Single Mummy; One In A Million: March 2011

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Strange & Pointless Facts

Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until that are 2-6 years old!

The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year!

Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie!

You're born with 300, but when you get to be an adult you only have 206!

Your body is creating and killing 15 million red blood cells per second!

In the course of a lifetime the average person will grow 2 metres of nose hair!

Durring your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that's the weight of about 6 elephants!

A sneeze can blast out of your nose at a speed greater than 100mph!

The average cough comes out the mouth at 60 mph!

The ashes of the average cremated person weighs 9 pounds!

Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, every time you breathe!

One quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet!

You'll eat about 35,000 cookies in a lifetime!

It is impossible to kill yourself by holding your breath!

85% of your brain is water!

A person uses approximately 57 sheets of toilet paper each day!

Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different!

Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!

When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop - even your heart!

Humans blink over 10,000,000 times a year!

A fetus develops fingerprints at eighteen weeks!

Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin!

The average person laughs 13 times a day!

Men are 6 times more likely to be struck by lightning than a women!

More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money printed throughout the world!

The elephant is one of the few mammals that can't jump!

A giraffe can clean its ears with it's 21-inch tongue!

Rice paper does not have any rice in it!

The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'!

Dogs and cats, like humans are either right or left handed... or it that paws?!

Friday, March 18, 2011

I love easter and now that Jack is a little older I can't wait to arrange egg hunts! I used to love running around the house looking everywhere for eggs which had been hidden by the Easter bunny.
I have found a few simple recipes I would like to share; most you toddler can help you with. You will remember making most of these when you were a child! I remember making Easter Nests at first school and the misshapen nests I took home were obviously a delight to my family as they were eaten that night after dinner (and still are today!)

Easter Nests

You will need:

Cereal (cornflakes or shredded wheat)

Cooking chocolate

Mini eggs

Method:

Combine cornflakes (or crushed shredded wheat) with melted chocolate and shape into nest shapes in bun cases. Before the chocolate has set, place 2-3 mini eggs into your chocolate nests.

For a simpler alternative, cover Rich Tea biscuits with icing (mix icing sugar with a little water and colouring if desired). The children can then decorate them with a variety of small sweets and sprinkles.

Easter Rainbow Cake

(You could even make mini rainbow cakes; just divide the coloured mixture between cake cases)

You will need:

Vanilla cake mix (mix according to package directions)

Food colouring (pink, green and blue)

Vanilla icing or frosting

Method:

Divide the vanilla cake mix into 3 separate bowls.

Colour each bowl a different colour using the food colourings.

Grease and flour 2 cake tins and layer the different coloured mix in the tin.

Once the cake has cooked (follow cake mix packet instructions) allow to cool before spreading a thin layer of frosting between the 2 cakes.

Put one on top of the other and cover in icing sugar or frosting.

Easter Bunny Biscuits

They are also brilliant for wrapping up as Easter gifts for friends and family.

You will need:

125g butter, softened

75g caster sugar

1 egg (separated)

200g plain flour, sifted

Quarter tsp of ground cinnamon

Quarter tsp of mixed spice

Zest of 1 lemon

75g currants

2 tbsp milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 200°C/329°C/gas 6.

In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar together using a wooden spoon or electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk, keeping back the whites. Using a round-bladed knife gently stir in the sifted flour, spices, lemon zest and currants. Gradually stir in the milk until the dough starts to come together.

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured worktop and knead gently until smooth. Roll out to about 5mm thick the cut out the biscuits using a rabbit-shapped cutter or a cutter of your choice.

Place the biscuits on 2-3 greased baking trays and bake each tray in batches for 10 minutes and the remove from the oven.

Whisk the reserved egg whites very slightly, brush lightly over the biscuits then sprinkle with sugar. Then return to the oven for a further 5 minutes until golden. Remove biscuits from baking tray and place on a cooling rack.

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day!

Pancake Recipe

Yummmmmy!

Ingredients

For the pancake mixture:

110g/4oz plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt
2 eggs
200ml/7fl oz milk mixed with 75ml/3fl oz water
50g/2oz butter

To serve (optional):

Caster sugar

Honey

Chocolate Spread

Lemon juice
Lemon wedges

Preparation method

Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl with a sieve held high above the bowl so the flour gets an airing. Now make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Then begin whisking the eggs - any sort of whisk or even a fork will do - incorporating any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl as you do so.

Next; gradually add small amounts of the milk and water mixture, still whisking (don't worry about any lumps as they will eventually disappear as you whisk). When all the liquid has been added, use a rubber spatula to scrape any bits of flour from around the edge into the centre, then whisk once more until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream.

Melt the 50g/2oz of butter in a pan. Spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk it in, then pour the rest into a bowl and use it to lubricate the pan, using a wodge of kitchen paper to smear it round before you make each pancake.

Now, get the pan really hot, then turn the heat down to medium and, to start with, do a test pancake to see if you're using the correct amount of batter. 2 tbsp is about right for an 18cm/7in pan. It's also helpful if you spoon the batter into a ladle so it can be poured into the hot pan in one go. As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter. It should take only half a minute or so to cook; you can lift the edge with a palette knife to see if it's tinged gold as it should be. Flip the pancake over with a pan slice or palette knife - the other side will need a few seconds only - then simply slide it out of the pan onto a plate.

Stack the pancakes as you make them between sheets of greaseproof paper on a plate fitted over simmering water, to keep them warm while you make the rest.

To serve, sprinkle each pancake with freshly squeezed lemon juice and caster sugar, fold in half, then in half again to form triangles, or else simply roll them up. Serve sprinkled with a little more sugar. Try this step with chocolate spread or honey to make a yummy sweet treat. You could even add strawberries or oranges!