Jamie Olivers one cup pancakes

I saw Jamie do this on one of his TV programmes with his two daughters.  It looked so easy I thought I'd give it a try.  I love pancakes but here in the UK we usually cook the big flat ones.  They're scrummy too but I fancied a change and these smaller, thicker ones looked the part.  They really were very quick and easy to make and would be excellent to cook with children.  No measuring scales required, just an average sized mug!

So to make these pancakes you need the following things:

• One average sized mug
• 1 mug of milk
• 1 mug of self raising flour
• 1 egg
• A pinch of salt
• A knob of butter

First the batter needs to be made.  Quite simply all you need to do is put your egg, milk, flour and salt into a mixing bowl and whisk together until there are no lumps!

Next, put a pan on a medium heat and melt some butter into it.  Through doing this a few times I've found a non stick pan works the best if you have one but if you don't add some oil to your butter to stop the mix sticking to the pan.  Ladle your mix into the hot butter to create your pancakes.

Your pancakes are ready to turn over when you see little holes appearing on the top of the pancake.  Flip them over to cook the tops for a couple of minutes.

Serve as a stack of however you like topped with whatever you love to eat your pancakes with!  I eat mine with lemon juice and golden syrup.  Martin likes his with maple syrup.  If you want something more refreshing, why not add a handful of blueberries to your batter and top the cooked pancakes with some yoghurt or creme fraiche?

Bon appetit!

Ni

xxx

Jamie Olivers Mini Portuguese Tarts

I saw these portuguese tarts being made on Jamie's 30 Minute Meals as part of a complete meal and thought they looked nice.  I gave them a go and they taste INCREDIBLE!  Not to mention they're sooooooo easy to make.  They're no effort at all and make cute little treats to impress anyone!

You will need:

• Ready rolled puff pastry
• Ground cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 125g Creme Fraiche
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
• 5tbs caster sugar
• 1 orange
• Flour for dusting
• A muffin tin

Pre heat the over to 200C.  To start, dust your work surface lightly with flour and lay out the ready rolled puff pastry.  On the TV show and in the book he then cuts this in half to save the other piece for another day but I didn't do this as there was a lot of custard mix and it was a shame to see it go to waste.  Also, they were so moreish I couldn't resist but make double!  Sprinkle on the ground cinnamon and then roll the pastry up so it looks like a swiss rolland cut into 12 pieces.

Put each piece of pastry into the muffin tin and squash it down and up the sides a bit.  Put this into the oven, top shelf, for 8-10 minutes.

Meanwhile in a bowl mix together the creme fraiche, egg, vanilla, caster sugar and the zest of one orange.  This will make the custard filling (and it smells lush by the way!).

When the pastry is done take the tray out of the oven.  Use a teaspoon to push the pastry back down and up the sides again and make a little well in the middle.  Spoon the custard inside the cases and return to the top shelf of the oven for a further 10 minutes.

When the time is up remove from the oven and eat to your hearts content!

Here's a closeup for further temptation..!

Happy 7 months Scarlett!

Its so hard finding the time to do this recently, specially now I'm back at work, but Scarlett was seven months old on Monday. Already! I can't believe it.

Happy 7 months Scarlett!!!

That's over half a year and some milestone I reckon!

The time has genuinely flew by. I kept photos and a few videos of her taken when we were in hospital when she was first born on my phone. I was looking through them recently and I realised how much she's actually grown. She was so tiny as a newborn. She's come on leaps and bounds though, she's learnt so much and everyday she learns even more. She always has a new thing she's learnt to show me and it makes me smile so much. I'm smiling right now as I type!

So, what has Scarlett learnt in her seven months of life? Well...

She's learnt sleep all night and has done from about 2 months. She's a brilliant sleeper and we're so lucky for that. We put her in her cot in her own room at around 7pm and she gets up at about 8pm. WOW! She wakes up during the night but doesn't cry, she just puts herself back to sleep. We put her to bed while she's awake too, and again she just puts herself to sleep.

She can roll over from her back to her tummy. And she loves being on her tummy! She even sleeps like that sometimes. We can't lie her down anywhere without her wanting to roll over. One thing she needs to fugue out still though is how to roll back over onto her back. I'm sure she'll fathom that out in no time though.

She can giggle and now laughs and smiles at things she likes and finds funny! I know this because me and Bern do this thing where one of us runs away with her while the other chases and she thinks this is hilarious. I love it when she giggles. Her little shoulders shake and everything.

She can say 'dada', 'baba', 'nana', and 'mama'. I don't think she knows what they mean but she speaks all of the time and its so clear too. Scarlett is such a chatty baby. I sit her in her bumbo in the morning to give her breakfast and so she can see me sorting her bottles for the day and empty the dishwasher and things and she just sits there and chats away. Even when she wakes up in the morning or from a nap, she rarely cries, she talks! She talks when I feed her, she talks to Rolo and the cats, she talks to her toys. She talks to everything!

She can stand up. She's pretty good at standing up. Obviously she can't walk and has no balance yet, but as long at we hold her hands or waist she's got a strong pair of legs keeping her upright. In fact the other day I propped her up against the settee and she stood there with her hands on the cushions on her own! Obviously I was close by as it wasn't very long until she started to topple but she still did it for a little while! She likes to stand and jump around in her door bouncer. She loves that thing. She can bounce loads in it and she spins round and laughs at herself. Cutest thing ever!

She can reach out for the things she wants. If I hold a toy out in front of her she will reach to take it from me, where she puts it straight in her mouth haha! If she's lied on her play mat she reaches up for the toys dangling down so she can hold them.

She can sit up on her own now. She's still a bit wobbly and sometimes she ends up doubled over herself trying to grab her feet (another thing she loves to do) but she can sit comfortably upright on the bed or floor for long periods of time. Although I surround her in pillows and would never leave her unattended like that as she does have a tendency to lean back and I don't want any nasty bumps. Those pillows have saved a lot of potential accidents recently!

She's a brilliant eater. She loves mealtimes. It's so funny to watch because when she sees the spoon with food on she opens her mouth wide ready for it! I've yet to encounter a food she doesn't like but this week she will experience some different foods as we're going onto lumper textures now which she's never had before. It's as if she's going off her milk now too. She usually has 3 7oz bottles a day but this week she only really finishes one of them, and that's the one between lunch and dinner. This week though we've both been pretty poorly with a cold (another first, Scarlett's first illness!) and maybe she's lost her appetite a little bit.

So Scarlett's achieved a lot in the last seven months.  She's gained her own unique character and her chubby smiley face makes me smile more and more each day.  I can't wait to see what the next few months show us about out little lady, Until her next milestone, her first birthday!

Our little baby isn't so much of a little baby any more!