Last weekend we started a new Christmas tradition. We joined in with Stir Up Sunday. This was something i'd not heard of before but it's basically the day where you bake your Christmas pudding. Both hubby and I have never attempted to make a Christmas pudding (we've always been naughty and bought one) so when Nature's Finest got in touch and asked if we'd like to bake a pudding with their ingredients, we decided to give it a go.
As a family November hasn't been a great month for us. We have had an unexpected family death and both the girls have had chicken pox. We thought starting this new Christmas tradition would bring us together for some family fun and finally get us in the Christmas spirit.
Stir Up Sunday is an old tradition where on the last Sunday in November, families would all make their Christmas pudding. Legend has it that if each family member stirs the pudding mixture then their wishes will come true. I love the fact that this tradition has a bit of magic in it. It makes it all the more exciting, especially for the kids.
Image from Nature's Finest
We used a recipe provided by Nature's Finest:
Ingredients:
As a family November hasn't been a great month for us. We have had an unexpected family death and both the girls have had chicken pox. We thought starting this new Christmas tradition would bring us together for some family fun and finally get us in the Christmas spirit.
Stir Up Sunday is an old tradition where on the last Sunday in November, families would all make their Christmas pudding. Legend has it that if each family member stirs the pudding mixture then their wishes will come true. I love the fact that this tradition has a bit of magic in it. It makes it all the more exciting, especially for the kids.
Image from Nature's FinestWe used a recipe provided by Nature's Finest:
Ingredients:
· 2 x 400g Nature’s Finest Pitted Prunes in juice, drained
· Butter for greasing
· 150mls dark rum (I didn't include this as I don't like alcohol in puddings!)
· Finely grated zest of 1 large orange
· 75g vegetarian suet
· 75g dark brown sugar
· 75g plain flour
· 2 tsp mixed spice
· 2 tsp ground cinnamon
· 50g white breadcrumbs
· 50g Brazil nuts, roughly chopped
· 1 large egg
· 200g mixed dried fruit
· Butter for greasing
· 150mls dark rum (I didn't include this as I don't like alcohol in puddings!)
· Finely grated zest of 1 large orange
· 75g vegetarian suet
· 75g dark brown sugar
· 75g plain flour
· 2 tsp mixed spice
· 2 tsp ground cinnamon
· 50g white breadcrumbs
· 50g Brazil nuts, roughly chopped
· 1 large egg
· 200g mixed dried fruit
1. Lightly grease a 1.2 litre pudding basin and line the base with disc of baking paper.
2. Cut a 38cm square of baking paper and place it on top of square of foil of the same size. Use butter to grease a circle about 18cm side in the centre of the baking paper then fold a 5cm pleat down the centre.
3. Place 1 pot of prunes in a blender and puree until smooth. Roughly chop the second pot of prunes. Transfer prunes to a mixing bowl, add all the remaining ingredient and mix well
4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared bowl. Place the square of foil and baking paper, greased side down on top of the pudding, with the pleat down the middle. Tie a long piece of string around the rim of the bowl, then loop string over and under the bowl to take a handle.
5. Sit the pudding on a heatproof saucer in a large deep pan, then pour in enough hot water to come half way up the bowl. Cover and simmer for 4 hours topping up water as necessary. Remove and cool store in cool place until required.
6. To reheat steam in a pan for 1 hour or remove foil and baking paper, cover with cling film and microwave for 5-10 minutes or until hot through.
The first thing that shocked me when we starting to make the pudding was how easy the process actually was. We've never had a go at making one before because we assumed the'd be very difficult and quite technical but actually it was fairly simple.
Eva adores baking so she decided to take the lead. We prepared the ingredients with her but hubby and I did any chopping etc. Ophelia wasn't quite sure what to make of it all and sort of sat and observed much to Eva's delight.
To make everything easier for Eva, we separated all of the ingredients into separate bowls so all she had to do was crack an egg and then pour everything into the big bowl. She wasn't very impressed with the smell of the rum, however Daddy thought that was the best part.
Once every ingredient was in, it was time for us all to have a stir and make a wish.
We then left the pudding to cook for 4 hours. I am so impressed with what we managed to make (even if I did break it when trying to remove it from the bowl). I honestly thought it was unachievable. Even though it is broken in places, it still looks and smells amazing. We are having a mock Christmas dinner next week (as we are on holiday for Christmas day) so we will be serving this for dessert with some thick clotted cream. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
We will definetly be joining in with Stir Up Sunday every year. We had such fun enjoying this new Christmas tradition for our young family.
Have you used any Nature's Finest products before? Have you ever made a Christmas pudding?
Eva adores baking so she decided to take the lead. We prepared the ingredients with her but hubby and I did any chopping etc. Ophelia wasn't quite sure what to make of it all and sort of sat and observed much to Eva's delight.
To make everything easier for Eva, we separated all of the ingredients into separate bowls so all she had to do was crack an egg and then pour everything into the big bowl. She wasn't very impressed with the smell of the rum, however Daddy thought that was the best part.
Once every ingredient was in, it was time for us all to have a stir and make a wish.
We then left the pudding to cook for 4 hours. I am so impressed with what we managed to make (even if I did break it when trying to remove it from the bowl). I honestly thought it was unachievable. Even though it is broken in places, it still looks and smells amazing. We are having a mock Christmas dinner next week (as we are on holiday for Christmas day) so we will be serving this for dessert with some thick clotted cream. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
We will definetly be joining in with Stir Up Sunday every year. We had such fun enjoying this new Christmas tradition for our young family.
Have you used any Nature's Finest products before? Have you ever made a Christmas pudding?
*Thank you to Nature's Finest for sending us a hamper to make the pudding*
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We've had a busy week this week which has been a mixed bag of emotions. We've had funerals, a birthday, some fun times, some sad times and now illness. You can catch up with last week's #LittleLoves post here, Ice Skating, Santa and Food Poisoning.
Read:
This week I read an incredible blog post written by Lucy at 'Mrs H's favourite things'. It was An Open Letter To The Girl who Just Attempted Suicide. It was a hard thing for me to read this week after attending the funeral of my beautiful cousin on Monday, who committed suicide due to suffering with a mental health illness. It was such an honest, brave post for Lucy to write and I'm so glad she did. It helps to raise awareness which is what I want to continue to do.
Heard:
Without this sounding morbid, I heard one of my favourite Michael Jackson songs at my cousins funeral. I've always been one of the biggest MJ fans around so to hear this set me off into a million tears. It was 'you are not alone,'. Such a shame to hear it under sad circumstances but the words are beautiful.
Without this sounding morbid, I heard one of my favourite Michael Jackson songs at my cousins funeral. I've always been one of the biggest MJ fans around so to hear this set me off into a million tears. It was 'you are not alone,'. Such a shame to hear it under sad circumstances but the words are beautiful.
Made:
It was Ophelia's 2nd birthday this week and ever since our girls were born, we have made them a special birthday cake ourselves. Ophelia is obsessed with Moana so we decided to throw her a Moana inspired party which of course meant we had to make a Moana themed cake.
I wish I could take most of the credit for this but I can't. Hubby did most of it and I am so proud of him. Ophelia thought it was amazing.
Watched:
This weekend we went to see Olaf's Frozen Adventure followed by Frozen. We all loved it. It was a heart warming Christmas short and the new song is great. The girls had a fab time and Ophelia sat through both screenings singing and clapping.
Wore:
For ophelia's birthday the girls both had new dresses to wear. We went for something sparkly so they'd last through the festive season. Ophelia's was a gorgeous purple dress from Next and Eva had a glittery one from Asda. They looked adorable.
For ophelia's birthday the girls both had new dresses to wear. We went for something sparkly so they'd last through the festive season. Ophelia's was a gorgeous purple dress from Next and Eva had a glittery one from Asda. They looked adorable.
And Lastly:
So with a week of ups and downs, we've ended on a down. Ophelia has caught Eva's chicken pox. I'm trying to put a positive spin on it and i'm grateful that she's got it now rather than when we fly to Australia in a couple of weeks. However, i'm not looking forward to another week in isolation.
How was your week? What did you get up to?
How was your week? What did you get up to?
A couple of months ago we received some wonderful new Cosatto Hubbub ISOFIX car seats. We took them on a road trip to London. See how we got on.
“Mum are we there yet?”
She asked as I strapped her in,
“No we’ve not left yet”
I replied whilst thinking about Gin.
The boot was jam packed,
The snacks were ready made,
With our new Cosatto car seats,
We as parents were not afraid.
The journey would be long,
Entertainment was at the ready,
Hubbub car seats with ISOFIX were fixed in,
So, we knew the kids would be steady.
“Are we nearly there yet,”
They chirped from the back,
We strapped them in with the 5-point harness,
This anti-escape system would be a tough one to crack.
We set off for London,
The kids couldn’t wait to arrive,
Half way through the journey,
We were in for a surprise.
“Are we nearly there yet”
She shouted with desperation,
“Will you stop asking that annoying question”
Daddy replied with much frustration.
“But I need a wee”
“I need to go right now”
We raced to the nearest service station,
By the sweat of one’s brow.
“It’s too late, it’s too late”
She shouted on endless repeat,
With removable washable covers,
We didn’t worry about the seat.
“Are we nearly there yet”
She was fed up of sitting still,
“mummy I’ve got something to tell you”
“The smell of my sister’s nappy is making me ill.”
“OH NO” I cried,
“It looks like a poonami”
Another pit stop it is,
The journey was driving us barmy.
We pulled in at the services,
Could we get her out slickly?
But with the quick release harness,
She was out pretty quickly.
We continued our journey,
Along the long m4,
The girls were clearly comfy,
Because they started to snore.
Two sleeping bunnies,
All safe and secure,
In their fab, new car seats,
They looked so innocent and pure.
“Are we nearly there yet”
She asked for the last time,
“Yes we’re in London,”
I replied with a chime.
We unpacked the car,
But didn’t have to take the seat,
They were fitted with ISOFIX,
Not having to carry them was such a relief.
We had a fab time in London,
The kids were easy to please,
Back into her happy stars car seat,
Littlest thought she was the bee’s knees.
Thank you Cosatto,
The car seats were great,
They’ll last them for years,
More adventures await.
*A big thank you to Cosatto for kindly sending us two car seats for our journey. All opinions are our own*
With Ophelia turning 2 next week, I thought it was the perfect month to join in again with The Siblings Project. However, shamefully I looked for my last siblings update and it was back in January of this year!! I can't believe I haven't shared pics of the girls and talked about their relationship since then. You can read it here, Siblings Project January 2017.
Eva will be 5 in January and Ophelia 2 next week. Their relationship is very different now. They are most definitely acting like sisters. It's wonderful to see. The big change that i've seen is that they now play together properly. They play games, do role play, they'll sing and dance together and keep each other entertained.
Of course playing together isn't always harmonious. They are typical siblings. They fight like cats and dogs if one of them has something the other one wants. But that's normal and to be expected. Listening to Ophelia telling Eva off is hilarious. She still can't string sentences together so it's usually a lot of loud gibberish with finger pointing.
Ophelia clearly idolises her big sister. You can tell she thinks of her as her hero. She wants to be just like her and copies her every move. The dance routines they do are usually the best.
They both love Disney films (well that was always going to be the case with such a Disney obsessed mum). They quite often reenact Frozen which is adorable.
This month they've had lots of exciting experiences already. They visited our local Winter Wonderland and they had the time of their lives. Seeing their little faces on the rides was super cute. They laughed and giggled all evening. You can read about it here, Cardiff's Winter Wonderland.
They also got to meet Santa last week which was an awesome experience. It was a walk through Candyland before meeting the big man himself. Ophelia wasn't sure of him at first but finally sat near him for a picture.
The end of November will be very exciting with Ophelia's birthday. Then is December we are heading to Australia to visit our family for Christmas so I should hopefully have lots of Siblings things to share with you in the upcoming months.
Of course playing together isn't always harmonious. They are typical siblings. They fight like cats and dogs if one of them has something the other one wants. But that's normal and to be expected. Listening to Ophelia telling Eva off is hilarious. She still can't string sentences together so it's usually a lot of loud gibberish with finger pointing.
Ophelia clearly idolises her big sister. You can tell she thinks of her as her hero. She wants to be just like her and copies her every move. The dance routines they do are usually the best.
They both love Disney films (well that was always going to be the case with such a Disney obsessed mum). They quite often reenact Frozen which is adorable.
This month they've had lots of exciting experiences already. They visited our local Winter Wonderland and they had the time of their lives. Seeing their little faces on the rides was super cute. They laughed and giggled all evening. You can read about it here, Cardiff's Winter Wonderland.
They also got to meet Santa last week which was an awesome experience. It was a walk through Candyland before meeting the big man himself. Ophelia wasn't sure of him at first but finally sat near him for a picture.
The end of November will be very exciting with Ophelia's birthday. Then is December we are heading to Australia to visit our family for Christmas so I should hopefully have lots of Siblings things to share with you in the upcoming months.
Time for last weeks Little Loves post. I've recently started joining in and I love it. It's a great way of remembering all the little things we did during the week. If you missed my last post then catch up with it here, Halloween, Magic Shows and Mindfulness.
We had a really busy week last week which included lots of festive activities that have put me in the Christmas spirit.
Read:
Last week I was mainly reading my latest edition of the BBC Good Food magazine. I have a subscription because I love it and this particular issue is always my favourite. It features the taste test results of all of the Christmas food which I find very handy.
Heard:
I have digital radio in my car and noticed that there are now a few dedicated Christmas channels. I've had 'Magic Christmas' on constantly. I know, I know it's too early for some but I don't care. Christmas is my fave holiday of the year so i've been very happy, driving around listening to the delights of Mariah Carey 'All I Want for Christmas'.
Made:
I've been making lots and lots of lists. I'm trying to be organised this year but this month is just flying by. We have a lot on over the next few weeks with Ophelia's birthday, Christmas and going to Australia so I currently have lists everywhere for various things. Just gotta work on actually ticking stuff off.
Watched:
Wahoo the rugby internationals have started. I went into town for some mum time and watched Wales v Australia in a bar with some work friends. We had a good drink and a good laugh. Shame about the rugby score though. Hopefully we'll have a win this weekend.
Wore:
We've mainly been wearing winter clothes. I bought a lovely new black knitted poncho from Primark, which I wore ice-skating. We had a fab time at the press evening of our local Winter Wonderland. We tried out all of the rides but the highlight was the ice-skating. You can read about our time there here, Cardiff's Winter Wonderland.
Ophelia kept warm by wearing her amazing snowsuit from Jojo Maman Bébé. She adores it and I think she looks super cute in it. You can find out more about it over on this blog post, Embracing the outdoors with Jojo Maman Bébé.
Lastly:
Lastly I was convinced I had food poisoning I ate a soup at lunch which really didn't sit well in my belly. A few hours later and I was being violently sick with a fever. I was really ill. I then continued to be sick, a fever on and off and unfortunately unpleasantness the other end (gross :() for days. It may have been a bug but I am sure it was the soup. Needless to say i'll never be eating it again.
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