Cheeky Monkey Picnic - A Review

Once upon a time.....

Mrs Monkey, Barbie, Rabbit, Mouse and a Princess all wanted to go for a picnic.

The Princess brought her tea set and Rabbit brought a blanket and off they all went to living room woods.

"At least it's dry" said the princess as they set up their blanket and tea set.

As they all sat down Mrs Monkey yelled, "oh ah ah oh oh oh".  "Oh no" said the Princess, "Mrs Monkey said we have forgotten the snacks!"

But the Princess said they did not need to worry, as the the good people at the kingdom of walkers are sending someone with some yummy healthy snacks!

Cheeky Monkey to the rescue

Just then out of the trees, a cheeky monkey jumps down exclaiming "oohh ahh ahh ooh oohh oh! ".  "Ahh" said the Princess, "Cheeky Monkey said, fear not, I have brought some yummy Hoops and Crosses for us all to share!"

"YUM" they all shouted. "Lets eat!", which they did and all lived happily ever after.

Princess Sharing the snacks

We loved these snacks and not because we were a lucky recipient of a box from Walkers that contained a packet for us to try or the fact the parcel contained a gorgeous little cheeky monkey, perfect for my very own cheeky monkey!

My girl likes her food and I am always looking out for good and healthy snacks for her and her brother.  They both love fruit and like me are partial to some crisps, so I was pleased to try out these new walkers baked Hoops and Crosses, no artificial colours or preservatives and 30% less fat and great to pack for lunches out and about, good size for sharing between my two and some left over for me!  Not forgetting they have wholegrain in them too and I will be honest with you, tasted fab. 

As you can see from the photos below, my girl loved them, she was looking for more when we finished the packet.

NB:This is a sponsored post in conjunction with Tots100

Paid with Pie!

My wonderful dad has been and sorted out my patio, I paid him in food.

Steak pie and roast tatties to be exact.

Since discovering my slow cooker, this had been one of the best and quite easiest dishes to make.

You'll need:
Ready rolled puff pastry
Diced beef
Two onions
Beef stock
Tatties and veg

What you need to do:
First thing, seal the beef in a frying pan, move onto some flour, dust over then put into slow cooker, add sliced onion, beef stock, salt and whole peppercorns cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Pre heat over to 220.

An hour before the beef is due to be finished, peel and boil your potatoes for 12 mins.

Drain and allow the potatoes to steam for a bit, the chuff them up.

Grease an oven tray, empty potatoes onto tray, spray with fry light and season.

Put in oven for 25 mins.

During this put your beef from slow cooker into pie dish.

Get your pastry on top, roughly crimping round the edges, score and egg wash top.

After the 25 mins turn oven down to 185, move potatoes to top of oven and put pie in the oven. Cook both for another 25 mind or until pastry is puffed and golden.

Add your favourite veg. Enjoy.

Our water is Blue!!

The sun is shining at last here in Scotland and although I was a bit premature this morning outing my gladiators on, my feet were freezing! The afternoon got somewhat warmer.

Chucked the kids out the back garden at last without raincoats and umbrellas and decided to get the water table out.

I remembered I had wanted to do something for ages and now was my chance.

I made the water blue! At nursery, they told me my boy loved playing in the coloured water, so I wanted to give it a go.

Both kids loved it. It's not just water play after all, the colour of the water changes the colour of the bottles, hands, scoop, there was real joy at the realisation that the pink cup changed to purple under the water and when the yellow bottle was filled it looked green!

Was worried it would dye everything but thankfully after a good hour playing the kids are not smurf like!

Homemade sausage rolls! Quick and easy.

I can not believe how easy this was, I know it's not sausage meat but what is better than good quality sausages?

All you need is puff pastry, your sausages, egg wash, parmesan and sesame seeds.

The construction is half your ready rolled pastry, egg wash it, place your sausages on pastry, sprinkle some of the cheese, roll the sausages in the pastry sealing the edges, more egg wash and sprinkle the seeds on top.

In the oven on about 200, until puffed and golden.

This comes from Jamie Oliver's meals in 30 minutes. Lots of little gems in there.

Kids wanted seconds, speaks for itself really :-)

Cheese Filled Burgers

As you know I'm a huge slimming world fan, their food ethos is one I follow even if I'm not strictly watching, because its just a easy healthy way to cook all the time.

I love their approach to burgers, although over the years I've probably added a wee bit here and there.

Our favourite version at the moment are these cheese filled burgers.

I serve them with or without a wholemeal roll, salad and of course SW chips!

Ingredient

650g extra lean mince beef

1 large onion grated (gives the burger moisture)

Garlic

Mixed Herbs

Oxo

Splash of boiling water

Babybel light

Pre heat oven to 185.

Put Everything bar the cheese into a large bowl and mix together until you get a patty type consistency.

I use scone cutters to get my burger shape, I'm not keen on doing it with my hands.

Press some mixture down into the mould, place a cheese in the middle and press more mixture round side and on top.

Lift off the mould, repeat until all mixture used up.

Put in an pre heated over for about 25-30 mins.

Serve with your favourite burger sides.

Enjoy!

Fruit and Chocolate lollies

Your favourite fruit, can't be too ripe.
Your leftover Easter eggs, melted
Lolly or cake pop sticks

Make your fruit thick enough to take the stick, strawberries for example can just be left.

Attach your fruit to the sticks and dip in the melted chocolate, I imagine sprinkles would work well too.

Leave to set. I used an apple as a makeshift lolly holder.

Great activity with the kids, tastes good too.

To Soft Play or Not to Soft Play

I will start by saying I am not a massive fan of soft play, you know the place, Monkey World, Kidz Zone, Mother Mental Breakdown.

Before I  became a mum, I had thought of these places as a place of possible sanctuary for parents, they go, let the kids run about having fun and they drink coffee and eat cake.

My first visit to a soft play my boy must have been about year old, not yet walking.  I am the kind of mum that jumps and has heart failure at the smallest trip, I am the type of mum that sees 10 steps ahead of any possible collision, falls, broken bones, hospital trips etc, it does not make me a easy parent, I think some would describe me as a bit highly strung, but that is me.

So these child infested play sheds are not where you would normally see me at my best.  If I am not able to get their dad to following them round like he is attached to them with a string, I pretty much follow them around the place with my accident radar of full alert.

I would see these group of parents sitting, chatting, reading, eating etc with what appeared as no care in the world, where where their children?  Why did they not display the panic I was feeling?

However my kids are growing, I trust more that there will be no broken bones, or split heads, that fat lips and hurt feelings from bigger kid barging past is actually okay.  Yes these places often smell, but that many kids under 7, what can you really expect?

Today I had a pretty positive experience kids were not interested in the toddler bit anymore, even my 2.5 year old was not into the "babies" section.  So off they went to the highest and the furthest reaches of this netted child play box, the flew down the biggest and bumpiest of slides and ran with some of the bigger kids and they were fine, at times I could not see either of them and I felt okay, it was quieter part of the day and the one we were at also had some great games and crafts available to do, the kids had a ball and I finished my coffee whilst it was hot!