Dechox is here! ๐Ÿซ๐ŸšซโŒ

Dechox is a fundraising campaign set up by The British Heart foundation to help fight ‘heart break’ (Very apt for this month!)

The campaign involves you giving up chocolate for the month of February, and in the process, raising lots of money for charity.

& a very worth while charity it is.


I will be carrying out the challenge from Fri 1st Feb until Thurs 28th Feb.

No chocolate, no chocolate flavourings, nothing with chocolate in at all. #sendhelp


Here is the website where you can find out some more information.

So, keep your fingers crossed for me and good luck to anybody who is also taking on this (insane, let’s be honest!) Challenge!


Until next time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

2018 ๐ŸŽ‰ July – December ๐ŸŽ‰


July


My lovely husband Tim celebrated his 27th birthday ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ’—

My niece Evie-Mae celebrated her first birthday ๐Ÿ‘ธ๐Ÿผ

Me & my twin sister Sarah enjoyed our Italian cooking experience.

A friends get together to celebrate some birthdays. Picnic fun in the sun, cycling & a water obstacle course.

Fun at the end of term work do ๐ŸŽ‰.

Fun days out with my Uni friends โค

I finally reached my Slimming World target.


August


The.BEST.holiday.EVER.

My youngest nephew Casey turned two.

I’ll never forget the day I watched him come into the world ๐Ÿ’™.


September


Summer BBQ fun with friends ๐ŸŒž.

My biggest nephew Noah turned four!!!!

We went to the Spa Pavilion to watch ‘The Greatest Show’.

Noah started school nursery and Casey started playgroup.

We watched our friend Livy perform in ‘The Little shop of Horrors’

We booked a holiday to Disneyland Paris ๐Ÿ˜


October


Me & Tim joined Jaffa running club.

Evie started to walk.

We stayed in a Hobbit hole for the weekend.

Half term fun!!

Soft play, going to the theatre & games.

Halloween Parkrun ๐Ÿ‘Ÿ.


November


Bonfire night fun ๐ŸŽ†

Celebrating Dans birthday ๐ŸŽˆ.

The Christmas decorations went up ๐ŸŽ„๐ŸŽ

Me and Sarah went to the ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ Double bill.

Fun at The ((Bounce)) Christmas Party! Dressed as Mickey & Minnie Mouse.

A fun weekend away together at Rose Farm in Great Yarmouth.

Friends Christmas meal together.


December


My Work Christmas meal at Zizzis๐ŸŽ„๐Ÿฝ

Meeting up with these guys again and meeting little Bella for the first time.

๐ŸŽ… Christmas โ˜ƒ๏ธ festivities ๐ŸŽ„


Happy New Year!


Until next time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

2018 ๐ŸŽ‰ January-June ๐ŸŽ‰


January


The Greatest Showman obsession begins ๐ŸŽช๐ŸŽต

Marshalling at Parkrun for the first time.

Celebrating my sister Charlotte’s birthday ๐ŸŽ


February


Watched ‘The Band’ with my work friend, in Norwich.

Valentines Day out with Tim ๐Ÿ’—

Aqua Springs, Dinner & ((Bounce))

Celebrating at Emily’s baby shower.


March


Fun at The Harry Potter book night at the library โšก

Snow day!!

We celebrated Mothers Day with our traditional homemade afternoon tea.

The Byfords at Byfords, Holt. A fun, family day out.


April


Easter fun ๐Ÿฐ

Team Ro Ro & Casey at the egg hunt followed by the traditional family Chinese takeaway.

Me & Tim went to see ‘The Book of Mormon’ in London.

Fun with Evie-Mae ๐Ÿ’œ

Cinema Fun with Noahy ๐Ÿ’™


May


We escaped our first Escape room.

‘Witchcraft & Wizardry’

Me & Sarah turned 27 ๐ŸŽ

We celebrated the Royal Wedding. Prince Harry & Meghan Markle ๐Ÿ’

We watched ‘Our Blue Heaven’ at the theatre ๐Ÿ’™โšฝ๏ธ

Afternoon tea with friends.


June


Football’s coming home! World Cup fever began.

Me & Tim celebrated 2 years of marriage ๐Ÿ’—๐Ÿ’๐Ÿ‘ฐ๐Ÿผ๐ŸŽฉ๐Ÿ’

We had a weekend away in a Yurt.

We celebrated Fathers Day with breakfast together.

Me, my sister Sarah & my work friends complete the Cancer Research Muddy 5k race.

We celebrated Dad’s birthday with another Escape room and we made it out again!!


Until next time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas Day 24: Decorating gingerbread men.

It’s Christmas Eve!!

I can’t believe it, this Blogmas has been the quickest yet.

Only One day to go!!

love doing festive craft and cooking with my nephews and niece.

I found these cute ‘decorate your own gingerbread man’ sets in the Co-op.

You get six mini gingerbread men (perfect for little ones) some icing tubes and sprinkles to decorate.

This is great for little ones as the gingerbread men aren’t too big, a good treat size, and nice and simple for them to.

They were all very excited to get started.

The set came with a little tube of icing and two different types of sprinkles.

It was a nice little bit of festive fun for the kiddies and of course their favourite part was the eating!

Merry Christmas Eve!

If you want to know how we are spending Christmas eve have a look at Blogmas Day Five

Whatever you are doing, I hope it’s a good one ๐ŸŽ„

Until next time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas Day 22: My cheese pastry Christmas tree ๐ŸŽ„

Since I have done a few sweet recipes posts this Blogmas I thought I would share a super quick, and very easy savoury recipe with you.

It’s got a lovely festive twist in its appearance and is perfect for a Christmas buffet table.

This cheese pastry Christmas tree looks great on a party table, very festive and super tasty.

You don’t need much to make this recipe either!


Ingredients


โ€ขOne or Two (Depending on the size you want to make) ready rolled puff pastry sheets. I used one for mine but for a buffet I would make a larger one using two sheets.

โ€ขGrated cheddar cheese

โ€ขCracked black pepper

โ€ขAn egg to brush over the top

Optional festive extras: Caramalised Onion Chutney or Cranberry Sauce.


Recipe


Lay the puff pastry out flat and cut into strips that are 2cm wide. I made 11 out of one sheet.

Take a strip and push some grated cheese into the pastry. If you are having the chutney spread this onto the strips first then add the cheese.

Crack some black pepper over the top.

Roll the pastry up from one end to the other to create a pinwheel effect.

Put to one side and repeat with the other strips.

Once you have made them all arrange them as you see above, to create the Christmas tree.

Use some left over bits to create the pot and star on top.

Brush the pastry with a beaten egg and place it carefully into the oven until it is lovely and golden.

Serve & enjoy.


If you don’t add the chutney into the recipe you could serve it on the side for dipping.


Let me know if you had a go at this.

Until next time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas Day 21: Our Festive Snack table ๐ŸŽ„๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿด

As I have said previously, the festive food goodies are one of my favourite bits of Christmas.

It’s great to enjoy some yummy treats, surrounded by friends and family.

There are a few treats that we get every year and this year we (mainly me haha) have taken that a bit further and have been creating a ‘Festive snack table’.

Everytime we’ve gone to a supermarket or seen a tasty, tempting snack we’ve picked it up for the table and it’s starting to look rather good.

This is great for cosy evenings and if any guests come over during the festive period.

Here’s what we have included on our snack table…

Chocolates

Festive chocs are a must! Especially for a chocoholic like me!!

A Christmas classic is the matchmaker style chocolates. I picked these up in Aldi in both the chocolate orange and mint flavours.

I also got a selection of truffles.

We have the new Malteaser truffles that are amazing and, my husband’s favourite, the Lindt Lindor truffles. I picked those up in the original milk chocolate flavour and the new Mint flavour, they look so festive ๐ŸŽ„

You have to have a tub of chocolates at Christmas time, it’s a must. Whether your favourite is Heroes, Celebrations or Quality Street these just feel so Christmassy.

My favourites are Heroes (Cadburys ftw!) Where as my husband’s is Celebrations.

Biscuits

Shortbread is my absolute favourite biscuit and a Christmas must have. I love those festive tins too. I have my favourites, the Tesco tin, and I’m also trying out the Aldi shortbread too.

Mince Pies

I’ve really been enjoying mince pies this year and I’ve been testing as many different ones as I can (It’s a tough job but someones gotta do it!!)

Co-op have come out on top so far but I’ve also been trying the Tesco, Aldi and M&S ones, just to be sure! Haha.

Specialty items

I discovered my love of Panattone last year when I was gifted one, so this year I purchased one of Aldi’s Pandoro, I can’t wait to try it.

Savoury Snacks

Our savoury snack choices this year were of course Pringles and Aldi’s version, stackers as well as Twiglets and Mini cheddars.

Other

These cute Robin treats were part of Aldi’s Christmas range and we couldn’t resist. On the right is a hollow chocolate robin character and on the left is a chocolate orange celebration cake.

I hope I can bring myself to cut into them, they are pretty cute!!

So, that’s our snack table! What’s your favourite festive snack?

Until next time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas Day 20: Christmas Hampers.

I love getting a bit creative at Christmas and adding that personal touch to my gifts.

Hampers are a great way of doing that.

You can select things that are super festive as well as things that you know someone will love, thereby adding your personal touch.

My festive faves to add to a hamper are:

โ€ขMince Pies โ€ขChocolate โ€ขSavoury bits

โ€ขStollen โ€ขNuts โ€ขBiscuits โ€ขSweets

To add a personal touch I like to add:

โ€ขTheir favourite chocolate โ€ขVouchers

โ€ขBath bombs โ€ขShower gel โ€ขBooks

If you are making a family hamper I like to add:

โ€ขChocolate Santa’s โ€ขChocolate coins

โ€ขMini games โ€ขCard games โ€ขPuzzles

โ€ขTheir fave toy โ€ขCraft packs โ€ขSweets

Food is one of the best parts of Christmas and making someone something they can enjoy and share is great if they are harder to buy for or if it is a shared, family present.

This is also a great present for older relatives such as grandparents, aunties & uncles etc.

You can pick up hampers from loads of shops:

โ€ขThe Range โ€ขB&M โ€ขHome bargains โ€ขThe Works โ€ขTK Maxx

They come with the shredded paper in the bottom, cellophane and a ribbon which adds that finishing touch to your hamper.

I always put my hamper into the cellophane diagonally, in the centre and then gather up the edges of the cellophane above the basket and tie with the ribbon. You can then neaten it out and rearrange the cellophane as necessary.

Getting the cellophane part right can take a few goes, YouTube videos are great if you havn’t done it before.

Happy Hampering!

Until next time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas Day 19: Rocky Road Bombe recipe.

Here’s another delicious, festive recipe for you guys to try over, the Christmas period.

Its super easy and quite quick to make, but it looks impressive and really festive on a Christmas buffet/party table.

This is a Rocky road (are you sold already!!!) Bombe, decorated to look super festive as a Christmas pudding.

I love this idea and it’s so effective!! As soon as my husband saw this recipe he wanted us to give it a go.

The great thing about the Tesco Real Food website is that it has everything you need to know to make the recipe, tweak it if you want to add an extra festive touch but also, if you are doing your food shop you can add all the ingredients that you’ll need to your basket in one go, no hunting for everything you’ll need!!

You can add or take out too if you don’t want to strictly follow the recipe.

I’ll leave the link to the recipe below for you, definatly take a look at the page and some it their other yummy recipes too.

Tesco Real Food recipe

1. Melt the dark chocolate over some boiling water.

2. Whilst it is melting crush up the biscuits, don’t crush it too finely.

3. Once the chocolate has melted, pour it into the biscuit mix.

4. Add the raisins and mini marshmallows and stir altogether.

5. Make sure everything is coated in the dark chocolate.

6. Pour into a medium sized plastic mixing bowl. Flatten the top.

7. Leave to cool down and harden in the fridge.

8. Once it has cooled for an hour or so, take out of the fridge and ease it out of the bowl. Turn upside down onto a plate and lift off the bowl to reveal the dome.

9. Melt the white chocolate over boiling water. Once it has all melted pour it over the top to look like the icing on a Christmas pudding.

10. Garnish with a little sprig of plastic holly, to add the finishing touch. Serve.

Yummy!

Let me know if you have a go at making this.

Until next time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas Day 17: Finishing my Christmas shopping ๐Ÿ›

Hi guys!

I can’t believe it’s now less than 10 days until Christmas day!!

I love the build up to Christmas and I feel like it is going so quickly this year.

I’ve used the weekend just gone to get the last of my Christmas shopping done

I havn’t had time for a late night shopping trip this year, which is a shame, so I thought I would head into town on Saturday and finish up.

Armed with my list and some determination to finally get it done I managed to power through and grab all the last little bits that I needed.

It was quite a chilly day which did make it feel quite festive and with the Christmas lights on and the Christmas market in full swing it was quite lovely.

So festive ๐ŸŽ„โ„

Before I headed to the football with my dad I had enough time to stop at a coffee shop for a nice, warming caramel latte and a little read of my new Christmas book.

(The Christmas stocking & other stories by Katie Fforde)

I felt very Christmassy after this. All we need to do now is get the last foodie bits for a few hampers I am putting together and of course Christmas party/snacky bits. We are going to grab these when we do our food shop.

How is your Christmas shopping going?

Until next time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas Day 16: My work Christmas meal ๐ŸŽ…

On Friday I had my annual work Christmas meal. Every year we go to Ask Italian but, this year we decided to try somewhere different. .

..Not that different though, it was still an Italian haha but we went for Zizzi’s this time.

I think we had picked the same night as a lot of work groups, it was very lively!!

It was officially Christmas jumper day on Friday too so I wore my newest festive jumper to the meal.

The food was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed my meal.

I went for the Super Festivo menu starting off with the Mushroom style bruschetta (I can’t remember the official name)

Anything with cheese and mushrooms is brilliant in my book and this was very tasty.

For my main I had my favourite calzone from their menu, the pollo al spinaci.

I’ve always been a fan of the creamier pastas and sauces so this is so up my street as it has a white sauce instead of a red sauce. I was filled with a delicious creamy cheese sauce, mascarpone, mozzarella, spinach, chicken and mushrooms, SO.GOOD.

It also came with a really yummy tomato dip which was perfect for dipping bits of the crust in ๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿป

Dessert was absolutely fantastic. Hands down one of the best desserts that I have had in a long time. It was a Christmas special and is a combination of two of my faves. It was half brownie, which was so rich and decadent, and half panattone, so orangey and fruity and festive, it was incredible.

Plus, you got an adorable chocolate pine cone on top!! How cute.

Amazing.

It was a lovely evening and nice to have some yummy food and a chat, away from the workplace.

Have you had your Christmas do yet?

Until next time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚