21/08/201326/03/2018 by jo

Healthier Crisp Sandwiches With Walkers Mighty Lights

Today we had a go at an old family favourite, and something which disgusts Shaun at how unhealthy it sounds – some crisp sandwiches.

Crisp sandwiches always happen on a Tuesday in my family, some kind of tradition my Grannie had. I have to say I haven’t kept it going but do often quite fancy one, but the majority of crisps these days are pretty fatty – and when you’re looking after your waistline you want a good tasting crisp which isn’t going to have a high fat content.

Step forward new Walkers Mighty Lights, ridged crisps available in three flavours, all of them vegetarian. There’s Roast Chicken, Cheese and Onion and Lightly Salted. All contain 30% less fat compared to other crisps as well as no MSG, artificial colours or preservatives and they’re also a source of fibre.

So, back to the crisp sandwiches. Shaun refused to let me make them, but fortunately I had some salad leaves handy. I got some hummous to use instead of butter, and some cheese slices. The bread was freshly made that morning, so I sliced it (badly, seriously, can anyone tell me the secret of slicing soft bread?), spread on the hummous, added some salad leaves and cheese and served it – alongside a bowl of each flavour.

So, a taste test was next. H was asked the flavour of her crisp. She confidently told me hers was vanilla. Hmmm… It was the lightly salted, but she did agree she was tricking me so we’ll let her off. The three flavours work well – way back in time Seabrooks did some low-fat crisps which had such a high sugar content that they tasted disgusting – and I’m happy to say these Walkers crisps don’t – which is reassuring, as often a lot of low-fat foods tend to do this.

Flavour-wise I’d say the cheese and onion and roast chicken were pretty good – I can’t remember the last time I ate any flavour chicken crisps but I felt like they had a good taste, not at all meaty (at this point you need to bear in mind I’ve been vegetarian for 30 years please). They were so good they went perfectly into my sandwich, and made the perfect ‘healthy’ crisp sandwiches (ahem). The lightly salted isn’t too salty, it’s nice and subtle – just how I like it – I don’t want my tongue to feel bleached by salt.

Portion-size wise, it looked a little less than you’d usually get in a packet of crisps, but flavour-wise that made up for it. I got top crisp satisfaction while having had just enough.

Walkers Mighty Lights are targeted at kids, but actually I’d buy these as an option if I’m doing a Meal Deal; at the moment they’re only available in multipacks in supermarkets.

One really important thing I spotted – the crisps are made in a nut-free environment (all Walkers crisps are) – which means anyone with nut allergies should be fine eating these crisps, according to the FAQ on their site – None of our Walkers Mighty Lights flavours contain nuts or sesame seeds, and we do not handle either in our factory. I’ll be taking a pack with me this weekend for one of the children at H’s birthday party, as I had no idea Walkers were okay.

Ultimately, it all comes back to the crisp sandwiches though. Is it really truly a proper crisp sandwich if it has cheese and salad in there? Am I compromising my crisp sandwich needs for the sake of looking better on the blog? Should I have a secret Roast Chicken crisp sandwich tonight with just butter when everyone has gone to bed? Do you think they’re crisp sandwiches?

I think they’re massively underrated! They’re pretty yummy with the new Walkers Mighty Lights anyway, and definitely worth a try.

How do they compare? I’m comparing the Lightly Salted to the Ready Salted regular crisps, both by Walkers.

	Ready Salted	Lightly Salted
Energy [KJ]	549	477
Energy [Kcal]	132	114
Protein [g]	1.5	2.1
Carbohydrate [g]	12.9	15.2
– sugars [KJ]	0.1	0.2
Fat [g]	8	4.7
– saturates [g]	0.7	0.5
– mono-unsaturates	6.3	3.7
– poly-unsaturates	1.0	0.4
Fibre	1.1	1.2
Salt [g]	0.35	0.28

So as you can see, there are differences – higher carbs but lower sugars for one, as well as the lower fats.

The biggest question of all though, is what I made a crisp sandwich or not? You decide…

I have received payment to review these crisps, all opinions are my own and honest.

19/08/201326/03/2018 by jo

Easy Bunting Craft With Tiger Stores

Tiger Stores is one of my favourite craft supply shops – everything is at a good price, so today I made some easy bunting which involved minimal effort from me and still looks good.

Easy bunting is something I’ve had in mind for H’s birthday – and Tiger Stores have some cool things in stock at the moment, but I hadn’t had the time to start it.

Today I was ill from work and needed something to occupy myself without it being too strenuous, something which involved minimal effort but decent results.

easy bunting from Tiger Stores

So here’s my Tiger Stores Easy Bunting Instructions :

Buy the Karton cardboard triangles which are bunting shaped. There are 50 in total, in ten different colours. £2.

If you’re anything like me you’ll always have a stash of the sticky back plastic drawer liners Tiger do – they have various colours at £4 a roll. I always keep any pieces I might do something with, as even the tiniest amount works. I have four different patterns at the moment.

Other than that I picked up some Snor purple string (£1 or £2) to use for hanging them.

easy bunting from Tiger Stores

Step 1

Work out the letters you need and using the handy guides on the back of the sticky paper make sure they’re the same size. Cut them out and look out for the letters which will come out the opposite way (like p) – don’t forget to do those backwards (I forgot).

Step 2.

Take each card piece of easy bunting and sort them into the colours you want. There are ten colours; green, dark green, blue, light blue, pink, cerise, yellow, orange, red and black.

Step 3.

Sort out which letters you want on which colour. Peel off the backing and stick them on.

Step 4.

You’ll probably have bits of plastic sticky stuff left – don’t throw it away, use it to fix the card to the string at the back – it’s strong sticky stuff so should do the job.

Step 5.

Hang up and admire your easy bunting then have a long lie down afterwards.

Gulp. I’ve just read they’ve opened a BIG store on Oxford Street. Dangerous. For my bank balance, that is…

18/08/201326/03/2018 by jo

Box Hill Natural Play Trail

Box Hill is one of our local National Trust sites – a little more than twelve miles from our house so one we go to frequently.

Box Hill is an area of so many things to discover – and quite recently The National Trust set up some new walkways there, one of which we stumbled across today when we went for a visit – the Natural Play Trail.

The walk is around two miles long, suitable for kids of all ages and buggies, and throughout the walk there are lots of things to do.

We discovered lots of huts – handy for a bear hunt or searching for Gruffalo’s – as well as various play areas made from wood and rope – a swing, a rope swing, some tree trunks to balance on and lots to see and spot.

We kept it simple and kept to balancing on logs. H is pretty good though unsteady (like her mum) so we started holding hands until by the end she was doing it on her own which was good – and there are a lot of logs to practice on.

There were play areas around the walk – one area had a rope to balance or climb on, a swing tied into it (H had a go and enjoyed hanging upside down the most), and a rope swing which we need to work on with H! They were great and suitable for H’s age with supervision. There were older kids but they were respectful of H and her younger age and let her play too which was nice.

All around the woods were dens built from sticks and branches, one of our favourite things when we go for walks like this – an estimate would be twenty or thirty easily and they were all easy to climb into. As well as this were play and balance areas using smaller logs which you could climb on, some with a twisty maze around them and others just enclosed by them.

At the end of the first one was a doorway carved into a tree which H loved!

Box Hill also now have some cute paints on the roadway, from Amazing Views to Tea and Cake – as well as signs welcoming you there.

There are other walks at the site – if next weekend, post Birthday Party is all too much I know we’ll be back again – it’s good for clearing the head! Plus I had no idea the concrete thing we stand on is actually a fort (which is obvious really when you think about it)

Head here to see the other walks on offer.

We have National Trust membership which is paid for by ourselves.

18/08/201327/01/2014 by jo

Hello Kitty Top Trumps Cards

Hello Kitty Top Trumps Cards exist! I have a very pleased almost four-year old…

Top Trumps had a stand at Lollibop which we had to visit, where we bought a pack of the Hello Kitty cards. Up to now we’ve only had Top Trumps cards for London Landmarks and Tottenham players so they’re new to us – and H is a bit obsessed with Hello Kitty (and monsters).

I think they’re great, they’ve been going for many years now and they’re a good way of getting your child to identify numbers as well as learn a little bit from the cards.

The simple rules for Top Trumps – you have five categories, one person places down a card and names which number they think will be the greatest. The other players have to place a card with a higher number to then claim the cards. The winner is the player who collects the most cards.

In a nutshell, in this game if it’s your turn and you have The Moon, you’ll win on distance. The miles are from London (so if you have The Moon vs London on distance, you’re a winner. If you have The Moon vs London on style then London will win), as well as Fashion Factor, Things To Do, Natural Beauty and Glamour. If you have The Moon vs Paris on the latter, then Paris will obviously win!

There are various cities or countries around the world with a little fact about each one. You can even learn how to say hello in the language (or dialect) of the country.

Right now as H isn’t really reading we played with her helping Shaun (they’re very competitive) – and I’ve found it’s a great way at reading bigger numbers – she can count and identify numbers to 100 easily but struggles a bit with larger numbers.

The pictures are as you’d expect for something Hello Kitty related, and even though the game ended in tears (H stole my Moon card) I know it’s one we’ll come back to many times as she did enjoy playing it. I’m thinking about playing it alongside our world so we can show her where the countries are as well to add to the educational element.

So far the game has proved a hit – even with the tears. The Top Trumps were a bargain buy from Lollibop from their stand for £3 and you can buy from Amazon for £3.19. Each pack has 30 cards.

This post contains an affiliate link.

16/08/201327/03/2018 by jo

Lollibop 2013 – Our Review

Lollibop 2013 started today, the first day of a three-day festival for kids.

Lollibop 2013 moved venues to the Olympic Park this year, and although we haven’t been to previous ones, both Shaun and I are seasoned festival goers, a bit of rain wasn’t going to scare us, so we were ready!

Our journey wasn’t too painful, a train to London Bridge then just a few stops on the tube to Stratford with a fifteen minute walk to the park. We also got to walk past the Olympic Stadium, somewhere we never got to last year – it’s huge! (I am seriously struggling imagining West Ham having it as their home)

The Lollibop 2013 site was clearly marked – and helpers were starting to line up to guide everyone. I suspect people with buggies may struggle cutting across Westfield, so look into other ways there, but as we were on foot it wasn’t an issue.

We made it inside just in time for Poppy Cat who did some dance moves on the main stage – the sound cut out a bit but that didn’t spoil it for H. It was running late which was fortunate – H says Poppy Cat was probably her favourite thing about Lollibop 2013 (that and fifteen other things).

On the way in we got chatting to two boyfriends of the GoGoGo Show, and found them near us when they came on stage so insisted they join in with the dancing (they did). Shaun had no idea who they were then realised it was the band he sees every morning when he does his ironing – he knew the songs best of the three of us! H enjoyed it, and I like that one of them wears glasses so hopefully H can relate. We have never spoken about this.

There was no time to stop, as once they left the stage Rastamouse came on – and did a neat little set. The creator of Rastamouse came on too, as well as a lady and man who make the music – and it was perfect festival music, really enjoyable, plus everyone was handed Rastamouse flags. Somehow we caught Rastamouse three times over the day which was pleasant.

Shaun found free yoghurt courtesy of Chobani who were giving away full-sized tubs opposite the main stage, so we helped ourselves to one each and decided to have a wander around the site.

We found the Magic Belles stand, and got to chat for a long time to the lovely Maxine – H coloured in two postcards and posted them, it was such a sweet idea and good to stop. We love the Magic Belles and really you should be signing up for the Flutterbud Club – it’s free and it’s fab – every month we get a lovely picture and some fab goodies from them. H loves them too and they’re a really positive influence for little girls – their tent wasn’t just for girls though, it was for anyone who wanted to send a postcard to the fairies, boys of course are included.

Bear Nibbles were handing out free samples of their scrummy food, and next to them were some Barny edible teddy bear cake-y type things (which H loved). There was also a Haribo man making his way around the audience giving out free packets for those moments when it becomes too overwhelming for your little one and you need to give them sugar.

After that we headed back into the main area to get some food. Oh my, everyone else had arrived and the queues were long. Fortunately Dick and Dom were on stage, my Lollibop 2013 highlight, too funny, no ‘bogies’ but plenty of Dick Vs Dom and brilliantly funny. I think it opened up a new kind of comedy to H who wasn’t sure what to make of it. Definitely the best thing we saw – I could have cried laughing at times. H still finds it very strange someone would shout in a library ‘as you’re not meant to do that’ (oh, she’s so good).

Food queues were getting silly, so after a quick scoot around (Nando’s – too long, The Food Stop – too long) we decided on toasties. Reasonably priced Shaun queued while H and I had a little rest – we hadn’t sat down by this time (Hello Kitty had been cancelled on the main stage much to H’s disappointment and the Mr Men had finished which was our only stage clash) plus we were hungry.

The Toasties are quick, but the queue is slow – we got them after about 20-30 minutes in the end, and headed to the press area to sit down and eat them.

After that we felt a bit more refreshed and headed out to catch the end of the GoGoGo Show – we really liked the sets were repeated so at least we caught them at the start of the day when it was quiet and didn’t miss anything as Rastamouse started again. This time we wandered around the shops.

I saw this. I managed to hold myself back. Just.

There were loads of great stalls but we don’t have a lot of money to spend with H’s 4th birthday next week, so we were sensible – in the end I got her some Hello Kitty Top Trumps as I think she’ll like them. There was an entire Top Trumps stall, so that was good to see. I spotted some Moshi Monsters ones too but will wait for now.

We headed towards the Lolli Kitchen where Katy Ashworth from I Can Cook was about to start, which coincided with Andy & Sid from Cbeebies on the Lollipalladium – both stages pretty much next to each other so you can easily get between the two. Actually, H wanted to stop at the Parentdish stand and colour in some bunting. Eventually we got to see both, and both were excellent. Katy was especially funny and got H giggling – a very talented lady – another Lollibop 2013 highlight. Sid and Andy were singing nursery rhymes by the time we got there and being ever so funny – H was getting tired though and by now was on Shaun’s shoulders.

After that we were a bit Lollibop-ed out, and decided to check the face painting queue – it was still long, but we spotted a Hello Kitty Meet and Greet, so joined that queue instead. They closed it when we were FIVE away from meeting Hello Kitty, cue lots of sad kids who just bombarded her with cuddles. That was enough for H, that and there was a Hello Kitty Twister on the hill too which was pretty awesome (and we got to sit and let her get on with it which was even better).

A quick wander back to the main area and the face painting queue had gone right down so we joined it, where the fabulous ladies from Kattoo were, giving out free tattoos to everyone – we already had ours and I got to have a chat with them. It’s a brilliant idea and perfect for events like Lollibop – keep an eye out for them! H had her face painted like Hello Kitty (see a theme here?) and we headed back towards the Magic Belles stand for one last colour in.

Kattoo Tattoos at Lollibop 2013

After that a quick stop at the Wow Toys stand, I’m kind of sad as we’re at the top end of their age range, their toys look excellent though and one I’ll consider for my new nephew when it comes to Christmas time. Duplo were next door so we had a quick play before it really was time to leave Lollibop 2013 and make a move back home.

All in all we spent the day from around 10.10 until 5.30 which is pretty good going. I was pleased how well H handled it, there was plenty of space to rest up, plenty of shelter from the rain and everything was reasonably priced. Lollibop 2013 was a fantastic day out and I really wish we’d got to the National Geographic Kids area as I would love to subscribe for H if it was age appropriate and they had a good deal on. We missed the science area too. I feel like you need an even longer day to do it all!

It was a wonderful day, we have no complaints and we’ll be back next year.

You can still buy tickets here!

We received free passes for our day at Lollibop 2013 – all opinions are our own and honest.

15/08/201327/01/2014 by jo

Easy No-Cook Brownies

Here’s our slightly modified easy no-cook brownies recipe!

To make these no-cook brownies you need the following :

1 cup of pecans

1 cup of dates

a third of a cup of cocoa powder

one small person for squishing (not literally, just for the mixture, honest).

I blasted the pecans in my processor until they looked like this.

pecan no-cook brownie

Add the dates and process them again.

Then finally added the cocoa powder.

The no-cook brownies mixture felt a bit dry so I added some honey to make it a bit stickier (a not too generous squeeze, enough to make it moist but not sticky).

After that it was a case of lining a tray with greaseproof paper, and getting H to squish the mixture so it was nice and flat.

Put the no-cook brownies in the fridge to set….

All you need to do after that is cut the brownies into pieces and try not to scoff it all at once. The no-cook brownies are really light, feel healthy, quite chocolatey (so if you want to reduce it, add less cocoa) and stick together well.

This recipe is adapted from here and here.

14/08/2013 by jo

A Sad Kind Of Post

Yesterday I was saddened to read about the death of Jon Brookes of The Charlatans. See, I’m not sure if you know, but the name Mum Friendly came about after a night sitting in the pub trying to think of a name as they played The Charlatans ‘Some Friendly’ album – and it happened I had been proof reading the artwork for a reissue at work too. It all kind of clicked into place.

So it feels appropriate to post something here. RIP Jon Brookes. A great drumming talent and a sad loss at such a young age too.

14/08/201326/03/2018 by jo

Lollibop 2013 Stage Times Announced!

The Lollibop 2013 stage times have been announced!

Lollibop 2013 stage times have been published – the festival starts this Friday at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – and if you’re a seasoned festival goer like us, you want to know where to go to make sure you see everything.

Fear not, as the lineup has been made available over on the Lollibop site – the Parent Superhero Pack is available as a PDF for you to download and plan your day.

There’s easy travel instructions, although we’re complicating things by possibly taking a detour via the Thames cable cars, after all we don’t get over to East London very often (despite it being less than ten miles away – probably). Whichever way you go, it’s only a short walk from Stratford’s station which covers the Tube, Overground, DLR and National Rail.

Maybe we’ll have time to visit Westfield Stratford afterwards if we need to get food… mm!

We’re going on Friday and it looks like we’re set for a Rastamouse filled day which pleases me H no end! She’s also a teeny tiny huge bit excited about Hello Kitty too…

One complaint I’ve read from previous years are the queues – so Lollibop have made sure there’s more face painting available (which I think is included in the ticket price?) – so hopefully there won’t be too much waiting around! It’s looking like there’ll be showers on Friday too, so we’ll have our waterproofs packed in case, they’ve also got some on the site in case you’re caught out.

Most importantly of all is the Adult Creche which serves alcoholic drinks, possibly needed when you’ve had too many Hi-NRG nursery rhymes in an hour – phew!

We’re really looking forward to going to the Magic Belles stand in the Village Green. They’ll be there for all three days – they’ve a small marquee with tables and benches where little ones can colour and decorate Magic Belles postcards. As well as that they can write messages to the fairies on the back. After that they can add some special little stamps, and post them in the fairyland post box and quite frankly, I’d like to have a go too! Everyone who takes part will get a special sticker and postcard to keep as well! H is a huge Magic Belles fan so we’re really looking forward to this!

I’m really looking forward to the National Geographic Kids Zone too, as with H starting school soon I think some fun learning could be good (and it’ll mean us adults get a break too, hopefully!)

I’ll be taking photos throughout the day, and probably uploading a lot of them to Instagram – follow me here if you want to see what it’s like at the new site. We’ll be reviewing Lollibop as well.

Don’t forget – get your Lollibop 2013 stage times over here now!

13/08/201323/06/2015 by jo

Dick Bruna Books Reprinted at The Tate Bookstore

There are some Dick Bruna books being reprinted and made available at the Tate Bookstore right now. We placed an order and they arrived today – you can never have too many Dick Bruna books in your collection!

We love all the Dick Bruna books, he’s been one of my favourite authors since I was a little girl and is now one of H’s. She also has a far better Dick Bruna collection than I ever had.

If you head online to the Tate Bookshop you’ll find some editions of the books which haven’t been available in a long time – there’s a book ‘The Apple’ which was the first Dick Bruna book, originally produced in 1959, translated in 1995 and pretty much unavailable since then.

The Tate is doing a 3 for 2 deal so I picked up two other books we didn’t have – ‘The School’ and ‘On My Scooter’.

They’re all such gorgeous books, if you know the Miffy books it’s more of the same – from a time when things felt much more innocent and simple. I’m loving ‘The School’ for the rhymes about a day at school and what they do (and the teacher telling them to ‘listen to what I say!’). ‘On My Scooter’ has a child getting some veg for Pete the Donkey – this only dates back to 2010, but is a 2013 reprint. ‘The School’ is 1964. You can tell which books are older based on the font used as their title.

‘The Apple’ is a short story about an apple that wishes it had legs. The rooster shows concern, and ends up taking the apple for a fly around instead, which cheers up the apple immensely.

For me, these books are likely to be some of the first ones H will read properly as she’s taught at school. She knows a few words now and I love the simplicity of these books with the gorgeous illustrations. If you like Miffy books, head over to the Tate online too. Suitable for all ages, we love Dick Bruna books – from H at almost four to me at 43!

13/08/2013 by jo

What Bugs Lurk In Your Bedding?

What bugs lurk in your bedding?

Bugs are nasty little things and everywhere – I’ve had a dustmite allergy for most of my life. I’ve done all kinds of thing to help prevent me from reacting to them, such as keeping the house dust-free and making sure bedding is changed frequently. Things have improved as I’ve got older so here’s hoping I’m growing out of it!

The Bedding Company have put together an infographic which makes for interesting reading :

What bugs lurk in your bedding?

Courtesy of The Bedding Company. The Bedding Company manufacture and supply premium pillows, duvets, mattress covers, protectors and bed linen at prices which won’t leave you losing sleep at night!

I was paid to host this infographic.