Chicago Town's The Pizza Kitchen - A Perfect Midweek Meal

Since returning to work I have realised how precious time is. There are days when I simply do not want to cook a full meal from scratch. After a hectic day at work, helping the children with their homework, dashing around as mum's taxi I just want a quick and easy meal that I know everyone is going to love!

In our house pizza is always a winner. So when I was asked if we would like to try Chicago Town's new The Pizza Kitchen range I knew that the kids would love it! So what is different, you may ask. Well they have replaced the traditional pizza base with a deli style base which leaves the pizza with an irresistible deli crisp crust. These pizzas are frozen but taste like freshly made pizzas! The only way to describe the base is that it is just like tiger bread .

The Pizza Kitchen range comes in 4 tasty flavours:

• Roasted chicken
• Deli pepperoni
• Cheese medley
• Garden vegetable

Each pizza has a generous serving of Chicago Town's signature tomato sauce and finished with the toppings.

#CookBlogShare Week 50 - Plus 4 Homemade Edible Gifts

Hello and welcome to week 50 of CookBlogShare!

I cannot believe that we are nearing the end of another successful year of #CookBlogShare. I love how far this linky has come and how it has grown into a lovely community of foodie enthusiasts. But it would not be where is is without the help from my fantastic co-hosts Eb from Easy Peasy Foodie, Jacqui from Recipes Made Easy and Monika from Everyday Healthy Recipes. Since I returned to the employed world, they have literally kept the linky afloat. Without their help I really do not know where it would be, so thank you ladies, I really do appreciate all of your hard work!

For now, I am on the countdown to finishing work for the Christmas holidays. From Wednesday, next week, I will be off for 2 weeks and I cannot wait. One of the highlights of working in a school is the holidays, they not only allow me to enjoy the precious time with the children but it also allows me to continue working on Hijacked By Twins. Over the last 4 and a half years it has become a huge part of my life and something I cannot imagine not having. This week I am sharing my four favourite recipes from last week, next week the linky will be with Jacqui and then on Boxing Day it will return to me when I will be doing a round up of 2017. I will be featuring my favourite recipes from the last year, it will be a mixture of sweet and savoury recipes that you have shared over the last year. I cannot wait to share it with you!

Now on to this week's linky. Here are my four favourite recipes from week 49 of CookBlogShare, four recipes that would make delicious homemade, edible gifts...

Weekly Meal Plan - #MealPlanningMonday

Monday is back again, please can someone tell me where the weekend has gone?!?!

This weekend seems to have gone by in a blur of jobs, the traditional pre Christmas clear out and yet more jobs. I feel like I have not stopped! Now we are onto another week. The last full working week until the much needed Christmas break!

Over the last week I have cut out dairy to see if it was effecting how I was feeling. I was surprised by how much of a difference cutting out cow's milk, cheese and yogurt has made. I am not feeling as bloated and am not having the pains that I was, so it has been a successful trial.

Now onto this week's meal plan. This week's plan is going to full of easy meals as I have got a feeling that it is going to be a busy one!

This is what we will be having this week...

Week Commencing 11th December 2017

Monday - Jacket Potatoes

Monday is a busy evening as J goes to cadets so we tend to want something that can be put in the oven and left while we get on. We will be starting the week with jacket potatoes, breaded chicken and vegetables.

Turkey, Pheasant and Cranberry Pie

As Christmas beckons we are thinking more and more about turkey based meals, especially leftover turkey meals. I always buy a turkey much bigger than we need simply to have leftovers. I love leftovers, they create such delicious, flavoursome meals. We usually go for a curry, but this year I have decided to go for a pie. Pies are such comforting meals that are perfect for a cold evening. 

One meat that we all love at this time of year is pheasant. It is such a rich meat that goes perfectly with poultry. So to make a real festive pie I have added some pheasant to this pie along with vegetables and some cranberry sauce. 

This is what I did...

Coffee Treats

I love coffee so when I was asked if I would like to try a couple of coffee products that went hand in hand with each other I could not resist.

I must admit I am a bit of a coffee snob. I am very particular with the coffee that I have and would rather spend more money to have a good cup of coffee. During the week I depend on our coffee machine and instant coffee but at the weekend the hubby and I like to indulge in ground coffee. As much as we like to stick with our regular coffee it is always great to try new blends. Blue Coffee Box is a new coffee subscription that I can see becoming a favourite of ours.

Weekly Meal Plan - #MealPlanningMonday

Hello and welcome to my weekly meal plan.

Now that we are in December all of our focus is definitely on Christmas. I adore this time of year. It is so magical especially for the children. The twinnies are a great age, being 5 they now fully understand the magic of Christmas. T made me giggle when I said to him last Thursday "tomorrow it's December" and his immediate response was "is it Christmas tomorrow?". It must seem like such a long way to go. After reading Rolling with Marbles meal planning post I decided to hunt down some Kellogg's advent calendars. I was delighted to get some in our local Tesco and the kids love them plus, for me, I am happier for them to have their cereal advent in the morning and saving the chocolate one for after school!

I even managed to get them at a reduced price, £3 instead of £4! All three have got them, the only problem that I have is finding space for all of the mini boxes of cereals!

In other news, I am trying to cut dairy out of my diet. Recently I have found that particularly after I have eaten yogurt, cheese or had some cows milk my stomach is making terrible noises and I am getting so bloated. After doing a bit of research I discovered that between the ages of 30 and 40 your body can start to reduce the amount of lactase that is produces, it is lactase that counteracts the lactose in dairy products plus I am sure years of taking anti depressants will not have helped my gut. So as a test I have swapped my Muller light yogurts for Alpro soya yogurts, cows milk for almond milk and I have even swapped my beloved cheese for vegan alternatives. I am going into this with an open mind and am keeping a food diary so that I can record how I am feeling and what foods may be effecting how I feel. Thankfully there are so many dairy free alternatives available. We do our weekly shop with Ocado and I was really impressed with the variety of foods that they stock, I even got some dairy free pesto! I will keep you updated with how I get on, I just hope that I find a solution!

Now onto this weeks meal plan. This week is, as usual, a busy one. J is at cadets on Monday and Wednesday then on Thursday the twinnies have got their Christmas school disco.

This is what we will be enjoying this week...