Review - Osprey Poco Plus Child Carrier

My mother is into rambling and loves walking in the outdoors, I also like walking now and again, so my mother brought this baby carrier for when we do go walking. My mother have used it once when we was in Weymouth just to see if she could carry Tyler in it, but I haven't used it as of yet. My partner has used it a couple of times when we have gone on walks. It's great, it adjustable for people from about 5ft 2 to about 6ft, my partner is 6ft 3 and he finds it comfortable. There is quite few pockets, as well as a sunshade and a separate rain cover. It also came with a owl teddy for the child and a washable dribble pad. 

Tyler loves being in it, he will fall to sleep in it too and he looks so comfortable in it. He hardly moaned in it, but then again he hardly moans at all.

Review - Trike

My mother brought a second hand Trike for £10, my nan was going to get one for Tyler for his 1st birthday, but you can never resist a bargain. We did have a little problem with it as the front wheel wasn't turning right. My dad looked at it and he oiled it then he noticed some screws missing, he managed to fix it.

Tyler loves his new bike. It cos in different stages, so when he is 3 years old he wil be peddling on his own. The only thing I found annoying with it is that Tyler loves playing with the handles, I find that when Tyler is turning the handle your fighting against it so the bike won't go into people, or road etc, it is a bit funny though. It wouldn't be long till Tyler is reaching for the peddles either.

The trike itself is a really good idea, getting them learning and something for them to enjoy instead of sitting in a puschair. I would recommended them to people.

Tyler 1 day off 10 months. Cheering for England when they played Italy.

Banana Cheesecake

I got this recipe from James Martin off the BBC Food website. It was really delicious and first time making it, however I did not have the right cake tin for it.

Ingredients :-

For cheesecake

• 150g/6oz chocolate oat biscuits, crushed
• 75g/3oz butter
• 2 tbsp clear honey
• 4 bananas, peeled and cut into chunks
• 400g/14oz cream cheese
• 4 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 x 225g/8oz dulce de leche or canned caramel

For chocolate Sauce

• 40g/1½oz butter
• 175ml/7fl oz double cream
• 225g/8oz milk chocolate, roughly chopped

Perperation

1. For the cheesecake, place the crushed chocolate biscuits into a bowl. Add a third of the butter and all the honey to the crushed biscuits and mix everything together well with a wooden spoon.
2. Spoon the biscuit crumb mixture into a 23cm/9in springform cake tin and flatten with the back of a spoon.
3. Heat a frying pan until hot then add the remaining butter and the bananas and fry for 2-3 minutes, until golden-brown.
4. Remove the bananas from the pan and leave to one side to cool. Arrange the bananas on top of the biscuit base, reserving a few to serve.
5. Place the cream cheese and icing sugar into a bowl and whisk until smooth. Stir in the maple syrup and the dulce de leche or caramel.
6. Spoon the sweet cream cheese mixture into the cake tin on top of the bananas.
7. Place in the fridge and leave to set for at least 30 minutes, preferably overnight.
8. Meanwhile, for the chocolate sauce, place the butter and cream into a saucepan and bring to a simmer over a medium heat.
9. Add the chopped chocolate and stir to combine.
10. Turn the heat to low and keep the buttery chocolate on the hob until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy.
11. To serve, remove the cheesecake from the fridge, remove the tin and place onto a serving plate. Top with the reserved fried bananas and a spoonful of chocolate sauce.

I didn't use the extra bananas on top of my cheesecake. My gosh it was lovely.

Banana loaf cake

I got this recipe from BBC Good Food website, I did not use dried bananas as I did not have any.

Prep: 15mins

Cook: 30mins

Ingredients :-

• 140g butter, softened, plus extra for the tin
• 140g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 140g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 50g icing sugar
• handful dried banana chips, for decoration

Method :-

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter a 2lb loaf tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then slowly add the eggs with a little flour. Fold in the remaining flour, baking powder and bananas. Pour into the tin and bake for about 30 mins until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then remove to a wire rack.
3. Mix the icing sugar with 2-3 tsp water to make a runny icing. Drizzle the icing across the top of the cake and decorate with banana chips.

Cauliflower Cheese

When I was giving Tyler the jars he really like the cauliflower cheese, can't remember which company/brand did that one, think it may have been Heinz or Hipp organic. Well for the past month and a half I have been making my own food for Tyler, thought I'll give cauliflower cheese ago, both me and my partner don't like it, I think it because it really milky, but Tyler loves it and can't get enough of it.

I got this recipe from mums net. 

Prep time:

5 minutes

Cook time:10 minutes

Serves:8

Ingredients

• 30g cheese, grated
• 120ml full-fat milk
• 3 cauliflower
• 15g butter
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 3 broccoli florets

Method

1. Simmer or steam the cauliflower and broccoli until tender and drain.
2. Melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour and add the milk very slowly, stirring continuously until the sauce has thickened.
3. Remove from the heat and add the cheese.
4. Stir in the cauliflower and Broccoli and mash with a fork or puree (dependant on the age of the child).

Handy Hint

Don't let the sauce come to a boil as it will make it runny. If you keep stirring on a low heat then it will eventually thicken.

I did not use broccoli has I did not have it.

Monkey Forest.

Yesterday I went swimming lesson in the morning with Tyler. He loves them. Then my mother took us up the motorway to Tretham Monkey Forest in stroke on Trent. It was really good. £7.50 for an adult and children under 3 are free. Get to walk around about 3/4 of a mile path, looking at monkeys swinging from trees, walking past you. It was great fun. Then we went to the shopping village near by. Which was good if you like shopping, which I don't, but I don't mind just being there giving company to my mom and spending time together. I have some pictures of us all at the monkey forest.

It was really fun, before we started walking round there it was Tyler's time for his afternoon nap, but I think the monkeys distracted him and kept him awake, till the end.

There are rules though when your in there, to keep at least a metre apart from the monkeys, no plastic bags, no eating or drinking, that's including chewing gum, if you have visible plastic bags, you need to keep it in the plastic bag section. No making loud noises or running around, yet children was still running round. But al in all it was a good day out and we all enjoyed it.