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February 25th, 2010
I’m so completely over winter and I’m sick of eating casserole type things, particularly meaty casseroles. There’s no doubt that it’s handy to defrost a bag of spag bol, or beef stew and have a swift instant supper, but I’m yearning for the lighter, brighter summer meals and lovely salads of July and August. We’re stuck in a rut of meatballs and tagines, and I’ve decided enough is enough.
Although we do eat veggie meals 2 – 3 times a week, I know that there’s a lot to be said for cutting down on the amount of meat we eat and increasing the amount of veg. And that’s not just from a health perspective. From an environmental point, eating less meat, but making that sustainably farmed meat, rather than factory reared is the way forward.
 Mackeral & Bulgar Wheat Salad (www.mostlyeating.com) So, during March, I’ve decided to reinvent dinnertimes at our house. We’ll be going (mainly) meat-free in an effort to find some great new family meals that can be made swiftly, and that everyone likes (yeah, right, with a fussy 5 year old and a contrary two year old to please that’s a joke!) I say mainly meat-free because some of the lovely fish recipes I’ve got use a little bacon – but as long as meat isn’t the focus of the meal then that seems reasonable.
A lot of the recipes I’m going to be using are from The Kitchen Revolution, including the Thai Fishcakes which are on my menu for this week.
If you fancy joining me, I’ll post my menu here every Thursday on the website (with links to similar recipes if possible). I’m also going to track how much my shopping costs to see if I save money and will also, most importantly post feedback on each meal as the majority of them are going to be new dishes.
My menu plan for w/c 28th Feb is as follows:
If you’re interested in trying a ‘Meat Free March’ yourself, or if you’ve got any veggie / fish recipes that you’ve tried yourself and would like to share, then feel free!
Tags: meat-free meals, vegetarian meals
Posted in Recipes | 5 Comments »
February 23rd, 2010
I’ve just come back from the Baby Show at Excel. It’s well worth a trip if you’re pregnant with your first child and looking to sort out all your baby necessities in one fell, money saving swoop. If you can bear the crowds that is…
From an exhibitor standpoint it’s a great show (mostly). Especially if you’re like myself and an online retailer, it’s a fantastic opportunity to meet your customers face to face, hear their questions, and get their feedback. I was really delighted to see some of my first baby show customers from last year who let me know that they loved their Cheeky Wipes – and yes, I was tempted to pay them to stand around near my stand and talk very loudly about how fab they are!
On the negative side it’s a nightmare in the weeks prior. Between organising hotels, displays, stock travel etc. Not to mention childcare, which is a bit of an issue with 3 children during the half term holidays. And then when I arrrived last week I found that the bookshelf that I’d bought for the last show had been broken at some stage which meant that I had to hire one at ridiculous expense. Humph.
But it’s all over now (until the Scottish Baby Show at the SECC, end April) and I’ve got the Baby Show blues. I think there’s so much build up in the weeks prior, now it’s all over and I just feel a bit bleurgh and unfocused. So I’ll be starting tomorrow with a big cup of coffee and a new to-do list which will hopefully be enough to give me my mojo back! Aside from that, feel free to give me a kick start.
Tags: excel baby show
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
February 18th, 2010
I recently came across a blog post from Really Rachel about her ongoing nappy debate and conversion to washable nappies.  I’ve been using cloth nappies for 5 years now (well not myself obviously, but on the littl’uns) and one of my bugbears is how disposable nappy users always point out that disposables are so much more ‘convenient’. As Rachel found out for herself, they’re only convenient if you always have access to somewhere selling them and never run out. If you’ve run out of nappies and have no way of getting to the shop to get some more, then they’re highly inconvenient!
Sure, it’s convenient to be able to wrap up a stinky poo and chuck it in the bin, never to be seen again (just don’t think about it rotting SLOWLY away in your local landfill site. Nice.) But it’s not that much harder to flick poo off a cloth nappy, into the toilet and flush it away!
When you’re out and about the only minor inconvenience about using washable nappies is that you’ve to bring them home. Most modern cloth nappies (like my lovely Itti Bitti’s) have a popper or velcro closure which keeps the soiled nappy closed and makes it easy to transport home for washing. Even on occasions when I’ve forgotten my wet nappy bag, I’ve been able to throw the dirty nappy straight into my bag until I got home, with no problems.
 Itti Bitti Bum It does take a little more planning to use washable nappies successfully in that you have to get a bit more organised in terms of washing (and drying) your nappies, but once you get into a routine of doing so, it becomes much easier.
In fact the only time that I can see that the ‘convenience’ of disposable nappies wins is when you’re on holiday and don’t have access to washing / drying facilities. Even then though you’ve still got to either lug your disposable nappies away with you (and if you’re going for 2 weeks, that’s quite a lot of nappies). Or you need to find somewhere locally that sells them.
Tags: cloth nappy, cloth nappy drying, washable nappy
Posted in cloth nappy | 2 Comments »
February 16th, 2010
It’s all Nigella Lawson’s fault. Yes, she of the ‘Midnight Feast, licking fingers in your jammies’ fame. In her ‘How to Eat’ book, under the admittedly small section on healthier foods, she uses the term ‘Temple Food’. For me, this translates as food that is healthy, easy to prepare but most of all tasty!
For some reason, in my house, these things are mostly Thai related. I think it’s the combination of zingy lime, spicy chilli and pungent fish sauce that grabs your tastebuds and shakes them until they explode. We usually end up eating this on a Tuesday evening, especially if we’ve had a roast chicken on a Sunday and I’ve managed to make some stock. That doesn’t always happen though, but a stock cube does the job pretty well.
If the kids are eating with us, I’ll do 2 slightly different versions, one without the lime and chilli. One of the reasons I love this is that the recipe is so flexible. I can use whatever I have to hand as long as I’ve got noodles and decent chicken stock.
 Chicken Noodle Soup Ingredients
- Leftover chicken
- Chicken stock (allow 300ml per person)
- Egg Noodles (1 ‘nest’ per person)
- Garlic, 1 or 2 cloves
- Chilli to taste (I often use the jarred ‘easy’ chilli)
- 1 or 2 Limes
- 2 tbs fish sauce
- Parsley or Coriander (I’ve just discovered frozen coriander which is perfect for this)
- Beans. I use tinned butter beans or frozen soya beans, whatever I have to hand
- Veg of some sort. Cherry Tomatoes, Pak Choi and Spinach all work well.
Method:
- Chuck everything aside from the noodles and beans in the pan and simmer for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes add the noodles and beans and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Serve…with extra coriander on top if you have some around.
- This produces a slurpy noodle type soup. If you want a more broth-y soup, cook the noodles separately and just add them at the end.
If you’ve got a ‘Temple Food’ type recipe that you’d like to share, I’d LOVE to hear about it!
Tags: leftover chicken recipe, temple food recipe, thai chicken noodle soup recipe
Posted in Recipes | 2 Comments »
February 13th, 2010
I really shouldn’t try to do two things at once. I knew we were almost out of yogurt, so thought that I would put some milk on to reduce down, while I was answering my emails. I did briefly think about setting the oven timer to remind me that it was on, but completely forgot.
An hour later, I answered the door to a courier, thinking ‘What’s that smell??’ and found that my milk had not only boiled over but the remains had crusted onto the pan in a solid black lump. I’ve burnt a few saucepans in my time, but this one won the gold medal:
 OMG! How burnt is this? I did think for a split second about throwing it out, but I love this pan (and I thought you might be interested to know it’s not just you that burns saucepans….) Anyway I googled ‘clean burnt saucepans’ and came up with a myriad of ideas, but the most oft-repeated was to add some fabric washing powder (I used gel) to the saucepan and bring it to the boil for 15 mins.
This was the result after 15 mins:
 Looking much better but still.... As you can see it was a LOT better. So I gave it another 20 mins with some fresh water and washing gel, then applied a little elbow grease and scouring pad to finish it off…and the result is:
 A clean pan! So, if like me you occasionally try to do too many things at once and end up burning a saucepan, don’t throw it out…just get out your washing powder and make it sparkle again.
Tags: clean burnt saucepan
Posted in Green Cleaning | No Comments »
February 11th, 2010
Since we moved no2 son into his big boy bed, our nights have been rather more unsettled than previously. That’s because (unsurprisingly) he’s worked out that he can get out of bed and come and visit Mummy and Daddy next door. And given that his normal waking time is 6.10am, I’d really prefer it if he stayed tucked up safe and sound for another half hour at least.
It was with great hope, therefore, that I came across the ‘Groclock’ (£30 – £35) on one of the web parenting forums that I use. Some people swore by it, some were intrigued and I thought it sounded interesting and worth another look. So I did some desk research (read the reviews on Amazon) which gave pretty positive feedback.
 Groclock - time to wake up! I’ve been using it now for almost 3 weeks, so thought it was worthwhile posting a review.
On the plus side, it’s a nicely designed and packaged product. The little board book that comes with it is great quality cute and my son loves reading it (and in fact has memorised it and can read it to me). You can lock the keys so that your children can’t reset it, which is a bonus. And it gives enough of a glow that the room isn’t in darkness, but it won’t keep them awake either.
On the negative side, it didn’t work for us. It might have done if we’d introduced it as soon as we moved him from his cot to his big boy bed, BEFORE he’d worked out that he could get up when he pleased.  He still wakes during the night, disregards the clock and comes wandering into our bedroom. To be fair, he usually goes back and lies down again nicely when I show him that the sun hasn’t come up, but I still end up getting out of bed!
I’d also have liked the ability to have a different wake-up setting for weekends that could be stored automatically, rather than having to reset the wake-up time every Friday night. Â
In summary, if you’re thinking of moving your little one into their ‘big boy/girl bed’ and are concerned about them getting out of bed early, then get the clock now and start using it before the move. If you’ve already got an early starter, then I’d probably not bother.
Tags: groclock, groclock review
Posted in Buying For Baby | 2 Comments »
February 9th, 2010
I’m celebrating the fact that the comments on my blog have been fixed (which given the amount of spam comments I’m now receiving, I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or not).
Anyway, I thought I’d check that it’s working and also whether anyone actually reads my blog by offering 4 pairs of free tickets to the Baby Show at London Excel which is next weekend, 19th – 21st February. We’re launching the Cheeky Monkey Wipes Kit and we’ll be on stand C14 if you want to pop along.
To be in with a chance of winning, just leave a comment below explaining which of my recent blogs you like best and why. I’ll pick 4 winners at random by 5pm, Thursday 11th February and will highlight the winners comments.Â
Tags: baby show, baby show excel
Posted in Buying For Baby | 4 Comments »
February 1st, 2010
I’m not a gadget geek. News about the new Apple iPad leaves me cold (who needs another netbook / games console anyway?) So why am I lusting after an Amazon Kindle / Sony Reader?
I LOVE reading. Books are my one luxury item. I tried using the local library but their selection was small and it was such a pain to get there. I had to drive there, find a parking space, get small children into buggy, get into library, stop small children demolishing the place….nightmare. I usually ended up putting off the return trip to the library and ended up paying lots of late fees. It was actually cheaper for me to buy books from Amazon or the local charity shops.
 Amazon Kindle But there are downside to my love of reading. The stack of books 3 ft high beside my bedside testifies to one problem – storage. I love to keep my books and reread them at a later date probably not for a few years. So in the meantime where do you store them? I have literally boxes full of books in my attic that I don’t have space to store elsewhere. I’d love to have them out on display but I’d need to build an extension. Much cheaper to pay £250 for an e-book reader!
There’s also the environmental benefit of reading e-books:
- saving trees and therefore reducing paper consumption
- saving the energy used in book production
- no need for packaging materials, and all the energy and cash costs associated with those materials
- saving fuel used for transporting books from the printer to the warehouse and then from the warehouse to the consumer
But against all these very positive benefits I have 3 concerns.
- The chances of me dropping the book as I fall asleep and breaking it are quite high
- The lack of availability – there are 400,000 books available in kindle format, just a drop in the ocean of all books out there
- And my main gripe is that unlike a paper book you can’t share an e-book. So if you love something and want to pass it to your friend to read, you can’t
So at the moment I’m still sitting on the fence. I’ll keep watching and waiting and I might get one at some stage…but then again I might not…..
As usual, if you’ve got any comments, please visit our facebook page.(we’re working on fixing our comments – apologies!)
Tags: amazon kindle, sony reader
Posted in Green Living | 1 Comment »
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