Having children of the same gender has saved me sooo much money on clothes (and toys). At the weekend I went up to the loft and got down the next bag of clothes for my littlest man. We had a lot of fun looking through all the 'new' outfits and remembering the other boys wearing them.
There is only one tiny problem. Not so much a problem but an amusement. My older three boys were all born in the winter, and so were all turning 1 either just before or after Christmas. Little man was born in the summer, has just turned 1, and tonight is asleep wearing jammies covered in red-nosed reindeers and snowflakes!
He does look very cute in them though, and is small enough not to mind! I did try to get his picture in them but he kept crawling towards me too fast to grab the camera so maybe he does!
Now, if only this 'unseasonal' rain would go away and I could get my boys back outside to play again tomorrow.
Monday, 19 July 2010
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Recipe of the Week
One of our family traditions is that every Saturday and Sunday morning we have pancakes for breakfast. Like so many traditions, I don't actually remember when or why this started, but I do know it has been for a good few years.
When my granny (my dad's mother) passed away about 7 years ago, I inherited her griddle. It really is the best thing ever for making pancakes and scones on, so much better than a frying pan. I love the fact that it has so much history and to think how many scones/oatcakes/barley bread etc must have been cooked on it over the decades. I had to include a shot of it here:
Wheat & Dairy Free Breakfast Pancakes
9oz wheat free self raising flour
1oz sugar
1tsp cream of tartar
300ml oat milk (soya milk is fine too but has a slightly stronger flavour)
2 eggs
1tbsp oil
-Before you begin the mixture, put your pan on to heat up. Wipe over with some oil if it isn't non stick.
-Measure the milk into a large bowl or batter jug (I LOVE my Pampered Chef Batter Jug)
-Add the eggs and beat together then add the oil.
-Add all the dry ingredients and beat well with a whisk until you have a smooth batter.
-Once your pan is really hot, pour dollops of the mixture onto the pan.
-When bubbles appear, turn them round to cook the other side.
In the summer we usually serve the pancakes with lots of fresh berries and lashings of pancake syrup.
When my granny (my dad's mother) passed away about 7 years ago, I inherited her griddle. It really is the best thing ever for making pancakes and scones on, so much better than a frying pan. I love the fact that it has so much history and to think how many scones/oatcakes/barley bread etc must have been cooked on it over the decades. I had to include a shot of it here:
Wheat & Dairy Free Breakfast Pancakes
9oz wheat free self raising flour
1oz sugar
1tsp cream of tartar
300ml oat milk (soya milk is fine too but has a slightly stronger flavour)
2 eggs
1tbsp oil
-Before you begin the mixture, put your pan on to heat up. Wipe over with some oil if it isn't non stick.
-Measure the milk into a large bowl or batter jug (I LOVE my Pampered Chef Batter Jug)
-Add the eggs and beat together then add the oil.
-Add all the dry ingredients and beat well with a whisk until you have a smooth batter.
-Once your pan is really hot, pour dollops of the mixture onto the pan.
-When bubbles appear, turn them round to cook the other side.
In the summer we usually serve the pancakes with lots of fresh berries and lashings of pancake syrup.
When the berries are out of season and the weather is colder we tend to have them with bacon and scrambled eggs.
To finish with, here I am tucking into my pancakes, complete with my mug of tea and my favourite little tea cosy!
Monday, 12 July 2010
More cake and goodbye gooseberries
Last week was my mother-in-law's birthday and so on Friday we went through to spend the night with my in-laws. They stay about an hours drive away from us. I drove through with the boys in the afternoon and my hubby got the train through after work.
On the way, the boys and I stopped off at the David Livingstone Centre. I recently joined the National Trust so all these kinds of places are free for us to enter now. The National Trust also have a great event on over the summer for kids called 'Gnashional Treasure Hunt'. At some of their properties you need to hunt out the Gnashers and if you find them you get a stamp on your 'Gnashport'. Collect the stamps for goodies like water bottles, bags, t-shirts. My boys are big Dennis the Menace and Gnasher fans so this has been a big hit in our house!
Anyway, I digress. As well as looking for the Gnashers, the boys really enjoyed looking round the Centre. I knew that Africa was huge but didn't realise quite how big until we walked into the first room and saw the map below, showing the United Kingdom to scale beside it. You can kind of see the green lights on the map, these show Livingstone's journeys.
This was the one room the family lived and slept in, six children and two parents. Looking at those irons on the range makes me very thankful that I have my steam-generator iron for the mound of ironing waiting for me just now!
On the way, the boys and I stopped off at the David Livingstone Centre. I recently joined the National Trust so all these kinds of places are free for us to enter now. The National Trust also have a great event on over the summer for kids called 'Gnashional Treasure Hunt'. At some of their properties you need to hunt out the Gnashers and if you find them you get a stamp on your 'Gnashport'. Collect the stamps for goodies like water bottles, bags, t-shirts. My boys are big Dennis the Menace and Gnasher fans so this has been a big hit in our house!
Anyway, I digress. As well as looking for the Gnashers, the boys really enjoyed looking round the Centre. I knew that Africa was huge but didn't realise quite how big until we walked into the first room and saw the map below, showing the United Kingdom to scale beside it. You can kind of see the green lights on the map, these show Livingstone's journeys.
This was the one room the family lived and slept in, six children and two parents. Looking at those irons on the range makes me very thankful that I have my steam-generator iron for the mound of ironing waiting for me just now!
Outside the Centre was a lovely Explorers Garden, complete with wobbly bridge.
The boys, being boys, were most fascinated by the story of when Livingstone was attacked and bitten by a lion. We are now all reading together a childrens book about the life of Livingstone - quite an adventure story!
Then it was on to granny and grandad's house, where we had a lovely Chinese dinner followed by birthday cake.
The boys, being boys, were most fascinated by the story of when Livingstone was attacked and bitten by a lion. We are now all reading together a childrens book about the life of Livingstone - quite an adventure story!
Then it was on to granny and grandad's house, where we had a lovely Chinese dinner followed by birthday cake.
My lovely husband is very excited about my new blog and so said, 'You must get a photo of your cake for the blog!' By this point it was already sliced up so here is my slice.
It was a wheat and dairy free Victoria Sponge, a future Recipe of the Week no doubt! 
It was a wheat and dairy free Victoria Sponge, a future Recipe of the Week no doubt!Lastly, and by no means leastly, the goosberries. After searching online for some ideas of what to do with them, I did what I always do when seeking cooking inspiration - I consulted the original Domestic Goddess. That's right, those who know me will know who I am talking about. Nigella.
I found a recipe for Gooseberry Cream Crumble in 'How to be a Domestic Goddess' and tried it out for pudding yesterday. I am happy to say that it was a success. Hubby and I both agreed that the goosberries tasted very similar to rhubarb. Of course I took a photo for the blog, although a crumble isn't really the prettiest of puddings, but I couldn't leave it out!
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Berry Picking
Today seemed like as good a day as any for our annual visit to the local fruit picking farm. It was dry and warm without being too hot and the forecast is for rain for the next few days.
As we headed off I could tell that I had more enthusiasm for this than the boys did, except my littlest man, who is happy to be anywhere as long as I am there too!
But, once we arrived, they headed off into the strawberry fields full of excitement.
We followed on into the redcurrant bushes. David (4) was at just the right height to find all the lower down berries that others missed.
As we headed off I could tell that I had more enthusiasm for this than the boys did, except my littlest man, who is happy to be anywhere as long as I am there too!
But, once we arrived, they headed off into the strawberry fields full of excitement.
We followed on into the redcurrant bushes. David (4) was at just the right height to find all the lower down berries that others missed.
Another wee foray into the strawberries. Little man sat on the ground emptying all the strawberries onto the ground one by one and the filling the punnets with straw.
After all the work was done the boys got to run around in the playpark for a while. David had been desperate to climb onto the tractor since we arrived.
After all the work was done the boys got to run around in the playpark for a while. David had been desperate to climb onto the tractor since we arrived.
Here is all the fruit we picked today. The raspberries weren't ready for picking yet so we'll need to go back in a couple of weeks time for them. Raspberry jam is my favourite, although Strawberry is a close second.
As I write I have a vat of Strawberry jam cooling slightly, before going into jars. I'm going to make a wee batch of blackcurrant jam tomorrow. I think I might use the redcurrants to make a redcurrant and red onion relish. As for the goosberries....? I've never picked them before. I only picked them today because as we passed them there was no-one there so I felt a bit sorry for them! They were laden with fruit but since I have no idea what to try with them I stopped at the one punnet. Any suggestions will be most gratefully received!
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Welcome to my world!
Well here it is, the first post! I've been wanting to set up a blog for ages but couldn't decide if I should write one about cooking and recipes or crafts or living in a male dominated household. In the end I decided that a day to day blog would cover all these areas.
As well as keeping a record of what's going on in our house, I'm hoping to have a Recipe of the Week and a Craft of the Week. (Depending on the scale of the craft this might mean just an update of how it's progressing rather than a new one each week, but it's good to be ambitious!)
I'm also looking for readers to get in touch with any ideas they might have that are relevant, especially favourite recipes that I can try out and adapt to be wheat and dairy free for my 7 and 1 year olds.
So in order to launch my blog I thought it only fitting to start with a Chocolate Cake as the Recipe of the Week.
Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake
In a bowl mix:
6oz wheat free self raising flour (I've found Doves Farm to be the best)
2 0z cocoa
In a pan mix:
4oz dairy free margarine
4 oz sugar
4 desert spoons golden syrup
and heat gently until melted.
In a jug measure:
1/4 pint soya or rice or oat milk
and beat in 2 eggs.
Now add the egg/milk mix to the melted margarine mix and then add all of this to the flour mix.
Whisk with a balloon whisk until the flour is all mixed in.
Pour into two greased and base lined 7 inch sandwich tins.
Bake for around 20 mins at 180c.
Once cooled sandwich together with butter icing made by beating together:
4 oz dairy free margarine
10oz icing sugar
2 oz cocoa powder.
You can make this by using ordinary self raising flour, margarine and milk but if you do then you only need one egg and not two.
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