Painting Pasta, Making Rainbows

Every day my daughter's early years teachers send us some ideas of things we can do as part of her home learning. She's four, nearly five. Today they suggested some pasta painting, something they regularly do at school but not something we've ever done at home before. We're a little limited on pasta at the moment so we had to think ahead about what we wanted to make and plan it out so we didn't waste any. My daughter decided she wanted to use lots of different colours with the aim of making a pasta rainbow. 

I wanted her to be involved in every stage so as part of the planning she wrote down the colours she wanted to use for her rainbow, she decided on seven in total. 

She then carefully counted out three pieces of pasta for each of her chosen colours. 

We are also limited on paint colours so she started off painting with the colours we had and then we discussed how we could make the colours we were missing. 

She enjoyed experimenting mixing the colours together and was quite particular about the shades she wanted so took her time adding more colour and blending.

Once she'd finished painting and let the pasta dry she arranged them on the paper in the order she wanted them. We discussed that rainbows are normally in horizontal ribbon form but as we didn't have enough pasta we had to do it in blocks of colour. Once she was happy with the design I helped her glue the pasta to a thick piece of paper.

Although it was a really simple activity it required lots of different skills. She did some planning and writing, having a guess at how to spell the different colours. As well as counting and adding. She also got to test her ideas about which colours to mix together to get a desired additional colour. Finally she was able to practice delicately painting small items. 

She really enjoyed the activity and with the beautiful weather it was something we were able to do outside.

She even drew a few extras to the finish off the picture.

Spicy Peanut Butter Baked Cauliflower

Another week of lockdown is underway and I've been avoiding supermarket shopping by relying on fruit and vegetable box deliveries to top up what we've got left in the cupboard. As I don't get to choose what comes in our weekly fruit and veg delivery I'm being a lot more adventurous in the kitchen and enjoying trying new things and adapting recipes based on ingredients I already have in the cupboard, fridge and freezer. 

This week we got a cauliflower as part of our delivery and it's probably one of my least favourite vegetables and one I rarely buy. I sought out various ideas on how best to cook this cauliflower and decided spicy was the way to go! I came across plenty of recipes that looked delicious but I didn't have all the ingredients so based on what I had available to me this is what I made.

Ingredients

For the Spicy Peanut Butter Coating:

130g smooth peanut butter

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp honey 

1 tsp vinegar or Chinese rice wine

1 or 2 tsp hot sauce or sriracha, to taste (I used 2 as we like spicy food)

2 TSP ground ginger, could of course use fresh ginger grated or puréed ginger but we only had ground ginger in

3 cloves of garlic

100ml water

1 tsp vegetable oil (or sesame oil)

Generous pinch of salt and black pepper

1 Cauliflower chopped into sliced florets

1 Carrot cut into thin strips or ribbons

½ Red Pepper cut into thin strips

Spring onions to garnish (approx 2)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Blend all the ingredients for the peanut butter coating. Taste and add more seasoning as required.

In a large casserole dish or baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, lay out the chopped florets and cover with the peanut sauce.

Bake for 20 minutes, then add the red pepper and carrot mixing the ingredients gently, at this point I also added another tablespoon of water to help mix and coat all the veggies. Then back in the oven to bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until cauliflower is tender.

Serve on its own, as a side dish or with rice, noodles, salad and grains or in a wrap.

It went down really well and is definitely something I would make again. Next time I make it, I may make some extra of the peanut butter coating so I can water it down ever so slightly to use as a sauce. Would also work with chicken, pork or vegetable kebabs.

Orange Polenta Cake

During this time of lockdown due to the Corona Virus one thing I'm doing more of is baking, cooking and gardening. Tasks that I used to find a chore are now a welcome distraction from our new monotonous routine of homelife. 

With all four of us spending the last four weeks confined to our little house, and trying to juggle working from home whilst also overseeing that our two children (aged 4 and 9) are keeping up with their school work, as well as keeping them entertained and in good spirits during this difficult time, a little cooking escapism has been really appreciated! No one ever wants to help me prepare meals so it's a little time to myself exploring a more creative side! I've even been surprised that some of my culinary creations have been well received, even by two somewhat fussy children! 

One of my most successful and popular bakes so far has been an orange polenta cake. First made due to the small amount of flour I had left in the cupboard, polenta that had been in the cupboard for ages and some sorry looking oranges that needed to be used!

Ingredients

250g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar, I've also used demara when I ran out of caster sugar, have to adapt and experiment at the moment!

4 large eggs

150g polenta

200g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

3 medium oranges or 4 or 5 small tangerines or satsumas (whatever you've got in basically!) and the skin from 1 (steamed and puréed)

Method

Steam the oranges including the skin from one in a pan with a small amount of water for about 10-15 minutes. Drain off most of the water and blend the oranges and skin until a smooth purée. I still have an Avent steam and blender that I used to make baby food when weaning which I kept because it's really useful for this sort of thing. Leave to cool. 

Heat oven to 140C (fan). 

Grease a large cake tin with butter, I used a large round cake tin about 25cm.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. If the butter is straight from the fridge, chop into cubes and give it a blast in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften it up.

Add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Add the orange purée and mix.

Add the dry ingredients flour, polenta and baking powder. Mix well with a spoon or electric hand whisk/mixer.

Transfer the mixture to the tin, spread evenly, then cook for about 45 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. 

Remove from the oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Serve with cream or ice cream, or perfectly moist on its own.

Easter Pom Pom Chicks

Handmade Lace Effect Flower Wedding Invitations

In an earlier blog post I wrote about my dream wedding stationary and there were so many gorgeous invitations that I would love to have had as my invitations. However due to doing a little cost cutting we decided to make our own and I am over the moon with how they turned out. They did take a long time though!

I'm trying to go with a lacey theme for our wedding as I prefer this to any glitz or sparkle so I was looking for invitations that were 'cut out'. I found some lovely laser cut invites but they were pricey so the best alternative I could find were use paper punches from Martha Stewart crafts. Available through some online UK craft websites, ebay and Amazon.

This is our final wedding invitation.

 

We bought some pre-folded gatefold/wardrobe cards from Hobbycraft and used Martha Stewart Deep Edge Punch - Daisy Lace for the top and bottom. We added some hydrangea flowers, another Martha Stewart stamp with some stick on tiny pearls and then tied the 'doors' together with some silvery grey organza ribbon (also bought from hobby craft).

 

Here's a few pictures of what we used and how we made them.

 

 

Pre-Folded Gatefold Card

 

 



Using the paper punch we puched along the top and bottom of the card.

 

 



It took a few attempts to get it all to line up, which we practiced using normal printing or scrap paper to avoid wasting card.

 

 

 

 

 

The card after it was punched.

 

 




 

We added a silver insert stuck down with double sided tape. We then added a smaller white paper square on which our invite wording was printed.

 



Using the hydrangea punch we made some white and silver/grey petals.

 

 

The petals were assembled using double sided tape and finished with a small adhesive pearl.

 

 

We tied the gatefold doors together with some silver/grey organza ribbon. To attach the ribbon we pierced a small hole in the card, pushed the ribbon through and knotted it.

 

See Martha Stewart on Amazon for the range available in the UK.


I'm so pleased we've made something ourselves that is really personal and fits in perfectly with the style of our wedding.

I was planning on trying to make my own wedding cake but after a couple of failed attemps with the decoration side of things I have conceeded and have ordered one. I am still aiming to make a few more things for the wedding which (if successful, lol!) I will post here on my blog :)

Jill. x

Our Easter Cress 'Egg Heads' Video

Jill. x

Mini Easter Egg Hunt

I was planning to do an Easter egg hunt in the garden for my little boy and a couple of his little friends this Easter, but unfortunately his friends were away on holiday this week and I wasn't sure his attention span would be quite up to looking for eggs outside on his own. Instead I did a little mini Easter hunt indoors with eggs hidden in his toys.

While dad was giving him an extra long bath, I placed his toys around the living room and hid 10 little eggs and 2 small chocolate rabbits amongst them. Some inside toys and some underneath them.

When he was nearly dressed after his bath I shouted upstairs that there were some funny noises coming from the living room and once he was dressed he should go and have a look. I told him that I'd been in there earlier and made everything very tidy and put any toys away.

He was so excited. (Or should I say eggs-cited!)

When he opened the door to the living room, he saw his toys spread around the room and a piece of paper in the middle of the room.

A letter from the Easter Bunny!

 

 

This letter was a last minute idea so it's not as good as if I'd have more time to think about and prepare it.

 

He has a brilliant time looking through his toys to find all the eggs, and we kept encouraing him to count them as we went along and also tell us what colour of egg he had found. He was so pleased when he had found them all.

 

Egg in the toy Aeroplane



Egg in the Car Transporter
 

Egg in the Play Kitchen
 

Egg in the Fire Engine

Egg in the Bus

Chocolate Rabbit in the Duplo House

I was a little worried that if I used chocolate eggs he would want to eat them as we went a long but he really wasn't bothered. When they'd all been found he was allowed to have one and the rest will be saved for other days.

 

It seemed to be a great introduction to Easter egg hunting for toddlers! And you can do it whatever the weather.

 

If you wanted to do some thing similar but didn't want to use chocolate you could used plastic eggs and when they've found them all, exchange them for a little toy.

 

Jill. x

 



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Reward Chart

I've decided to try a reward chart for my little boy. It's with the aim of encouraging him with his potty training which, so far, has been less than successful. We add a star to his chart every time he does a wee on the potty or every time he tells us he needs to use the potty. He's been so reluctant to try so I thought this little incentive may just help. He also gets a star for other things like tidying his toys away by himself or without being asked, for good behaviour or for helping mummy and daddy do things like sort the washing or do some dusting. (He loves dusting and sweeping up!)

When he gets 10 stars he gets a little treat, like going to the soft play centre or a new little toy, some stickers or watching a favourite DVD with daddy or mummy. To be honest I'm also goint to use it as an excuse to give him a few little things that I've already bought but haven't wanted to give him for no reason, we've a long wait until birthday and Christmas!

There's nothing really over the top, one is a mixing bowl with a little whisk and spoon and when he gets it we can make some cakes together and another is a plant pot with a grow your own pumpkin! And one I'm really looking forward to giving him is a small pack of Postmas Pat stickers as it's his favourite cartoon at the moment. :)

So far the charts been working well, he gets excited now when he's earned a star but knows that we have to get stars all the way to the end of line before he gets a reward. It's also helped with his counting!


I made the chart myself and kept it really plain so he could personalise it himself.

 

 

 

He got his first star for colouring in his chart himself!

 

 

 

It's got 100 spaces in total so we'll see how far we get!

 Jill. x