Easy winter cooking with Colman's and Knorr

Life can get very busy as a mum of three and particularly when one (or more, as was the case this week) of the children get ill it is really hard to stay on top of everything. It is important to me to be able to feed the family a good and nutritious meal even when time is tight so I often use some quick fixes and I'll share a couple of my favourites here -

Knorr stock pots -
My dh picked these up on special price when they were first launched and I have to be honest and say I wondered what the fuss would be about. Then one batch of winter vegetable soup later and I understood, they offer a richness and depth of flavour that I find cubes or powdered stock just do not.

This week I made a very simple spaghetti bolognese (which I served with garlic bread, peas and sweetcorn) and for the first time stirred in one of the beef stock pots about 15 minutes before serving. Muuummm is what I can say, oh yes I will be doing this again, it tasted delicious.

Colman's recipe mixes - 
I absolutely love these, they make cooking so easy and also super tasty. Staples that I use time and time again are the chilli con carne, chicken casserole, beef casserole, sausage casserole and cottage pie.  I have used many of the other varieties but these five staples can always be found in my store cupboard. I highly recommend them and often find they are on special at the supermarket and I can pick two up for just a pound.

Knorr gravy pots -
The first time I saw these little gravy pots was when my Unilever winter food hamper arrived with me a couple of weeks ago. I gave the onion gravy one a try one night when I had cooked toad in the hole. The taste of the gravy is excellent but for five of us we needed more than one pot to have enough to go round. I did find it a bit more effort to boil the gravy on the stove rather than just stir powder/ granules into hot water but the taste was so much better that it is worth it.

Nothing wrong in making life easy for yourself every once in a while I say, what little cheats do you use?

Disclosure: I was sent a food hamper from Unilever for the purpose of this review. I was not instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Smurfs 2 DVD

The kids were very excited the other night when I showed them that the Smurfs 2 had arrived in the post for review. They had all watched the original Smurfs move about a year ago with dh whilst I was away in Ethiopia, so for me this was my first foray into the newly recreated world of the Smurfs.  I loved the original cartoons when I was a kid so if I'm honest I expected to be disappointed with this film as remakes are often not as good as the original but I was very pleasantly surprised and enjoyed this film.

Synopsis

Evil wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria) creates Hackus and Vexy, a pair of mischievous Smurf‑like creatures, hoping they will let him harness the magical Smurf‑essence. However, he soon discovers that he needs the help of Smurfette, who knows the secret to turning the pair into real Smurfs. When Gargamel, Hackus and Vexy kidnap Smurfette from Smurf Village and bring her to Paris, it’s up to Papa, Clumsy, Grouchy and Vanity to reunite with their human friends, Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris) and Grace Winslow (Jayma Mays), to rescue her.

But will they succeed and more importantly what will they all learn along the way? Probably my favourite part of the film was all the great story threads it had going through it, there was a fabulous message that we are all different and we choose who we will become. My favourite line was "It does not matter where you came from, what matters is who you choose to be".

Take a peek at the trailer and this will give you more of a flavour -



I found the Smurfs 2 a sweet film which was completely inoffensive. It made for a good family watch and kept us all in our seats happily munching the popcorn. My 6 year old twin girls probably loved it the most, one of them loved Smurfette and one the naughty girl Vexy, I think that tells you a little about their characters!

JJ, who is 10 years also enjoyed the film and he liked some of the one liners, there are a few good jokes in there if you listen for them.

All in all we give this a Pannell family thumbs up and would happily recommend the film to other families.

Run time: 105 minutes
Classification: U, suitable for all

Smurfs 2 is released on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and DVD with ultra-violet as of 2nd December. There are some fabulous additional features like the history of Smurfette and the animates making of some of the characters, as well as many deleted scenes.

You can purchase the DVD for £10, the Blu-ray for £15 and the Blu-ray 3D for £18 on Amazon.

Disclosure: I received this film free of charge for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Lewis come and do my school run and be really challenged!

Until July this year our school run consisted of myself and the three kids taking a five minute walk down the road and we were there, it really was idyllic and we never had to get in a car, well not unless I was late for work!

Since moving, the school run is pretty different.  We now live five miles from the kids school and even if we wanted to walk it would be too dangerous, a big main A road and then country lanes without any paths are our route. Also in the interests of being frugal and green we car share with our neighbour now. So my school run includes six super chatty kids in the car, all aged between 5 - 10 years old.

We do have a lot of fun but it can test your skills of concentration as a driver. The questions and chatter is pretty relentless - 'Mum, put on Olly Murs', 'Mum, can we have a snack when we get home?', 'Mum, can F come and play?' and on and on. Then in the background I can hear them playing the yes/ no game or singing along to the latest track. The noise level is high. I have to be honest and say that I have not really consciously thought about how demanding or stressful the school run can be, it is just something you do each day and I'm incredibly grateful to my friend P for doing one of the runs, so I only have to do it once a day.

Take a peek at this fun short clip and see how Lewis Hamilton copes with a school run -



Allianz Insurance asked the racing driver Lewis Hamilton to undertake a school run to see how stressful he found it as someone who is used to coping with driving in extreme conditions. He said 'I can certainly understand how parents could find the school run stressful and a real challenge when it comes to driving safely. Jess and Lauren were great fun but they were very chatty - so I had to make sure I remained focused on driving throughout the journey'.

The little girls made me smile and it was obvious they were super excited to be in the car with someone so famous but I'd like to set Lewis a real challenge and say come and do my school run and have six noisy kids in the car and then you can really test your powers of concentration!

As parents I think we all realise how important it is to keep our children safe and to be aware whilst we are on the roads, but it is great to have a reminder every once in a while as it is far too easy to become complacent.

Review: Hello Kitty childrens watches

My twin girls are six now and they have started to take a real interest in what time it is, I think this is mostly to do with being able to check that Mummy is not sending them to bed before their allotted time!

Miss M is doing pretty well and seems to be getting the hang of it and Miss E has not taken as much interest as yet but that's OK. I am thinking it will be a good boost for Miss E though as she has trouble with letters and reading and as numbers seem to present no problem to her if I can help her to tell the time (particularly if we manage it before her twin sister, who is normally the first to do everything) this could give her self esteem just the kind of boost it needs.

Peers Hardy kindly sent me two Hello Kitty watches for the girls and I picked the ones that looked easiest to start to tell the time with. I really love how easy these watch faces are, not only do they give the hour times but also the minutes and they even have reminders on the hands as to what each hand means. I don't think it will take long at all to help the girls be able to tell the time with these to help.

The style I choose retails for £14.99 per watch and I think that is a good price, the watch looks to be quality with a stainless steel case, glass front and leather adjustable strap. I choose two slightly different colour ways so the girls can be individual.

You can see in the picture above how the watch is presented for sale. It comes on a cardboard slip in a plastic covering. It is not the best packaging in the world but it does the job and it was nice and easy to get into, none of those nasty ties that so many products have nowadays.

The back of the watch is a classic buckle fastening and my girls do not yet have the dexterity to do their own watches up but it is easy enough for me to help and I know they will develop that skill in the next year or so, JJ did.

I've only showed you one style but there is a massive range of Hello Kitty watches to choose from and there are many other great ranges from peers Hardy too - Mr Men and Little Miss, Moshi Monsters and Tikkers for children.

You can purchase watches form the Hello Kitty range at Watchshop.com, watches2u.com and on the high street in Debenhams, H Samuel, Fenwick Newcastle and Bentalls Kingston.

Disclosure: I received these watches free of charge for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

It'll be snowing at Butlins this Christmas

As you know our family loves Butlins and we go to one or more of the resorts every year but we have never yet had the fun of going at Christmas time. Each of the three resorts are open with Christmas themed short breaks starting from 13th December.

It does sound like you will have a fabulous time if you choose to visit - you can enjoy everything included in the price of your break, there is an Ice Rink, Winter Wonderland - where every child will get a free gift from Father Christmas, the Skyline Snowstorm - meaning that snow is guaranteed at Butlins, Christmas themed arts and crafts, and a traditional family pantomime.

If you are there for Christmas Day you will all be treated to a 5 course Christmas dinner and of course this means that you don’t have to worry about cooking or washing up - perfect! Then those lucky guests who stay over new year will enjoy a fabulous party and get to enjoy a firework spectacular.

Thee will of course be all the normal fun of Butlins too, with the indoor splash waterworlds, fun fairs, Bobs Yard and loads of family shows and entertainment with popular characters such as Mike the Knight and Angelina Ballerina.

Christmas themed breaks start from only £41 per person, for a 3 night break. Book online at www.butlins.com/Christmas or call 0845 070 4730. All breaks are priced per person and subject to availability. Entertainment may vary by break and resort and is subject to change.

Don't be sad if you can't visit Butlins this Christmas you can still join in with their superb advent giveaway. Like them on Facebook and then keep an eye every day for the chance to win great prizes like spa hampers, theatre tickets or an Xbox.

Disclosure: I am a Butlins Ambassador and in May next year I will visit the Bognor Regis resort to review a family holiday. As a family we truly love Butlins and pay to visit each year as well.