Baby It's cold outside

When it's really cold outside and you've all been out building snowmen, sledging or just out for a walk there's nothing quite like coming home to a warm comforting drink....

For loads of good ideas check out Popsugar where there are loads of ideas form regular hot chocolate to a spicy chai tea through to a Russian fruit drink....

Give it a go I found a couple of really good drinks that were very successful!....

Banana Biscuits

Wow where has the time gone?

I seem to be running to keep still at them moment so have totally neglected this part of my blog......I'm so sorry to all of you who do take the time to visit my kids section and I have had nothing for you. I will be remedying this very soon and especially to the run up to Christmas.

 I have all sorts of ideas planned so will be back in force towards the end of the month.

But here's a really great recipe that I've been baking for a while now - banana biscuits - they easy to make and you can all get involved....

I got the recipe from kids spot kitchen take a look & give them a try....

Lets get ready for halloween....food ideas

There are loads of great halloween party food ideas around at the moment and whilst us adults might find some of them a little bit off putting (to say the least!) kids just love it - the more gruesome the better.......

so here are a few ideas I have found recently that you can make with your kids to have or take to a party this halloween....

l love this idea - here's the link 'banana ghosts'

and these worms are so easy to make just pour jelly into some bendy straws - let it set and yuck - wiggly worms.....

and how about this - so simple but effective......

for more ideas check out my halloween pinterests site

Mixed-Berry Shake

Milk shakes are great fun to make with the kids and adding ice-cream makes it even better.

Try this simple recipe this weekend to help prolong that summer feeling...

This will serve about 6

Takes about 10 minutes to do....

You will need...

1 litre tub vanilla ice cream

6oz mixed red berries - those frozen ones are good for this

1 pint milk

Some fancy dancy straws - if you wish!

In a blender, combine half of the ice-cream, berries and milk. Puree until smooth - ypu may need to stop occasionally to give it a stir - Pour into glasses and repeat with the remaining ingredients

See simple

Have a great weekend

 

A is for Apple

It's apple time and a great kids activity is get out in the fresh air and pick some apples - either from your own garden or go to a 'pick your own' orchard. Some parks and Statley Homes have 'apple days' this time of year with loads of different activities for the kids and often they combine a food fair with it for the adults. It's usually a fun day out for the whole family......have a look and see whats going on in your area.......

When you get home with your apples - apart from eating them - there are lots of fun things you can do with them - here are a few of our favourites - click on the pictures to take you to the link.....

Make some toffee apple wedges 

Create some artwork with some apple stamping

Get all wet with some good old fashioned apple bobbing

What ever you decide to do get out into the fresh autumnal air and enjoy collecting some apples.

Kids Kebab

 

Kids like nothing more than helping with the dinner and one of the easiest things to do with them is to let them thread meat, fruit & veg on to skewers for the barbecue or under the grill.

Its a funny thing but if you allow the children to choose what they want on 'their' skewer they will eat it all up when cooked! But if you put the exact same ingredients, without them being involved, they will become fussy and refuse to touch it - Murphy's law or something!

Loads of different ingredients can be available for cooking this way from cubes of meat & cocktail sausages; to meat balls & bacon rolls; pineapple & grapes; halloumi cheese; all types of vegetables including mini tomatoes;corn-on-the-cob rings; colourful peppers; black pudding; prawns and I've even tried mango wrapped in bacon.

This is so easy to do all you need are some kebab sticks (or even coctail sticks for mini kebabs) and raid your fridge & freezer for a variety of ingredients (you only need small amounts) to prep and place in bowls for the kids to assemble themselves. When they have finished you can just brush with oil & grill or barbecue.

Serve with simple dips of tomato sauce, mayonnaise or  just a fruit yogurt if they are sweet kebabs.

Have fun enjoy yourselves and let your imagination run riot!

Blackberring......

Arm yourself and the children with baskets and containers and head into the wilderness or the local park and pick some blackberries - the hedgerows are really heavy with them this year!

Make sure you avoid hedgerows next to busy roads or areas that might be within reach of dogs.

When you get home try turning your findings into something spectacular 

Try these recipes I found on netmums all are child-friendly 

Tasty Tacos

I found this brilliant recipe idea for tacos last week and they went down a storm in our house.

Children can help prepare & cook this meal and also assemble their own tacos. From just simply grating the cheese, cleaning the salad or helping to stir the sauce - kids love to get involved with this style of dish.

Click on the image below to get the recipe link

Upgrade the ice-cream cone

Make your ice-cream cones individual with a quick dip in melted white chocolate & flakes of coconut

or you could use coloured candy or mini marshmallows - the choices are endless........

here's the link to creative wednesday - where I got the idea!

Fresh Fruit Skewers

We made these the other day & they were sooooo good we decided to share the recipe with you all......

I found the idea on a food blog called inspired taste - I'll share there link at the end of this post.....

Children of all ages enjoy making these...

It's very simple - to make 12 kebabs (will serve 6) you will need....

1 lb fresh pineapple (or tinned), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 pint strawberries, halved
2 whole bananas, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 whole kiwis, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 bottle (7.25-oz) chocolate topping that forms hard shell
12 8-inch bamboo skewers

All you do is ....

Thread fruit alternately onto bamboo skewers, using approximately 2 pieces of each fruit per skewer.

Place fruit skewers in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze for at least 1 hour or until fruit is frozen through.

Just before serving, drizzle each skewer with chocolate topping and return to freezer until ready to serve.

We had ours with some cream - very yummy......

Here's the link to inspired taste

Friday Film Night Popcorn

We like nothing better than to all snuggle down on the sofa on a Friday night and 

watch a film - making some bowls of popcorn, with the children's help, is all part of the ritual....

Here are two of our favourite flavours.......

Caramel Popcorn

Large bowl popped popcorn
4oz  sugar
1 tablespoon syrup
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoon butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon vanilla

First off make some ...... Plain Popcorn

Cover the bottom of a large pan with a thin layer of vegetable oil (don’t use butter, it will burn).

Place 3 kernels of popcorn in the pan, cover with a loose lid that allows steam to escape, and heat.

When the kernels pop, pour in enough popcorn to cover the bottom of the pan, one kernel deep, cover the pan and shake to evenly spread the oil.

Shake as popcorn continues to pop.

When the popping begins to slow to a few seconds apart, remove the pan from the stovetop.

The heated oil will still pop the remaining kernels.
Sprinkle lightly with popcorn salt, if desired, and store in an airtight container. 

Caramel Popcorn

Line a large baking sheet with lightly buttered foil.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup and water and bring to a boil.

Cook the syrup over medium heat, without stirring, until it becomes amber in colour; about 6 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in butter and salt until blended.

Stir in popcorn until coated. Spread the caramel corn in a single layer onto buttered foil.

Allow to cool before breaking into pieces. Store in an airtight container until serving time

Seussville

If you and your children love green ham and eggs; one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish; and (our absolute all time favourite) the sleep book - I think we can recite the whole book by heart!

You are all going to love this site - it's a gentle celebration of all things 'cat-in-the-hat'

There are loads of things to do here from printables to colour-in, learning and fun activities to do along with games to play and recipes to try.

Even if your child isn't quite old enough to fully interact with the site all the colours and animation will fascinate and entertain them.

We all love this site it's fabulous......

Check it out - here's the link.......

I couldn't write about Dr Seuss with out a few quotes........ 

• Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.

–      The Lorax

• A yawn is quite catching, you see like a cough, it just takes one yawn to start other yawns off. 

–      The Sleep Book

• It is fun to have fun but you have to know how.

–      The Cat in the Hat

• Don’t give up! I believe in you all! A person’s a person, no matter how small!

–      Horton Hears a Who

• A host has to put up with all kinds of pests, for a host, above all, must be nice to his guests.

–      Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose

• So be sure when you step, step with care and great tact, and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act.

–      Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

Peaches

The smell from these peaches in my local greengrocers attracted me as soon as I walked in so I just had to buy them.

Nothing says 'summer' to me more than peaches and they remind me of long hot holidays in France where they would accompany some cold meat, cheese & wine for a lazy lunch......

Peaches are very popular as a first food for babies and young children. They are not considered to be highly allergenic - making them a good choice as a first food and are rich in antioxidants, peaches also provide vitamin C, riboflavin, potassium and fibre.

Here are some delicious and simple ideas for serving peaches to babies....

from google images

For babies 6 months or older...

... Cut a ripe, peeled peach into cubes and dust with cinnamon for a quick and easy finger food.

... Put peeled chunks of peach in the freezer and offer them to your little one to gnaw on when teething.

... Puree frozen peach chunks with banana for a refreshing dessert.

... Stir pureed peach - or soft peach cubes - into cooked rice or couscous

... Mash ripe peach and mix with cottage cheese.

... Poach peach halves in apple juice and puree.

....Puree peach and cooked chicken for a simple dinner.

Fun Peach Recipe Ideas for Older Children

All these recipes can be succesfully made by children - as usual just supervise when hot & choppy things are involved!

Peach Popsicles
3 or 4 ripe peaches - halved and pitted
Juice from one lemon

icing sugar to taste¼ cup freshly-squeezed orange juice
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Chop peaches in a food processor. Transfer 1 cup (keep the peaches somewhat chunky) to a medium bowl. Add the lemon juice, orange juice, and sugar (if the peaches need some sweetness) to the processor. Puree until smooth. Add to the bowl with the chunky peaches, then stir in vanilla.

Divide the mixture among ice-lolly moulds (or small paper cups). Freeze until beginning to set (about 1 hour). Insert frozen treat sticks into molds and freeze until completely firm (one hour more).

Marshmallow Peaches

Cut peaches in half and remove stone.

Place a marshmallow in each half, sprinkle with a little brown sugar and coconut and grill until lightly browned.

Serve with ice cream or yogurt.

Peach And Prawns Kebabs

Soak bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes.

Peel and dice peaches and thread alternatively on skewers with prawns. Brush with melted butter seasoned with a dash of Tabasco and chopped coriander.

Grill or barbecue until cooked through.

Chicken With Peach Sauce

Pan-fry or barbecue 4 chicken breast fillets. Remove and keep warm. Add 2 peeled and thickly sliced peaches, 2 tablespoons marmalade and 1 teaspoon soy sauce to pan.

Heat and serve over chicken sprinkled with chopped chives and roasted almonds.

On The Rocky Road

• These chocolate bars are really fun & easy to make with your children.
• 
  
•  And, as long as you have chocolate in the house, you can make them with
•  anything to hand.......
• 
  
•             ...... cereals, dried fruits.....
• 
  
•                          ........... sweets such as M & M.......
• 
  
•                                      ................ nuts ................... anything you can think of really......
• 
  
• 
  
• Recipe
• 
  
• Makes 24
• 
  
• 125g soft butter
• 300g chocolate - broken into pieces
• 3tbsp golden syrup
• 200g digestive biscuits
• 100g mini marshmallows
• to dust icing sugar to dust

Heat the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan over a gentle heat.

Remove from the heat, scoop out about 125ml of the melted mixture and set aside in a bowl.

Place the biscuits into a plastic freezer bag and crush them with a rolling pin until some have turned to crumbs but there are still pieces of biscuit remaining.

Fold the biscuit pieces and crumbs into the melted chocolate mixture in the saucepan, then add the marshmallows - and any other 'bits' you want to add.........

Tip the mixture into a 24cm square baking tin and smooth the top with a wet spatula.

Pour over the reserved 125ml of the melted chocolate mixture and smooth the top with a wet spatula.

Refrigerate -  for about two hours or overnight.

To serve, cut into 24 fingers and dust with icing sugar.

Lemon & Banana Ices

Wow it's really hot here at the moment and an quick ice would help to cool us all down.

This recipe for lemon & banana ice is really easy and requires only a couple of ingredients that I always have in the house - and you probably do to!

to make 8 ice lollies you will need

3 large bananas
Juice of a lemon
1 tablespoon icing sugar (optional)

Lolly mould & sticks
(loads of different moulds on Amazon & you can usually get some at the supermarket this time of year)

Blend the bananas with the lemon juice, check for sweetness if needed add the icing sugar & blend again.

Pour into moulds and freeze - will take a good 4 hours to freeze or leave over night.

This recipe is so easy and children just love to help make it.

We coated our with white chocolate to make an extra crunch.

Fruity Milk Shakes

These are really easy to make, healthy and fun to do with the kids - they can make it all themselves

First off get 500g of strawberries or raspberries (or a mixture) hull out the strawberries ( i.e. remove the stalk & the white core) and cut large ones in half. Peel 3 ripe bananas and break into pieces. Drop the fruit into a blender or large jug if using a stick blender. Add a litre of milk & 300ml of healthy bio yogurt and blend. 

Let the kids turn the dials but make sure they start off on a slow speed or it could get a bit messy.

If using a stick blender make sure they know to keep the stick down in the jug!! They all love seeing the milk turn pink! Pour out into glasses and serve cold.

 Quick Recipe
500g strawberries or raspberries
3 ripe bananas
1 litre milk
300ml bio yogurt.

You can also try blueberries or pineapple for other flavour ideas.

Kids Cooking

I just found this idea on pintrest and now we need to have a go and make these little guys.

Looks easy enough for us all to have a go (little ones included) and it's a good way of getting fruit inside us.

If this is successful I might expand our range with grape snakes or kiwi Lochness monsters!

I'll see how it goes and let you know......

Here's the link to the strawberry mice