National Sandwich Week

Did you know this week is national sandwich week!

Loving the news of Sandwich week

Oh my, I genuinely can not express my love of a good sandwich. So much so I'd struggle to pick just one favourite! Anything from a Joey Tribiani style feast to a simple cucumber finger sandwich. I will never not be happy with a good home made sarnie!

choosing which num nom flavour would make the best filling

But what better way to celebrate National Sandwich week than to share family Monkeyfeet's top 5  favourite sandwich ideas with you. 

It took a while for us all to decide, the kids took their latest Num Noms collection outside for some filling inspiration, 

But I took to my facebook 'Villager Group'  to see if they could help me choose, and we had lots of suggestions but the most popular  was the one I had already chosen as my desert island sandwich...

Christmas Sandwich (Mammy Monkeyfeet)

The BLT (Daddy Monkeyfeet)

Nutella (Peanut)

PB and J (The Golden Child)

Crisp Sandwich (Termite)

So the big question now is... what is your favourite sandwich?

St. Marys Inn A Perfect Family Venue

 Situated just a short drive from the centre of Morpeth St. Marys Inn, feel like its in another world, set in lovely surroundings and hosting a welcoming bar, lots of little nooks and crannys to sit in and hotel accommodation dripping with rustic charm. The hotel is just a mile from White house farm and 10 minutes from Morpeth High Street so is a perfect place to eat if you are planning a family day out.

We went along to enjoy afternoon tea for Mr Monkeyfeet and I, with the kids choosing from the Children's Menu 

We were given colouring in pages and pencils, even a pencil sharpener! Our drinks were brought straight away and there was no rush to make our menu choices, always good with my indecisive bunch. The Kids went for Sausage and  Chicken Dippers, the quality of the food is brilliant, the chicken dippers were home made and the sausages were good quality full of flavour and locally sourced. The gravy was amazing too so flavoursome I really want the recipe. The kids had a choice of fat chips or skinny chips and they got a drink and dessert all for £5. No teeny portions either they were decent sized meals!

My most favourite thing about eating here though? Absolutely nothing was a problem, we changed things from the menu and they bent over backwards to ensure Termite got a lovely allergy safe meal, even going so far as making her a 'special' banana split.

Dairy and Soya Free banana Split, It was almost bigger than Termites head!!!!

We adults were brought pots of tea and a huge platter of goodies for our afternoon tea with Egg Mayo, Beef and Horseradish, Salmon and Ham and Pease Pudding Sandwiches, 3 types of scone with butter cream and jam  to accompany and then 4 of the most lovely desserts.

We could not possibly have finished it all ourselves, but never fear our children are like dustbins and were happy to help.

You see Peanut in the background, waiting patiently for me to share!!!

Priced at £14.95 per person I can't tell you what amazing value this is, we have had smaller afternoon teas and paid more than this, there was food left even with the help of two dustbin children and the quality was awesome, I can't say enough how full of flavour everything was, the scones were the perfect balance of soft and crumbly, the sandwiches fresh and lovely especially the beef which was cooked to pink perfection no old shoe leather here.

If you ever spend time in Morpeth you'd be mad not to give St. Marys a try they have an amazing range of GOOD food on offer and the service is great not to mention the beautiful layout ensuring you feel like you have your own little corner of the place.

Heres a quick tour

You can connect with St Marys on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter 

Play Time At Brewers Fayre

You may remember we've reviewed activities at Brewers Fayre before so we were happy to pop along to the newly refurbished play area at Wessington Way.

The company have just spent over £100,000 creating a brand new play area and as always there's emphasis on Beano, with Dennis the Menace featuring strongly.

The play area is set on two levels and is really quite big with plenty of space to run wild. There are little tikes cars and a toddler area, an activity den and lots of things to climb in in or over.

 

 

 

We went as a party of 11 and the 5 kids in attendance had lots of fun. There were a couple of things I would improve, one was a magnetic locking system for the door to the play zone so that our little darlings are contained safely. But having spoken to the general manager that's one thing they'll be looking at installing soon.

 

The other, and this was felt across all the parents in the party, was that no adults are allowed in the upper level of the play area, now I'm no soft play afficianado but according to my play savvy pals all of our local play areas allow adults in to assist smaller children. I understand there are safety guidelines but I think in light of the Wessingtons new toddler mornings which will run every weekday morning this rule may need to be a flexible one or they could be some stuck toddlers losing their minds at the top of the slide.

 

 

The play area was clean and spacious and I loved the new carpet and the Dennis decorations.

 

I also loved this 'win a prize every time' grabber game. No more screaming meltdowns at the unfairness of grabbers that don't grab!

 

We each had a main and dessert chosen from a menu with a large selection of choice, we all enjoyed our meals, piping hot, plentiful portions and a good standard of pub grub. Brewers Fayre hold buffets nights through the week with themes like curry, Mexican, fish and chips etc which seem great value for money.

 

Overall we had a fun afternoon and would recommend for a family meal or shopping break!

 

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Guest Post - Lasagne With A Twist

Today I have  guest post from the wonderful Kate of Family Fever. We love a good lasagne in Monkeyfeet HQ and this one sounds absolutely luscious, I can't wait to try it.

Lasagne with a twist recipe

I love a good lasagne – a real classic that everyone in our family loves, and it can be a great way to use up any leftovers too – just chuck them all in! This is one of my favourite lasagne recipes, with a slightly unusual lasagne ingredient that makes it rich, moist and delicious!

Ingredients

•
 300ml beef stock
•100g pancetta, chopped
•1 red onion, chopped
•2 cloves of garlic
•Rosemary
•500g mince
•200g sausage meat
•400g tin of chopped tomatoes
•4 large squeezes of tomato puree
•1 teaspoon soft brown sugar
•Salt and pepper
•Lasagne sheets
•White lasagne sauce (you can make your own, but we cheat here by using a jar of sauce or making a very simple cheese sauce)

Method

•

• Bring the stock to the boil. In another pan, brown the pancetta and add the onion and rosemary. Cook until soft, then add the garlic, beef and sausage meat.
• While the meat is cooking keep an eye on the stock. When it has reduced by about half take it off the heat and set aside.
• When the meat has browned add the stock, tomatoes, sugar and seasoning and simmer for about 15 minutes.
• Grease a dish, then spread a layer of meat on the bottom. Next add a layer of lasagne sheets, then more meat followed by the white sauce. Continue until you have used up all your meat mixture. Grate some cheese onto the top.
• Cook at 180 degrees for about 45 minutes

What do you think? Do you add any little twists to your traditional recipes, I would love to hear them. You can follow Kate on Twitter and Facebook