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So for the annual BBC Children In Need school cake sale I knew we would donate some homemade goodies but I didn't want the mess and drama of weighing, mixing, flour and sugar everywhere and that's before we got to the icing stage so I thought there must be something a little more MESS and STRESS free we could make.
After a quick rummage in the cupboards and a stroke of creativity we come up with chocolate coated breadsticks.
Ingredients
Box of breadsticks
Cooking chocolate (we used both milk and white chocolate)
Hundreds and thousands
Edible candy stars
Method
1. Melt the chocolate one bar at a time. We melted ours in the microwave but you can do it in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Make sure you stir until completely melted.
2. Cover two baking sheets with parchment and cover one with your choice of sprinkles.
3. Dip as much or as little of the breadstick in to the
chocolate and then roll in the sprinkles on the
baking tray(we did try sprinkling the hundreds
and thousands on to the melted chocolate but found
that they stuck better when rolled).
4. Place your chocolate and sprinkle covered breadsticks on the other baking tray and once finished put in the fridge until the chocolate is completely firm
Voila......it really is that simple(although the process is much easier when you don't have the help of a three year old!)
If you give this recipe a go, I'd love to see your pics.
Emma xoxo
Since becoming a mum I often crave just 5 minutes peace or often try to find a shortcut to make some tasks just that bit easier and quicker so here are some of my dirty mum secrets that have kept me going over the last 16 years....
Sometimes I can't be bothered to pick up a piece of rubbish so I leave it and claim that I'm conducting a social experiment to see how long it stays there before somebody else picks it up #lazy
I've been known to say that I am putting the laundry away when in fact I am hiding in my room watching Youtube or catching up on some reality tv #hiding
I'll buy treats when I go shopping and then hide to scoff a chocolate bar or share size bag of crisps whilst palming the children off with a piece of fruit #secreteater
Sometimes in the middle of the night I pretend to be asleep when the little one wakes up and needs to go to the toilet so that Big Sam will get up and do the honours #naughty
When the kids are being particularly annoying I wait until they turn their backs and then pull faces and poke my tongue out at them #mature
Sometimes I'll announce that I need to poo to deter anyone from following me to the toilet where I will in fact no go a poo but scroll through my phone for 10 minutes in peace #sneaky
Sometimes I make plans with people or for the kids to have friends for a sleepover then if they cancel I'm secretly happy that I no longer have to leave the house or entertain guests #antisocial
When the kids start telling me about a new programme or toy and I'm knackered I'll often be heard using the words 'wow' 'amazing' 'that's good' or similar to feign interest #sly
I'll pretending that I'm treating everyone to a takeaway for dinner when the truth is I just can't be a*sed to cook #topchef
Days that I feel super tired or my back is playing up then I fore go mopping the floor in favour of just cleaning the dirty patches with a baby wipe #wipesforlife
Have you got any dirty mum secrets?
Emma xoxo
For as long as I can remember my boys have always managed to have some kind of accident, sometimes big, sometimes small but with those two there is always a bump, scrape or blood. I know it sounds really stereotypical but that's just the way it has always been, I have prim and proper girls and boisterous boys!
As a family we love to travel, whether that be a day trip, short break or full on foreign holiday, but because I know how accidental these kids are I never leave home without my travel first aid kit.
I posted a picture of it recently on Instagram and had a flurry of messages asking me what I keep in mine so thought I would share the contents in this post. I know you can purchase first aid kits that are already put together but I wanted something a bit more tailor made with everything that I know one of MY LOT (or us adults) may need.......although there's no alcohol.
Travel First Aid Kit Contents
Anti-bacterial hand sanitizer
3+ months liquid paracetamol and spoon
Antiseptic cream
Paracetamol caplets
Bandage
Tweezers(ones with a flat edge and ones with pointy ends)
Plasters in a variety of sizes
Anti-bacterial wipes
Antihistamine tablets
Medical tape
Non adhesive dressing
A couple of sandwich bags
all of this is kept in a clear plastic ziploc bag
There are so many more things that I could keep in our first aid kit but I have found that this works for us and we have been able to help other families out when out and about.
Pretty much everything in our kit is from Savers, the dinosaur and unicorn plasters are from Poundland, the liquid paracetamol and antiseptic cream is from Sainsburys and the ziploc I got from Primark in their travel section(it contained empty bottles for travelling)
Do you have a travel first aid kit? What do you keep in yours?
Emma xoxo
What's it all about?
In short, the penny saving challenge is a way of saving money over a 365 days/annual period.
How does it work?
It's a pretty basic system, each day you put away an amount corresponding with the day that you are on in the challenge, so for example day 1-1p, day 2-2p, day 3-3p(or the equivalent in whatever currency is used in your part of the world.) As the days, weeks and months go on the amount you put away increases leaving you with a pretty nice little savings pot.
*I actually put away random amounts each day and coloured in the corresponding square
How much can I save?
If you stick to the basic idea of putting away 1p more each day, then at the end of the 365 day challenge you should have a total of £667.95 saved up. If you and your partner do a joint one then double that figure.
*I would often put any loose change in my pot too so had more than £667.95
When can I do it?
The beauty of this challenge is as it is a 365 day challenge you can start it at any time but for me I knew I wanted to use the money towards Christmas, so I started on November 1st 2017 with my last day being 31st October 2018. After all of the Halloween festivities and the children went to bed I counted up what I had managed to save and was blown away with my £783.11 savings.
What if I don't often have cash on me?
As much as I enjoyed doing the challenge the one thing that bugged me the whole way through was what I was going to do with all the random pennies and coins at the end of the challenge. I managed to bag most of it up and pay it into the bank for there's still some left over that can't be bagged up so that the bank will accept it so for this years challenge I am going to transfer the amounts from my main current account to my e-saver account using my mobile banking app. If you don't already have a savings account now is the perfect opportunity to open one!
What can I use it for?
If like me you like to plan things in advance then this challenge is perfect for you. You can save up for a deposit on a holiday, renting a property, a car, a renovation or diy project, holiday spending money, big birthday bash or like I did, for Christmas.......the list is endless
How can I keep track?
There loads of free printables available online(this is where I got mine from last year) or you are more than welcome to use my free printable. I coloured in a corresponding square each time I put some money in my pot or alternatively you could keep track of it all in a diary or notebook.
Let me know if you have completed the challenge, done something similar or are going to give it a go.
Happy saving!
Emma xoxo
