Parents – Page 3 – NEW YUMMY MUMMY

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER OUTFIT, ANOTHER MEAL…

DINNER RECIPE

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER OUTFIT …

Casual but oh so cute and on trend !

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MEAL…
PUMPKIN CURRY WITH SPINACH, CHICKEN & LENTILS

Ingredients:

– 1 glass red lentils

– 200g pumpkin

– 1 chicken breast

– 1/2 glass chicken stock (without salt)

– 1 tsp curry paste (mild)

– 1/2 tsp paprika

– 200ml coconut milk

– 2 handfuls of spinach.

– 100g of rice (I used brown rice)

– 1 onion

Cooking method:

Cook lentils and rice according to instructions.

Cut pumpkin in to small squares; Wash and slice thinly spinach; Cut chicken breast in to small squares and cut the onion.

Add 2 tbsp of coconut milk on to the frying pan with curry paste and fry for 2 minutes; add onion and paprika and fry for another 2 minutes.

Add pumpkin in to the pan with the chicken and fry for around 3 minutes then add the rest of the coconut milk and chicken stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add lentils and simmer until pumpkin is cooked (another 5 minutes). Add spinach just as you finished cooking.

Serve with rice.

Making your own Christmas traditions …

MY BABY EXPERIENCE

Its funny how now Christmas is the saddest and the happiest time of the year at the same time….

Christmas was always the most amazing time of the year in my family. From when I was very little my parents have been making it the most special and magical time of the year. We had lots of Christmas traditions which I cherish now that both of my parents are not with me anymore.

We would dress the Christmas tree the weekend before Christmas Eve. We all had our own decorations which Mum bought for us, usually the same decorations just with a different accent colour. My Mum would always buy a big bag of chocolate sweets which we would tie ribbons on to and then hang on the Christmas tree. The amount of time each of us would sneak to the Christmas tree in the day and at night and try to steal chocolates😂… With time we have worked out the best way of doing it: sneak in and don’t take the sweet off the Christmas tree as the wrapper was making way too much noise. Instead just slip the sweet from the wrapper and try to leave the wrapper so it looks like chocolate is still in it. By the time we were allowed to eat the chocolates (after the 26th) there was only lots of empty chocolate wrappers left 😂

I am Polish and in Poland we celebrate the 24th of December. That’s when we have our Christmas dinner (made of 12 dishes followed by crazy amounts of cakes) after which we open our presents. We always sat down to the Christmas dinner as soon as the 1st star would appear in the sky. I remember my Dad getting all 4 of us (my brother, me, and 2 of my sisters) all excited trying to be the first one to spot the star.

I remember every year my dad calling : “I have just seen Santa Claus!” My Mum would take us to our bedrooms to try to spot Santa who should be coming at any minute… Every time we would get very disappointed as we couldn’t see him and then we would hear my Dad shouting “O MY !!! KIDS KIDS !!!” We would run in to the living room to see lots of presents under the Christmas tree 🙂 and being told that we missed Santa Claus again !!!

Then it’s dinner time full of its own traditions like having an empty plate if someone hungry comes and asks for food, sharing ….. Oplatek…..with the whole family before you start your dinner; all of us kids eating as quickly as possible so we can open our presents . Oh yes we open our presents on the 24th!!!!

Now that I am older, I have my own baby and I miss my parents terribly those memories and traditions have became very important. That’s why me and my husband made a real effort to make sure that we have our own family traditions which hopefully my daughter will love and pass on …

We will be combining Polish and English traditions together:

❄️Letter from Santa is a must every year. I know that right now Chloe doesn’t understand but as she grows up it will be such a lovely and exciting moment for her.

❄️Going to Crews Hill garden centres on the first weekend of December for an amazing kick-start to Christmas. They have the most amazing Christmas decorations and Christmas attractions for kids.

❄️ Every year each of us chooses new Christmas decoration.

❄️ Christmas tree is always getting dressed on the first weekend of December. I know that it seems early to everyone but I love Christmas decorations so I want to enjoy them for as long as I can.

❄️Visiting Santa 😊. Maybe next year it will be a little bit less scary 😂

❄️Family Polish Christmas on the 24th of December. It will be a very traditional dinner exactly as my Parents did it for so many years. After dinner we are allowed to open one present.

❄️Getting milk, cookies and carrots ready so if Santa visits us he can have a snack.

❄️Opening presents in the morning on the 25th followed by Christmas dinner/ day with family.

Do you have any Christmas traditions ? Are there any traditions that you carrying on doing from when you were little ? Please share x

Christmas decorations out ! Babies stay away ! 🎄🎄🎄🎄

BABY ADVICE

Christmas is just around the corner! Yes it is and yes I know it’s so hard to believe! Christmas is a very special and magical time of the year …. It becomes even more incredible and special once you have the baby….and a bit more hectic and difficult …. and a bit more dangerous … and a bit more stressful!!!!

Chloe was only 2 months old when she celebrated her first Christmas and she could not have been less bothered by it; now she is a very curious and WALKING baby (still can’t bring myself to call her a toddler) and that means a very different Christmas for us😊

I started thinking about what I will need to do differently this time not to make my house a health and safety hazard !

You see I love Christmas decorations! Usually we have them everywhere ! Big Christmas tree, Reindeers and Santa on the floor, Christmas cloths on the tables, lights everywhere and pretty much the whole house gets decorated, you get the gist. From now on I will have to do things differently, why? Because I have a walking baby who keeps getting taller every day (I swear that she is able to reach higher and higher every day! ); a baby who chooses to ignore NO whenever she feels like it and a baby who LOVES lights and glitter.

CHRISTMAS TREE

I am having a proper, big Christmas tree. I know that a lot of people choose not to have the Christmas tree when they have a baby/toddler or have a tiny tree on top of the highest furniture in the room; not me.

I will be putting the Christmas tree up and I will try to decorate it with Chloe ( I might change my mind 10 minutes in to the decorating 😂). (It’s all done now. Chloe was helping … to get all of the decorations out of the boxes, but I must say it was lots of fun and I am happy that I have done it with her)

I will decorate the tree with bigger decorations only (hooking hazard) and keep the most precious decorations in the box for the next 2 years just in case.(I have ended up putting out all of my decorations, with the most precious ones very high)

I will keep the bottom half of the tree (up to where Chloe can reach) with minimum decorations on, and try to use mostly plastic/wooden decorations. ( I didn’t manage to have only a few decorations on the bottom of the tree but I made sure there is no glass decorations there . Chloe loves to touch all of her decorations, and Chloe loves talking to them. Very good advice if you have an artificial Christmas tree: hang decorations and then bend the tip of the tree branch, it will stop your baby from pulling all of the decorations. I have also given Chloe a small box of her own plastic decorations which she is allowed to play with, which seems to keep her away from the real deal 😁).

The Christmas tree will be attached to the ceiling on a hook by see through cord. This is to make sure that Chloe won’t be able to tip the tree over. That’s exactly what my mum use to do for years (her tree was perfect each year and she had 4 kids)

CHRISTMAS TABLE/ TABLE DECORATIONS

I love table cloths! I would have one on the table all the time; unfortunately they aren’t child-friendly 😁

We cannot have a table cloth because Chloe would pull it (with everything that is on it) off the table. This year I will purchase an amazing and over the top table runner and put out some gorgeous placemats to complement the table runner.

When it comes to decorating hallway, stairways etc I will do what I normally do which is go crazy and over the top 😊
And it’s all done !!!!

This is the end result of my weekend filled with decorating

Fireplace is the perfect home fixture for Christmas decorations and obviously Christmas stockings. But if you don’t have a fireplace (which lets be honest looks amazing but is a hazard with the baby for the first 4 years if not more – yes I am saying it to make myself feel better) like me that doesn’t mean that you can’t have a Christmas stockings.

After having Christmas Tree and decorations up for a few days it seems that the novelty wears off. I also think that if you get your little one involved in the process and let them touch all of the decorations he or she will be less tempted to be misbehave (we know that they want what then cannot have 😁).

We have also bought Chloe’s own little Christmas tree which she has in her room. We have decorated it together in small plastic decorations which has made the novelty of the Christmas tree even less of : uh what are you ? I want to pull everything off you and eat you and I want all of those shiny things 😂

I hope that you will love decorating your house with your baby as much as I did 🎄

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MEAL, ANOTHER OUTFIT …

DINNER RECIPE

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER OUTFIT …

In ❤️ with those cute crown printed leggings !

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MEAL …MUSHROOM AND MINCEMEAT RICE

Ingredients:

– 200g mushrooms

– 250g pork mince meat (you can use different one if you prefer)

– 50g carrot

– 1/2 onion

– 1tsp thyme

– 1tbsp reduced salt soya sauce

– 100g brown rice

– 100ml vegetable stock

– 50ml double cream

– 50g parmesan cheese

Cooking method :

All vegetables to be sliced in to small cubes (I use food processor for onion and carrot).

Cook rice according to the cooking instructions on the packet.

Fry onion and mince meat on the frying pan for 5 minutes. Add carrot and mushroom and fry for another 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 10minutes.

Add rice to the dish and then finish off with the parmesan. Enjoy it !

BEST BATH TOYS.

BABY STUFF - DO WE NEED ALL OF IT ?

Kids love bath time, and what’s better to make it more fun than a great toy. Unfortunately a lot of toys designe for a bath don’t work very well in the water. I was shopping for new bath toys for Chloe and decided to share my findings with you.

1. Ocean Explorers Sparkle Bay Fountain.

2.Little Tikes Sparkle Bay Water Spinners

3.Edushape Magic Fish Bath Mirror

4.Munchkin Turtle Shower Bath Toy

5. Nuby Kissy Fishy Bath Toy

6.Lamaze Bathtime dragon

7. Tomy Splashy The Penguin Bath Toy

8.Playgro Bath Sort n Stack Floating Hippo

9. Hamleys Water Fun Musical Blossoms

Screen Shot 2015-11-24 at 21.19.00

HEALTHY BUT SO YUMMY KIDS PARTY FOOD ! Yes it is possible !!!

BABY ADVICE, SNACK RECEPE

Kids Birthday Parties can be fun, yummy and … Heathy ! Yes they can ! There is no need to buy only junk food or to have everything with added sugar.

A few weeks ago I organised Chloe’s 1st birthday party. I wanted a sugar free party, why? Because most of Chloe’s guests were 1 year old or under and because I haven’t given Chloe sugar before. I have gathered lots of different ideas about kids party food from Pinterest and I have adapted some sugary recipes so that they are sugar free.

This is what I have prepared for the party

ICE CREAM CONES

Ice Cream Cones dipped in blended blueberry and coconut. You can make so many different versions of it, depending on the age of the kids.

– chocolate and nuts

– chocolate and coconut

– blueberry and cornflakes

– melted marshmallows

ICE CREAM CONES WITH FRUITS

Stuff ice cream cones with any fruits you like. It’s sweet, healthy and it looks great.

SWEETCORN AND PEAS

All kids love those ! Put them in to cute little cupcake cases to serve.

KIWI FLOWERS

Another fun way to serve fruits. Use a small cookie, flower cutter to use around the kiwi. Top the kiwi with a raspberry and add a leaf of mint to finish it of.

STRAWBERRIES
Strawberry is another great replacement to sweets/cookies. Because of its sweetness and vibrant colour kids (most of the kids) love them.

Dip strawberries in a soft cream and … coconut for a super healthy snack or in dark chocolate and then coconut if your kids are already eating chocolate.

You can also cut strawberry in half and put little dots of soft cream/ chocolate on top to make little ladybirds.

HEART AND STAR SHAPED SANDWICHES

I know that this is a lot of work but I can do once a year for a special occasion. Just make your sandwiches and flatten them, use biscuit cutter of a desired shape to cut them. Just remember that the sandwich needs to be very simple : soft cheese, cheese or ham are ideal.

MAGIC WAND

Kids love blueberries so get some of them on a toothpick, topped with a star cut out of watermelon and you have a magic wand ready. I have used bought toothpicks with gold stars on top of it.

BANNANA MUFFINS

Bannana sugar free muffins are a great alternative to the traditional ones. They have been a hit on all of the babies parties I have been to (you can find the recipe on my blog).

SMASH THE CAKE BABY !!!

MY BABY EXPERIENCE

I love the cake smashing photos of babies covered in cake, icing and chocolate ! I also like the idea of giving then some sugar for the first time and capturing theirs reaction on the camera. What I don’t like is the though of all of the sugar that they will eat! That’s why I decided to make my own cake and get a “healthy balance” between sugar and healthy cake. I decided to make a bannana cake and cover it in normal icing. That way Chloe wouldn’t have that much sugar and icing would give her a taste of the forbidden thing.

Cake came up very tasty but I must admit bcause of the texture it’s not the best one for smashing…. Especially if your baby doesn’t like to get dirty ….

I was expecting Chloe to go gravy for the icing and the cake … But she didn’t ! She wasn’t too bothered about it (which outside of the photoshot is a good thing) and it took us a long time to try and get her a bit messy. I had to get pretty messy myself trying to I courage my daughter to play with the cake … That’s how uninterested she was about it!

Considering the amount of cake they actually eat (which isn’t a lot) and the texture needed for a good smas cake session I would recommend to make a normal sponge cake just with less sugar.

Below recipes for the healthy cake and obviously some photos of Chloe.

BABY BANANA CAKE

Ingredients for the cake :

– 5 ripen bananas

– 1 1/2 cup flower (you can use white flower or whole grain

– 3/4 cup Apple juice with no added sugar)

– 3 tsp vanilla extract

– 1 tsp cinnamon

– 2 egg whites – bitten

– 50g of fondant icing of a desired colour(if using)

Ingredients for the icing:

– 250g icing sugar

– 125g soft butter

– 1 or 2 tbsp of milk

– 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

– food colouring (if using)
Cooking method:

Preheat your oven to 180C.

Mash your bananas (I blend them for the creamy texture)

Combine all of your ingredients (except egg white) together until smooth. Beat eggs white until quite stiff and fold in very carefully. Pour your mixture on to your forms which has been sprayed lightly with cooking pray. I have used 2 forms for the big cupcake cake and filled then half full, but you can use 2 small round baking tins (depends on what cake you want to make)

Put the cake in to the oven and bake for 25 minutes.

Prepare your icing my mixing your butter with half of the sugar, then add the rest of the ingredients and combine it well. If you are using food colouring add at the end.

When your cake is cooked, cool it and then start decorating.

I went for the cupcake cake. I have used fondant icing on the bottom of the cake and butter icing on the top of it.

If you are using fondant icing you will need to put a very thin layer of butter icing on the cake first so that the fondant icing sticks to the cake. A good tip when rolling out your icing : use a little bit of corn flower it will stop the icing from sticking to the worktop.

I have used a thin layer or butter icing to keep both of the cakes together ; it acts as a very good and tasty glue 😊. If you want to use something healthier soft cheese will do exactly this same job.

At the end I have decorated the top of the cake with turquoise butter icing. I was very pleased with the result …. Not so much Chloe 😂

Playpen/ baby prison …. YES OR NO? NO NO NO !

BABY STUFF - DO WE NEED ALL OF IT ?

In principle it’s a great idea. You have something where you can put your baby when you want to use the toilet, tidy up, have a shower … In practice it’s a waste of money !

We bought nice wooden play pen quite quickly because Chloe started crawling at 6 months and also because her grandparents will be looking after her 3 days a week when I go back to work. It mean to be used whenever we need to leave the room and Chloe can’t go with us.

I have managed to have Chloe in it maybe twice without screaming. I have tried everything : putting all her favourite toys in it, leaving her there to cry so she understands that crying won’t change anything, going in to it with her to show how fun it is…. Nothing worked.

I have spend £200 pounds on something what is currently taking up a lot of space in my living room and is collecting dust!

Speaking to other mums I found out that most of them have been faced with exactly this same outcome ( I think that there are only 2 babies who I know of that don’t mind being in a play pen).

Based on that I would not recommend buying one ! Or just buy a travel for which then you can use for traveling / playpen.

What’s is your opinion parents ???

1ST BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS !!!

MY BABY EXPERIENCE

Months of planing, weeks of preparation, lots of stress, excitement and happiness … And now Chloe is one year old !

I have spent a lot of time making all birthday decorations, birthday cakes and food. This are the results of Chloe’s two birthday parties.

REALLY????BABY CRY ANALYZER ?????

BABY STUFF - DO WE NEED ALL OF IT ?

I came across this on the website while looking at different baby stuff (I am addicted to shopping for things for Chloe) and couldn’t believe that someone has came up with such an invention.

Why cry mini -baby cry analyzer. Apparently this machine will tell you why your baby is crying : is it because they are hungry? bored ? sleepy? unwell? … Really??

I love gadgets and everything what makes life easier but this one is a step to far in my opinion. Do we really need something to tell us why our baby is crying? Are we really that lazy and in such a rush to get answers that we don’t have the time or patience to learn about our baby? To learn what they sound like when they are hungry or bored? The first few weeks when you get to know your baby and his/her needs are special and precious …. Isn’t this one of the reasons why we become parent …

Also is this not dangerous ? Relaying on the machine to tell you what your baby needs ? What if the mashine is wrong ? What if your baby is unwell but the machine tells you that your baby is bored? …

What is your opinion about it?

Do you have one of those and think that I am wrong ?

Please share you opinion.

Have a fab day !