Campervan cooking

I have to confess, I'm not the world's greatest cook. Having 2 little ones makes me shudder at the thought of a trip to the local supermarket and I've let things slip a bit.

So, what I'm planning to do is to focus on making quick, easy recipes that dont require a lot of fancy mixers, ovens, twenty different ingredients or three hours preparation, because I havent got the time or inclination.
What I'm after is nice, tasty food with simple ingredients.

Last year I bought this cookbook for my friend's birthday and I also bought one for my myself.

This is available from amazon for just over ten pounds and is well worth the money. It is loosely based on the television series that was out last year, is full of lovely campervan and foody photography and great tips about places to see, festivals, surfing, campsites and cocktails. Pretty much covers all of life's essentials for me.

So far, I've made

Exploding egg banjos (that's fried eggs in a  bread roll ha ha)
Rocky road - very nice but oh my goodness, way too sweet! I felt a sick after eating too many pieces of this. Hmm there's a lesson to be learned there I think.
Big chill chilli- this was a big hit.

I have turned over loads of corners in the book and am going to try and make a new recipe and share it on here each week, with marks out of 10 for taste and practicality for cooking it in the campervan.

Today I knocked this up for lunch. I accidentally dropped way too much chilli flakes into it, so it was hotter than expected, but actually very nice. So I am going to call it...

Mama Sunshine's blow your mouth off pasta

Serves 2


200g fresh egg tagliatelle
100g creme fraiche
1/2 tin tuna
1 tsp capers
10 blacl olives
olive oil
generous dash of chilli flakes
1/2 ball mozzarella, roughly chopped


Cook the pasta, add the other ingredients, stir, throw in the mozzarella, add black pepper, job done!
Easy peasy.

Look for beauty before you...

After my last post I realised that I hadnt explained why I had called my first post "third time lucky". Well I set up this blog in about May, when we had the summer ahead of us, lots of campervan adventures booked up and plenty of blogging inspiration. What I hadnt really thought about was I would be so busy doing all those things that a) I wouldnt actually be at home to write my blog and b) when I was at home, I would be at work or frantically trying to wash and pack our bags for our next trip away. I think I then had a second bash in June but that didnt get started either for similar reasons.

For me, nothing beats being out in the sunshine with the kids and once September starts I have that "back to school" feeling, when I know we wont be camping until next year.

However, I am determined not to be sad about it and I'm going to use this blog to help me to find lots of lovely things that make me smile and keep me cheerful until next Spring rolls around.

I have been reading a book that is called "How to Stress-Proof your life", by Elisabeth Wilson. I was in the library (I cant honestly say I was feeling particularly stressed at the time!) when I saw this book on the shelf and I grabbed it. Here's the link http://www.amazon.com/Stress-proof-Brilliant-Ideas-ebook/dp/B004R9P9S8

I have been reading it in little chunks whilst sitting next to my baby's cot as he falls asleep and |I have to say, I have really enjoyed it. It is down to earth, realistic, funny and the things the author suggests are easily achievable. One of the things she suggests is, if you are feeling crappy, to look around and search for beauty before you. No matter how grim your environment, if you look hard enough there is always something that will make you smile.

Now I work in inner city Birmingham and my commute to work runs between a trainline and a motorway, so I thought that this was pretty unlikely. However, when someone cuts me up at 7.30am I have given it a go. And I have to say, I've been pleasantly surprised by the results! Today I spotted some beautiful stained glass windows in an old house that I have driven past a thousand times and some flags waving in the breeze.

Yesterday I followed a link from At Home with Mrs M's blog, (which is one of my favourites) and I found this

http://curtainsforthewindow.blogspot.com/

What an awesome blog!! I love how she writes about all sorts of weird and wonderful things. My favourite bit is the Doodler's corner, with fantastic illustrations that made me smile. It reminded me of a website I had seen for a Birmingham artist called Scribblefiti. You can check out his work on http://www.scribbleffiti.com/

Isnt this gorgeous?




So today, wherever you are, however crappy your day, look for beauty before you and you might just find it right under your nose.

Third time lucky...

So all summer long I have been having ideas for blog posts, things I would like to share such as the music festival we went to with the children, the renovations we've been doing on the house, the fun things we have done over the summer in our beloved campervan...but I've never got around to it.

In fact right now, I can hear my 18 month old saying "uh oh" next door, which is a sure sign that he isnt watching Scooby Doo with his sister, he is up to mischief!

I have retrieved him now and he is chatting on my knee, before you worry about him. So there is now every chance that he will turn off my laptop and my blog post will be lost before it even gets published.

So let me introduce myself very, very quickly....

I am the proud Mum of a girl, aged 6 and a boy (the 18 month old whirlwind!). I am married to the lovely Mr Sunshine and we are very lucky to own a 1977 Volkswagen campervan, which i will show you around soon.

When I get a few minutes to myself I love buying retro furniture, crafty stuff, listening to music, camping and dreaming about festivals and sunny days.

I hope this blog will help me to remember all the fun we have as a family and meet like minded friends online.

Anyway gotta go as the little one has pulled up a seat beside me and his finger is hovering very close to my keyboard.....eek!