Egg and Pepper Breakfast Muffins

So I had a lot (I mean A LOT) of eggs that needed to be used up this week and I've seen this kind of "breakfast muffin" thing floating around on Pinterest so I thought I'd it a go.

I used 1 egg per serving and some frozen mixed peppers. I decided to make 5 as I figured I could freeze them and have 2 or 3 for breakfast with some baked beans or a piece of toast depending on how hungry I am that day.

This is so simple I'm not even going to making a proper recipe for it! Basically crack your eggs into a bowl, add a generous helping of frozen mixed peppers, spoon out into a deep muffin pan, pop in the oven for about 20-25 minutes on 200. Et voila!

(Please excuse that pretty overfilled one on the top right!)

 

I was thinking these would make a great Slimming World or generally diet-friendly breakfast or lunch as there's no junk in them.

 

Enjoy!

Crafty Pinterest Plans

Who else is obsessed with Pinterest? I can spend hours scrolling and pinning, pinning and scrolling... I have boards of all of these awesome craft ideas that I am "going to do". Of course I'm not going to do them! I'm terrible at making stuff! But at least the idea is there!

Lately I have been thinking that it is about time I actually give something a go... I mean I have almost 4000 pins and I don't think I've tried any of the recipes, organisational ideas or crafts that I've loved enough to "pin". So I created a board of nursery craft ideas as I figure while on maternity leave and preparing for the new arrival I might feel an urge to actually make something! 

I love this idea. Something so simple but (if I make it nice) can be treasured for a long time. I had a look on good old eBay and the wooden blocks aren't too expensive to buy either. This is definitely a maybe.

Ok, so this is a link to an etsy page (more on etsy love at a later date) but going along the same wooden block theme - how cute are these? I've seen a few similar ideas and I think I could do some kind of PVA glue magic with some nice little cut-outs from books or things I've printed online. 

How darling is this? Our nursery colours are yellow and green but the blue would be so cute as a contrast - maybe in a white frame though (I feel another Ikea trip). And all I'll need is just some nice scrapbook paper and maybe a stencil to do those letters... any thoughts on how to make that look as good?

I love this. It is so dainty and cute, and I love that those words have been stamped on giving it that "shabby chic" feel that I am totally obsessed with. I don't have a sewing machine so not sure I'd go about doing that (maybe with some embroidery? I'll have to do a bit of googling...) but this would be cute with little blue and yellow bunting on a white background wouldn't it? Or maybe I could find some cute checkered fabric. 

And finally, how cute are these letters? Looking at them they look far too neat to be something someone like me could make, but if you follow the link to the blog they're from then they actually aren't that complicated. Obviously we don't know what we're having yet, and so don't know what name we're going with - maybe this is one for the future?

Toy storage: HOL side table

 Look at that mess! All living room toys are supposed to fit into that stripy basket... they don't, but they're supposed to. I'd had enough of more and more things making their way into the living room and just being dumped higher and higher so we bought a proper toy box. Well I say a proper toy box... it's meant to be a side table.

This HOL side table from Ikea was only £16. They had a bigger one but we figured with having another little one running round soon they'd need seperate spaces for storing their junk toys. It was really easy to assemble - and I hate flat-pack furniture with a passion! It took me about 10 minutes to throw together and it makes such a huge difference! Definitely going back for that second one on our next Ikea excursion.

Oooo... tidy!

And plenty of space for all of her toys. Anyone else's kids obsessed with Moshi Monsters?!

Cheesy chicken slice aka the "pastry thing"

This is a favourite in our house for using up leftover food... you can put pretty much anything in - sweet or savoury (just not together). We call it the "pastry thing" in our house... we call alot of things "thing"... but I figured I better give it a better name!

Ingredients

• 500g pack of puff pastry
• Leftover cooked chicken
• Peas
• Sweetcorn
• Grated cheese (as much or little as you like/have)
• 1 tsp mixed chilli flakes and sea salt
• Good dash of black pepper
• Flour (for rolling pastry)

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 200
2. Dice up your leftover chicken
   
3. Next bung everything (bar the pastry) into a mixing bowl and give it a good mix
   
4. Roll out your pastry using a little bit of flour
   
5. Put the flat pastry onto your baking tray (which I line with greaseproof paper - but you don't have to) and turn all the edges up
6. Put your chicken-y mixture onto the pastry and smooth it all out 
   
7. Now pop the tray into the oven for about 15-20 mins or until the pastry has puffed up nicely and gone a lovely brown
   
8. Slice and serve!

(Alternatively you can let this cool, slice it up and pop it into hungry people's lunchboxes. OH will be having a good slice of this in his packed lunch tomorrow)

Delicious!

Chilli Con Carne

I love chilli con carne - but as my partner isn't a huge fan of mince I just don't have it enough. Yesterday however (when clearing out the mess of a chest freezer we have) I found a pack of lean beef mince and decided that I was having chilli for tea!

Chilli Con Carne
Serves 2-4 (depending on how big you like your meals and what you have it with)
Total time: About 35 minutes (including chopping up veg, etc.)

Ingredients: 

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or whatever cooking oil you use)
• 500g lean beef mince
• 1 medium-large onion (chopped)
• Handful of mushrooms (I used 6 - peeled and sliced)
• Frozen mixed peppers (A generous amount - I used about 1.5 cups worth)
• 2 gloves of garlic/2 tsp lazy garlic
• 1 tbsp mild chilli powder (you can use hot if you like - didn't want to risk with my heartburn)
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 Bovril/beef stock cube (I just like the extra kick Bovril gives)
• 2 tbsp of dried coriander
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 250g passata
• 410g tin of red kidney beans
• Half a tin of baked beans
• Half a tin of sweetcorn

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a decent sized saucepan on a medium-high heat, add beef mince and cook until mince has all gone brown (I know it will keep cooking but having given myself food poisoning before I take no risks!)
2. Next add in the onion, mushrooms and peppers and let them cook through for a few minutes until they are all nice and soft.
3. Now it's time to add in the flavour! Garlic, chilli powder, paprika, cumin, stock cube (crumble it in), coriander and tomato puree got chucked in. Give it a good stir - now is when it all starts to smell like a really good chilli! Yum!
4. Now add in the passata and give it a good stir. Turn the pan down to a medium-low heat now.
5. Let the pan simmer for about 10 minutes or so (this is when I do my jacket potatoes... I used frozen ones last night because I am trying to use up as much freezer food as possible at the moment. Tonight I'm having it with rice though so this is when I'd chuck on the rice).
6. Finally, add in the beans and sweetcorn. Give it a stir. 
7. Leave it to continue simmering away and then turn the heat back up just before you're ready to eat it.
8. Serve with jacket potato, rice, pasta, salad, garlic bread, in wraps... the choices are endless! Enjoy!

(P.S. this is super simple - I am rubbish at cooking and even I spent the whole meal going "this is amazing!" and "I am a chef"... lol.)

Squishy report: 30 weeks pregnant!

How far gone? 30 weeks - 10 weeks til the due date!

Total weight gain: 1 stone - no weight change this week.

Maternity clothes: Still no new ones. Still living mainly in PJs and leggings.. especially that now I'm on maternity leave!

Sleep: Slightly better this week. I think that might have something to do with the acid reflux tablets the doctor prescribed me. I'm still getting heartburn but it is much more manageable now.

Movement: I think this every week but I honestly think this is the most the baby has been moving. I woke up at 2am this morning and baby was kicking, same at 4am, at 5:30am, at 7am and at 9am (when I finally dragged my lazy backside out of bed!). Does this baby never sleep?!

Food cravings: Still twister lollies. Nothing much other than that. Although yesterday afternoon I NEEDED chocolate. I couldn't shake that craving so had to give in...

Gender: Still no idea.

Labour signs: Nope nothing.

Symptoms: Sciatica - which is much more manageable with my new exercise ball (I find bouncing up and down and side to side really helps - plus that is practically exercise isn't it?), taking painkillers when I need to, and the fact that I can sit down whenever I need to. Acid reflux - like I said before the tablets my doctor prescribes are amazing. We ran out of milk last night and usually that would be a huge problem but I was actually ok - and managed 10 hours sleep last night!

What I'm looking forward to: Nursery is all plastered and I believe OH's dad is starting to paint that room and the LO's room from today, plus we chose the nursery carpet last night - so hopefully soon I'll be able to see the baby's nursery finished! Also we go on holiday in just over 2 weeks so looking forward to that too. 

I have been reading about Squishy's progress each week here so go and have a look. 

Tesco Groceries

We get our food shopping delivered purely due to convenience. Plus as I don't drive and Tesco will deliver to us for a mere £1 it definitely beats the buses!

We tend to flick between Asda and Tesco mainly depending on what we need/fancy and what deals are at that time. But in my opinion Tesco's Everyday Value products beat Asda's Smartprice hands down - there's a much better range and they don't taste quite as cheap as the Asda's do (plus I can get away with giving the OH value products more and he won't notice as much! Mwahahaha!)

So firstly I got a whole load of tinned stuff - 3 sweetcorn (we use these with everything), 4 chopped tomatoes (for sauces, etc), 4 new potatoes (amazing roasted or in quiches), 2 cartons of passata (sauces), 3 mushy peas, 2 ravioli and 1 beans and sausages. I've had them all before except the ravioli and beans and sausages - but figured they're worth a try as now I'm home all day they make a quick and easy lunch if I'm not feeling too great. 

Here you can see our 3 (yes, 3) bottles of skimmed milk. We prefer skimmed to any others (it tastes less cow-y....don't ask) and we go through easily 4 pints a day between the 2 of us. You can also see a sneak peek at some of the naughties I bought!

So the naughties! 2 packs of mini marshmallows (2 for £1.50 - just to top up for baking), 2 400g blocks of Extra Mature Cheddar Cheese (2 for £5 - I like a little bit of cheese, and the OH loves a load of cheese so I usually will whizz about half a block of these in the food processor at a time to grate it (we have one of those attachment things - fancy!) so we don't go through it quite so fast. But extra mature just because we prefer this - it's got a stronger taste so you don't need as much in theory. 2 packs of EV Caramel Wafers (40p a pack so worth a try), 1 pack of EV Milk choc wafers (54p), a pack of EV choc digestives (44p - got these to hopefully make some rocky road with if we're needing a sugar kick), 2 chocolate swiss rolls (25p each), a pack of Jammie Wagon Wheels (these were £1 on offer and I had a 45p off voucher - bargain!) and 2 packs of Butterkist sweet popcorn (on offer for 99p a box - and last time we went to the caravan on holiday we were eating this as our naughty evening treat to save some money). Just out of shot are 6 (yes... I know) bars of EV Milk chocolate (30p each and I use these for baking).

Ok, so it's not all bad! I got a lettuce, some bananas, a few carrots and  pack of cherry tomatoes.

So frozen stuff - a tub of light Walls ice cream (only type I'm allowed to buy..), a bag of mini corn on the cobs, a bag of roast potatoes and a bag of frozen mash (the last 2 are crazy I know but they're just what we prefer.)

2 cartons of smoothies - they're only 75p each for 750ml cartons at Tesco and I love them. Apparently they contain 2 of your 5 a day per 250ml (nice to know) and I just love that when you look at the ingredients they are all things I recognise (considering the price).

Oooo another naughty... 2 bottles of diet cherry cola (on buy one get one free and 89p each normally). I love diet coke and I figured I'll have one as a treat at home and I'll try and save one for holiday. (The caffeine keeps me happy, ok?)

OH's crisps for work. 99p for the meaty ridge cut crisps and £1 for the pom-bears!

2 Cornish pasties (half price at the moment), a pack of pepperoni (for homemade pizza or just sandwiches) and a 6 pack of mini naan breads for when I make a curry. In the background you can just make out 2 packs of rolls (one normal for sandwiches and one finger for hot dogs) that were buy 2 for £1.

An unsmoked gammon joint that came in at just £4.01 and a huge pack of beef mince that was only £2.75. 

Toilet rolls are £2.45 for 9 (they are cheap but don't feel it - I know some people are fussy with loo roll) and a 2 pack of Flash Magic Erasers (£1.50 - I got these as I want to see if they actually work. We have dirty handprints on our nice white walls from where our old lodger who moved out a few weeks ago ran his grubby hands down the walls. grrrr). Also a bottle of bubble bath (that I forgot to photograph apparently) for 70p.

And finally a pack of cheap white printer paper. If it's no good the LO can have it for drawing on.

And that is it! How much do you reckon?

....nope, you're wrong! Including delivery costs that all came in at a very satisfactory £54.77 - bargain! 

We don't shop every week like this, just when we need certain things. So hopefully other than a top-up on fresh stuff we'll be good for a fortnight or so now.