Mango & Coconut Paneer

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Recently there seems to be cookery going on all around me. Not in real-life™ you understand, that would involve more effort than reheating something from the freezer.

Now I've resisted taking part too much because I am neither a Nigella or a Fanny (steady on), but I'm getting swept along with the tide. With the onset of Autumn and the swiftly arriving Winter, I feel the need for home-cooked goodness.

 Without much further ado, I present to you (fitting into the theme of spices for the Recipe Shed):

Mango & Coconut Paneer

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbspmango chutney
  • paneer – cut into cubes
  • baby carrots
  • broccoli
  • sweet potato
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp each of paprika, chilli powder and coriander
  • coconut milk
  • basmati rice

 1. Prep baby carrots, small florets of broccoli and cubes of sweet potato. Par-boil for 10 minutes.

 2. Mix together 4 tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon each of paprika, chilli powder and coriander. Cube the paneer and marinade for ten-twenty minutes.

 3. Pour the paneer mixture into a hot frying pan and cook on a medium heat until the paneer is brown and crispy on all sides.

 4. Add the par-boiled vegetables and lightly fry. Spoon in 2 tablespoons of mango chutney and simmer on a low heat. Pour in half a can of coconut milk and reduce down.

 5. Meanwhile, open a packet of Tilda Basmati rice (because I am incapable of cooking rice without it turning to sticky stodge!) and cook in the microwave for 2 minutes. The rice will be light, fluffy and actually be separate grains of rice (as opposed to when I cook rice and it ends up in one mass). Why would go to all that effort when this is perfect?

 6. Spoon the rice into a mould, press down and carefully remove. Serve the paneer immediately.

YUM!

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Recipe Shed

I was provided with the Tilda Basmati Rice for the purpose of review, my opinion is honest. I decided to kill two birds with one stone, and Keith didn't mind.

Baker Man, Baker Man

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The Boy and Me (I never tire of that little joke) have made crispie cakes a few times now, but we're yet to make proper cakes with icky stuff that could go all wrong and everything. That was until Sunday when I decided to take the bull by the horn and just do it. Spurred on by the 'I Love Cake' linky over on Mummy Mishaps, with Jenny having thrown the gauntlet down, I went for it.

Therefore, I present you with our simple cupcake recipe. Please bear with us, one of us is a complete novice, and the other can't stand the sight of eggs.

1. 4oz of self-raising flour, butter, caster sugar, 2 eggs and half a bar of white chocolate roughly chopped.

2. Add the butter and sugar and mix together. We used a balloon whisk.

3. Add the eggs and mix together. If it starts to curdle, add a small amount of flour. If you're two, try not to pour a third of the egg mix over the counter top as your mummy will feel sick having to clean it up.

4. Add the remainder of the flour and mix together. Then gently stir in the white chocolate.

5. Set out the cake cases into the baking tray.

6. Spoon the mixture into the cake cases. Get your mummy to help with this because it's very twikky to do!

7. Sit and watch the cakes cooking in the very hot oven for 12 minutes at 180°C.

8. If you get bored, because 12 minutes is a long time, then make the buttercream. Sift 9oz of icing sugar into a bowl and all over the work surface. Add to this some softened butter, the other half a bar of white chocolate which your mummy had melted, and some blue food colouring because you're two and you can. Mix together really well.

9. While the cakes are cooking, do the washing up. Every good cook does this, except that Gordon Ramsey fellow.

10. When the cakes are cool, spread the now green buttercream all over them and place rocket sugarcraft decorations on top. Try not to eat more than half of them because otherwise your mummy will have to open another packet!

The finished product: White chocolate cupcakes!

Not bad for our first attempt!

I'm linking this up to Mummy Mishaps 'I Love Cake' linky. Click on the badge below to go and check out the other entries!

I Love Cake

Review: The Froobles

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There are a fabulous new range of books out by the brilliant children's publishers Top That! called The Froobles. We were sent the titles Apps Apple and the Tooth Fairy and Orlando Orange and the Big Scary Bear to review.

The Froobles are characters based on fruit and vegetables that come to life through the power of children's imaginations. When the children in a playgroup create a scene for them, the characters enter into this magical and ever-changing world to explore it, having new adventures that only they know about.

There are twelve characters and books in the series:

  • Apps Apple and the Tooth Fairy
  • Billy Banana and the Magic Mystery
  • Bobby Blackberry and the Treasure Island
  • Charlie Chilli and the Safari Song
  • Chloe Carrot and the Greedy Witch
  • Cory Cucumber and the Farmyard Muddle
  • Little Jack Potato and the Big Surprise
  • Ozzy Onion and the Noisy Dinosaurs
  • Penny Pineapple and the Chocolate Forest
  • Sienna Strawberry and the Ice Palace Ballet
  • Tessa Tomato and the Rainforest Rainbow

The books are small and fit perfectly into change-bags for instant distraction and story-telling. There is also a sheet of stickers at the back of each book with the main characters and locations from that story, so that little ones can recreate the story. The illustrations are really funky and modern, using hand-drawn pictures alongside photographs and computer imagery.

The text is simple enough for a Foundation Phase child to attempt reading it themselves, and alongside this the font is perfect: is uses the correct type of 'a' and 'g' that are encouraged for use with early readers.

Normally retailing at £2.99, The Froobles books are available at a special reduced price of £2.69 through the publishers Top That!

The Froobles world is wide-reaching and encompasses traditional and modern media. Not only are there the twelve books, but there is also a fabulous website (www.Froobles.com) with games for each character, from dressing Little Jack Potato, skateboarding with Cory Cucumber, to playing nought and crosses with Apps Apple.

In addition to the books and website, in November, there will be a range of interactive Froobles Apps (available from iTunes App Store) featuring the voices of Johnny Vaughan, Denise Van Outen, Edith Bowman and Reggie Yates. I will definitely be downloading these as The Boy is very competent with a touch-screen but not so much on the computer; he'll be able to enjoy these on the iPod Touch.

Orchard Toys: Giant Road Jigsaw

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 The Boy has recently developed a taste for cars. Cars and jigsaws! As long as he can 'brum' a car along then he's a happy chappy. Give him a 24-piece jigsaw as well and he's in seventh heaven!

Now wouldn't it be good if someone combined the two together?

Well, the genuis that is Orchard Toys have! They've created an extra large floor puzzle in the format of a road jigsaw. Now strictly speaking this is not a typical jigsaw: as there are a great deal of combinations that can be created from the 20 chunky pieces which include corners and junctions, as well as straight roads.

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Boxing Clever

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Last night on twitter, I was chatting with some lovely folk about how our children, as all children do, prefer to play with a large cardboard box than the toys that were inside it. We shared a few pictures back and forth through twitpic, and I realised that actually there was a wealth of ideas for the brown cuboids.

However, when it comes to making something from it, the only thing that springs to my mind is a house.

I know that's what I seem to repeatedly make for The Boy, as he is yet to come out with ideas himself other than a boat for Mr. Meerkat. Although possibly even at two, he could be construed as having more imagination that his mother.

Boxes are such a brilliant resource to stimulate imagination, and in this modern time of plastic play it is essential to teach the next generation about reusing and recycling.

But most of all, it's fun!

I'd like you to link up with your posts or pictures of what you and your children have made with cardboard boxes. Have a nose at the other ideas, see what else you can come up with. The linky (thanks to Maggy) is open until the end of October.

No Child Is Born To Die

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When I stepped into the world of blogging nine months ago I could never have known what I was entering. Blogging is a community; parent blogging in Britain is even more so. I quickly discovered favourites and followed their blogs religiously. One of those is the amazing Christine from Thinly Spread. Initially the appeal was the fact that she, like me, is a primary school teacher by trade. I hankered after her Swallows and Amazons lifestyle. Then I realised that she is a strong and determined woman who will not stop until she's made a change.

A real change. Something that will mean that children stop dying before they have had a chance to live.

Several months ago, Chris went out to Mozambique with Save the Children UK to follow the Cold Trail, the route a vaccine takes from storage in the city to administration in a village hundreds of miles away. This trip was to show how essential the basic vaccines that we take for granted, must be given to the children in other countries who so desperately need them. It spearheaded a campaign to get the developing world to fund these vaccines. And it worked!

But now Chris and the voiceless need our help again, and who are we to refuse?

Can you imagine not having access to a healthcare worker? None at all? In Britain we moan that we have to wait for a week for a doctor's appointment, but what if you had to walk for that week to see the doctor? If you had to carry your child, who was so weak from illness, every step of the way? And what if when you got to the nurse or doctor it was too late?

On Tuesday Chris will attend the UN General Assembly in New York. She's going to pressure David Cameron to play his full part in solving the health worker crisis. She's done it before and she can do it again. We can help her.

This e-petition from Save The Children aims to have 60,000 signatures by that time. 42, 080 people have signed up so far. Please sign here.

Michelle from Mummy From The Heart and Gemma from Hello, It's Gemma have a blog-hop to help raise awareness of the need for healthcare workers. "Write your 100 words about a great health professional you have encountered in your life."

Here goes:

Two anaesthetists, two midwives, three nurses, a senior registrar, a consultant and a paediatrician ensured the safe, but traumatic birth of The Boy. His shoulder was stuck in my pubic bone and he couldn’t be delivered of his own volition. Twelve hours later, a paediatrician put him on an IV drip for an infection. At three weeks old, a First-Response paramedic brought him around from unconsciousness. Three doctors and four nurses were waiting for our ambulance attended by the two paramedics. I am alive because of them. My son is alive because of them. No Child is Born to Die.

I tag the following bloggers:

Please either write the 100 words and link up to the blog-hop below. If you do nothing else, please sign the petition!

Gender or Species?

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Mr. TheBoyandMe and The Boy are having a chat.

Mr.TBAM: Is mummy a boy or a girl?

The Boy: Her is a girl.

Mr. TBAM: What about daddy?

The Boy: You is a girl.

Mr. TBAM: No I'm a boy.

The Boy: No, I am a boy! You is a girl!

Mr. TBAM: I'm sure I used to be a boy. What about Nana?

The Boy: Her is a girl.

Mr. TBAM: What about Grandad?

The Boy: I don't know.

Mr. TBAM: Have a guess.

The Boy: He is a camel!

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