Bellissima

Bonjourno from Milan

In true italian style i thought i'd do a little Italian recipe thats gluten and lactose free

Ok so firstly just a little praise for Heinz Gluten Free Pasta!!! Its amazing and tastes just like the real deal! Well done Heinz not even Nick can taste the difference!!!

Ok so as a mum i find pasta is my go to dish! Like its easy, quick and my children love it so its a win win! They both love Pesto but Rocco can no longer have it so here are our favorite quick pasta dishes!

1. Bacon and Chorizo.
So i chop an onion up in small pieces and lightly fry in some oil with some bacon cut up and some gluten free chorizo cut up - fry for a bit until all cooked - add a dolmio or tin of chopped tomato sauce and then once the pasta is cooked mix it in!  This is so simple!! Chorizo lasts a really long time in the fridge too so its always ready to go!

2. Plain spaghetti
I love spaghetti - i've been trying it with different things and my favorite is: cook the pasta then toss with a little olive oil, after searching for good gluten free breadcrumbs i came across this idea from glutenfreegoddess
I toast 2 or 3 gluten-free plain waffles and break them apart; then I process them in my Cuisinart food processor, pulsing on and off until they resemble classic breadcrumbs (not too fine).

I add in several dashes of dried Italian herb mix, or a simple combo of dried basil, parsley and marjoram.

I drizzle in some high quality extra virgin olive oil as I pulse - just until they are moist and begin to stick together a bit.

So i use these for breadcrumbs, i also add garlic powder and some lactose free parmesan like parmigiano reggiano. This is lovely with extra crispy bacon too.

3. Prawn and sweet chili pasta

Again this is a spaghetti dish or a penne dish - cook your pasta, then cook your prawns with garlic and onions and some cherry toms and bobs your uncle!! 

I think pasta is the best food ever! Its so simple and easy and you can throw anything in it !!! 

Enjoy your Saturdays we are off to Lake Como for a romantic lunch 

Shopping in the luxury of your own home!

Good Morning Campers! Happy 1st December!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today we are with great friends celebrating Olivia's 2nd Birthday!! Happy Birthday Olivia Belle xxx

This year i have done the majority of my shopping online! I just find it so much less stressful! And lets face it if you don't have to go out in the cold with the children then why bother!  I like to shop and wander and mill around and with 2 toddlers that is no longer a possibility unless i am solo! So shopping online is the next best thing! And a glass of wine makes it brilliant!

So today i thought i would share some of my favourite websites with you for finding wonderful gifts!

First up is obviously www.notonthehighstreet.com - there is everything you could wish for on this website! And its super easy to search by occasion or person etc!

Secondly i love www.handpickedcollection.com its similar to noth but different

Third up i'm loving www.firebox.com which is a great gadget website for boys and their toys!

Fourth on my list is www.dotcomgiftshop.com - lovely stocking fillers

For Children i love

www.mulberrybush.co.uk - traditional toys for children

www.gltc.co.uk - my favourite children's website!!! I love love love this site! Perfect gifts

www.alexandalexa.com - wonderful children's and toy website

www.brightminds.co.uk - amazing educational toys and crafts! You can't go wrong with a gift from here.

I feel like theres a real negativity about gift vouchers! Like if i buy gift vouchers i feel like i haven't put any effort in and don't care! But i love getting vouchers and being able to spend them on things i really love and need.  Any vouchers make wonderful presents! Cinema vouchers for friends to have date nights, meal vouchers, toy vouchers, clothing vouchers, department store vouchers, music vouchers, iTunes vouchers - the world  is your oyster.  So don't feel bad about vouchers!

As its the 1st Dec it means Our Elf's are back from The North Pole! Yippeee stay tuned to see what Buddy and Elvis and Elvis's twin sister Elfie get up to this December!

Secret Veggies

I am pretty lucky that both my little people are pretty good eaters. Sienna hasn't always been this way though in fact she was a bit a of a nightmare. I went with the 'theres your dinner eat it or don't i'm not bothered but there will be nothing else' approach and to be fair it worked! She will generally eat most things i give her now. Tate however, well he will just eat until theres nothing left in the world and the only thing he doesn't like is strawberries.

I have always tried to give my kids a balanced diet, i'm not super strict they are allowed sweets etc we adopt the everything in moderation policy, but i am always super worried about lack of iron!

One in eight toddlers in the UK is anaemic, and to be honest this doesn't really surprise me knowing how difficult it can be to get your kids to eat!

As you already know me and Jade are on a health kick at the moment and i have been making green smoothies for breakfast. Sienna kept asking if she could have some so i gave her some and she literally couldn't get enough! The best thing is, is that its packed with spinach (which you can't taste because of the bananas and strawberries in there) and she has no clue! Sienna is a good eater but theres no way she would sit and eat a plate of spinach. I thought wow this is such a good way to get secret veg in her and top up her iron with the spinach!

I bung in anything we have in the fridge really but usually its 1 banana, handful of strawberries, handful of raspberries, big handful of spinach, 2 sticks of celery, handful of kale some milk and then blitz it all in the blender till smooth.

The best thing about this is that she thinks its a special treat too! Im happy she's getting lots of vitamins and iron and she's happy she thinks she has a treat!

Its a win win!

Hope this helps some other food stressed mummy's!

Love
L xx

Pizza Fun

We love pizza! Who doesn't love pizza? Homemade pizza's are one of Sienna's most favourite things to make. This pizza dough recipe from Jamie Oliver is surprisingly easy to do and you will never buy premade bases ever again. This is a lot of fun to do with the kids and they will love being involved in making dinner. Sienna likes having lots of separate bowls with her pizza toppings in to choose from.

You know how pizza toppings go its not rocket science, a bit of tomato cheese and whatever else your heart desires. Just a quick note the recipe makes 6-8 pizza bases so if your not having the street over for dinner you might want to halve the quantities.

So heres the recipe, enjoy! 

Love 

Lee xx

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Serves makes 6 to 8 medium-sized thin pizza bases

Ingredients

• 1 kg white bread flour or Tipo '00' flour, or 800g strong white bread flour or Tipo '00' flour, plus 200g finely ground semolina flour
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 x 7 g dried yeast sachets
• 1 tablespoon golden caster sugar
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 650 ml lukewarm water

  Method

  Sieve the flour/s and salt on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.
  
  Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.
  
  Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called knocking back the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in clingfilm, in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straight away, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas – this amount of dough is enough to make about six to eight medium pizzas.
  
  Timing-wise, it's a good idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook them. Don't roll them out and leave them hanging around for a few hours, though – if you are working in advance like this it's better to leave your dough, covered with clingfilm, in the fridge. However, if you want to get them rolled out so there's one less thing to do when your guests are round, simply roll the dough out into rough circles, about 0.5cm thick, and place them on slightly larger pieces of olive-oil-rubbed and flour-dusted tinfoil. You can then stack the pizzas, cover them with clingfilm, and pop them into the fridge.