Christmas Bakes

Christmas is a great time for bakes. I would love to have the time to bake more for Christmas but life simply gets in the way and I am not able to bake everything that we love. Thankfully Aldi have got a deliciously tempting range of Christmas bakes this festive season. Whether you are looking for tempting sweet bakes or some savoury baked snacks you can be sure to find what you are looking for. Today I am going to show you my top Aldi finds of sweet baked products and share with you a healthier Christmas cake recipe.

Before I tell you all about the sweet treats let me tell you about a little bit of news. You may have seen in the media how this year Christmas dinner is going to cost more, that everything is more expensive, however if you shop at Aldi this is not going to be the case. Yahoo recently published an article how this year, thanks to Aldi, your Christmas dinner will be the cheapest in 8 years! The Good Housekeeping Institute have conducted a comparison survey of the main supermarket retailers and found that Aldi was the cheapest, coming in at just £22.03 to feed a family of eight! That is just £2.75 a head! This is yet another reason to go to Aldi and save money!

Now back to the sweet treats!

Here are my top sweet baked treats from Aldi this Christmas...

#CookBlogShare Week 48 - Festive Treats Round-Up

Now that we are in December I am in full Christmas mode. I am loving all of the Christmas foodie treats that are everywhere. But what I enjoy most is reading each unique twist on the good old traditional recipes that we all know and love at Christmas. That is the beauty of them, they can be made to suit all tastes.

Last week CookBlogShare was hosted by Eb at Easy Peasy Foodie. As always there was a lovely variety of recipes shared, but Christmas was definitely coming through and I expect to see more and more over the next couple of weeks.

This weeks round-up is all about four festive treats. One is all about how to style your fondant, another is a firm traditional favourite, one has been given a complete new twist while the fourth is a fun family activity!

Here are my four favourite recipes from week 48 of CookBlogShare...

Weekly Meal Plan - Week Commencing 5th December 2016

Yay we are in December! Our Christmas tree is up and the countdown is on! I have even revamped my Weekly Meal Plan badge and added a Christmassy feel to it!

Yesterday I did a trial run for a Christmas spiced turkey, using a chicken. A couple of weeks ago I did a Roast Chicken River Cottage Style which was a huge success. As soon as I tasted it I knew that I would want to transform it for Christmas and it was amazing!

Last weeks weigh in was a success. I lost another 2.5lbs which saw me also go into a new number! So far I have lost 16.5lbs. I am aiming to lose another 3.5lbs for Christmas, this will get me to Club 10 where I will have lost 10% of my weight! I am sure that I can do it as I have another 3 weigh in's before the big day. Changing the way that I eat and cook has made me think about how I can continue throughout the Christmas holiday. We all know that it is a difficult time of year to stick to plan. I have written an article for BritMums about how to have a Merry Healthy Christmas which I am planning to follow!

This weeks meal plan is all about trying to run the freezer down a little before I collect my meat hamper and turkey. This will not only run the freezer down but will also save us some money!

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

Week Commencing 5th December 2016

Full of Veg Pasta Bake

Since starting Slimming World seven weeks ago how I cook our meals has really changed. Now when I cook I am striving to cram in even more vegetables. This includes already healthy recipes. Bulking out dishes with more vegetables simply means bulking out with even more goodness!

When I was looking through one of my Slimming World cookbooks, Family Feasts on a Budget I found a lovely recipe for Sweet Potato Pasta Bake. I had planned to follow the recipe but, in true Hijacked By Twins style, I could not stick to the recipe and added a lot more vegetable goodness.

This meal was a huge success and I wanted to share it with you today.

This is what I did...

Organix Goodies Giveaway!

In the past I have told you how much the kids love Organix snacks. They are a healthier option and us parents can be safe in the knowledge that they contain no nasties! Earlier in the year I told you all about their new snacks for older kids, Punk'd, today I am going back to snack for the younger ones.

Leftover Christmas Dinner Soup and Lots of Christmas Inspiration!

𝅘𝅥𝅮 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas 𝅘𝅥𝅮

Yes, December is here and all of our focus is now on Christmas! I am planning meals, we are planning shopping trips and we are all planning our decorations. When it comes to Christmas food I always do a traditional turkey, that is a must. But I also love to plan what we will be having after Christmas day and how I will be using up any leftovers from Christmas dinner.

As much as I love Christmas dinner I always enjoy the leftovers the following day. There are so many ways for you to revamp leftover to create a whole new meal. But one of my favourite leftover meals has to be a good, warming soup. A couple of weeks ago I shared with you a post all about a fantastic five bird roast that is perfect for Christmas dinner. I purposely cooked extra vegetables just for the leftovers!