St Patrick's Day Guinness Shepherd's Pie

Friday 17th March is St Patrick's day. Whether you are Irish or not you simply cannot get away from it. So for this weeks recipe with Aldi I thought that I would bring you a taste of Ireland. Today's recipe uses an iconic ingredient from Ireland, Guinness. 

Shepherd's pie is such a classic, comforting meal and one that can be easily adapted to give it added twists. This meal was a huge success with the family and with the added vegetables in the a colcannon for the topping I knew they were getting even more goodness in their meal. Colcannon is an Irish mashed potato that is full of extra vegetables.

So this St Patrick's day why not try my Guinness Shepherd's Pie!

This is what I did...

Haggis Cottage Pie and My Top 6 Whiskies for Burns Night

We love Scotland. It has to be our favourite holiday destination in the UK and we always leave with dreams of moving there one day. It is such a beautiful country, has lovely food and of course the best alcohol! So each year when Burns Night comes along we celebrate with a haggis served with neeps and tatties, all washed down with a wee dram, or two!

As much as we love haggis, it can be a bit a bit of a strong flavour for the children. That is how this recipe came about. But this also helps your haggis go that bit further if you are preparing a meal for more than 3 people. While we were in Scotland last year we had a fantastic haggis dinner at the Glenfiddich distillery. It was beautifully layered and came complete with a whisky sauce. This is where my idea for styling this dish came from. But what makes this haggis dish different is that it also contains Scottish Aberdeen Angus minced beef as well as other vegetables other than the classic neeps and tatties!

This is what I did...

Surviving the New Years Eve Hangover!

This Christmas I planned in advance not to consume as much alcohol as normal. Not only is it not great for your health but as you know I am on a weight loss journey and alcohol definitely does not help!

So when Get More Drinks asked me if I would like to share their hangover survival tips I knew that a lot of people could probably do with the information. We all know that a hangover is hell but there are ways that you can make it more manageable and speed up the recovery from a heavy night of drinks.

How many times have we said "That's it, I'm never drinking again!"? Probably every time that we have woken up feeling hungover. But we always do drink again. The key is to enjoy your drink but limit yourself. You do not need to go to excessive lengths to keep up with friends and drink as much as you can.

Get More have sent me the following information to share with you to help you avoid or cope with a hangover...

Beer52 for Christmas

There is no denying that the trend for craft beers is here to stay. More and more breweries and micro breweries are coming through and moving away from the big mainstream lager and are creating more unique drinks.

Personally I am more of a gin girl than a lager girl but since tasting craft beers I have found that there are so many different flavours to suit all tastes. The hubby does enjoy craft beers and so far, has tried a wide range of ales, stouts, porters and IPA's.

So when Beer52 asked me if we would like to try one of their festive boxes I jumped at the chance. 

Beer52 is the most popular craft beer club in the UK. They have sourced the best craft beers from around the world to showcase in their subscription boxes. Their boxes of brew are sent out each month and are priced at £24 and can be taken on a rolling month to month basis. Each month you receive 8 different, exclusive craft beers and their magazine telling you all about the beers, Ferment. They guarantee that you will be receiving the freshest beers which will be in your glass just 4 - 6 weeks of being brewed.

Look what came in their festive box.

Christmas with Warninks Advocaat

This time of year is certainly one for reminiscing. Remembering childhood Christmases, remembering loved ones and remembering Christmas traditions and passing them on to the next generation.

When Warninks Advocaat contacted me about our favourite Christmas moments my mind immediately drifted back to my teenage years, standing in my grandparents conservatory, behind their bar, taking orders and making snowballs. I loved the moment that the lemonade hits the Advocaat and froths up. No Christmas is complete without a trusty snowball. Before I tell you about some easy snowball recipes I thought that I would share with you our Christmas traditions and how they are being passed down from generation to generation.

Once December arrives all of our attention goes to Christmas. One tradition that we have started since the twins were two is going to buy a real Christmas tree. This was something that I had always wanted so when we decided that it was going to be a memory for our children to treasure I was excited. The whole experience of going out to select the tree, watching it get wrapped up in the net, trying to get it in the car to bringing it inside and decorating has become a much loved occasion. Once the tree is ready for decorating the Christmas music goes on and the kids get busy. Before, I used to be so particular about how the tree was decorated. But seeing how excited the children get when they are adding the decorations that they have made is so much more important. Gone are the days of colour coordination. They have now been replaced with sentimental ornaments. This year our tree is full of memories from baubles that were my grandparents to home made ornaments, from decorations that Santa has left in the children's stockings to keepsakes that the hubby has bought for me over the years.

All About the Drinks! Christmas with Aldi

This weeks is a fun week! Today I am going to tell you my top drinks and bargains from Aldi. In true Aldi fashion they have great, top quality drinks at a price we have come to expect from Aldi.

Today I thought that I would showcase a bit of all sorts. I have got some wines, gins, liqueurs, beers and even champagne. They really do have something for everyone and to suit all budgets! 

But you do not need to take my word for it. In a recent study by Which? Aldi champagne, malbec and even their turkey has been voted by the experts at Which? as their best buys!

Summer Berry, Mint and Arbikie Kirsty's Gin Jam

Over the last few weeks berries have been a huge part of our daily diets. This is all thanks to the bumper harvest of soft fruits that we are having. So far we have enjoyed fresh strawberry and mint porridge, homemade cordial, berries with meringues and plenty of berry topped cakes! Having the extra berries this year has even got me making preserves again so as to not waste any.

I recently made a softer jam to what I usually make. This was inspired by a River Cottage Fridge Jam recipe that I had found in my trusty River Cottage Handbook about Preserves. These are a treasured collection of books that I have found to be full of information about preserving foods, growing vegetables, using herbs, keeping chickens and of course contain some fantastic recipes!

I decided to make a fridge jam as they contain about half the sugar of regular, thick set jam. So it is simply a healthier option for a jam. But fridge jams are also fantastic additions to bakes and desserts like trifle! Yes, I will be using some in a cake, so keep an eye out for a future fridge jam cake recipe!

This jam also has an optional added extra. This recipe made three jars of jam. I made two plain summer berry and mint jam but with the final jar I added something special to give the jam an added kick of flavour. I added some of the deliciously floral Arbikie Kirsty's Gin that we found while on our last holiday in Aviemore, Scotland.

On one of our journeys we discovered a quaint little shop that has whiskey and gin from floor to ceiling. The Whiskey Castle at Tomintoul became a favourite shop to stop by. It is like no other shop, you immediately feel at home and in the company of friends it is so welcoming. While you are there if there are any drinks that you would like to taste, and they have a bottle open, you are welcomed to try it. It was here that I spotted Kirsty's Gin from Arbikie. It was a new distillery to me and as it had my name I just had to taste it. I immediately fell in love with the floral notes of lavender that come through. All of the botanics that are used in Arbikie Kirsty's Gin have been grown on the estate. It is grown, distilled and bottled on the one estate and is a true farm to bottle product. Even the water that they used is mountain filtered water that has come directly from their underground lagoon! We love finding products that are more unique and away from the mass produced products that you can find anywhere and everywhere and Arbikie is just that. Arbikie also produce Potato Vodka which is Scotland's first potato vodka, Chilli Vodka and they even have some Arbikie Whiskey that is currently sleeping in a variety of bourbon, sherry and red wine casks!

Back to my jam recipe with an added kick. The gin goes perfectly with the soft, summer fruits and makes this homegrown jam extra special!

This is what I did...

The Drinks Cellar Food and Drink Blogger Awards Finalist Please Vote!

My blog is a finalist for The Drinks Cellar Food and Drink Blogger Awards!

This email was completely out of the blue and was a fantastic birthday present!

Over the last month the online retailers and French wine makers Luc Belaire have been scouring the internet to find the best food and drink blogs. I am over the moon to announce that they have shortlisted Hijacked By Twins!

Now that I have been shortlisted the winner will be up to you, the public!

Voting opens on 4th July 2016 and I hope that you would will vote for me. Everyone that votes will go into a draw to be in with the chance of winning 6 x 75cl bottles of Luc Belaire Rose wine with a value of £165!

To be in with the chance of winning this delicious wine prize simply go to The Drinks Cellar Food and Drink Blogger Awards page and vote for Hijacked By Twins!

Thank you x

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.

New Panasonic L500 Slow Juicer Plus Recipes

When Panasonic contacted me about their new L500 Slow Juicer I was curious to see how it could be different to regular, high speed juicers. We already have a high speed juicer but due to the sheer size and bulkiness of the machine it has been tucked away in a cupboard! When I read that this was a more compact machine I knew that our kitchen really would put it to the test. We have a good sized kitchen, but lack on storage and worktops due to the shape of the room. So finding kitchen equipment that we will be able to have out, to hand, all of the time is a must and can be difficult.

When the parcel arrived the first thing that I noticed was that it was not a large box, this immediately pleased me. If the box is not large, the contents cannot be large!

Before I tell you how I got on using the Panasonic Slow Juicer, let me give you some technical information as well as what the benefits are of slow juicing as opposed to high speed juicing and why it is better for you. I will also be sharing with you an iced dessert, iced cocktail and a juice recipe!

POM Wonderful - For Your Smoothies and Cocktails!

In January everybody likes to make new years resolutions about their health, fitness or life. I am not one for new years resolutions as they always seem to be empty promises. What I like to do is make changes throughout the year and makes changes which I know will be easy to make into permanent changes. 

One simple change that you can ,make for the benefit of your health is eat and drink healthier foods. Swapping your high sugar fruit juice for POM Wonderful is a step in the right direction.

Pomegranates are a good source of vitamin C, vitamin K, Fibre, Potassium and Folate as well as anti oxidants. POM Wonderful juice is simply 100% pomegranate. Each 710ml bottle contains 6 pomegranates with no added sugar, preservatives or colourants. This juice is so full of flavour, it is a little bit sweet and a little bit sour but both extremities balance this juice perfectly.