The Old Thatch Wimborne - Review

It's always good to find new local pubs to visit, especially after not being able to visit one in so long! The Old Thatch Wimborne recently opened their (beer garden) doors to the public after being closed over lockdown and it's great to see a business back on it's feet with brand new ideas, and amazing food. 

The Old Thatch is located opposite Stapehill Abbey and is just off the Castleman Trail which links Wimborne to Ferndown and Ringwood to Poole. Dating back to the 17th Century, it's even rumoured to have it's own ghost! Nick Pestana has been the landlord since 2018 and recently he joined forces with multi-award winning restaurateur Andy Lennox to transform The Old Thatch into an elegant Gastro Pub, Kitchen and Country Store. 

Nick Pestana and Andy Lennox

The Country Store will stock an array of freshly baked bread and cakes, local meats and dairy produce as well as general household items.

The pub menu will be locally focused and will include a balanced selection of butchery, seafood and veg served in a relaxed environment. 

It was our first ever visit to The Old Thatch although having driven past many times. It's a stunning character building set back from the main road, and has a large beer garden at the front which now has a canopy/heaters for wetter and colder visits! 

There are lots of covid measures in place - no indoor seating obviously- but hand sanitiser available and plenty of space between tables. All the staff were wearing masks too. 

Now, onto the food. The menu features lots of pub classics such as bangers & mash, fish & chips and steaks, and there is also an option of some yummy sounding sharing platters. I've got my eye on the "Local and Melted" option for next time - melted cheese and chilli jam to dip you bread into! I imagine once the pub is fully open in May, the menu will be expanded but I found there to be lots of choice and even some vegan options. I'd had a sneaky peek at the menu before our visit and everything sounded lovely but myself and my Mum both decided to have the burgers. Well....what can I say. It was a burger like no other!! Firstly it was absolutely massive, a homemade 8oz burger in a toasted brioche bun. Topped with cheese, bacon and all the trimmings. It was absolutely delicious! It came with spicy slaw and skin on fries which were perfectly seasoned. 

The Old Thatch Burger

We debated about having a pudding but we couldn't resist the brownie, especially as it came with salted caramel ice-cream. And it was just as good as it sounded! 

We had a really lovely lunch at The Old Thatch and were thoroughly impressed with the food. The members of staff that we encountered were all very friendly and helpful. I can't wait to bring the family back, I know the children will be excited to hear there is a play area! 

*Disclaimer - We were invited for a gifted meal in exchange for an honest review. Those yummy food pictures do not lie ;) 

SKIPPY® SPOOKY SPIDER COOKIES

Halloween is fast approaching and the UK is getting just as mad about this scary day as the USA.  That’s why America’s famous smooth and creamy SKIPPY® Peanut Butter, is the perfect ingredient to give your party a real American-style creepy yet creamy treat.

Terrifyingly easy to make together as a family, these SKIPPY® Peanut Butter Spooky Cookies are guaranteed to cast a spell over true peanut butter fans, to make your party stand out from the chilling crowd.

This frighteningly good peanut butter from across the petrified pond is super versatile and has a creamy texture that melts in the mouth.  It’s made from high-oleic American peanuts, so your treats will be healthy as well as horrifically good!

Why not conjure up these SKIPPY® SPOOKY COOKIES with your little ghouls and goblins.  A truly creepy confectionery that’s guaranteed to treat not trick your ghoulish guests.

·         1 jar of Smooth SKIPPY® Peanut Butter

·         340g all-purpose flour

·         1 teaspoon baking powder

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         170g butter

·         150g granulated sugar

·         165g firmly packed brown sugar

·         2 large eggs

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.      Heat oven to 180°C/ 350°F.

2.      In small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; mix well.

3.      In large bowl, beat together peanut butter and margarine with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in granulated and brown sugars, then eggs and vanilla until blended. Beat in flour mixture just until blended.

4.      Shape dough into 1-inch balls. On ungreased baking sheets, arrange cookies 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes or until lightly golden. If decorating like spiders, remove to cool on baking sheets 2 to 3 minutes. Decorate to look like spiders, if desired.

5.      If decorating like spiders, gently press mini chocolate button or chunk into top of each cookie while still warm. When chocolate starts to melt, attach thin pretzel "legs" by placing end of pretzel into melted chocolate. Cool completely then attach mini coated candy pieces for "eyes" and mini sugar pearls for "pupils" with peanut butter.

For more information and recipes, check out http://www.peanutbutter.com/

Perfectly Patriotic with Stork

The Queen celebrated her 90th birthday this weekend and street parties were held up and down the country. The Mall in St James's Park, London was turned into a giant, first of it's kind, street party with 10,000 guests attending the Patron's Lunch. 

Stork challenged me to recreate one of their yummy looking patriotic cakes and we decided to bake a cake fit for a Queen, a colourful Union Jack cake. 

What the Union Jack cake should look like! 

I have to admit, baking is not something I'm a natural at and I've had more than my fair share of baking failures! But hey, Stork provided me with a fool proof recipe so I thought I'd give it a whirl...whats the worst that could happen?! (And plus I really like eating cake!)

Elliot loves helping me bake so we made a start on the recipe and everything went to plan. No eggshells went into the mixture, we didn't get flour everywhere, spoons were licked! The mixture went into the oven and we waited....

Unfortunately this is where things didn't quite go so smoothly!! When I took the cake out of the oven I realised that although I had greased the tin, it was well and truly stuck. Ahhhhh! Sadly, this is what my cake looked like : 

baking fail! 

I'm not sure even Mary Berry could salvage that disaster so after shedding a few angry tears, we started again! (The "cake" didn't go to waste though, we had it with ice cream and strawberries and it was like a very messy arctic roll!)

Fortunately my second bake was a big success.....I even used baking paper to save any sticking! Aside from my baking errors, the recipe was actually really simple to follow and one I would definitely do again. The double cream on top of the cake made it taste really fresh and light and I loved the fresh fruit on top. 

Woohoo, it almost looks like the original photo! 

We really enjoyed our baking challenge and I hope Her Majesty would be impressed at our Union Jack Cake! 

"I just need to lick it to make sure it's ok!"

For details of the recipe and more yummy looking bakes, head over to the Stork website

*Disclaimer - Stork sent me a voucher to cover the cost of my ingredients, all baking skills were my own ;) 

Summer Sides with Primula Cheese

Recently Primula challenged me to create some summer side dishes using their yummy soft cheese. I love anything cheesy and I love Summer time so I was looking forward to getting creative in the kitchen!

I started with looking on Pinterest and there are so many amazing sounding recipes on there....sadly, I soon realised my kitchen skills are abit lacking so I decided to keep things simple and rustle up a summery pasta salad and potato salad.

Cheese & Bacon Pasta Salad

The beauty of this recipe is that you can just add whatever you fancy and the quantities do not need to be accurate. Basically cheese and pasta is always a winner, you can't really go wrong with this!

1 tube of cheese & chive primula
1 splash of olive olive
Generous squirt of mayonnaise
A few handfuls of pasta (or as little or as much as you think you will need)
1 red onion, chopped
Cherry tomatoes, chopped
Lean bacon cubes
Sweetcorn
Seasoning

- Cook pasta as normal and run under cold water when done
- Whilst the pasta is cooking, fry the bacon pieces.
- In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together. The cheese is quite thick so I found using the olive oil and mayo thinned it out and made it easier to mix
- Season to taste - I used chilli seasoning to give it a bit of a kick

Really simple, but a really nice dish that is suitable for the whole family. It also goes perfectly with bbqs as we discovered over the weekend!

Healthy Potato Salad

500g small new potatoes

2 tablespoons Tesco Healthy Living lightest mayo

80g Primula Cheese, Light

Spring onion, chopped

1 teaspoon of paprika

- Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes in salted water until cooked, drain then cool

- Mix in a bowl with the other ingredients bar the paprika

- Season to taste and sprinkle the paprika on last

Potato Salad

This can also be adapted for Slimming World - the mayo is only half a syn per tablespoon and the Primula (the light cheese version) can be used as your healthy extra A choice (80g). Another simple yet effective recipe and one that tastes even nicer the following day I think!

Both dishes went down well with the family and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more summery recipes that I can attempt! We love eating outside and hope we get lots more sunshine filled days this Summer!

Organix Goodies - Banana & Date Chunky Fruit Bars - Review

Organix have launched these new Chunky Fruit Bars as part of their Goodies range. They are available in two flavours; banana & date and apple & date. 

We were sent the Banana & Date bars to try and Elliot was very keen to see what was in the box! 

The bar is seperated into five bite sized chunks and can be easily broken off. Perfect for little fingers! The consistency is a little sticky but this is a good thing because it kept crumbs to a minimum and makes it an ideal snack to have in the car or on the go. 

As always with the Organix range, you know you are getting a great quality item and the fruit bar is even one of your child's 5 a day. The only things added are a teeny tiny bit of rice flour to stop stickiness and a a tiny drop of organic sunflower oil to help with the moulding. 

Elliot is a big fan of fruity snacks and he enjoyed these, he especially liked being able to break off the chunks. My husband tried them too and he also gave them a big thumbs up! I thought the bars tasted a bit fudge like, and that can't be a bad thing can it?! 

We will definitely be buying these again :) 

Disclaimer: We received the bars for the purpose of this honest review. All views are my own

Easy Fish Pie - Weight Watchers Friendly!

When I find a recipe that is simple and pleases everyone, it becomes a regular occurrence on my weekly meal plans. I haven't got the patience to faff about with loads of ingredients and the following recipe is so simple! It does take a little bit of prep time but trust me, it's worth it. It's also fairly healthy - I worked out the Weight Watchers points to be 36 for the whole thing so 9 per person isn't too bad at all.

Easy Fish Pie - Serves 4

Ingredients

1 packet of fish pie mix

1 packet of cooked prawns (optional, but we really like prawns!)

Colmans Cheese sauce mix

1/2 pint of skimmed milk

2/3 carrots

handful of peas and sweetcorn

2/3 large potatoes (I like to use sweet potatoes)

Method

1. Place your fish pie mix into a large ovenproof dish and add a drop of milk. Cover with foil and cook in a pre-heated oven (gas mark 5 should be fine) for around 25 mins

2. While your fish is cooking, chop your carrots into small chunks and place in boiling water. Turn heat down and cook for around 8 minutes

3. Peel and chop your potatoes and put in a saucepan with enough water to cover them. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender - around 15/20 mins should be ok

4. Once your fish is cooked, break up the chunks using a fork

5. Mix in your cooked carrots, peas, sweetcorn and prawns

6. Add parsley, salt and pepper

7. Your potatoes should be soft now so drain the water and mash

8. Make up the Colman's Cheese Sauce using the 1/2 pint of milk, this won't take long but you need to stir constantly so it doesn't go lumpy! 

9. Pour the sauce evenly over your fish/veg mix and cover with the mash

10. Cook in the oven for around 25-30 minutes, gas mark 6

I normally serve with broccoli to keep it healthy but it's up to you, a nice bit of crusty bread might be a good option! 

I'm not the greatest cook but this recipe is so simple and the whole family really enjoy it! I love the fact it's got loads of veg in it too. It also tastes nice heated up the next day for lunch....providing there's some left! 

Fruit Bowl Snacks - Review

I'm always looking for yummy healthy snacks for Elliot and he is a big fan of the range offered by Fruit Bowl. They very kindly sent us some to review and Elliot couldn't wait to get stuck in!!

We were sent two packets of fruit peelers (one blackcurrent and one strawberry), two packets of fruit flakes (one strawberry and one raspberry), two packets of yoghurt flakes (one strawberry and one raspberry) and two fruit frollipops...although only one made the photo!

The fruit peelers were a big hit with Elliot, they come in 6 little sticks which are stuck together and he found it fun peeling them off one by one. The peelers are also classed as one of his 5 a day so it's a convenient way of topping up his fruit intake.

My favourite were the yoghurt fruit flakes - each 25g bag is only 112 kcal, perfect for someone with a sweet tooth who is trying to watch her weight! You get quite a lot in the bag too so you feel like you're getting a substantial snack.

The fruit flakes are available in three flavours - blackcurrent, strawberry and raspberry and Elliot loved these. They are tiny little flakes just perfect for little fingers to pick up, the only trouble was he was scoffing them so fast they ended up all over the sofa!! Just like the peelers, these are classed as one of your 5 a day.

Lastly, the fruit frollipop (1 of your 5 a day). They contain nothing artificial, just made with the juices of apples and pears which is then concentrated and formed into fun snake shapes. (Strawberry rockets also available). This took a lot of chewing and there was a lot of dribble involved but big thumbs up from Elliot - he couldn't wait to eat the other one!!

These are really handy to keep in Elliot's bag if we're out and about and he gets hungry. He's got a bit of a sweet tooth and I'd much prefer him to have something like this than a bag of sweets. And truth be told, he'd probably choose to have a bag of fruit bowl snacks over a bag of sweets! Well unless it was a kinder egg but that's a whole different story ;)

You can purchase Fruit Bowl snacks from all of the big supermarkets and you can usually find them located in the baking section.

Disclaimer: We received the snacks for the purpose of this honest review. All views are my own

Mealtime Meltdowns!

Compared to some horror stories I hear from frazzled mums, we have got off quite lightly so far with the "terrible twos". Elliot is quite happy and laid back and thankfully we haven't had to deal with too many toddler tantrums. That's not to say he is an angel!!

Recently we seem to have entered a phase where mealtimes are a bit of a challenge. Breakfast is ok as long as I rotate the cereral and don't let him get bored of something! He used to love the Bear Alphabites but he had them everyday for a while and in the end he refused point blank to eat breakfast and so I had to switch things up a bit. At the moment we are rotating mini chocolate weetabix and porridge, with the occasional slice of toast. Yoghurts and fruit are a popular choice but he'd eat yoghurts all day long if I let him!

Lunchtimes are a bit hit or miss. He won't really eat sandwiches and prefers to just pick the filling out! He doesn't seem to be a big fan of bread unless it's a french stick and then he'll quite happily sit and eat a few slices. Usually I just do a plate with lots of different things so he can pick - things like little sausages, babybels, cherry tomatoes, breadsticks, houmous. Dairylea dippers are also good if all else fails!

Teatime is the real challenge at the moment. Occasionally he'll demolish everything on his plate but recently he has been taking one or two bites and then saying "finished! pudding!". One night he didn't even take a bite and just said "no, pudding!". It's so frustrating because its usually food I know he likes, and even more frustrating when I've spent ages in the kitchen making a nice family meal for him to just have a couple of bites! We've had to get a bit tough on him because I don't want him thinking that he can just get a nice pudding without eating his main meal properly. (By pudding I mean a yoghurt or fruit)  If he doesn't at least try and eat it we've been saying no to pudding which he has not been too impressed about! The other day I made lovely homemade burgers and sweet potato chips - I couldn't wait to munch it but the only thing he ate was the cheese on top of the burger!! We tried bribery, tried being nice, tried getting stern, tried making him laugh, tried "here comes the aeroplane!" but he would not budge. There were tears (that was just me hah!), there was a lot of "I want puddddinggggggg!!" and thumping on his tray but we stood our ground and in the end he ended up on the naughty spot until he calmed down. And he still didn't bloody eat a thing!! Needless to say he was really hungry the next morning and then followed one of those rare days where he ate everything we gave him, even sandwiches!

Anyone else going through the mealtime meltdown phase?!

How Not to Bake Cakes!

I've already admitted that I'm not very good at cooking and that extends to baking too. In fact, the only thing I can make really well is tiffin cake and that doesn't even need cooking so that says it all really!!

I recently bought some dinosaur cake moulds from Tesco after admiring some tasty looking dinosaur cakes on pinterest. But sadly my dinosaur cakes turned out a bit crap....I should have let Elliot get on with it himself, he might have had a better result!!

It took a while for us to get going - Elliot found some chocolate in the baking cupboard and thought he'd have a nibble on that before doing anything else. And then he decided to play drums with his spoons on the bowl! And then when we finally got to the mixing stage he just wanted to eat the cake mix!! "Elliot eat that mummy!" . And then he was so intent on licking the spoon that he fell off the chair.....arghh...

We had high hopes as the dinosaurs went into the oven and the smell that came wafting out of the kitchen as they cooked smelt good. But sadly, they came out looking quite different from the immaculate dinos I'd found on Pinterest.....

Impressive eh!! Even Elliot looked a bit underwhelmed when I showed him. I thought maybe I could salvage the bake by decorating them nicely but Elliot then said he wanted red dinosaurs so I made up a sickly pink butter cream concoction. Hmm, how to decorate a mishapen, overweight dinosaur cake...

Please share your baking fails so I don't feel so bad ;) 

Old El Paso Review

Lets start by saying that I'm not a very good cook! I can rustle up something edible but I lack imagination. My husband can go to the fridge and pick out random items and create something amazing but I just don't have that skill! When Old El Paso contacted me and asked if I'd like to review some items I jumped at the chance! Mexican is a favourite in our household and it was about time we graduated from fajitas :)

We were sent sweetcorn relish, cool sour cream topping, tortillas, roasted tomato and pepper fajita mix, original beef taco mix and guacamole mix.  (The taco kit and the nachos I bought to go with our mexican feast)

We decided to give the taco mix a go and it really couldn't have been easier. I just cooked the mince up with some peppers and added the spice mix with a bit of water. It smelt really good and I couldn't wait to try it! 

I served up the beef with the soft tacos - I've always struggled eating the crunchy tacos (I make far too much mess!) so these were great and really tasty. The corn relish and the sour cream topping were both really nice and made a welcome change to mayonnaise which is what I usually squirt on top! I was planning on trying the guacamole mix too but the advacados I bought were rock hard and definitely not ripe enough to mash up. Will save this for another time! 

We had the fajitas a couple of days later and it was good to try something a little different to the smoky bbq ones that we usually have. The packet mix said medium spice but I like the fact you can make them to your taste by just adding as much spice mix as you like. We like a bit of a spice so I used the whole packet and it was really nice, although Elliot did say "bit spicy mummy!".....didn't stop him gobbling his fajita up though! 

The Old El Paso mix kits are really handy if you're after a quick dinner. I don't usually have alot of time in the week to make a big meal from scratch so these are a godsend! 

What's your favourite Mexican dish? 

Disclaimer: I received the items in the first picture for the purpose of this honest review. All views are my own...and the food really was tasty! 

Winter Warmers with Quorn

We are a family of meat eaters in this household and it's unusual for us to have a day when we don't have any meat, whether that be ham in our sandwiches or Elliot's absolute favourite - sausages!

I was invited by Quorn to test out some of their products and rustle up one of their Winter Warmer recipes. With the weather turning colder I thought that a hearty cottage pie would be a perfect Sunday teatime meal, and something the whole family would enjoy.

Using the Quorn Meat Free Mince I followed the step by step instructions on the website to make a cottage pie. My cooking can be a bit hit or miss but the recipe was very simple, even for someone like me! The mince can be used straight from the freezer and all the other ingredients for the cottage pie were things you'd probably already have in your cupboard so this makes it a great no fuss recipe which can be prepared in a very short time. Quorn mince takes less time to cook than meaty mince too so it's even easier to whip up a quick meal!

I served the cottage pie with additional veg and garlic bread (mm!) and I have to say, it was just as tasty as a meaty cottage pie. Quorn mince is a healthy source of protein and is low in saturated fat - ideal for providing your family with a healthy balanced diet.

I did mean to take lots of nice photographs to accompany my blog but sadly we were too busy munching our cottage pie and I only remembered when the plates were clear, doh! This is what the professional's cottage pie looked like....much prettier than my version thats for sure!

I shall definitely be buying Quorn again and who knows, I might try another recipe from the website!

Lunch for 3 at Giraffe

You may have heard of the Giraffe restaurant chain but you might not know that Tesco bought the company for £48.6m last year. Since then Tesco have been converting some of their cafes into Giraffe restaurants and their aim is to create a compelling retail destination where customers can meet, eat and drink as well as shop. 

We were lucky enough to try out the new Giraffe restaurant at Tesco Extra, Bournemouth last week before it opens to the public and we were really impressed! My first impression was that it was very family friendly and we couldn't have received a warmer welcome. Elliot was given a balloon, crayons and activity sheet and even a cute little plastic giraffe! The decor was a world away from the standard fare of the old Tesco cafes but that was definitely a good thing. It was bright and colourful with lots of tables and smartly dressed staff. And lots of highchairs!!

There was lots of choice on the menu and after lots of deliberation I went for "The Giraffe" burger (no giraffes were harmed, it was beef!) and my husband chose the Piri-Piri Chicken. The kids menu was equally as tasty looking and featured favourites such as burgers and hotdogs but lots of healthy options too. We went for the grilled chicken breast with salad and sweet potato fries for Elliot....mmmm!

 

The restaurant was quite busy but our food didn't take long to arrive - always good when you're dining with a not very patient toddler! My burger looked amazing and tasted even better - easily one of the nicest burgers I've had in a long time. Best bit though was the sweet potato fries - you ahve to pay extra for these rather than standard fries but it's definitely worth it, they are SOOOOO good! Could have eaten more! The piri-piri chicken looked really tasty and Paul said it was equally as good as Nandos. Elliot's meal was a good size for a kids meal and he couldn't wait to dig in, no complaints from him! 

Moving onto desserts, Paul had the Steamed Lemon & Blueberry pudding whilst I went for the Banoffee pie. I did mean to take a photo but unfortunately we were far too busy munching to be thinking about snapping a pic! Elliot's pudding was mango sorbet and he ate it all! 

We were really impressed by Giraffe and the quality of the food. It's great that they are so family friendly and cater so well for little ones. I do think that some Tesco customers may be put off dining here if they are used to the prices of the old cafes but I hope they give it a try. Our favourite family restaurant is usually Frankie and Benny's but we will definitely be returning to Giraffe instead next time we decide to eat out.

 

Iced Tea!