The Perfect Cake for Comic Relief and Mum

This week we have two big events coming up. On Friday people all over the country will be coming together to raise much needed funds for Comic Relief. Then on Sunday we will be celebrating mums. So when I had to decide which topic to focus on for this weeks Aldi post I thought why not combine the two! This cake recipe will create a fantastically fun cake for Comic Relief by simply adding a red nose. Or you can leave the nose off and treat your mum on Mothering Sunday.

If there is one foodie treat that your mum is sure to love this Mothering Sunday it has to be a traditional afternoon tea. However going out for afternoon tea on mother's day can be expensive, not to mention busy. Thankfully you can easily recreate afternoon tea at home with the help of these great Mother's Day offers available in Aldi.

Comic Relief 2017

New week people up and down the country will be having fun to raise much needed money for Comic Relief. Red Nose day started back in 1988 and dare I say it, I remember the first ever Red Nose Day nearly 30 years ago! Over the last 30 years Sir Lenny Henry has been the face of Comic Relief and each year the event and the money raised has grown enormously. Comic Relief does so much to help people in both the UK and abroad, tackling poverty and injustice and raising awareness of issues that have huge effects of people and communities.

When I started blogging back in 2013 I quickly became aware of how charitable the blogging community are. Everybody really pulls together and Comic Relief is no exception. From three amazing bloggers Penny Alexander, Annie Spratt and Tanya Barrow Team Honk was born and over the years Team Honk has completed tasks to raise money. One year a baton was passed from Lands End all the way up to John O'Groats, then there was dancing away for Comic Relief and just last week a group of bloggers walked all over London and even prepared their meals on the go in parks. It is from Team Honk that I became involved in this years fund raising efforts. As we live a long way from London I volunteered to visit a project that is local to me to see the sort of places the money raised goes to.

#2PoundChallenge with Voucherbox and Zamcog

When I first heard about the #2PoundChallenge fundraiser I was intrigued to find out more. I love saving money on our weekly shop but being able to help raise money for a charity is even better.

Voucherbox are working with bloggers to raise money for Zamcog. Zamcog is a UK based charity that works with some of the most vulnerable children in Zambia. Zamcog support the Shitima School which has grown from being one class room teaching just 8 children to a fully functioning boarding and day school for over 446 children. To feed, clothe and educate a child in Zambia it cost £2 per day per child. To help us to change the way we view both food and how much we spend we were going to spend the day eating for just £2 per head. I could take the challenge in one of two ways, I could do the challenge myself or get my family involved and have the whole family eat meals for just £2 per head. I decided to do it as a family. I want my children to grow up knowing how lucky they are to live where we do. We have a constant supply of drinking water, they always have clothes and there is always food in the kitchen for them to eat.

Zamcog - Defying The Odds from Adam Dickens on Vimeo.

The day before the challenge I went shopping with £10 as we are a family of five. Before I went shopping I planned out all of our meals for the day so that I knew exactly what to buy and how much it would cost. The days shopping came to a total of £9.61.

Join the Children's Food Trust's Big Cookathon 2016

As you will know I am passionate about cooking family friendly meals from scratch. So when I was asked to tell you about the Children's Food Trust's Big Cookathon I was really excited to learn more about this fantastic event. The Big Cookathon is an annual event to encourage more families to get in the kitchen cooking good old home cooked dinners. But it does not end there, the Children's Food Trust are on a mission to reclaim family meal times. For us, meal time as a family, is an important part of every day. It is a time where we come together to talk and be together without the usual distractions of the modern world.

Cooking is a valuable life skill that our children learn from us, their parents. Having a healthy balanced diet is better for both physical and mental health. What you eat really does play a huge part in well being and happiness.

This year the Children's Food Trust have shared a traditional recipe that I am sure is one of your family favourites, I know it is one of ours! This year they have shared a shepherds pie recipe, as well as a vegetarian version. To show you what you can expect I have made the vegetarian version of their recipe.

This is what I did...

#BlogItForward - Giving To Those Less Fortunate

When I read Penny Alexander's post about #BlogItForward I knew that I had to take part. Sometimes it easy to get wrapped up in life and we do not always appreciate what we have got. But when I read this post about giving back a bit at Christmas it got me thinking. What could we do to to give something back? Then one day when we were walking into our local Tesco store the perfect opportunity was stood in front of us. The day that we went they were promoting a collection for the local food bank.

This was our way to give back.

I go to the supermarket various times a week. Whenever I look in the cupboard and realise that I am missing an ingredient I pop out, every time we start to run out of milk or bread I jump in the car and go straight to the shops without a second thought. But when I saw that the local food bank was collecting for Christmas it did get me thinking.

How must it be if you see that the food is running low but there is no money to buy more?

What would happen if you did not know how you would pay for the next weeks shopping?

I really do not know what I would do and I am thankful for that.

So for my BlogItForward post when we went to pick up a few items, I took a shopping list and did two lots of shopping, one for us and one for the food bank. When I suggested it to the hubby he said that he had also thought about doing a bag of shopping for them. This was the shopping list that they gave me.

While we were shopping I picked various items up coffee, sugar, squash, fruit juice, shampoo, shower gel, cereals, UHT milk and custard. When the children asked me why we had some items in bags and some not bagged I explained to them that there were people in the world that were less fortunate than us and that the food was to help them. As the twins are only three all they wanted to know was who was going to eat the big box of biscuits. So I explained the best I could. I told them that there were families that did not have the pennies to buy biscuits so we were buying some for them as a Christmas gift and they understood that.

But this got me thinking even more.

We have done this for Christmas, that is just one time of the year, but there are people that need the help all year round. I would like to add something to the food bank trolley every month.

That is how I am going to BlogItForward.

Not just in December. I am going to add items off this shopping list once a month. We do not have a lot of money, we get by on what we have, but we are a lot better off than some others. We have a roof over our heads, we have a warm house and we have food on the table whenever we want it, our cupboards are always full. I make sure of that. Being a foodie blogger I am always cooking and baking food. It really is something that we take for granted but writing this post has made me realise how extremely lucky we are. While I was shopping and thinking about this I decided to add a couple of Christmas items that were not on the list to help make a families Christmas a little better and a little easier.

With every donation made at Tesco they will top it all up by 30%. The extra 30% is made in a monetary donation to the charities The Trussell Trust and Fare Share which are two charities that help support people who find themselves in desperate need of support.

But that is not all, because I have written this BlogItForward post Wayfair will be donating £50 to Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity support people all over the world who are affected by disaster and poverty. They assist them to build new homes or rebuild their homes after a disaster. Habitat for Humanity have been helping people and families since 1976, during this time they have helped 5 million people to live in a safer and better home. Home really is where the heart is and Habitat for Humanity understand how powerful a home is, that is why they help the poorest and most vulnerable people get themselves out of poverty by helping them to build their homes which inevitably helps to improve communities.

So next time you are shopping in Tesco, look for a donation trolley and pick up a couple of items. The cost of the items could be just pence but they could mean the world to someone.

If you are a blogger and would like to BlogItForward you can, it is simple. Write a blog post about how you have given something back this month and by adding the Wayfair badge to your post you will be donating £50 to Habitat for Humanity. If 100 bloggers write a post that is a huge £5000 to help. So, come on, give something, write a blog and show how the blogging community can help to make a difference to lives! Visit Wayfair for more details!

Thank you and merry Christmas x

Wallace and Gromit's BIG Bake for CookBlogShare

When I was approached to promote the Wallace and Gromit BIG Bake I really was intrigued. As a family we love Wallace and Gromit so I had to look into what it was. I discovered that the Wallace and Gromit Organisation is a children's charity that helps to improve the lives of sick children in hospitals and hospices. They rely on campaigns such as the BIG Bake to help raise funds to enable them to do this important work.

Since 2003, Wallace and Gromit's Children's Charity has given over £2 million in grants to 291 projects, in 93 different hospitals and hospices. This is providing life saving medical equipment, free family accommodation, a range of arts, music and play therapy programmes, sensory equipment and facilities as well as respite care.

I was amazed to read that the Wallace and Gromit Children's Charity is the only charity that supports sick children in hospitals and hospices in the UK.

This year baking queen Fiona Cairns has been announced as this years BIG Bake ambassador. They are urging the country to come together and have a big bake and sale. All of the money raised will go towards helping sick children and their families. The BIG Bake week is 7th December - 13th December 2015.

To get you going Fiona Cairns has created some recipes for bakes. Today I am sharing with you the Sticky Toffee Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream. These are delicious little cupcakes which really will impress at a cake sale! I did change the salted caramel buttercream to a salted caramel toffee sauce.

I thought that CookBlogShare would be the perfect place to share this great fund raiser!

This is how I got on...

Halloween - World Vision's Night of Hope

Normally I do not really do much for Halloween.
I have carved a couple of pumpkins with Joseph in the past and given sweets to the odd trick or treater and that's about as far as it goes!
This year I was asked if I would carve a different style of pumpkin.
A loving pumpkin of hope and not a scary one!
I jumped at the chance!
I have carved a heart into our pumpkin this year as a lantern of hope to remember all of the children around the world who live in fear! Children here is the UK are getting ready to enjoy a fun night of scares and fears however there are too many children who live in real fear each and every day!
I was shocked to read that almost 40,000 girls (not women!) are forced into a marriage that they are afraid of and certainly no where near ready for.
This is Sylvia's story or fear, worry and hope:

When Sylvia was just 15, her brothers pulled her out of school and the lessons that she had cherished in her dream to become a nurse. She could tell there was something they weren’t telling her and she was afraid without her mother there to protect her.

That night, her brothers brought a man three times her age to their home. They told Sylvia she was to marry him. They told her, that if she didn’t they would carry her into the bush and force her to do it.

"I was so upset, I didn’t understand why they were doing this. I’d heard about girls being beaten day and night by their husbands and I was afraid," said Sylvia.

After arguing with her brothers, Sylvia ran away. She didn’t know what to do, but her sisters had told her of Aunty Ruth, a World Vision Child Protection Officer in Uganda, who taught them that early marriage was wrong. She wrote a letter in secret for her sisters to give to Ruth.

When Ruth received the letter, she intervened immediately. She spoke to Sylvia’s brothers and she helped them to see that this was wrong.

"I was so happy when I sent Aunty Ruth the letter and she responded, I felt safe and protected. "

Sylvia was over the moon. She had been taught that people all over the world should be able to make their own choices, to shape their own future, to live free from the terrors of child marriage. Sylvia’s bravery also means that her little sister Hope no longer has to fear the same.

At World Vision, we believe every child should be free from these fears. Free to enjoy their childhood, to be loved, protected and cared for.

That’s why, this Halloween, we’re asking you to carve a heart into your pumpkin. We’re asking you to stand with us, to stand with them, to stand with children like Sylvia all over the world who live in fear each and every day. So please, take this simple step, carve a heart into your pumpkin this Halloween and place it in your window as a lantern of hope for children living in fear.

This story and photograph is thanks World Vision.
Visit http://www.worldvision.org.uk/get-involved/night-hope to see how you too can get involved in helping.
Each child should be free from fear!

Here is our lantern of hope. We will be proudly displaying this in our window to show that we want to turn a night of fear into a night of hope.

 

After carving our our pumpkin I decided that I was not going to waste all of the lovely pumpkin and used it in a lovely comforting beef stew!

Ingredients

500g lean stewing beef
2 leeks
1 large red onion
1 swede
Insides of 1 pumpkin
Beef stock
Black pepper
Sage
Worcester sauce
Gravy granules

Method

1 - Place the stewing steak in the slow cooker
2 - Chop all of the vegetables and add to the meat
3 - Mix together
4 - Place the slow cooker on a high heat for 1 hour
5 - After an hour add about 1 pint of boiled water and a beef stock cube, black pepper and sage. Turn the slow cooker to a low heat and leave for about 4 hours
6 - Before serving sprinkle a few gravy granules into the stew to thicken up the juices. Give the stew a good glug of Worcester sauce for a kick of flavour and serve

This meal is such a versatile stew and you will have plenty left for a meal the following day.
I served our stew with some sage coated roasted sweet potatoes but it is also great with good old mashed potatoes or and a large Yorkshire pudding.
Tonight I will be using left overs to make either a pie or a cottage pie style meal topping the stew with mash and a covering of grated cheese before grilling!
However you serve, it is delicious!
You can even replace some of the vegetables with others that are in season or what you have to hand that is the beauty of this meal.
Enjoy x