preferred a quiet home life. But as soon as I got this invitation I knew that this was one I would regret missing if I did not go.
We are all going as a family which I am pleased about. I can count on one hand the amount of times I have been out on my own since the twins arrived. We prefer to do things as a family and not as individuals. We have said that we will only go for an hour to see everyone as we need to keep the twins routine but Joseph has also got a tea party to go to this evening and we have my parents coming down for our customary Saturday night meal, drinks and a film.
So today is going to be jam packed. First things first, the boys have got a football match to watch on tv. After full time we will be on the go!