I Could Not Live Without My: Nursing Pillow

Since having my first baby two weeks ago, my life has been made infinitely easier by the addition of a nursing pillow, so much so that I bought a second one. And nursing is only one of the tasks it makes easier. In fact, as I type this post with one hand, baby is lying across the pillow [which is wrapped around my stomach] having his lunch and I only need one hand to support his head - sometimes, depending on my sitting position, I need not use any hands and baby can comfortably feed as the pillow provides ample support.


Other wonderful uses I've found for the pillow are:


1. Sitting on





Comfortable for everyone but especially to relieve pressure from post-labour stitches. This is the reason to own two pillows. It's easily portable to every chair/room in the house.


2. Allowing a young baby to nap safely outside a cot/crib





Any parent with a newborn knows that every nap is to be appreciated and a nursing pillow can be used to ensure baby can nap comfortably and safely. The sides cocoon the baby so it cannot roll over and it can turn a couch in to a baby bed instantly. Also if the baby falls asleep nursing and you don't want to disturb him, you'll find it quite easy to use the time constructively by reading your book/knitting/watching a movie/anything that can be done sitting down as you have two hands free.

3. Propping up baby

I haven't taken a photo to illustrate but for tummy time in the earlier stages. simply turn baby over on his stomach and use the pillow to help him prop up. You can also lie him on his back and support his head in the centre of the crescent for playing and talking to!

So even if you are bottle feeding your baby, don't overlook what a nursing pillow can do for you. They are wonderful creations.

Say No to Convenience Products

In matters of food and home, convenience can be expensive and quite often, unhealthy. A person working long hours can’t be expected to do everything from scratch all the time but here are some easy tips that I hope identify the main convenience culprits.

1. Avoid single serve portions. They are evil. Even if you are only feeding one, you are much better off investing in a good freezer and buying food in bulk, where cheaper. It is a simple habit to get into, and once you get into that mindset, it is hard to go back to paying premium prices for nicely packaged portions for one. Chopped plastic wrapped vegetables are the worst. The mark up for the convenience of having them peeled and chopped is astronomical. On a recent trip to Tesco, the normal celery head was 89c, where a bag of celery stalks, chopped from the base was €1.65. The actual size of the edible portion was about the same.

2. If the reason for buying smaller portions is to control weight, don’t be fooled by marketing ploys. Stay clear of low fat “weight watchers” products that claim to be healthier but are really just a smaller portion of the same food you could buy from any brand. Instead of buying your diet sliced pan, which is just reduced in size so the portion calorie count is smaller, learn how to make a decent brown bread and enjoy a full portion knowing that it is better for you. Better still; rise above the notion that low fat, processed products are a good way to control your weight. The healthiest, fittest people I know are those who eat well, enjoy their meat, carbohydrates, full fat dairy products, a daily treat and so on, but do not eat processed junk which often falsely parades itself as healthy. Belvita breakfast biscuits? Special K? No thanks; I’d rather have a boiled egg and brown bread. You can poach an egg in the microwave in less than a minute so limited time is no excuse.

3. Instead of buying packets of biscuits, bake your own. It is too easy to open a packet of supermarket biscuits and scoff five without even thinking. If you put in the time and effort to bake your own, not only are you getting physical exercise from the actual task of cooking and cleaning, but also you will appreciate them more and will be less quick to eat them so fast. Plus they defrost in no time so you can control your portions by freezing the batch and taking one out daily. It is more rewarding.

4. If you do not have a problem with eating sweet treats, just make a slab of chocolate biscuit cake every week and keep it in the fridge. I make a 6inch x 6inch x 1 inch portion once a week using a 125g bar of Lidl Madagascar chocolate [€1.25], 4 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp golden syrup, handful mixed dried fruit and 75g rich tea biscuits [you can buy a 300g pack for about 35c in Lidl]. It costs less that €2 to make and keeps two of us in chocolate for a week or more. If we were buying a chocolate bar a day for each of us in the local newsagent, we would be spending €2 every day - €14 a week!

5. Make a “rag bag”. Well make two – one for clean and one for dirty. Cut up any old clothes that have gone beyond wearable, store in a cotton bag and when used, put into a material net bag. The whole bag can be thrown into the washing machine with your usual load. You can stop buying paper towels and the by using the bag system, you’ll have a neat and tidy system.

For an ultra neat system, use plastic containers to contain the bags:

Uplifting homemade rags made from clothes!:

And don't get me started on take away teas and coffees..... If you have to have it on the go, buy a flask.

Raspberry and Ricotta Chocolate Cake

This is a simple and moist cake that improves with age. If kept in an airtight container, it retains its sticky texture for five days, easily. I got the recipe here.

Ingredients

• 190g plain flour
• 60g cocoa
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 130ml oil
• 250g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 125g ricotta
• 60ml milk
• 125g raspberries

Method

Pre-heat the oven to Gas 4/180ºC/350ºF



Blend the eggs, sugar, oil, milk and ricotta





In a separate bowl, sift the flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa, then blend it into the wet mix



Mix in the raspberries by hand, reserving a few for the top



Pour into a greased tin [I used a 2lb loaf tin] and decorate on top with some reserved raspberries




Bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer pushed into the cake comes out clean



Allow to cool and enjoy!

Homemade Chocolate Orange Truffles

Ingredients

• 200ml double cream
• 340g dark chocolate finely grated
• Zest from one orange
• One cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp orange flavouring
• Mix of cocoa and cinnamon to taste - for coating

Method

Heat the cream, orange zest and cinnamon stick until the cream begins to boil

Sieve the hot cream over the grated chocolate and whisk the mixture steadily until the mixture is entirely smooth. If the chocolate is not grated finely enough, you may need a double boiler to achieve this.



...



Add the orange flavouring to the chocolate mix. Place a layer of cling film directly on top of the mix so it is not exposed to air.



Leave to harden at room temperature overnight. Do not refrigerate. The result is ganache.



Using a spoon, shape into balls [might have to get messy with your hands here] and allow to harden in the fridge for an hour.  Coat in the cocoa/cinnamon powder mix and enjoy!

Growing Vegetables over the Winter Months

There are endless options for the gardener when planting seeds in Spring. The choice can be so overwhelming that quite often we end up buying more seeds that we can cope with, or physically grow in the space we have. It is easy to go full throttle in March and April, to find that we have a load of vegetables ripe for picking at the same time and then....nothing!

The good news is the growing season does not end with the summer and some plants grow much better in cooler weather. Last year I made a good attempt at growing over winter and these are where my success lay:

1. Salad Leaves

I personally have little success with salad leaves in summer, too much slug activity and a good chance the plant will go to seed. Last October I planted spinach and cos lettuce and kept them under cover in the greenhouse for the winter. They grew to a certain point, maybe two inches in height and stopped.







I paid them little attention, occasional watering and planted them out in March. By May, the crop was strong and abundant and got absolutely NO slug damage. I think this was due to the leaves maturing before the slugs really got active. They must have delicate taste buds! I cut and cut from the spinach and cos plants and they kept producing leaves for months. A truly successful crop.



You may notice the flowering plants in the back ground, which are broad beans. Beans, and the other legumes, have the ability to take Nitrogen from the atmosphere and fix it into the soil. Leafy veg requires high levels of Nitrogen, so they are good companion crops.

Which leads us to:

2. Broad Beans

Most gardening guides will recommend various times for the planting of broad beans. I planted them under cover last October and had so much success that I will do exactly the same this year. The reason autumn planting is recommended, is to avoid the dreaded black bean aphid infestations that early summer brings. I managed to produce a large crop of beans before the aphids came [and made easy work of my plants] and this is how I did it:

I planted the beans in window boxes and kept them in the greenhouse

By May, the tops were ready to be pinched off and steamed [delicious]

And the crop was mature for picking at the end of May

Just as the beans were ready for picking, the plants got totally covered in aphids so I dread to think what would have happened to my crop if I had delayed planting until the spring.

3. Garlic

I planted cloves from a supermarket bulb in October last year and got a small bulb from each clove which were ready for eating around the end of July. This year, I'm thinking of investing in proper seed garlic as, although I was happy with the results from the supermarket cloves, I am hoping that proper growing garlic will produce larger cloves.

4. Spring Cabbage

Cabbage is another crop that can be planted at the end of summer for spring eating.  This is my first year trying cabbage.

Seeding planted on the 10th of August [8 weeks ago]:




And some planted two weeks ago

I'll be planting them in the ground once established.



Spinach and lambs lettuce planted last week are making an appearance already. Note my lovely homemade newspaper pots as outlined here

Other vegetables I am going to sow this week include radishes and pak choi. The weather is still very mild and supposed to stay the same until the end of October so take full advantage.

Rhubarb Scones

These easy scones are so moist from the rhubarb that they can be eaten without adding butter and jam. I've made them with fresh and frozen rhubarb. The fresh definitely works better as frozen rhubarb can be quite soggy once defrosted, but either way still tastes good.

I usually freeze most of the batch and take one out the night before. I find they actually taste better after a spell in the freezer.

Ingredients [makes about 12 medium sized scones]

• 4 stalks rhubarb
• 320g plain white flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 100g butter
• 100 granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 250ml cream

Method

Preheat the oven to Gas 7/425F/220C

Slice rhubarb into small chunks and toss in a bowl with the sugar
Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl
Rub in the butter [I grate it in using a cheese grater and then use my finger tips to mix]
Mix in the rhubarb
Mix the cream and vanilla essence, add to the dough and mix using hands [quite messy] or a fork until you have a nice soft dough
Shape into scones and place on a lined baking tray








Bake for twenty minutes, allow to cool slightly and enjoy!

Autumn Breakfast: Homemade Brown Bread and Strawberry Jam

I can't think of a better breakfast for a lazy wet Autumn morning. I have frozen multiple unbaked batches of this bread. Take a portion out of the freezer the night before and next morning you are less than a hour away from fresh brown bread. It's a great way to get out of the habit of buying white sliced pan for that addictive but destructive toast!

Brown Bread

Ingredients

125g plain flour

1 heaped tsp bread soda

1 level tsp salt

350g whole wheat flour

30g bran

1 level tsp caster sugar

25g butter

150g natural yogurt

1 egg

Buttermilk

Method

Pre-heat the oven to Gas 7/220C/425F

Use a 2lb loaf tin lightly greased

Sieve the plain flour, bread soda and salt into a large mixing bowl.

Add the whole wheat flour, bran and sugar and mix thoroughly with your hands.

Rub in the butter.

Beat the yogurt and egg together and add enough buttermilk to make up to 425ml.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture. Mix quickly with a fork.

Turn out onto a board or surface dusted with flour and knead lightly.

Shape and place into the tin and make three shallow cuts with a knife.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes, until risen and golden brown.

A cooked loaf will sound hollow when the bottom is tapped.

**If freezing, just prepare the bread up to stage of kneading. After this, I usually shape into a ball and put into a plastic sandwich/freezer bag and into the freezer. It can be re-shaped for the tin once defrosted**

Now that's the bread sorted, lets move onto the jam. The recipe I have chosen is from Pam Corbin's The River Cottage Preserves Handbook. It makes 4-5 340g jars.

Strawberry Jam

Ingredients

1kg strawberries with tops removed - larger ones may need to be halved or quartered

500g granulated sugar

450g jam sugar [has added pectin]

150ml lemon juice

Method

*Before you start, put a saucer in the fridge to allow to chill - this will be used to test for jam setting*

Put 200g of the strawberries in a pot with 200g of the granulated sugar

Crush to a pulp with a potato masher/fork

Place the pot on a gentle heat and when warm, add the rest of the strawberries

Gently heat to simmering point, stirring to the bottom of the pan so the fruit doesn't begin to stick

Simmer for five minutes to allow the fruit to soften a little

Add the remaining granulated sugar, and jam sugar and stir gently to prevent the sugar sticking and burning

When the sugar has dissolved, add the lemon juice

Increase the heat and when the mix has reached a full boil, boil rapidly for 8-9 minutes

Test for setting point by putting a little on the chilled saucer and pushing with your finger. If it crinkles, the jam is ready. If not, boil for a little longer, constantly checking for a set.

Remove from the heat and stir to disperse any scum that may have formed on the surface.

Pot into sterilised jars and seal. Use within twelve months.

The perfect couple....