Silent Sunday

Spinach & Feta Filo Tart - Recipe

I recently blogged about the Tesco Cooking With Kids Event and promised that I would give the recipes to the dishes we made that day, so here is the first!

Spinach & Feta Filo Tart

2 Onions, diced
2 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
Knob of Butter
500g of Spinach, washed and roughly chopped
200g of crumbled Feta
Pinch of grated nutmeg
2 eggs beaten
4 large sheets of Filo Pastry
Seasoning

Heat the oven to 200 degrees/ Gas Mark 6

1. Fry off the diced onion till its nice and soft and golden. Add garlic and cook for a couple more minutes. Add spinach and cook till wilted
2. Cool and then tip into a bowl. Mix in the nutmeg, feta, eggs and seasoning
3. Grease a tin/ dish with butter (tin about 20 - 22cm in size) and then start layering the filo pastry in, brushing each layer with melted butter and leaving the excess to hang over the edge of the tin.
4. Once you've finished layering the filo pastry, tip in your filling and then fold the filo pastry in over the filling to cover it.
5. Brush melted butter over the top of the tart and then pop in the oven for 20 - 30 mins (until filo looking crisp and golden on top)
6. Let tart cool slightly and then EAT!!!

Tesco Real Food are encouraging anyone to upload their own recipes to the Real Food site and if you submit a Cooking with Kids recipe it at the moment you are in with a chance to win a cooking weekend at Augill Castle - it looks absolutely divine! I'm sure you've all got a recipe in you that could stand you a chance of winning such a fantastic prize.

Photo When I Feel Like It - Isla

Isla, my fashion conscious toddler

In the past couple of months Isla has become very assertive when it comes to what she wants to wear. I say fashion conscious, but that's not really it as what she decides to wear isn't really Spring/ Summer 2012 or anything, it's just that she knows what she likes and what she doesn't like!

Initially it was all rooted in wearing everything with Peppa Pig on it. I found that she was wearing clothes with cartoon characters on all the time and it drove me a little crazy. Grandparents would buy her Peppa clothing and she loved it! I do love all that kind of thing but I also wanted her to wear other non branded clothing. So, the purchases of Peppa clothing slowed down a bit until I made a trip to Asda with Isla before Christmas. We were taking a look at the clothes when she spotted a pink stripey Peppa Pig dress. Now, I really didn't like it but I got the impression that things were going to be a bit tricky in the supermarket if I didn't get her that dress and when they're priced so cheaply it was no sweat to buy it for her.  Here is the offending item....

This dress has now become her favourite item of clothing and she teams it up with some (non-matching) pink leggings and stripey socks. She LOVES it. The only way we can get away with her not wearing it is to say it's in the wash!
Having said that she likes all things Peppa, she will not wear this particular Peppa top that I bought for her from Tesco.

I really liked it as it wasn't the typical pink, girly style, it's purple and blue and in my eyes a bit more funky. Can I get her to wear it? NO. I even give her a choice now in the mornings and every now and then I get this top out along with another more plain one and she always says "I'll wear that one later" to the Peppa Pig top! When she says she'll do anything later it basically means NEVER.
Then at Christmas time Isla got an outfit bought for her by her great aunt, some jeans and a top. The top was navy blue with a pink pattern on. One morning I got the outfit from the draw and went to put it on her. I got the jeans on but when I went to put the top over her head, she flatly refused to wear it. I tried again a few days later and again she really wouldn't wear it. Luckily I hadn't taken the tags off and I decided that there was no point in forcing her to wear something she didn't like and I took it back to the shop for something else.

To me this all seems a bit early for her to have such opinions on what she wears. A couple of weeks ago she had her first ballet lesson and afterwards I promised her i would get her a net ballet style skirt. I'd already seen one in Next and so we headed there. She proceeded to lead me all round the store pointing out what she liked and refusing a lot of what I was pointing out! We also came away with the headband she is wearing in the pictures above.

I love it and I'm finding her new found girliness and desire for dresses really sweet as up until now I've not really dressed her like that. She's been more like a mini me - wearing jeans and tops and nearly always trainers. I'm looking forward to summer and her wearing all sorts of pretty stuff!

Is your toddler as assertive about what they want to wear? Does it differ between boys and girls? Do you tend to dress your little one like a mini you? I'd love to know your thoughts.

Justin Fletcher - Hands Up - The Album Review

At the end of last year I blogged about Justin Fletcher's new single Hands Up We've been listening to his album in the car ever since and I can tell you that there is rarely a journey that goes by without a request to put it on. Isla's favourite song has to be 'The Hokey Cokey', she knows it word for word!! We actually have to bypass the first song and just go straight to that one because she loves it so much. If I'm ever in the car with Noah without Isla I often think I'll listen to some of my music, however he has other ideas. He's become so used to hearing it that he actually makes really grumpy noises until I put Justin on!! So there you have it, Justin appeals to 2 year old girls and 7 month old boys.

Apart from The Hokey Cokey, the album also lists the title song 'Hands Up' and a few other kids party faves including: Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes (great for a bit of a work out!), Oh I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside, If You're Happy & You Know It. My favourites have to be the 3 songs at the end of the album as they are nice and gentle and usually if we've been in the car listening to it  for that long, they've fallen asleep to Frere Jacques!
I mentioned getting a bit of work out while listening to the album, well celebrity personal trainer, Steven Teasedale has danced the entire album with his 3 year old girl and the news is that this could burn around 350 calories! So if you're having a tough day with the kids, stick this album on, have fun with them and once they're in bed you've definitely earned that small glass of wine and a few kettle chips!

Anyhow, get your copy NOW, available from all good stockists including Sainsbury's & Amazon

The Joys and Perils of Buying stuff Second Hand

I've always been a fan of buying second hand and I'm also regularly finding things around our house that we no longer need to sell on eBay. I've bagged many a bargain on eBay but I've also come a cropper a couple of times.

The good:

My best purchase on eBay was this Dutailer nursing chair. It was listed on eBay with a starting price of £80. Now there's something about a listing that starts high to put people off bidding and that's exactly what happened in this case. I was watching its progress and in the morning after the listing finished I saw it was unsold, so I contacted the seller to find out if she would be prepared to sell the chair for a flat £80 and she said yes. As she was local I was able to collect. It's worth saying that this chair was immaculate and it became a godsend. I initially bought it to help me be more comfortable when breast feeding Isla. It was comfortable but it never ceased to be when I changed feeding method. I spent many a bad night sitting in that chair while Isla was teething or feeling poorly. All her bedtime stories were read to her in it and now the same goes for Noah. This chair really was a great find and I now feel quite sentimental about it as it holds lots of memories. This purchase was a WIN!

Another good purchase was an Ikea table and chairs, £16 for all 3 items. WIN!

I purchased two items last year which on getting them home I had to re-contact the seller about my disappointment. They are now good purchases but they wouldn't have been had I not have braved it and told the seller I didn't think their descriptions were fair. The first was a Little Tikes slide, described as in excellent condition and not faded by the weather. I bought it for £80 and new it would have cost £125. My husband collected it and on getting it home I looked at it and was really disappointed. It wasn't excellent condition and it most definitely was faded and weather worn - it would be a bit weird if it wasn't being an outside toy. So I contacted the seller and told her that realistically to me it was not worth any more than £50. She  apologised, agreed and refunded me £30. WIN.

The other item was a Bumbo, again described as in excellent condition but on closer inspection at home, the foam was cracked. Again I recontacted the seller and got half my money back. A WIN of sorts. I say that because I really don't get the fuss about Bumbo seats. We borrowed one first time round and Isla hardly used it - the same happened this time round after we bought this one with Noah. They really have the shortest shelf life of any baby product we've ever bought.

The bad:

The downside of buying second hand is that sometimes the items aren't in good condition but you end up with them anyway. One of my worst purchases was a Chicco Walker I bought from an ad on Gumtree. It was advertised in good condition and was only £5. I thought I couldn't go wrong. I collected it and when I walked out of the flat I knew I shouldn't have handed over the money but I kept walking. I didn't have the guts to say no. The walker was filthy, the material of the seat was disgusting. I put it in the boot of the car and within about 5 minutes the entire car stank. Needless to say on getting it home it went in a bin bag and was taken to the dump, there was no way it could be revived.

My tip is to always check on eBay or the free ads (Gumtree/ Preloved) before buying something brand new for the kids. Most toys and play equipment for the under 1's gets used for about 3 months max. A friend of mine bought an immaculate stand up activity station for £1 on eBay for her twins. £1! It was £80 new. As it was she handed over a fiver as she was too embarrassed to give a quid, you would though wouldn't you!

However one thing beats buying second hand and that is getting a complete freebie! I was looking out for a playhouse for Isla last summer and my sister told me a friend of hers wanted rid of a Little Tikes one that was in his garden as he was moving house. It was a bit weather worn but it scrubbed up well and Isla has had the best time playing in it and I'm sure she will again this summer. It always pays to mention to people if you're on the look out for something as someone may just point you in the right direction!

Tesco Real Food Cooking With Kids Event

At the weekend Isla and I went to an event for Tesco Real Food at Maggie & Rose (yes, I know, lucky to go there twice in one week!) and we both had such a good time! The theme was 'Cooking with Kids' and we were going to cook two yummy, quick and healthy recipes together.

Isla and I have done some baking together, biscuits and cakes being what we've achieved so far. The only thing that puts me off cooking with her is the amount of mess it makes! So the idea that we were going to someone else's kitchen to make mess really appealed.

Our trip to London went smoothly and we arrived to meet the other bloggers and their kids, everyone was super friendly and once all had arrived we rolled up our sleeves and got stuck in!
First up was Super Spinach Filo Tarts (another post will follow with the two recipes we made on the day and some kids nutritional tips). These were so easy to make (especially when the onion is already fried, the spinach already cooked by someone else - hahaha!) and on tasting them later they were delicious. Isla got to spoon everything into her bowl and mix it up, she also crumbled the feta cheese (immediately wanting her hands cleaned!) and then finally used the brush to put the butter on the filo and wrapped it all up into a parcel and here she is proudly showing it off before it went in the oven....

Next up we made a beetroot and chocolate muffin and this was the tricky one. Not from the point of view that it was hard to make, but that it was difficult to stop Isla from constantly putting the spoon in her mouth or sticking her finger in the mixture knowing it was a chocolate cake we were making. The addition of beetroot to this muffin is such a great idea, chopped up really small (which ours wasn't as it was Isla doing the chopping!) no one would even guess it was in there, so a really good way of getting some five a day in your kids.

While we waited for the food to cook the kids got to make their own chefs hat:

Now I have to be honest and say that Isla didn't eat the Spinach Filo Tart. She's only just starting to venture away from her staple diet of pasta and I'm so proud of her when she tries new foods but this was just a bit too different for her at the moment. She did get stuck into the muffin though. For me, I loved both! Cooking with Isla was really fun and it's made me think that we can do a bit more than just biscuits and cakes. We could also make a few savoury things, homemade pizza is the first thing that springs to mind, we could make faces and really have fun with the toppings.

Tesco Real Food are encouraging anyone to upload their own recipes to the Real Food site and if you submit a Cooking with Kids recipe it at the moment you are in with a chance to win a cooking weekend at Augill Castle - it looks absolutely divine! I'm sure you've all got a recipe in you that could stand you a chance of winning such a fantastic prize.

Thank you to Tesco for inviting us to this event, I love getting to spend time with Isla on her own, a rarer thing now that Noah is on the scene and she really enjoyed the experience. She especially loved the little baking case that she was given at the end of the session:

And here are all the bloggers and kids looking happy after all that cooking!

I was invited to this event in order to help me write this blog post about Tesco Real Food. All opinions are my own.