I’ll get right into it – my top new mum beauty tips are pretty simple? The first rule of thumb, rather than tip… Stop. Just, stop. Seriously, stop. Stop beating yourself up. Stop thinking you should be doing it better. Stop thinking you’re doing it wrong. Stop thinking you should be able to find the time.
I’ve written before about how we enjoy “Pancake Sunday” at my house. Since the twins were born, we’ve kind of let it slide – but now that they are experimenting with food I really want it to pick it up again. Usually, my pancakes have protein powder, or at the very least some sugar – but to share breakfast with the kids, I needed to strip the pancakes back to far simpler ingredients. For the past few weeks, we’ve all sat down together and enjoyed these vegan, sugar free pancakes instead.
Yep, #MumLife is my life. I get a lot of comments from the general public about how they don’t know how I do it (with twins)/how they couldn’t do it (twins) etc. So I thought, well, why don’t I share! There’s so secret: it’s basically just controlled chaos. Those first sleepy morning grins though, they make it worth it.
I’m now weaning my twins in a largely baby-led manor, but to be honest I’m not against the odd bit of purée. My daughter squeals with delight at spoonfuls of food coming in her direction and I find it very hard to deny myself those squeals. However, most of their food is baby-led and an early favourite has been these easy garlicky mashed potato cakes – perfect for when you have leftover vegetables or mashed potatoes (or both!).
I was hesitant about writing this – and even more so about sharing it. There is so much made of having a positive birth, of the ‘Golden Hour’, of colostrum and birth plans, pain-free/pain-less births, transformative births… that the idea of sharing something less than perfect is really quite intimidating. However, I’ve always found that writing down things like this can be quite cathartic so, I have.
And I think, at nearly four months postpartum, I’m finally ready to share it and, hopefully, open a discussion about less than perfect birth stories.
As a quickly pour homemade muesli into a bowl these days, I have a memory, almost a distant one now, of getting up in the morning, mooching downstairs and dallying over what to have for breakfast. Labouring over vegan pancakes, drizzling over warm, runny, peanut butter or tahini. Artfully placing berries on the plate and serving it up with fresh coffee and juice for my husband and me.
Hello from baby-land! It’s a busy place, but I so want to get back to sharing with you all again. This mango chia oatmeal is one that I came up with at the tail end of last summer, and I just remembered about it this week. Since it’s been so beautifully hot here in England lately, I thought it was fate, and definitely, time to share this fruity, summery vegan breakfast dish of mango chia oatmeal.
I think Spring weather is trying to break through, but just not very hard. Today, it’s quite lovely outside – blue skies, no bitter wind etc. But snow is forecast later in the week?! What. I don’t remember a March ever being so cold, and I don’t appreciate it this year either because my winter coat stopped doing up sometime around the end of February. My solution? Cook warm, comforting foods like this vegan chickpea, leek & mushroom pie and hope that summer will magically appear. Early.
If you ask my OH what his ideal dinner is, there’s a 50/50 chance that he’ll say lasagne (the other option, by the way, is ‘pie’). There was a time when I didn’t really agree – shock horror – and while it’s still not my go-to dinner request, it’s definitely moved up the rankings. And it’s all thanks to sussing this easy vegan lentil lasagne recipe.