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Bathtime Fun With Munchkin

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We have been blogger ambassadors for Munchkin for nearly a year now and I can honestly say we haven’t been disappointed by a single product. By far our favourite products are their bath toys.

The Munchkin Mission is to rid the world of mundane baby products and they are definitely succeeding. They have won over 100 awards worldwide for their innovative products.

Their bath toys are durable, bright and easy for little hands to grasp and play with. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with bath products because the bath used to be my peaceful haven and I found it hard when it was taken over by funny yellow ducks or water squirters but I make an exception for Munchkin.

Every few months we receive a bundle of products to enjoy and test and this month it arrived on a day when both girls had been really unwell. We opened the parcel together and it was lovely to see their faces light up.

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Of course having all of these new goodies meant we had to run a bubble bath immediately so they could thoroughly enjoy them.

Izzys favourite was the bath shape sorter (rrp £9.99) – mainly because she is a bit in love with turtles at the moment. Suitable from 12months+. Clearly not just for bath time use.. Not in our house anyway:

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She has also had a lot of fun with The Undersea Explorer (rrp £5.99) and loves to push it under water to create bubbles.

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Chloe loves the float & play bath bubbles (rrp £4.99) She enjoys playing with these both in and out of the bath. They rattle as well as bob about in the water and are great for teaching hand-eye co-ordination. Suitable from 3months+

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Look out for my Christmas Eve post coming up next week where I recommend some more cute bath bits for that extra special bath before you put on the Christmas PJ’s.

* We received a box of products to test as part of our role as blog ambassadors.

T Is For Tea. A Day With Sage Appliances

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A few weeks ago I travelled up to London with a fellow blogger Lovely Appetite to visit the offices of Sage Appliances for a blogger event.

I quite often get invited to fun events in London and obviously I can’t go to them all due to the distance but I knew as soon as I heard about this event with Sage that I was going to be there. I’ve long been an admirer of their products and the chance to get up close and have a fiddle with them was just too much of a temptation.

And there was always the possibility that Heston Blumenthal would make a surprise appearance too.. Well a girl can dream hey?

First of all, let me share a little info about Sage:

Gastronomy has reached new heights at home with the introduction of Sage™ kitchen appliances. Tried and tested by three-Michelin starred chef Heston Blumenthal, this impressive range delivers innovative, yet simple solutions, to produce the best results yet.
Who better to apply the science behind great tasting food, than one of the world’s most exciting and creative professionals? Through his understanding of food challenges, Heston has ensured the precision range creates authentic café style coffee, velvety smooth cocktails and smoothies, patisserie quality cakes, plus so much more.
The Sage™ range includes 16 products, each meticulously designed to make everyday food and drink preparation more efficient and delicious than ever.

The day began with a welcome brew from the super swanky Tea Maker. I’m a massive tea lover so this was a product I really enjoyed getting to grips with.

We then moved onto the very versatile waffle machine which made us incredible potato waffles with the obligatory cheese and bacon before making us proper sweet traditional waffles…served with melted chocolate and strawberries of course.

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Then our wonderful hosts Harriet from Sage Appliances, T from Mummy Barrow and Bruce made us a rather perfect pea n mint soup in The Boss along with an easy peasy no fuss risotto using the risotto machine.
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In between the soup and the risotto we sampled an Oreo Vanilla Icecream which was divine and no fiddly custard base here just a whipping cream and condensed milk delight. YUM.

To drink we had various juices made using the extremely impressive juice maker which not only takes whole fruits therefore cutting out ALL the fuss but it then holds the pulp in a separate container for you to use for veggie burgers or to throw into other dishes so it means you really are using it all up – I hate waste so this was really appealing.

To make a fantastic day a little more fantastic we were given a special gift of a Teamaker to go home with. This made my month and I soon discarded ( passed onto my mum) my boring old kettle and replaced it with my gorgeous new machine.
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Here is what Heston has to say about the Tea Maker:

“The right time and temperature are critical for a great cuppa.” Heston.
Brewing tea at the wrong temperature can destroy flavour balance. Brewing too hot or for too long pulls tannins from the tea leaf which results in a bitter after taste. The Sage™ Tea Maker™ (RRP £199.99) is the world’s first fully automatic tea maker, it brews for exactly the right time and at precisely the right temperature keeping the tannins of the tea leaf intact.

I’ve used it so many times since and I’m just a little bit in love with it. I’ll probably give it a full review on here once I’ve had it a little longer and once I receive my special new tea leaves to use in it but let’s just say it already has a huge thumbs up.

* We were given this Teamaker as a gift for attending the event, I am not obligated to write a review.

Kebab Rotisserie Grill Review

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A few months ago I was sent a Kebab Grill from UK Fine Foods to review.

What do they say about it?:

Bringing a new style of cooking into your home, the Vertical Kebab Rotisserie Grill has 5 rotating skewers which can be used to cook the meat or vegetables of your choice. Make healthy kebabs from the comfort of your home or garden and wow your guests with great results every time. Five large skewers ensure you can cook large quantities for family meals or dinner with friends. Put the meat in and step away without the worry of burning.

We have already used it a number of times and each time we have been thrilled with the results. We have made veggie kebabs as well as meat ones and the flavour you get is so different to when you make this sort of meal in the oven. It’s more comparable with a BBQ taste or an authentic Turkish kebab – slighly charred, succulent meat with a good flavour.

It’s incredibly simple to use and the components are dish washer safe which is always a big perk in my opinion.

Here are some photos from last nights chicken kebab supper:

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If you marinade your chicken in spices/herbs for a few hours and just layer up with some peppers and tomatoes you will have an incredibly tasty and juicy kebab. It’s also a very healthy way to cook, any fat drains off into the individual trays making this a perfect dish for anyone trying to cut calories or live a healthy lifestyle.

Next up we are trying some lamb meatball skewers – I will keep you posted on how they turn out.

The grill is currently on offer at a bargain £55 ( down from £99) so it’s definitely worth buying now!

* I was sent this kebab grill for the purpose of a review.

Christmas Before Children V Christmas After Children

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I have spent a lot of time thinking about Christmas this year. Already. I’m really excited about it. I’ve also been thinking about the changes my life has seen over the last four years – I know..deep for a Thursday afternoon right?

Because 4 Christmases ago I was foot loose and fancy free. To a degree anyway. I had a sensible, full time job and a man who I loved very much and we spent most of our money travelling or enjoying good meals in nice restaurants. Christmas was a time to spend relaxing, indulging and enjoying our friends and family. Not much of it was completely sober and at least 2 – 3 hours on Christmas Day were spent cosy and wrapped up watching a film or two.

Oh how times have changed. In a good way of course but really how massive is that leap? I think Christmas is one of the major occasions which highlights the very obvious differences between our lives since becoming parents and our lives before.

So just for fun I thought I would share some of them:

PC ( Pre Children ) Christmas Eve was for catching up with friends I hadn’t seen for ohhhh at least a week in the local pub over a rather silly amount of wine.

AC ( After Children) Christmas Eve is spent in a blind panic as you realise you don’t have the only ONE present they have ever wanted ever. Oh and the shops are closed. Mum Fail.

PC – Christmas Morning involved something sparkly to drink and hunks of freshly baked bread toasted with pate.

AC – The stocking full of chocolate ( to make up for the present they always wanted) has kicked in and your children are on the beginning of a roller coaster of sugar fuelled emotion.
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Breakfast? Hahah. The morning is spent trying to make sure they look appropriately pleased when they receive the same gift twice from well meaning relatives.

PC – Lunch was a long drawn out affair, Wine? Baileys? Why not it’s Christmas. Some chocolates too.. Ok after all I don’t need to move from the sofa for at least two hours.

AC – Lunch is hurriedly forced down your throat as you spoon feed one and stop the other one eating the insides of a cracker. At the end of it you are exhausted and yes your wine glass is still full.

PC – Christmas afternoon was definitely spent watching sleeping through the Queens speech and then eating a box of roses in front of the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special followed by The Royle Family, Only fools and horses and whatever cheesy rom com you received for Christmas back when people actually bought DVDs.

AC – The sugar high is fizzling out and you know they need a nap but instead they want to play with the only toy you forgot to get batteries for. You lie down in a slump on the sofa and suddenly they ignore all their toys instead choosing to jump on your overly full stomach. The joy.

The day winds to an end and you can finally spot relaxation in the distance, your children are rubbing their eyes and you carry them up to bed. Peace at last. The house is a chaotic mess of chocolate coins and wrapping paper but it’s quiet and all of a sudden it hits you that this was the best Christmas ever.

More More S’mores – Toasted Marshmallow Banana Boats

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If you are an avid Pinterest user like me then you will probably have seen at least one image of a banana stuffed with chocolate and other treats and cooked on a campfire. I know I’ve seen it thousands of times and every time I drooled a little and thought I must try that.

Well last week I received my Degustabox subscription and in the box was a pot of Solo Toasted Marshmallow Creme. This is every bit as good as it sounds. The box actually suggests s’mores as a serving option so I thought why not try the campfire s’more style banana boats so.. I did and they are incredible. So simple, a perfect last minute dessert and it tastes extremely indulgent. I added peanut butter to ours as I think it works really well with banana and some chocolate chips – because chocolate enhances most dishes.

I hardly feel this needs a recipe but here we go:

You will need:

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1 Banana
1 tbsp of peanut butter
1.5 tbsp of toasted marshmallow creme OR a handful of mini marshmallows
1 tsp of chocolate chips

Slice through the peel of your banana almost through to the peel on the other side but not quite.

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Wrap in a loose foil pouch and bake in a very hot oven ( gas mark 6) for about 15 minutes. Eat fairly quickly whilst your ingredients are melted and oozing but watch you don’t burn your tongue. You could serve with icecream or whipped cream but it’s perfectly awesome on its own. Enjoy.

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You can buy Solo Toasted Marshmallow Creme from American Soda.

* I was gifted a Degustabox box for the purposes of a review.

Munchkin Latch Review – The Miracle Bottle

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If you are a regular reader of this blog you will know that we had quite a lot of difficulty getting Chloe to accept a bottle.

She is nearly 1 ( next week – arrgghh) and for most of her life she has been exclusively breastfed from me. I tried quite a few times at the beginning of our breastfeeding journey to get her to take a bottle – I expressed when I could and built up a little stock in the freezer but I was spending a lot of my time pumping and the majority of it was being poured away.

At around the 10 month mark we had a little success using a beaker but we found she would never take more than an ounce or so and it made her very windy as she seemed to gulp at it.

Then I decided to try a Latch bottle that I had been gifted at Britmums Live from Munchkin UK. This bottle seemed different. The teat was soft and flexible and it didn’t just look like a nipple as some brands do but it also mimics the action of a nipple while the baby feeds.

“A correct latch is achieved when mums nipple reaches all the way back to baby’s soft palate. The accordion-style teat on the LATCH™ bottle stretches like the breast, helping baby latch easily & correctly.”

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Chloe took the bottle immediately. She drank 4oz on that first attempt and we have used it every day since. It’s helped us so much. It’s meant that I can continue breastfeeding but I can also have a much needed break. Chloe has one bottle now during the day and also one from her Dad during the night at some point. She still has feeds from me in the evening, morning and at least twice in the night so it hasn’t affected our breastfeeding relationship at all. Later this month I am having a night away with Andrew and it makes me feel so much better knowing she will happily take a bottle.

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I cannot recommend this bottle enough for parents who are looking to combine breastfeeding with bottle feeding.

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* I received one bottle free at the Britmums live conference and a starter set was sent to me for the purpose of a review.

Peanut Butter & Nutella Cream Pie

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This is one of those recipes that I can promise you is just as epic as it sounds. It’s also got every bit as many calories as you imagine and probably a teaspoon more too. It’s one of those pies you should make on a special occasion when there are a few of you around so you aren’t tempted to just inhale the entire thing.

This pie was inspired by the last issue of Jamie Oliver magazine. In the mag Jamie shared a recipe for chocolate & peanut butter cream pie which quite frankly sounds stupendous and of course I read it, instantly wanted it but firstly I didn’t have all the ingredients and secondly I had about a tenth of the energy required for all the stages. So I made up my own version stealing sneaky bits of his and creating cheats for the others. It doesn’t take lots of effort but looks quite impressive and tastes like everything good – creamy and buttery.

Peanut Butter & Nutella Cream Pie:

For the crust:

250g of bourbon cream biscuits ( I believe the Jamie recipe uses Oreos but I had cheap own brand bourbons in my cupboard so that’s what I used)
1 tbsp of Plain flour
75g of melted butter

For the filling:

200g of smooth peanut butter
1 tbsp of sifted icing sugar
50g melted butter
300ml of double cream
1tbsp of icing sugar
2tbsp of Nutella ( or other hazelnut chocolate spread)
Some kind of chocolate chips or shavings to decorate

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4/180C

First up melt your butter for the crust and leave to cool. Now blend the bourbons and the flour together until you have a fine crumb. Mix in your cooled, melted butter and press into a 23cm pie tin ( or loose bottomed baking tin like me)you want an even base and the mixture to go about an inch or so up the sides – place this in the fridge for about 20 minutes to chill.

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Remove from fridge and bake for 10 minutes until crisp then leave to cool while you prepare your fillings.
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Beat your peanut butter with the icing sugar and cooled, melted butter until smooth and set aside.

Now whip your cream and icing sugar until soft peaks are formed and then fold in your Nutella. Chill until ready to use.

When your crust is completely cool cover the base with the peanut butter mixture, followed by your cream mixture and your chocolate decorations. Chill until ready to consume.

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Then just try not to eat it all at once.

I cannot tell you just how good this is. I insist you try it!
Enjoy.

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A Budget Family Meal With Aldi

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.#collectivebias

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How do you fancy a homemade family meal with a delicious main course and a dessert as well as a bottle of wine for the adults for under £10?

Yes I know most of the supermarkets do a £10 meal deal. But this is proper home cooked food with decent sized food portions and a lip smacking dessert to boot. Oh and the wine 😉

When I was challenged to create a family meal for under £10 at Aldi I knew I would find it quite simple to do as we do a large portion of our shopping there these days and I can easily do a weeks shopping for around £40. So I had to up the ante slightly and add in a dessert and drinks to make it more of a challenge 🙂

I enjoy shopping at Aldi. The stores aren’t huge so you can get about quickly enough, you don’t get a huge selection of branded goods but the actual own brand products are extremely high quality.

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I made smokey sweet potato and beef chilli which is perfect for bonfire night along with a choc chip brioche pudding and served with a glass of rose.

For the Chilli, You will need:

500g standard Beef mince (£1.75)
1 onion, chopped ( approx 23p)
2 garlic cloves, minced (approx 23p per bulb)
1 large sweet potato, chopped into small cubes ( approx 25p)
1 400g chopped tomatoes (31p)
1 tin of kidney beans, drained (23p)
1 beef stock cube, made up with 200ml of hot water (10p)
4 tbsp of fat free yoghurt (25p)
1 pack of lightly salted tortilla chips ( 46p )

From your store cupboard:

1 tbsp of plain flour
1 tsp paprika ( smoked preferably but whatever you have is fine)
1 heaped tbsp of mild chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 heaped tbsp of dark brown sugar ( white if you have no brown)
Salt and Pepper ( optional – we only added pepper)

Total cost of Chilli: £3.81

Method:

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4.
Brown your mince and onions together over a moderate heat in a large frying pan, now add your sweet potatoes, garlic, chilli, paprika, flour and cumin and cook for a further 5 minutes until sweet potato begins to soften.
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Now add your stock, chopped tomatoes, sugar and kidney beans and stir well. Pour into an oven proof dish with a lid and cook for 60 minutes.

In the last 5 minutes pop your tortillas onto a baking tray – they taste so good when slightly warm.

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Serve your chilli in bowls with a dollop of yoghurt on top ( perhaps a herb garnish) and some tortillas. You could also sprinkle a little grated cheese over the still warm tortillas.

For very little ones, serve with bread instead.

For the Choc Chip Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding:

3/4 of a loaf of choc chip brioche (£1)
250ml of semi skimmed milk (30p)
250ml of single cream (50p)
3 eggs (45p)
3 tbsp of dark brown sugar ( from store cupboard – white is fine)
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract ( from store cupboard)
Butter/margarine ( from fridge – use whatever you have)

Dessert cost: £2.25

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Preheat your oven to gas mark 4.

Toast your brioche slices and spread lightly with butter/margarine.

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Arrange in a baking dish, slightly overlapping. Beat your eggs, milk, cream, sugar and vanilla together until smooth and pour over your brioche slices. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes until it has puffed up, there is no runny liquid and the texture looks a little like scrambled egg. Serve warm, alone or with cream or custard.

It will easily serve 4-6 people but beware this is so good you will want seconds.

Choc and chip brioche and bread pudding

We served our meal with water for the little ones and a nice glass of Australian Rose for the adults which cost £3.89 for the whole bottle and this wasn’t the cheapest wine you could purchase. There are plenty of nice bottles to choose from £2.99 upwards. We only drank half our bottle so we have the rest to enjoy with another meal.

And there you go. A bargain two course meal for 2 adults and 2 children with wine ( for the adults) for just £9.95.

Moving On…

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Myself and Chloe have been on our breastfeeding journey for over 11 months now. I was so sure that by now it would have ended. When we started I set myself a target of 6 months but at times even that didn’t seem achievable. I had mastitis on numerous occasions, Chloe wanted to feed all night every night or so it seemed and I was drained. Add to this I was admitted to hospital for an emergency lumbar puncture and then suffered complications afterwards too. It’s amazing really to think we didn’t stop at that point. I was in so much pain that I couldn’t sit up at all but we managed and days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and here we are nearly 1 year later. Crazy.

I think part of why I have continued is because for Chloe at least it came so easily. She was born and within minutes she latched on..and never seemed to come off! It was natural, wonderful even to watch.

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When we made it past 6 months of exclusively breastfeeding I thought ok well that’s all I set out to do so every week now is a bonus. I have almost stopped many times since then but for one reason or another we just carried on. Now looking back I can see that maybe for me it wasn’t the correct choice but I’m still glad we did it. For Chloe. For us.

You may think reading this that we have stopped but nope!

We have cut out all daytime breastfeeds and instead she has a bottle around midday which she seems to really enjoy. She still has a morning and an evening feed and sometimes 2-3 during the night but at least one nighttime feed has now been replaced with a bottle from Dad.

I have seen firsthand both the benefits and also the negative side to breastfeeding.

The bond with Chloe has been incredible and I will cherish those moments forever.

But the constant drained feeling?

The sore boobs? The regular bouts of mastitis? That I don’t think I’ll miss.

The fact that until a month or so back I didn’t feel comfortable about leaving her with anyone for more than a few hours because I worried she would need milk when really I needed a break a long time ago.

The way she was clingy with me in a way that Izzy never was.

The nightmare of trying to get her to take a bottle after 10 months of exclusive boob.

The harsh fact that not everybody loses all their baby weight when breastfeeding. In fact quite the opposite. I’m always hungry. It’s really and I mean really really hard to diet when you are always hungry and sometimes when you are very tired it’s so much easier to grab a slice of cake than make a healthy snack.

The lack of sleep. I definitely think breastfeeding can have an impact on a baby’s sleep. I’m still all for it and I don’t think that formula fills them any more but I think feeding from the breast is about being so close to the mother and the skin to skin contact and if your baby wakes in the night they are far more likely to cry for your breast than a bottle purely for the comfort aspect.

But there are the perks too. The way I could settle her with my boob when nothing else would. If she was unsettled I could just rest her on my chest and it was her happy place. If she was unwell and wouldn’t eat any solid food she would always still take milk as it was her comfort as well as her fuel. The fact that I didn’t need to sterilise bottles or buy formula or get up in the middle of the night to make up a feed.

The way I was confident that I was doing the very best for my child even if it perhaps wasn’t the best thing for me.

In 2 weeks we will have reached a year and who knows sometime soon after that maybe we will stop completely or maybe she will still be having her morning and night time feeds in a years time. I’m not sure but I am aware now that every feed could be one of the last ones. I think she knows it too. Every feed is longer than it used to be. Every feed she will occasionally stop and just stare up at me and enjoy just being close. In a way I can’t imagine not feeding her now.

Looking back at all the ups and downs I know that in a heartbeat I would still choose to breastfeed if I had another child ( which by the way is never going to happen).

Did you feed? How was your breastfeeding journey? Would you do it again?