Cake sale woes

We were late for the cake sale at school today....every last one had gone by our arrival. 
  
Even the much despised shop bought Mr Kipling ones....it's a big no no at our school to bring a shop bought cake to a cake sale. Although I do engage in such practices myself.....I trot out the working mum excuse, or even worse engage my parents in the cake making and then pass the results off as my own. There, I said it. 

Well I digress.  Yoyo immediately burst into tears about the lack of cakes......this is very unlike her, so in a moment of desperation I announced we would make some cakes together when we got home. 

So without further ado this is my recipe for cooking with children.  Photos very kindly provided by The Queen of Clean.

 

Take equal measures of tolerance and patience....

Turn one (or if preferred two), blind eyes depending on potential for spillage.....

 

Add in one stock phrase, to be repeated throughout process.  

My current favourite is 'Hang on a minute!'

Finally, and this is the crucial ingredient......mix in endless amounts of enthusiasm.

Have a fantastic weekend :)

Toad

There are many reasons I love my husband.........but his Toad in the Hole is high up on the list.

It's his signature dish.

Would you just take a look....!?  Fabulous.  We call it just 'Toad' here, in an attempt to have a little inside joke.

This is more than a salad

This is my Mum looking after me.

Whenever things get a bit much for me, my Mum will step in with a salad.  She made me one just like this the night I came home from hospital with my firstborn.  Complete with her Delia Smith dressing in a jam jar.

And she made one again for me today and dropped it round whilst I was at work. She knows a salad is required often even before I do by the tone in my voice on the phone, or just plain instinct that I've got a lot on my plate.  And this little gesture of someone caring enough to buy and chop all these ingredients and make the dressing for me always has the desired effect.  I feel loved.

So thank you Mum for this salad and for all the salads you have made me.  They mean a lot to me.

And thank you Dad for driving it over (and everything else you do for me).

New favourite

Loving this new snack I've 'invented' this week.

Okay, I'm sure someone must have done it before me. Flatbreads (discovered in Tesco's at weekend) with ham, sunblush tomatoes and basil. The key ingredient is the sunblush tomatoes which are somewhere between sundried and your average tomato.

Delicious and more importantly takes less than 30 seconds to prepare.