A Strong Coffee

This month's Parragon Book Buddie Book is the Human Body Factivity set. It includes a plastic skeleton to make. (Not a dead person with no skin as little man chose to describe it!) Big man was excited by this and wanted to make the model straight away. Unfortunately it was fiddly. A bit too hard for him (aged 8.) I wont lie I struggled fitting the parts together. But I got there!


Human Body Factivity Kit  can be purchased from Amazon. Parragon have kindly offered a copy of the book as a giveaway prize for one of my readers. Just complete the Rafflecopter entry below. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

- See more at: http://www.theprizefinder.com/content/human-body-factivity#sthash.ryv0Xc1a.dpuf

Yesterday was a day where cake was required! So I had a look in the cupboards and made these beauties. Carrot and walnut cupcakes with a maple cream cheese glaze. My boys loved them as much as I did!



To make 12 cupcakes

3 large carrots grated (or whizzed up in your blender)
75g butter or margarine (I used the latter as I hadn't got any butter in)
70g walnuts whizzed up in the blender
75g Maple Syrup  - I used Clarks Maple Syrup
100g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
150g self raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2tsp cinammon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Pre heat the oven to 180C.

Mix all the ingredients above together. Divide the mixture between 12 cupcake cases. I will warn you, it is not the prettiest mixture to look at uncooked but it tastes great when it is. Cook the cupcakes for around 20minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool.

In the meantime make the maple cream cheese glaze.

You will need:

50g soft cheese (I used Philidelphia light)
100g icing sugar
30g maple syrup

Mix the above ingredients together and when cool place onto your cupcakes and decorate with some crushed walnuts.

Enjoy!

Today is Yakult's 20th Birthday and they have commissioned research into what advice us Brit's would give our younger selves. It got me thinking. What would my advice be?

Twenty years ago I was a carefree Chemistry student who should have probably been socialising less and studying more.

I would tell my younger self to trust my instincts and not listen to others so much. I had a number of jobs I hated, but was talked into. I knew I wanted to teach, but everyone told me not to.

"The money is rubbish."

"Teenagers are horrible why would you want to teach 30?"

Both statements I regularly heard when I said I was thinking of teacher training.  I got there eventually but I could have saved myself a lot of time and rubbish jobs if I had just trusted my instincts.

I would tell myself to worry less about money and travel more. There are so many places I haven't seen, and now I have three kids in tow it is harder and much more expensive to see the world. But don't worry, I am not going to let that stop me.

I would tell myself not to fear childbirth. That you don't need half the things that are marketed for babies and most of all I would tell myself not to buy a cream shaggy rug when I had just had a baby. What was I thinking!?!


But does the rest of the nation agree with me according to Yakult's findings? Well there are certainly some similarities.

1. Save money  from a young age (53.25%)
2. Have more self-belief (48.10%)
3. Do more exercise (38.35%)
4. Travel more – there’s a whole world to explore (34.55%)
5. Don’t smoke (32.10%)

This weekend I have been trying to embrace the outdoors. I am not really the kind of Mum that enjoys getting muddy. I don't mind going for a nice country walk and stopping off in a nice pub for lunch. But when it comes to going out in the cold and damp I am afraid to say that I am like my name.

Fairweather.

But I have 3 boys.

They have a lot of energy.

They seem to like mud so much that they end up getting covered head to toe in it.

So on Saturday we went to the local forest. I was excited to find a Stick Man. Little man was too.


But along the lines of the book....

A stick cries the boy, a wonderful stick

Just the thing I need to poke things with

He prods and he pokes at things on the ground

And bashes some trees really hard up and down

Before he knows it the arm of the stick

Is no longer there from something he's hit.


Not quite the same charm as Julia Donaldson's story is it?

Anyway, continuing our weekend of embracing the outdoors we headed to Alice Holt on Sunday and did their Stick Man Trail. For £3 you get a map to tick off things you will see on the route. There are a couple of pipe cleaners to help you make your own Stick Man by securing sticks together and a crayon so you can do some tree rubbings.

Spotting things on the way helps to encourage the boys to go on a walk.

We also spotted the Gruffalo's Child and Gruffalo on the way.


At the end of the trail is stick man. I have to say he is much larger than I would have imagined! On the tree next to stick man you are encouraged to leave your stick man on the family tree. Was I allowed to do this?

No.



So did our Stick man find his stick lady love and stick children three?

No.

He is in a pile by the front door with many other sticks that are required from every walk we take.

Again, I prefer Julia's ending!

My boys' eyes nearly popped out when they saw the size of the Mega Marshmallows. Actually mine did too. These white marshmallows are massive and great for some creativity in the kitchen.


Grab an edible pen and they can be transformed into Stromtroppers for a Star Wars party. Dip in melted chocolate and add sprinkes and a lolly stick for a fun treat for the kids. And melt them into s'mores. There are so many things you can do with them.

Little man was more than happy to help me make some chocoloate coated mega marshmallow pops.


I really wanted to try them melted so I decided to make combine some of my favoutite flavours. Lemon curd and marshmallow. Think of a cheat's lemon meringue. So simple and so tasty!



I started by cutting rings of pastry and placing them in a muffin dish to cook.

Once cooled I added a scoop of lemon curd to each pastry case.


Finally I chopped each mega marshmallow in half and placed on top of the tart. I then used a cooks blow torch to toast the top.


Each marshmallow contains 84kcal and 0% fat. If you love marshmallows as much as I do, you will know that there are marshmallows with a sweet outside and ones with a flourly outside. These are sweet ones. Personally I prefer the floury taste, but when you melt them you can't tell.

You can purchase Mega Mashmallows from Tesco, Sainsbury's, Ocado. B&M, Family Bargains, Poundworld and Farm Foods, They retail at £3.00 for a 700g pack. They are pretty fun and the boys loved them and there is no way I would be able to eat a packet to myself!

I am excited to offer one of my lucky readers the chance to win a bundle of 3 packs of Mega Marshmallows, so that they can get creative themselves. Just complete the Gleam entry below. Good Luck!


Mega Marshmallowa



UK competitions at ThePrizeFinder - See more at: http://www.theprizefinder.com/content/mega-marshmallows-bundle#sthash.8uKnk7eQ.dpuf

Last weekend we were invited to Rush UK to see the new Trampoline Park that opened late last year. For those of you that know High Wycombe it isn't too far from the out of town John Lewis and Next. There is ample free parking and it is best to pre book as there are limited numbers of jumpers on each session.

An open jump session lasts 1hr and costs £10. In addition to this you need a pair of jump socks at a cost of £2. These can be reused in subsequent visits to the park. We booked the 3pm slot on Sunday and knew it was going to be pretty busy. We checked in and paid for our socks and then went up to the cafe. I have to say that I really liked this. Big man is already getting to the old end of soft play and a trampoline park is the next step. Having somewhere that I can sit and have a coffee whilst still being able to see the boys, really appeals to me.



We then went and watched a safety video. If you have been to a trampoline park before you will know the drill. No double bouncing, two feet to jump etc. However, the video is a good reminder to all.You are then able to go onto the courts at the correct time slot. You are given a colour band at check in so that this is monitored.

Not all of the park is up and running yet. There are climbing sticks and a ninja challenge (think TV style ninja warrior course) that are due to open soon. However, there is still plenty to do.

My particular favourite was the battle beam.


There are also foam pits, dodgeball and hoops as well as the many trampolines. If you are over 10 there is another area that can be used. It looked quite scary to me so I was pleased my boys were too little!


As you can see there was lots of fun to be had.



One downside was that there were certain parts reserved purely for parties. Two of the three tumble tracks and the dodgeball courts. If I was having my child's party there I would be pleased with this. If I had just spent £60 for us as a family to go for an hour I would have been annoyed by this. I was a bit annoyed and I had only spent £10. I am pleased to say that the management are looking into addressing this issue.

When the park is busy an hour is just the right amount of time to go bouncing.

We really enjoyed our jump session and I will consider taking our boys back. It isn't our nearest trampoline park, but it does offer some different activities to tempt you driving a little further. We also have some friends who live that way so it may be a good meeting place. I am not sure I could always justify the cost of myself jumping with the boys though.

Apart from the open jump sessions there are lots more activities offered. I was talking to a lady and her 24 year old daughter who had been to a trial exercise class there in the week and had come back to try the rest of it out. So it really is for all ages. You can find more details out by visiting the Rush UK  website.

Little fans of Channel 5's Milkshake! will be pleased to know that their lovable young pup Pip has a DVD out this month. Pip Ahoy! Welcome to Salty Cove is out on DVD and Digital Download on 25th January.

The new DVD brings over two hours of fun. Pip is a young puppy who is best friends with a kitten named Alba. The series is set in Salty Cove and documents their adventures together. Pip Ahoy! features Sir David Jason as the voice of Pip’s caring uncle, Skipper, and singer and reality TV star Stacey Solomon recorded the theme song and is the voice of the pink flamingo, Fuchsia. 

I don't know about you, but when it is cold and wet outside I love to snuggle up with the boys on the sofa and watch a DVD. Paper Planes promises to be the perfect family film and is out on Digital Download now and DVD on 25th January.

The film is about a young Australian boy's love of flight and his challenge to compete in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan. Dylan who is an 11 year old boy, develops a close bond with the junior Japanese champion Kimi. Together, they challenge each other to create a plane that has never been seen before. It is a story about friendship and defying the odds. Paper Planes [DVD] [2015] can be pre-ordered from Amazon.

I also have a copy to giveaway to one of my lucky readers. Just complete the Rafflecopter entry below. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

More competitions at ThePrizeFinder - See more at: http://www.theprizefinder.com/content/paper-planes-dvd#sthash.GkBovNTq.dpuf

This month's Degustabox arrived last week and I had tried most of it in a day! I get really excited about the new products and this month's box was a good one. So what was in this month's box?

Hip Pops: Low in calories but high in taste, these are a winning snack for me. Made from soya and potato, these are something I will be looking out for.

Betavivo: Although on the pricey side, if you need to lower your cholesterol then this may be for you. A crunchy cereal which is tasty once you get used to the crunch.

Nothing But: I love freeze dried fruit and the only thing that was disappointing about these was the small amount of fruit in a rather big packet. It is expensive, but it is one of your five a day and I would consider buying it as an on the go snack.

Fabulous Bakers: I wasn't sure of these mango and pineapple bars at first, but after a couple of bites they are pretty addictive. An unusal tropical flavour which brightened up my winters day.

Barilla: A lovely pasta sauce and wholewheat pasta. I was pleased that my boys didn't even question that they were eating wholewheat pasta.

KoKo: This was in February's box last year and tastes great in Banana and Pecan Milk"free"shakes.

Crabbies Light: I am just not a fan of ginger beer. Never have been and never will.

Red Square Toffee Mini: Perfect for cocktails, I really enjoyed this toffee vodka.

TreeVitalise: Birch water which is packed with micro nutrients. Doesn't really taste of anything so nothing to dislike.

Complete Energy: I don't eat energy bars and would rather my coffee in a cup. I am not a fan of these products and wont be buying them.

Drink Me Chai: I really enjoyed this new skinny chai latte and it made a refreshing change to a strong coffee!

If you would like to try Degustabox you can use the code BLDEG15 to get £6 off your first box!

For this month's recipe I have taken a Hugh Fernley Whittingstall approach of using up what is in the fridge. I have also been trying to get some more vegetables and fibre into the boys and I am pleased to say that this meal worked really well.

When it comes to a good family game, you can't beat charades for some fun and laughter. The problem I find is that when it is your turn to act your mind goes blank. I was therefore excited to review Disney charades as firstly it would tell me what to act out and secondly I hoped that my boys would find it easy enough to play.

I have to say that the game was slightly more complicated than I was expecting. I suppose there are only a limited number of Disney movies, so the game was broken down into a character and an action to guess. You roll two dice and the symbols correspond to a character on the "I am...." cards and an action on the "who..." cards. For example in the picture below, you would be acting out that you are Merida who is waking up.There is a timer to use as well but we chose not to use this.


The only other issue we encountered was that my boys haven't watched enough Disney! I know this is hard to believe as I am a die hard Disney fan. But boys being boys, they have been more into Cars and Wreck it Ralph, than the Disney Princess movies. Big man therefore found some of the cards difficult as he didn't know the charachters. This wasn't a huge problem though as we skipped out the ones he didn't know.

I have no idea what big man was acting out in the picture below, but you can see by the second one that one of us must have guessed correctly!


If you like charades and you like Disney then this is a fun little game to have. A good one to get out at family gatherings to liven things up a bit. You can purchase Disney Charades Cards from Amazon.
I also have a set to giveaway to one of my Disney mad readers. Just complete the Gleam entry below. Good Luck!

Disney Charades