Traffic light bolognese

The name might seem a bit odd. But one thing I've learnt from being a mum is that sometimes children need incentive to eat. Be it making a plane or train spoon for a baby or making faces on the plate for a toddler, children will eat food they engage with..if that makes any sense! 

I've named this bolognese Traffic Light Bolognese because of the vegetables in it..they're red, orange and green! Luckily Henry is too small to turn his nose up at veg but I imagine that stage will come soon enough! 

So here's the recipe for my child friendly bolognese. It's low in salt and sugar and also contains the traffic light vegetables..I didn't realise how much veg I would have in the pot until I chopped it up!

You will need..
Mince (or Quorn mince)
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 garlic clove (I don't like a strong garlic taste but you can add as many as you like)
Mixed herbs
Vegetable/beef stock cube
1tsp Marmite
1tbsp tomato puree
1 onion, diced
1 red pepper
1 carrot
1 leek
Pepper to taste
Cold water

Fry the mince until it starts to brown. Add the onion and garlic but stir occasionally to stop the garlic burning.
Add the chopped tomatoes, herbs and stock and stir. Once combined, add the Marmite and tomato puree. Stir into the bolognese.
Chop the veg into bite sized chunks (the smaller the better, they'll cook better). Add it to the pot along with about 200ml water.
Leave to simmer on a low heat until the veg is cooked. Serve with spaghetti/pasta and garlic bread!

I've been trying to get Henry to eat from a preloaded bowl since his first birthday and I though bolognese would be a good test of how well he can do it. He ate half of this with his hands and I spoon fed him the rest of the mince..he only left 4 bits of pasta! I'm very proud of him, he's growing up into a perfect little boy!

Until next time..

Shannon x

Peach and strawberry muffins!

I get so fed up (and I'm sure Henry does too) of buying the same snacks for him. It's always either rice cakes, biscotti or those Ellas Kitchen raspberry and peach rings. None of those things are bad, he loves them! But I feel bad if he doesn't get variety in his lunchbox.
I had some peaches left over this week (Henry had never had them before so I wanted to give him something new) and we had some strawberries too..we all love them! It really annoys me when fruit I buy goes off quickly, it feels like a waste of money. So I went on Mr Google and found this muffins. They're amazing! Quite low in fat and perfect for babies! I made 10 muffins with this mix.

You will need...
3 eggs
100 golden caster sugar
Almond extract
25g ground almonds
25g melted butter
2 small peaches
Handful of strawberries (however many you want)
Apricot jam
Flaked almonds (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Whisk together the eggs, sugar and a few drops of almond extract until they're foamy. Pour in the melted butter and stir.
Add the flour and ground almonds. Fold into the egg mixture gently. When it's combined, add the fruit. Stone the peaches and chop into bite size chunks and do the same with the strawberries. Stir in gently.
Divide the mixture between muffin cases. Dollop a tsp of jam on the top and bake for 20-25 mins until they're golden brown. Be very careful, the jam will be super hot!

You can make these with any fruit you like and if you're allergic to nuts or don't like them, you can always use vanilla extract and not add the ground almonds.
Tag my Instagram page @the_henry_files if you make this and I'll repost.

Happy baking!x

Marmite bread!

My lovely fiancé and his nan are always going on about this marmite bread they used to get from a bakery. They are both crazy about marmite..me, not so much but I can tolerate it if I have to. The bakery doesn't sell this bread any more so I thought I would try and recreate some marmite bread!

I used a regular bread mix because while I do like baking bread from scratch, I didn't have the time last night as I was also baking muffins (see peach and strawberry muffin post) and doing dinner!

When you shape the dough to go in the bread tin, quickly roll it out into a rough rectangle. Doesn't matter on the thickness really, just don't have it too think or thick. Spread some marmite on the dough. This is harder then it sounds and you'll probably end up poking holes in the dough. I didn't use a lot and the taste isn't too strong so vary it on your personal taste. Roll the dough up like a Swiss roll and place in the bread tin. Leave to rise under a damp tea towel until the loaf doubles in size and then bake. I did mine on 220 degrees for 30 mins. Cool and eat!

Obviously if you don't like marmite, you could replace it with other things. Someone on my Instagram suggested Nutella and I'm going to steal that idea! You could also use jams or something like lemon curd? Any thing that takes your fancy!
Tag my Instagram @the_henry_files when you make this and I'll repost your picture!

Happy baking!x

What a busy week it's been!

I'll apologise now for my lack of posts lately..it's been the run up to little man's birthday and with presents to buy, a party to organise and a trip to the zoo to get excited about, I'm afraid my blog has been a little neglected.




But it happened. On Monday 8th June 2015, my little baby turned 1. I can't believe how quickly it's come around. It feels like only yesterday that I held him for the first time. So many things have happened in this last year that I will never forget. All his first, his triumphs..the things we achieved together. I didn't think I wanted children but now I'm a mum, I don't see how anyone can't want children.




Anyway, enough with the sentiment! Let me tell you about our awesome week. Even though it was very emotional (Mr HF cried at his party and I cried on Sunday night), it was an amazing thing to achieve. We've been parents for a whole year..it's astonishing for me, I manage to kill every plant that comes into my home! I've had my lovely other half off this week and I love it! If I could figure out a way where he never had to work again, I would! It's just made this whole week that little bit more special.




On Saturday, we had his party. It wasn't very big but it turned out to be just right. They all made a giant effort with little man's presents and made a huge fuss of him..I couldn't have asked for anything more from any of them. Here's some pictures from the day...

And he got a lot more presents then that, let me tell you! All his old toys have had to be put away just to give his new toys a chance to be played with! He also got money and gift cards which I'm always thankful for..I usually have my eye on things for Henry and I can go out and spoil him in one go with birthday money!



On his actual birthday, we went to London Zoo. It's the third time I've been and a first for Henry. He loved it..he is fascinated with our parent's dogs so he was in his element watching the animals run around. His favourites were the penguins and the meerkats. He had 6 people there (me, Daddy, my mum, my brother and sister and my brother's girlfriend) so there were enough opportunities for him to show off and be a little monkey. The weather wan't great, even though it didn't rain, I'd have liked a bit more sun but other then that, the day was perfect!



Tuesday, me and Henry went to a new baby class..if you have a Hartbeeps near you, check it out! It was a lot of fun, however I think Henry would have suited the next stage. He's at the age now where something has to grab his attention and if it doesn't, he'll crawl off and find something he likes! I love baby groups, it gets me and Henry out of the house and we get to socialise with different people. And someone else has to entertain my child for an hour!

Wednesday was shopping day! Time to spend Henry's birthday money and spoil him with yet more presents! He got 2 tshirts. a pair of jeans, a jumper, a pair pf pyjamas, a book and a bubble machine..saves me spending half an hour blowing bubbles because he's bored!
Thursday was a lovely sunny day so we had a family picnic in the sun! And yesterday and today, we spent time with my mum.


It's been a very busy but very amazing week. I hate that my baby is 1 already but I'm looking forward to the next chapter in his life. He's such an incredible little boy and I'm so lucky to be his mummy. I just wish you could bottle these early years and relive them whenever you're sad that they're going by too fast. Oh well..maybe one day!


Until next time


Shannon x

Shopping and cooking on a budget..

We all know the score. Organic, free range food is super expensive. While I would love to feed Henry fresh, homemade food all the time, it's just not feasible. I have around £35 a week to do our shopping on. That's got to include breakfast things, lunches for all 3 of us, dinners, drinks, bread, milk and any essentials we need. I can do it, it just takes planning and preparation. Hopefully I can pass on some tips to make it easier for you if you're struggling.

I usually go for jarred sauces. They might be high in salt and sugar but realistically, how much is your baby actually going to eat? However, if it's things like chilli con carne or spaghetti bolognese, I do try to make these sauces from scratch. I have a fairly decent spice collection and tinned tomatoes are around 30p. I do recommend stocking up on spices and tinned tomatoes and puree because these always come in handy. And you can add them to the jarred sauces to make them taste a bit nicer.

Go with a list! I make a list while I'm shopping. I write down each meal and what we're going to have with it. That way, I don't veer off course and buy a stupid amount of things that I'll probably never use and will be a waste of money.
I also stick to things I know we all like. Henry can be a bit fussy with his eating, especially when he's teething so as long as I know I've given him something he likes, I hope he'll try it.

Shop online! Every supermarket will put deals or offers on the ends of the aisles so you'll buy rubbish on your way round and spend more then you intended to. You will have to pay for delivery but you'll spend a lot more then if you went into store. Also the good thing about shopping online is that it usually tells you things you usually buy..so if you've forgotten something, it'll remind you.

Don't be afraid to buy frozen ingredients. I always have a bag of frozen diced onions and sliced peppers in mine. It saves waste. Frozen vegetables are good too, I usually buy the Birds Eye steam packs. Frozen are just as good as fresh, especially if they've been frozen straight from picking.

That's all the tips I can think of for now. I hope I've helped you just a little bit. The money we save on shopping is used for nice days out as a family, it's a much nicer way to spend our money!

Who has time for negativity?

We all have them. The people who are intent on putting us down, criticising everything we do and just generally not happy for us. I have one. I won't write too much about them because they don't deserve my writing space. But this person is just intent on trying to make me miserable. Trying to push my buttons so they can have an argument. They even stooped so low as to criticise and challenge my parenting skills, to the point of threatening social services.
I'm not going to lie to you, the first time they did this, I was upset. Not by what they were saying but more that they had the front and audacity to say those things. How dare they? Especially when they've never met Henry nor seen how I parent him. It carried on for a couple of months and with the last interaction, I'd had enough and had to get the police involved because it was turning into harassment.

But once the dust had settled, I stopped and thought about it all. As a busy mother, I don't have time for people like this. I would rather spend my time playing with my son and enjoying his childhood, instead of wasting it on petty arguments with people.
I want mine and my family's life to be filled with positive people, unicorns and glitter! My life is a much happier and calmer place now I've gotten rid of that negativity. I want to set a good example to Henry and any future children I have. I want to teach them not to even entertain negative people or get sucked into their games! (that's another reason I'm considering home schooling but that's a different post altogether!).

If we all get rid of negative people, they can't feed off our misery and hopefully, they'll get bored and give up!

It's ok not to be Supermum!

We'd all love to be Supermum. The ones who have time to cook everything from scratch, play with their child and be super creative. I thought I'd be this kind of mum. When I was pregnant, I had visions of me and my baby baking cookies, painting with potatoes and never ever getting cross with him.
And then he was born and I realised that was a dream. Some mums are lucky enough to be like that. Unfortunately, that just wasn't meant for me. I try to cook everything from scratch but there are some days where I'm that tired, I feel like my eyes are going to fall out. So freezer food is the only choice for dinner. I also hate the mess and washing up made from cooking so some days I'm just too lazy to clean that mess up! So I avoid the cooking in the first place!
I haven't been creative in the slightest! I started making a button H canvas for Henry's room. I started it 5 months ago and it's still sat unfinished. I would love to be more creative but I just can't get into that mindset.
And I do get angry with him. Those times where I repeatedly say no while he pressed buttons on the Sky box. Or when he acts like I'm trying to rip his face off when all I want to do is wipe his snotty nose!

It's ok not to live up to those expectations.  I've had such a difficult time with Henry lately. He's whinging at every little thing. Gone are the days where he could play on his own while I got on with housework. Nowadays, Timmy Time is constantly on the TV while I try to clean/cook/put a wash on. He's also taken to waking up at 6am but he'll go back to sleep when we bring him into our bed. But by that point, I'm awake..and then tired by midday. So my nerves are on edge anyway.
I felt bad that I was getting annoyed at him. I thought he must be in pain or tired. And then I stopped feeling guilty. I still try everything to make him happy again. But I remember that I'm only human. I'm not Supermum.