Recipe: Simple summer berry cheesecake

There is nothing better when the sun is shining than to head to your local PYO fruit farm for some super delicious British berries (and eaten a few along the way)

Here is a seriously simple but very tasty recipe to use up the berries in a delicious cheesecake. A good recipe to get the kids involved in too. Mine particularly enjoyed hitting the biscuits into crumbs, and I particularly enjoyed arranging the berries into the union jack (feeling very patriotic after the opening ceremony of the Olympics!)

I don't faff about with measurements, just spoons, cups or packs of ingredients so you will have to adjust for what size you are making. We made 4 individual cheesecakes, I would double all ingredients for 1 large one.

Home made Salt Dough

Salt dough is so quick and easy to make and provides hours of entertainment, not only is it the initial process of making your model, but also decorating them afterwards. The end result could make a fab gift for someone too!

Silent Sunday

Home made Puff Paint

Inspired by this picture circulating the internet '40 things I must do with my toddler in 2012', we decided to try out puff painting. We have done a lot of things on the list but this was one that we hadn't and it sounded fun.

AND IT WAS!

An old classic - home made!

Kicking off a new series of recipes for old classic, tried and tested kids meals is good old fish fingers. Home making them as cheaply, healthy and easy as possible and where we can getting the children themselves involved in the cooking process. They love getting their hands sticky and are much more likely to eat something they have made.  

One of the children who I tried these with would only eat chicken and pizza, but soon wolfed down every fish finger in front of him at this meal time!

Silent Sunday

A fairy world in your own back garden!

“The perceptions children have of life are bound up very closely within a world where fantasy and reality
constantly go hand-in-hand. Research has shown that the children who indulge freely in good quality
fantasy and pretend play, the children who are considered to be ‘high fantasizers’ and spend a good deal
of time in imaginative thinking (Singer and Singer, 1977; Pulaski, 1981; Reiss 1981;), have greater tendencies
towards being creative with materials and situations. Such studies have also found that these creative,
internal thinkers have better concentration, are less aggressive generally, can tell more creative stories with
greater originality and more complex characters and situations, and are more inclined to enjoy what they
do than children who are ‘low fantisizers”.

                                        Janet Moyles, Just Playing

Following on from our magical adventure discovering forest fairies at the local forest (blogged about here. One of my favourite posts so far!), there has been a new found interest in all things fantasy, so we decided to make our very own fairy gardens.

We started  off with an impromptu afternoon outside, using a couple of old tins, some sand, water beads, stones and flowers and made some little portable gardens. We kept it very simple, bearing in mind I was working with a 2 year old, but she enjoyed every second of tottering around the garden looking for things we could include and placing them in the tin to look pretty.

Silent Sunday

Secret dens & Forest fairies

‘Cannock Chase’ is an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’, and it’s on our doorstep. 

It offers an amazing amount of free opportunities to be physically active as a family/group.

Dressed in woollies and waterproofs, we

had a brilliant time running and splashing

in puddles and catching rain drops.

It’s so easy to look at the dull weather and

put the television on instead. We discovered

some little creative techniques that really

worked to get us and our kids motivated to

be active, whatever the weather.

Creating regular outdoor experiences helps

our children to get into the habit of playing,

exploring and discovering, in all seasons.

Many of us in the group never dreamed

of going out in the cold pouring rain for a

walk. Now we just grab our coats!

Silent Sunday