Tommee Tippee Steri-Bottles - Fuss free, mess free travelling!

I have been sent some steri-bottles from Tommee Tippee to try out. The bottles come sterile and ready to use. You unwrap one bottle, fill it with milk and it is ready to use. Then you just dispose of the bottle afterwards. No washing up, no sterilising, no mess and no fuss.

These seemed such a good idea as having our family spread out, I travel regularly with the boys. And with this gorgeous summer sunshine I am doing a lot of park visits and days out.

It was BoyG's Birthday on Sunday and after his party, his Nanny took him home with her and Grandad to have a mini holiday at her house for a couple of days. DaddyG and I took BabyG and went to collect BoyG on Tuesday. We decided to make a day of it so we arrived at lunch time to surprise the boy and have lunch out in the local garden centre. Once back at Nanny's house it was time for BabyG to have his milk, and this gave us the perfect opportunity to test the sterile bottles.

We got two bottles in the box but you can get larger packs. The teats are wrapped seperatly to the containers, and both are wrapped in a way that means the other bottle stays sterile until you need to use it. I was impressed to find the bottles even had the little cap to keep the teats clean once you have used the bottles.

The only thing that would have been better for us would have been a different teat size. The bottles come with 3+ months size teat but BoyG is 11 months old so he had to work for his milk. This wouldn't stop me buying them in the future though as they are handy to have for a spare for those 'just in case' moments.

A prince is born...

So our future prince is here!! And what a cute little boy he is too!!

I can't wait to find out what Kate and William call him. I think Arthur would be a good middle name. Comment below with your ideas!

Pyrex Flexi Twist For Kids - Product Review

Ive been agonising for weeks over what to do for BoyG's Birthday cake for his 4th Birthday, and then I get a parcel through the door from Pyrex with some Flexi Twist For Kids products. Included in the package was a silicone loaf tin with 'Happy Birthday' embossed in it!

So the decision was made! I would be making a banana and choc chip loaf cake using my Nanny's secret recipe!

This was a learning experience for me as I usually do this in a loaf tin with a liner, and I have never decorated one before so I had to think about the best way to do it. I didn't know if icing the top would ruin the lovely message in the cake so I opted for a chocolate cake covering that can be melted and poured over the top. Again this is a first for me as when icing a cake I usually make my own butter cream frosting.

So.... How did I get on....?

The first attempt at the cake was great... So good that someone small got a teeny bit too excited and ate some cake while it was cooling!!

Take 2.....

The second cake also came out good. Its so easy to get the cake out of the mold and the lettering on the top was near perfect.

For the icing, I decided to use a block of chocolate flavour cake covering. I just melted it in the microwave and as I didn't want it too heavy in case it ruined it, I used a pastry brush to carefully brush the melted chocolate on and then sprinkled some sprinkles over the top. The message didn't stand out very well after the chocolate covering so DaddyG used an icing set and outlined the letters with green icing. This worked but in the future when using this mold I would pick a recipe that doesn't need an icing so you can see the message more clearly.

I will definitely use this again, and the packaging does have a recipe printed inside so I will give that a go next time.

Chobani strained yoghurt - Review

Ive just tried a Chobani strained yoghurt in raspberry. Its so creamy I had trouble believing that it is 0% fat!

The taste definitely didn't suffer from it being low fat, and it was the perfect size for a filling snack.

Full of naturally sourced ingredients, thick and really creamy, 0% fat, and if that's not enough, Chobani give 10% of their profits to charities worldwide!!

I was sent this yoghurt from Chobani but you can buy them in supermarkets in the yoghurt aisle.

BoyG has a locally sourced snack....

BoyG needed a little snack today to keep him going and he loves fresh strawberries so I gave him some fresh and locally sourced strawberries to eat.

Fresh as they went from the plant to his mouth in two minutes.

Locally sourced because they grew in our garden.

And best of all they are wild, just like BoyG is if we miss his snack!

Tesco - Not just any strawberries make the grade!

I had a berry good evening (sorry, I had to do that!) last week when I visited Tesco in Hatfield to learn a bit more about some different berries, including strawberries. As well as learning about them, I got to taste them!

When we arrived at Tesco, we were greeted with glasses of fizz, and lovely fresh strawberry and blueberry smoothies.

I learnt a lot, including how the strawberries make it from field to Tesco, how they are sorted in the different groups like value, and Tesco Finest. I also got some inspiration for different things you could try with strawberries. Some sounded very strange to me but I am always willing to try something new...

Some thing interesting I learnt was that Tesco stock 35 different varieties of strawberries, all of which make it to the shelves within 24 hours. No wonder they taste so fresh!

I always thought that the cheaper Tesco Value range was cheaper because it wasn't as nice as the Finest range. I couldn't be more wrong, especially when it comes to strawberries. The strawberries from each supplier are sorted out into the three categories and if they are not up to Tesco's high standards then they are rejected. The Finest strawberries are nice and big, heart shaped, a good red colour and nice and juicy. The normal Tesco ones are still fairly big and good looking but might not be the typical heart shape or might not be as bright or colourful. Then the Tesco Value ones are small and often a bit nobbly or funny looking. We had a taste test and had to taste strawberries and say which group we thought they should be in. This was fun and although it was obvious due to the size and appearance of the small strawberries that they belonged in the Value category I still gave them a go and tasted them. They were full of flavour and were very sweet. It has proved me wrong and I would now consider buying them in the future although my favourite were actually the Tesco range.

We were given a summer berry tart with lemon cream to taste as well as the berries. The recipe can be found on the Tesco real food website. It was delicious! We were also given a lovely goodie bag which contained all the ingredients needed to re create the dish.

When I got home from the event, I used some of the bits from my goodie bag to make a pudding for the boys. BabyG just had some fresh strawberries with his weetabix. BoyG who prefers a punnet of strawberries over a bar of chocolate had something he thought was heavenly. I simply combined fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries with some meringues and double cream. I have included a photo of BoyG's "Oh my goodness this is just soooo good!!!!" face so you can see what I mean.

I tried strawberries with ground black pepper, cinnamon, and balsamic dressing. It was certainly different! If you haven't tried it, why not have a go?

I was also inspired once I got home to try a strawberry salad. Sound strange? I thought so too but I tried it anyway and I have to admit it was a refreshing change to the everyday salad.

I had a wonderful time and I learnt a lot. I hope you have enjoyed reading about it and that maybe you will try something new and possibly out of your comfort zone....

Todays mini moment - Hellmann's Mayonaise - It has to be Hellmann's!

BoyG says it has to be Hellmann's!!

A tasty treat after a long day at nursery, my tired and hungry boy enjoyed chicken on a stick (his words!) with oven chips, cauliflower and sprouts. Veg chosen by BoyG himself!! He has to have a dollop of Hellmann's on his plate though to make his meal complete!