This Weeks Meal Plan

Monday - Breakfast = Rice Pudding/ Lunch = Roast Chicken & Steamed Broccoli/ Dinner = Vegetarian Tagine with Cous Cous/ Snacks = Bread sticks with Avocado Hummus

Tuesday - B = Mango/ L = Squashed banana on Corn Thins/ D = Beef Bolognase with Spaghetti/ S = Cucumber

Wednesday  - B = Cream Cheese on Oatcake/ L = Steamed Carrot / D = Lentil Curry/ S = Corn Thins

Thursday - B =  Apple/ L = Mushrooms & Pasta/ D = Vegetable Stir Fry/ S =Bread Sticks & Cream Cheese

Friday - B = Scrambled Egg/ L = Orange Slices/ D = Steak & Pasta in Creamy Mushroom Sauce/ S = Corn Thins

Saturday -  B = Avocado on Toast/ L = Ham Roll/ D = Thai Curry & Rice/ S = Cucumber

Sunday - B = Rice Pudding/ L = Mashed Banana/ D = Roast Dinner/ S = Bread Sticks

First Aid Course

Have completed the first day of paediatric first aid course.  It went really well.  I am now confident that I know what to do if a baby is choking.  You should try and get them to cough and if they can't lean them forwards and administer a sharp tap inbetween the shoulder blades with the heel of your hand five times.  The trainer went over the importance of never blindly putting your fingers in a babies mouth as you are liable to push a blockage further down the throat and do more harm than good.  It made the message of allowing baby to feed themselves taught in baby led weaning seem even more important and relevant.  I would urge every mother and father to attend a paediatric first aid course - the steps needed to save a baby's life are simple once you know them and it makes me feel more confident as a mother.

Below is a link explaining what I learnt :

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/safety/chokingguide/

It feels good to know I have taken the first steps required for my new career as a childminder.  The day was really interesting and I'm looking forward to the second session next week. 

Ethan had a really good day with his Grandma.  He took a little feed of expressed milk from the bottle in the morning and Mum said he seemed fascinated by it.  He hasn't fed from a bottle since May.  He ate some other bits and pieces I had left (made sure they weren't TOO messy as know what a nightmare that can be to get him clean again!).  Apparently he had a few moments where he was a bit upset but generally he was quite happy.  He seems to have come out of this seperation anxiety phase now so that's good.  I feel better about going back to work two days a week in January knowing he will be fine with Grandma.

Am making a vegetarian tagine tomorrow.  Recipe and picture to follow!
 

Avocado Hummus

This is super healthy (calcium and protein from the chickpeas, healthy fats from avocado and vitamin c from the lime) and super tasty and super easy.  You can put it on a loaded spoon, smear it on some toast or a rice cake or use it for dunking bread sticks in.  Ethan Bear likes his on an oatcake!

Ingredients: 1 can of chickpeas, save 75mls of the water from them when draining, 1 ripe avocado, 1/2 - 1 lime, 1 garlic clove roughly chopped, handful of fresh mint.

Method: Place chickpeas, garlic and avocado in a food processer and blend until smooth.  Cut avocado in half, stone and scrape out the flesh and add to the food processer.  Blend until all mixed together.  Roll lime and then cut in half, squeeze half of the lime into food processer and taste.  Either leave as is or add second half according to taste.  Add mint according to taste as well.  Chill until desired.

Up Town Bear!

Am so proud of little Bear today.  Left to meet my friend Sarah & her baby Pip in town at 10am and didn't get home til 3.30pm and he behaved so well!  Is this the same baby that was crying a month ago if I went out in the pushchair for 15 minutes with him?  Just goes to show, phases come and go with babies and you shouldn't worry too much when they are going through a difficult one! So it was baby led weaning on the move again.  Some breadsticks were munched in Asda cafe and then a long breastfeed before a nap.  Then we went for a mooch around the shops.  Then we had veggie sushi for lunch and Ethan had a little nibble.  Am going to make some soon I swear, it's so lovely! Then  Sarah bought us mummies some lovely shortbread in John Lewis cafe and the babies shared a fruit salad.  Ethan tried slices of apple and orange for the first time and loved them.  I have always been a bit scared to give him hard slices of apple but I don't know what I was worrying about to be honest.  A very successful day.

One thing really annoyed me though...Mothercare recently had a refit and reopened the store with lots of pomp and ceremony.  And what have they changed?  Got rid of the two parent and child toilets!  Had to search everywhere in town to find one I could fit the buggy in whilst bursting for loo.  Thank God for Asda!

Had my first go at expressing some milk today in months.  Last time it was so I could go and watch Hole play at Brixton Academy.  This time it's for Ethan spending the whole day with Grandma whilst me and his daddy go to the pediatric first aid course.  It took a while to get going and then after lots of swopping over and getting fed up I managed one and a half ounces.  Not bad seeing as I had just fed Ethan and they say your milk supply is less at night.  Will try and get more pumped in the morning.  Want to leave plenty so I don't stress.  Am dreading leaving him all day as it is but at least if I can get together lots of milk I know a part of me is with him still nourishing him.

Ethan tucking into courgette torte

He seemed to really dig this.  We did too!

Courgette (Zucchini) Torte

Makes 3 Adult Portions and 2 Baby ones (although if baby keeps dropping it you can just give baby both portions!)

Ingredients: 6 courgettes (525 grams approx), olive oil, 1 small onion, 1 fresh chilli (I used a mild one and left seeds in but you can add more or less and put seeds in according to taste), 4 medium free range eggs, 50 grams self-raising flour, 100g cheddar cheese ( I used mature - again depends on your taste), 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, butter to grease.

Method: Preheat oven to 200'C (350F).  Trim courgette and slice thinly.  Fry with oil in a pan for a few minutes, turning until they are soft and browning.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a bowl.  Slice the onion thinly and add to remaining oil in pan with the chilli.  Saute until onion soft and beginning to brown.  Using slotted spoon add onion and chilli to courgettes.  Beat the eggs in a large bowl.  Add flour and cheese and cayenne mixing in well.  Then add courgette mixture.  Grease a 9" shallow ovenproof dish with butter and bake for 30 minutes until risen, firm to touch and golden.  Allow to cool  but do not refrigerate.  Serve with tomato and cucumber salad or veg of your choice.  

Fast Food

I don't know about you, but I love it when bananas have got a bit brown and are sweeter and mushier.  I have given firmer, less ripe bananas to Ethan and he hasn't seemed that taken, can't say I blame him! So  I was at a loss to know what to do with a very ripe one of them so Ethan could have a go at eating it this morning.  I gave him a bit with the banana skin still on and the flesh slipped out and he was left chewing the skin looking confused.  So I got a corn thin, snapped it in half and squashed some banana in the middle.  This was a big success.  Okay, the banana and corn did not remain a neat little sandwich for long and soon there was banana here and corn thin there, but it meant some did make it into Ethan's mouth!  After that I went to the green grocers and got a punnet of raspberries.  He had a good go at these but the old mushy soft fruit issue happened again and a lot is all over his buggy now.  As soon as we got home from our walk his clothes all went in the washing machine and he seemed much happier in just a nappy anyway...means he can speed around the floor quicker!  If I didn't know better I'd think he was smearing food on his clothes on purpose so he can be natural and free!

Breakfast today was cream cheese on oatcakes and dinner is going to be Courgette Torte which is a mexican dish kind of like quiche but without the pastry.  If it goes well I will post recipe and a photo.