Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Yummies from Mummy- Silver Spoon Review

The fabulous people over at the baking accessories heaven that is Silver Spoon sent me an amazing box of goodies to review.  I tried to lose no time in getting down to the baking, but first Madam insisted on being ill, this was followed by helping some friends move house then the busy times were topped off with a much needed holiday!

Anyhoo, I finally got on with it and here's what I did;

First up I made some chocolate Whoopie Pies.  This was a new one on me, I don't tend to tread outside of my cupcake comfort zone.  But they turned out really rather delicious, especially as I topped them with melted chocolate orange.  I used the Orange flavour Buttons provided, they melted down fantastically in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.  The consistency was smooth, the flavour mouth watering and the colour cheerfully bright.

Next up were the White Chocolate letters;

I loved the way these are packaged, the letters and numbers are on little sheets kept separate from the box by a little cardboard sleeve, so there is no chance of them getting bashed about and ruined.  You simply bend the plastic gently to pop out whatever letters/numbers (even punctuation!) you need and pop them onto your cakes.  They stick best on a layer of icing, as you can see here on my drool worthy Bailey's cupcakes.

A friend of mine ordered some festive cupcakes for her daughter's Hallowe'en party, one choice of design were adorable pumpkin patches.  I coloured the fondant orange and shaped it into little pumpkins, adding a sliver of chocolate button for the stalk.  But to me, they needed something a little extra.  I hunted through the Silver Spoon box and came up trumps with the Bronze Lustre by Mich Turner.

I pierced the pumpkins onto cocktail sticks and painted a thin layer of lustre on them all.  I love it!  You need to give the bottle a good shake to make sure the colour is even, but this stuff gives a great shine, and a little goes a loooong way.

Finally, I got to try out my new toy and make a GIANT DONUT!! Yes, it did get me slightly excited.  I decided to make it a chocolate fest and use the Easy Melt White/Milk Chooclate Flavour Cake Covering.  

You simply pop the sachet into a saucepan of half boiling water and half cold water and leave them for about 7-8minutes, or until totally melted.  I found it best to keep the saucepan on a very low simmer.  Then once it's all melted, carefully remove it from the pan, dry it off, snip the corner and squeeze. 

The messy but delicious end result:

I am already a huge fan of Silver Spoon creations, but these were several things I'd never tried before.  I will certainly be adding them to my shopping list under the heading 'Essentials- keep in store at all times!'

What about your good selves, lovely readers?  Have you tried any of the things I've reviewed?  If yes, did you do something different with them?  I love to hear all about your baking experiences!

Dear So and So

This is my first time joining with this linky, started by 3 Bedroom Bungalow, who has recently been popped onto the number 1 spot with the Tots100 index.  I can't compare with my ranking of 380, but hey!  A girl can dream, right?

The idea of  'Dear So & So' is to write a letter, or several, on your blog expressing what you may not have been able to in a 'real life' situation (I  think...).  Here goes;

Dear Daughter's Sleep Habits,
Why have you decided to desert me this week, when I am at my most stressed with the craft fair this evening and getting everything ready for our holiday all next week?  I appreciate Madam won't always need you, dear afternoon nap, but I need you now!
Please come back, for a few more months at least.
Yours Beggingly, Mrs B (minus lots of hair)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Cupcake Posting Pods
I make gooood sized cupcakes, the kind that go nicely with a large mug of tea/coffee/gin/delete as appropriate.  Please come in bigger sizes to accommodate this and stop me from having another late night breakdown.
Ta muchly
Hello Cupcake

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Shoulder  Muscle,
I was having a good day, why did you have to let yourself go and get pulled, just by the simple act of me opening the gate?...
Ouch.
Mrs B

Silent Sunday

Brighton BabyExpo- Ticket Give-away!

In little over eleven weeks, my Madam will be turning TWO!  It certainly does not seem two years ago that I was counting down the last few weeks until my maternity leave started and I could get on with the joyous task of washing and ironing all those adorable little babygros.  I had visions of comfy cuddles on the sofa with a peacefully snoozing baby, and of Mr B bouncing a red cheeked gurgling beauty on his knee.


What I had not expected was the brick wall we ran into when Madam was only a few days old!  Don't get me wrong, I never knew love like it before I held her in my arms, but at the same time no-one (and I do mean no-one) can truly prepare you for life as a mum or dad.  A lot of parenting stuff may come naturally to many, but alas- not for me!  However, there are many amazing inventions out there designed to help you out, and you can see so very many of them in one spot, I'd like to call it a really rather magical place...

This new life role as ‘parent’ can come with such a steep learning curve, fortunately gaps in the market are swiftly recognised and mums are making that jump from ‘If only someone would invent (insert incredibly cool invention name here)’ to ‘I'm going to invent it!'

Amazing women like the Cuddledry ladies, Cara from SnoozeShade, Lynda Harding of Easidream fame, Helen from My Wondercube (all BabyExpo exhibitors of course) spring to mind, to name a few, and it’s the development of these amazing products and businesses which leads the organisers to bring a very exciting new area to BabyExpo this year. ‘Innovation Alley’ will include companies such as Snugglebundl- 2011 winners of the Barclays Take One Small Step competition, alongside amazing exhibitors such as NLP Kids, Strider Sports, Cot2Tot, Versatile and many more- offering a fantastic range of products and services to ensure you and your little ones are always that one step ahead and turning heads.

If you'd like to see the full list of exhibitors at this years BabyExpo, please check it out here, and if you are looking for some inspiration, don’t miss the flexible working zone at the show – within you will find expert advice, franchise and employment opportunities and tips to help you get that family friendly work/life balance!

Anyhoo, you may be wondering why I'm babbling on about the Expo.... Well, you lucky readers (gosh, I really am just too good to you!) I have 2 pairs of tickets to give-away!! Yes, you read it right- 2 pairs of tickets to the Brigton BabyExpo on the 13th of November this year for FREE!!

All I ask is that you pop along to Facebook and 'like' the main event's page Brighton BabyExpo, which is a fab idea anyway as you can keep up to date with what's happening (this is not compulsory for the competition but I'd really like you to, pleeeease!), and then simply leave a comment below letting me know if you have done, and with some contact details- email, twitter i.d, etc.  The competition will close at midnight on Wednesday the 12th of October, best of luck!

Simples! *funny squeaky noise that meerkat does...*

Silent Sunday

The Orange One

The lovely Nicola at Ella's Kitchen sent Madam one of the latest fruit smoothies, The Orange One.  Yup, bet you can't guess what kind of fruit goes in this one?!

As well as being beautifully 100% organic and icky-stuff free, it is packed full of tropical flavours- including oranges, mangos, guavas, and bananas. The Orange One is amongst 5 flavours in the fruit smoothie range, a group of fantastic little pouches, perfect for little hands and lunch boxes.  Plus each smoothie is a great way of getting one of your little darling/devil's (delete as appropriate) five-a-day into them.  Which Madam didn't argue with!

The Orange One is available exclusively from Sainsbury's stores for a RRP of just 69p per pouch- enjoy!

Silent Sunday

Whoops!

I know, naughty me!  I've been meaning to do my weight loss update since last Tuesday morning, but I've been chickening out- as last week was my first bad one and I gained half a pound.  It's not a lot, and I know what I did wrong through out the week to get that little extra, but it still put me down in the dumps for a bit.  My grumps lasted throughout the week, so when we travelled to Scotland on Friday so Mr B could climb Ben Nevis for charity, I stayed in the hotel room and did very little except eat!  And let me put it this way, I wasn't eating salad...

I blame my new venture Hello Cupcake, my Gloucestershire based cupcake business.  With my latest recipe, chocolate sponge with a chocolate creme Oreo surprise, I was a little shocked I only gained 0.5lb that first week. For the second week, I have no one blame but myself, and I am thoroughly ashamed of myself.  Luckily for me my lovely friend has just joined the same slimming group, so I have some healthy competition and someone more than happy to kick my butt for me, should I be lacking in motivation some weeks.

Oh well, only a short depressed post from me today, I promise to be much more upbeat next time!  I'll leave you with a photo of the stunning view from (almost) the top of Ben Nevis.

Silent Sunday

Another Yummy Mummy Milestone

I did it, I did it!!  I had my weekly weigh in yesterday and despite it being a hideous time of the month for dieting, I lost 2lbs and got my first stone-down award!  That's a total of 1st 1.5lb lost in just 6 weeks, I am simply over the moon!

I've already set my next goal though, I need to have small steps to keep my sights on, for good motivation.  This time, jealousy is helping; my skinny sister-in-law is visiting in just over 2 weeks time, so I'd like to lose another 3-4lbs by then.  After that, I'll have another 3-4lbs to lose to gain my 'Club 10' award, which means I'll have lost 10% of my starting body weight.

I'm very proud of myself, of all the times I've joined and re-joined this slimming club, I've never been able to get my stone award, so to have it and a little more in just 6 weeks is leaving one big grin on my (slimmer!) face.  Ooh, and today was the first time someone noticed I was losing it, that's always a nice boost.

As a post-weigh in treat, we popped to the local chippy, and Madam happily gorged herself on, not only her own chips, but half of Mummy's too!  Ah well, I'll be grateful for that when the weight keeps dropping off.

Silent Sunday

My Baby Loves... (tag!)

I've been tagged by Love in the Nest to do a post on things my Madam loves.  It's fairly straight up, so even I should manage it; I tell you the things that my baby loves, then I tag the bloggers who I'd like hear the same from.  Share the love people!!

My Madam loves:

• Dancing-no matter what the music or time/place, she loves to shake her booty!
• Painting- whether on paper or whatever else is nearby!

• Cakes, particularly cupcakes.  Hmmm, wonder where she's got that obsession from?!

• Her 'Blankies' and Teddy, no nap or bed time can be handled without them!

• Juice- I've never known a girl like it, she can polish off 5-7 bottles of water/weak juice a day.  I wonder if she'll spring a leak one day?.......
• Charlie Bear- actually, I think I love him more than Madam!  She didn't notice when Cbeebies cut his programme, I was devastated, haha!
• And a last one on the Cbeebies note, she loves Mr Tumble, yells for him and everything.  She's even started to copy some signs, makes mamma proud! :)

Right then, if your names on the list, I demand a post from you on this loving subject! (in your own time, of course)

The Crafty Mummy

Wacky Adventures

The Wicked Mama

Yet another update!

Yes, it's Tuesday morning, that can only mean one thing!!! Well, several things is more likely, but the most important I need to do is update you lovely readers on my weight loss journey and struggle to join the elite ranks of the Yummy Mummies! (seriously, is anyone out there reading this?!). :)

Anyhoo, I was dreading this week's weigh in as I had  bad weekend, filled with BBQs and Mother-in-law's wonderful Sunday roast, but I still somehow lost 2lb!  Extremely pleased with that, I also got a shiny sticker for being Slimmer of the Week and another certificate to slap up on the cupboard door.

I just need to lose 0.5lb next week and that'll be my first stone lost, to do that in a mere 6 weeks is pretty good, methinks.  So this week I really have vowed to up my exercise, even if it's just a trip to the local park or ponds for 15 minutes.  

Silent Sunday

Yummy Mummy Update

Yes, it's Tuesday morning, that means I had my weekly weigh in yesterday which in turn means I have to come clean with everyone and let you know how I did.  Well.....

I only lost 1lb.  But, a loss is still weight going in the right direction, plus people have starting noticing my weight loss now, which gives me a very warm, glowy feeling inside. Ooh, ooh- I got Slimmer of the Month too!  That means out of my entire weigh in group (there's around 40 of us) I lost the most weight in the month of July- chuffed!

I had to take Madam with me to group this week, and whilst everyone commented on how cute she is, I couldn't help noticing a few glares as she tore around the room, eventually upending a recipe book stand, whoops!  What can I say, she's 'inquisitive'! ;)

Only 2.5lb to go and I'll have lost my first stone, and I am determined to do it this week!  I was hoping for it last time, but a certain time of the month foiled those plans.

So, off I go for some fruit and exercise (not at the same time though, that could get messy...), see you next Tuesday for another Yummy Mummy Update!

Recipe of the Week:
You all know what a big fan I am of baking cupcakes (check out some of my work here), but cutting down on my sweetie intake has meant finding some low fat recipes.  This is one of my favourites, and makes 16 mini cupcakes.

3 eggs
60g low fat spread (like Flora Light)
6-8 tbsp artifical sweetener
110g self raising flour
2-3 drops of vanilla essence
½ tsp strawberry flavouring

To decorate
8 level tsp icing sugar plus extra for dusting
A couple of drops of food colouring
Fresh strawberries, halved

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Put paper case in a mini muffin tin. Whisk together the eggs, low-fat spread and sweetener. Sieve the flour then fold in the flour with the vanilla essence and the strawberry flavouring.

2. Spoon into the paper cases and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

3. Mix a few drops of water and the food colouring with the icing sugar. Spoon on the cakes. Garnish with halved strawberries and dust with icing sugar

Silent Sunday

10 Things I Love About You

I've been tagged by the lovely Mother On Mother Earth to do a warm, fuzzy feeling post about my wonderful Madam- not a problem!  After such a good nights sleep however, I'm in a brilliant mood, so the problem might be knowing when to stop!

• Her manners- I'm so proud of her because she says 'please' and 'thank you' without fail and without prompting.  Well, it's more 'pweese' and 'fan-koo!' but it works for me.
• Sense of humour- she has a wicked sense of humour, and a cheeky little giggle that is so infectious.
• Curly hair. She has the same hair I did when I was knee high to a grasshopper, it's blonde and curly and I love it!  I let my mum cut her fringe when she needs it, but I dread the day I have to get Goldilocks snipped!

(it's actually about 2" longer now!)

• Her trust- the way she cuddles up close to me if she's scared of something or a little nervous with new people.  And the way she reaches for my hand when trying to climb steep steps, or if we're crossing a road, even if she has her reins on she still wants my hand. :)
• Madam has a fabulous imagination, always making her toys slide down the sofa or supping tea from her little teacups, I hope it only increases as she grows.
• Cuddles!!  Always free flowing and often accompanied by a little wet kiss.
• Her dancing- she actually has a great sense of rhythm for 19months old, and loves showing off her moves at any opportunity to any style of music.

• Her eating habits- not only is she great at feeding herself, if given the choice she will choose fruit over chocolate!!
• She has the most incredible features (yes, I realised I am biased but this is my blog so ner ner...), these include an adorable button nose, the cheekiest grin, plump/squeezable cheeks and looooong eyelashes overshadowing the bluest eyes.
• Her short temper. I know this is an odd thing to love, but it just proves how much she really is like me!

Guest post from The Gingerbread House

Well my lovely readers, I've got a lovely surprise for you.  As part of a Britmums blog swap doodah (official term!), I get to host a post from the lovely Jenny from The Gingerbread House, who you can also find on Twitter at @gingerbread_mum.  Enjoy!

Hi everyone. My name is Jenny and I blog at The Gingerbread House. I love Betty’s blog and am so happy to be appearing! As Betty writes about life with her daughter I thought I would write a post about bringing up a boy.


For as long as I've thought about having a family I've wanted a boy. When I was pregnant and people asked me if I wanted a boy or a girl they seemed surprised when I said a boy. Mums of boys told me I was wrong and should want a girl instead. However, I remember growing up with an older sister who never wanted to play with me or do the things I was interested in (I was a bit of a tomboy!). I also saw my sister bring up her three daughters. All I longed for was a boy!


With my second pregnancy people again ask me if I have a preference, many assume I must want a girl as I already have a boy. I want another boy. I feel I know how to bring up a boy and wonder how I’ll cope if I have a girl. I thought I would put together my top tips for dealing with a boy…


My top tips for dealing with a boy
* buy quality clothes which will stand up to puddles, mud, climbing, etc
* don't ever expect to sit down for a minute
* ensure plenty of entertainment with easy and quick access to a playground or large open spaces
* don’t forget they need extra love and cuddles when ill (just like daddy)
* make sure you always have plenty of food as they eat like a horse
* don't invest in books or toys which you want them to cherish, wait until they’ve got through the destructive phase
* don’t waste your time or money on pointless mother and baby classes (I signed up to a term of appreciating classical music when the only bit he enjoyed was the bubbles)
* routine is important, by 6pm all we can cope with is CBeebies Bedtime Hour and a bottle of milk.


I love my son and would not swap him for a girl! I love everything about him, his cheekiness, his boldness, his constant need to climb, explore and generally push boundaries. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thanks for reading my tongue in cheek look at bringing up a boy. Follow my adventures and see if I'm successful over at The Gingerbread House


Jenny

Askeys Butterscotch Sauce- review and experiments!

The fabulous people at Baking Mad sent lucky Madam a bottle of Askey's NEW Butterscotch flavoured Treat sauce.  This delicious sauce claims to magically transform any dessert into an even tastier treat, feel free to use this sauce how you please- the more creative the better!

First we went the traditional route and Madam had some sauce over a bowl of ice cream.  Not too runny, but also not so thick that is wouldn't come out of the bottle.  It has a lovely smell, not chemical, and the taste is just right, certainly not over powering.  It helps that the sauce is free from artificial colours and flavours, also free from preservatives.

I thought the sweetness of the sauce might be good in coffee, but had to try it out on my mum as I don't drink the stuff myself (I have enough trouble sleeping as it is!).  She had about 2 teaspoons of Butterscotch sauce in a regular sized mug of black coffee, and said it smelt lovely, and also had a nice after taste to it, the sweetness staying in her mouth rather than bitter coffee.  So, that's a thumbs up from mother dearest, she even tried to pinch the bottle of sauce on her way out!

Following on from the positive coffee experiment, I tried a teaspoonful of the sauce in a mug of hot chocolate.  Except I picked up the wrong sachet of chocolate- Butterscotch sauce does not mix well with Mint Chocolate drink, yuck!

I whipped up some pancakes as a weekend breakfast treat (and by 'whipped up', I actually mean 'went to the shop and bought some') and drizzled the sauce over those, Mr B had 4 so they tasted rather good too apparently!  I felt that the sauce gave them a nice sweet hit, but I couldn't eat more than one without feeling like I weighed about 1000lbs for the rest of the day!

On the whole, my family really enjoyed the adding the sauce to our favourites puddings and drinks, and I plan on making sure I have a bottle in the cupboard for special treats. 

I certainly recommend that you pop over to Baking Mad's Facebook page here, a fantastic place where you can swap recipes, share advice, show off your own creations or ask questions.

Yummy Mummy Update

If you happened to clock my recent post starting my weight loss journey, you'll know I owe an update this morning.  Well, I am VERY pleased to announce that I lost another 3lb!!  Tht's 10.5lb in 3 weeks, I've never done that before, so am really rather pleased with myself.

I didn't manage to up my exercise last week though, it's been a bit difficult what with miserable weather that's been hanging around like a bad smell.  I could attempt to go on our dusty Wii tucked away in the corner, but Madam always insists on joining me on the balance board, that makes it a wee bit more tricky...

I'd love to lose 3.5lb this week, as that would get me my first stone lost award, in just 4 weeks- I'd be grinning for days!  But, I realise that's a big number so won't be holding my breath.  I think a slightly more achievable goal would be just 2lb loss, that would drop me down into the next stone bracket, just as nice methinks.

I thought I'd share a recipe with you, I'm currently on the Slimming World plan and these ice lollies are a mere 0.5syn each!  They're handy to have around as Madam loves them and they're a great sweet fix.

6 Raspberry Ripple Lollies:
340g raspberries
375g fat free natural yoghurt
2 tbsp artificial sweetener
Blend the raspberries down until smooth and mix in half of the sweetener.  Mix the rest of the sweetener into the yoghurt.  Alternate spooning the raspberries with the yoghurt into 6 lolly moulds until it's all used up, then freeze for 6-8 hours.  Enjoy!

Silent Sunday

And The Winner Is.....

Chosen randomly by (the clue is in the name!) random.org, the winner is....

kate_strickland

Congratulations to you, and I'm sorry I couldn't give a set to each of you lovely readers who took part.  But keep an eye on my blog, I have more give-aways coming up, are ya feeling lucky?! 

From Slummy to Yummy

I thought if I let you all in on what I've been calling (in my head) 'Operation Yummy Mummy', my public praise/humiliation would be more than enough motivation to stay strong.  Be gentle with me on my off days though!

Before:

Almost a month ago, we returned from a lovely family holiday.  What wasn't lovely about it was sitting on the sidelines whilst Mr B took Madam swimming, all because I'm too embarrassed to be seen in a swimming cossie, in public.  Without a very large towel wrapped around me anyway.  I did swallow my shame long enough to be the proudest mummy in the pool, beside my baby girl as she swam by herself for the first time ever!  But it made me realise, I am FED UP.  Fed up of being ashamed of my body, fed up of not having the energy to run around with Madam, fed up of changing an outfit several times and still not being happy with what I see in the mirror.  So I made up my mind, I would rejoin (yes REjoin, I've attempted this before, several times) a local slimming club and shift the ugly weight once and for all.

So I rejoined, I spent a not totally unpleasant first week on the diet, then I jumped on the official club scales.....6lb off! I admit it, I did my happy dance.  But I thought, don't take this for granted, it won't be like this every week, you still need to work at it.  So I worked for the second week, still not hating it, but starting to get bored of the same meals every day (my imagination doesn't work without chocolate, I'm sure...) and get this: 1.5lb off!  I got a certificate for my first half stone weight loss, and it has been proudly displayed in the kitchen, near the treat cupboard for 'scaring-off' purposes.

Anyhoo, I'm now half way through week three, and hoping for a loss as often as I can.  Even just 1lb at a time, it's all still going in the right direction- OFF!  This week my plan is to up my exercise.  Not easy with Madam around, I can't think she take too kindly to amusing herself on the rowing machine at the gym, but I will try nonetheless.  Watch this space, I weigh in on Monday evenings so if you don't see a progress report on Tuesday mornings, feel free kick my butt into gear, you lovely readers!

Right, I'm off for a salad.