Broccoli topped wild thyme lamb stew

Today I have been a crocodile , been on a fairy picnic ,been chased by a lion and performed imperative dance. 

You'd be forgiven for thinking I've lost the plot , it certainly feels like it at times !. I'm actually a teaching assistant but lately I've been putting in a few more hours . Teachers and teaching assistants work very hard ~

We are our own glitterballs!!

So with that in mind I prepared dinner in the slow cooker before I left for school . 

Ingredients 

500 g lamb neck (cut into chunks )will serve about 3-4 people 

Pinch of wild rhyme 

Pinch of salt 

About 4 red onions chopped ( the more onions the better )

Squirt of BBQ sauce 

3 bay leaves 

1 cinnamon stick 

300 ml or there bouts of chicken stock

Cornflour 

Method 

You could braise the lamb if you wish .

Pour the 300 ml of chicken cook into a slow cooker , next put into the lamb .

Add the onions , wild thyme , bay leaves and cinnamon sticks , bay leaves .

Squeeze in that BBQ sauce .

Don't forgot the pinch of salt .

Leave the slow cooker in slow and Ho work your magic for the day .

When I got home I prepared some fresh broccoli (as I think left in the slow cooker it would have got too soft )

I stirred in some cornflour to thicken up the stock.

Serve if you wish perhaps with a jacket potato .

As the sky blended into a sherbet dip colour ~ I thought life is ok ...

Pedalling Beyond

Sometimes you've just got to peddle faster than the sunset to keep ahead of the light.

I took myself on a new route and even though we had other cyclists over taking us > maybe a runner or 2 ) it didn't matter . Not everything in life has to be at 200 mph . 

You need time to sit or in my case ride out of things to press the reset button in yourself . When everything has fallen apart and you need to regroup , reevaluate , anything else that is prefixed by " re"

I cycle , I ding my bell I relax .

Exercising At Work

Sometime the work life balance can be hard ! you rush round before you go to work either organising everyone else before yourself , or maybe getting the slow cooker meal ready for when you all get home. And then after all that rushing around you go to sit at perhaps a desk for most of your working day , wondering when on earth you can fit in exercise ! I am a teaching assistant so I do my fair chair of running around but I do have times when I am working on a computer etc  ( more so at home )

You 'll have seen the news about how an hour of exercise at work can contribute towards a healthy lifestyle  so why not get our furniture at work to help us ?!

I will be making sure that I participate in all this exercise particularly the seated double hamstring as the legs and feet can be awfully twitchy at times.


I am amazed at my mother in laws fitness she is coming up for 90 and she puts me to shame , she does the same set of exercises each day to keep her as sharp as a pin. I will also add to this she is visually impaired and her determination and sense of drive just blows me away.

This is a collaboration post all thought words and recipe are my own.

Meet Pamela From Life With the Munchers ~ Bloggers In The Spotlight

I first entered the blogging world back in 2013, when I began writing our family journey at Life With Munchers.  Since then, I have adapted to include interiors, travel and general lifestyle posts as our family story have evolved quite a bit over the 3 year period.  Getting into to blogging has been a life saver for me, as when I was made redundant from the oil industry it gave me a 'job' to fall back on that was flexible to our situation at the time. 

Since I began blogging full time, I have collaborated with a number of other bloggers on various projects...from you tube channels to other blogs.  That experience online bolstered my 12 year plus marketing background and led me to start my own marketing company in Aberdeen, AB Fiftyone,  in July this year.  I now offer local and nationwide companies day to day marketing support, as well as work with them to develop a strategy for their online presence, whether that requires social media, blogger outreach or content creation.

It’s a really exciting time to be starting a marketing company, as the world of media has never been so changeable.  Companies are finding that their resources are being stretched as they make the move online and are in turn looking for a solution such as AB Fiftyone to help them plan the next step. 
Personally it’s been a bit of a whirlwind few years, but a journey that builds character!  No 2 days are the same, which keeps me on my toes and makes the whole experience exciting.  One day I can be working on a blog campaign for a nationwide furniture retailer and the next day filming a you tube video for a local company, then writing a detailed business review - developing and implementing a marketing strategy to help them take their business where they want to go. 
Although it’s a start of a new chapter for me, I’m looking forward to what lies ahead.
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Beautifully Spiced Haddock With Chickpea And Broccoli Mash

It's been 3 days since we returned from Spain and the realisation that we can't pop down to the all inclusive buffet is just hitting us now .

Ingredients 

• 2 pieces haddock 
• 3 tbsp Soured cream or natural yogurt 
• 2 tsp garam masala
• Good pinch salt
• 1 tbsp other mixed herbs 
• For the mash:
• 10g Butter or low fat spread / mixed with the garlic 
• 1tsp lemon juice
• Black pepper to taste
• 400g can chickpeas, drained 
• I bunch of broccoli 
• 1 tbsp of soured cream or natural 

You will need to mix  the soured  and garam masala together with the salt & combined herbs .  You can either place the haddock onto a plate and coat completely with the sour cream / yogurt mixture, leave to marinade for 10-15 mins. You could heat a grill to a moderate to high heat and cook the fish for 4-5 mins until cooked . Or as I did a pan poach the fish in the sour cream / yogurt mixture for 5-7 minutes . 

While the fish was cooking I boiled the broccoli , drained and set it aside . I heated up a can of chickpeas next I drained them and added the broccoli . I mashed them up adding in the tablespoon of soured cream or natural yogurt and spread / butter with garlic . Not forgetting the squeeze of lemon juice and grind of black pepper .