Ingredients
1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes (400g)
2 Onions
1 Clove Garlic (Crushed)
Oil (2 or 3 tablespoons)
Sugar (2 or 3 pinches)
Basil 

1) Cut the onions into small pieces and put into a pan along with the crushed garlic clove and the oil. Sweat the onions and garlic over a medium heat and after 2-3 mins add the sugar. Carry on sweating the onions and garlic until they are soft and translucent (about 5-10 mins). 

2)  Add in the tin of chopped tomatoes and the Basil, and give it a good stir. Bring to the boil and let it simmer for a minimum of 20-30 minutes to let all the flavours out. I sometimes simmer it very slowly for a couple of hours, and leave it to stand overnight to get the flavours infusing throughout. 

I make huge batches of this. It freezes very well, which means that cooking spag bol, lasagne, etc.. takes less time as the base mix has already been cooked. 

For a quick and easy meal, I just boil up some pasta, drain the water off, and coat it in tasty pomodoro sauce.   Mmmmmm…..  

Tub of Pomodoro Sauce

The Connundrum - “To Use, or Not To Use?” that is the question.

So what to do with them? My first thoughts are to remove the skin somehow. But do you do this before or after you cook them? If you remove the skin after it is cooked, how do you then use them in things like toad-in-the-hole, sausage casserole, etc. If you remove them before they are cooked, you just end up with a sausage-roll type of meat that breaks up very easily.

I’m loathe to use hot-dogs as I don’t feel that they provide a substantial enough meal.

Over the next several weeks I aim to experiment with how to best (and safely) present toddlers with sausages as part of their meals. Hopefully we can find a way to use these great food staples in an easy way. As always, suggestions and ideas gratefully recieved.

Ingredients
1 Tin Of Chopped Tomatoes (400g)
1 Tin of Tuna or 1 Fillet of Fish (approx 200g)
30g-50g Cheese
Basil and Lemon to taste

1) Empty the tin of tomatoes into an overproof dish. Add some lemon juice, basil, and half of the cheese and mix well.

2) Put the fish into the dish. If using Tuna Flakes, mix it into the sauce. If using fillets, then make sure the fillet is covered with the sauce to avoid it drying out. Add the last of the cheese on top.

3) Cover the dish with tin foil and put it in the over until the fish is cooked (20 mins at 200 degrees should do – but play with the times dependant on what else you need to cook in the oven).

4) When cooked, you can flake the fish into the sauce as much as you want dependant on how your toddler will eat it.

Tip : This can be frozen down and re-heated in the microwave very easily.

In terms of dual cooking for both you and the family, why not duplicate the recipe above but use two 200g fillets of fish instead of one, add some chips or mash, and it’s great meal for two adults.  Alternatively, if you are using the tuna version, cook twice as much again but pour it over some pasta, add some more cheese and grill it for a short while, and you have an amazing tuna pasta bake.

A family road trip to Antwerp to visit some good friends, Christmas with a wife and son who had a raging temperature, a holiday in Centreparcs, Valentines, Birthdays, and lots and lots of work thrown in as well.

So how have things changed food-wise? The trip to Antwerp was a turning point in terms of food and what Edward will eat. The normal jars of “goop” were shunned in favour of garlic bread, egg fried rice, mushroom risotto, croissants, and some marvelous home made lasagne (Many thanks Roz!).

From there we have never really looked back. Kids meals on menus now mean that all we have to take out with us is a bib (we are still careful of salt content, and still avoid chocolate or sweet deserts). Less cooking, and a lot more mobility – thanks to a toddler who is not fussy about what he will eat.

There is also a certain amount of joy about putting fish fingers in front of a toddler, and watching them dig into the broccoli on the plate first.  It makes all the hard work of home-cooked food pay dividends, when you know your child is open to all sorts of tastes.

I’ll try and post more on here as and when I can, but for various reasons the next few months may prove to be a bit hectic too!

But there are lots of “adult” food that is suitable for your baby – at the same nutritional value but at a lower cost to you!

Edward has enjoyed some “biscotti” over the last few months, but to us they looked quite similar to rich tea biscuits. So we decided to do a comparison on a supermarket own brand (Tesco) Rich Tea Finger Biscuit vs Heinz Biscotti (Plain)

Result:
Calories Per 100g : Rich Tea 450kcal vs Biscotti 419kcal
Protein Per 100g : Rich Tea 7.2g vs Biscotti 8.6g
Carbohydrates Per 100g : Rich Tea 72.5g vs Biscotti 77g
Sugars Per 100g : Rich Tea 20.7g vs Biscotti 28g
Fat Per 100g : Rich Tea 14.3g vs Biscotti 8.5g
Fibre Per 100g : Rich Tea 3.0g  vs Biscotti 2g
Sodium Per 100g : Rich Tea 0.4g vs Biscotti 0.1g
Salt Equiavalent Per 100g: Rich Tea 1g vs Biscotti ???
Price Per 100g : Rich Tea £0.19 vs Biscotti £1.49

You get 20 Rich Tea, or 10 Biscotti, in 100g of product.  Assuming two rich tea finger or one biscotti as the “treat” for your little one, the calories, fats, sugars, carbs, etc.. are all very similar.  And a trace amount of salt per serving too.  It’s just the price that is the main difference.

Another plus side is that “Mum” or “Dad” can enjoy Rich Tea Fingers with their tea or coffee as well

Edward has been having great fun and delight recently trying to feed his food not to himself, but to his parents.

It is so sweet to see his grin and smiles as he succesfully navigates the spoon towards our mouth. (and who says that baby’s don’t share!?!).

I drew the line at being fed yoghurt (very messy, and I don’t like yoghurt anyway), but Mummy was very brave and came to the rescue.  Well done Mummy, and well done Edward (for not getting yoghurt all over Mummy!!!)

This gives us another little bit of time each night to ourselves, making things that little bit easier yet again.

As most “toddler” bowls and cups can go in the dishwasher, there are even the odd nights when we don’t have to do any washing up in the sink at all – bliss!

Would it surprise you to know that Mothercare have also reported a healthy increase in profits?

Maybe not, as expectant parents still need to kit out their kids however Mothercare’s financial success is also down to extremely aggressive pricing over the past two years.

Pouring through the Mothercare catalogue has been a guilty pleasure of mine ever since I found out I was expecting my little bundle of joy. As a result I’m familiar with the price of most of their products. A new catalogue is launched every 6 months and I have seen increases of 25% on everything from small every-day items like packs of 3 sleepsuits to big one-off purchases like cotbeds (Westbury cotbed from £200 to £250) in just 6 months. So why are people tolerating these inflation-busting price hikes? Reputation is a factor but Mothercare also occupy the extremely lucrative middle ground in terms of price. Their nearest competitor in terms of price is Babies R Us who strategically price just below Mothercare however their product range is just a fraction of the size.

With two salaries and the depth of the recession not yet apparent, our initial baby purchases for Edward before he was born were from the top end of the high street (Mamas and Papas, Gap, Jojo Maman Bebe).

Eighteen months on however and like many parents we are looking to curb our spending, making Mothercare an obvious cheaper alternative even with the increased prices. So why do I not just head down to my nearest out of town retail park and save myself some pennies by shopping there?

Well, the quality of several items we have purchased does not live up to the price or the reputation Mothercare had amongst our parent’s generation. None of my maternity clothes would be wearable for a second pregnancy, the material is thin and has bobbled excessively, the trims are coming loose and the finishing (hems etc.) is poor. The cotbeds are made from very soft pine meaning a teething baby leaves huge gnaw marks on them or a drop side gauges chunks out of the headboard when raised and lowered. In general I feel that the products are not good value for the money which I pay.

On a positive note I do love their white cotton vests which are thick, soft, wash well and fit Edward perfectly – if only the same could be said about their long-sleeved t-shirts…

Our solution is to continue to buy selectively from the more expensive retailers (especially during sales or promo’s) as their products have a good resale value on Ebay or at NCT sales (or would last a second child). We have also found Ikea very good for muslin squares, spare high chairs and toys.

I’d want a one metre zone to the left and to the right, with a fair bit behind the chair if I had my way!  Luckily with Edward, food isn’t projected forwards (for the time being anyway!)

We were browsing through Ikea one day, and saw some really cheap “rugs” there (a couple of quid each).  Although very cheap as rugs, my wife immediately saw through it and thought that they would be good as high chair mats.  They were cheap, so we could buy a few.  And they were machine washable too.

We haven’t looked back since.  They have saved our carpet multiple times, and each time they generally come out of the wash looking in a good condition.

Thank you Ikea…

We just use normal custard powder (it’s easy!) and make up 1/2 a pint or so and when the custard is at the right consistency, we just add in a chopped banana (you can mash it up for smaller babies).  We put it into small pots, and stick it in the freezer. 

The custard can be heated up in a bottle warmer or water bath (dependant on the type pots you use) – just make sure you stir it well before giving to your baby.