Breakfast - Bullseye Egg

I think that in other parts of the country this is called an Open House Egg. We call it a Bullseye Egg, because when we aim the sauce we yell "BULLSEYE!" If we get a direct hit.

First you need to heat oil in your frying pan, whilst that is doing cut a circle out of a slice of bread. Fry the bread and circle so that it is Golden Brown on one side and then flip them both over. When flipped over crack an egg into the hole in the slice of bread and fry until cooked.

When done put on a plate, squirt on some ketchup and add the circle of bread back on top.

One Bullseye Egg for breakfast!

Top Ender Giggles - Itchy and Jerry...

Top Ender and Baby Boy have been enjoying The Tom and Jerry Marathons that have been on the last few days in our house. Top Ender was trying to explain an episode to me that I hadn't seen as she had thought it very funny.

"Well Itchy was chasing Scratchy and then they turned round and were chasing the other way!" she giggled
"Tops, could you say that again for me?" I asked
"Itchy was chasing Scratchy and ..." she got before I interrupted
"Itchy and Scratchy?" I laughed
"Tom and Jerry I mean!" she giggled back

And to think we haven't watched The Simpsons in ages!

Nutella Hazelnut Spread... wait not Chocolate spread?

Last week Nutella invited me and the rest of the family to breakfast at Legoland (I'll talk about the park in another post!). When I told Top Ender, it was like all her Christmases had come at once; Nutella spread and Legoland? Then the Nutella people were kind enough to send us a jar of Nutella and a big box of bread (Not just any bread though it was Hobbs House Bakery Bread) and it was open season in our kitchen with Top Ender thinking up new and exotic ways to eat Nutella.

One of our favourite snacks at home is breadsticks with Nutella as a dip (like those snacks you use to get when I was little), and we had been promised as well as a chat with a nutritionist and a Psychologist that we would be shown some fantastic ideas of how to use Nutella in recipes too. I was excited, and sitting next to Emma from Me The Man and The Baby and Vic from Glowstars and a lady with fab shoes from Nutella.

The Psycologist was Karen Pine who is a Psychology Professor at the University of Hertfordshire (and she gave so much information that I could do an entire blog post on what she said alone!) and one of the things that she said that really stayed with me was that a parent would have to give a new food on average between 10 and 15 times before it would be accepted. This is something that we do already do in our house as my Mum never stopped giving me vegetables that I didn't like, always hoping that I would change my mind and nine times out of ten I did. I even eat Brussels Sprouts.

Karen had also said that children eat foods by example, so just as if a child sees you reading they will be more inclined to pick up a book if you are eating your vegetables then they will be more accepting to eat their vegetables! Again this is something that we do in our house, when Daddy and I were thinking of having children; I made him promise that he would always eat his vegetables in front of the children even if he didn't like them!

The nutritionist was Sian and she was able to talk about the balanced diets that we should be following and portion control. Children's stomachs when relaxed are about the size of their clinched fist. This does expand as they eat, but you should remember that food for children whilst not necessary needed in huge quantities does need to be given in the right calorific amounts!

Lastly we went through to another room and made some food with Alan Coxton. What this man didn't tell us would have fitted on a postage stamp; he was able to keep us all entertained with his cooking and facts about various foodstuffs! He really got across that there are dozens of things to do with Nutella; it might be that you add Nutella to porridge, have Nutella on toast, add Nutella to smoothies (recipe below), use Nutella as a dip or just dip your finger in the jar if you are feeling naughty!

I think that overall what I got from this breakfast meeting was that Nutella is something which is a healthy option as part of a balanced diet. There is a big difference between eating a jar of Nutella and the 15g portion that is recommended, just as there is a big difference between having Nutella on toast for breakfast and having a bar of chocolate for breakfast.

Nutella were kind enough to give us a few recipes which are going to be on their new website, (which goes live on the 1st September 2010) and here is one which both Top Ender and I have been enjoying slurping!

Nutella Super Smoothie
(Serves 6-8 depending on glass size)

Ingredients

6 tbsp nutella
1 large pot (500g) low-fat vanilla yogurt
110ml skimmed milk
568ml/1 pint mixed fruit, frozen (tip into measuring jug)
1 large banana, cut into 2.5cm/1-inch pieces

Method

1. Put all ingredients in a blender or put into bowl if using hand held blender and purée for 2 minutes or until smooth.
2. Pour into glasses. Garnish with fresh berries.
Tip: experiment with different fruit such as an exotic mix or mixed berries

I going to give some of the other recipes a bash and try to come up with my own recipes with Top Ender and Baby Boy (and Daddy if he is lucky!) and will report back... possibly with a keyboard full of crumbs!

Christmas Club - August

Today there is 122 days until Christmas! I know that a lot of you are going to start throwing things at me, but really, that is a small number of days before everyone will be complaining that they have so much to do before Christmas and that they wish they were better organised for the upcoming celebrations!

I was really naughty and didn't post last month, and so I didn't suggest that if you were preparing for Christmas that you take a look at what you had planned to make and cut back or redefined what you were planning! So consider last month your holiday and this month make sure that you aren't expecting too much of yourself.

This month for me is about the fiddly bits. I have already created my lists for what I am hoping to get people and what I would like (Towels please family, I can show you which ones!) and I am getting into the bargain bins and looking for stocking fillers for everyone. I love WH Smiths at this time of year, as the clearance stock seems to always be fantastic and I can normally pick up books, folders pencils etc quite cheaply and it is all things that will be used!

Don't forget if you write a Christmas letter or round robin, make a note of what has happened this month!

Wordless Wednesday - Boiling Eggs

Who is The Stig?

Some say that The Stig might be Michael Schumacher or Ben Collins or Julian Bailey but I say that rumours are all that they are and all they should ever be!

To those of us who watch Top Gear (and I believe it to be quite a lot around 7 Million tune in via TV, or the Web) The Stig is a mystery that not even Scooby and the Gang would unmask (they are fans of Top Gear I am sure) because it is part of the fun of the show. It is the fun of not knowing, the fun of Jezza taking the mickey out of him with his intros, the fun of seeing his "cousins" when the Top Gear team are in different countries, the fun that even the celebs say that they don't know who this man is, the fun of everyone being in the same boat (well car) and just marvelling at the fantastic driving that The Stig does each week.

Top Gear is one of those programmes that isn't just for petrol heads. I'm not a petrol head, in fact if Jeremy Clarkson ever became ruler of The World and declared that we must all be petrol heads, the only thing that would stop me from going to prison would be the obvious positioning of who I would put in the snog category of the three Top Gear presenters in the game "Snog, Marry, Avoid"!

I like to watch Top Gear because of the stupid boy projects that they carry out, I like to watch the laps that the Celebs do, I like to guess what insult is going to be used against James May and then feel sorry for him that everyone is picking on him. I like the guessing of how Richard Hammond is going to have his hair this week, or if his teeth are going to get another mention.

Its because we don't know who The Stig is that we can all build up mythical status for this man (or maybe a woman who knows!) and so I plead to you in the media don't reveal the secret, have a heart and let us keep one hero untainted!

Anyway, we all know that Baby Boy is The Stig. He has a T-Shirt to prove it and I think that this video proves it without a doubt...

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dNaMrczhio)

The Day Pippa went to Asda House

When I went to Asda House last Wednesday I didn't know all I do now. You know how sometimes you learn about something after the event and you kick yourself? Well the first thing I would kick myself about is the live webcam that Asda House has in its Atrium. If I had known I would of taken a sign with me and told everyone on Twitter that follows me to watch at a certain time. If they ever forgive me for all the giggling that took place then next time I am invited back (please have me back Asda!) I promise to behave... apart from the sign I will be carrying!

I learnt a lot about how Asda works, and was fascinated by the culture that they have. When you work at Asda, it seems that you aren't just working at a job, but you are part of the family. I can't speak for all the employees, but I do think that everyone that I spoke to loved their job. They all had such enthusiasm for what they do and for each other and for the other departments! There is of course a friendly rivalry between departments, but that actually benefits customers as each department is striving to bring better goods and service than other departments. Its like a win win for the employees and customers!

I was really lucky to be able to talk to buyers in both the World Foods Department and in the FreeFrom Department. Paul (World Foods) and Richard (FreeFrom) were both keen to know what we (I was with CosmicGirlie as Amy from And one more means Four......and 1 more, Him Up North from The Blog Up North and Maria from Mummy's Busy World went to other departments) thought of the ranges that they had in store and what we thought was missing. I had a great chat with Paul, he is one of my heroes because he is part of the reason that Daddy and I choose a new food every once in a while to try!

Richard was amazing. He sat there and made notes whilst I made a huge list of everything that I thought was missing from the FreeFrom range, and everything I would like, that annoyed me and I would like more of. Then he gave me a huge bag of food to bring home for Daddy to eat (Thanks Richard, From Daddy!) and to give feedback on. The products were great and were very diverse and Daddy will talk about them (and also give his other great buys from all the major supermarkets in the UK) as soon as I can sit him still long enough with out him looking up his American Dream!

Now for Sausagegate.

Whilst we were at Asda House, we were allowed to try and give our opinions on several customer inspired sausages, one of which will be announced as the winner in the next few weeks. The Sausages were expertly cooked and none of us tried to convince the chef that he should come home with us, and none of us tried to get the chap in charge of Bacon and Sausages to let us tag along with him the next time he was product testing, and none of us made any crude jokes about hot sausage, meat, or injections of hot beef... and anyone who says otherwise is out to get me!

Finding out some of the history of Asda wasn't as boring as you might think because the wonderful Mike and Owen truly love the stores and it came across in what they told us; Both have worked in Asda for an impressively long time and both were able to give us facts (like Asda was the first Supermarket to sell Furniture!) off the top of their heads and they were aware of every store! When I said that my local was Milton Keynes, they both nodded and said "SuperCentre". It had been joked that both Owen and Mike would bleed green or if you cut them in half would say Asda through the middle of them, but I really do think that it is true! I have also said if they are ever in the MK area they can pop in for a cup of tea and I really do mean it, they were both great fun!

And that about sums up my day at Asda House.