Our favourite ice lolly smoothie recipes

Review post*
Being the parent of a fussy eater can be a pretty stressful experience.
Luckily though, smoothies are one thing that Henry will drink and eat (in the form of ice lollies) and it's a real saviour for the mum guilt!

With us hitting peak summer, and needing all the nutrients and vitamins we can get, smoothies are one of our go-to's for some extra goodness, that also tastes great! Not only are they great for an afternoon thirst-quencher, they freeze really well so are perfect for a healthy ice lolly. Plus we have a Pick Your Own Farm just up the road from us so need lots of recipes to use up all the fruit we pick.

Making ice lolly smoothies is also a great thing to do with kids. Getting them involved keeps them best entertained, helps educate them, and lets them feel a part of what they're eating which is only ever going to be a good thing. Henry loves adding all the fruit to the blender and "holding down" the lid whilst it's on.

We've been making these up in the recent heatwave (let's face it yes it is Summer, but us Brits don't function too well in extreme heat!) in our new moulds from Steamer Trading Cookshop*, the Zoku fish moulds* and the Zoku Pop Moulds*. Both are so easy to use, and I've become weirdly obsessed with the kids fish moulds as because they are silicone, they are SO EASY to get the ice lollies out of. No running under a tap, no tapping on the kitchen counter. They literally pull out. Plus they're the perfect size for Henry, and as they're relatively small in height, he has no problems with the stick! Also, how awesome do they look?

So what's our favourite go to ice lolly smoothie recipes at home? 

Using up PYO fruit - rhubarb and strawberry crumble

We're big fans of pick your own fruit and veg farms. They make for a great family trip out, everyone can get involved, and you can stock the fridge up with lots of healthy food. You can see the blog post and video we made last year from our first strawberry picking trip. And tips on taking kids to a Pick Your Own Farm here.

Of course, you inevitably end up with way too much food, or at least we always do, and then you need to eat it as fast as possible, or make something with it all.

And one of my go-to recipes is my Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble.
I adore rhubarb crumble anyway, it's probably my favourite kind of crumble, and with strawberries, it has a but of extra sweetness to it. Plus if you're experience of PYO is anything like ours, Henry enjoyed moving the strawberries from basket to basket, meaning we ended up with quite a lot of bruised fruit. Unfortunately bruised strawberries just don't go so well with cream, so cooking them into a crumble is the perfect way to get them used up.

Having a Very Lazy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year.

It feels like the perfect excuse to get a takeaway, I mean, it sort of feels rude not to.

But I have another solution for getting you in the Chinese celebratory spirit, make your own Chinese inspired dinner at home. Less grease, more veggies and cheaper on the purse strings.

And it doesn't have to be difficult.

Autumn Maple Bagel Skewers

Autumn is the best time for lots of home cooking, and treating yourself. It's getting colder so why not, right?
I was going to name this a Halloween and Bonfire Night treat, but to be honest, I want it every night, so an Autumn treat it is.

I don't think there is is much better than sweet yummy carbs, and although I'm not a huge bread fan, I can eat bagels daily (I really feel like I would be perfectly at home in New York.... bagels, cheesecake and shopping.... that's me happy!)

So when I was challenged to come up with a recipe for the New York Bagel Company's new Mini Maple Bagels*, I knew I was up for a fun little treat.
I wanted to create something that associates with the two autumn holidays - Halloween and Bonfire Night - and make something that we can have year after year.

And the Maple Bagel Skewers with homemade caramel toffee sauce was born.

The boys made smoothies

Sunday's should always be for lazing around and having long breakfasts.

Last Sunday, my boys were up early, and because we had a large stock of fruit in the fridge from strawberry picking in the week, decided they were going to make smoothies! Yep I felt a little spoilt, I must admit. 

We decided to make this recipe for a Raspberry and Strawberry Smoothie which we slightly amended, which I will detail below. 

I pretty much think this was the perfect morning making these smoothies, and it was literally exactly how I pictured having kids before I had Henry. Him sat on the worktop, putting the fruit in the blender (supervised obviously) and actually helping with making our food. I think baking may be next on the cards!! 

Recipes for the whole family - The Flavour Led Weaning Cookbook

Our weaning journey has been a pretty great one.
I never realised how much fun meal times could be.Yes I love food and love to experiment with new foods and dishes, but nothing quite compares to seeing your little try and love new foods.

However, sometimes it can be really difficult to make a meal that suits everyone at the table and that can be made relatively quickly and easily.
That's where the Flavour Led Weaning book* comes in handy. It's a healthy guide to introducing your little one to different flavours and textures.

Summer Breakfast Juicing

After the roasting us Brits got a couple of weeks back, I got really in the mood for Summer, and Summer means lots of refreshing fruit.
I actually think I go through my healthiest phases during the Summer. I eat less, drink more water, eat more fruit and salad, and get outside more.

However with being a parent, I don't have as much time as I used to for prepping food and making fancy dishes.

One of the best ways I find to get lots of fruit in, plus help stay cool and refreshed is with smoothies and juices. Especially homemade ones where you know they aren't packed with extra sugars. Plus this is something you can share with kids too either as a drink, or frozen into ice lollies or fruitsicles and they have no idea you've packed them full of vitamins.

Making Fruitsicle Pops with Nuby UK

You know those parents who's kids refuse to eat fruit and veg.
We're becoming those parents.
Fruit isn't the problem, Henry is a pretty big fan of fruit, but veg is slightly problematic at the moment.

Of course we're not pushing the veg too hard, with an 11 month old it just seems pointless. So instead we're focusing our efforts on making sure Henry gets plenty of fruit into his diet, and maybe the odd veggie too.

And we may have found the perfect way to get those all important fruits and veg into our little boy, with a little help from Nuby UK. We've been testing out their Garden Fresh Fruitsicles* maker and it is probably one of the best weaning tools we've used.

Easter Homemade Rocky Road

One of the best things about Easter has to be the food - to be fair, the best bit of most holidays is the food.

Yes it is not in the least bit healthy, hello chocolate eggs and hot cross buns, but it is truly yummy. 

I've never really done much baking or cooking for a holiday but I thought I'd start changing that up and making an effort around the holidays, because Henry is growing up so fast so I best get my act together. 

To start things off I thought I'd update my Chocolate Biscuit Cake and make an Easter inspired Rocky Road.

My 15 minute lazy pasta dinner

Do you know what I really love? Really good comfort food. There's something to be said for carbs and their ability to make us feel full and comfy and cosy inside. These dishes are of particular importance during times of need or when requiring cheering up.

Today I thought I'd share one of my favourite comfort foods, which also happens to be a super fast dish perfect for the lazy cook. We usually save this for evenings when we're super busy, or returning from a trip (the homesickness gets very real, and this helps quite a lot). 

It isn't pretty really, but damn is it warming and loved.

Mother's Day Breakfast in Bed Recipe

This is a collaborative post*

Right so it's my first Mother's Day at the end of the month, and to say I'm excited would be an understatement! We didn't do anything last year whilst I was pregnant, as for me it just didn't feel right.

Anyway this year,since becoming a mother myself, I've really realised how important our mums really are (yep, I'm super important don't you know!). I know for a lot of people Mother's Day can be really hard, and in some respects it is for us. We don't live too close to our family, so seeing them on Mother's Day isn't hugely logistical and remind me that, like my mum, I'm basically doing this motherhood on my own (of course credit to Dann where it's due).

So to celebrate Mother's Day, and hopefully get you inspired, with Blind's Hut* I've put together a little recipe post (and back story) for the perfect alternative Mother's Day Breakfast in Bed!

My simple Choc Chip Banana Loaf

Autumn is basically the perfect season for baking isn't it. 

Nothing beats the smell of fresh baking on a cold windy day, and as I'm spending a lot of time at home right now, I've decided to try some recipes and make them my own! 

For my first recipe, a tried and tested favourite banana loaf bread. However I've mixed it up a bit with a little chocolate, because, hey why not. Banana bread is literally one of the most simple things to bake, and perfectly uses up those last couple of old bananas, because we all know we leave two in the bowl for far too long. 

Smarties Cookies Recipe

I haven't done a foodie post in ages, but when I was asked by my sister-in-law to make some Smarties Cookies for her daughters christening I just figured I might as well share here too.

These cookies are hugely popular with little ones, and well large ones (adults you know) and to be completely honest are simple and pretty quick to make.

I got the recipe from the BBC Good Food site, but I'll also add it below too.

FOOD: Summer Lamb

Lamb has to be one of my favourite meats, even if I do feel a little guilty eating it sometimes. I love it as a roast dinner - smothered in mint sauce of course! And it also makes a great winter dinner option, like in this mustard lamb recipe I blogged earlier this year.

When I was asked by Tasty Easy Lamb to share a lamb recipe that proves lamb isn't just for roasts I knew exactly what I wanted to make.

Lamb may be considered an autumn/winter meat, but with the right ingredients it's a fab summer meat too.

Inspired by Greece, I'm sharing my Lamb pittas, perfect for a sunny weekend lunch, or add wedges and buttery corn on the cob for a simple and easy dinner option on a hot day.

FOOD: Summer time squid recipe at home

This might be a little early, but I just had to share this absolutely delicious squid and chorizo dish, perfect for summer time at home. We'd never cooked squid at home before this recipe, but after finding a mass of prepped squid at the supermarket in the reduced aisle, we just had to take the plunge (don't worry, we froze the squid).

As I'm pregnant I'm not allowed shellfish which has been rather difficult as I love prawns and crab, but squid being seafood is aye-ok.

This fun summery dish is the perfect starter for those wanting to experiment at home with cooking squid, and is really easy once all the prep is done. So thank you Jamie Oliver for giving us the confidence to cook out of the ordinary at home.

FOOD: Pork and Hungarian Pepper Sauce - Jamie's 15 minute dish

You guys know how much I am loving cooking at the moment right? And how much I love writing recipe posts and trying new foods, well today includes another new recipe from Jamie's 15 minute meals. 

This time around we have pork steaks with Hungarian pepper sauce and rice. It's a nice take on pork in a tomato-based sauce with rice. And as always it's a pretty simple to pull together.   

FOOD: Friday Night Greek Chicken

We're loving the easiness of coucous in our house at the moment. It basically cooks itself and is so easy, especially for those busy weekday evenings.
Today's foodie post is a yummy Friday night dinner, healthy but a little cheeky too and all ready in less than 30 minutes.
Be warned, this recipe uses a lot of couscous, so if you need to half the measures that's cool as we ended up with about three spare portions afterwards (which were handy for work lunches the next weeks). You can see the full recipe in this book.

FOOD: Simply Green Tea Salmon

A new foodie post and this one is a super healthy dinner option. This Green Tea Salmon with Coconut Rice and Wok Fried Greens is a great dinner for those wanting something easy, delicious and healthy with Chinese/Thai inspirations. This was really popular with Dann, especially before training in the evenings, and a great way to get in that all important fish into your diet.

FOOD: 15 Minute Feta Pork and Minted Courgette

A few weeks back we started trying out some new dishes in the kitchen to broaden our food choices and make eating at home more interesting and food. You'll probably have seen lot of new foodie posts recently and I have another for today. 

This recipe is another Jamie fast meal, and is one of our favourites (though I don't think anything can beat the mustard lamb). Neither of us have really done a lot with courgettes, but this recipe impressed us both. And it's really simple and easy to make, and is one of Jamie's 15 minute meals which is actually really close to his timings, even on the first try. 

FOOD: Super Easy Tagliatelle in 20 Minutes

Today's recipe is actually a super easy and really healthy dinner from Jamie's 15 minute meals book, and actually is doable in less than 20 minutes. We did make some slight amends to the original recipe as we wanted to use up some bits in the fridge and freezer that we already had.