What we did this weekend…

Met up with old friends…

and made some new ones.

Found the Gruffalo’s House…

Before getting ready for an important first day…

The boys were feeling Crafty

What we did this weekend.

We converted this…

To this…

Then This…

Finding ourselves with a glut of courgettes and tomatoes after all the rain we decided to make ‘Glutney‘, a wonderful recipe for chutney using excess garden produce, or indeed store bought fruit and veg which is likely to be thrown away if not used, courtesy of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s ‘River Cottage Year’

Find the recipe here : www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

In the UK we throwaway 8.3 million tonnes of food and drink every year. Most of this is avoidable and could have been eaten, if only we’d planned, stored or managed it better.

We throw away food for two main reasons – buying too much, and disposing of items because they’re not used in time. Among this enormous quantity, which we dispose of, is 860,000 tonnes of fresh vegetables and salads and 500,000 tonnes of fresh fruit. As well as being damaging to the environment, food waste produces 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. This is food which we could have consumed and costs the average household £480 per yer, rising to £680 per year for a families with children.

Most of us don’t yet realise just how much food waste we produce but in our house we’ve resolved to take a good look at each bendy carrot or bruised apple just in case there is a chance that it can be incorporated into a dish, or even just juiced before being consigned to the compost heap.

Dodged the rain yet again on a camping trip to Loch Lomond with friends

What we did this weekend

Soaked up the Summer – Literally!

Wet weather attire all round.

When is this rain going to stop!!!

Torrential Rain + Saturday Afternoon = Play at Home

Mealtimes can be a nightmare, sometimes, for both kids and parents. So, you have to give credit where credit is due to those brave souls trying to make things a little easier for when lunchtime rolls around. Being a parent, I understand the frustration when my little girl has one of her “refusing to eat days”. Nothing, no matter what I put down to her, including her favourite, “Circle Bread”, which she makes herself from plain bread, a circle cookie cutter and some yougurt filling ( I know, but hey, she’s eating and that’s a bonus ) can satisfy Little Miss Fussy sometimes.

So, when I hear of guys like Funky Lunch and Hello Hanna who are trying to put the fun back into lunchtimes, plus earn an honest buck or two in the process, then I take my hat off to them.

We hope you like these concepts as much as ourselves and I’m sure you’ll agree that they are most definitely stress busters when it comes to kids’ lunchtime, and probably a welcome break for them too, instead of having anxious parents trying to lovingly force food down their wee throats… go check them out for yourselves…

Funky Lunch Pack Characters

Hello Hanna Interactive Dinnermats

Have you been poked yet? Do you wonder how your farm is coming along while doing the school run in the morning? Write ‘LOL’ a lot and ‘Like’ everything and join about 10 new groups a day?

Chances are, if you have said ‘yes’ to any of the above questions then your into facebook in a big way.

And guess what! So, are we

You can now connect with Mash N Gravy on Facebook by clicking on the following link :

www.facebook.com/mashngravy

C’mon join us – it’ll be a blast. LOL.

We have had many new arrivals here at Mash n Gravy this season in the form of new brands to the store.

However, there is one more new arrival which we’d like to share with you…

After loosing dear Noah, our home bred Weimaraner and last of the line last summer we decided to look around for something a little smaller to accommodate the fact that we have a young family and therefore a large breed may result in the boys being knocked over by a dog who’s body grows very much faster than it’s brain for the first couple of years.

We settled on an old fashioned Scottish breed and one in desperate need of preserving – the Dandie Dinmont.

The Dandie Dinmont Terrier took it’s name from a character in a novel written by Sir Walter Scott in 1814, but the dogs were around long before that. Known as Mustard and Pepper Terriers, describing their two colour varieties, they were highly prized as working terriers in the Scottish borders, where they were sent to ground after rabbits, rats, foxes, otters and badgers among others. They were often owned by gypsies and poachers – and in fact all the Dandies around today are descended from a poacher’s dog found in a trap on the Duke of Buccleuch’s estate – in 1839!

In the modern age, the Dandie Dinmont is rarely used as a working terrier, but still makes an exceptional companion dog. They are hardy, intelligent, friendly, gentle with children and a good watchdog. They are not too excitable – like some breeds of terrier – but they have very much a mind of their own.

This is how Edward should look when fully grown

However, we are paying him up in installments, and this is how he looks at the moment… Don’t worry, the legs and body will be arriving shortly.

We’ve had a significant birthday here at Mash n Gravy HQ recently. My eldest son turned five and as if this wasn’t a big enough deal the first wobbly tooth was discovered!

We couldn’t let the occasion pass by unmarked therefore organised a party – for the birthday, not the tooth – and a special cake, which must be shared pictorially, not literally, (sorry, none left) with you, our blog readers.

The creation was the idea from the girls at Cupcake in Glasgow (www.cupcakeglasgow.com) was a work of genius which I, sadly do not possess. But it illicited the desired “ooh’s and ah’s” from the little people and tasted like a slice of heaven.

See for yourselves.
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