The Saturday & Sunday Blog – Helping you plan family friendly weekends & holidays in the UK.

Keep the family busy with low cost National Trust membership.

July 30, 2018 by siteadmin Leave a Comment

We can’t offer you a discount or voucher code for National Trust membership but we do have a clever way to help you spread the cost of your membership.

A family of 4 (2 Adults and 2 Childrens) can now join the National Trust for just £10 a month. That’s a lot better than having to signup for the full annual membership fee all at once.

Click on the link below, scroll down to Join and click on “Become a member” and then “Family”. You can then select to pay 12 monthly membership fee’s of just £10.

See my previous blogs bout making the most of National Trust membership.

Personalised celebration cakes by bakerdays.

July 1, 2018 by siteadmin Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago I was very pleased to be offered the chance to review bakerdays personalised cakes. I think we’ve all become used to the idea of personalised birthday cards and flowers but I’d never come across anyone offering personalised cakes online for all sorts of occasions such as Birthdays and Anniversaries with next day delivery.

Their www.bakerdays.com website is for celebration cakes what Moonpig is to celebration cards.

As it was Fathers Day I decided to review one of their clever letterbox personalised cakes. These fit in a pizza style delivery box which is just the right size to go through the recipients letterbox without anyone needing to be at home to accept delivery.

Personalised Birthday Celebration Cake, online ordering and next day delivery.

I went for one of their standard designs but their website is very flexible and allows you to design your own cake or you can ask one of their in-house designers to do something special for you. As long as you get your order in before 2 PM they are able to offer next day delivery. That’s really amazing when you consider we’re talking about a customised, baked food product and not just some mass produced item being picked and shipped from an Amazon-style distribution centre.
I chose a simple sponge cake but they offer a range from fruitcake to gluten-free.
When you open the package you find a nice greetings card and a sturdy, high-quality cake tin containing your chosen cake. It makes a lovely thoughtful gift and looks impressive when you open it. I can see people being really surprised and delighted when they receive one of these cakes.

Bakerdays celebration cake, the one shown here is for fathers day but they do birthdays and all other occasions for next day delivery in the UK.

The cake sits on a cake board which is a snug fit in the tin. This has been carefully thought through by Bakerdays so that the cake stays in perfect condition as it travels through the post and drops through the letterbox at the other end.

My husband and father, both very special dad’s shared this on Fathers Day when we had a small family gathering.

Cutting into the cake revealed a lovely light sponge and a layer of jam.

My two children (5 and 7) both had a slice and enjoyed the cake and icing and came back for more.

In summary, I was really impressed with this as a new alternative to sending a personalised greetings card and highly recommend it.

If you ever find yourself wondering how to do something a little special for an occasion or you need to arrange a gift at very short notice this is a great idea. It’s ideal for sending personalised celebration cakes for a special birthday, graduation, new job, retirement etc personalised with the person’s name and a congratulatory message. This is very innovative personalised service which I’ll no doubt be using in the future for various celebration events for friends and family.

Until the end of July 2018 you can use voucher code WEEKEND15 to claim 15% off when you place an order by visiting their website at www.bakerdays.com

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Allotment cobbler – Vegan Recipe

June 18, 2018 by siteadmin Leave a Comment

By Katy Beskow, from 15 Minute Vegan Comfort Food by Katy Beskow (Quadrille, £15) Photography © Dan Jones

Serves 4

Carbon emissions: 0.63kg per serving

Homemade meat-free comfort food at its best.

Ingredients

For the scone-dumplings

160g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

1 tsp dried rosemary

½ tsp dried thyme

Generous pinch of salt

50g vegan butter

100ml soya milk, plus 1 tbsp for glazing

For the filling

1 tbsp olive oil

1 leek, finely chopped

1 medium courgette, cut into even chunks

1 red pepper, roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

400g can chopped tomatoes

4 rounded tbsp fresh broad beans, podded

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

Juice of 1 unwaxed lemon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Start by making the scone dumplings. In a bowl, mix together the flour, rosemary, thyme and salt, then rub in the vegan butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir through the soya milk until a smooth dough is created. Use your hands to flatten the dough to 2.5cm (1in) thick on a lightly floured surface, then use a scone cutter to make eight scone-dumplings. Place them onto the prepared baking tray and brush with a little soya milk. Bake for 10–11 minutes until just golden.

In the meantime, make the filling. In a stove-to-table pot, heat the olive oil over a medium-high heat and cook the leek for 2 minutes. Add the courgette and red pepper, and cook for a further 2 minutes until softened. Throw in the garlic, oregano and mixed herbs, and cook for a further minute.

Pour in the chopped tomatoes, broad beans and ketchup, and cover with the lid. Bubble on high for 7–8 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Remove the pot from the heat and squeeze over the lemon juice.

Remove the scones from the oven and carefully place them over the cooked filling, pressing them in gently to absorb some sauce. Serve hot.

Recipe from Katy Beskow’s ‘15 minute vegan comfort food’ (Quadrille £15) photography © Dan Jones for The Vegan Society’s Plate Up for the Planet campaign which asks people to take a seven-day planet-changing vegan challenge and think differently about what they eat. Sign up for free at www.vegansociety.com/plateup.