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Thank you Warner Bros. for the film “Now Is Good” with Dakota Fanning

Thank you to Warner Bros. for providing me the perfect film for this weekend coming – Now Is Good.

I’ve had the disk for a wee while, and I have a night this weekend when the man is out, and I can watch it in peace when I can get a hold of the remote control.  I’m looking forward to some me time with the TV.

Now Is Good 2

It will be interesting to see Dakota Fanning act as an adult, as I’ve only ever seen her in her child roles.

The film is about seventeen year old Tessa, who is diagnosed with a terminal illness.  She decides to use every moment and compiles a catalogue of things that normal teenagers would experience.  With the help of her friend, she starts to work through her list while her family deals with fear and grief.

She explores a whole new world, falls in love which wasn’t on her list, but proves to be the most exhilarating experience of her life.

The pack includes the ever useful Ultraviolet to instantly stream and download onto our computers, tablets and smartphones.   I also suspect I’ll need a pack of handkerchiefs as it could be a real tear-jerker.

Up for sale, I’d always buy films from Amazon these days for physical versions.  Now is Good is £12 from Amazon at the moment.

Now Is Good 3

 

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10 Tips For Burns Night, any Night on a Budget

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Haggis, Neeps and Tatties

Haggis, Neeps and Tatties are not just for Burns Night.

Burns Nights can be so much fun – there’s merriment, celebration, great food, dancing, poetry, singing… and maybe just a dash of whisky, but we don’t have to limit it just to the birthday of the bard.

If you’ve had the honour of hosting a Burns Supper, you’ll know there is a lot to organise, and perhaps a lot to pay for too, but Burns Night fare is good enough for any dinner party.

So how can you throw an enjoyable Burns Supper, any night, without blowing your budget?

Here are ten tips that could help you.

  1. Shopping around for your haggis could reap you benefits and work out much cheaper in the long run.  You could get several haggis cheaper than one hefty one and there may be some good deals on.
  2. Consider buying a smaller haggis and serving it as a starter with a smaller serving of neeps and tatties.  Then serve something less expensive – like a good value beef joint or whole fish – for the main.
  3. If you buy a big haggis, don’t waste the leftovers. Keep it and make some haggis-based dishes for the rest of the week – for example haggis lasagne.  Or serve some the next day in a Scottish breakfast if you have guests who stay over.
  4. Buy cheaper whisky and use it to make a pitcher of Hot Toddy. Your guests are unlikely to taste the difference – especially as the night goes on!
  5. Encourage guests to bring their own drinks – especially if they’re quite particular about their brand of Scotch.
  6. Propose that guests bring their own starters or desserts – to cut down on preparation time and cost for you, and to give the supper more diversity.
  7. For next year, consider having your Burns Nights later – some retailers may bring down the price of any leftover Burns Night food on their shelves after the 25th January.
  8. Grow your own potatoes and turnips.  You’ve plenty of time to prepare for 2014.  Here’s how to grow potatoes and turnips. A good crop will last you for Burns Night and beyond.
  9. A Burns Supper wouldn’t be complete without songs and poems from Robbie Burns himself.  Rabbie-Burns.com has a timetable for the evening – including links to the essential poems and songs – for free.
  10. If you’d like your singers, speakers and other entertainers to read from a book, you could borrow one from your local library.

by the Debt Advisory Centre Scotland.  We hope you had a great Burns Night last week and will continue to enjoy haggis throughout the next year as one of your staple foods!

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Fresh Limeade Recipe

Crisp and refreshing.

Fresh Limeade Recipe

Lesley S Smith
Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 3 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Course Beverage
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 2.5 Fresh Limes Quartered
  • 0.5 Fresh Lime Slicing
  • 1 l Water
  • 250 ml Crushed Ice
  • 250 g Sugar or equivalent sweetner (I used Stevia alternative sweetner)

Instructions
 

  • Wash the skin of the limes for the lime juice. We're adding everything to the blender, so don't worry about peeling. Cut the limes into quarters and take out any seeds.
  • Put the limes, water and crushed ice into the blender. Blend for at least a couple of minutes. Taste the liquid and if it's too tart for you, add in sugar or sweetener to taste - up to 250g of sugar and equivalents of sweeteners.
  • Strain the lime juice mix to get a lovely coloured lime juice.
  • Optionally, use a soda charger, or a sodastream to give your lime juice a little fizz and turn it into limeade.

 

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Cervical Cancer Prevention Week – Why would women put their daughters off having the vaccine?

http://vimeo.com/10110907

Cervical Cancer Prevention week is: 20 – 26 January 2013

I really had to get involved with this one. I really had no right to let it go past.

I’m not going to go in detail with the symptoms of cervical cancer as this is prevention week, but if you want to find out more about what could indicate cervical cancer, please head on over to Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust.

Twenty years ago (yes, I am that old) I finally went for my first smear. I’d put it off as I had severe endometriosis and pain was often so incredible that I couldn’t touch my stomach from the outside, let alone have something shoved up my inside. I watched a programme which put the fear of death into me and decided I’d have a try.

Two nurses, a doctor, and yes, a lot of pain later, they finally got my smear. With the endometriosis damaging my cervix, they couldn’t even see it.

It came back with severe abnormal cells – Cin 3.

Another year and I probably wouldn’t have been here today. I was lucky.

After a few weeks nervous wait to see if it was confirmed, it was on to the laser treatment, which was not as bad as I thought it would be, but then again, I think they inject enough freeze into the cervix to stun an elephant. The injection to freeze is a little like the dentist freezing the roof of your mouth, but just a bit more stingy. Thankfully, after that, there was no pain. The burning smell is not too clever though, and does make you realise that they really are burning off the bad cells.

I really want to take the mothers who persuade their kids not to have the vaccination and shake their shoulders. How stupidly silly can they be? A simple vaccination and their daughters are protected.

Do they really want their daughters to go through the nightmare of results, re-smear, laser treatment and then the constant smears afterwards to make sure it hasn’t crept back?

Do they really want their daughters to risk cervical cancer?

Why are they not persuading their daughters to do it?

There’s nothing “seedy” about it.

I just don’t understand it.

Most cervical cancers are caused by a common virus – (HPV) human papilloma virus. Some women are susceptible to it, and others are not. Changes can show as abnormalities of the cells of the cervix and when they become severe, they can develop into cancer.

Jo's cervical cancer trust

Cervical screening detects early changes in cells, and although the vaccination for HPV can only prevent infection from two of the 20 highest risk strains, to me, it’s not worth the risk of not taking it.

Far too many girls and women are not getting screened when they are at the age to be screened. I wish they would screen every girl from the year she begins to become sexually active, but sadly, that is never going to be the case.

The UK scheme offers girls the vaccination programme from age 12 – 18. If I had girls, I’d be beating down the door of anywhere that they could get the vaccination done.

The choice for me would be simple – an injection into the arm to reduce the potential of having the stress of tests or nether regions burned by a laser, or even worse – living and fighting cervical cancer.

Vaccines are given by injection into the muscle, usually the upper arm. Three separate doses are needed. The second does is given one or two months and six months after the first dose. It’s not a guarantee, but it removes a high factor of the risk.

A lovely and very young lady who used to be on Twitter had advanced cervical cancer. She was pilloried, given a hard time and abused to the point of having to leave. Those of us who used to chat to her, miss her. She was hounded and treated like rubbish by other women. There is absolutely NOTHING to be ashamed of in having pre-cancerous cells or cervical cancer. The time between smears, and the age of screening means that at times, it may be too far advanced before abnormal cells get picked up, even if women have had all their smears.

Get your smears on time and get the vaccination if you are eligible for it. Your life may just depend on it.

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Nurse Suspended for Protecting Boy in Aberdeen

I read the news this morning, and I really couldn’t believe what I was reading.

The Scottish Daily Express reported that a community nurse was suspended for taking a boy aged between 3 and 5 and keeping him safe.

She had spotted him jumping in and out of a car but with no adult around.    She had an appointment, so left a note on the car to say where they were and went round the corner, taking him with her.  A few minutes later, the boys dad showed up to pick him up.  He was grateful to her for looking after his boy, as he had been away from his car longer than he anticipated.

Now apart from the dad being one massive idiot, it’s not an uncommon thing for parents to leave their little kids in cars to pop to shops.  It might be silly, or reckless, or any number of things, but parents still keep on doing it.  This boy had got himself out of the car and was jumping around near a busy road.

According to the report the nurse had “displayed serious failings in child protection.”

The article says that she stayed with the boy for a while, but being late for an appointment round the corner, she felt she had to go.  Rather than abandoning the wee boy, she took him with her for a couple of minutes.

It also said that she told her bosses what had happened, and then the police were involved and she was signed off work and not allowed back.    She was handed a 6 month ban and will have conditions imposed when she gets back to work for 18 months, until “she is deemed to no longer be a risk to the public.”

Yes, I know there are societal rules to follow when we deal with the public, and no, perhaps she shouldn’t have taken the wee boy to her next appointment and should have phoned employer and police instead, but her sense of justice in not being late for a client is the same sense of decency that she displayed by not wanting to leave the boy alone, or have her client think she hadn’t turned up.

I also know that there are ways that the medical profession are probably told to deal with protection issues, but for heaven’s sake, in an emergency, surely there should be a little leeway and sense to allow a good Samaritan for taking care of a wee one that could have put himself in danger.

It was a bit silly to take the boy away from the car, and yes, she should have called the police, but in the heat of the moment, sometimes we just have to trust in other people.  Common sense has to prevail somewhere in this.  I can’t see how any of it makes her a potential risk to the public.   Possibly a disciplinary matter for removing from scene and taking to a client, but danger to the public is a bit strong.

No wonder so many people just walk on by and leave ill people or lost kids to their fates.

 

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Funky Foodies January 2012

STAR RECIPE WINNER – for November was : Coombemill with her Apple and Cinnamon Festive Cakes as they look like something that we would love to eat all year round.

Funky Foodies took a break in December, and is now open for Janary 2013.   Only 10 days to add your recipes, so get clicking.

THIS MONTHS FUNKY FOODIES LINKY IS OPEN AND THERE MUST BE LOADS OF RECIPES TO CHOOSE FROM.  We didn’t run at Xmas, so feel free to add your xmas recipes too.

  • Is a monthly linkie, which will close on the last day of the month.
  • A medal will be awarded for the Star Recipe every month, and the fabulous trophy in the blog badge will be awarded at the end of a whole year of the Funky Foodies. If you want to find out more about it, read here.
  • All you have to do is share as many recipes from your own blog a month as you’d like. If you struggle to add your recipe, send me your link and I’ll add it for you.
  • Try to pop around and share the comment love with other funky foodies. We all like a little love and might come across some fabulous recipes.
If you want to host the linkie on your own blog as a blog hop, get the code here :

Simply add the link to your recipe on your own blog, and share your latest recipe with everyone taking part. If you don’t want to miss the linkie being opened, subscribe to RSS or by email in the blog header.

I’ll add recipes of mine to share, although I don’t count in the recipe challenge.

Feel free to copy the badge or use the html in the widget at the bottom of the page to add the small blog badge to your own blog / post. It makes finding you easier for other funky foodies.

Funky Foodies

<img src=” http://scottishmum.com/wp-content/uploads/100-funky-foodies.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Funky Foodies” />

If you want to add the blog hop to your own website,  get the InLinkz code


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An alternative Burns Night Supper – Slow cooked mince, neeps and tatties.

In Scotland, we all know it’s the birthday of the Bard coming up.  If you don’t know who – it’s Rabbie Burns, and we celebrate it on the 25th January every year, so Friday night will be haggis night in many  households around the world.   Robert Burns was a poet who is now looked upon as being the national poet of Scotland.   His birthday is celebrated by both Scots and Non Scots worldwide.

Our children will have Burns celebrations at schools, and many a charity function will be held in his name on Friday night.  I’ll never forget a local poet giving a lament to the haggis a few years ago at a special school, where the lady poet was swinging huge kitchen knives above her head before she ripped the haggis open ceremonially.

A logistical nightmare, our knives had to all be locked away forever after that one.  At least with me being there, I knew where the new-found fascination for knives came from.  I pity the parents of other kids who had no idea why their kids would suddenly have taken to brandishing knives above their heads like daggers with a swagger!

Back to the cooking…

The traditional dish is haggis, neeps (turnips) and tatties.

There are vegetarian versions of haggis, but not everyone likes the meat or the vegetarian options as they can be quite spicy.

As an alternative, this weekend, we did a trial run of slow cooked mince with meat from Andrew Gordon Butchery and Fine Foods and the new Neeps & Tatties from the Scotty Brand range.

As always in our house – anything from the slow cooker gets the thumbs up from me for ease – and always tastes fabulous.

Scotty Brand Neeps & Tatties

Slow Cooked Mince, Neeps & Tatties. Alternative Burns Night Supper

Lesley S Smith
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 10 minutes
Course Mains
Servings 6 - 8

Ingredients
  

  • 1 kg Lean Steak Mince
  • 1 Large Onion Chopped
  • 1 kg Neeps & Tatties
  • Stock Pot
  • 500 g Carrots Washed, scraped and chopped or sliced.
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Cornflour

Instructions
 

  • Switch on the slow cooker to high to warm up.
  • Brown the mince with the chopped onion on a thick bottomed pan.
  • Add the mince and onion to the slow cooker. Add in the neeps, tatties and carrots. Add boiling water to almost the top of your ingredients.
  • Add a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of pepper and a stock cube, or stock pot if you prefer a stronger taste.
  • Put the lid on and leave for 8 hours on low, or 4 hours on high.
  • If you want to thicken your hotpot, half an hour before the end of cooking, mix up cornflour with cold water and mix to a smooth paste. Add to your hotpot and fold in until it thickens. If you over thicken, add a little boiling water to fix it.
  • Serve.

 

 

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Top Tips for Baking the Perfect Cupcakes

Cupcakes

1. Use the minimum of utensils and keep your ingredients list reasonable.

I have a habit of making a huge mess of the kitchen when I am cooking, and with 6 mouths to feed, the kitchen can look like a bomb site quite easily.  I have got cup cake making down to a fine art with only my mixer, a cup, a dessert spoon and a knife at the ready.  I use no bowls whatsoever and just put everything straight into the mixer.

2 – Choosing Ingredients

Use the best ingredients you can afford.  It does make a difference.  The quality of flours can be quite different when you have your finished cup cakes.   If you’re using chocolate, use real chocolate and not the cooking kind that nobody really likes.  For chocolate powder, splash out on something like Green and Blacks Cocoa powder and not cheaper versions with fillers, and you’ll be very glad you did.

Use unsalted butter instead of margarine.  I really don’t understand the margarine or spread brigade as I’d rather have a little less of the real stuff than a heap of manufactured fats full of additives and other difficult to pronounce ingredients.

Baking really is a case of getting the mix of ingredients right.  As long as you add butter, sugar and flour at the same proportions and 1 egg for each 120g of any one of the other ingredients, you should be fine.

3 – The Mixing Moments

How much to mix is always a big issue with cup cake chefs.   I do have my mixer on at a fairly low-speed for a couple of minutes and then I turn it up high for the last little while at the sugar and butter stage to try to blast some air into the mix.

4 – When to Add the Ingredients

I’m going to go completely against the grain here.

Sifting the flour in can add extra air, but I suspect most home bakers don’t bother.  I am not telling you that I actually follow the rule for sifting flour into the mixer, as there are times when I don’t.  I’ve never had complaints from not sifting and my cakes seem to be as light as when I do sift, but I can often hear my grandmother in the background nipping my ears for not doing it right.  Guilt will sometimes make me reach for the sieve.

If you’re really brave like my sister-in-law, you can throw everything in the mixer at the same time and just mix until it’s ready to spoon into cases.

5 – Get the mix even in the cases.

This one is common sense.  If some cases have more mix than others, some will be cooked more quickly than the rest.  Try using a standard sized spoon or scoop to get the same amount of cake mix in each cup cake case.

6 – How to know if it’s mixed.

The consistency should be creamy and not like Scottish Tablet with a grainy consistency.

7 – Work your oven.

It takes a while to get to understand a new oven.  Each one works differently and gives different results.  If you know your oven tends to run hotter or colder than recipes usually ask for, change your baking time.   Use a skewer to know when they are ready.  If a skewer comes out clean, then the cakes are ready.

Resist the temptation to open the oven part of the way through cooking.  Your cakes may well just fall flat as a pancake…

8 – It’s disaster time..

Cakes that don’t look perfect are rarely a disaster.  Make a form of Eton Mess using the sponge, or change a bread and butter pudding recipe, or cover it all up with icing.  If it tastes great, then it doesn’t matter what it looks like.

 

 

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Baxters Beetroot – Stir Fry and Chocolate Brownies.

Baxters sent a gorgeous hamper with a lovely Baxters apron and a selection of Beetroot from their range.  Baxters are reasonably local to us, and I’ve often bought their beetroot as it tends to be a nice sweet vinegary taste.

Their products have been in my life as far back as I can remember, so we’re regular customers in this house.

Baxters have been going in the UK for several generations and the make soups, preserves, condiments, beetroot and chutneys among other thing.   Baxters create their own recipes and showcase some of the them on their website.  They even have the opportunity for you to add your own recipe to their website, and if they like it, they might feature it online.

They have a visitors centre that is based around a highland village experience in Fochabers, Aberdeen.  I’ve driven past it several times, but have not stopped off as yet, but after this challenge, I may well give their Highland Village a visit in the near future.

Baxters Beetroot 2

They challenged me to come up with a recipe for their Beetroot so I used it as an alternative to rumpledethumps for leftovers in a Chicken, Bacon and Beetroot Stir Fry which went down a treat.

I opted for another recipe for one of the jars of beetroot in making the Beetroot and Chocolate Brownies from their website.  I had to tailor the recipe as I didn’t have quite enough beetroot for their version, and it went down well with the kids.

Baxters Beetroot 1

I can’t say that it was my favourite and I much preferred the savoury stir fry to the sweet versions, but the kids loved the brownies.  I think I just have more of a savoury tooth.

Here we go with my two recipes from the challenge.

Baxters Beetroot and Chocolate Brownies

Baxters
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Course Baking - Brownies
Servings 24

Ingredients
  

  • 1 x 340g Tin Baxters Baby Beetroot
  • 150 g Softened Butter
  • 300 g Milk Chocolate
  • 375 g Brown Sugar
  • 4 Eggs
  • 150 g Plain Flour
  • 35 g Cocoa Powder

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven before you start and set it to 180ºC, or reduce it to 160ºC for a fan oven.



  • Grease a medium to large baking try or roasting tin.

  • Soften the chocolate by putting it into a microwave for a few minutes, or on the hob as a plate on top of a pan with water in it, similar to a bain marie method of softening the chocolate.

  • Add all the ingredients into a mixer if you have one, or a large bowl. Mix them all together for several minutes, until the mixture is smooth.



  • Pour the smooth mixture into the baking tray and bake for 40-45 minutes. The brownies should feel a little soft under he centre and might be a bit wobbly, but they'll harden up as they cool.

Notes

Baxters recommend that the beetroot is well drained. You can also rinse them in some water. The vinegary flavour will not be tasted when you eat the brownies.

Chicken, Bacon and Beetroot Stirfry

Lesley S Smith
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Mains
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • 10 Rashers Bacon
  • 2 Chicken Breasts Cut into strips.
  • 4 Eggs
  • 600 g Mixed Stir Fry Veg Beansprouts, pumpkin strips, shredded carrot, green leaf salad, mange tout.
  • 1 Onion Chopped.
  • 1 Jar Baxters Crinkle Cut Beetroot Chopped into smaller pieces. Wash, drain and dry the beetroot before adding to a stir fry.

Instructions
 

  • Use your pieces of meat, chicken or bacon and lightly fry in a wok or thick bottomed pan until fully cooked.

  • Add eggs to the pan and let them cook similar to scrambled eggs, stirring in with the meat as it cooks.



  • Add an onion to the pan and let the mixture slowly cook for a few minutes on low.

  • Stir in your stir fry vegetables and either spray cooking oil, or add a couple of tablespoons of oil to make the stir fry.

  • Add the beetroot towards the end of cooking if you are happy with the pinky shade that your meal till take on from cooking for a few minutes.

  • I had split my stir fry into two lots. For the kids, I gently folded the beetroot in with their finished stir fry to keep it sharp, bright and pleasant to the eye.



  • For my own, I stirred in the beetroot and let it cook with the stir fry for a few more minutes to take on the beetroot taste. I am happy to say this is one recipe that I am going to make several variations of.

 

 

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How to make a simple chicken pie with help from the slow cooker.

Chicken pie recipes are as many and varied as there are hot dinners in the year.  I wanted to have something no fuss, with full flavour, and easy to make.  Puff pastry is the one pastry that I cheat with.  It is such a faff to work with, that I always have some on standby in the freezer to make emergency pies or puff pizzas.  A little puff on the top of a dish can complete something that has been a bit of a disaster in the kitchen and needs a topping, or to finish a slow cooked recipe with fantastic flavour, by turning it into a pie.

The chicken is slow cooked, but the puff pastry has to really be popped into the oven with the pie filling to finish off the dish.  The filling is what makes the result spectacular in a pie.  Slow cooked food has a taste and aroma that I feel no other way of cooking can produce.

According to the kids, this was the best chicken pie ever, so how to make a chicken pie had to be turned into a blog post.  I get my meat, as always these days from Andrew Gordon Butchery and Fine Foods and the traceability, quality and texture never let me down.

Slow Cooked Chicken Pie Recipe

Lesley S Smith
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 30 minutes
Course Mains

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Chicken Breast per person Cut into strips.
  • 2 Tablespoons Rapeseed Oil
  • 100 g Vegetables Per Person
  • Water Tailor to your recipe.
  • Salt Pinch
  • Pepper Pinch
  • Cornflour
  • Pack of Puff Pastry

Instructions
 

  • Switch on your slow cooker to high and add a couple of mm of water in the bottom. Look out a thick bottomed frying pan and your oil. This recipe is not cut and dried. There is very little that can go wrong, so choose how many people you will feed to decide how much you make ingredient wise. When you know your amounts, it is easy to judge how much of everything else that you need.

  • Lightly fry your chicken in a tablespoon of rapeseed oil, so that the edges all round have gone white. Once the meat has been sealed, it can be added to your slow cooker.

  • Choose which vegetables you use. I had 6 chicken breasts, and I added 2 chopped onions and 2 sliced carrots to my pan with the remaining rapeseed oil. I lightly fried those before adding them to the slow cooker.

  • I add another cup or two of water to half cover the ingredients, give it all a quick stir and pop on the lid. It can be left for 4 hours on high, or turn it down to low for approximately 7 - 8 hours.

  • When it's ready, you can thicken the gravy if you wish by using cornflour mixed in water, and adding it slowly until you reach the thickness of gravy that you prefer as a cook.

  • Spread the slow cooked chicken evenly along the bottom of a baking tray.

  • Roll the puff pastry out until it is the size you need to cover your baking tray. Lay it over the top, press the edges down and use a fork to make holes in the pastry at reglar intervals. You don't have to be perfect with the edges.



  • Some people will baste the top with egg or milk. For puff pastry, I never bother, and it always comes out fine. After being in the oven at approximately 220 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes, or until the pastry rises, take it out and score the top. The lovely flaky texture of the pastry makes a pie almost a whole meal in itself.



  • The lovely flaky texture of the pastry makes a pie almost a whole meal in itself.

 

 

 

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Did you drink alcohol when you were pregnant? Do your kids misbehave? Read on..

Pregnant and Alcohol

Ok, the Daily Mail isn’t my favourite newspaper and this is one topic that will always be close to my heart (and the blog).   That aside, a friend showed me an article from today on page 15.

In a nutshell, it is talking about the prevalence of children in our society who are affected at varying degrees by Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, or Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder which is milder but still affects day-to-day living. They estimate about 1% of our children suffer from Foetal Alcohol to some extent, but that it really is the tip of the iceberg.  It’s a fairly responsible article and explains how drinking alcohol is pregnancy can have far more lasting effects than smoking.

Lets have a look at what to watch out for with some basic signs and symptoms in your kids if you drank at all while you were pregnant:

FAS or Foetal Alcohol Syndrome is the biggest cause of mental health problems and retardation in kids today.  Not all children with FAS will develop retardation, and many may show up as behavioural problems.  Those with the associated issues that are outside of the main FAS diagnosis tend to be missed or diagnosed with something else.

Some signs to look out for:

– Disruptive behaviour.

– Difficulty in understanding concepts.  May learn to read & write easily, but struggle with comprehension of what it is all about.

– Generalisations, ie thinking of things in terms of black and white and often taking what is said literally.

– Shot term memory problems, ie ability to learn, but forgets very quickly and has to keep being reminded how to do things.

– Schools may think these children are just being lazy.

– Sugar cravings.  Many parents of FASD children have noticed that their children seem to be addicted to sugary sweet foods.

– Conscience could be underdeveloped so may steal and lie without fear or consequence.

– Finds difficulty coping with new situations.

– May over-react to small changes in a daily routine.

– Seems more immature than their age in years.

– ADHD and ODD type behaviours which may not respond to traditional ADHD methods of management.

There’s nothing to be ashamed about in recognising what a child’s difficulties may have been caused by, so if you suspect it, get it checked.

It’s not easy to get diagnosed locally, and there are places to help.

Mencap NoFASUK – National Organisation for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome UK

FAS Aware UK – Foetal Alcohol in Pregnancy & Forums

FASD Trust – For Parents and  Carers – Information

To finish, all I can say is, that for the sake of your future children, if you are pregnant, are trying to get pregnant, or think you might be, don’t drink alcohol – AT ALL.

It’s the only sure-fire way to ensure your children can have the best mental health start that they can, without the possibility of any Alcohol related brain damage.

Foetal Alcohol destroys lives.  Don’t let it get into your family.

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Mashed Potatoes with Chilli Pepper Topping using Scotty Brand Kestrel Potatoes

Scotty Brand sent us some lovely Kestrel potatoes before Christmas.  They are fabulous for using for lots of potato things, boiling, baking or roasting.  Mashing is just one of the ways that they can be used really well.

Potatoes are really quite good for us.  I read a lot of negativity around root vegetables, and I can never quite understand the reason for it.  They are high in folic acid which helps our immune system and our white blood cell production, so for that reason alone, I think they should stay part of a balanced diet to eat well.

With around 93 calories per 100 grams, it is easy to count them into a good meal plan,

I like some plain cooking with potatoes and for this recipe, I kept it very simple indeed.

Mashed Potatoes with Chilli Peppers

Lesley S Smith
4 from 1 vote
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Sides
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 3 - 4 Kg Kestrel Potatoes Scotty Brand Potatoes
  • 2 Oz Butter
  • 100 Ml Fresh Milk
  • 2 - 3 Chillies or Peppers Choose brightly coloured options and chop finely

Instructions
 

  • Simply boil potatoes in a pan for 15 - 20 minutes until soft.
  • Drain potatoes and begin to mash. After a minute, add the butter and mash a few more times. Then add the milk to finish mashing your potatoes into a thick creamy consistency. I add my milk a tablespoon at a time, just in case. Too much milk will also spoil the consistency of the potatoes.
  • Serve and top with chopped chillies or peppers (or both)

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