Easiest Tea Bread Recipe - Ever!

Here's the recipe for yesterday's Silent Sunday photograph...

Tea Bread - serves 6-8, depending on how thick you like your slices!

1 mug of cold tea (no milk)
225g mixed dried fruit - sultanas, raisins, currants, mixed peel - any combination of!
225g self raising flour
125g caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
2 tbsp orange maramalade

1. Place the fruit in a small bowl and pour the tea over the top.  Soak overnight or until the fruit swells (I soaked the fruit for about 4 hours and that was OK).
2. Grease a 675g loaf tin and preheat the oven to Gas 4.
3. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl; then pour in the fruit and any left over tea.  Stir thoroughly.
4. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 1 hour and 10 mins... check after 1 hour and then every 5 minutes until the top is nicely browned and a skewer when inserted comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin.
6. Job done!

This is really easy to make and the preparation is quick too - so long as you have planned ahead with the "fruit-soaking"!  It also keeps really well and is actually better after about 2 days of storage so don't eat it all really quickly (or double up and bake 2 loaves).  You can see from the photo that it's quite a moist cake as it's full of fruit.

You can serve it sliced on it's own or with butter... after about 1 week (if it lasts that long!) it also makes great bread and butter pudding.

As a variation to the recipe, I also use different teas.  The recipe calls for normal English tea, but I have used fruit teas, Earl Grey, Assam teas, etc... just to give a slight twist to the flavour!

It's enjoyed by all in my family and a good cake to have in "stock" for unexpected visitors.  It's low in fat and a great way to get some fruit into your little one's tums!

The recipe is adapted from a Nigella Lawson recipe - have a look at the other great recipes on her site here.

Silent Sunday 8th July 2012

Bottle Top Review

I came across these groovy little things at a market a while back... I was drawn in by the neon colours and impulsively bought 4.  What on earth are they, you might ask... well I'm still not 100% of the correct name but "bottle tops for cans" is the closest and best description I can think of!

They cleverly "snap" on top of any standard drinks can providing a resealable top that keeps the fizz in and the wasps out!  I don't often drink a full can in one go (and nor do my children!) and so these are ideal for use in the home or on journeys in the car or on the train.  So long as the top is tightened like a normal drinks bottle, they are completely spill-proof and are reusable so will last indefinitely!

These are definitely the invention that you don't think you need until you own one (or 4!).  I have done a bit of digging around and they are easily available in the USA but on British soil, eBay seems to be the best place to get your hands on them!


They were definitely a great impluse buy and now I'm looking forward to a summer full of picnics and days out.. once the sun decides to grace us with it's presence once more!

Discovery Mexican BBQ Fajita Recipe Kit Review

Thanks to the guys over at Discovery, we had the chance to sample the new Mexican BBQ Fajita kit.  The kit includes the spice mix, sour cream and plain flour tortilla wraps so the only ingredients you need to add are the chicken, peppers and onions.

When shopping, watch out for the new packaging on the shelf.... using 15% less cardboard than the older design is better for our planet!  My husband nearly popped to the shop to buy wraps as he didn't believe they were in the pack, but trust me they are!

The spice mix is a mild, family friendly one - I love food with a bit of a kick - this has a good flavour but not too hot for younger children to enjoy.  It was easy to make - no lengthy marinating time so a quick decision tea is possible!  Including preparation, it took about 25 minutes from start to finish - enough time for a quick read of the newspaper in peace whilst the children changed out of their school uniforms (and the potatoes steamed!).

We had the Mexican BBQ fajitas with a green side salad and home-grown baby new potatoes (the onions we used were home-grown too!).  Four clean plates shows that it was enjoyed by all 4 of us and was a great Friday evening meal! As the kit itself is vegetarian and vegan friendly, you can substitute the meat for more vegetables and/or lentils to make a great tasting vegetarian dish too.

This is great addition to the range and I look forward to the next new ideas coming up!

Pop over to the Discovery Facebook page and give them a wave... there you can keep up to date with new products and, of course, their Freebie Friday giveaways!

"Christmas in July" 2012

Last Tuesday I went to my first PR event - Christmas in July 2012.  I made the epic journey starting at 4am with two of my friends; fellow bloggers Really Rachel and Missing Sleep.  As well as viewing and testing the new toys available on the market for Christmas 2012, we were also helping to judge the UKMums.tv mums choice awards.

True to my name I enjoyed sampling the multitude of cupcakes on offer with each display being sponsored by a different toy or PR company.  We also had ice cream with lots of different toppings and of course, Christmas Cake!

  
We thought that we would have lighter bags on the way home, having eaten our stash of goodies on the journey down to London, but receiving a goody bag full of exciting toys at the event meant that we were more laden down on the way home than we expected!

The toys on display from all traders were great - from pocket money toys up to "main" present toys, involving educational and traditional games to electronic and state of the art gagets!


Gifts for boys included GO Mini Stunt Launcher from Golden Bear Toys.  Each Mini has it's own characteristics unique to that model - wheelies, skids and spins are all part of the fun.  They do not need batteries which stops the TV remote constantly being devoid of batteries when needed in an emergency!  I also liked the new HEXBUG designs - the scarab beetle moves fantastically speedily and is so much fun to watch as the bugs explore the environment around them.

The girl's stands were just as exciting as the boy's ones - a new range of Bratz dolls named Bratzillaz (MGA Entertainment) seemed a favourite to me, along with the Novi Stars dolls; each one having it's own unique feature... bubblegum smelling or glitter-filled to name just two!  I also liked the Orbeez Soothing Spa from Character Options - a relaxing foot spa for tweens to pamper themselves (and their Mum's - hopefully!).

There were lots of creative play options too - with all the rainy days we are having, wet weather play is sure to be a hit over the summer as well as for Christmas!  Wooky Entertainment have some great girly craft products; also I was especially impressed with a range of games from Scotchi.  Although the packaging and instructions are in English, the actual game pieces have no written words on them and so can be used bi-lingually.  As a bi-lingual Welsh/English family, these games are great to develop language skills for both my children and myself as a Welsh learner.

There were plenty of pre-school gifts on display... I liked the Stacking Hoops from Play To Z Ltd.  As I have no pre-schoolers in my home any longer, I would gladly borrow one or two to enjoy playing with their toys and games!  They also have sensory tales packs which are able to used by older children to help develop their imaginative and creative play.  I loved the ethics and background behind the Play To Z Ltd range of toys; you can read more about their research here.

With a little time before our train home, I made a quick detour to King's Cross Platform 9 3/4 for a photo opportunity... 

Keep an eye out over the next few weeks for some reviews of fantastic products for Christmas 2012 and there will be some giveaways too!  I can't wait for Christmas now!

Nestle Cheerios "Grab 2 Go" Packs Review

We were sent a new concept in Cheerios products - "Grab 2 Go" packs are portion sized bags of delicious Cheerios perfect for packed lunches (school and work!), picnics and also for a quick snack on the go at any time of the day!  Living "out in the sticks" any journey is quite often a long one... our nearest "big" shops are an hour and a half away so these are great as a snack in the car for the kids (and me!).  They would also be good to pop into an overnight case for a quick trip away; better than carrying a normal-sized cereal box around with you!

They come in a multipack of 5 - the magic number for packed lunches... 5 school/work days = 5 packets in a multipack, perfect!  As more and more schools (quite rightly!) are promoting healthy lunchboxes, these are an ideal snack to replace sweeties and savoury snacks much higher in fat than Cheerios.  And, of course, they carry the usual wholegrain guarantee that Cheerios are proud of!  The 25g packs are just the right size for a snack.

The new packaging certainly does solve the problem of a trail of Cheerios where my son has sneaked a handful from the packet and is wandering around munching them one by one!  It's like a scene from "Hansel and Gretel"... at least I can always find him!

To keep up to date with new Cheerios products and news about existing products, pop over to the Cheerios UK Facebook page and say "Hello!".

Silent Sunday 1st July 2012