Yep, that’s how I feel today! And this face sums it up! When you run a small business you have to know (or pretend you do at least) a little about a lot of topics…

Let’s dig a little further into that…

what we love is food, and producing it. Of this subject, we know a lot. It’s our passion, it’s our life, it’s what we choose to do to support ours and our families future. We are well practiced in making food, experimenting, refining a recipe, taking it to our audience, and rolling it out. We are also immersed in the world of other business like us and have gotten to be pretty savvy at choosing other businesses that are food experts too, whose produce sits nicely within our range and would appeal to our customers.

 

BUT to do this we have to know a bit about health and safety, hygiene and management systems, employment law, insurance, bookkeeping, tax, banking and finance to name just a few!

Once you’ve “sort of” got around these issues and are running your business, you need to work out how to get out to more customers. So you may well do what we did today and start doing some courses to help to market yourself. Today’s was digital marketing. And like the title suggests, I am mind-blown and realise I know NOTHING! Yes, I did a degree in marketing, at a highly respectable business school. Yet, still I know nothing. But cut me some slack, when I did that degree it was 2003 I relied on dial-up, and I hadn’t even heard of Facebook, and what the heck is snapchat?! To be fair I still don’t know the latter! So today was eye-opening to say the least, and here’s to the rest of the journey of me learning that I have a lot to learn! World, Radmore Farm Shop is coming to find you…once I’ve worked out what CRM means, and what SEO is, and what a SERP is, and a GMB listing. Oh and a H1 and H2 tag. And a bumper ad…

Maybe I should go into the “need a cold drink” industry! 😂

Overnight oats have transformed my life! I’m sure if you follow my Facebook page you have noticed my obsession. I posted a pic of it once and a couple of people commented asking for the recipe, since then it’s the recipe that I have been told has been tested out the most (and enjoyed might I add). I have had dozens of people telling me they have tried it and loved it, all with their own twist, which is a huge benefit of this recipe. And I’ve never actually written the recipe up, this is all from a Facebook comment! Until now that is…

So why do I love them so much?

1. Well they are tasty, which has to be number one other wise I wouldn’t keep coming back!

2. They are versatile. This is a base recipe which you can enjoy on it’s own, but you can add so much other stuff to, for a different variation every day.

3. They are a massive time saver. I know I’m not the only one that’s super rushed in the morning. Having something ready prepared that you can just pull out of the fridge, grab a spoon and tuck into… is beyond amazing. Also you can make several days worth up at once. So a few minutes effort one evening buys you several ready made breakfasts.

4. They are healthy. With no refined sugar, and made all with filling Whole foods makes them a winner on the nutrition front! And I’m definitely not hungry again until lunch time.

5. The kids can help make it. It’s basically just stirring so it’s a great thing to get them to help with. If I remember to make it before their bed time that is. And they now ask if they can have some of mine every morning too. I don’t think it will be long and I’ll be converting these coco pop and weetabix fiends and making them their own pots of oats.

6. I have time to drink more. I’m guilty of not drinking much water in the morning, but not having to make a breakfast buys me time to make sure I’ve had a drink. Sometimes I even squeeze in a cup of tea!

The recipe:

As I said before, this recipe is a base. It’s great on its own, but it can also be added to, with loads of other combinations of fruit, nuts, seeds, spices. I’ve listed some of my faves below but I’d love to hear yours.
This makes 6 portions (although ben eats 2 at once).

2 bananas
2 tbsp meridian crunchy peanut butter
4 tbsp chia seeds
3 tbsp honey (not necessary if you don’t have a sweet tooth, or if you’re adding sweet fruits; it’s naturally fairly sweet anyway)
2 cups jumbo rolled oats (I use a child’s cup)
2 heaped tablespoons natural Greek yoghurt
3 cups oat milk (can use any milk)

It’s so easy:

Mash the bananas, and then mix all the rest together and then put into tubs in the fridge until morning. I make enough for a few days at once.

Some of my favourite variations, some that I’ve tried and some that others have tried and recommended to me.

1. Take out some of the honey and add some cinnamon

2. Add a chopped pear and some chopped walnuts

3. Add a tbsp of cocoa powder, and the juice and zest of an orange (use a little less milk to compensate for the orange liquid)

4. Add some cacao nibs and chopped hazelnuts

5. Add some grated apple, cinnamon and pecans

6. Top with fresh raspberries and blueberries

7. Add some chopped strawberries and sunflower seeds

8. Add some chopped apricots and flaked almonds

9. Add some raisins and cashews

10. Make in a nutri bullet for extra smoothness

Do let me know if you’ve tried it and what your favourite variations are. Happy stress free mornings!

 

I hate waste! And so if I have any quantity of bread left over that I’m not going to use, I share it with the chickens! But the bit I keep I grate up into breadcrumbs and put in the freezer. So many things you make can use breadcrumbs, and most of them straight from frozen, so they are a great thing to have in stock.

The other day I had a pork tenderloin in the fridge, and pondering what to make with it, I thought of my trusty tub of breadcrumbs. Schnitzels!

So I cut the tenderloin into disks about an inch thick, and then put them into a bag and beat them with a rolling pin until they were thin, about a quarter of their starting thickness. This is so great for getting rid of the frustrations of the day!

Next I put a couple of handfuls of my frozen breadcrumbs in a bowl, with some salt and pepper, a couple of teaspoons of smoked paprika and a sprinkle of sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and mixed it together well. In a separate bowl I prepared a beaten egg.

Next I dipped each pork steak into the egg and then into the breadcrumb mix to coat,  repeating the process on any areas that looked thin.

The final stage was to preheat some rapeseed oil in a pan, over a high heat, and fry each steak for a couple of minutes on each side (or until the pork was fully cooked through). I did them two at a time so as to not overcrowd the pan, and made sure there was enough oil so that they didn’t stick. As they were very rich I served with a nice simple salad!

Is there anything more comforting than home made Mac and Cheese? I love that it’s one of those things you can throw anything into. Today it was broccoli, Chorizo and Mushroom that got thrown in (I didn’t add Mushroom to the recipe title because Ben doesn’t like mushroom and this way I thought he’d never notice, heehee)! You can also vary the cheese variety you use to get a totally different experience. It’s what I call a “see what needs using up in the fridge dish”.

I also love that it’s one of the very few things that the whole family will eat! 

So this is how I made today’s, but next time I make it, it will probably be completely different!

Ingredients: (this served 4)

250-300g garofalo macaroni (dry)

1 large head brocolli (chopped into small florets)

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 medium onion (diced)

2 cloves garlic (crushed)

About 75-100g diced chorizo

6-8 chopped mushrooms

30g butter

2 heaped tbsp plain flour

milk (250ml)

200g creme fraiche (I used 0% fat)

Cheese (grated or small diced), as much as you like! I used a medium cheddar about 40-50g…but use as much or as little as suits your taste

Malden sea salt and pepper

Godminster smoked cheddar to top

 

How to make it amazing:

1. Put the pasta on to cook. Instead of cooking mine in water I used some chicken stock that I had left over from when I cooked up my roast chicken bones.   Cooking the pasta in chicken stock added a bit more richness and flavour, but it’s non-essential to the dish! When the pasta was about half done, I added the broccoli into the pan too. 

2. Heat the oil in a large pan, over a high heat and add the chopped onion. When it’s started to caramelise, add the garlic and chorizo and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, stirring.

3. Preheat the oven to 180. Add the mushrooms and stir to combine, then reduce the heat slightly and add the butter.

4. Add the flour and stir to combine. Next add the milk, drop at a time and stirring to combine in between. If it looks very runny before all the milk is added, then don’t add it all. Similarly if it looks very thick and stodgy, add a drop more milk. Continue to heat until it starts to thicken and bubble, add the creme fraiche and stir well. Finally add the cheese and stir until melted in. Season well.

5. Strain the pasta and broccoli and stir through the sauce until well coated. Pour into oven proof dish.

6. Top with grated smoked cheese and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and bubbling. 

7. Serve for cheesy goodness heaven. I served it with an oven baked salmon fillet which I topped with Big 5 Chilli & Garlic Paste before roasting (for the adults, the children draw the line here)! The spicy kick went really nicely with the cheesiness.  Success!