It seems that my feet have hardly touched the ground recently.  It's been a whirlwind of family activity and it's been fab! 

 

I love pancakes. 
I love the classic English, thin pancake with lemon and sugar.  It's still strange to me that most Brits only eat this once a year on Pancake Day. 
I also love the fluffy, thick American style pancakes eaten for breakfast.  Luckily for me so does everyone else in the house!
I know its not a true American version as I also add a few oats in the mix.  Weekends here can be crazy busy and with swimming, playing, climbing and generally larking about a dose of energy filled oats at breakfast is a must.  If you don't wish to add oats simply add 25g of extra flour to the recipe below. 
These are a true weekend breakfast essential- whip up some yourself and you will see the light.......

Ingredients
30g (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
200g plain flour
25g oats
2 heaped teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
Pinch of salt
300 ml milk
2 eggs
Butter for frying pancakes


Method

1.Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly
2.In a large bowl, add the flour, oats add baking powder, sugar and salt. Stir to combine.
3.In a jug, measure out the milk, beat in the eggs and then the slightly cooled butter, and pour this liquid mix into the bowl of dry ingredients, whisking as you do so.
4.Heat a non-stick frying pan, smear with a small bit of butter. Pour small amounts into the pan- I use a quarter-cup measure. When you see bubbles erupting on the surface, turn the pancakes over and cook for a couple of minutes, if that, on the other side.
5. Pile the pancakes onto plates, dribble or pour over your choice of syrup, fruit, chocolate sauce, marshmallows, bananas etc etc!































Funky Syrup
To jazz up my pancakes I make a simple syrup.  Simply add berries such as blackberries, blueberries or strawberries to a pan.  I often use frozen berries for this too.  Add a generous dollop of syrup- use table syrup, golden syrup or if feeling extravagant maple syrup and apply gentle heat to the pan till the syrup is bubbling.  Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly whilst the berries give up their juices and mix together to make amazingly good, funky coloured syrup. 




Apply to pancakes, or apply to face as is usually the case with my little darlings! 

Everyone loves to feel loved.  Getting nice comments from people is amazingly good for the soul.  This last week alone I had two total strangers tell me how nice I looked and that made me smile- a big goofy smile too! 

It's that old chestnut where women are supposed to feel sexually harassed when a builder wolf whistles at them with a "alright darlin" added in for good measure.  Should you feel offended?  Perhaps you should but in my youth (sounding old again!), it has happened to me and it made me feel good!  It made me smile not wish to run out and burn my bra in protest!  I think most people want to feel wanted, needed and special.

But what about unwanted attention?  What do you do when something is so attracted to your pale English body that when the buggers appear you run for cover?  I am not talking about builders, workmen or any men for that matter, its bloody mosquito season again! 

I must have a sign above me saying "MOSQUITO CAFE".  They silently hover up to me and do what they do.  They either get caught in the act and squished immediately (bad karma maybe but it's a mosquito and one less is a good thing to me!),  or fly off only for me to notice the bite mark slowly rising into a lump.  OK, you're saying what is so bad about that?  It's what happens next that makes me loath the mossy!  The bite will swell, get red, get angry, get itchy and make the area around it burn like its on fire.  The heat that radiates from each bite is quite amazing.  Oh and if I get bitten too many times, it makes me feel quite unwell.  Feverish, sick tired etc etc, you get the picture.
I read on the good old Internet that a bite can be itchy and swollen in bad cases for a few hours!  I almost spat my coffee out at that statement.  Try four days minimum! 

I have stuff for after I get bitten too and it only eases my discomfort for 10 mins at most and then we are back to stingy, angry heat and irritation.  Last year I relied heavily on good old DEET but its not part of a healthy skin regime in my eyes so this year I have taken a few extra steps in order to win the mossy war. 

This is my plan of attack:
* Off Clip-On Mosquito Repellent- rather than spray it on my, this little device uses a fan to mist DEET around me, apparently keeping bugs 3m away.  Possibly the smell will also keep people 3m away too- yet to see if this is true- I will report back. 
*Vitamin B1- this is a not so proven method of attack against the mossy but Mr Google's search powers have led me to believe it may help with the itching if I get bitten
*All out war body coverage- this is not my best solution unless I want to get some serious looks from passers by but I will win this war and if this is what it takes, this is what I got!
I also rely heavily on antihistamines as I am sure many other summer suffers do.  I feel like I have enough ammunition to see me through but no doubt my will power will be put to test as I try not to itch- even though it will feel good- MUST RESIST! 

Do you have any anti mossy techniques- other than full body coverage?

I cannot promise they will be instant Jamie Olivers, but as much as I like a tidy kitchen kids have got to learn to cook and making a mess is how they do it best- in my humble opinion!


My golden rule when cooking and baking with kids is to let the mess happen. If mess makes you stressed, look at ways to contain the disaster zone. A large tray underneath any sprinkling or mixing can really help and when weighing out, give your children a spoon to scoop out flour and sugar rather than upturning a whole bag into your measuring bowl. Let them get their hands dirty (putting flour on your hands and then clapping them together is a particular fave of mine!), but have a sink run with soapy water at the ready. 

There are so many recipes I would like to suggest to get you and your kids cooking but remember a few rules when selecting:

• Keep it simple- not too many ingredients, not too many steps and not too complicated a process.
• Keep it fun- pick things that can be iced, decorated and covered in sprinkles to start off with.
• Keep it tasty- My kids love a relatively spicy Thai chicken curry but don't think your kids will love chili so hot it tingles their lips into meltdown!  If your making a meal for all the family pick something everyone will love- if your kids helped cook it, getting to watch everyone finish their plates, smiling will be the best inspiration to keep cooking.
• Keep up with gadgets- my kids love revving my KitchenAid up to full tilt!  Their faces light up as the beater spins furiously, spraying mixture all over the surrounding area!  It's a way to get much smaller children involved.  My 6 year old can stir a hot pan at the stove now but my 3 year old is quite happy with revving the gadgets.  Both are involved but at the right level for their age!  Simply letting your kids switch things on is a start to cooking.

I hope my two boys will love cooking, or at the very least be able to fend for themselves in the big world one day.  I know they will still order bad food from a shop with a fluorescent sign at 2am in the morning but I just hope they don't try to warm a pot noodle up on the oven hob (Hubby's friend at University did that, only to set many fire alarms off!).

Giving your kids the right start in the kitchen is a win win situation!  I figure in a few years they can cook me a meal, whilst I relax, gin and tonic in hand.  Oh, one final tip- teach them to love washing up too, and if you figure out how to make men love this job let me know!!

My top kids recipes to follow soon.......