With the colder nights and heating on, there is no dish better to have to warm up your cockles like a big warming bowl of cheesy cottage pie and last week, I got up a little earlier than usual and made this ahead for our dinner, so all I really needed to do after a long day at work, following afterschool club activities I knew that Leanora and I were going to want a heart warming meal the minute we got home.
I made enough of this scrumptious cottage pie, to bring with me to work the next day and prepped the remaining half for dad too!! Scoring brownie points with dad, my birthday is coming up soon and I've got my eye on a few things, no matter how old I am you always gonna want a pressie from your parents lol! Nothing quite like cheesy meaty bribery an I right ha!
Ingredients
500 grams of beef mince
1 large onion
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 tbsp plain flour
150ml/5fl oz red wine
4 sprigs fresh thyme
300ml/14fl oz beef stock
100 grams of grated cheddar cheese
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 potatoes
115g/4oz butter
125ml/4½fl oz milk
Directions
Heat some oil in a large heavy-based pan. Add the onion and cook until softened. Once cooked set aside on a plate.
Return the pan to the heat and add the mince and cook until browned all over. Stir in the cooked onion and add the tomato purée and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the flour and cook for a further minute. Pour in the red wine, scraping up any caramelised bits with a wooden spoon, and add the fresh thyme.
Add the stock and simmer for 45 minutes. Season to taste, and add a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce and mix until combined and then take off the heat and pour in your cooked mince in to your oven proof pie dish and set aside to cool.
Preheat the grill to high.
Meanwhile, for the mash, put the potatoes in a pan of salted water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 12–15 minutes, or until they are tender. Drain and return the potatoes to the pan, then place over the heat for about 1 minute to drive off any excess moisture. Mash well, then add the butter and milk, beating to form a smooth mash. Season to taste.
Spoon the mash over the top. Grill for 8–10 minutes, or until golden-brown.
No how easy was that! This dish, guaranteed will certainly warm up the coldest of hearts on the chilliest of nights
Don’t forget to follow for more tasty eats over on Instagram or by using the #LondonMummaEats tag, to show me what you are eating and made! And for more fun things to do check out our TikTok page!
Lindsey
Days Out
One of the latest immersive experience brought to you by Fever. This amazing family friendly exhibition is located a short walk from South Kensington Tube station. Dopamine Land , is a unique and interactive exhibition that combines traditional mediums with innovative technology to activate all your senses, plus you can load up on some free popcorn too.
I am so excited about this one, 29 years ago was when the original movie first came out I've been in love and watched every single movie, so it makes complete sense for me to walk through the gates and experience what it would be like to be there in real life and come face to face with the life sized dinosaurs.
Frameless is a brand new culturally rich, immersive, multi-dimensional art experience. Housed in an incredible 30,000 square foot venue and located just a few short steps from Marble Arch and Oxford Street, it is the biggest of its kind in the UK and Leanora and I can not wait to go an explore.
The best place ever, if you follow us over on TikTok or Instagram you know we had an amazing time, plus it was super affordable too, we ended up spending just over 3 hours in here and could of spent longer if it was not a Sunday and we did not have school and wor the next day. There are so many different activities, from bowling, golf, go-kart racing an arcade, VR games and darts to even a room dedicated to gamers, this is great place for the family to spend some time, plus if feeling peckish they have a few different restaurants located in side
As you know we love the theatre, we only started going this year and I have to say we are hooked. We have already seen, The Lion King, Grease, Frozen and Wicked sadly not Matilda YET! I've heard great reviews about Matilda, if it is anything like the 1996 film you know you are going to be in for a treat.
Make sure to come back for more things to do as I'll be adding to the list, during October half term!
Don't forget you can also follow us for more family adventures on Instagram and TikTok too.
Lindsey
I thought I was organised and it was not until a few days in Leanora's return back to school I realised I had missed the mark and forgotten a few things off the list.
You would of thought I would of had a grip on things, I mean Leanora's been going to school for 5 years now, but her needs have changed at school, who am I kidding I just totally forgot, but that's ok, I've done a mad dash after work to my local Rymans and stocked up on the last minute back to essentials.
Notbeooks
I mean how can I forget this, Leanoraa is a doodler during her breaktime and always guarantted, each day after school she cones home with mounts of paper, so to hep reduce this a notepad is perfect for her, not just for her drawings but a great place to keep all her notes too.
Sharpie
Every parents weapon of choice, am I right!! Leanora like most kids misplace, cardigans, jumpers, PE Kit even school bags and I have to say last year we easily went through more than 12 carigans and jumpers, not this year! I've become a graffitti artist and tagged her name inside if EVERYTHING with these sharpie pens.
As previously mentioned kids, come back with so much loose paper in their bags,so keeping all things tidy and in one place, especialy if your child is leaning and instrument or langugage yuo can neatly file away all the papers in one place.
Gloves
I'm getting in early, especially as Leanora has Raynards and I find all the good designs are out now and like last year I missed the mark and did not get the ones I originallly had intended on buying for her, silly I know but a good lined glove can goo quick, just like the school shoes I missed on buying Leanora for this term.
Resealable bags
Ok, may be this was more for me wanting to go Ikea to eat meatballs and a big slice or 2 of Dime cake, but I still managed to get some much needed iconoic ISTAD bags. They are perfect holding little snacks for Leanora and good for the home too, so everyeones a winner.
Paint, Coloured Pens, Glue, Glitter & Coloured paper/card
There is alaways someething to create for school, be it a homework piece a costume to make and little gift card, Rymans have loads of great craft kits to get you started or if not what you need you can always g=create your own, as these ites are certainly an essential.
I hope these essentials you have foud helpful or if you have anythhing you have found essential for you child return back to school, I would love to hear and please share below.
Lindsey
Disclaimer: Some items in the photo have been gifted for this post