monday munchies!

Perfect to make with the kids this summer, a classic to make and decorate from BBC Food. Brilliant for picnics or as a treat to take to any groups your kids go to this Summer!

Ingredients

• 350g/12oz plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 125g/4½oz butter
• 175g/6oz light soft brown sugar
• 1 free-range egg
• 4 tbsp golden syrup

To decorate

• writing icing
• cake decorations

Method

1. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon and pour into the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and blend until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.
2. Lightly beat the egg and golden syrup together, add to the food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps together. Tip the dough out, knead briefly until smooth, wrap in clingfim and leave to chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
4. Roll the dough out to a 0.5cm/¼in thickness on a lightly floured surface. Using cutters, cut out the gingerbread men shapes and place on the baking tray, leaving a gap between them.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden-brown. Leave on the tray for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling. When cooled decorate with the writing icing and cake decorations.

frugal freebies friday!

It's the Summer holidays! Change4Life have come up with some brilliant outdoor and indoor games featuring their favourite Disney characters to get your kids active!

With loads of Disney films to choose from for inspiration, there's plenty of characters and exercises to choose from so what are you waiting for? Follow the link and get moving this Summer with this useful free activity from the NHS. 

monday munchies!

Our little boy loves hummus but hasn't quite to grips with the crudites to accompany them yet, that or he just likes the taste of my finger! Here is a great ready for hummus which you can enjoy too, I find for grown ups it tastes better if you add some salt but obviously not in the little one's portion!

Ingredients, for 2-4 people:

200g tinned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2tbsp tahini

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2-4tbsp olive oil

1tbsp water

pinch of salt

Method:

1. Add chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, 2tbsp olive oil, water and salt to blender or food processor.

2. Blend to a creamy consistency.

3. Add more oil if needed and blend again. Taste and add more garlic, salt, or lemon juice if needed.

4. Serve with warm pitta bread and carrot sticks (steamed slightly for babies).

frugal freebies Friday!

Free audio book of Go the F--k to Sleep, my husband bought me this book for my first Christmas as a mum and it is very funny, good to lighten the mood when you are exhausted!

monday munchies!

My first monday munchies comes from myfussyeater.com brocolli cheese frittata fingers. Our son loves this with replacement vegetables, try courgette, sweetcorn or peas (his absolute favourite thing!) 

PREP TIME

7 mins

COOK TIME

15 mins

TOTAL TIME

22 mins

These frittata fingers make the best finger food for baby led weaning and toddlers!

Author: Ciara @ My Fussy Eater

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

• ½ tbsp oil
• 1 cup grated courgette / zucchini
• 1 cup chopped broccoli
• 3 medium eggs
• ½ cup cheese
• 1 tbsp plain flour (can use gluten free or normal)
• ½ tsp dried mixed herbs or oregano

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat to oven 180c / 350f. Grease and line a baking dish with parchment paper. I used a 8in / 20cm square dish.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the courgette and broccoli and fry lightly for 3-4 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
3. In a bowl mix the eggs, cheese, flour and herbs together. Add the cooked vegetables and mix until well combined.
4. Pour this mixture into the lined dish and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and allow the frittata to cool before cutting into fingers or squares.

NOTES

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days.

frugal freebies friday!

Free guide to how to swaddle your baby, just click on the picture! I wish we had this when our son was born, he was the Houdini of the swaddling world...he even escaped the midwives super tight efforts!

10 best changing bag toys / toys for travel with babies

How do you occupy your baby when you are out and about or on a flight?

I go to lots of social things with our son, family and friends houses, meals out, NCT, baby sensory and various mummy baby groups, as well of course the more mundane shopping sprees etc. apart from milk, nappies and wipes in the changing bag the most essential thing is a small entertaining toy.

From my own experience with our son and observations of his little friends, here are ten of the best changing bag toys.

1.    bright starts links

All of the babies I have seen play with these play so nicely exploring them, it even breaks in half so they can share with their friends. £5.99 Early Learning Centre

 2.    jellycat tail books

Our son has always loved his jellycat monster tails book kindly given to us by a friend, he was turning the pages at a young age, sucking and chewing the book. Then as he got older he loved the words and the pictures. I like to give it him when we are looking at menu’s as he always wants to have a look to and it is a lovely way for him to be involved at meal times.

The monster tail book has been retired but there are loads of others to choose from including Farm tails. £9.99 Amazon

3.    diy ribbon tug toy

I made one of these for our son the other day for sensory play and he loves it, he is a big fan of feeling fabrics and swinging things around so this is a big hit. I made mine from an old ice cube tray as I didn’t have a cardboard tube and was feeling imaginative! Free from The Imagination Tree

4.    comforter

Perfect for cuddles when you are out and about, all of these little blankets are a hit as far as I have seen but this one is particularly cute, I saw it in a local shop the other day and despite our son having two comforters I was still tempted! £8.00 Marks and Spencer

5.    teether keys

Teethers are always a good idea and this one can entertain as there are different shapes and colours to explore, you can also put it in a fridge to help sooth those naughty teeth. £4.09 Superdrug

6.    taggy blanket

I have seen a lot of friends with these and their babies love them, they love labels on clothes so what is not to love, this is a particularly lovely one but there are loads of different colours and themes available if you google taggy blanket. BETTY BRAMBLE on NOT ON THE HIGHSTREET £14

7.    home made taggy toy

For crafty mums like me…I wanted to make our baby a hedgehog toy as his nickname is Hoggy (he makes a lot of snuffling noises!) I had seen friends with taggy blankets as well as noticing how babies love labels so I put colourful ribbons and different textures as his spikes. If people are interested I can do a tutorial on how to make this, just let me know!

 

8.    baby Einstein take along toy

With music by Mozart, Vivaldi, Chopin and Rossini this will encourage your baby to be super cultured! The front of the toy lights up which is great for babies like ours who loves lights. £8.95 Amazon

9.    baby sensory say hello to the sun book

Our baby absolutely loves soft books and he loves baby sensory, so this was the perfect little treat for him when he was an extra good boy. This is great as it crinkles, he loves crinkle noise! It also has a baby safe mirror which is brilliant for keeping him happy. It is also a great prompt to remember the baby sensory song if you have a baby sensory baby. If your baby doesn’t go to baby sensory it still has lovely images of the natural world for your baby to enjoy, the sun, moon, corn, stars, rain, flowers and friends. £9.99 Early Learning Centre

10.                toy ties

Ok, not really a toy but invaluable if your baby has a naughty grandad like our son and they’ve been taught how to throw everything out of the pram, here is the perfect solution to hold teddy bears and toys safe. £2.45 for two from John Lewis

10 best pregnancy and baby freebies and money saving

1. cow and gate

Free cuddly cow and pregnancy diary, I found the pregnancy diary invaluable and carried it in my handbag whilst expecting my little boy, was fun to read about the next stage and great to note down key dates, scans, first kicks etc.

2. aptimil

Free cuddly polar bear and great advice on the website for pregnancy and after baby is born!

3. emmas diary

Loads of handy freebies for baby and mum.

4. bounty

Sign up for freebies at every stage, pregnancy, mum-to-be, newborn and family pack full of goodies.

5. ella's kitchen

When you are ready to move on to weaning you're little one...(we are on this fun stage now) Ella's kitchen will send you a free wall chart and stickers which is great to keep track of their progress, likes and dislikes! They also send you coupons for money off their baby food and provide useful information on their emails. Their pouches are great incidentally, our baby loves them and they are especially handy on days out where you can just take a spoon and squeeze out as much food as your little one would like and pop the top on to keep the rest, no need for bowls and extra things to mess up!

6. boots parenting club

Boots parenting club is really good, you get 10 boots points for every £1 you spend on baby products but you also get sent lots of vouchers for nappies, money off their gorgeous clothes, free toothbrushes for your little one and the like. Well worth signing up!

7. sainsbury's baby club

The best thing about this is a £5 voucher to spend on Sainsbury's baby products!

8. very cute baby on board badge

How fabulous is this! Designed so that you always get a seat on buses or the tube in London, this super cute badge also gets you lovely smiles off people (everyone loves a pregnant lady). A friend of hours even announced her pregnancy to her husband with this badge! Brilliant!

9. johnson's baby club

Earn points for every Johnson's product you buy which you can then use for books, toys and activities, I would have definitely signed up for this if my little one wasn't allergic to most yummy smelling baby products due to eczema. :-(

10. hipp organic

Free calendar, samples and money off vouchers, again Hipp also make helpful pouches which your little one will love!

10 useful android apps for babies, mums and dads

When you have a baby, phone apps can be useful for many reasons, keeping track of what they are eating, playing simple music to them, where there are changing facilities nearby, white noise or lullabies to help them sleep and apps which help you keep track of their development, even suggest activities to help with the next stage. Here are just a few of the ones I have found helpful so far at different stages with my baby.

1. babysparks - baby development

Free to start with but to unlock all features £6.22 

Baby sparks is a helpful app, telling you what sort of stage your baby is at, what sort of skills they might have and activities that you can do to help them progress, these are explained on helpful video tutorials. Also helpful is you can add more than one child so if you have twins you can keep track of both their milestones on here. 

2. wonder weeks milestones

£1.25

The book is invaluable to helping you understand why your baby is being particularly clingy, helps you to see things from their point of view which I think is really helpful. This app is best really in conjunction with the book.

3. animal sounds for babies

Free

This app is good fun for baby and mummies and daddies, it teaches animal names, animal sounds, and action / reaction. My baby loves the animal sounds and the songs and loves it even more when mummy and daddy mimic the animals!

This is a fisher price app and the other apps are very good too.

4. baby sleep instant

Free

This useful app is essentially a white noise generator, it certainly calms my baby, unfortunately never managed to get him to sleep just with this but I'm afraid he is still at the stage where he loves milk or rocking to get him to sleep! We're working on it! 

We have found, however that white noise really helps him to settle through the night once he is asleep and wakes up between sleep cycles.

Shower, washing machine, car, hairdryer, vacuum cleaner, shush, fan, train, musicbox, heartbeats, sea and stream.

5. baby piano

Free

The keys of this piano have cute animals and the bright colours are bound to keep your baby amused, teaching them about cause and effect as well as music.

6. baby paint

Free

This is great fun for babies, my baby loved it from a few months old, when baby draws it is turned into rainbow colours with a lovely magical sound effect, he loves this and with the mirror effect it is  a good distraction for a few moments if he is getting irritated by mummy and daddy talking to people for too long!

7. kids learn farm animals

Free

All of the Learn o'polis series of apps are great for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers, this simple app shows images of farm animals and when these are touched it says the name of the animal, simple but effective in helping your child learn words whilst playing with the technology that you and they love.

Other apps include colours, home appliances, vehicles, wild animals, vegetables, numbers and fruit.

8. mEGGies

Free

Designed by a mum for her children, mEGGies is a simple game with surprise eggs for toddlers and small children. Your child chooses an egg from the heap and hope it contains a surprise.

9. baby phone

Free

A great musical and educational game for babies, combining nursery rhymes, cartoons, music, animals, sound effects, numbers, what more could you need!

10. baby musical instruments

Free

Does your baby like musical rhythms? I know mine has always loved music and dancing. This is an educational app where babies can learn musical instruments.

10 diy ideas for mothers day gifts

This year will be my first as a mother, with purse strings more tight than usual and to celebrate this very special day, here are 10 unusual and creative makes for your mother on Mothering Sunday.

1. simnel cake

 

A traditional mothers day gift, here is one for the bakers amongst you, here is a yummy simnel cake recipe guaranteed to make your mum smile, and hopefully you might get a slice too!

2. poem handprint

A lovely gift for a mother who has recently been blessed with a grand child (as mine has), who could resist this lovely poem and handprints of your little one. Simple to make and guaranteed to be well received!

3. diy bath bombs

A delicious smelling gift for your mum, why not make extra to keep for future gifting needs to save you time!

4. gardening mum

Any green fingered mother would love this special gift, if they have no garden it could bring out their rebellious streak with a bit of guerilla gardening!

5. mum's favourite sayings...

Of course we listened to your advice and expressions as we were growing up mum!

For my mum it would have to be don't eat with your mouth full which she once said to me muddling up two of her favourites!

6. for sweet-toothed mums (this is me!)

Delicious spreads flavoured with your favourite biscuits / cookies...yummy!

7. generation photograph

First choose your frame, photograph the youngest, put this in the frame, photograph the next generation holding the frame, then frame this print, then get the third generation to hold the frame and photograph them, this will be the final print to frame!

8. diy personalised monogram keyrings

Beautiful and tasteful keyrings you can make yourself for your super stylish mum, you could equally put these onto a chain for a bracelet or a necklace, or mum could put it on a zip to personalise her favourite bag.

9. personalised wrapped wire name

A creative way to personalise a bouquet of flowers or add to a gift. 

10. for book loving mums

Great for a book loving mum, grab a book and a a garment of beautiful fabric from a charity shop and get creative! Make it more personal by choosing her favourite title or an amusing  and relevant title.