Slimming World Quick and Easy Creamy Pasta

This Slimming world quick and easy creamy pasta recipe is so easy to makeand is super tasty PLUS its almost syn free, has plenty of speed foods and is really filling

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 tub tomato and herb Quark
• 500g pasta
• 1 Pepper de-seeded and chopped
• 1 onion chopped
• 10 cherry tomatoes chopped
• 1/2 tin or 140g frozen sweetcorn 
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 1 dessert spoon of grated parmesan
• Chilli Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Salt and pepper

• Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the stock cube, pasta, pepper and onion and simmer for 10 minutes

• Take out 2 serving spoons of the pasta water and keep to one side

• Add a teaspoon of garlic powder and a half teaspoon of chilli powder to the reserved pasta water and stir well

• Add the sweetcorn and tomatoes to the simmering pasta and cook for a further 5 minutes, then drain well

• Remove the pan from heat and retrn the drained pasta and veg to the pan
• Pour in the reserved pasta water and mix in the tub of quark and one dessert spoon of parmesan cheese
• Season with salt and pepper
• Stir well
• Serve

I have more Slimming World friendly recipes here

Let me know when you try this yourself, I'd love to hear what you think.

Happy 7th Birthday Golden Child

Oh my Golden Boy happy happy birthday, last year I wrote about how the years are going too quickly (as I do every year) and I feel like I wrote it only yesterday.

What a fun packed year we have had with so many activities and days out, holidays and adventures

You have remained the funny cheeky chap who wins hearts wherever we go and my boy you melt my heart whenever I look at you. You make me giggle with your perfect comic timing and your funny funny facial expressions, you can always make me feel good with one of your all encompassing hugs and I love how much you adore your sisters and Daddy

We've had a bumpy school year and there have been many tears from both of us and I know school can seem imposing but your bravery and strength have carried you through. 

 I still know that you could rule the world so long as you knew Daddy or I were right behind you, soon you won't need us giving you that security you will know you are capable of anything and then the world will be your lobster. For now I'm happy to hug you tighter and hold your hand whenever you need it, and I shall do that forever and for as long as you let me.

You are my crazy dude, my handsome kind, generous and empathatic boy always wanting to make people feel good and always with a strong sense of what is right and just, one day you will be changing this world for good (and to us of course you already do) fighting for what is right, or perhaps your love of problem solving, lego build and logic will set you down an engineers path like Daddy but whatever you do this world is better for having you in it. We love you more than all the grains of sand on the beach and all the salt in the sea

Don't ever change your gentle ways my little Golden Child

Education Quizzes

Don't worry it's not another SATS rant, I'm actually talking positively today about Education Quizzes, but not in the formal sense.

Peanut and The Golden Child get a lot of homework, a fair bit of which doesn't make sense to me! I know it's been a long time since I was in school but teaching  happens  very differently now so I'm often at a loss as to how to help them, especially Peanut with her key stage 2 work.
I  recently read about online education quizzes and had a bit of a light bulb moment.

The site has many sections each containing teacher written quizzes, we especially loved the KS2 education quizzes which really helped Peanut and I understand how to work through some of her trickier work by going through questions online together and getting answers straight away so we knew that we were on the right track

Education quizzes is a subscription scheme costing £9.99 per month with no obligation or minimum subscription length

Although the subscription cost of £9.99 may be prohibitive for some parents I like the fact that you can dip in and out when you need so if you want only one month you simply cancel your subscription and pick up later if you need to or you can have as long as you like on a rolling subscription , better still schools can sign up and subscribe for pupils  from only £2 per pupil per YEAR! I think this would be a great way to support parents and children out side of school.

Now you all know I'm against formal testing so while I see the benefit of this subscription in preparing for SATS that's not the biggest appeal for me. I'm more excited that I have a wealth of teacher created worksheets at my finger tips, so when we pack up for our family adventure and take time out of school I can test MYSELF to make sure I'm not doing a disservice to the kids' education while home educating. Alongside that there are Spanish quizzes which means I have a jump start on our family goal of learning Spanish on our adventure!

What do you think about this scheme? would it be something you could see benefit in? 

First-Time Buyer Information and Giveaway From Newcastle Building Society

I'm so happy to be able to be working with Newcastle Building Society and helping them spread the word about important fist time buyer information.

When i bought my first house, almost 19 years ago! I paid the princely sum of £19000! Looking back I can see how lucky I was in more ways than one. Not only did I only have to find 5% deposit but i somehow managed to find an awesome mortgage advisor who kept me calm during the ups and downs of house finding and buying.

Now I dont envy anyone of any age trying to get on the property ladder, my step daughter for instance is doing awesomely well in her own hairdressing business but as she works for herself many mortgage lenders are asking for extortionate deposits and up to 5 years of accounts so she is stuck paying pricey rental charges instead of investing in her own property.

Thankfully Newcastle Building Society are one of those company's who just get whats important in these situations.

Low deposits from 5%
Friendly helpful staff
Individual analysis for self employed applicants , requiring only 1 year of accounts or an SA302 form
Great linkable products like ISA's that give you cash back
Fabulous rates of interest
Really clear information

They are running two first time buyer events in the North East in June

1st June at Cobalt business park (lots of parking and really easy to get to)

and 15 June at Pleased to Meet You which is right in the city centre so really easy to hop off the metro after work.

There will be loads of information available and refreshents too (priorities right?) with lots of opportunity for you to pick the brains of the best advisors Newcastle Building society has to offer. Spaces are booking fast and are limited so to book your FREE space  asap email events@newcastle.co.uk

Because they are geet canny, and they know what the important bits are when you first buy a house. Newcastle have put together this awesome giveaway including

A new house hamper, £50 Voucher for Next, for some nice new homeware accessories, £50 Voucher for Sainsburys for those import first meals (or some celebratory champers!) and a £50 for Wilkinsons for all the practical bits and pieces.

To be in with a chance of winning this awesome prize worth over £200 just enter via the raffle copter below and a winner will be randomly chosen from the correct entry on 16th June 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

T and Cs no coash alternative, winner must accept prize within 7 days or it will be re drawn, decision is final, open to UK residents only.

Kazoops New Episodes on Cbeebies

We are very excited about Kazoops returning to Cbeebies If you've seen Kazoops already you are probably singing the theme in your head, if not then here's a quick run down...

Monty Kazoops, the little boy with a vivid imagination and a loyal pet pig, is back with brand new animated adventures in Kazoops, transmitting daily on CBeebies from Monday 17th April. 

 Monty Kazoop is a spirited boy of six, whose best friend is a pig called Jimmy Jones. In each episode Monty confronts a preconception about the grown-up world and sets out to challenge it, embarking on a wild imaginary adventure with Jimmy that offers them a fresh perspective.
 In each episode Monty and Jimmy use their imaginations to find ways to look differently at the world around them.  For after all, who says the world works the way grown ups think it should? Things can always be different if you just imagine...

Kazoops returns to Cbeebies today at 4.20pm and we've had a sneak preview of the first episode which is all about the power of day dreaming! The kids loved watching this and all three of them (ages 8,6 and 3) enjoyed the episode and are looking forward to the rest of the series. I love the music that goes with the shows and I think this series may be even more colourful than the last!

Don't forget to tune in today and let us know what you think.

The Tyne Theatre a Perfect Family Venue

We love the Tyne Theatre, I make absolutely no secret of my love of almost all things Theatre, but The Tyne holds a special place in my heart. My first ever Panto experience was in this theatre and I remember how amazed I was at the amazing build and the hilarious Panto.

Over the years we have seen some fabulous shows here and it is one of our first thoughts when looking for a family show. Just recently we went to see Ben an Holly and had an amazing time, sitting in the 'Royal Box' 

 

We really enjoyed the show and noticed while we were there how many family shows they have coming up.

They have Wizard of Oz Easter Panto  and Nyomis Wild and Scary adventure over the Easter Break 

In hugely exciting new Julia Donaldson's Stick Man Live  will be visiting the theatre in October and is totally top of my list. Its truly one of our favourite stories and gets amazing reviews.

Also in October 

The Hunting of The Snark 

The impossible voyage of an improbable crew to hunt an imaginary creature is brought magically to life in this sparkling musical comedy adventure for 4 to 94 year olds. Enter the imaginative world of Alice in Wonderland creator, Lewis Carroll, in this brand new, highly original, ultra-modern adaptation inspired by his much loved classic poem.

More family shows include Annie The Musial, Swan Lake by The Russian State Ballet and of course Snow White for this years Panto.

If you've not been to the Tyne before you are missing a treat, its centrally located, close to loads of places to eat and drink and its not just for familes, over the past couple of years there have been shows from the likes of Sarah Millican, Dave Spikey and Chris Ramsey theres loads of choice for adults visitors too, Im especially looking forward to Pam Ann and Holly Mcnish

Have you viited before? Id love to know what you think of one of my favourite places.

Meccanno 5 in 1 Motorcycles Review

We were recently sent this Meccano 5 in 1 Motorcycles kit to review. Its recomended for ages 8+ and having a Lego loving clan at home I figured my patient methodical eldest children would zip through this in no time at all.

The set has everything you need to build, all of the bits and bobs plus handy tools for tightening bolts and holding nuts in place (yes I did just giggle as I wrote that)

All started swimmingly and the boy at just 7yrs old managed well to follow instructions and check he was using the right sized bolts....

Sadly by step 9 the tricky bits had become too frutrating and it was left to his sister (age 8) to undo and start again as we thought we had made a mistake...

And thats where it all fell apart, not literally as you can see its still olted together, it all got a bit much,Tempers flared and there may have been tears! Mammy attempted to fix the issues but was close to a swear and then Daddy the engineer declared we should leave it for now and well......

No one wants to play anymore

Overall, 

• I love the set up (lego fans will feel the familiarity of step my step clear intrustions and diagrams. 
• I like the idea of Meccano but I think this set was a bit too fiddly for the 8yr age range and may be better suited to an older child 

The set is available priced around £12.99

Amazon Affiliate Link

Would I buy Meccano again? Yes, actually I would .We have used the junior sets with great success and I'd be happy to try a different set, Heck we may even get this built sometime soon. I shall certainly let you know if we do.

Are you a Meccano fan? How would you rate the difficulty of the build?