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.

And so it begins...

Hello all!

So a monumental thing happened this week. After months and months of rocking on all fours, Henry finally crawled! There was no warning to it, no signs..he just did it! I think he knew I'd had a particularly bad day that day and wanted to cheer me up ;)

There's no stopping him now. I put him down on the rug and he's off, crawling to the other side of the room to play with his walker (the noisiest thing he owns). I've just watched him pull himself up to grab his stacking rings off his toybox! Looks like this weekend will be spent looking for stair gates and safety equipment!

On another note, his birthday is coming scarily close! We bought his first present last week and his cake smash is almost booked and sorted. We're having a little party for him at my mums house 2 days before, we've decided on a pirate theme. It'll make some really good pictures! (I'll apologise for the birthday spam you'll inevitably get between now and then ;)). And then on his actual birthday, we're taking him to the zoo. I think we're more excited then he is haha!

Until next time
Shannon x

Dear Stranger...

Dear Stranger,
There are so many things I wish I could say to you right now. They range from very polite to me basically ripping your head off. But they all have the same theme..stop staring!

Yes, my child is crying. And yes, I know what's wrong with him and I've also done everything I can to help him. He's teething. Haven't you ever had a toothache, maybe a wisdom tooth cutting or just general pain? Imagine not being able to express how much it hurt. You'd scream wouldn't you? Because that's all you know. Well, that's the same with my son. His 7th tooth is coming through and as he can't talk yet, he's letting me know through crying.

I'm not going to lie, it does my head in too. The crying is bad enough but knowing I can't do anything to take my baby's pain away..that hurts. I'm his mother, I'm supposed to make everything better for him but I've just got to sit back and wait for it to subside or for his medicine to kick in. You've just been listening to it for 10 minutes, I've had it for 3 days! Ask any mother, teething is her arch nemesis!

But the worst thing of all? It's being judged by you. The silent looks that say it all. Staring like I'm not doing anything to stop my baby from making any noise. Please don't stare..or even worse, turn around to stare. I'm doing my best. Hearing my baby sob his little heart out makes me want to cry but you, the stranger I've never met before? You make me want to go home and hide until he's better.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, stop judging. Don't you remember what it's like to have a young baby? And if you've never had children, ask a friend or family member what it's like. Maybe that will give you some enlightenment and stop making good mothers feel inadequate.

InstaWean Team Challenge - Cauliflower dippers!

Hello all!

This week I was given the opportunity to be part of the InstaWean Team. Every week, a group of 9 mummas and one guest account get given an ingredient and they all have to make something yummy with that ingredient. They've done Brussel sprouts and asparagus so far. This week was cauliflower so this was the ingredient I had to use.

I chose to do cauliflower dippers. They sound vile but they were really nice! It surprised me how nice they were and the great thing was, the cauliflower wasn't visible so children (or adults) who don't like cauliflower wouldn't know it was in there. The cheese and herbs overpower it (in a good way!)

Anyway, here's the recipe...

You will need:

1 cauliflower

1 beaten egg

1 tsp mixed herbs

1/2 tsp garlic salt

Handful of grated cheese

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees c or 425 degrees f.

Chop the cauliflower head into chunks, removing the core. Add the chunks to a food processor and blitz until it resembles rice. 

Heat an inch of water in a pan and when it's boiling, add the cauliflower chunks and steam (with a lid on the pan) for about 5 mins. 

Drain and when it's cool enough, put it inside a clean tea towel. Gather up the corners of the tea towel and squeeze all the liquid out you can.

Add the cauliflower to a bowl with all the other ingredients and half the cheese. Mix well. 

Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and spread the mixture into a rectangle. 

Bake for 30 mins or until it's a golden brown. 

Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and bake for another 10 mins until it's melted. 

Cut into strips and serve with your favourite dip! 

I had a lot of fun participating in this challenge and I'll definitely be taking part in future challenges at home!

Until next time

Shannon x 

Babywearing bother!

Hello :)
Babywearing is a fairly new concept to some people. However, if you look back over history, women have worn their babies for a long time..it's how a lot of them get stuff done.
So why did I start wearing Henry? It was so both my and G (my fiancé) could bond with him. I'd had a fairly difficult birth and the section recovery made it difficult for me to look after him so G ended up doing a lot of it. Wearing Henry was how he went about his daily business and it helped Henry fall asleep a lot of the time too. When G had gone back to work, I took over baby duties and wore Henry a lot! We were living with my mum at the time and she lives in a fairly hilly village so pushing a heavy pram up and down hills wasn't good for my recovery! Now we live in a first floor flat so the main reason I wear him is so I don't have to lug a pram up and down a flight of stairs.

The reason I wanted to write this post is because I feel society doesn't accept babywearing. Both me and G get funny looks if we're wearing Henry. I have a wrap now (after having gone through a ring sling, a stretchy wrap and buckles) and every one has drawn attention.
Don't get me wrong, some of the attention is positive. I had a conversation with a woman in Boots on Monday who had her baby in a carrier and she said how nice is was to see someone else carrying. Other people have said they admire my wrapping skills (I'm still learning so it's not always perfect!) but that's still nice to hear.
However, there's always more negative attention then good. When I first got my wrap, I was wearing it around town. A woman clocked me and watched me walk towards her. As I got closer, she shook her head at me and carried on watching me as I walked away. That really dented my confidence, I didn't wear Henry for a couple of weeks after that.

I would love babywearing to be normalised! Unless you babywear, you can't understand how good it feels. I love having Henry close to me. He falls asleep a lot better in the wrap when we're out and he can see a lot more then if he were in a buggy. He gets more social interaction too, cashiers especially talk to him because he's at eye level. And it still helps me bond with him, even after 9 months. (I still use his buggy so I'm not against them in any way!).
If I was just carrying Henry around (apart from getting a sore arm), I wouldn't get any looks, comments or digs. What's the difference?

I asked some of my Instagram followers what their experiences have been and luckily, their responses were all positive :) here's a few;
ladyandieleigh - I wear my henry all the time for quick errands! Love it!

blwfun - I ❤️ baby wearing, but I do it much less now that they're older. I used the Moby at first, but didn't like that when I would tie it out of the house the ends would drag all over parking lots. Then I got a k-tan which I loooooved. Now that my son is 22 lbs it's less comfy, but my daughter still goes in it occasionally (she's 17 lbs). Now I most frequently use the ergo baby. Before we go overseas to live we will get a 2nd one so that when we travel we can each wear a twin.

thelittlemagpies - My 18 month old still loves being carried although I don't do it as often now he is bigger. I either use a mai tai or an osprey rucksack for longer walks. I find it really good for shopping trips when he would otherwise be unhappy being confined in the pram and the rucksack has plenty of space for shopping too. I think he enjoys being up high at grown up level. When I'm carrying him I've always worn a babywearing necklace which I've now started making as a business. Now I carry him on my back I attach one to the carrier for him to fiddle with. He has always slept very well in a sling/carrier and I've never had any bad comments only positive ones.

kimminihands - @the_henry_files Ive just started wearing Benjamin, I wish I'd done it sooner! We didn't get on with the mothercare carrier I bought so didn't bother trying again. (I was pretty clueless to all the different kinds of wraps and slings you could get) I'm waiting for my manduca 3 in 1 carrier to arrive and I can't wait!! It's so much easier to carry him I feel free to go places I couldn't go to with a pram

I'm glad that so many of you are getting positive comments, long may it continue! I encourage everyone to try babywearing, at least once. If it's not for you, that's fine :)
Until next time
Shannon x

Ever feel like a parrot?

Hello all!
The running theme this week has been 'no'. I must spend 90% of my time now saying "No Henry, don't take my phone." "No Henry, don't pull on my necklace." "No Henry, don't take Daddy's glasses off his face." He's become so used to it that instead of crying or looking upset, he peers up with his big blue eyes, gives you his naughtiest look and carries on!
For now, I don't mind. He's only 9 months, he's not doing any harm. But when do I start to really tell him off, so he knows what he is doing is wrong? Taking my phone and playing with it is one thing but when he's with other babies and tries to take the toys they're playing with, that's another. How do I explain to him that there's a difference? He can't talk yet, he only knows basic words like daddy and milk.
My fiancé doesn't understand what the issue is. He says there's plenty of time for him to grow up and to get told off and in a way, I agree with him. But what if Henry takes it too far and another parent tells him off? I'd want to kill them, then want to die of embarrassment and then wonder where I'd gone wrong.
If you've got any ideas/tips for me, please let me know!

In other news, we've had such a lovely weekend. It's the first whole weekend my fiancé has had off work in a long time so we just spent it together and relaxing. We went to a local park today, went round it's museum and had a picnic. The weather was beautiful and we were out in it for most of the day. It's really got me excited for the summer! I've got so many fun ideas for us to do when the weather is warmer. Henry was born in June so he spent the summer last year under wraps in case he got sun burn or heat rash!

Until next time
Shannon x

Welcome!

Hello!
I guess my first post should introduce me and my son so you know who you're reading about and what we're like!
I'm Shannon and I'm 20. I have a 9 month old little boy called Henry. I'm what you would call a 'young mum'..I fell pregnant at 18 and had Henry at 19. The term young mum makes me think of an unplanned pregnancy, that's just society's views on it. Henry was very much planned by me and my fiancé. We didn't expect it to happen as quickly as it did, mind you!
Henry was born on 8th June 2014 at 12.27pm by emergency c-section. I had to be induced, he was 9 days late. I laboured through the night and then he got stuck so off I went, wheeled into theatre. Not the best first impression of childbirth! However, it wasn't traumatic in the slightest and I'm looking forward to doing it all again some day. In the distant future!
Motherhood has definitely changed me. I'm not scared or ashamed to admit that I was very selfish before becoming a mum. I was one of these people in restaurants who gets annoyed when a child starts crying. I always said I wasn't going to have children, they were clingy and snotty. But when I met my fiancé, that all changed. I wanted to have children but more specifically, I wanted to have his.
I'm what you would call an attachment parent. I bring Henry everywhere with me..and I mean everywhere! He comes with me to any hospital appointments I have, to the drs, just to the shops..9 times out of 10, he's with me. I also babywear a lot too and I love it! I don't breastfeed (I couldn't keep up with his demands) and I couldn't get on with cloth nappies (as much as I wanted to). I parent the way I do because that's what I feel is right..and unless a mum is doing something harmful, I don't judge her. Which is how a lot more people should be.
Anyway, that's enough rambling for now. I hope you've enjoyed reading my first entry.
Shannon x