Here’s some inspiration to help your Shrove Tuesday be a flippin’ good time!

With so many styles of pancake to choose from, I’m sharing a recipe for my own favourite, and clearly a classic. Crepe-style flat pancakes with lemon and sugar. The large flat pancakes lend themselves equally well to a fat filling, and some ideas are listed underneath – so let’s get cracking!

What you need (makes 8-10 pancakes depending on the size of your pan):

3 large eggs
1.5 cups semi-skimmed milk
1 cup plain flour
vegetable or olive oil
a ladle, whisk, spatula, plates and a big bowl.
All the family assembled watching your pancake mastery!

Fillings of your choice.

The batter should begin with the eggs, cracked and whisked until bubbly, then begin to add the milk a quarter at a time, still whisking. Do the same with the flour, continue to whisk, and then the milk, and then the flour, and so on until you have a batter that coats the back of a ladle.

Fire up the pan, it is often good to use spray oil or, if you don’t have any, oil wiped on a little kitchen roll and applied to the pan to season it. Each pancake should use no more than a 10p-piece size drop of oil. You will need a high heat under your pancake pan and a plate nearby for the end product (whether clutched with anticipation in little hands or ready to stack)

Pour in your first ladle of batter, and swish the batter around the pan by moving the pan in a circular motion high above the heat. Continue the circular motion until the batter no longer moves. You can see from the thickness of this first pancake how much batter to add in the future – if it’s too thick, add less, and too thin and therefore more likely to stick, add more next time. The aim of the circular motion is to make the pancake of equal thickness all the way around, with no thin, lace like edges likely to stick.

As soon as the pancake looks solid, begin to loosen the edges with a spatula, until the whole pancake swirls around in the pan if you do that semi-pretentious-fancy-chef type hand movement, swizzing it round like it’s on the Waltzers.

You’re ready to flip. If you don’t fancy pancakes on the ceiling, just slide the spatula in between the pancake and pan , and turn it in one swift motion. If you’re into a bit of a show, take the pan off the heat, slide the pancake to the front edge of the pan and move the pan sharply upwards in the air, to get the full flip. It can take a bit of practice!

The other side of the pancake will take only 30 seconds or so to be ready, and then you’re onto your next. Just flip and go!

Some ideas for fillings:

Cheese and mushroom
Cheese and spinach
Fried onion and bacon
Chicken and bacon in a cream sauce
Spinach in cheese sauce
Caramelised apple
Plum and orange sauce
Apple jelly
Maple syrup
Golden syrup and raisins
Bananas and chocolate sauce
Vanilla ice cream with toffee sauce

Please add your own filling suggestions below!

Rain, snow, ice, cold … when the weather does not play nice it is good to have an easy back up indoor activity.

The great thing about home made play dough is that you know exactly what is in it so even though it is not for eating it is less worrying if a small person manages to sneak a bite…

This recipe is very quick and very easy made with ingredients that a lot of us will have in the house anyway. The recipe makes a very decent amount so you may want to make half  if making lots of colours

Ingredients:

1 cup of plain flour

1/4 cup salt

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 cup of water

1 teaspoon of vegetable oil

food colouring if you want to make coloured dough

Method:

Mix all the dry ingredients in the pan and add the water, oil and food colouring. Mix very well and heat on a low heat until it comes away from the sides of the pan.

Knead into a ball and make sure it is cool enough before giving it to the children.

A beautiful musical picture for this week. I do not think it needs any further words, just enjoy!

Copyright Martin Zalesny

This is my favourite baby wearing picture. It was taken as part of a photography exhibition of babywearers in Leicester. When my partner saw it at the exhibition he became very emotional. I love to play piano and harp with our baby in our mei tai, and she loves it too.

Diane (Happytune)

Regardless of whether and how you celebrate valentines day it is kind of good to be told you are loved.

So from all of us at Natural Mamas:

Thank you for being a part of the site, we could not do it without you!!

Will you be celebrating tomorrow??

Natural Mamas is very excited to announce that we have teamed up with Sarah from Embrace Art to bring you some FREE colouring sheets.

Sarah says:

“I was thrilled when Natural Mamas asked me to produce their colouring sheets, the forum is a huge source of information and support for me so it is a real honour. I’m so nervous and excited to see how they will be received by the forum members and I can hardly believe that that they could be on playroom walls and fridges across the world! I really hope children enjoy colouring them as much as I enjoyed drawing them.

I love babywearing and I love art…I don’t know why it took me so long to combine the two! Embrace Art started as simple babywearing pieces in pencil and ink but its quickly grown into much more. I am experimenting with pregnancy and birth artwork as well as breastfeeding and also trying out new things such as paper cutting and incorporating fabric. Embrace Art has allowed me to find a little piece of ‘me’ amongst the ups and downs of being a SAHM to a child with special needs. I’m really excited to see where Embrace Art is going to take me.”

A winter carrying  picture for a cold day. Got to love those big blue eyes!

I have about a billion babywearing photos, having worn all of my five living children, but when asked which is my favourite this one sprang to mind. It’s of my Angus, he’ll be 10 in March. This was taken on a beach treasure hunt in December 2003, it was so cold, but he had fun on my back in our much loved (at the time) Ergo.

Jeanette (IndiaEden)

This chicken dish is tried and tested and a real hit all round. Creamy and tangy, it’s a real one pot wonder that doesn’t break the bank, and it’s great for using up odds and ends of vegetables. We’ve also tried it with pork chops and it worked equally well.

The recipe below feeds four but is easily expanded to feed more. The vegetables can be adjusted according to taste or larder.

- 8 pieces of chicken on the bone (legs and thighs ideal)
- a handful of cherry tomatoes or several larger tomatoes chopped roughly
- one lemon, halved
- a large courgette, chopped
- chopped mushrooms
- one red pepper and one green, deseeded and roughly chopped
- 2 small red onions, peeled and quartered
- arborio or other risotto rice, a dry handful per person
- clove of garlic
- oregano

Lay the chicken out in a big roasting dish with space in between the pieces. Roughly chop all the vegetables into big pieces and throw it all in. Take three or four garlic segments and crush them with your knife, no need to peel, just remember how many there are as you will need to remove them before serving. Season the dish, add a generous sprinkle of oregano, a splash of olive oil, cut the lemon in half (watch for seeds) and squeeze it over the whole lot, then chuck the lemon in too.

Place in the oven on medium (200 degrees) until the chicken skins look crispy and cooked (about 25-30 mins). Take the dish out of the oven, notice the fair amount of juice in the bottom. Sprinkle the dry rice over, a few handfuls here and there, pushing it all under the liquid level, adding a little extra water if required. Return it to the oven, checking occasionally and adding more liquid if required, until the rice is cooked (about 20 further minutes).

Remove the garlic pieces and lemon before serving if possible. The chicken should fall off the bone but have crunchy skin and the rice should have a lovely creamy garlic lemon taste.

This takes about three minutes to throw in a roasting dish and about an hour in the oven with occasional stirring, so it’s a labour saver, and very easy to eat out of a family dish – just add spoons!

Here is February’s first blog challenge by Charlotte:

I’m sure we all have them stashed away in a cupboard, so here’s your chance to do something a bit different with one of them.

Upcycle a jam jar!

I made a couple of jar jumpers for them for Christmas presents:

The daffodil vase was for a relative with a love of the sunny flowers. The square jars were a charity shop find, and once covered were filled with sweets.

It doesn’t have to be a jar jumper. Try glass painting or paper mache. Make a pen holder or a snow globe.

And the kids can join in too. Here’s a lantern my daughter made with leaves, tissue paper and lots of glue!

Don’t forget to share ideas and post your pics on the thread on the forum.

And if you have any ideas for our blog challenges please pm Charlotte

This weeks babywearing picture is from Liz. Taken at Sutton Hoo last year.

Taken at Sutton Hoo in late September this year with LO aged 7 months.  I like it because it always brings a smile to my face – and reminds me of a lovely, lovely day.

Liz

Thank you for sharing Liz! It really is a wonderful picture.

We are still looking for more pictures to feature! If you want to enter yours please email Sarah on reviews@naturalmamas.co.uk with your picture and an explanation as to why it is your favourite!

Wrap that is.

And not just any old wrap either. Natural Mamas is working together with Oscha – A very popular wrap company based right here in the UK. Of course we wanted to get some input on the wrap and we are now in the last stages of the colour selection.

Click on the image to go to the voting thread!

Voting closes on Friday after which more details will be released! Hope you are all as excited as we are!!