Am I A Bad Mum?

I question a lot of things that I do as a mother as I want to do things right for our boys. But one of the main things I do question is the food that they eat.

From the weaning stage I wanted to prepare their food myself. Not sure why as I don't think the pre made food is bad for them, I just wanted to. I think I needed to feel like I had a purpose, as silly as that may sound. They did have jars, they didn't eat EVERYTHING homemade as that would have been near impossible but I did my best. Sweet potato, broccoli, Parsnip - the list goes on.

I fed them everything and I let them try everything but this has still made them rather fussy eaters!

They eat a lot of fish fingers, turkey bites, potato waffles and spaghetti. Why? Because they actually eat it. But I ask myself, Does this make me a bad Mum?

The reason that they have this for their tea most days is because if I am totally honest, I am fed up of making them food that they don't eat. Which means they hardly eat any tea. And really eating fish fingers for tea is better than eating nothing!

I will freshly prepare a roast or a pasta dish or maybe some lovely looking dish from one of my cook books. Sometimes it takes a good while to make it and I will be so proud of it, to then put it in front of them and they turn their noses up at it. They won't even try it and tell me that they don't like it. So all that effort had gone to waste and it ends up being thrown in the bin as it is so mushed up from the many attempts at them trying to eat it.

But when I place fish fingers and waffles with tomato ketchup in front of them they will polish the whole plate off.

I make sure they eat fruit and veg, they will eat sweetcorn (one by one) and they will happily eat a punnet of blueberries in one sitting. So they get their 5 a day but they just don't have 5 star, restaurant style meals because they just don't eat them.

Am I going for the easy life and should I be persevering with 'normal' meals like lamb meatball pasta or fish pie? Does it make me a bad mum for letting them eat turkey dinosaurs 4 days a week?

I just want my children to eat and if they are happy eating the food they are then I am a happy mummy to see them eating. I am hoping one day they will start to eat 'normal' meals but until then I want a fight and stress free mealtime so this is how its going to be until otherwise.

   

Chocolate Banana Bread - Recipe

I love banana bread, I like to think that it is healthy as it has banana in it lol!

I had some bananas that had gone past their eating stage, when they are too ripe and far to soft - perfect for making banana bread. So last Sunday I decided to make a loaf but with a twist, I added in some chocolate. Because surely when adding in chocolate nothing can go wrong, and I was pretty impressed with how it turned out.

My toddler even said it was yummy so it had to be true!

So I thought I would share it with you. It's perfect with a cup of tea in the afternoon while the kids nap.

Ingredients

5oz butter

5oz caster

2 eggs

4oz self raising flour

1oz coco powder

1tsp baking powder

2 bananas, mashed

Method

Preheat the oven to 140 degrees. My oven is a fan over so temperatures may vary. Line a loaf tin with grease proof paper.

Put the butter in the microwave for a few seconds just so it is easy to work with. Beat the butter and caster sugar together until it is fluffy. Add an egg, sieve a little flour and mix well, repeat with the second egg and some flour. Then add in the remaining flour and coco powder.

Beat in the baking powder and mashed bananas. I tend to mash my bananas in a bowl with a fork, mash well so you don't get lumpy bread. Make sure it is well beaten together.

Pour into the loaf tin and level. Pop it into the oven for about 30/40 minutes, until a pricker comes out clean from the middle of the loaf.

Leave on the side to cool, once cool remove from the load tin and take off the grease proof paper. Leave on a cooling rack to cool completely and serve.

If you want to be a little naughty you could spread some butter onto a slice.

Salted Caramel Florentines From Thomas.J.Fudge's - Review

When I was contacted and asked to review a new product from Thomas.J.Fudge's, how could I refuse. I am a total foodie and there is nothing better than having a sweet treat with a nice hot cup of tea.

Here's a little bit about Thomas.J. Fudge's, taken from their website:

'In 1916, our great-great-uncle, Thomas J Fudge, a dapper chap with a distinctive moustache, opened a bakery. A rather remarkable bakery in beautiful, bountiful Dorset. His buns were buttery. His bread was brilliant. His biscuits were the business. He was the one who taught our great-great-grandfather, Percy, his trade. And over 90 years later, we – his family tree – are continuing his remarkable, edible work.'

When the parcel arrived I was excited to see what product I had been sent to review. When I opened up the parcel and saw that it was 8 Salted Caramel Florentines I couldn't have been more pleased. One being that my husband hates nuts and two I LOVE salted caramel.

The box that the Florentines are in is lovely and gives you a sneak peek at what is inside. It's pretty, posh packaging.

I was very restrained and waited until my friend came over for a cuppa so I could share them with her. Because if I opened them by myself I would eat all 8, and I wanted to share the Florentine love!

So with the boys in bed and a nice cup of tea in hand we opened them. And I was not disappointed, they were so lovely. They are nuts and raisins held together with salted caramel and coated on one side with milk chocolate.

They were chewy, but in a good way and so tasty. They had the perfect balance of nuts to salted caramel and the chocolate made it that extra tasty.

My friend also loved them and they went great with our cup of tea.

You can order on their website and for just £3.50 a box I think great value for money for this premium product. The only downside is that if your order is under £25, delivery starts at £6.50 but for orders over £25 in mainland UK, Wales and lower parts of Scotland delivery is FREE. They are stocked at Ocado and Waitrose so you could grab a box there.

They are a perfect little treat when you have friends over as they looks delicious and the mixture of nuts one side and chocolate the other make presentation great.

If you are a nuts and caramel fan I would totally recommend you go out and grab yourself a box.

*For the purpose of this review I was sent a box of Salted Caramel Floretines from Thomas.J.Fudge's. All views and opinions are 100% my own.*

Recipe - Oreo Cupcakes With Buttercream And Glitter Sprinkles

It was Noah's joint 2nd Birthday party with his friend on Sunday and I decided to make some cupcakes. I planned to make about 60 as that was how many people we had confirmed coming but somehow I managed to make 84!!

I made a selection of vanilla, chocolate and marble cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing, glitter sprinkles then topped with an Oreo. These went down pretty well at the party and I was impressed with how they had turned out, considering the amount I had made.

So I thought I'd share it with you all as we all love cake and I especially love Oreos! So here it is.

Ingredients to make roughly 24 cupcakes

For the sponge

8oz margarine

8oz caster Sugar

8oz self raising flour for the vanilla cakes or 7 oz self raising flour for the chocolate cakes

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

1oz coco powder (for the chocolate cakes)

Buttercream icing

250g unsalted butter that has been left at room temperature while you make the sponge

Icing sugar (I wing just how much I need, sorry!)

Topping

24 Oreos

Glitter sprinkles (you can get them in most supermarkets in the baking section)

Baking Equipment you will need

Large bowl

2 x cupcake baking trays with 12 holes

24 cupcake cases

Piping bag

Piping nozzle

Method

Put 24 cupcake cases into 2 cupcake baking trays and preheat the oven to 180 degrees. I have a fan oven so the temperature may vary.

Start by mixing the margarine and caster sugar together until they are light and fluffy. Add in an egg and sieve a quarter of the flour mixture into the fluffy mixture and beat together. Do this 4 times until all the flour and eggs have been used. Add in the vanilla essence if you are making vanilla ones or add in the coco powder for the chocolate cakes. Make sure its beaten well and all combined.

Put about 1 tablespoon of mixture into each cake case. Any left over distribute between the cases. Then bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until they are a golden colour and a thin pricker comes out clean when tested.

Place them onto a cooling rack and leave to cool for about 30 minutes.

To make the buttercream, put the butter into a large bowl and mix to make it fluffy. This makes it easier to mix in the icing sugar. Then sieve in a little bit of icing sugar at a time. I do it until the buttercream takes like icing and not butter. Add in a little vanilla essence if you would like.

Once the cakes are cool pipe on the mixture. I got some disposable piping bags from Asda and the piping nozzles from the pound shop, and they are amazing!

When the icing has been piped on, sprinkle on some glitter and then top with your Oreo. If you put the Oreo on straight away it will stay on the cake but the only thing is after a few days they do go soft. So its fine to put them on if its the day before or a general batch but if your making them for an occasion and a few days in advance maybe wait until the night before to add on the Oreos. You could maybe use some normal icing to help the Oreos stick.

For the marble cupcakes I just made up a vanilla mixture then put one teaspoon of mixture into each cake case. Then I added 1/2 oz of coco powder to the remainder of the mixture, mixed well and then spooned into the cases. Once all the mixture had been distributed I used a baking pricker and lightly swirled the mixture. I then baked them on the same heat and time as the others.

Enjoy!



Recipe - Salmon With Sweet Chilli Vegetable Noodles

This has got to be one of my all time favourite dinners, so I had to share. I don't get to have it that often as my husband doesn't like salmon so when he isn't home until after tea this is my go to food. Its so simple to make and takes about 20 minutes.

You can add into the noodles what you like but here is what I use.

Ingredients

Aldi Infusions salmon fillet infused with ginger, chilli & lime marinade

Sainsburys thin egg noodles (you can use whatever noodles you prefer)

Frozen onions

Frozen peppers

Frozen peas

Frozen sweetcorn

1 tsp paprika

Salt & pepper

Worcester sauce

Tomato puree

Sweet chilli sauce

Method

You start by putting the salmon onto cook. There are many ways you can cook the salmon - microwave, grill or oven - and the instructions on how to do so are on the back of the packet but I chose to do it in the oven. All you have to do is remove the salmon from its packaging, wrap it in tin foil and place it on a baking tray then into the oven. It takes about 18 minutes to cook.

While that is cooking put on a saucepan of water and bring it to the boil for the noodles.

In a frying pan fry the onions, peppers, peas and sweetcorn. The ingredients I use are all frozen so very easy to just get from the packet and throw into the frying pan.

Put the noodles into the boiling water and boil until they are cooked, about 10 minutes.

Once the vegetables are cooked add in some Worcester sauce, salt & pepper, the paprika and tomato puree. (I use the tomato puree as it adds some flavour and also thickens up the fluid from the frozen vegetable) The amounts of these I just guessed, use as much or as little as you think and like.

When the noodles are done put them in with the vegetables and mix it all up. Add in some sweet chilli sauce, again however much you would like. Leave for a few minutes and then when the salmon is done, transfer the noodles & vegetable to a plate and just add the salmon on top.

And its ready to eat. I didn't have any poppadoms but I think they would be rather tasty with this dish.

Enjoy!

I'd love to hear if you make this dish and what you think.