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March 16, 2014

Reward chart is the answer

Daily photo, family, motherhood, parenting Comments Off on Reward chart is the answer

If I knew it was THAT easy I’d have done it ages ago! I read a lot about it, Super nanny uses it (so I should have really tried it before) but somehow I never thought it would have had such a quick, effective and positive impact on my daugher!

REWARD CHART!

For some reason Bee has been kind of a nightmare for the last 3 days so today I finally decided  to put the finishing touches to the purple poster which was put up months ago, actually it’s been on the wall  since my son was only few months old which equaled to Bee starting to misbehave.

To make a pretty reward chart we cut out many pink hearts and a picture of Sofia the First castle (Sofia is her obsession at the moment). Then we created 2 big paper flowers using napkings and we glued pictures of Sofia on them.

More glue and sellotape and the reward chart was ready to be used!

All day long she was so excited to be helpful and being nice. She kept repeating she could not wait for Sofia to reach the castle so every time I was asking her to do something she was just DOING IT!

Oh my.. I could not believe it.. then I thought, well the real test would be bedtime. For the last 3 nights we had huuuuuge dramas not only to switch off the tv after having watch another episode of Sofia obviously, but to brush her teeth, put pjs on, usual stuff that she’s always been fine doing.

So I waited…

6.30 I told her  it’d be better to get ready for bed before watching a bit of tv so she rushed to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, then put pjs on and run back upstairs and she started jumping and pointing at the reward chart “Can I go up, can I go up?”

WOW

7 o’clock we watched a 20 minutes episode of Sofia the First and then when it ended, I asked her to switch the tv off and give us a kiss before going to bed.

She DID IT…She didn’t even try to ask if she could watch a bit more, or go fussy about going to bed… the only thing she asked for was to put her Sofia badge 2 further steps up (one for brushing her teeth and one for going to bed without a tantrum). She was so excited that Sofia was half way to the castle (Once Sofia reaches the castle Bee gets the big Sofia badge while usually I need to bribe her with chocolate or little treats!!).

I’m sitting here and I still cannot believe how the day went incredibly smooth just because of this chart.

MAKE A REWARD CHART ASAP!!!

I don’t know if this is going to last but I can assure you I’m totally enjoying the peaceful atmosphere after a few stormy days.

 

 

March 9, 2014

Banana Caramel cupcakes

Daily photo, family, Food, Parties Comments Off on Banana Caramel cupcakes

I planned to make Banana caramel cupcakes since I pinned this gorgeous recipe on Pinterest a week ago, it turned out I only managed to bake them last night.

And last night I made the caramel sauce too which I wanted to use today to decorate the banana cupcakes… And of course I had to taste it.. then I tasted it again…another teaspoon…just a bit more.. it’s soooo YUMMMYYY!!!! I didn’t even know it was so easy to make!

I actually wish I poured some more on the cupcakes but with the fear to make them too sweet I drizzled just a bit on the top of the Swiss meringue buttercream (which by the way today got me a bit frustrated!). Next time I will be more generous!

As I mentioned in my previous post,  Swiss meringue buttercream is my favourite but this time it took me aaaaaaages to make it! First it was too runny so I put it in the fridge for 10 minutes, then it looked like scrambled eggs (which I know it’s kind of normal but frustrating) so as suggested by the recipe I put 1/3 of the buttercream in the microwave for 10 second and add it again to the rest. Still it did NOT WANT to fluff up like it should!

But because when I want something I can persevere, I kept mixing it and mixing it and eventually it came out beautifully smooth and silky! You need to trust Swiss meringue buttercream, promise it’d never let you down.

I then used a big star tip to pipe my buttercream on the banana cupcakes

And then I drizzled the lovely caramel sauce

To decorate these cupcakes I believe you can use any buttercream, I tend to go for the swiss meringue one because it’s less sweet than a normal buttercream and the texture is amazing.

For this recipe you will need:

  •     225g plain flour
  •     1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  •     2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  •     1/4 tsp salt
  •     110g butter
  •     1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  •     2 bananas (mashed up)
  •     55ml milk, or buttermilk
  •     2 eggs
  •     115g caster sugar
  1. First of all you should remember to take the butter out of the fridge on time as it needs to be at room temperature ( I ALWAYS forget this!) and preheat your oven at 190 degrees (did I tell you I’m getting a new oven next week yeah!).
  2. Then I like to prepare my dry ingredients so I sift them in a large bowl and mix them all together.
  3. I start beating the butter with the sugar until is fluffy and then add one egg at the time along with the vanilla extract.
  4. Then I alternate a bit of buttermilk with a bit of dry ingredients  and the banana mixture until you finish them all.
  5. I fill the cupcake cases 1/2 full and bake them for around 20 minutes or until you see a skewer coming out clean

TIP: until few months ago I didn’t even know what buttermilk was so I read a bit online and it’s actually quite easy to make. Just add a tablespoon of white vinegar (or lemon juice) to a cup of milk (240ml),  let it sit for 10 minutes et voila’.

 

 

To make the caramel sauce you would need:

1/2 cup (113gr) unsalted butter
1/2 cup ( 120ml) heavy cream
1 cup (200gr) light brown sugar
Just combine all ingredients in a pan and let it melt over medium heat. Once it starts to bubble then lower the heat and let it gently boil for 8 minutes until it tickens. Before using it allow the caramel sauce to cool down. DONE! I told you it was easy and it tastes divine!

 

Enjoy!

March 3, 2014

Parma ham, pear and maple syrup to celebrate Pancake day!

Cuisine, Daily photo, family, Food Comments Off on Parma ham, pear and maple syrup to celebrate Pancake day!

How come I remember to cook savoury pancakes only when Pancake day (Shrove Tuesday) comes? I usually make Nutella or jam pancakes, pretty often for breakfast but I never remember that a savoury version of a pancake is a yummy option for a different dinner.

This year I decided to try something unusual and I was looking for a different combination of ingredients. When I saw this Italian style recipe on the Prosciutto di Parma website, I thought it was the one: Parma ham, ricotta, pears and maple syrup combined together in a stack of pancakes! Is it good? It’s SUPER YUMMY!

For this recipe you would need:

150g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 x 250g ricotta cheese
2 ripe pears
12 slices Parma ham
Maple syrup
180ml milk
2 tbsp melted butter

Method

1. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.  In a different bowl whisk your milk, egg and melted butter and combine the mixture to the dry ingredients. Leave to stand for 15 minutes.


2. Heat a small knob of butter or drizzle some frying oil in a non-stick frying pan ( I used a very thin one specific to make omlettes/pancakes/crepes) then drop a tablespoon of the pancake batter.  Cook it until you notice some bubbles on the surface (you can lift it a bit to check if the downside reached a golden colour) and then flip it to the other side.

TIP: to make the pancakes round spread them gently with the back of a table spoon

Leave the pancake over the heat for a further minute or until both sides are golden brown. Repeat until you finish all the batter, you should end up with 12 medium-sized pancakes.


3. Divide the pancakes on 4 plates and layer them with ricotta cheese, sliced pear and Parma ham. Top each one with a slice of Parma ham and drizzle some maple syrup.

To give a crunchy twist to this recipe you can try and cook your parma ham and make it crispy, yum!

If you love Parma ham as much as I do then you can try and make a parma ham, pear, goat’s cheese pancake stack with a cranberry glaze or parma ham, rocket and red onion marmalade pancake. Mhh, I just finished prepraring these pancakes and I’m hungry again!

Hope you enjoyed!

 

February 23, 2014

Mummy’s superpowers

Daily photo, family, motherhood Comments Off on Mummy’s superpowers

Last week  I was at home getting ready for a meeting with my boss about going back to work, so I was trying to make myself look decent after days spent looking like a tramp with my hair all over the place and no make up, yes that bad.

I managed to have a shower and I had my little monkey as a spectator. He was holding on to the edge of the bath amused to see mummy standing there under the water and laughing every now and then when some water reached his face.

When I came out of the shower I wanted to do my hair nicely in order to look presentable so I sat on the bed in front of the mirror and while I was blowdrying my hair my son decided it was feeding time so he leaned on me and he started sucking. I looked myself in the mirror and found it amazing… Us, mums. got superpowers! We can be multitasking every second of day, no matter what we are doing if our children need us we are there and we do it all!

So I started thinking how many times during a day I go through doing multitasking jobs. I  think I have developed superpowers which keep my childrens happy and the house functioning (and the husband content obviously!).So far I’ve got:

  • I can sleep few hours per night for weeks, sorry months! and still the next day I can function normally ie. I get the kids up and ready, go out for shopping, prepare lunch and dinner, doing washinmachines, cleaning the house, the cats, etc
  • I can breastfeed my baby while getting my daughter out of the bath and getting her ready for bed
  • I can wake up in the middle of the night and pop in my baby’s crib to breastfeed him and back to my bed up to 7 times without loosing it
  • I can change a dirty nappy without making any fuss (the same for cleaning sick, dribble, etc). My husband usually pulls his jumper up to cover his nose and STILL complains about the smell.
  • I can get both kids ready to go out in less than 15 minutes
  • I can be at the grocery checkout keeping my mojo while little one screams trying to stand up on the trolley seat and my daughter runs to the next toy machine available calling me out loud to get money to make it work
  • I can hear even the tiniest sound my baby produces so that I am ready to jump and go to check on him
  • I can go out for lunch, feed both my children, myself, clean their mess and have a normal conversation with my friends
  • I can do ANYTHING with one hand. My speciality (probably because I do this daily!) is getting the children out of the car carrying a 10 kg baby, my handbag, 4 grocery shopping bags while looking for house keys, lock the car and check my letter box
  • I can bath both kids, wash their hair, dry them and getting them ready for bed while making sure dinner is not burning
  • I can cook lunch and dinner for 10 days for 6 people while getting few hours sleep per night, having the flu and still being nice to my mother in law (this must be my best one!)
  • I can spot the tiniest piece of toy/food/thing on the floor and remove it before baby puts it in his mouth
  • I can organise a birthday party for 10 children plus parents at home, prepared all food, make a big Rapunzel cake while being 9 months pregnant

Least but not last, especially because it’s the most important and all the other superpowers depend on it,  I’ve got this amazing gift which gave meaning to my life, gave me the biggest joy I could have EVER imagined, the reason to live….

I can make people!

How’s that as a superpower!??!

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