A Mexican Fiesta with Veetee Rice

Veetee have sent me a hamper of products and challenged me to make something delicious using their microwaveable rice with a world cuisine theme. As a big fan of Mexican food, I decided to use the Spicy Mexican Style Rice as a base for two vegetarian dishes that are quick and easy to make and are totally family friendly, bringing a taste of Mexicana to my home for everyone to enjoy.

Mexican food is colourful, vibrant and deliciously tasty, with a smoky warmth and a kick of chilli heat. Eating it conjures up images of Latin American fiestas, plazas selling street food, Mariachi bands playing and the chilled vibe of the 'manana' lifestyle. Mexico seems to embody a passion for life that is reflected in the cuisine itself.

I really enjoyed creating Smoky Bean Burritos and a One Pot Mexican Spicy Rice and Quorn Chicken dish using the Veetee rice, which were both very much enjoyed by the family. Having the Veetee rice pre-cooked and seasoned makes it an excellent ingredient for adding to dishes, saving time and adding flavour. Here are the recipes.

Smoky Bean Burritos

8 large tortilla wraps

1 onion chopped

1 carton of chopped tomato with garlic and chilli

1 tablespoon smoky chipotle sauce

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 can of red kidney beans

1 can of pinto beans

1 can of chickpeas

1 pack of Veetee Spicy Mexican Style Rice

grated mature Cheddar cheese

Fry the onion in a deep frying pan.

Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan and add beans, tomato puree and smoky chipotle sauce.

Cook for about 10 minutes until slightly reduced and combined.

Microwave the Veetee Spicy Mexican Style Rice for 2 minutes on high.

Add to the pan and stir through.

Take each tortilla wrap and put a big spoonful of the bean and rice mix into the centre.

Top with grated cheese.

Fold into parcels to make the burritos.

Put in an ovenproof dish.

Top with a little more grated cheese and pop into a pre-heated oven at GM 6 for 15 minutes.

Serve with salad, guacamole, salsa and sour cream. They are also delicious cold!

One Pot Mexican Spicy Quorn and Rice

1 pack of Quorn fillets defrosted

1 tablespoon of smoky chipotle sauce

oil for frying

1 handful of frozen peppers

1 pack of Veetee Spicy Mexican Style Rice

Chop a packet of defrosted Quorn fillets into chunks.

Fry in a little oil and add a tablespoon of smoky chipotle sauce to coat and season.

Add a handful of frozen mixed peppers and cook through for about 3 minutes.

Add one packet of Veetee Spicy Mexican Style Rice and stir fry for a further 3-4 minutes until piping hot and combined.

Serve with freshly boiled corn on the cob.

Veetee Heat and Eat microwave rice is available from most major supermarkets with an RRP of £1.49. Available in Spicy Mexican, Thai Jasmine, Peri Peri and Pilau flavours, which are suitable for vegetarians. Each pack serves  1 as a meal or 2 as a side, or it can be used as an ingredient in recipes.

www.veetee.com

I See Me Personalised Story Book

What child wouldn't want to own a storybook where they have a starring role?!  With I See Me! children aged up to 8 years old can see their own name and photo featured in a beautiful personalised book, designed to celebrate their own uniqueness.

One from the range of over 40 books available from I See Me! is the very lovely book that Freddy received personalised just for him: "Freddy's Very Own Trucks and Things That Go". With lively, rhyming text and full colour illustrations, it takes a child on an adventure where animals use a variety of different vehicles to deliver the letters of their name to a construction site. Each personalised vehicle begins with one of the letters of the child's full name and the story culminates with the child being able to see them erected as a giant sign dedicated to them.

The hardback book contains paper that is thick and glossy, giving the book a top quality feel. We love how the vehicles had Freddy's name on them and how children can see the arrival of each letter delivered by land, see or air by the hard working animal characters. Even if the child's name contains multiples of the same letter, there is a variety of different vehicles so the book doesn't repeat itself. Freddy has four D's in his full name and even though the dump truck delivered two of them, the text was different both times, acknowledging that it had returned with another D so there is no repetition of pages. 

The front of the book has a personalised dedication to Freddy featuring a photograph, making this book a lovely gift and keepsake that will be treasured forever. The back features an encyclopedia of 'things that go' with pictures and information on each vehicle, which will add some useful words to a young reader's vocabulary. 

This book is great for encouraging kids to read and little ones will be able to discover the letters in their full name, learning to spell it in a fun way. Each page is rich in detail and even the youngest child will enjoy listening to the story and looking at the lovely illustrations. Having the personalisation throughout the book also helps build a child's self-esteem and confidence.

Other books in the range feature princesses, pirates, fairy tale characters, outer space, sports and animals. There are books for big brothers and sisters, ones to celebrate new babies and titles for Christmas and birthdays. Each one is beautifully printed especially for the child, featuring the child's personal information and photo. The personalisation differs from title to title with some stories featuring the child's hometown, best friend's name, birth date and favourite colour in addition to their name. Some books even give the option to customise the character in the book to personalise skin tone and  hair colour. Others include the child's photo throughout the book. These options make each book completely unique, making reading them a special experience for every child.

I See Me! is an award winning and much loved American company that specialises in these wonderful personalised books as well as a range of personalised gifts. The site is very user friendly, allowing you to see inside the books before you commit to buy.

Books can be shipped to the UK for approximately £6.50 postage and packing with a two week turnaround time. My Very Own Trucks book retails at £23.

I See Me! Children's Personalised Books will make a lovely gift for any special occasion and really will be treasured for years to come.

www.iseeme.com

Twenty Years of Change

Twenty years is a long time.

So many things have happened.

So much has changed.

My three youngest children were born, and along with their two older siblings, have become the wonderful people they are today.

Ian and I got married, cementing a relationship that began when we were still in school.

Princess Diana died in that terrible Paris car crash. The princes have grown into fine men breathing new life into the royal family and a new generation of baby royals have now taken their place in the monarchy.

The Spice Girls formed and split up. Take That split up and then reformed. The Rolling Stones and Meatloaf are still going strong.

Hollywood lost Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Christopher Reeve and Patrick Swayze way too soon.

We've seen the meteoric rise of the internet, WiFi, smartphones, smart TVs, laptops, smart watches, iPods and iPads.

Our entertainment has been dominated by Minecraft, PS3s and PS4s,World of Warcraft, X Boxes, Netflix, Sky TV, X factor, Big Brother, Pixar and GTA.

We've watched The Matrix, Avatar, Minions, Frozen, Wreck it Ralph, Twilight, The Avengers, Monsters Inc, Jurassic World - all in glorious high definition.

The Simpsons, Eastenders, Casualty and Corrie are still running, but we have said farewell to Top of the Pops, Friends and ER.

Binge watching box sets has become the thing to do. Breaking Bad, Scandal, The Walking Dead, House of Cards, Once Upon a Time and Dexter - how I have enjoyed you!

We read Kindles instead of books. Harry Potter brought magic in to the muggles' world. Fifty Shades of Grey brought erotica (albeit poorly written erotica) into the mainstream.

We have YouTube, digital photography, Google, Facebook, Instagram, Skype, Pinterest and Twitter. We are connected 24/7.

Starbucks and Costa serve us skinny decaff pumpkin spiced lattes and double shot caramel macchiatos.

The 2012 Olympics saw Team GB win golds galore as London became the place to be.

We fell in love with the Blade Runner Oscar Pistorious and were left shocked and disgusted by his violent fall from grace.

My family all became vegetarian and we've witnessed Quorn become a staple product in supermarkets. All but one of us remain true to our plant based diet.

There have been terrible wars and natural disasters, which have shaken our world to its core.

We've witnessed examples of humanity and inhumanity in equal measure.

I have become a very proud Nana and Grauntie as new babies are born into our family.

Our family has evolved as wings have been spread and good-byes have been said, but home is always where the heart is.

So much has happened. So much has changed.

And it's all gone on without you here to see it or be a part of it.

Twenty years without you.

It still hurts.

It always will.

I miss you Carol.

How we celebrated Ian's birthday

Ian and I have been together forever. We've known each other since we were 12 and been married for 18 years. So we've celebrated plenty of birthdays and special ocassions together. Yesterday my wonderful husband turned 47. 

Over the years, the way we choose to celebrate the big events in our lives has evolved. Rather than being a couple who buys presents for each other, we prefer to do it differently and don't do gifts. Being gift-free eliminates so much stress and takes away the potential for disappointment. The expectation of him buying you the perfect present or you getting him something that ticks all his boxes, can lead to so much unnecessary tension. If you fail to read your partner's mind or find something that they think somehow proves your love for them, it can literally ruin your big day. And yes I speak from experience. Once Ian surprised me with jewellery. The lovely little box promised so much, but the plain gold chain inside (lovely as it was) disappointed me dreadfully. Did Ian think I was plain, unfeminine and unworthy of anything fancy? My response was irrational, ungrateful and frankly pathetic. It put a downer on a special occasion and made me feel like a horrendous human being for my ingratitude. 

Also, with the current economic climate being what it is, buying costly but unnecessary items is literally draining cash out of the family coffers. Extravagant gestures don't impress me. Love and appreciation can be expressed without a big price tag. Ever since we chucked out this expensive tradition, we have been free to express ourselves without relying on material things and expensive surprise gifts. (However my mum still asks us every year what we've bought for each other and looks so disappointed when I say "Nothing!")

This year we decided that a few days away together would be a nice way to celebrate the long weekend leading up to Ian's birthday. Our Veggie Vacation in Leicester proved to be a gastronomical delight of vegetarian proportions. We had some fun shopping, picking up some band merchandise from HMV, novelty t-shirts from a quirky printing shop, some goodies from The Disney Store and some Minecraft stuff from Forbidden Planet. We also got to spend some quality time with Ian's big sister Debbie while we were there, which was lovely. 

The next day we went to Alton Towers, staying overnight in the new Enchanted Village accommodation. As Merlin Annual Pass holders we often visit Alton Towers and always enjoy ourselves. Our little lodge in the village was just so adorable, looking like something a hobbit would inhabit in the Shire. The attention to detail, from the wooden log cushions to the beautifully decorated kids' bunk room to the fairy door in the wall, was just magical. We loved it!

Two days in the park was plenty of time to do everything we wanted to do. The queues are still pretty short on the big rides, although CBeebies Land is quite busy. The girls were able to hit the rollercoasters, while Ian and I did the kid friendly rides and attractions with Freddy. It's a great day out for all of us.

After our few days away, we came back home ready to treat Ian to his annual birthday meal. Ian is an absolute rock star to us, so a rock music themed dinner party was our plan. The girls and I designed a Mexican buffet style meal with a rock twist, using rock group/food puns alongside some gothic Ozzy Osbourne 'Prince of Darkness' style decor. Iron Maiden beer fitted the theme perfectly. Blasting out some Black Sabbath, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin on vinyl and wearing rock band T-shirts completed the evening.

Ian's birthday has been fabulous and we have had a lovely time. It has been a great way to end the summer holidays. Next week Ella will be back at university and Kezia and Freddy will be back at school. The prospect of going back to reality isn't filling me with much joy, but I have some plans to make the most of my time being here at home on my own again. Kezia's 13th birthday is in October so I'm going to start planning for that and Christmas is only a few weeks away!! Any excuse for some more family celebrations!

A Veggie Vacation in Leicester

When you think of cities for a gastronomically themed UK break, I doubt that many people would think of Leicester in the first instance. However, we have just returned from a weekend in the city to celebrate Ian's birthday, enjoying the wonderful food on offer for vegetarian families like ourselves. The Veggie Vacation is one of the Stay, Play and Explore short breaks that you can enjoy in Leicester. Each break includes a hotel stay with breakfast at the Ramada Encore in the city centre, as well as some additional experiences all included in the price.

The Veggie Vacation includes a choice of three out of five experience options. You can choose between a three course meal and hot drink at Mirch Masala; a cocktail making class with two drinks each at 33 Cank Street; buffet lunch and drink at Shivalli; afternoon tea at White Peacock and a consultation and shop tour with arm massage at Lush. You can pre-book your three choices before you travel and print off your voucher online to take with you on the day.

It was great to have an all-inclusive package to look forward to, helping us to plan our weekend, knowing that most of our food was taken care of and pre-paid for. As vegetarians, it was lovely to be able to take the hassle out of eating out. All the experiences offered provide a tried and tested vegetarian option (and in some cases vegan), so we knew we could enjoy them with confidence.

Our first port of call in Leicester was the White Peacock where we had booked a vegetarian afternoon tea. The place was lovely with attentive staff and stylish decor. It was a real posh treat! We were served tea or coffee followed by a slate plate of quartered or fingered sandwiches with fillings such as brie, cucumber, egg, feta & roast pepper and grated cheese with fruity pickle. They were elegantly presented. A pair of two tiered plates of cakes followed including warm tonka bean and saffron scones with clotted cream and fruit compote, salted caramel panna cotta, strawberry tart, chocolate and parma violet cream cake, chocolate truffle and iced fruit and almond cake. There was plenty of food to go round and it was all in easy to manage portion sizes, meaning we got to try everything.

Mirch Masala is a completely vegetarian restaurant serving food from India, Mexico, Indo-China and Italy. The menu is staggeringly huge and we were utterly spoiled for choice with their huge array of starters and mains from around the world. Usually in restaurants we get to choose between two or three options at the best, so having a whole menu at our disposal was brilliant. However it took us ages to choose, but thankfully our waiter was very patient and on hand to answer our questions. We finally decided on an eclectic mix of world cuisines including Chinese dim sum, Mexican nachos, Italian lasagne and Indian curries.

The food was really very good and the portion sizes were massive. Leftovers were boxed up and returned at the end of the meal to take home for later. Mirch Masala is a real gem in the city centre for vegetarians and vegans alike, with reasonable prices, great choices, good food and excellent service.

Shivalli was our destination for our lunch on Sunday. From the outside the restaurant looks quite unassuming, but once inside it was lovely. The buffet of Southern Indian curries, rice, dosa, appetisers, popadoms and salads looked and smelled so appetising. We were shown to our table and brought drinks and a jug of water. We loved that we could select our choices from the buffet in little silver bowls and serve ourselves at the table. One pet hate of mine is having a plateful of mix and match food on my plate, so this worked so well, allowing us to savour each dish. In addition to the buffet, which had some incredible tasting veggie curries, we were also brought some freshly prepared pancakes filled with spicy potato curry and some puffy breads. Everything was divine and the attentive, friendly service made this a wonderful experience.

In addition to our fantastic food, we also enjoyed shopping in some of Leicester's quirky and independent shops (and in their big shopping centre too). It is a really nice city and there was lots going on with buskers and street performers doing their thing as well as the Sky Ride cycle event taking place. The Ramada Encore was a good place to rest our heads. The rooms were clean and well equipped with tea and coffee making, a hairdryer and big TV. The bathroom was superb with a huge walk in, wet room style shower. We had a selection of Lush samples in our room to test out too, which was a real treat.

Overall, we had a brilliant weekend. The cost of the Veggie Vacation with overnight stay, breakfast and the three experiences per person is just £129 for two adults sharing. Such a great value way to explore a new city!

We had two rooms, one for Ian and I and one for Ella and Kezia, and we also took Freddy with us, who slept in a sofa bed for a supplement of £15. (He was too young to go to the White Peacock as that is for 12's and overs, but was welcomed everywhere else. This gave us the chance to take Ian's sister, who doesn't live too far from Leicester, for an girlie afternoon tea with us, while Ian took Freddy to Costa for his lunch, so it worked perfectly for us. )

With Family Fun, Family Adventure, Heritage, City Treats, Gourmet Taste and Richard III vacations also available, there is an option to suit most people's needs.

Find out more about these exciting short breaks in Leicester at www.stayplayexplore.co.uk.

Top UK Food Bloggers #Infographic

Check out this list of Top UK Food Bloggers...there seems to be a few like this floating around at the moment....but as it seems that I made it in at number 47 for my vegetarian recipes I thought I'd share this particular one! There are some interesting facts about bloggers' motivation and reasons for blogging, and I've discovered a few new foodie friendly blogs too, so it's worth a look.

 
Credit

Going Wild at Knowsley Safari

We were invited to visit Knowsley Safari, a 550 acre park located in the North West of England, and home to over 700 animals. We were given the opportunity to ride their Baboon Bus with a guided safari tour and discover everything that Knowsley Safari has to offer adventurous families.

Knowsley Safari offers an interactive experience for animal lovers where you can come face to face with the free roaming animals, have lions block your path and watch as baboons hitch a ride on your wing mirror. Anything can happen! In addition to the drive through safari, Knowsley has an amusement park, a walk through Wild Trail, Sea Lion Encounter, Bat Forest, play area, Flight of the Talons and much more to explore. It is a full day out for all the family.

Our first port of call was a ride in the Baboon Bus with a guided safari tour. The bus goes all around the drive through safari route including the infamous baboon enclosure, where the cheeky monkeys get up close and personal with the vehicle. The tour guide was a very friendly and bubbly Liverpudlian lass who regaled us with facts about the animals and the safari park as well as some zoo related anecdotes and general chatter. We actually learned a lot of really interesting stuff in a fun and entertaining way, and although I am not usually a fan of audience participation, she was very engaging and made the tour enjoyable.

It was very busy and quite hot when we took the tour so the bus got quite stuffy, especially when the windows were shut in the carnivore and baboon enclosures, so remember to take some water and use the guide book as a makeshift fan!

As it was so warm a lot of the animals were sleeping and not very active, but we had a great view of snoozing lions, rhinos and other animals. The baboons were, however, super active!  They leaped on the top of the bus, using the windscreen wipers as climbing aids as they scaled the windows. It sounded like they were having a real party up there!  From our window we saw other cars crawling with baboons large and small. The mums with babies were particularly wonderful to see. Some monkeys left little presents on the roofs of the cars. Seeing monkey poo on someone's nicely polished car made Freddy laugh his head off! Toilet humour never fails to impress my boy. Before exiting the enclosure, the baboons on our roof were encouraged off and dozens jumped down and scurried away, which was quite a sight.

After our Baboon Bus experience we went for lunch and were pleased to see veggie burger options for both adults and children in the restaurant. The restaurant was clean, reasonably priced and efficient and the fast food meals we had were not at all bad.

Following our lunchtime break we went to the amusement park where we bought Freddy a wristband allowing him and an accompanying adult on all the rides, which included a swing ride, a kids' rollercoaster, dodgems, a carousel and other similar rides. While Ian and Freddy amused themselves with that, my girls and I went to the Bat Forest. The walk through enclosure was dark, but our eyes quickly adjusted allowing us to view the spectacular Egyptian Fruit Bats in flight and hanging around. They buzzed past our heads, flying around us. Quite an experience! We also got to see the lovely sealions in their pool, which we loved.

It was at this point that the heavens opened and it absolutely poured down with rain. So we made a dash back to the car to do the safari drive through in our own car. We had been supplied with a Go Pro to record our trip around the animals, but as it wasn't waterproof I had to film through the window, which was being pounded by torrential rain. Needless to say, the Go Pro videoing was a bit of a disaster.

As it was much later in the day and cooler, the animals were more active and lively. We saw lots of varieties of deer, antelope and cattle and came face to face with a huge camel that ran beside our car. The lions were up and about, fighting and crossing in front of the queue of cars. Unfortunately, we were a few cars back and didn't get a real close up of the beautiful big cats. Our favourite moment was when a rhino walked out in front of our car and stopped right in our path. He looked a bit agitated and rocked from side to side and we were slightly concerned whether he was going to charge at us. But the reason for his agitation soon became clear when he raised his tail and did an enormous poo on the road right in front of us, before turning and sauntering nonchalantly away. True to form, Freddy was in fits of giggles at the steaming pile of rhino dung!

We decided to brave the baboon enclosure in our own car, deciding that the risk of having a wiper or trim pulled off was worth it for the fun of having monkeys on our roof! However, the wet weather subdued the baboons and they were all sat huddled up under the cover of the trees, not at all interested in hanging off our car. It was a shame, but we enjoyed seeing the monkeys cuddling together against the cold, looking so humanlike!

Knowsley Safari has been awarded the 2015 Certificate of Excellence from Trip Advisor. Until September the 4th you can get 20% off the price of entry when booked online, which makes the cost £13.20 for adults and £10 for children. The baboon bus costs an extra £5 per person and the amusement park wristbands cost £10 for unlimited access or £2 per ride.

It is a full day out for families and we really had a great day...in spite of the torrential rain storm!

www.knowsleysafariexperience.co.uk