We love milk in this house! So much so, we get through a whopping 12 pints a week here. Maybe this isn't such a surprise when you factor in 3 growing children, one who insists on her beaker of milk every night before bed (the small one with curly hair), the daily milk with cereal, milk with tea, after school milk and cookies (hay bale optional), plus all the milk I use in my daily cooking and baking which, as a food blogger seems to be quite a lot.

BENEFITS OF ARLA ORGANIC MILK

As with most food products I use, I try to buy organic where possible. Arla organic free range milk, available from large Asda and Sainsbury stores, is sourced from British farms (89 at the current count), where all the cows are free range and where possible, grazed outside on 100% organically farmed land. Arla farmers rely on crop rotation, well timed cultivation and careful selection of crop varieties to control weeds and pests and maintain soil fertility, rather than conventional pesticides and herbicides. The organic way of farming also encourages wildlife by avoiding manufactured chemical sprays.

SNACKS

These yummy cheesy scones use milk to help bind the dough! The kids love them as an after school snack with some mature cheddar and chutney and they help to keep their tummies nice and full until dinner.  Homemade cookies and a glass of milk also go down pretty well too!
This Bacon and Broccoli Bake uses a pint of organic milk to make the cheese sauce...and it's super tasty!

PUDDINGS

Milk puddings are homely and go down well with the kids, especially with a topping of fresh fruit....and don't forget rice puddings too (best made in the slow cooker).

Last weekend we made the most of the Bank Holiday and headed off on a little tour of our home county to road test the newly published Marco Polo Devon and Cornwall pocket guide. Days out with three children can be really expensive though, so to help cut the costs a little we packed a picnic to take with us on our travels. We made it all the way down to the Eden Project and Truro and managed to largely avoid the sea mist that had engulfed most of the north coast where we live. Our little jaunt made us realise that there are so many places in Cornwall that we've yet to truly discover so we're making plans over the summer months to seek out some of these hidden gems.

We ate our picnic sat outside Truro Cathedral, after having a little mooch inside.  We feasted on some handy little mini quiches, veggie sticks and hummus, wedges of frittata that I'd made the night before and for a sweet treat, these raspberry, lemon and pine nut bars.

These yummy baked bars are the perfect accompaniment to any picnic. They travel really well and are also lovely and filling, providing a useful pick me up after a morning of walking and sightseeing. The base and topping are just a crumble type mixture, which is so easy to make, especially if you have a food processor. The fresh raspberries and lemon zest complement the sweet crumble perfectly, with the pine nuts giving it some nutty crunchiness.

 TOP TIPS FOR MAKING RASPBERRY, LEMON AND PINE NUT BARS 

• Try using other soft fruits such as blueberries and blackberries.
• Substitute the pine nuts for other types of nuts - chopped hazelnuts or walnuts would work well.
• Use a processor to pulse the flour, oats and butter together to save you rubbing it in by hand.
• The raspberry, lemon and pine nut bars freeze really well so make a double batch and freeze half for another day.

OTHER SWEET BAKED TREATS YOU MIGHT LIKE

• Double Ginger Oat Cookies from Jam and Clotted Cream
• Chocolate Avocado Cookies from Jam and Clotted Cream
• Apple Crumble Bars from Jam and Clotted Cream
• Lemon Curd Yogurt Cheesecake Bars from A Mummy Too
• Coconut Chocolate Bars from A Glug Of Oil

 

RASPBERRY, LEMON AND PINE NUT BARS

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NEW MARCO POLO DEVON AND CORNWALL POCKET GUIDE

Marco Polo burst onto the scene way back in 2012 with 30 insider travel guides covering overseas destinations both in Europe and beyond. Their compact, colourful guides packed with top tips soon became best sellers and were particularly geared towards the younger generation of traveller who wanted low budget options alongside regular destination information. Marco Polo now also produce phrasebooks, e-books and even their very own touring app, growing their business in a direction to suit their trusty travellers.

2018 has seen even more growth with Marco Polo launching 6 new destination guides, in addition to relaunching 40 of their most popular titles. With more people taking stay-cations than ever before, Devon and Cornwall now have their very own pocket guide to join the other best selling books.

Living right on the Cornwall Devon border, I was lucky enough to receive the Marco Polo Devon Cornwall Pocket Guide to review and we decided to give it a little road test over the bank holiday weekend!

The guide is split into 4 sections including West Cornwall, East Cornwall (where I live), North Devon and South Devon. Each section gives a brief but informative overview of the main settlements in that area as well as recommendations for places to stay, eating out and things to do.
Sightseeing options are also listed under the main towns. We took a drive to one of our favourite places on Bank Holiday Monday - Rosemoor, just outside the historic market town of Great Torrington in North Devon.

The kids love running about in their extensive gardens and I love getting idea's for my own garden at home. It's a Royal Horticultural Society garden, so if you're an RHS member, you get in free of charge! During the school holidays they also run child friendly craft workshops as well as den building and mini bug hunts. You can easily spend a whole day here and unlike some formal gardens, the kids are really well catered for.

There's a handy section on travelling with kids towards the back of the guide, with recommendations on child friendly attractions in each of the four areas.
We visited The Big Sheep, just outside Bideford during the bank holiday weekend. We've been regular visitors for years (I used to go myself as a child!) and we just love it's family friendly vibe. There's plenty for the kids to do, including soft play, a petting barn and outdoor fairground rides. There's even a new rollerocaster and on site brewery for bigger 'kids' and I hear a gin distillery is on the cards later this year too!

DISCOVERY TOURS

Each tour is plotted on an overview map, making orientation easy, with a detailed flow chart with pictograms clearly showing the way.
We picked up the 'Devon and Cornwall at a glance' tour on Day 4, starting at the Eden Project. We have an annual locals pass so try and get here as often as we can. There are always new exhibitions and things to see. These are some sculptures inside the Mediterranean Biome.
We ended our day in Truro with a visit to the Cathedral and a bit of shopping. We tend to go to Plymouth or Exeter more as they are closer, so it was nice visiting our county capital for a change.
The discovery tours are also available to download as an app. All you need to do is scan the QR code within the guide. This should stop any map reading arguments from occurring!!

SPORTS AND ACTIVITIES

...or surfing at our local beaches in Bude (our favourite is Widemouth, just south of Bude).

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE GUIDE

There's a brand new cheese on the block....although this one is most certainly of the round variety. Russet Squire, a cider washed brie, made by Cornish Cheese company Curds and Croust use the very best Cornish milk (sourced from within 30 miles of the dairy), which ensures a really good curd and, in turn, a really good cheese.

Washed in cider up to 8 times, Russet Squire has the most amazing punchy flavour of any soft rind cheese I've tasted. It's the perfect addition to any cheeseboard but is also great for cooking with too. I made this super yummy linguine with melted Russet Squire, bacon, sun-dried tomatoes and toasted pine nuts and it was out of this world good. Oh my goodness, I could have eaten the whole thing myself. Hubby and I sat out on our balcony once the kids had gone to bed and devoured this meal with a lovely glass of dry white wine. Cheese+Pasta+Wine= My perfect evening!

TOP TIPS FOR MAKING THIS RUSSET SQUIRE  LINGUINE

RUSSET SQUIRE LINGUINE

PIN THE RECIPE FOR LATER

Disclosure: I was sent a selection of Curds and Croust cheeses to try. I was also compensated for developing this recipe. All thoughts are my own.

When Magimix got in touch asking if I'd like to develop some recipes using their 4200xl food processor, I obviously said 'YES PLEASE'! I've yearned after a Magimix processor for literally years and when Merv (the kids named him!) turned up on my doorstep, it was love at first sight. The machine's only been in my ownership for 3 days but I already know it's going to become a much used appliance in this house and definitely not one that will be languishing in a dusty cupboard. So far I've grated cheese and sliced cucumber in the midi bowl, I've ground up some whole almonds and made wild garlic pesto in the small bowl. You can also blend soups and smoothies and it even has a dough and whisk attachment! It literally can do everything I could ever wish for and more. Yes, it does have a relatively high price tag (it's currently retailing at £238.99 on Amazon) but for what it can do, in my opinion it's definitely worth it. Magimix also offer a 30 year motor guarantee too, which offers real peace of mind when you're spending your hard earned cash.

The recipe I made to properly test out its functions were these yummy no bake biscoff cheesecakes (we've gone a bit biscoff mad in this house recently). It's hard to believe, but every part of the recipe (apart from melting the butter - although I'm sure they'll come up with a way of doing that one day) was made in the Magimix. I had no idea the Magimix came with a whisk attachment, which meant I didn't have to get a separate bowl and whisk out, to whisk up the double cream to soft peaks. The standard blade did the rest of the work by crushing up the biscuits and then mixing the cheesecake filling. It was also the first time EVER that my three year old didn't cry when I used a food processor. She is incredibly sensitive to loud noises but the Magimix is unbelievably quiet. This is a big added bonus and I later found out that it has been awarded a Quiet Mark stamp of approval!

These no bake biscoff  cheesecakes are so simple to make and such a decadent make ahead dessert, perfect for the summer season. I don't know anyone that would say no to one of these, although a word of warning - they are VERY RICH! You might need a lie down after you've eaten one. I'm really looking forward to road testing the Magimix some more over the next few weeks so keep a look out for more recipes soon!

TOP TIPS FOR MAKING NO BAKE BISCOFF CHEESECAKES

OTHER CHEESECAKE RECIPES YOU MIGHT LIKE

• Baked Raspberry Cheesecake from Jam and Clotted Cream
• Chocolate Honeycomb Salted Caramel Cheesecake from Jam and Clotted Cream
• Blueberry Orange Cheesecake Bars from Jam and Clotted Cream
• Peanut Butter Cheesecake from Taming Twins
• Layered Limoncello Cheesecake from A Mummy Too

 NO BAKE BISCOFF CHEESECAKES

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Disclosure: I was sent a Magimix 4200xl in return for this recipe post. All thoughts are my own.

These yummy Ginger Cookies are a variation of by far and away the most popular recipe on the blog, my failsafe Golden Syrup and Oat Cookies. Both recipes make fab after school snacks or even breakfasts on the go!

You might have noticed I've been complaining on my facebook page recently about just how much food we are getting through each week. I swear my kids are all going through growth spurts at the same time, plus of course we have 3 (plus a surprise baby) guinea pig mouths to feed too (I obviously don't give them cookies). This week, in an effort to be more organised and save some money, I'm trying to bake some after school snacks that they can eat to bridge the gap between the end of school and dinner time. All of my lot are sports mad, even my three year old has swimming and ballet lessons now, so these little cookies are perfect for giving them a much needed boost of energy at that tricky 4pm time.

They keep pretty well in an airtight container, although my lot managed to finished the batch within 2 days. I think I'm onto a losing battle here!

TOP TIPS FOR MAKING THE DOUBLE GINGER OAT COOKIES

OTHER COOKIE RECIPES YOU MIGHT LIKE

DOUBLE GINGER OAT COOKIES