Father's Day

These days (now I'm a parent) I really love the days which celebrate all that we do. It's really not about gifts or cards (although they might be nice), it's about enjoying time as a family and how blessed we feel every day to have such a wonderful little girl.

Small and I made (after several attempts!) salt dough hand prints as a gift and we'd planned a day out with my parents so I'd get to see my dad too!

After pigging out on lunch at Wholefoods we headed over to Snowhill Manor.

My dad as usual took comand of the pushchair and ran around on the trails leading upto the manor making Small laugh with delight. She loves her Grandad, so it was lovely to all spend time together.

Sadly we spent a little too much time in Wholefoods and didn't make it in time for entrance to the house, but we had a nosey around the grounds. We'll have to go back when Small is a little older so she can enjoy it too :)

New York! New York.... Part 1

With a young child we weren't sure about having a honeymoon - I mean what do other people do? We wanted to do something really special, and whilst I've been to the USA quite a lot and Mr B is there all the time for work we'd never been to NY and we'd never been together! Small has a fantastic and secure attachment to my parents, she absolutely loves them and vice versa so although I knew I was going to miss her like crazy - I also knew that she would be just find and completely happy with them.
It's taken me a few months to get around to writing this post because we did so much! I think we went to 14 different v*gan places to eat during our stay!
We stayed at the Sanctuary Hotel which was located just off Times Square with a subway station at the end of the street so were really well located to explore the city.
We arrived a bit later than expected due to a delayed flight so we were both pretty tired. We decided on a quick walk through Times Square to hunt out a branch of Moaz.



My only experience of this chain previously is of the one in Soho, London. I'd not been wowed over then but we just needed something quick to eat without having to go too far. The thing is - the Falafel here was really good, so good in fact we went back again later in the week.
After a good nights sleep we decided to jump in feet first and figure out the subway to head over to Brooklyn and check out Dun-Well Doughnuts. 
 


I've just got to say it outright - I LOVED this place. I think it is almost my favorite place we ate at of the whole trip! Who wouldn't love a 100% vegan doughnut shop?!




I had the doughnut sundae with a coconut doughnut and cookies 'n cream ice cream. It was divine! We also got a box of 12 assorted flavours to take away and eat at our leisure.





 

Whilst we are on the subject of vegan treats... my other favorite place was Lula's Sweet Apothecary. 

 It's amazing really. If you are in the area you HAVE to visit! 

I had a sundae with graham cracker topping, vegan cream and a cherry on the top! I chose cookies n cream and mint as my ice cream flavours as they are my absolute favorite.

Another 'sweet' place we visited was Babycakes Nyc. I have to say, I was pretty excited about this place as I'd drooled over their books over the past few years. I had a cookie sandwich, and it was pretty good - but you know what? I liked Dunwell and Lula's better.

 More to come in the next installment!

Salt Dough Handprints

Last year was Mr B's first Father's Day. Small and I made a lovely card with lots of photos, but although it was a very special day we didn't get up to too much. Small was under 1 month old and we were all sleep deprived and very new to being parents!
This year I fancied the idea of making something special. We had brought a hand print mold kit ages ago, but we've been too scared to do it! She's such a wriggle bum I just know it'd be near impossible to get her to hold still for the 30 seconds required. That's why salt dough appealed - it's not as detailed but if it goes wrong you can just kneed the dough a little and start again.
Despite this supposedly being an 'easy' craft and me being quite crafty I have to admit to messing it up a few times. Not on making the dough, but getting the thickness right to get a deep enough hand print without making it so thick it won't dry.

Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup fine salt
1/2 cup water

First mix your dry ingredients together, then slowly add the water until you form a nice ball of dough. You'll need to kneed it for about 5 minutes to get a nice smooth texture, if you have them I found it's best to use non stick silicone sheets for this rather than flouring a surface as on my first couple of tries I ended up with flour on the surface of it once dry.
I separated the dough into two and roughly rolled out to about 1/2 inch thick. After a few tries I got nice clear hand prints,  then used a straw to cut a hole for hanging.

I used my dehydrator to dry the dough. It took about 12 hours at about 67c (the highest setting) and I turned them over about halfway through. You can also dry these in an oven set between 50c and 100c for about four hours. Make sure you use baking paper or silicone sheet underneath your dough so it doesn't stick!

Once dry you can paint it however you like (acrylic paints work best) and to really make it last you can use a coat of spray varnish.

The same method can also be used to create lovely footprints, decorations and models.

Whilst My Baby Sleeps

Small and I have been really busy getting ready for Father's Day. I know it's not until Sunday, but it's the last day that I won't have Mr B under my feet! 

After all the excitement I took her for a drive so that she'd nap, and here I am sitting in the car outside the house listening to my Ipod whilst she has a good snooze (today's choice is The Cure BTW. Robert Smith <3 )

I think back to this time last year and Small was TINY!  I remember placing Mr B's first Father's Day card in her moses basket for him to find after a long night of having not much sleep on the sofa and use of the 'white noise' app on my Ipad. Memories are precious.

So as I sit here waiting for her to wake I'm enjoying my time to reflect. I'll let you in on what we've been getting ready after the day.

 

Bed Hogging (otherwise know as Cosleeping)

I've talked about how/ why we co sleep before. We don't do it all the time, but more nights than not in a week Small will end up in her sidecar cot right next to me snoozing away.

I love waking up and seeing her happily asleep by my side (most mornings she wakes me up with a big smile though). This morning actually wasn't one of those. She slept all night in her own cot, in her own room. In fact she actually even slept in until 8:30, and I found her 'reading' her Miffy books in her cot.

I enjoy these nights, because well... I get more sleep. The thing is though I miss the cuddles we might of had if she'd have been in with me. I can't win!

I'm feeling all reflective over our sleeping arrangements as a family this morning because truth be told this is the first time she's spent the whole night in her own room in weeks. She wakes for feeds and/ or cuddles almost every night... And I give them to her. I'm always being told she shouldn't be allowed milk in the night as it 'encourages' her to wake up for it, or I should let her cry when she wakes up so she'll learn to go back to sleep. I could never do any of those things. I don't let her 'cry it out', we cuddle instead.

 

Gluten Free 'Cheese' Rolls

These rolls are best served warm right out of the oven and go great with a burger or lovely bowl of soup. I used Daiya vegan cheese for these - as Mr B makes regular trips to the US we have a good supply in our freezer, but it's REALLY hard to get hold of in the UK normally. A good substitute would be Redwood's Soya Free .
I use my bread machine on a dough cycle for these. It makes it simple and means I can leave it to it's own devices and play with Small or do some dreaded housework instead. If you don't have a bread machine it can be easily done by hand.

Ingredients

450g gluten free bread flour

350ml soya milk (or plain rice milk)

3 Tsp white chia seeds (mixed and left to soak in 10 Tsp water to make an egg replaced mixture)

8 Tbsp oil

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tsp salt

2 Tsp red wine vinegar (make sure it's gluten free)

2 Tbsp Quick Yeast

 

Handful of shredded vegan cheese of choice.

Place everything except the yeast into your bread machine pan and stir with a spoon well. Put your yeast on top and run a dough cycle.

Once finished divide dough into about 6 rolls, top with 'cheese' and bake at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes. You might want to use an oil spray to grease the tin and on top of the rolls so that they brown.

Gluten Free Scones

I really love scones. With jam and 'cream' they are divine, I didn't have any on hand for this batch - but Soyatoo Whipping 'Cream' is the best vegan one I've found.

Ingredients

200g Plain Gluten Free Flour - I used Dove's Farm
2 TSP Gluten Free Baking Powder (also Dove's Farm)
2 TSP Xanthan Gum 
1 TSP Ground Flaxseed
15g Sugar
40g Margarine (I use Pure Sunflower)
150ml Almond or Rice Milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Place the flour, xanthan gum, flaxseed and baking powder in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add the margarine and rub in until a 'bread crumb' texture is achieved.
Add the sugar, and then the 'milk' and mix into a wet dough.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut cookie sized circles around 2 inches thick (this is slightly thicker than you would cut 'ordinary' scones, but these do no rise as much).
Place on a lightly greased oven tin and cook for between 10 and 15 minutes.
Serve split in half with jam and 'cream' of your choice. Enjoy!