Christmas Food!

As Abel & Cole delivered all our yummy food before we were even up this morning (!) I'm knee-deep in food prep for the big day!

Tonight we'll be having a big fish pie before Nana Muddle, Big Muddle and I go to the candlelight carol service. I've always done a 'one-pot' dinner for Christmas Eve and used to do lasagne, but last two years I've done fish pie and it always goes well.

Tomorrow breakfast we'll have sausages, grilled tomatoes and eggy bread, made with ciabatta slices and duck eggs (nom!) to keep us going in the long morning slog!

Then the main event is prawn, pomegranate and grapefruit salad (from this year's Christmas Good Food mag) followed by:

• Turkey with lemon & sage butter (buttered today)
• Pigs in blankets
• Sausage, cranberry & lemon stuffing balls (prepared today)
• Brussel sprouts gratin (I don't like sprouts, but eat loads of this!)
• Honey roast carrots & parsnips
• Mulled red cabbage (cooked today)
• Cranberry & bread sauces
• Gravy made with stock from giblets (made in slow cooker today)

I've bought a ready-made roulade for pud, as I'm not a big pudding fan anyway, I'd rather have at the cheese board! As you can see, the menu contains many components that can be prepped beforehand (red cabbage in particular can be made up to a month in advance and frozen) leaving me free to enjoy plenty of the day with the kids!

Nibbles for the evening if/when we get hungry will be mini pies (from the Co-op's very impressive Christmas range) and these Baked Stilton Mushrooms! 

I'd like to wish all of you a very happy Christmas, and a healthy and prosperous 2013!

The Weekend That Was

Well what an epic weekend! First there was of course Baby Muddle's first birthday! I had decided to keep it relatively low-key and keep the food veeeeery simple, so that I could really enjoy the day too.

She had so much fun opening her presents first thing, and immediately tried to put on the 'Little Sister' top Big Muddle had chosen for her. (Funny how different children are, isn't it? Big Muddle was no way interested in dressing herself at this age...) Then she emptied out the treasure basket we'd bought/made for her and filled it with her cards!

As we'd been up since 5.30am (yawn!) we were pretty ahead of ourselves with the food and party prep, so sat twiddling thumbs until people arrived at 11! We had a lovely lunch of hot dogs with honey mustard onions and potato wedges with cheesy dip.

And, of course, the birthday cake! This was my first time working with fondant icing, so I actually made it on Thursday night for fear I'd have to buy a ready-made fallback from Asda but it was actually a lot easier than I thought and I was pleased with the result.

Baby Muddle was so pleased with her day, especially the Cosy Coupe she got bought (a note of caution though, do not buy one of these if you're of a nervous disposition regarding flatpacks - total nightmare!)

On Sunday, after I escaped to the gym, we took the girls to the park to play on their bikes. It was Baby Muddle's first outing on the trike and I think she really enjoyed herself!

The weather was lovely and bright. I love this time of year, when the leaves turn such vivid reds and yellows, they always look amazing against a blue sky.

Baby Led Weaning

When Big Muddle was little, I stumbled across Baby Led Weaning. The more I heard, the more I liked the idea. So I bought the book. And it looked better and better.

The basic concept is that when you wean your baby, you give them the same food you have, at the same time. So they learn to eat properly, straight away. It really is that simple, and that's the beauty of it.

However, when Big Muddle was weaning I was back at work full time, so I didn't get to be as involved with it as I am with Baby Muddle. So now I'm having so much fun, and so is she!

Yes, its a bit messy, but it makes such good sense and they really learn a good relationship with food. And I just can't imagine going through the hassle of purees and spoon feeding now. Here's a picture of Big Muddle when she was starting out, tucking into the broccoli from some macaroni cheese, gorgeous, hey?