Blue Shropshire Cheese Topped Stuffed Mushrooms

Recently, Philadelphia ran a competition to come up with a simple recipe using their cream cheese along with some local produce that came from your region.  Coming from Shropshire and being vegetarian, the obvious choice for me was to use Blue Shropshire Cheese, a deliciously mild blue veined delicacy!  

The recipe I came up with, which had to be ready to eat within 30 minutes and use only six ingredients was Stuffed Mushrooms with red onion, spinach and cream cheese filling, topped with crumbled Blue Shropshire.

Here is a video of me making them...I thought I'd share it.  They really are quite delicious!

Ingredients

5 Portobello Mushrooms

150g Cream Cheese

3 Red Onions chopped

75g Baby Spinach leaves

50g breadcrumbs

50g Shropshire Blue Cheese

Method

Remove stalks from mushrooms and chop.  Fry with chopped onion.

Meanwhile fry the Portobello Mushrooms until cooked through.

When onions are soft add spinach and wilt.

Stir through cream cheese and add breadcrumbs and seasoning.

Top cooked mushrooms with mixture and then crumble over cheese.

Cook at GM 6 for 10-15 minutes until bubbling!

Serve with salad!

Why parenting is not for the squeamish!

Part of being a mother is the sudden realisation that you can never again be squeamish.  Having a baby opens you up to a whole world of bodily processes that your adorable newborn bundle has no control over.  The contents of baby's stomach, whether from attic or basement will, at various inopportune moments, be expelled at high velocity.  It is our job to be on hand with babywipes to mop up either end, thus keeping our precious little one sweet smelling...unfortunately this does not extend to us mums who end up with possett on our shoulders and luminous yellow nappy overflows on our laps.  The amount of times I've found myself in public toilets stood under the hand drier trying desperately to dry off my attempts at washing off the latest offering.


As baby gets older, the expulsions of bodily waste have an altogether different set of problems.  Baby suddenly takes an interest in the contents of their nappy.  Nappy changes become fraught with a new danger...the grab!  So whilst picking up a squirmy baby by the feet, diligently cleaning the cracks and crevices, working quickly and under pressure in case of any further expulsions, we also have to be on guard for the slight of hand movement whereby baby grabs the soiled nappy and flings it across the room.  Worse still, the more dextrous baby with a firmer stool can go the whole hog and grab the nappy contents itself.  It takes a moment to register the fact that sweet gurgling baby is in fact moments away from teething on their own poop!  It's a horror moment in deed!


Toddlers take this scatology to a level that would rival a German Scheisser Movie.  We've all experienced the stomach churning moment where we realise that what we are seeing is not brown crayon, chocolate or clay.  Our little one has got creative with their bodily waste.  With the enthusiasm of an H-Block smear campaign, the nursery walls, toys, cot bars and indeed baby himself, become coated in thick brown excrement.  For us the phenomenon manifested itself when my angelic little girl decided to decorate her sit 'n' ride toy.  The assault on the senses was a slow burn fuelled by disbelief.  As the reality of the situation dawned on me, all I could do was gag and do the one thing that needed to be done...shout for my husband!

 

Don't think that it stops with competent toilet training either.  During the launch of the Playstation One, one of our offspring actually peed themselves because they refused to tear themselves away for a toilet break.  Then in another unrelated incident crapped his pants because he was playing outside with his mates and thought it would be embarrassing to tell them he had to go home to go the toilet!  Oh the logic!


So, don't ever get complacent.  As a mother you sign up to be a gusset scrubber forever more!

Toilet Tuesday...an overflow for your childish mind!

This week following my revelation on my 7 Things About Me list that I had a 'thing' for toilet humour, a lot of other fellow bloggers got all confessional and Twitter exploded into activity with lovely tweeps @SuperAmazingMum , @SAHMlovingit and @SusuRem  all admitting to sharing my amusement!  During the exhuberance that only discussions on toilet humour can bring, we decided to create our own meme.  A little bit of  low-brow blogging, light relief now known as Toilet Tuesday.


Does the toilet scene in American Pie or Dumb and Dumber reduce you to tears of laughter?
Do you think Le Petomane was a comedy genius?
Has your child made an artwork out of their nappy contents?
Have you had an embarrassing portaloo moment?
Do your children make loud, inappropriate references to personal hygiene products in supermarkets?
Do you have a wind-related confession to share?

Pants make a very good hat!!

We invite you to join in and link your post.  You can share any post, old or new, and broad interpretations are encouraged. 


If however you are easily offended...please accept the apologies of a 41 year old mother who should know better!

Let's lift the lid on this subject (see what I did there??) and share your experiences.  Let's find comfort by sharing our tales of shame.  Let's laugh at the baser side of life and let us all see that we are not alone.  Let's liberate tales of  our embarrassing moments.  Let's give the child inside a voice.  Let's have a laugh together.


Feel inspired by this Facebook status that a friend recently posted that had me giggling.  I will  mention no names to protect the innocent.


"Just went to pick a leaf from the floor in the downstairs loo. It wasn't. It was Poo."

I give you a one off Toilet Tuesday...please join in, link up and have a laugh with us!    


<a href="http://insidethewendyhouse.blogspot.com/2011/01/toilet-tuesdayan-overflow-for-your.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff414/SAHMlovingit/ToiletTuesday2.jpg" border="0" alt="Inside The Wendy House"></a>

Full credit and big thanks to Stay at Home Mum Loving It for making the badge!  (She's so clever!) xxx

Fabulous Bakin' Boys Fruit and Oat Slices

I was very excited to hear that the Fabulous Bakin Boys had brought out a snack bar that contained one portion of fruit, one whole fifth of your five a day!  As a mum with two children eating packed lunches at school, it is really important to me to find healthy options for their lunch boxes.  This sounded like an ideal choice!

I had the opportunity to try the Fruit and Oat Slices and received a box containing one packet of each of the three flavours:


Strawberry 'n' Oat
Apple 'n' Oat
Blackcurrant 'n' Oat

Each box contains five individually wrapped, delicious fibre-packed snack bars consisting of two layers, with a fruity base crammed with succulent sultanas, apples and apricots, topped with oats and sprinkled with strawberry, blackcurrant or apple pieces.

My tiny tester Kizzy was very excited by these oat slices.  She loves dried fruit and is always keen to try new things.  We popped one in her lunch box.

With a high fibre white, cheese and cucumber sandwich, a satsuma, a banana and a carton of pure orange juice, the Fabulous Bakin' Boy's Fruit and Oat Slice completed a really healthy lunch box.


Kizzy said:


"It was really nice and delicious and fruity.  I expected it to taste like a flapjack with a hint of fruit, but it was much more tasty.  It was much better than a bar of chocolate!  The Strawberry flavour was ever so good and it's part of my five of day."


A definite 5/5 verdict from Kizzy.

The new Fruit 'n' Oat Slices are available at  Asda and Sainsbury's and are coming to Tesco on February 16th RRP £1.49 (Introductory price of £1.00).


Perfect for lunch boxes, after school snacks, picnics, in the car or as a tasty treat.  As a mum they are an ideal choice to give your children, content in the knowledge that they are a much healthier alternative to other cereal bars, biscuits or cakes on the market.  


I've tried a few myself (in the interests of reviewing of course!) and they really are intensely fruity, packed with goodness, filling and satisfying.  18 month old Freddy has also tasted the Fruit 'n' Oat Slices.  I sliced a half of one into bite sized pieces and gave it to him as a snack.  He positively gobbled it up!


There are plans to launch bigger sized bars of the strawberry and apple flavours for adults on the go!

The Fabulous Bakin' Boys is an established family run bakery brand which adds fun and innovation to the art of baking, producing fabulous bakery products for the whole family.

Check out their website or find them on Facebook  and don't forget to say Inside the Wendy House sent you!

Silent Sunday - Solitude

 

                                              

Making Smiles on Faces Award

Thank you so much  to QWERTY Mum for honouring me with this reward.

Not only is she my wonderful sister, she is also my best buddy!  I love reading her blog and watching her totally creative and beautifully edited videos.  I appreciate all the film making advice she has given me since we started our journey into our cyberspace adventure, and I look forward to finding out where this path will lead us. So back at you sis!

Now I am passing the blog love on.  My brilliant daughter Not Met Megan has already been acknowledged by her proud Auntie, but how could I not also pass this award on to her as a proud Mum.  She is a newbie to the blogosphere, but already her blog shows such promise.  I am so proud of her dedication and committment and her posts make me smile, giving me another link to my  little girl since she left home for university :)  Keep up the good work my darling girl.  I love you!

Next I'd like to award this accolade to Super Lucky...A Comper's Blog.  Di's blog was one of the first blogs I   followed as a fellow comper.  She was a real inspiration to me as I entered the unknown environment of internet comping, and she soon became a cyber friend.  Her bright and breezy posts giving advice and keeping us in the know always raise a smile.  It's lovely to read about her experiences and she gives us all hope!  Thanks Di x

Mummy From the Heart is someone who brings cheer to us all weekly by hosting Reasons to be Cheerful.  She's helped me find grace in small things and joy in the mundane.  She's brightened up January and deserves to be honoured.  Thanks Michelle x

A big special smiley shout out to my two youngest girls who fill me with delight and pride everyday:
Just Simply Ella    I love her beautifully quirky style and her music video posts.
A Calm Zoned Kid  I am so amazed that at 8 she is blogging and inventing memes.
They both make me smile and make me proud :)

Adventures with my Fat Face Georgie Hooded Gilet

When I won a Fat Face Competition on Facebook, I became the proud owner of a Georgie Hooded Gilet in English Ivy.  I agreed to review this item and put it through its paces.  I'm sure it has been tested in the great outdoors by people much sportier than myself, but how does it cope in the hands of a busy mum on a day out in the countryside with the kids tugging on the waistband and a toddler swinging off the hood?  Now that's a real test.

Fat Face describe this gilet as:

"The ultimate duck down gilet: Classic quality and gorgeous styling; our gilets are stuffed full of duck down and feathers to keep you toasty warm and looking great this winter."

It certainly is thick and warm with a soft-peached outer and metal fastening pockets.  The faux fur trim on the hood looks great.   I love the Fat Face ethos of "Life is out there!"  This gilet just screams out to be used in the big outdoors.

Today in freezing temperatures, we went to Ellesmere Lake with our children.  We enjoy heading out for a walk, feeding the ducks and geese and clambouring through the woodland.   It certainly blows away the cobwebs!


Here is my adventure with the Georgie Gilet!  

I can confirm that this gilet was warm and cosy and the hood fitted well.  It withstood the pecking of wildfowl, the squirming of my toddler and the chill Shropshire air.  I felt really unrestricted and the gilet fitted well and looked smart.  The duck down stuffing was truly effective at keeping out the cold...even the pockets felt super warm.  The popper fastenings on the second pockets meant that phones and car keys remained secure, while hands could snuggle into the open front pockets.  However hard you play in the outdoors, this gilet would be a perfect accessory.   It looks good, it feels good, it is good.  Thank you Fat Face :)


Buy your own Georgie gilet in sizes 8 -18 with four gorgeous colour options for £65 on the Fat Face website!