Cheats Malt-loaf

Ok, so it's not really a malt-loaf, but it does have the characteristics of one whilst being a super easy recipe and much nicer, in my opinion, to those shop bought lunch box ones you can get (and much healthier!)  I've been experimenting with this recipe for several months now and think I've finally cracked it.  Would love to hear your thoughts if you decide to give it a go!

A post shared by Amy Dickman (@binksuk) on Jun 12, 2017 at 1:13pm PDT

Ingredients
1 cup of brewed Earl Grey tea
3 Wheatabix (or other such cereal - we quite like the Tesco own brand ones!)
1 cup of sultanas
1 tbsp honey (I've left this out before and it's still a nice cake just a bit more tart)
1 cup self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
Peel of one orange finally grated
Splash of orange juice

Method
Place the sultanas, Weatabix (broken up), honey and tea in a bowl and mix

Leave for at least two hours to soak (can leave in the fridge overnight if you like)

Add flour, peel and baking powder to the bowl and mix gently to combine using the orange juice to slacken the mixture.  The consistency is quite stiff.

Place in a buttered cake tin (the mixture won't rise much so it doesn't want to be too large, I use an 8 inch loose bottom one)

Cook for around 45 minutes at gas mark 4 until a skewer comes out clean when prodded into centre.

Nice eaten warm but can be kept in a sealed container for a couple of days (ours never lasts that long!)

Easter

What a week last week was! The second week of our Easter holidays and definitely a mixed bag of events. The weather has, for a change, been pretty warm and settled so we've had lots of opportunity to play in the big blue room. The beginning of the week saw us spending some time down at the allotment.

We've had the plot for nearly six years now and it's really beginning to take shape. I'm ashamed to say not all our hard work though. Having two sproglets has made it pretty impossible for us to give it the time it deserves. Thankfully though dad has been putting a lot of energy into keeping it ticking over and it really looks great for all his effort.

We now have a fantastic fruit cage full of a variety of berries. The boys eyes really glow whenever he sees in in full bloom, he loves all things fruit! There's also an ever growing orchard area with what looks like a promising Apple crop in the making. A perfect area for us to sit and have picnics when we head down there in the summer. Dad is currently in the throws of building a new shed and greenhouse, both of which will hopefully boost our storage and crops over the coming years.

Our main contribution so far this year has been some fledgling sunflowers. Dad wants to grow a load so that he has some seeds for the birds over the winter so we've tasked the boy with farming them. He had great fun planting all the seeds and they grew so fast his attention was definitely kept really easily with them. Now they're planted out we can only hope that they survive the slugs and frosts over the next few weeks! I'm sure I'll keep instagram posted with pics later in the summer :-)

So what's changed?

So, what's changed since I last properly wrote? Lots! We've increased our brood with our wonderful baby girl. The boy is now in his second year of school. We're doing lots of work on the house. My responsibilities have increased and changed at work. And I have a new car! I think though, the biggest change is I've grown up, a lot! Being responsible for two lives has definitely changed me for the better and I'm now much more confident in my abilities and able to get things done. I guess it had to happen some time!

Back up and running

I keep writing these posts and then life gets in the way and I don't keep up my promises, but, really this time, I'm going to try and get this blog back up and running! I do blog a bit these days but it tends to be over on Instagram (really, follow me, you know you want to - http://instagram.com/binksuk) or convoluted posts behind the wall of Facebook. So it really shouldn't be too difficult to keep you up to date too! Armed with a new blogging app on my phone, let's do this!

Our Elf Isn't Watching!

So it's that time of year again. Consumer madness at its height. Kids hyped up on sugar. Frazzled parents. Empty wallets. And creepy creepy elves! You know the kind? Sent by Santa to check on boys and girls to see if they're being good and worthy of presents this year. With their creepy big eyes and vacant faces they slowly but surely take over the house causing mayhem wherever they see fit.

Yeah. We don't do that!

Now don't get me wrong, when I first heard about the elf idea it struck me as quite nice. Fostering the magic of Christmas and Santa, lovely. Thing is, I didn't look into it anymore, I took the idea and ran with it my way. I created my own elf (slight guilt as he sat in the oven baking, even more when his head feel off, yay superglue!) and set about creating our own tradition:

Our elf does come from Santa, well where else would an elf come from? But he's not here to spy, no our elf is here to learn more about our monkey and our Christmas celebrations. He's asked that every day we tell him about what we've been doing, an extension of our "what was happy today" discussion we have anyway. We don't do naughty and nice in this household. Too often what is deemed naughty these days is just a child learning boundaries and the way of the world, I don't think they should ever be threatened for that. Anyway, if the child is "naughty" am I really going to cancel Christmas? Unlikely! And what kind of message does that give?!

Our elf isn't mischievous either. Now I know, where's the fun in that right? As I look around t'internet I'm amazed at some of the elf escapades enacted by parents having a bit of late night fun. Don't get me wrong, it looks brill, but... I don't think it's acceptable for my son to cover the tree in toilet roll, to steal chocolate from the calendar, to create a big mess in the kitchen, so why would I accept it from an elf? We try very much to lead by example in this household and whilst I think there's always room for a bit of fun I don't like the idea of confusing the lines and boundaries, deliberate acts of "naughtyness" just seem too much.

So there you go, my bah humbug take on the elf! In our house Christmas is always about magic, family, friendship, thoughtfulness and care, our elf enhances that :-)

Food

I've been thinking a lot about food recently. A couple of my friends are very health conscious and I guess it's influencing me. Maybe it's a mid-life crisis or maybe it's just now I have a kid but suddenly my health, our health, matters to me. Funnily enough I'm currently at the healthiest I've been in a long long time, my ME is definitely taking a back seat right now and I'm loving it! But I still think I can do better and I think diet and exercise need to take a part in that.

I'm lucky, I've always been one of those people who can eat anything and not put on weight. Indeed my doctor often despaired as I would come in well below what I should be. Not such a problem these days, age/ having a child both seem to have levelled me out to a healthier weight and perhaps this is one of the reasons I'm feeling so much better. This luck though also has its downsides. Because I've never watched what I eat I've never noticed how bad my diet can be. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a TV dinner kind of girl. We generally eat freshly cooked food with fairly wholesome ingredients. My downfall is snacks. Particularly since I've had the sprog, I've craved sweet stuff. Perhaps it's down to feeding him and my body wanting extra calories but I'm getting to a point where I think I need to start cutting down.

I think it's only once you start realising what you're putting in your body that you start to question what's available. It's scared me a bit recently seeing what actually goes into some of my favourite foods! But can we go back to basics when we're so used to what we've grown up on? Time will tell!

Habits

The other week my mum hinted that my lo (now 2 1/2) is now only feeding through habit rather than need. It was enough to make me doubt myself, you know those moments when you wonder if you're irreversibly harming your child whilst making your life super difficult (boy has it been difficult these past few weeks!).

Anyways, I researched, as I tend to do, and came across this http://m.wikihow.com/Stop-Breastfeeding-a-Toddler

It made me sad. Really sad. The pictures alone are enough to send my instinct driven, hormonal heart into a spin :-( The introduction implies that if you've got to toddlerhood and are still feeding you've already probably gone too far. It the goes on to give a step by step guide on how to stop before things get any worse.

Luckily I looked further and came across this http://kellymom.com/parenting/nighttime/comfortnursing/#badhabit which reaffirms everything I personally believe. I love Kellymom but hadn't come across this article before.

It did make me think though. I'm pretty certain of the choices I'm making, I wobble occasionally (which is probably a good thing, it's good to reflect on the things you're doing) but I know that I'm doing what is best for my child. I know not everyone can or wants to go down the same path and that's certainly their choice to make. But is there any wonder so many mums are confused when there is such matter of fact information out there that doesn't explore other options :-(