Meal Planning Monday - 8 August

This week I've decided to make only recipes I've found on American blogs and websites. My kids can be pretty picky eaters and I have been seduced by the ideal that so many 'moms' promote online. If they have shiny happy blogs then they'll have shiny happy children - right? Since it's school holidays I'm even going so far as to make some breakfasts as well. (No children, you can't have Malted Wheaties this week. You'll have a pastry and damn well like it.)

Breakfast:

Cheerio Muffins

Strawberry Granola Bars

Doughnuts or Beignets (very tempted to make these but not sure if I will)

Dinner: 

Chicken enchilada wontons and taco rice

Spinach and cheese strata - not sure if anyone but me will like this, but I think it looks delicious

Lemon chicken

Slow cooker pulled pork - I've made this before but not with this recipe

Raspberry chicken salad with grilled peaches

Turkey with smashed potatoes, potpie style

Slow cooker spicy pork goulash

That seems to be an awful lot of food but I should be able to freeze portions for another week. I'm not looking forward to making out my shopping list. I will adapt as much to be Slimming World friendly as I can.

Pinterest!

For someone whose blog is about random things that have caught my eye, you might have thought I would have discovered Pinterest a long time ago. As it is, my sister introduced me to it a week or 2 ago and I'm hooked. How fantastic is that site! Not only is it a place for me to stick things I like and might need to find again (you should see the mess my Bookmarks are in) but it's full of other cool stuff people have found. It's a both a brilliant resource and an amazing time waster, and just perfect for someone like me who has the attention span of a toddler some days.

One of my favourite finds this week is Kirsty Calquhorn's 365 days of Pinterest creations blog She's pretty inspirational. I have been treating Pinterest a bit like a magazine - something to dip in and out of for entertainment or ideas - but she's actually doing.

Fab ideas I have found which I will definitely be trying are:

Chocolate Mint Cookie Mounds - choc mint is the favourite flavour of my husband and 2 sons

The Bored Jar

Stained glass sculpture

Star Wars figures (Ok, I already knew about these, but have ordered the wooden dolls now)

Pretty book marks 

I could go on... I am in love with Pinterest. 

Inaugural post - ooh the pressure!

Wow, my first post of a new blog. I've had a personal blog for the last 5 years, but it's more of a diary and a letter home than a blog that's of interest to a wider audience, which is what I'm aiming for with this one.


It's not a 'Mommy' blog (not least because I'm not American), it's not a foodie blog (though I love to cook and eat). It's a blog about things that have caught my interest and which I feel like investigating further, but which my husband (1) or kids (2) have absolutely no interest in. You, dear reader, therefore become my partner in crime of probably what will be quite trivial topics, but which I hope you'll share my interest in.