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Mami To Five

Life: The good, the bad and the ugly bits!

My Sunday Photo ~ Dairy Free Pizza

dairy free pizza

Top: Dairy loaded pizza Bottom: Dairy and soy free pizza

I love making pizza.

Our youngest cannot tolerate dairy or soya. This makes pizza night a slightly more awkward affair than it used to be. Have you ever tried to find dairy free “cheese” that isn’t made from soya? Well they are few and far between.

I managed to find this particular pizza cheese online. It has a weird way of melding together rather melting but O thoroughly enjoyed his pizza and he still has lot’s of slices frozen for our next pizza night!

OneDad3Girls

8 Comments CATEGORIES // Food, My Sunday Photo, Photos TAGGED: dairy free, dairy free pizza, pizza night

Let me tell you… about weaning babies on to solids

Having weaned five babies on to solids now I thought I would share some of the things I have learnt over the years. Hopefully they will help you if you are about to venture into this messy exciting part of your baby’s development!

weaning babies on to solids

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3 Comments CATEGORIES // Food, How do I, Let me tell you... TAGGED: how do i wean my baby, making baby food, tips for weaning baby

10 Tips to Get More Fruit and Veg Into Your Diet

We all know that eating plenty of fruit and veg is good for us. In Britain we are told to aim for 5 portions of different fruit and veg daily, but compared to the rest of the world we seem to be on the low side of recommended daily allowances. Did you know that the French are told to aim for 10 and in Japan they need 13 portions of veg and 4 of fruit to hit their quota each day!?

I might not always fully succeed, we eat out more than I would like, but at home I try to feed my family a healthy diet, I don’t cook highly processed meat, other than the odd sausage. I always aim to get at least two different types of veg on our dinner plate (not including potato) and the kids all take two pieces of fruit to school.

I have also never been one to hide fruit and veg in food, I want my children to embrace all foods, not be tricked into eating them (also I’m too lazy to finely chop/puree anything!) But sometimes we all need a little help getting more vegetables into our diets. After all, staring down at a plate half full of boiled peas, broccoli or cauliflower can get a little tedious and likely to put anyone off eating their dinner if it’s the 3rd such plate that week! So here are my…

more fruit and veg

1. When making pasta sauce or Lasagne add plenty of onions, peppers, mushrooms even courgettes. This will mean that you can bulk up with veg and use less meat, plus it tastes yummy!

2. A simple tin of chopped tomatoes can be added to many meals including casseroles, soups, pie fillings. It will enhance the flavour and give you nice little hit of antioxidants and vitamins.

3. Do some baking! No seriously, you can add raisins and other dried fruit to flapjacks and cookies, use vegetables like courgette and carrot to make cakes or muffins. Also Pineapple upside down cake is always a hit, which you can use any fruit like peaches, apples or pears in it’s place.

4. Soups and stews. Soups are a great way to use up leftover vegetables which will also reduce your food waste. Stews can be made with lot’s of different veggies, personally I add leeks, carrots, potatoes, swede, butternut squash , split lentils and pearl barley (I know these last two aren’t vegetables but they are healthy!)

5. Fruit salad, yummy yummy. Sorry had to slip that Wiggles reference in there! Kids love fruit salad, whether its from a tin or made fresh. Also remember that tinned and frozen fruit is just as good for you as fresh, if not better sometimes!

6. Smoothies. I love smoothies, although I don’t have anything to make them in at the moment, which is something I mean to rectify before the summer. I find frozen fruit is best but you can use fresh too.

7. Juicing. You can create all manner of wonderful fruit and veg concoctions with a juicer. Carrot and apple, with a hint of ginger is especially nice!

8. Mash it. Okay I know I said I don’t do hiding food but mashing carrot or swede into your potato can add a tasty twist to your cottage pie. Also, you have to try mashed cauliflower at least once in your life, it is surprisingly delicious!    

9. Try a stirfry. There’s nothing more simple, or delicious, than throwing loads of vegetables such as beansprouts, onions, cabbage, mange tout, baby sweetcorn and water chestnuts along with some oil and a splash of soy sauce.

10. If all else fails add cheese! Obviously you don’t want to overdo the cheese at every meal but occasionally making a cheese sauce to pour over cauliflower and broccoli, grating some parmesan onto a pasta sauce or crumbling some blue cheese into a soup can really make or break your meal.

How do you like to add more fruit and veg to your diet? I’d love to hear you tips.

Disclaimer: This post was written in collaboration with Legal and General however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Running in Lavender

3 Comments CATEGORIES // Food, Kids Health, Sponsored Posts TAGGED: attitude to eating, healthy eating, trying new foods

Microwave recipe: Vanilla Mug Cake

A microwave oven is one of those kitchen appliances that I don’t seem to use that often, apart from warming milk each day, yet I know that I could never be without!  I would love to save myself all that precious surface space in my kitchen, but there’s one little problem. They are just so darn handy!

I know I should probably be telling you my favourite thing to cook in a microwave is something healthy, like jacket potatoes, or frozen peas. But I have to be honest and admit that it is this beauty:

 vanilla mug cake

Okay so it might not look like much but these mug cakes are totally delicious and at the same time are so simple to make! Here’s the recipe for you:

Vanilla Mug Cake

In a large mug stir together (with a fork)

  • 5 tablespoons of self raising flour
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar (or less to taste)
  • 2 tablespoons of milk (we use dairy free)
  •  1.5 tablespoons of oil (sunflower/vegetable)
  • splash of vanilla extract

We usually add chocolate chips, but feel free to throw in whatever else takes you fancy (FYI stirring in marshmallow fluff is REALLY yummy!) and then bung it in the microwave for about 1 – 2 minutes.

Et voilà cake!!!

They are extremely moist (if you don’t overcook them) halfway between a cake and a brownie and just perfect if you need a little something sweet. What is also great is that there is no egg and you can also use dairy free milk so very low on the allergen factor this one!

 I often occasionally make these as a lunchtime treat for O and myself. There’s something quite satisfying about snuggling on the sofa together before his nap digging into one of these with a fork each. They are also extremely easy for bigger kids to make themselves, so handy for teens when there are no treats in the house!  

We are currently on the look out for a new microwave as our turntable stopped turning properly a while ago, it is also taking longer and longer to heat things. Panasonic is one brand that keeps catches my eye in my searches. There are even Panasonic microwave ovens without a turntable so I won’t have to worry about that breaking again. After all how will I tuck into my favourite microwave treat without microwave?

chocolate chip mug cake

What do you mostly use your microwave for?

This post was written in collaboration with Panasonic however all words and thoughts (and the recipe!) are my own.

2 Comments CATEGORIES // Food, General life, recipes TAGGED: chocolate chip, microwave oven, mug cake recipe, vanilla mug cake

Let me tell you… about converting oven temperatures

I have the biggest cookery book in the world, it’s called the internet! I love trawling through foody blogs and recipe websites looking for something new, delicious (and usually naughty!) to cook.

I have a gas oven and one of the biggest problems I come up against when I find recipes is that many only tell you the cooking temperature in degrees Centigrade and/or Fahrenheit. Rarely will you see a gas mark in sight! This means searching for a chart to help with converting oven temperatures each and every time. 

I have created this chart as an easy reference that you can link back to,to help you with converting oven temperatures. You can bookmark this page, or print it out by either clicking here or straight on the image.

converting oven temperatures

 I hope this free printable chart is useful to you. 

2 Comments CATEGORIES // cooking, How do I, Let me tell you... TAGGED: centigrade to fahrenheit, convert centigrade to gas mark, oven temps

My Sunday Photo ~ The Stolen Chocolate

stolen chocolate   I was recently sent this lovely box of Cadbury Milk Tray chocolate for the purposes of adding to my Mother’s Day gift guide. Sadly I only managed to eat about ten chocolates myself as, on Thursday, I caught my toddler and the dog munching away happily at them. Looks like neither of them like hard caramel or turkish delight mind as these were kindly put back in the box half chewed!

I could have lived with the pinched chocolate but Dewi, the dog, was rapidly sick and O can’t eat dairy so they both REALLY paid for their gluttony. Also O needed a much hated bath as he was sticky from top to bottom!


OneDad3Girls

9 Comments CATEGORIES // Food, humor, My Sunday Photo, Photos TAGGED: dogs, milk allergy, stolen chocolate, toddler

Let me tell you…My Welsh Cake Recipe

welsh cakes recipe

Last week I promised to share with you my welsh cake recipe. If you are unfamiliar with these little circles of deliciousness let me explain them to you first.

Although called cakes they are not baked in an oven, they are traditionally cooked on a bakestone (a thick, round piece of cast iron with a handle) although you can also use a heavy bottomed frying pan or a flat griddle. I have even heard of people cooking them on the flat part of a George Foreman grill!

I do have to admit that my bake stone, isn’t really MY bake stone. It actually belongs to my mother and is probably well over 100 years old, but in a way I guess we are carrying on an age old tradition where there would be a ‘Family Bakestone’ that would be shared between houses as they were so expensive to buy!

Family Bake Stone

Our ‘Family Bake Stone’

 

Most commonly known as Welsh Cakes they also have a few other names depending on what part of Wales you come from, among them are; pice ar y maen, bakestones (you can see where they got this name from!) and teisen radell. 

Originally the dough would have simply been made of just flour, eggs, sugar, butter or lard and raisins but over the years other ingredients, like spices, have been added. I expect every Welsh family would have had (and still do have) their own variation of this recipe. But at the heart they are all basically still the same little treat that is just the right size and durability for popping into a coal miner, or school child’s, pocket as a lunch time treat, or for afternoon tea with friends.

The Recipe

Ingredients (makes 60 2″ hearts)

  • 500g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
  • 2 teaspoons Baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
  • 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon (optional)
  • 200g butter
  • 200g Caster sugar (plus extra)
  • 150g currants/raisins/sultanas
  • 2 eggs
  • splash of milk

Before you begin turn the heat on under your bake stone (or what ever you are using) to a medium heat. Keep in mind that you will turn this to low before you start cooking.

Method

welsh cakes method

 

1. In a large mixing bowl add the flour, spices (if using) and baking powder. Stir together.

2. Roughly chop butter into cubes, add to the mix and rub together with the tips of your fingers and thumbs until they resemble breadcrumbs.

3. Add the raisins and sugars then stir together.

4. Add the eggs. Give them a quick chop with a knife, or your finger, to break the yolk, then using your hands incorporate everything together until you get a dough resembling pastry. You want it to be a soft but not sticky dough so add a teaspoon of milk, or a sprinkle of flour at a time if needed.

welsh cakes method 2

 ***Turn your heat down to low now***

5. When your dough is the right consistency tip it out onto a floured surface and roll out to about 1cm thick, you don’t want it too thin or the Welsh cakes will cook too fast and become dry.

6. Although traditionally round I like to make shapes out of my Welsh cakes, especially hearts, this batch is destined for our mothers for Mother’s Day so hearts seemed to be a perfect fit. 

7. place them on your bake stone. I tend to do smaller batches because they are really easy to overcook and there is a chance some will burn while you are flipping the first ones if you do too many at once.

8. I use an icing spatula to flip mine but use what ever you have at hand a fish slice, a fork even! You want to flip them when they are golden, not quite at the brown stage. 

welsh cakes method

 

When cooked your welsh cakes will be golden on each side but still squishy in the middle. My tip for a moist and fluffy Welsh cake is to wrap them in a tea towel while the are cooling. I place mine on a cooling rack so the steam moves around but doesn’t make the ones on the bottom soggy.

When cool I dip each side into a bowl of caster sugar, you can just sprinkle liberally if you prefer. 

finished welsh cakes

 Tips and tricks

Half the recipe if you don’t want so many but be warned they don’t last long!

It might take a bit of playing to get the right temperature under your bake stone. Don’t be disheartened if your first batch is dark on the outside and practically raw on the inside. I have mine set on the lowest heat but all hobs are different.

I actually prefer mine slightly undercooked and still moist in the middle. Don’t be afraid of undercooking but do keep an eye on them as they get overcooked VERY quickly.  

You can replace half the butter with lard if you want a shorter welsh cake, alternatively if you are vegan/dairy intolerant then use margarine.

Use as much or as little spice as you like, I just add a teensy bit or none at all.

Use chocolate chips instead of the fruit, or just leave plain.

Welsh cakes aren’t usually served with an accompaniment but taste divine (and extra naughty) spread with butter. You can also split them in half and make a jam sandwich with them.

I do hope you try this Welsh cake recipe, they really are something everyone should try at least once. Please let me know if there is something you’d like me to explain more below.

Mwynhewch!  (That means enjoy in Welsh!)

 
 

45 Comments CATEGORIES // Food, Let me tell you..., recipes TAGGED: bake stone, baking, cooking with a bake stone, how to cook, welsh cakes

Saint Dwynwen’s Day Shortbread Biscuits

Dydd Santes Dwynwen
So we all know that Valentines Day is coming up in the not too distant future. But those amongst you who are not Welsh will be forgiven for not knowing that Wales also has it’s own Patron Saint of Lovers which we will celebrate tomorrow, on January the 25th.

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13 Comments CATEGORIES // recipes, Special events TAGGED: heart shaped cookies, patron saint of lovers, shortbread biscuits, welsh lovers

Stained Glass Window Gingerbread Recipe

I have tried at least 6 different gingerbread recipes so far this month and haven’t been impressed with any of them for various different reasons (sorry Mary Berry!) So I gave in and devised this recipe which I hope you all love as much as I do! These stained glass window gingerbread are simple to make, the dough is easy to work with and VERY forgiving if things go a little awry, as they tend to do with kids baking, or sleep deprived mothers for that matter!

How forgiving you may ask? well put it this way, on Friday night I made two batches to make gingerbread men (minus windows) for our PTA’s breakfast with Santa. I got a little distracted with Lee coming in from work and managed to forget to put sugar in the first batch right until the end, but after plenty of kneading in what felt like sandpaper it all turned out lovely and smooth and the gingerbread men turned out great. The second batch I forgot to put the butter in!!!! (I blame the tiredness for that one!) I thought this one was a bin job but again I added it in right at the end and again after lots of extra kneading the gingerbread men all turned out perfectly! So yes, VERY forgiving!

Stained Glass Window Gingerbread

stainedglass window gingerbread

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6 Comments CATEGORIES // Christmas, cooking, Food, recipes TAGGED: baking, baking with kids, biscuits, christmas recipe, easy recipe, gingerbread, gingerbread men, smells like christmas

Frozen Fruit Bites, with Step-by-Step Pictures

My kids love ice cream. They would eat it all day long if I let them! But being as it is high in calories, full of bad fats and laden with sugar, also, according to some certain youngsters, I am a boring, nasty Mami, I’m not that fussy on them eating it very often!  I decided to make something slightly healthier yet more tempting than the cheapy vanilla ice cream that I usually buy (because I’m boring remember).

After a visit to the local shop I came back with these goodies:

fruit and yogurt

Banana, yoghurt, Smarties and strawberries

I opted for the blackcurrant yoghurt because it was cheap, I would normally just buy natural yoghurt which isn’t so full of sugar. I added the Smarties to make a few extra special treats for dessert.

Here’s how I made my Frozen Fruit Bites

Step One Chop your fruit into whatever size pieces you prefer.

Step Two Skewer them onto lollypop sticks, cocktail sticks or kebab skewers (I used cocktail sticks because that’s what I had)

banana and strawberries

I opted for bites pieces

Step Three Dip the fruit in the yoghurt

fruit dipped in yogurt

That’s some ultra purple yoghurt!

Step Four Place on a covered baking tray/plate. Remember this has to  be small enough to fit in your freezer.

frozen fruit bites

no clingfilm? use sandwich bags instead 🙂

Optional Step Crush Smarties and sprinkle over the top to add a bit of naughtiness! (I used my potato ricer to squeeze them as O was asleep on the sofa and I didn’t want to wake him with banging)

Step Five Freeze overnight, if you the kids can’t wait that long they should be quite firm within a few hours. You should end up with something like this:

chocolate frozen fruit bite

okay so it looks a little rustic, but tastes yummy!

 

I’m afraid I can’t actually give my own opinion on these as I’m slightly allergic to fruit, especially blackcurrants, but what was the kids’ verdict?

kids on couch

I think the smiles say it all!

I have to explain that not all these kids are mine, I haven’t been hiding any extra from you all, although a couple do actually call me Mami Katie! I kind of got overtaken by this bunch in search of shade and wanting to take over my TV to watch a film. They happily munched their way through pizza and Doritos for their tea whilst taking up my entire sofa and were pleasantly surprised when I pulled out my secret purple dessert on a stick, hey maybe that’s a catchier name!

They all thought the colour of the yoghurt was cool. Some opted for the just strawberry ones as they weren’t fussy on banana, but they all thoroughly enjoyed and even had a second!

Now if any of you have ever sat in a room with three teen girls, three tween girls and three young boys you will know that there is a LOT of noise! The TV volume needs to be higher just so they can hear it over their own gossiping and there is a lot of crashing about from the boys.

I didn’t actually realise how high the TV was until they were sat eating these as they all went silent! If that isn’t testament to whether they enjoyed it or not, I don’t know what is!

They are suitable for most types of fruit and any type/flavour of yoghurt (actually set yoghurt probably wouldn’t work) I expect they would even work with tinned custard but they would be less healthy.

Jazz them up with anything you like, or nothing at all! Hundreds and thousands, broken bits of meringue, whatever takes your fancy. You really can make these as fancy or as basic as you like!

 

I hope you give these healthy little treats a go, you and the kids will love them I promise! Let me know if you do and what combination you made!

 

6 Comments CATEGORIES // cooking, General life, Kids TAGGED: friends, frozen yogurt snacks, fruit, healthy snacks, recipe

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