Saturday is Caption Day - 25/05/2013

Maxx got some new pyjamas recently, they are Arsenal football ones as you can probably tell. Maxx hasn't shown a huge interest in football but when he put his pyjamas on he wanted to go straight out into the garden to play football! Can you caption this photo? Such a poser!

McCain Family Fun Night In - French Fries and Pitta Pizzas

One of our favourite meals as a family is Pizza. We usually have a pizza night once or twice a month where we either buy pizzas or make our own using puff pastry (very yummy). When we were asked if we would like to recreate a McCain family meal we spotted the pizza recipe straight away and decided to give it a go.

If you would like to make the pitta pizzas you will need the following ingredients  pittas, chopped tomatoes, an onion, a clove of garlic, mozzorella, mixed herbs, McCain french fries and your choice of pizza toppings.

The meal takes around 35 minutes from start to finish. The first step is to preheat the oven to 220degrees / Gas Mark 9.


 Preparation is simply a case of chopping up the onion and frying it in a pan until golden, add in the garlic and a generous pinch of mixed herbs, add in the tin of tomatoes and simmer for approximately 20 minutes until it has thickened to form your tomato sauce.

Try not to spill half of it over the cooker as I did. I am a very messy cook!

Whilst the tomato sauce is simmering brush each pitta with a little olive oil and grill until they are crispy. We put ours in the toaster and this worked perfectly for us. Cooking them before adding the tomato sauce stops them from going soggy. (eew)

When the tomato sauce has thickened and the pittas have been grilled or toasted it's time to start putting the pizzas together.

Since Maxx couldn't really help with the chopping or cooking side of making our meal I got him to help with putting the tomato sauce onto the pittas to create our pizza base. Maxx loves cooking/baking and was more than happy to be par of making our meal.

Once the pittas have been covered in sauce we each chose our own pizza toppings. This is the best bit! We ended up with one tomato and mozzarella pizza, a ham and pineapple pizza and a mushroom and ham pizza.

The next step is to spread your McCain french fries onto a baking tray and bake in the oven for 14-16 minutes until they are hot and crispy.

After the chips have been in the oven for around 10 minutes add the pitta pizzas to the oven for the remaining 4-6 minutes.

The last thing you have to do is serve up the pitta pizzas with McCain french fries and some salad if desired and ENJOY!

The ingredients we used came to approximately £8 which  I think is good value for money, there were enough pittas left for another 3 pizzas and lots of McCain french fries left too! Our ingredients were bought from Tesco.

The pitta pizza and french fries make for a really enjoyable and fun meal for all. Kids will love being able to choose their own toppings and get involved with making their own dinner. This is a meal we will be trying out again maybe with different toppings and some salad.

*We received the ingredients to make the pitta pizzas for the purpose of this review. I always give an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Playfoam from Learning Resources

Maxx and I were recently sent something very fun to review through Blog Match. We were sent Playfoam by Learning Resources.

Playfoam is a lot of fun, you can squash it, tear it, stretch it, bounce it, craft it! The possibilities are endless.

The first thing Maxx wanted to do when we got the Playfoam out was to squash all of the colours together. I'm not sure why but he was adamant he wanted to mix them all up. Before he got a chance we managed to make a few different things. Maxx and his mum made Humpty Dumpty whilst I had a go at making letters. We all found it very easy and fun to play with.

The great thing about Playfoam is it doesn't stick to things. Maxx has a lot of play dough but I hate when it's out as it always ends up with bits on the carpet even with the messy mat down. With Playfoam I don't have to worry! Playfoam will never dry out either so you can play with it over and over again.

I love the fact that Playfoam is great for young and old. Young children will delight in squeezing it in their hands whilst older children (and adults) will enjoy creating shapes, words and scenes out of it. It is fun for the whole family.

I think it would be great if you could buy a container which would separate all the different Playfoam colours and keep them all neat and tidy. A packed lunch box however does a good job of keeping the Playfoam neat and safe until we are ready to play with it again.

Playfoam is made using a non-toxic formula and is perfect for children aged 3 onwards. The Playfoam combo 8 pack is available to buy from Learning Resources and is priced at  £9.00. I think this is very reasonable for something that you can play with time and time again.

Now for some exciting news! There is a competition running on Learning Resources Facebook  page where you can win one of 5 Playfoam combo 8-pack. So what are you waiting for? Head on over and enter now. The competition closes on Friday the 7th of June 2013.

*We received Playfoam to try. I always give an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Silent Sunday 19/05/2013