A family and lifestyle blog by a Mum to identical bilingual twin boys
I think that brownies and blondies are my favourite thing to bake. They are super easy to mix, don’t take too long to bake and are cooled and ready to eat quite quickly too. This is important as I’m not a very patient person so I can’t wait to eat the cake that I’ve made! These Raspberry and White Chocolate blondies are gluten and dairy free and are really easy to make.
Cake is my guilty pleasure, especially ones with chocolate in. Emma Donogue said “If I was made of cake I’d eat myself before somebody else could” which I think could be quite true of myself! I love to feed my sweet tooth and so I love making things like brownies or blondies but I also love loaf cakes like my ginger loaf or a lemon drizzle. I remember my mum making banana bread and me eating it with butter spread on. I tend to try and go for healthy treats these days but that doesn’t mean I don’t have an extra thick slice.
There is some debate now as to whether breakfast is really the most important meal of the day. What is important is what we choose to eat for breakfast. I can’t miss breakfast, I need some food and a drink to get me going in a morning. I’m not really a morning person and breakfast helps me to wake up and get started with the day, without it I wouldn’t have the energy for work, running around after the kids and for all the jobs in the house that always need doing.
Chocolate for breakfast? Yes please! It probably won’t come as a surprise to you that we love our chocolate in this house. My Chocolate and Almond Granola is a staple and my boys, and in particular Ethan makes sure I make a batch every week. As I’m taking part in Veganuary I was looking for some new breakfast recipes and thinking about how I could find some nutritious as well as quick and easy to make breakfasts now we’re back into the routine of school and work when mornings are rushed.
This recipe came about from looking for a new and quick pasta sauce recipe to try during Veganuary and experimenting with different ingredients. The first time I made it, I put toasted pine nuts on to garnish and it tasted great. Blending them in and adding the cream cheese has made this pesto even more delicious. It’s super quick and easy to make. You can have a meal on the table in ten minutes tops, which is so good for when you’re tired and don’t want to stand in the kitchen for hours on an evening.
I want to try to do Veganuary again in the new year. I tried a couple of years ago and only managed 12 days so I really want to challenge myself to complete the whole month this time. When I tried it before I hadn’t long been trying to be gluten and dairy free and I found it really hard to cut out meat and fish too. Over the last two years I have tried a lot more vegan recipes and therefore have more of a variety of foods I know I can eat and will like.
When we’re heading off a long trip with our kids, snacks are an essential item! Unfortunately, convenient snacks for kids are often pretty unhealthy not to mention expensive. Keeping our small kids occupied in the back seat can be challenging at the best of times, without constant cries of “I’m hungry!” resonating around the car (which can drive anyone crazy!).
We found that they are loads of healthy snack ideas out there, but so many of them have the capacity to create a huge mess in the back of our car. If you’re looking at ways to save a money on snacks, keep the car relatively clean and keep your kids as healthy as possible, take a look at our yummy ideas.
Recently I’ve been feeling sluggish, more tired than usual, irritable, struggling to get back into routine after our holiday and lacking in motivation to do the things I love, blogging, dance, swimming, reading. The pain in my knees that was basically non-existent has come creeping back to the point where I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I have been feeling like an old decrepit person who struggles to get up if they sit on the floor.
We love pasta with pesto in this house. It’s our staple, our go-to meal when we want something quick and easy to prepare, my super quick work lunch. The boys love it with tortellini or gnocchi, Matteo loves it with spaghetti. When I started cutting out gluten and dairy about two years ago I worried that I would’t be able to eat pesto anymore and if the dairy free alternatives would be tasteless. Thankfully there are a few that are really nice, of which Sacla is my favourite and on my shopping list every week.
As soon as springtime rolls around and everyone gets happy about the sunshine and warm days, a large group of people also have a daunting feeling creeping up on them: the allergies are coming. Every sniffle becomes a sign that the days of puffy eyes and clogged noses are getting closer, and we are arming ourselves for the season. For some, it will only be a month or so, while for others, it will last from the first days of spring, all the way until fall. But before you start stuffing yourself with medicine, try these simple natural remedies that will help you get through the allergies with fewer symptoms, or none at all.
