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My very own website!!! Yikes!
This month we have loved…READING!
Reading is a crucial part of our night time routine and always has been. Each night each child chooses a book, soon Zach will get a turn too!
This month Anya’s favourite book has been Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees. We heard read it EVERY night! The message in the book is so important to children (and adults): to respect difference and celebrate our own uniqueness.
Matthew meanwhile has discovered my old collection of Horrible Histories by Terry Deary. Following in my historian footsteps…? His last school topic was the Victorians so he has enjoyed reading the Vile Victorians to find out more.
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For Chris: the definitive guide to my pizzas
I have been taste testing wheat free pizzas and each time Chris asks me for my opinion and then desperately tries to remember what I told him so he knows which ones to look for at the supermarket. So really this is just for him but may help other people with dietary issues as well.
Here is Sainsburys’ offering:
I was put off eating this pizza years ago because I had tried it a few times and it seemed really doughy and uncooked in the centre. I think they have updated the recipe because this is YUM! The tomato sauce is amazing with beautiful herb flavours. The only drawback is that is is slightly too small for my appetite! Current price is £3 for 280g.
Here is Asda’s version:
At £2.50 for 370g it is big on size and value. It is quite dry but the cheese is flaked so melts beautifully.
This is Tesco’s one:
This is the pizza that I’ve eaten most of over the years. It is the joint biggest of all of the pizzas. It is also quite dry and bready and I like adding extra veg to the topping to balance out the texture. Just £2.20 for 370g, so best value for money. I actually have a suspicion that this is the same as the Asda one…
Chris picked up this Pizza Express in the chilled aisle at Sainsbury’s:
This is the most expensive, as expected from a brand name. Current price at Sainsburys is £4.25 for 310g. Good flavours but small in size. It was also a bit floppy when cut into slices.
Dr Oetker’s Ristorante Mozzarella is amazing!

Priced at £3 for 330g. The taste is the best of all the pizzas. The base is thin and crispy, there are patches of basil which isn’t too pungent or overwhelming, the sauce is fragrant with herbs and the cheese melts beautifully. This is my favourite for taste: it is the real deal, authentic Italian version and you definitely wouldn’t know it is wheat free.
Oh dear Goodfella’s:
This was a huge let down. I had high expectations due to the brand name but, despite the higher price of £3 for 328g, it didn’t deliver. The base was floppy and the flavour was almost non-existent. I even had indigestion after eating it which I haven’t had since Zach’s birth 🙁
So if I had to choose a favourite for taste it would be Dr Oetker’s Ristorante or Sainsburys’ version but for a really hungry day at a good price, Tesco or Asda wins.
End of an era (and peace and quiet) (Tuesday 21st March)
I’ve made the big decision to stop breastfeeding Zach during the day. I have been quite lazy and enjoyed a relaxing sit down with my book twice a day. But I’m not doing him any favours, he needs to learn to get himself to sleep during the day in the same way that he already does at night. Plus it is time to reclaim my body, my housework and my time 🙂
So here is a photo of him yesterday after his feed, enjoying his last nap on my lap (face down?!) while I enjoy a last chapter read in peace.
This morning he has beaten me. He screamed for 40 minutes in his cot. I caved in and got him up whereby he promptly fell asleep in my arms. He woke the second I put him back in the cot so I gave up. He slept in the pushchair when getting Anya after her morning at preschool.
Zach 1: Laura nil.
I then approached what should have been his afternoon nap session and he was wide awake so there was absolutely no point in attempting to put him in his cot 🙁
I left it as late as I could before the afternoon school run before trying to get him to sleep but still no joy. He slept in the pushchair again.
Zach 2: Laura nil.
It is now 6.30pm and we both look exhausted a more than a little frazzled. I’m counting down the seconds to bath and bed time.
I may have lost the battle today. But I will win the war…
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Chocolate shortbread
I LOVE shortbread. I have 2 recipes that I usually use but my mum made a chocolate version and told me to try it.
Being wheat free I had to create my own recipe to get the ratios to work with wheat free flour:
Ingredients:
135g Wheat free plain flour (I used Dove’s Farm)
55g Caster sugar plus extra to sprinkle at the end
25g Cocoa powder
110g Butter, diced
Method:
1. Put dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Rub in butter. The consistency is sort of like damp earth (doesn’t sound great!)
3. Press mixture down really hard into a lined tin (I used a square 18cm tin)
4. Bake for 30 minutes 160 degrees C (we have a fan oven), check it isn’t catching for the last 10 minutes and cover with foil if it is.
5. Remove from oven but leave in tin, cut into pieces and sprinkle with the extra caster sugar. Leave in tin to cool.
6. EAT!
The overall flavour was not too sweet so next time I may try adding chocolate chips or drizzling with milk chocolate to appeal to the kids’ sweet tooth (I liked it plain!)



















