Citrus Ice Cubes

I've been wanting to drink more water recently but i just find it so boring and tasteless, give me a diet coke any day! Upon searching the web on how to make water more interesting to drink i came across...fruit ice cubes! I just had to try them so ran out to pick up some citrus fruits, lime and orange this time. I went for citrus just because it seemed the safest bet because you have lemons and stuff in drinks all the time.

I just started out by slicing the fruits then cutting out the individual segments making sure they were small enough to fit in the icecube tray. I then filled my tray with water and popped a segment of fruit in each, then just left it to freeze overnight.

They actually have a lot more taste than I thought they would but it's really refreshing, and a really nice idea for parties or BBQs it even if you just fancy adding a bit of flavour to your water like I did.

A trip to Whitby!

As I've been pretty quite recently i thought, I'd update and tell you all about our trip to Whitby, a lovely little seaside town near Scarborough, We (Aria and I) went with my Dad, Grandma and cousin Rebecca, Simon was working so unfortunately he couldn't make it. Here are some of my favourite photos of the day:

I think we all had such a lovely day, especially Aria she was such a happy little bunny all day ;)

Where have I been?!!

Wow, so it's been over a month! Naughty  Danni!! I just really lacked motivation as I always do when starting a new blog, hopefully I'll be back for good now and I think I'll set myself up with a routine where a post maybe 3-4 times a week? I haven't decided yet, as I also have the makeup blog I share with my cousin, thetwotwentysomethings.blogspot.co.uk where we manage a daily post.

Anyway what the heck has been going on in my life? 

As usual D'Baby...

She can now sit up for real! - 12th July, that morning she could only sit up for maybe 5 seconds but after taking her to a soft play area and sitting her in the ball pool, when we brought her home she was sitting like a pro. I swear she learns things in the snap of a finger it's so strange!

Cut her first peggy - 30th July, could quite well have been before then but it was the day it first stabbed me! 

Learnt to crawl - 7th August, completely out of the blue really, again snap of a finger! Now I definitely can't  leave her for a minute, it's all USB sticks in mouth, making friends with plug sockets, and eating foreign objects off the floor from now on! 

8 months on the 8th of the 8th - how did I only just realise that?! We could have had a celebration at 8.08 too! 

So me, I went back to work on the 11th. Don't know how I feel about it yet. It feels strange to be walking without pushing around a pram! I really miss Aria though, B is having her for the time being. The good thing is i really appreciate her a lot more, not that I didn't before but I just give her so much more attention, I got in from work the other day and she was sleeping, I so wanted to wake her up just so I could cuddle her! 

I've also enrolled at the Open University studying Psychology and Child Development, it starts in October and I am beyond excited about it! I'll keep you updated on how that goes. I feel a mahoosive stationary haul coming on! My second favourite haul to makeup! 

I feel like I have so much to talk about but I'm going to end it here for now as i'll be here all day
so for now buhbye!

Avocado Cupcakes

The other day i woke up and was like, I'm gona make some avocado cupcakes today... I had no idea how it would turn out but figures i would just substitute butter for avocado and hope for the best. Avocado is quite an oily food and doesn't have a really strong taste to it. The other week i mashed avocado and banana together for an experimental face mask. Ok and yes I had to try it, all you could taste was the banana. So for that reason i thought avocado would work perfectly as a healthier option to using butter.

You can check out this post for my easy 'cup' recipe, use the same recipe but it's just a cup of mashed avocado instead of a cup butter (that's about two medium avocados mashed), to incorporate it in to your own recipes just switch the butter for the same amount of avocado!

They pretty much taste just like normal cakes, in fact they're nicer, Simon said they were really nice and he's fussy when it comes to baking... especially mine -_-
They're really light and a much healthier option to using butter!..The cake does come out a little bit on the green side, but i didn't find it of putting at all.

Easy-peasy Sponge Cake

This is probably the easiest, tastiest sponge cake i have ever made. I much prefer measurements in cups, i know it's often seen as the lazy way to measure and isn't as accurate but hey, if you've found something that works stick with it!

So to make about 12 cupcakes you'll need:
1 Cup self raising flour
1 Cup caster sugar
1 Cup butter
2 eggs
1 tbs of vanilla flavouring (optional)

That's the ingredients sorted, how simple is that? And it's so easy to remember!

Here's how to make:
Preheat the oven to 180C
Soften the butter in a bowl and mix in the flour and sugar.
Add the eggs and flavouring and mix until smooth
Pour in to whatever cake/cupcake tin you choose and place in the oven for 10-15 mins until it starts to brown on top.

From here its up to you whether you ice or leave plain.

Hope you enjoyed today's quick and easy recipe, look out for a more experimental/healthier version of the mix in the next couple of posts.

Aria's Food Diary #2

To be honest i was debating even writing this post because we seem to have gone backwards in the weaning department. Aria had been struggling to poop for about two weeks, i felt so sorry for she would literally scream from the pain. On top of that she's started teething again and she's become such a little grump.

So it was advised that i put her back on her formula for a couple of days, which i did and she eventually got better. Now we've started back with solids but a bit slower than last time.

Toast is her favourite thing at the moment, although I'm a little wary about her choking she seems fine and wolfs it down. 

I tried her with avocado as suggested in the Cow&Gate weaning book, as you can tell she really wasn't happy with it.

The last two  pictures are just of the park where she enjoyed a munch on an ice cream cone.

The this one is probably the worst mess she has ever made so far, she's normally quite a tidy eater, if she likes what she's eating, she loves carrots but for some reason it seemed to go everywhere but her mouth, in her eye, up her nose, all over me!

So like i said, there really wasn't much to say in this instalment, but were getting back on track now so hopefully next time there will be more news!

Backwards Worm and Pink Hair

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, i just don't seem to have had a minute to myself at the moment. Simon and Aria are both in bed so now i have a little quite time.
Well what's new? Seen as though this is a mummy blog I'll give you a quick update on Aria, shes still not sitting up, but has started to crawl (worm as i like to call it) backwards. it means i can't just leave her to play on the floor without watching her as shes always getting in to mischief!
Also she's started trying to climb out of her rocker! She rolls on her side and cocks her leg over, but then she gets all nowty and strain faced when i strap her in!

Caught in the Act!

She's started sucking her toes which is super cute, the first time she did it i was changing her nappy and she just started giggling when she managed to pop her big toe in her mouth.

And! DunDunDun!!! i have finally got her drinking water. Hallelujah! She's getting there using her sippy cup but she prefers it just out of a normal 'big person cup' she kinda laps it up like a little cat bless her.

So what else, or errr i dyed my hair pink... please excuse the shameless selfie, i never normally take them... honest! What possessed me, well i kinda promised a review of a pink hair dye I'd recently bought, on my other blog so i couldn't chicken out could i? I also kinda hate it.. alot, well not the pink, the pink is awesome, but it makes the rest of my hair look really orange! I'm thinking of gradually going blonde all over, but a really light white blonde. Sometimes i really question my sanity...

I really need a project, I've got my scrapbook, but i get so bored easily, I'll eventually go back to it, but I think i need to build up my stock a bit first... hmm time to get on Pintrest for inspiration.


Until next timeee!

Banana & Oat Quick Snacks (Two Ingredients!)

I love this snack, its healthy, tasty and only needs two ingredients! Just two!

It's really simple and quick, lovely for breakfast and a much healthier alternative to biscuits or cakes if you're craving something sweet.

Here's what you'll need:

(makes 3-6 depending on the size)

1 cup porridge oats, 

1 medium banana

A blender is optional

1. Set oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4

2. Peel a banana get rid of the stringy bits and mash together with a fork or blend with a blender until smooth.

3. Add the oats a bit at a time until all of the banana is mixed up and you have a thick dough like texture.

4. Use hands or a spoon to separate the mix in to six equal parts, flatten down to circles or whatever shape you want on to a baking tray. They should be about 1cm thick.

5. Place the tray in the oven for about 8-10 mins.

6. Leave to cool for about 5 minutes then lift them from the tray using a knife, they shouldn't stick if the mix was thick enough.

7.Enjoy your healthy snack!

 

Extras

If you wanted to make it a bit more exciting you could add coco powder, chocolate chips, chopped strawberry or raisins ect.

Make baby toys out of old clothes

A couple of nights ago i was browsing pintrest as you do, I got really inspired to make Aria a hand made toy, I took a couple of her old vests and made this, I drew the patten free hand as i wanted it to be as personal and as hand made as possible.

It was really easy to make and considering i stitched everything by hand only took a couple of hours from start to finish. I have no idea what its supposed to be but it started out being a cat but i realised it looks nothing like a cat, so now it's just a bear thingy... Aria seemed to really like it and kept turning it round from front to back, i think because the material is so contrasting.

I also planned on doing arms and legs but I think it looks quite funny the way it is.
I used toy stuffing available from most craft shops and haberdasheries, and i used a 3-6 month vest for the body, it just about fits both front and back but I used two different vests with contrasting pattens/colours so its more interesting to look at.

Here are some pictures of the process and the pattern is available at the bottom of the page. Its my first pattered ever so it's not very neat as i had to figure out how to digitalise it. Has any one got any tips for this as I think I might try and do a couple more?

Get your Free Patten here!

My Birthday Week (In Pictures)

I've had a bit of an up and down week this week, we had some great days out and my family flew over from Cyprus. But then Sunday was the first anniversary since my grandad passed and today my mum had to go to hospital because she wasn't well. So it got a bit tough towards the end but the rest couldn't have been better! Anyway here is my week in pictures :)

Had a nice picnic in the park with B and Aria the weather was so nice and we all had a good giggle!

L-R Went for a few birthday drinks with Simon, B and a few other friends

Went for another picnic with Simon and Aria.

Check out the stylish looking pony, on a walk from ours to Simons mums, he/she was so cute!

Daddy being silly.

We took a trip to the Trafford Centre and got some food at Five Guys, then we took Aria to Build-a-Bear but she just wanted to look at the stuffing!

We made a lovely lunch of cheese and crackers!

Went to see my family!! Aria had cuddles with my mum and brother :)

A sneak preview of something i made for Aria, there will be a post about it soon!

Went for a birthday meal with my friend Dani.

Aria's first milky button

Aria being fed by uncle Taki x

Naughty baby wouldn't take a nap!

At the hospital with Grandad

Simon had fancy dress again at work so he went as a SWAT person.

Aria's Food Diary #1

Up until lately we haven't really had a routine when it comes to feeding,
I'd feed her porridge sometimes mid morning and I might have given her a few spoonfuls of baby food here and there. So as of this week, we're getting in a nice routine, porridge for breakfast, home made purée for lunch and a bottle at night. I'll also be giving her milk in the day just less oz than normal.


I bought a hand blender last week, it's amazing! It's so easy to blend up her food without having to get the big blender out and clean it all out afterwards.
I also have these little pots from tommee tippee they're brilliant they come in sets of 4 with a tray to hold them up in the freezer. I just spoon out her puréed food in to the pot and put it in the freezer. Then when I want to use it just put it in the microwave for about 10 seconds, Bam! Easy As Pie! (or purée in this case)

Up to now I've made her carrot purée and sweet potato purée! She loved both of them, I mixed a little of her milk up with it so it was more familiar. I also gave her a bit of banana purée from an upcoming recipe I'll be posting, but she wasn't keen on it! Infact all of the fruits I've tried her with she pulls her face at!
She's started doing this thing where if she doesn't like something she really purses her lips like a little old lady!

Also this week she's had cucumber slices which is one of her favourite,  an asparagus stick, which took her a while to get used to but seemed to quite like, and a slice pineapple, which my dad gave her, I wasn't too sure because I get lumps on the roof of my mouth with pineapple but Aria was fine, in fact she loved it! She even had a little paddy when Simon took it away from her. Obviously with the unpuréed food she doesn't eat the entire thing, she just likes to taste it. I'm not sure what I'll try next, I think maybe spinach or avocado.

Enjoying a cheeky Milky Bar Button ^_^

She's still not liking water or juice, I got her some baby juice which isn't as tart, hoping she would like that but no still no luck.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get her drinking water? I've tried in her normal milk bottle, a sippy cup, and even a spoon but she just spits it straight out again!

Rainbow Cake Recipe

This really is one of my favourite cakes to make, I'm such a big kid at heart. You can't help but feeling happy when you look at this cake never mind eating it!

The best thing about is it is super easy to make! I've tried a few different recipes and the best one is from Kerry Cooks.

I would love to say the recipe is my own but truthfully I wouldn't have known where to start, i do however have a few tips and tricks I learnt after attempting this cake 3 times already... god I'm such a fatty!

This cake serves 12 and takes 3 hours prep time and 15 mins to cook following Kerry's recipe.
It took me longer to cook as I couldn't fit all the tins in my oven at once, but half the time to prepare as i didn't leave the cake to chill between layers.

So my first tip, is if you don't have time to chill the layers, place skewers in the cake like so, then leave it for half an hour for the icing to set. That way the cake won't slide about.

Secondly, I wasn't too keen on the taste of the cream cheese in the frosting so I used water instead. It still set ok, you just need to add a few extra layers so you can't see the sponge underneath.

I used the Dr Oetker gel food colour available in most supermarkets, I didn't have the time to get the proper brighter ones from Ebay or a cake shop. But I think it turned out more to my liking, as you can see the colours are still vibrant but more pastel, and i actually prefer this.

Check out the recipe here