Mud Cakes and Wine

We have five hanging baskets to be planted this year. Mr MC&W offered to have the children so I could go the garden centre and choose all the plants we needed. It felt a little like supermarket sweep, I was on count down to get back for him to play golf. But I am thrilled with the choices and the colours we have this year.  I went shopping earl ier than last year and  choice of plants was so much better and lots of new and interesting colours to choose from. Petunia, I have to have a big basket of Petunias and this year they were selling black ones, I have always wanted to do a basket that had these balck petunia, I mixed them with Blue vein to create the most dramatic basket I have ever done. I adore this one as it is so bold and so hope it works out well. I am a little obsessed with Nemesia they are just stunning flowers and they have this beautiful variety called Rhubarb and Custard I decided to get two and then surrounded with Calibrachoa Cabaret in Light pink and

Were has May gone? It seems to have whizzed past so quickly in a bit of a haze. We also have the joys of half term to look forward to as well and we really need the break from the school routine. Friday - Maple Glazed Sausages. Tomato Soup and crusty bread for the boys Maple glazed hot dogs with mustardy onions Saturday - Mr MC&W has been wanting to try this meal for ages its called Duck and Waffle - Sounds interesting but hard work. Boys will have sausages, beans and jackets Sunday - Roast Chicken breasts for the boys traditional roast for Mr MC&W and I more of a spring roast lots of courgettes, asparagus and peas all quickly stir fried with some new potatoes Monday - Meatball Stroganoff or may change to BBQ depending on the weather for us all Meatball stroganoff Tuesday - Beetroot and feta Patties. Big plate of cheese, salad and flat breads for the boys Beetroot feta patties Wednesday - Avocado and Smoked Salmon Spaghetti Carbonara with our eggs for the boys

Wow another week and another meal plan... where is the time going? Friday - Pizza for the boys as it is school disco. I will have a Jacket Potato and Mr MC&W will have a ready meal as we are having to split drop off and collection duties of the disco and the toddler who needs putting to bed in the middle of it all. Saturday - Spag Bol for us all Sunday - Roast Chicken Monday - Frittata with Spinach, Courgette and mint thanks to Gino healthy Italian Cookbook. The boys will have a cheese and ham frittata Tuesday - Oven baked Fish and Chips for us all Ovenbaked fish and chips Wednesday - Chestnut mushroom, Fennel and Bacon Pasta. Bacon and tomato for the boys Fennel and bacon Pasta Thursday - Super Spicy Pizza with Salami the boys will make their own pizzas. This again is from Gino Healthy Italian

We have taken our first steps in the GYO world and I must admit I have found it all rather confusing and I am sure I am not alone thinking this. After the feeling of triumph from building, lining and filling our raised beds we now have to try and grow something. I had ordered lots of seed catalogues and read them all, read them again and that is when the confusion and lack of belief started. Can we do this? there was so many dates and words going into and straight out of my poor brain. Am I about to waste a lot of money I began to wonder. I then took a step back and decided to think about this and get my mind round it all. I narrowed the catalogues down to one and went through ticking the vegetables we eat and cook with the most, then I looked again at what could be planted in the time frame we were planting from may time and lastly what were suitable for growing in pots. I found for this the Marshalls seed catalogue was very helpful to me, it had symbols that were easy to reco

This week has been much better and I managed to get the weeks meal plan written then i realised Mr MC&W has loads of work meetings and had to re do it last min again Friday - I am out so will eat pizza with the boys, microwavable meal for Mr MC&W Saturday - Fish, Chips and Peas for the boys. Steak, Chips, Peas, Button mushrooms and peppercorn sauce for us Sunday - Family lunch, evening will be Jackets and beans or tuna mayo Monday - Proper Chicken Curry for us all Proper chicken curry Tuesday - Winter Salad Nicoise for us all Winter salad nicoise Wednesday - Treat night of a Lamb burger and Quorn burger for the boys Herby lamb burger Thursday - The boys will have pasta and tomatoes with broccoli and we will have the ragu but I use a tin of green lentils not the split red ones Tagliatelle with vegetable ragu

Ever since moving to our house we have wanted to keep chickens, finally after 7 years we are at a stage that we can afford to do it properly and give them the time and attention they will need. We are complete chicken novices, to start we visited a local farm that specialises in chickens for families, they are happy to give advice about the process.  We are very determined that our chickens need to be happy and thought long and hard about this decision. We can even get them looked after by this farm when we want to go on holiday, we now book two holidays one for us and one for the chickens. Finding a chicken coop and run was not the easy process we though it would be. The coop had to be the right size for 3-4 chickens, we nearly brought a bigger one but were told they would get cold and suffer. The run size is very important, when the website says suitable for 3-4 chickens that refers to the coop and not the run, you need to get a much bigger run than the one that comes with

We have not stopped and the meal plan has been flung together after a really busy week. Friday - Gammon, Eggs and Chips Saturday - Boys are at a party so will be eating cheese sandwiches, sausages and cake. Mr MC&W and I will be having a Charlie Bigham meal as a treat Sunday - OB family lunch will be a big pasta bake wit lots of salad and breads Monday - leftovers from the party Tuesday - Mustard Salmon with beets and lentils. Boys will have tomato soup with rolls Mustardy salmon beetroot lentils Wednesday - Piri Piri Chicken for Mr MC&W and I. The boys will have chicken curry Thursday - Tortellini with pesto and broccoli Tortellini with pesto and broccoli