Skip the sippy cup

I have been doing a bit of cleaning out recently (delayed spring cleaning?!). One thing I was pleased to get rid of was the clutter of old baby bottles and beakers/sippy cups at the back of a cupboard. A couple of the cups had never even been used and the couple that had, were only ever used as a regular cup, not with their lids.

With all three of my children, I introduced the Bickiepegs Doidy Cup as soon as I introduced water with weaning/meals. I would begin by holding the cup for them (holding underneath so if and when they wanted to take the handles themselves, they could) and then let them hold it as soon as they wanted to. You can't put a lot of water in it anyway, because of the shape so any spillages were not a big deal.

I don't know about you but finding a cup/beaker that is non-spill for carrying out and about is not as easy as it sounds! I rarely bother taking drinks out with us. I either get a glass of tap water from a cafe or buy a bottle of water that all the children would share. With supervision, my 1-year old drinks from a regular unscrewed water bottle with no problems. When I remember, I will fill up and take out one of our stainless steel water bottles that the children share.

Starting off early with the Bickiepegs Doidy Cup meant that we could then move onto regular cups at home and my youngest handles a regular cup by herself, just needing help setting it back down on the table sometimes.

My advice to those of you with babies: save your money and cupboard space and skip the sippy cup! It also makes life a lot easier when you don't have to think about bringing a certain cup out with you, knowing your child can drink from a regular cup in a restaurant. If your child is the type to make a strong attachment to certain objects, you don't need to worry about them getting upset because you forgot/lost their beloved sippy cup!

What is your experience? Did you move your child onto regular cups quite early on or did you rely on a sippy cup for a while? Did you find a non-spill cup that you and baby both liked?
---
photo credit

Cook together this summer!

The lovely Riverford, where our weekly veg box comes from, are running a great campaign at the moment that I felt compelled to share. Quite simply, they want parents and their children to cook together from scratch and have given the added incentive of some prizes on offer for those people who submit a photo or video of their children in action in the kitchen. You can read all the details on their website and the competition runs until the end of August.

Coincidentally, the day I first read about the campaign, was the day our veg box gets delivered. I decided to get stuck in immediately and with no plans for dinner that evening, had my 3-year old and 6-year old unpack some of our veg and started them washing, preparing and chopping. Between them they made a salad and my son topped and tailed an entire bag of green beans that we ate tossed in oil and vinegar with the rest of our meal. Whilst I gave them instructions, I didn't once help them or try to change the way they were doing something. They did it all themselves and were really proud of themselves for it! An added bonus for me, was that they were genuinely a big help and it meant I had less dinner making to do myself - win, win!

My son asked if they could help with dinner the next day. He ended up being too exhausted after his sports camp that day but my three year old daughter helped again and made these cheesy courgette and carrot balls that we ate with pasta that night. At the weekend, they helped make this tart, mostly by podding the broad beans and then podding again once cooked. 

I have always involved the children with baking and the odd thing here and there like podding beans and occasional chopping but now I hope we can keep up the participation with meal preparation a bit more regularly (when moods and time permits).

A few tips when working with young children in the kitchen:

Manage your expectations. There will likely be more mess, things won't necessarily get chopped or prepared the same way you do it but that's ok! 

Make it fun! If possible, have in mind a variety of tasks they can help with to keep their interest up. Nobody likes scrubbing/podding/peeling/chopping the same thing for a really long time so divide up longer tasks and give them something a bit more fun/creative to do after a more boring task.

Involve them in choosing a meal. If your children are old enough, ask them for suggestions of what your family could eat that day. If it is something they have chosen, they are more likely to be enthusiastic about helping prepare it. Alternatively, give them a choice of two meals that you know you have the ingredients and time to make and let them choose which one.

Be brave! Let them use sharp knives, just gently instruct and demonstrate first. You will be surprised that they can probably handle them better than you imagined. I don't think I ever let my son use a sharp knife at age 3 but I let my 3-year old daughter use one and so far, there have been no unpleasant incidents! If she is struggling to cut something, she will just ask her older brother or me to take over. Let them crack eggs, if you get shell in with it or if one drops on the floor, it is not the end of the world. They need to practise these kinds of things to get better at them.

The summer holidays offer the perfect opportunity to spend more time in the kitchen with your children and #cooktogether, so why not give it a go and get involved too? Do you already cook from scratch sometimes with your children? What kinds of tasks do they enjoy most and do you have any additional tips to add to my list?

This is not a sponsored post, I just really like Riverford's idea and wanted to spread the word!

Easy edible things to grow with children

First, an update on our tomato seeds. It didn't take too long for green shoots to appear and then earlier this week my three year old came rushing over to me excitedly telling me to come and look at something in the kitchen. I couldn't make out what she was talking about and followed her, intrigued. She wanted to show me how big our green shoots were now! You can see what they look like currently from the photo. I removed the plastic bags we had covered them with about a week ago and so far we are off to a good start!

It was lovely seeing my daughter's excitement and that is one of the things I love about planting things with children. It is fun for them to plant and nurture something and watch it grow into something as a result. When you are growing something edible, they will without a doubt be keen to tuck in, even if it a vegetable they may previously not have been keen on. We grew runner beans last summer and the children loved them, having previously not been overly keen on them.

Even if you do not have much of a garden or none at all, there are lots of resources online for finding things to grow on a windowsill, small patio or whatever so don't be put off by a lack of space! 

I am not sure if tomatoes are not considered an 'easy' thing to grow, as they require quite a lot of specific care (consistent watering but not over-watering, regularly feeding, ideally pinching out the middle leaves once they get growing considerably, plenty of sun etc). Having said that, if I can grow them, you can too! I am not exactly green-fingered, but enjoy having a go!

Having spoken to friends and relatives who are keen gardeners, along with my own (limited experience) I have listed below a few easy edible things to grow that are well suited for trying out with children:

Herbs: ideal for those without a garden,  as you can grow them in small pots on a windowsill. Enjoy using them to make your own pesto (doesn't have to be basil!).

Rocket: we tried this great idea from Daisies and Pie last summer and grew rocket in our used Illy coffee tins. It worked a treat!

Runner beans: you can grow them in a pot, just get a bamboo cane to wind the stems around and secure the growing plant to keep it vertical. The more you pick, the more you get!

Courgettes/zucchini: I've been told these are easy to grow and tend a produce a lot, so get ready with a variety of courgette recipes to use them in! If you leave them, they will turn into marrows.

Cucumbers: we bought some seeds to try growing some this year and bought a small variety that is ideal for pots or grow-bags. You can also buy indoor growing varieties so have a look and see what suits your circumstances best.

Potatoes: we grew some last year in a half empty bag of compost, simply by planting actual potatoes deep down and topping up with compost as the shoots kept emerging and you could equally grow them in a pot. Whilst we didn't get a huge yield, we had enough for dinner for six and they were delicious!

There is a lovely little section on gardening with children in the Leon: Fast Vegetarian cookbook. A couple of their suggestions are really good, such as encouraging your children to 'graze on the plot' to help solidify the connection between growing and eating, and understanding where food comes from. They also advise letting your children have their own patch of soil or collection of pots that they can call their own, I love that idea!

If you have grown any fruit or vegetables in your garden with your children, it would be great to hear about it and any additions to my list above are most welcome.

---

Disclosure: We were sent a crate containing tomato seeds and the items described here, if we blog our progress Heinz will send us a hamper full of Heinz goodies as a reward.

Focusing more on my 5-a day

From weaning onwards, there is a lot of emphasis here in the UK on ensuring our children, and families as a whole, get their recommended 5 a day (five portions of fruit and vegetables). I read or heard somewhere not so long ago that we should really be aiming for more like seven and with a greater emphasis on the vegetables.

As a relatively healthy-eating vegetarian, you would think I easily hit my 5 a day but I probably spend more time watching my children's intake of fruit and vegetables than I do my own.

Looking at my lunch the other day, I recognised I had yet again fallen into a bit of a cheese sandwich rut for lunches. The thing is, I love cheese and my children love sandwiches so it's a bit of a default lunch. My older daughter's absolute favourite lunch is pitta bread with hummous and tomato (I usually put cucumber and sometimes avocado in there too).

Most days I ask my son what he had for school dinners and have noticed the distinct lack of vegetables! (The novelty for the sweet puddings seems to have worn off and he seems to choose the fruit over the dessert more days than not now). Then I look at his dinner plate and see one or two portions of vegetables and realise we could be doing better to achieve the recommended five a day.

Back in 2013, I started a photo log of my meals, as a kind of public food diary. I found it really helped me be aware of what I was eating and to go for healthier options at mealtimes. I did it for a while and then stopped. Last week, I decided to go back to it, as a way to encourage me to vary my lunches and increase my vegetable consumption. If you are interested in seeing what I am eating for lunch and dinner, have a look here!

I have only been photographing my meals again for the past week but already it has helped. Last night when our weekly veg box had not yet come and I was pretty much out of vegetables and short on time, I used up the remaining odds and ends to make a healthy meal, rather than going for a vegetable void meal like pasta and pesto. My son ate four big helpings of it too!

Do you feel like you and your family easily achieve your 5 a day? I suspect a lot of people's quota comes more from fruit than vegetables. Is that the case with you or are you good about being conscious of providing several vegetable portions each day?
---

Sowing seeds

Two years ago, we excitedly participated in the Heinz 'Grow Your Own' tomatoes, having just moved into a home with a garden and space for more adventurous gardening projects. We grew the tomatoes from seed and after months of nurturing had our own tomatoes to pick and enjoy! We have since grown potatoes, runner beans, rocket (arugula) and broad beans. I really like spending time out in the garden and the children have fun getting involved so growing our own is definitely something I am keen to continue.

This year I was invited again to participate in the Heinz 'Grow Your Own' initiative and gratefully accepted. We received our gardening kit comprising a wheelbarrow, two packets of tomato seeds, a watering can, a gardening themed activity book and a bottle of tomato ketchup, all enclosed in a wooden crate.

As the weather was so pleasant and spring-like at the weekend, we got straight to work and planted the seeds. Last time we did this, my daughter was too young to do anything and my son did all the planting but now aged three, she is the perfect age to get stuck in with her brother.

They each planted a pot of seeds, carefully covering them with a final layer of soil and watering them a little. The pots are enclosed in plastic bags and are inside now in a sunny spot. Over the coming weeks we will check them regularly, water them when needed and await green shoots!

Are you planting tomatoes or any other kind of fruit or vegetable this spring? Do you and your children enjoy a bit of gardening together too?
---

Disclosure: We were sent a crate containing the items described above, if we blog our progress Heinz will send us a hamper full of Heinz goodies as a reward.  Get involved too and head over to the Heinz Tomato Ketchup UK Facebook page where you have the chance to win free seeds.

Valentine's Day: heart-themed treats & a hunt!

It is February and that means Valentine's Day is coming up! More than anything it has become an excuse to do heart-themed baking/crafts/activities with my children than anything romantic with my husband!

Last year I was not organised enough to post anything in advance to share idea-wise with you. I saved up what we did do however and can offer it up as some inspiration this year....

Heart-shaped biscuits/cookies usually appear in one form or another at our house. Last year I branched out and tried a new (more chocolatey) recipe from The Crazy Kitchen, Chocolate chip shortbread hearts. Mine certainly don't look as pretty in the picture but they tasted delicious! I made the larger ones for my son to take to his teachers at school (we packaged them in a cute little bag, sealed with a heart sticker) and the smaller ones were enjoyed by us and some friends who came over that day. They are very simple to make and I would definitely make them again.

My son had a play date at our home on Valentine's Day last year and at the last minute, I decided to set up a little heart-themed hunt for them to do. I bought some small heart-shaped chocolates for them to find on the hunt. I cut out some pink paper hearts and wrote a very brief, easy description on each of where I had hidden a chocolate heart. It was a sneaky way to practise their reading/phonics, which at age five they were getting stuck into at school. So first they had to go around and find the pink paper hearts and then they had to read what was written on them to find the chocolate hearts. A hunt always goes down well with that age (4/5) and this one was definitely a success and a fun Valentine's activity.

I'll finish with a link for the grown-ups! I had every intention of making these Chilli chocolate truffles for my husband and I to enjoy but the weather was so atrocious last year, I could not face the trip to the supermarket to pick up the ingredients I needed. This year, I am definitely going to make them and still have plenty of time to get anything I need for them. I love the combination of chocolate and chilli!

Do you have any Valentine-themed activities or baking you like to do or that you have seen recently that sound fun?
---

Round two of the threenager!

Back when my son was age three and demonstrating some pretty challenging behaviour, I wrote this post, 'The Trying Threes'. Now I am going through it all over again with my daughter. Reading back over my earlier post, I am at least reassured that this is normal and just another stage we have to get through. It is a good reminder to me about doing my best to stay calm when faced with defiance from my daughter and feeling utter despair at times.

Last week I read this article, '10 Signs you are living with a threenager'. It is both funny and true! I can tell the author is talking about her daughter, as there are some things on her list that are the case with our daughter too but that never occurred with our son. Number 1 (about how to cut her sandwiches) and 3 (wardrobe changes, although just regular clothes, not princess costumes in our case) definitely apply to our daughter. Neither of these things were ever an issue with our son.

So, round two and having been there before I am going to try to take a deep breath and tell myself I can do this! I keep trying to identify what it is that is different on the days when my daughter is behaving beautifully but I think it is just the usual stuff: she needs sleep, food and attention, like they all do. Unfortunately there are always going to be days when she doesn't get enough of one of those and I will know about it!

In the meantime, I will endeavour to follow my own advice (see, 'The Trying Threes'), remembering she is only three, trying to lead by example, focusing on something positive from the day and remembering she does love me really!

Are any of you also currently living with a 'threenager'? What are some of the challenges they throw at you and how do you deal with them?
---
photo credit

A final post for the year

Finally a few spare moments to write a blog post! We have had a lot going on with unwell children, hospital stays and other events so all my ideas for December posts went out the window! As I now have lots to catch up on and Christmas travels on the horizon, I am making this my final post of the year.

So a few Christmas related things I wanted to mention. This year we have had a new kind of advent calendar, a fabric Christmas tree-shaped wall hanging with little pockets for each day of December. My mum and aunt bought it and purchased some little gifts to put inside and I have added a few of my own. I loved this idea for seasonal activities to do each day during the month of December so I have thrown in a few of those too. It has been fun for the children!

Every year I have the thought of making some food gifts for neighbours and friends, wrapping in cute bags with ribbon and the like. This year again, I did not get beyond the idea but I did see some recipes I thought would be perfect for the purpose. In case you have the time and fancy making something yummy to hand out, some of these Homemade Food Gifts sound good.

In an effort to be a little more eco-friendly with wrapping presents, I have been using the brown packing paper that comes in many Amazon parcels to wrap the items enclosed. It is perforated so there is no cutting to be done and a pretty ribbon or some Christmas stickers added make it look perfectly acceptable under the tree!

We are off to spend Christmas with the American side of the family this year. The children are excited about seeing their cousins over there and it should be a lively, fun time. What are your plans for Christmas?

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year!

Operation Christmas Child

We spent some time this weekend packing up a couple of shoeboxes, for Operation Christmas Child. A mum at school had mentioned she and her son were going to do one and when I looked into it, I really liked the idea too. The charity, Samaritan's Purse, deliver gift-filled shoeboxes to needy children around the world.

As we approach the festive season, I think this is a really nice way to involve children in the act of giving. My two had a lot of fun packing their shoeboxes and thinking about what a little boy or girl might like to receive or find useful. We began by packing one shoebox but when it came to deciding on whether it should be for a boy or girl (as Samaritan's Purse ask you to decide), we could not agree! My daughter wanted it to be for a girl, my son wanted it to be for a boy so daddy suggested we do two, one for each.

There are lots of useful suggestions of what to pack inside your box on the Samaritan's Purse website. We included a combination of some fun stuff and some practical items and my children also both drew a picture and my son wrote a little note on his to include inside. It was really nice to see my children excitedly running around finding things and coming up with ideas of what we could include in the boxes.

You are asked to send a minimum £3 donation per box to cover shipping costs for your box and if you donate online, you can follow your box and find out which country it gets delivered to. We are going to donate that way, as my son really wants to know where the boxes will go.

Once you have packed your box, you need to drop it off at one of the collection points near to you. The deadline is 18 November, so those of you in the UK reading this who are interested in making up a box should just about have time! If you miss the deadline however, you can still create a shoebox online, and have items purchased and packed for you.

For those of you in the US, you can do it too! Have a look at the details and deadlines on their website.

Have you done something like this with your children in the past or do you have other types of activities you involve your children in, to encourage the spirit of giving to those less fortunate?

School dinners, snacks and sugary treats

One day during the recent school half-term holiday, my son said that he thought he would like to try school dinners when he went back (he has been taking a packed lunch since he started school). I asked him again the day before he returned to school and as he had not changed his mind, school dinners began for him this week.

For any non-UK readers, the government here decided to provide free school dinners for all children in Reception, year 1 and year 2 (4-7 year olds), as part of their policy to 'giving all children a healthy start in life'. I have always given my son the choice of whether he takes a packed lunch or has school dinners and until now, he always wanted packed lunches.

Part of me was secretly pleased my son had opted for packed lunches for so long, as I get particularly annoyed by the sweet puddings/desserts that are on offer every day! Part of the idea of the free school meals is to try to discourage those people taking unhealthy packed lunches (containing crisps, cakes, chocolate etc) and to bring healthier food to more children. I fail to see how the sugary desserts can be part of the 'healthy' school lunches.

No surprise to me at all that this first week of his school dinners, my son has had a chocolatey/sugary dessert three days out of four. The one day he had fruit instead was because he knew he had a friend coming over after school and that I would be making something yummy for them! I am hoping the novelty will wear off after a few weeks but we will see.....

Also this week, I came across this article, Why I became a Snacktavist, by Audrey D. Brashich and I felt it really describes the way I feel about children and sugar and treats. The opening lines are:

"Dear everyone who interacts with my children anywhere at all:
Please stop feeding my kids sugar."

She goes on to explain how sugar has become part of nearly every event for children, from after-school clubs, to holidays (Christmas, Easter, Halloween), to birthdays and play dates. Part of her wants to remove some of the treats they might enjoy at home as a family, just to get some nutritional balance in her children's diets and yet, " I don’t want to have to give up the treats we enjoy together as a family just so my kids can eat their fill when they are everywhere but our house".

The article discusses snacks and how once they were simply something to keep hunger at bay between meals but now have become more of a 'treat' in themselves, with parents trying to outdo each other.

"Kids today are getting about 500 calories daily from snacking, and most of their snacks contain primarily refined white flour, salt, sugar and artificial additives, which is a dangerous combination given how childhood has changed, too. “There’s more inactivity and kids are eating more calories and artificial food dyes than at any time in history,”

Do have a read of the article in full and let me know what you think.

As a parent to young children, I would like to be the one who decides when and how they consume sugary foods. I am happy for sweet treats to be offered to my children when they go to a friend's house to play and usually do the same here when my son has a friend over. I like to bake and have something a bit special on a Friday at the end of the week and perhaps make a nice dessert at least one evening over the weekend for the whole family to enjoy together. Every day at school as well? I am not so keen on that.

I do think school dinners can be a positive thing overall. Several parents have told me the good effect they have had on their fussy eaters, who start eating foods they previously refused and who surprise them by being more adventurous with their eating. Even my son on day one, chose a meal which had broccoli with it (which he detests) and ate it all!

What are your thoughts on school dinners, snacks and sugar treats?! Do you try to provide healthy snacks for your children to balance out some of the less healthy food they might consume at other times during the day or week? Does your child's school do a good job of providing plenty of healthy options for school dinners?
---
photo credit

Cooking with courgettes (zucchini)

Last week, I was kindly given a large courgette or maybe it was a marrow from our neighbour's garden before they left on holiday. A couple of days later my veg box came with courgettes in it and the same day, a friend came over for dinner and brought (among other things) some courgettes from her father's allotment. So we had a lot of courgettes (zucchini) in the house!

My husband and I quite like courgettes but they are not our favourite vegetable. My children will eat them if they are grated but are not huge fans of them overall. It was time to get creative and think of some ways to use them up!

I regularly make these savoury muffins, courgette mozzarella muffins so I made a batch of those and froze half. My children enjoy them for lunch with some salad bits on the side. One evening I made a courgette risotto for the children (admittedly, only one of them liked it!) and for my husband and I, this wild fried rice dish using diced courgette.

After asking for suggestions on Twitter, someone told me to google, 'savoury marrow bake'. I did and found this recipe, which sounded a bit different so I gave it a try. We had some for lunch and it went down well with the children. Again, I froze half.

I know I can always use some in a rice bake, which the whole family really likes. I also plan on making a melanzane parmigiana, substituting the aubergines (eggplant) for courgettes. Sometimes I stuff them with a bit of cooked rice, finely chopped onion, red pepper, mushroom and topped with cheese. We love these cheesy courgette and carrot balls and I tried these courgette and feta fritters recently, which the adults liked!

In the event you too face a glut of courgettes, I hope this post gives you some ideas of what to do with them. What do you make with courgettes? It would be great to have some more ideas from you in the comments.
---
photo credit

Baby skin problems

A couple of weeks ago I went to the doctor about my baby daughter's terribly dry skin. As well as severe cradle cap her poor little body was red raw and dry as sandpaper. All the usual gentle oils and creams recommended for newborns hadn't done anything much to relieve her skin.

All three of my children had quite bad cradle cap and dry skin as babies. Luckily my older two grew out of it so I am really hoping it will be the case again this time. My husband has eczema so it is no surprise our babies get it too.

Coincidentally that same day I went to the doctor's, I received an email from natural skin care company Hannah and Hugh telling me about their baby products, one of which is ideal for baby's dry skin. I was sent their rosehip and calendula cream to try out.

The doctor had also given me a cream and told me to apply liberally to my daughter 4 times a day. I decided to use the Hannah and Hugh cream alongside, specifically on my daughter's face and on her feet.

The cream is a lovely consistency, not sticky or oily. It's light and absorbs easily. It smells really nice - I have received compliments on how nice my daughter smells when she has this cream on!

As for how well it works, it has definitely done as good a job on her skin as the cream the doctor prescribed. A couple of people on seeing just her face when she's been otherwise covered up in the pram or in my arms have commented that her skin has improved. It has. As a result, this is a product I would recommend and would buy myself in the future. Especially if your child has simply a bit of dry skin here and there, Hannah and Hugh's rosehip and calendula cream would I'm sure help clear it up.

This skincare range was inspired by Hannah and Hugh’s founder and product developer Pamela Orji, whose desire to find a solution to her own daughter’s eczema propelled her business.  Their mission is to educate people to make better choices when deciding on skincare products; especially for babies. Hannah and Hugh’s skincare formulations have been carefully chosen for their safe and beneficial qualities and are free from parabens, sodium lauryl sulphate, PEGS, mineral oils, synthetic fragrances or colours. Ingredients include natural butters such as Cocoa and Shea butter, and essential oils such as lavender and chamomile, all of which are sourced locally in the UK.

The regular application of the creams is keeping my daughter's skin in better condition. She still has 'baby eczema' but the harshness of it has definitely subsided.

Hopefully with time, the need to apply cream will reduce somewhat and as with her siblings, the eczema will gradually disappear or at least be more mild.

Have any of your children suffered with cradle cap, eczema or other skin conditions? What have been the best products you have used to improve them? Have you heard or or used anything from the Hannah and Hugh range?

Disclosure: I was sent one pot of Hannah and Hugh rosehip and calendula baby cream, but with no obligation to blog about it. 

Rice bake: a recipe for National Vegetarian Week

As this week is National Vegetarian Week, I am sharing a vegetarian recipe some of you might like to try; rice bake. It's a family favourite in our household, it's relatively quick to make and it's a great recipe for adapting to whatever vegetables you happen to have around. 

In a nutshell, you cook some rice, some veg and combine with a sauce. Top with cheese and breadcrumbs and bake in the oven. The veg can be of one type only (even frozen peas!) or a mix of whatever you have to hand. 

The sauce can be whatever you like too, I usually make a bechamel sauce and tweak it in some way (make it cheesy / add some tomato/pesto/mustard) but you could use any kind of homemade or ready made sauce, as you would for pasta for example. A tin of soup could even be used, something like a cream of mushroom soup would work well.

Most recently I made a rice bake with mushrooms, courgette, green pepper and asparagus with a cheese sauce. My children seem to like and eat courgette if it's grated (not when it's diced or sliced) so I grated it for the bake. They don't like asparagus so I made two separate bakes, one with asparagus for my husband and I, the other without for the children. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the completed rice bake - we were in too much of a hurry to tuck in!

Rice and veg cooked, ready for sauce and topping to be added

You will notice that I have not specified quantities in the recipe below. Simply cook the amount you think your family will eat and enjoy - there's no risk of the recipe not turning out, I promise!

Rice bake 

Ingredients 

• Rice
• One or more vegetables, finely diced/sliced/grated
• Fresh breadcrumbs
• Cheddar cheese, grated
• Sauce (see note above)

Method

• Preheat oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6
• Cook rice. 
• Gently cook your vegetables if applicable (ie. steam/boil asparagus, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli etc, lightly fry courgette, pepper, aubergine, mushrooms etc).
• Make your sauce unless you are using a pre-prepared sauce  / tin of soup.
• Combine rice, vegetables and sauce in an ovenproof dish.
• Top with breadcrumbs and cheese.
• Bake for 15-20 mins until bubbling and golden on top.

Do you have a family favourite vegetarian recipe in your household?

I'm linking up with this week's #recipeoftheweek

This week: a book, a film, a recipe

Here is what I have watched, been reading and a new recipe I tried this week:

My husband and I watched the documentary Forks Over Knives, a film which "examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.". It was certainly interesting and as lovers of dairy, it got us thinking about our somewhat heavy consumption of dairy and we have probably eaten a little less since watching the movie!

I made chapatis for the first ever time this week. I felt like having some with a potato and pea curry I had made one evening and when I saw how easy they were to make, wondered why I had never tried them before! The two-ingredient recipe I followed was from the BBC Food site. They are quick and easy, no dough to rise or advance preparation needed. Give them a try!

After reading the parenting book I recently blogged about, I decided to move on to something completely different. I started reading Handsome Brute: The True Story of a Ladykiller. A book about a murderer might not sound very appealing but I can assure you it is a rather riveting read of a once famous British murder case that unfolded during the post-war period.

Do you have a book, film or recipe recommendation to share from your week?

Ending the day on a positive note

Since joining Twitter, one of the regular things I enjoy participating in is the nightly, 'Be Positive Before Bed' #bepbb. At 9pm (UK time), anyone can share something positive from their day and there is a nightly host who retweets it and replies to you. Fellow mum and blogger, Jetta came up with the idea and on 5 March, it will have been running for a whole year! As a celebration, she has asked other bloggers who enjoy joining in, whether occasionally or regularly, to share what they like about #bepbb.

In a post about being thankful, I mentioned #bepbb and the fact that some days it is hard to think of something positive from the day, but that those days are exactly the ones where we need to dig deep and think of something. I think that is what I like most about #bepbb - the simple but effective challenge it gives us to find one good thing from our day, no matter how small. Some days it is easy to share a positive, other days it can be really hard but it's such a great exercise to look back over the events of the day and find something good. We can all too easily overlook the little things that we sometimes take for granted and forget how much they really mean to us.

The beauty of a tweet is that it is short and sweet, so no need to share elaborate events from your day. This makes it a very quick, simple way to end the day on a positive note. The other nice thing about #bepbb is reading what other people have shared. There are things that make you smile, things you can identify with and things that can make you recognise something from your own day that you perhaps dismissed as not being 'positve' enough.

Do you do anything similar to end your day, as a way to reflect on the good things in your life or to simply remind yourself of what has been positive from a day filled with challenges? If you ever join in with #bepbb, what is you like about it?
---
photo credit

Brightening up a grey day

This morning was another wet day and I got pretty soaked doing the school run, despite being dressed in waterproof jacket and wellies. I felt thoroughly fed up but quickly told myself that attitude wasn't going to help me get through the day. One of my kind readers left a comment on a recent post about taking time to focus on something beautiful/positive during the dark and challenging days and it's stuck with me. I decided that was what I would try to do today.

Also in the back of my head was an article a friend had shared yesterday, A counterintuitive idea for worn out parents to feel reinvigorated. I decided to do something a bit different and fun with my daughter as we were stuck inside at home. We made the rainy day picture (above) and she had great fun sticking on the various bits and pieces, enjoying the different textures and especially liking the rice and lentils, which we used as our rain drops. Following on from that, we got coloured pens out and she did some 'drawing' on the big paper we keep on our easel. I usually insist she sticks to crayons or coloured pencils for fear the pen ends up on the wall but I moved the easel into the kitchen, away from any walls and let her loose!

Before I knew it, the morning had flown by and it was time to make lunch. My daughter had enjoyed the activities and I felt like I had given her some quality time and we had both been happily engaged in what we were doing. I did keep checking on the weather to see if we could get out for a walk but the heavy rain continued. We have had some fun walks in the rain lately, with lots of puddle splashing but today it's just been too heavy. I've had an idea for making a paper plate umbrella that we might do after picking up my son from school later this afternoon, keeping with the rainy day theme!

I'm making a hearty, healthy soup for dinner and jacket/baked potatoes, so nice warming, comfort food! This is one of the tips I included in a post for Beating the January Blues - have a read for more ideas to lift your spirits if you too have been feeling a bit gloomy as a result of the miserable weather.

It definitely takes more effort to keep the momentum going on a dull day but once we make that little extra effort, we usually end up being thankful for it and enjoy the day more than we imagined we would.

What do you like to do on a dreary day when you feel like you've lost some of your usual motivation?

This week: a rainbow and some random reads

My daughter and I saw a rainbow yesterday. I know for a fact that I haven't seen in a rainbow in my son's entire lifetime (5 years). I am always saying to him when there's sunshine and rain, "perhaps we'll see a rainbow" and we always look around the sky and there has never been one. I was a little disappointed he wasn't there with me yesterday but took a photo to show him when I picked him up from school later that day.

It's all too easy to ignore the beauty of nature around us, especially at times like these when we have been having so many grey rainy days and everyone's a bit fed up with the weather. Yet, there I was, running back home in the sudden shower that had just started, pushing my daughter at top speed in her buggy, shopping bags swinging from the handles when I turned the corner onto our road and stopped in my tracks. The vast expanse of the rainbow stretched across the sky and the colours amidst the otherwise sea of grey were a sight to behold. Suddenly I barely noticed the rain any more and time seemed to almost slow down for a few moments. (My photo does it no justice!).

***

On a completely unrelated note, I have a few links to share with you that I've enjoyed this week....

In line with my parenting goal for the year ahead, I read two articles of interest this week. One is a brief story of how one mother changed her bad habit of shouting at her children. The other a post from the end of last year offering 12 steps to stop yelling at your kids. This latter post is from the blog The Orange Rhino, a mother of four's blog tracking her progress as she committed to going 365 days without yelling (she is now into the second year), so there's a wealth of useful information and shared experiences to read on her site.

Onto food now and this guide to sugar is a very simple explanation of the various types/forms of sugar and sweeteners. I suppose I already knew it but as this concise list outlines, there are no good sugars out there!

I read The Crazy Kitchen's recipe for 'vegetable burgers' earlier this week and it stuck with me. It is an easy recipe, family-friendly and unlike a lot of veggie burger recipes (based on rice/beans/breadcrumbs), it contains some vegetables! I adapted the recipe, substituting the frozen mixed veg for some fresh veg I had at home (finely diced onion and mushrooms along with some grated courgette and carrot). I used pinto beans instead of baked beans, to avoid the salt and sugar they contain. The burgers turned out well. The consistency was good, they tasted nice and the whole family enjoyed them - a winner!

Let me know in the comments if you have read anything good this week or seen a recipe you plan on trying!

A vegetarian Christmas dinner

As a vegetarian I often get asked what I eat for Christmas dinner, in place of the turkey that is traditional here in the UK. Most people assume I'll be eating nut roast, isn't that what every vegetarian eats?! Maybe for that very reason, I never have nut roast for Christmas dinner. My mother always made an effort creating something a bit different yet seasonal for our vegetarian Christmas main and it was always an attractive centrepiece on the table too. I don't remember ever having just a plain old nut roast for Christmas growing up.

The years we do spend Christmas at home, as we are this year, I like to take the opportunity to try something new. I enjoy looking through recipes finding something that sounds tasty and a bit more special than what we might eat any other day of the year. With all the great foodie websites, recipe blogs and such like that are available online, it's even easier to find culinary inspiration. The difficulty is choosing just one dish to go for!

In the past few days I have been looking around for ideas for Christmas dinner this year and narrowed it down to these three recipes, which my husband and I thought all sounded rather yummy:

A nut-free roast!
Lentil and cashew nut roast - a nice alternative to the traditional nut roast
Christmas veggie wellington - like the sound of the unusual choice of filling ingredients

What do you have for your Christmas main, if it's not turkey? Do you cater for any special diets that means you have to get creative in the kitchen? Do you like the same dish each Christmas or like me, do you like to vary the main dish from year to year?
---
photo credit

This week: being thankful

As my American readers will know only too well, Thursday of this week is Thanksgiving. It has become an adopted annual celebration for me, with my other half being American. Last year I wrote about it too, with a focus on the food side of things. I also mentioned how touching it was getting to listen to our son tell us for the first time what he was thankful for.

This year in writing about it, I am focusing more on the 'thanks' in Thanksgiving. It is a time when we 'officially' stop and think about what we are thankful for and that is something I have been thinking a lot about during recent weeks. Feelings of gratitude are well-linked to feelings of happiness and indeed, some people recommend writing or sharing aloud one or two things they are grateful for at the end of each day. It is undoubtedly a good exercise.

Since joining Twitter, I discovered a nightly, 'Be positive before bed' time, when people tweet something positive from their day. I was trying to join in fairly frequently but have not done so recently. Some days it is hard to pick out something good from everything that has happened and when you're feeling like it's been a tough day. However, those days are probably exactly the days when we should force ourselves to identify at least one thing that we are thankful for!

An old post on one of the blogs I enjoy reading, The Happiness Project, provides four questions to ask yourself, to help boost your feelings of gratitude. It is a good starting point if you feel unsure of where to start in thinking of what you are thankful for. Often the little things and often the things we take for granted are ultimately the linchpin to our happiness and so it really is important to stop and think about those things and recognise how crucial they are to us.

I shared a couple of things I am thankful for in my post from last week. I would love to hear some of yours (please don't be shy!). Do you regularly take a moment to contemplate your sources of gratitude or is it something you rarely think to do?
---
photo credit

Raise Happier Kids

I never thought I would write a post recommending an app, as I am not the kind of parent who gives my children a tablet or phone to play on. However, last week I stumbled across Knoala, a free app that aims to keep children happy and occupied away from screens by providing activities parents can play with their infants, toddlers and preschoolers.

Knoala's slogan is the title of this post, 'Raise happier Kids' and the app was created by first-time parents, who wanted to explore the potential of play for their child's development. After some extensive research they created the app that now offers thousands of ideas for fun activities for you and your child.  

'Based on your child's age and local weather conditions, Knoala finds activities that are most suitable for you and your family. Bond with your child over games and crafts that foster artistic, cognitive, emotional, motor, sensory and language skills.'

To give you a couple of example activities, there are things like getting your child to peel a boiled egg or slice a banana, various art/craft ideas and outdoor activities too. One suggestion I know my son would love is to get some of those little plastic eggs and fill them with healthy snacks. Hide them around the house and let your child go on a hunt for the eggs. Obviously they get to eat the snacks when they find them :-).

Another good thing Knoala provides are loads of story starters to help you have fun making up and telling stories with your child. One I read today was, 'Tell a heroic story about a determined star who is on a secret mission'. I like how these starters can get you and your child thinking and storytelling about something that might be completely unlike what you usually think of, keeping the imagination alive!

 As the cold weather sets in here in London, there will invariably be those days or moments when I am looking for something enjoyable and a bit different to do with the children and at those times, I am sure Knoala will definitely come in handy for giving some inspiration. The fact that all content in the app is free is a bonus too!

Have you used Knoala or have you heard of it? Are there any other apps you like that help encourage fun playtime with your children?

Disclosure: I was not contacted by Knoala or requested to review the app, I simply wanted to share something fun I found that other parents might benefit from!