Just How Many Kids Has She Got Now?...

There seems to be a growing trend at the moment with 'mummy and daddy' bloggers and I suppose I'm included in that title. I think it's great that mum's and dad's everywhere have a chance to vent to the world how hard, rewarding and bloody frustrating it is at times to be a parent. Most of all, l I think it's great that there is so much 'real' advice out there now for parents. When I had Olivia, a.k.a 'The Teenager', there was no 'Unmumsy mum' to tell me it was normal to feel shit, when I had just done the most amazing thing in the world, by pushing a human out of my vagina- when phrased this way is there any wonder you feel shit? No Man vs Baby to make me laugh, with the truthful but oh so funny accounts of parenthood. In fact the closest thing to a 'blogger' was good old Emma- she still writes that diary you know, she must have had hundreds of children by now! For those of you that don't know, Emma's Diary was written for mums-to-be and would be given to them by the midwife. It has of course, progressed into a great website, full of useful information and has been on the go for many years. That said, nothing quite beats hearing advice from the horses mouth, the real, normal, average Joe. There are blogs that relate to all types of parents, single, working, hard up- shameless plug- and I think it's great that parents everywhere have all this real information readily available. I suppose the question is do you use it? Have you felt anything other than sheer joy when you gave birth? Have you felt so guilty because you've missed their school play because of work? Have you been so skint you didn't know how your money was going to make it to the end of the day let alone the week? Has it helped any of these problems, knowing you weren't alone in feeling this way? I would love to hear your views on how bloggers have helped you- and no it doesn't have to be mine.

The Hungry Holidays

There are mixed feelings all round now the children have gone back to school. The parents that are struggling to let go of their first born now they are at big school- it gets easier trust me. Then there are the parents relieved, they no longer have to feed their children constantly throughout the day- since when did one school lunch need replacing with a second breakfast, brunch, lunch AND an afternoon snack? Seriously though, I do know many parents struggle during the holidays with the extra cost of feeding their children, but it really doesn't have to cost a fortune. I set this blog up for that very reason as I myself have been there. With a bag of porridge costing as little as 39p for 500g, there is no reason a child shouldn't have a nice filling breakfast. Also there are plenty of recipes on my blog that don't cost a lot to make. As much as I might not agree with the factory farming of chickens, I can't deny that it won't be a godsend to many families that you can pick a chicken up for under £3, giving you the means to make not just one, but quite a few meals for your family. I sincerely hope since starting this blog I have managed to help a few people.

I genuinely appreciate the positive feedback and comments, that I have helped you decide what's for tea, or learn how to cook some nice treats, but to help those that really are struggling to make their money go further is my main goal. This is why I am delighted that in the 10 months since the blog was just an idea of mine, I can proudly say it is taking off. My aim was to reach as many families as possible and with the help of various platforms, giving me the chance to spread the How to Be Hard up and Happy word that has become reality. I'm even more excited to announce a big talk with the Festival of Thrift organiser Stella Hall on Saturday 17th September 2016 in Redcar. I would love to meet as many of you as possible so I will also be available on the People's Encyclopedia to share my secrets. So come along and make the most of a free day out. I will be the one looking harassed, surrounded by children, some mine, some not, most probably bickering...It's what we do. Please come say hi we don't bite-except Chase- well I did name him after a cartoon dog....

Slow Cooked Ox-Tail Stew

I'm always on the look out for reduced or cheap items to make recipes for my blog. I have to say that, although these items were reduced, I certainly would not describe them as cheap. I have always wanted to use ox-tails to cook with, but having seen the price of them I've never bothered, I found some reduced in Sainsbury's and decided to give them a go. The finished dish was delicious served up with fresh green broccoli and new potatoes. The stew was everything I knew it would be, rich, thick and very tasty. All this aside would I buy it again? Probably not as the amount of cooking this cut needed meant not only was the meat expensive but the cooking of it was costly too. Having said that, if you fancy a treat and can afford it I would recommend giving it a whirl.

 Ox-tail 1kg

6 carrots chopped

3 red onions chopped

Small bottle red wine

Dried thyme tsp

Splash of Worcester sauce 

2 Heaped tbsp flour

Salt and Pepper

Small carton of passata

300ml beef stock

Tbsp oil

Add salt and pepper to the flour and coat the ox-tails in it.

In a very hot pan with some oil brown each side of the ox-tails.

After they are all browned place them in a large casserole dish and keep to one side.

 In the same frying pan on a medium heat with the fat from the ox-tails add the chopped carrots and onions and thyme and fry until soft, about 15-25 minutes.

Add the full bottle of red wine and a splash of Worcester sauce to the pan and stir.

Transfer to the casserole dish with the ox-tails add the beef stock passata and give it all another stir before putting into the oven at 180 for 2 and a half hours.

After 2 and a half hours give it all another stir turn the ox-tails over and return for a further 1-2 hours until the meat falls away from the bone.

It's quite normal to see an oily surface you can either skim it off now or leave it in the fridge over night to cool and scrape off the next day.

Shred the meat off the bones and make sure that all the bones are removed (No matter how much they have annoyed you this summer you really don't want to choke your family!)

When you have removed all the bones and added the shredded meat back to the dish, you can either keep it up to four days in the fridge until cooking again, or serve up with vegetables and potatoes immediately. 

Life Through Rose-Tinted Glasses

Are you sick of reading horrible stories in the news? Have you had enough of hearing about negative things that happen? Fed up with seeing nasty images or videos on-line? If the answer is yes, then maybe you need some rose-tinted glasses. My dad always jokes to me that I wear them all the time. I can help you get yours! Okay, I understand it’s easy sitting here in the sunshine with the birds tweeting to see things from a happier perspective, but that’s not always the case. In present times where we are having such doom and gloom rained down on us by the media how can we avoid it? There’s a well-known saying I love and it’s that a ship can’t sink unless it lets the water in. We have to let the negativity in before it can affect us. I’m not saying turn your back on things you wish to change because they are negative, because helping the cause that concerns you will help you feel accomplished and therefore make you happier. I find having a good clear out on social media sites helps, we all have those friends who moan about their lives when in reality their biggest problem is what to do for tea. Cutting out toxic people is a big step forward, people that make you unhappy or hold you back in any way are best out of your life. Refrain from commenting or reacting to horrible videos on-line, as all this does is pass it on like a disease, spreading around the internet for everyone else to see. Life’s much better when you focus on the positives, and believe you me I’ve had a lot of negativity to block out, however I have managed to focus on the good and life is rosy.

Simply Corned-beef Hash

This a versatile dish you can use at just about any mealtime. Serve with beans for a hearty brunch, on it's own as a filling lunch or topped with an oozy, poached egg for supper. It is definitely a dish to help you out if the purse has decided to go on a diet! My dad argues with me that this is not true corned beef hash as it isn't mashed potato and corned beef mixed together, I get the feeling it's like the 'panhag' and everyone has their own take on it. This is mine. 

Tin of corned beef roughly chopped

2 large potatoes cubed

200g black pudding chopped

Large onion sliced

Splash of Worcester sauce 

In a frying pan on a medium heat with some oil fry the onions.

In another pan boil the cubed potato pieces for roughly 5 minutes or until soft.

Put the black pudding and corned beef into the pan with the onion and fry off while the potato cooks add a dash of Worcester sauce.

Drain the potatoes add to the frying pan and cook while your beans heat up or you poach an egg.

Serve and enjoy.

Pasta Cheat

During the hellish ordeal that is weekend shopping, I came up with my next dish. As I sat in Frankie and Benny's watching the rush of people enter, eat and leave the restaurant, I wondered how many of us actually wanted to be there. Who was there by choice, or because it's the weekend thing to do or actually felt they just had to be there. I don't mean just eating out, but shopping. I really hate it, pushing through crowds of people all racing around trying to complete their missions. Sitting in queues of traffic getting angrier and angrier waiting to get to our destination as quickly as we can so we can get home again. I still can't get my head around the fact that people do this for pleasure. Give me the woods or the beach and I'm in heaven. That's not to say I didn't enjoy myself, we had a lovely family day out and it's all about compromise and doing things that everybody enjoys. Watching my youngest two children's faces light up because they are getting treated to a dessert and a balloon, they really are that easily pleased, is a lovely thing even if it isn't my cup of tea. Considering I got my inspiration for this next dish while I was there it wasn't all bad. So here's my recipe for bacon and mushroom tagliatelle. Combat the 'carb coma' by serving with a large fresh salad instead of garlic bread like I did!

Bacon (I used Asda smartprice smoked back bacon for £1.20 312gm)

250g mushrooms (mine were 25p from the Spar bargain!)

Tin of cream of chicken/= or mushroom soup

2 tsp dried thyme 

2 tsp garlic powder

400g tagliatelle

Finely grated cheddar to sprinkle on top

Slice the mushrooms and bacon

On a high heat fry them for 15 minutes or until golden

Add the thyme

Cover the tagliatelle with boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes

Heat the soup

Drain the cooked pasta, add the soup, bacon and mushrooms and serve with a sprinkle of cheese on top. 

Lettuce Pray For Tomatoes

If the words lettuce and tomato strike the fear of God into you, then you might be like my husband and class yourself as a 'salad dodger'. I will give you two of the simplest methods of throwing together a quick, delicious and dare I say healthy meal, that do indeed involve the normally sneered at couple of salad items. It's been a long time since we had a takeaway in our house other than fish and chips-well you have to take advantage of the amenities on your doorstep, right?-The one thing we do love,especially the teenager, is a char-grilled chicken kebab with all the trimmings. She's going through that phase, where a delicious and nutritious meal means a pot noodle. The lower half of her face is sponsored by Walkers and Cadbury, as she can be seen most days with one of their products hanging out of her mouth. So imagine the sheer look of joy on her face when I presented her with a chicken kebab, okay she grunted something and didn't look suicidal, for a second there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes. So if you want to trick your family into eating something healthy here are a couple of ways, just make sure to hide the lettuce and tomatoes in the salad drawer under the chocolate....

B.L.T 

I love a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich but mine has to be on seeded bread. I love Aldi's seeded loaf it goes perfectly with this!

2 slices of bread

2 slices streaky bacon 

Sliced tomato

Shredded iceburg lettuce

Mayonnaise

Grill the bacon until crispy

Spread the bread generously with mayonnaise

Line the bottom slice with lettuce and tomato

Top with the bacon and the top slice of bread

Eat it somewhere where nobody can look at you, like my son does, with those eyes that say feed me please mummy I'm starving-even though he's had a five course breakfast, still has half a banana hanging out of his face and chocolate round his mouth!

Chicken kebab

Chicken cubed

Pitta bread

Lettuce shredded

Tomato thickly sliced

Pickled cabbage

Chilli sauce

Garlic sauce

On a really high heat in a griddle pan, barbecue or grill cook the chicken until almost blackened on the outside

Heat up the pitta bread and slice open

Plate up the salad and sauces

Fill the pitta with chicken and serve. I also managed to get extra healthy points serving it with corn cobs.