Recipe for a healthy snack

I am always on the look out for different snack ideas that are healthy, quick and easy to just pop in your bag on the way out the door. I recently came across this recipe in my Women's Weekly - The Happy Baby Cookbook. As well as loving the end result, Miss Ej was a great help in the kitchen as chief taste tester. So we thought we would share this recipe with you.

Muesli Squares

Ingredients
125g butter
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup finely chopped dried apples
1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup self-raising flour

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180'c/160'c fan-forced. Grease and line 20cm x 30xm lamington pan.
2. Stir butter, sugar and honey in large saucepan over medium heat, without boiling, until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; stir in remaining ingredients. Press mixture into pan.
3. Bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan; cut into squares to serve.

You can easily change the dried fruit to suit your toddlers taste as we added dried cranberries to the mix. Muesli squares are delicious as is for a quick snack or can be broken into pieces and stirred through some yummy vanilla yoghurt!



The Women's Weekly - Happy Baby Cookbook was given to me as a gift from my mum and it has become a firm favourite in my kitchen! "When you're a first time parent your naturally nervous and unsure about what to feed your precious little bundle of joy. Should you choose breast or bottle? When should you start introducing solid food? When can baby start eating with the family? Is there such a thing as a healthy snack? This delightful book helps answer these questions and is jammed full of recipes for first foods, puddings and lunchboxes, as well as allergy-friendly and party food. There's also a big chapter on family food with useful information on how to cook delicious meals for the whole family"

Programmed for sleep...

Miss EJ has always been a terrible sleeper, even before she was born. Now I know what I am supposed to do as a parent to get her to sleep, as we have read every book you can think of related to sleep, we've tried relaxation cd's, calming sprays for the bedroom, we have been to sleep workshops, we have even tried controlled crying which we did for almost a fortnight, apparently it's not called that anymore it's now called controlled comforting, personally I would call it controlled heartache as it definately wasn't comforting for any of us involved.
There are times when the only way she would sleep, is if she slept in our bed. Everybody said you shouldn't do that, but when that's the only sleep you are getting, trust me, it's a brilliant idea and eventually after a month or two she grew out of it and we moved onto something else.
You see being new parents we were led to believe that our child was obviously faulty and must of missed being programmed for sleep 101. Especially when all you seem to hear is how other peoples babies are perfect sleepers and sleep through the night by the age of 2 months. I can assure you that is not what you want to hear when you are a sleep deprived mother.
You see Miss EJ just needs a cuddle to go to sleep, and well honestly, who doesn't enjoy a cuddle, before they go to sleep at night.
So instead of trying to conform to society and what the text books tell you on how you should put your little one to sleep. We decided to cherish those cuddles and that special quiet time we share each day, before nap time and bed time as I know all to soon my little Miss will grow up and eventually one day she will sleep through the night and won't need me to get her to sleep anymore.
So I suppose in the scheme of things, what's a sleep deprived year or two, when you are getting all those extra cuddles...

Recipe for playdough

Today we decided to make playdough together for the first time. Playdough is fun, easy and excellent for creativity. It can also be very cost effective if you make your own. All you need is a few simple ingredients.

Basic playdough recipe

Ingredients
1 cup salt
2 cups plain flour
2 tablespoons oil
3 teaspoons cream of tartar (secret to longer lasting playdough)
2 cups of boiling water
food colouring as required (I used wiltons icing colour)

Method
Mix ingredients together and enjoy!

Why not try adding something extra to make it a different experience for your little one. I added some edible glitter for some extra sparkle, but you could try some macaroni or rice to make it bumpy, even vanilla or peppermint essence to make it smell yummy.

Do you have any ideas of different things you could add to playdough? We would love for you to share them with us.

Books, Books, Books,

I have always had a love of books! Right from when I first became pregnant I would always stop in book shops and browse the children's section looking for stories I would be able to read to my new baby.

By the time Miss EJ was born I had quite a collection. Each day no matter how busy, we have always found time to sit and read together. It has become one of our favourite times of the day, some days we would only make a few pages, but now it can be 2 or 3 books. It amazes me in such a short period of time how she will now sit and study the pictures and loves pointing at everything and waits in anticipation for you to tell her what it is. Our favourite book at the moment is Old McDonald had a Farm, illustrated by Mandy Foot. The Illustrations are nice and bright and she loves making the animal noises.

I came across an interesting article about reading with children recently. The below 'Tips for storytellers' is an extract from http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/stories_-_cyh.html where you can find the full article.

Reading with Children

Whether they are stories you tell, or stories in books, stories are one of the ways that children learn to enjoy reading. Children can also learn that books are a way to find out lots of useful and important things. Many people look back with pleasure on their favourite stories from childhood.

Tips for storytellers

• Whether you read or tell stories to your children you will be helping them in many ways. It is best if you can do some of both. Some of us don't like telling stories very much, others don't like reading. Do what works best for you and your child.


• You can get picture books that don't have words, so you can make up the story about the pictures for your child.


• Follow your child's lead when you are reading or telling stories so she can be a partner in the reading time - read the bits that she especially likes over and over again, stop when she wants to stop, skip the bits that she wants to skip.


• Be guided by your child as to what she likes but try out a range of books/stories so she can explore. Lists of suitable books for your child's age can often be found at your local council library. School and preschool libraries usually have large selections of books. If you have never been to a library before it could feel strange at first. Try to go on a weekday when the library is not busy and ask the librarian to help you find your way through the children's section. Librarians are pleased to show you what the library has to offer and are trained to know which books children are likely to enjoy.


• Borrow a number of books each time you go. If your child especially likes one and wants it over and over again, this is the one to buy and own.


• Browse through bookshops or garage sales. Often really good books can be bought in paperback and are not very expensive.


• It is enjoying the reading that counts. Starting with cheap books from the supermarket is a good way to help children to have some books to 'own'.


• Take your children to a pantomine or children's theatre where they will see stories acted out - or go just for the fun.


• Give your child books for birthdays, Christmas, name days or just because you want to give your child a special treat. They are great presents.
  

Do you and your little one have a favourite book you enjoy reading together?, I would love to hear about it.