Here’s something for all of us familiar with the “Come on, everyone, it’s REALLY time to get up now!!’ dawn chorus!…

All this week, nonstopmama is on board with Weetabix’s Fuel For Big Days campaign. It’s a great opportunity for mamas to share all those tried and tested tricks for helping to give your family a great start to the day.

Throughout this week, check the display box to the right and you’ll find lots of ideas and comments. And – as the campaign is all about sharing! – you can also hop over to the Weetabix Fuel for Big Days Facebook page and share your tips!

I can’t wait to hear about your early morning strategies, mamas!

Jen xx

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I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for a cute cake/cookie/whatever tin. I really don’t have any more space for another one on our already cluttered countertop (this kind of relates to last Friday’s post!), but I’m always tempted.

This new one from Emma Bridgewater caught my eye at the weekend …

I didn’t splurge, but isn’t it cute?! Love the heart shape!!

What are your kitchen weaknesses?

Coming up tomorrow: the Jubilee beauty booty starts here!

Ever since I interviewed Ruth Clemens – the self-billed “manic mummy and baker extraordinnaire” who came second in the first series of BBC2′s The Great British Bake Off – for nonstopmama, I’ve enjoyed her great home baking blog, The Pink Whisk (her first book is due out in April, BIG congrats, Ruth!).

Her latest post, A sneak peek into The Pink Whisk Kitchen struck such a chord that I just had to mention it.

Revealing her ‘real life’ kitchen – not as big as she’d like, and packed to the rafters with cooking kit and all the signs of super-busy family life – Ruth proves you don’t have to have a kitchen that looks like it’s been styled for a glossy interiors mag spread (or an impossibly pristine TV kitchen) to create one full of character, warmth and love.

Some of the most welcoming kitchens I’ve been in have also been the most modest, mad or cluttered (or, even better, all of the above) and FULL of character and heart.

One is my Italian Nonna’s kitchen – small but always spotlessly clean, swept and with a pot of espresso or pan of pasta water bubbling away on the simple, freestanding stove. Just-washed dishes were put away on the storage rack above the sink, which drained them at the same time – no frills, no fuss. She’d always sit at a small table chopping herbs at bionic speed with her mezzaluna, eyes sparkling and putting the world to rights with whomever was keeping her company. The family ate in the adjacent living room, at a big, round table, almost always with the TV on (so you’d need to compete with newsreader or game show host to be heard). Wonderful.

Do go and check out Ruth’s lovely blog, and let me know what you think here, too, about creating a ‘home that loves’, regardless of space, style and budget!

Yippeee!! We have a winner to announce, of our competition with Green Giant to scoop an Abel & Cole hamper packed with fresh, seasonal veggies!

Back in October, we asked nonstopmamas to share some of their favourite (and sneaky!) tips for getting their children to enjoy their ’5-a-day’.

We had lots of fantastic comments and ideas (and all of them winners!!). But here is the winning entry, from Jacey, who submitted this fantastically quick and easy idea:

“My little one is a very fussy eater but he likes pasta, so I try to add lots of veg to the pasta sauce. So, for example finely chop onion, mushrooms and courgette and lightly fry in oil until soft. Stir in a tin of chopped tomatoes, add some Green Giant (!) sweetcorn and a few handfuls of baby spinach leaves and slow cook for about 20 minutes. You can blend to a smooth sauce if you want (I don’t) and stir into cooked pasta. Then grill cheese over the top. There are about 5/6 portions of veg in that alone! I sometimes add mackerel/sausage too – yum!”

We loved this idea, and BIG congrats to Jacey, whose hamper will be winging its way to her family in the new year!!

Other tips we loved included this, from Erica: “Putting veg on top of homemade pizza works, as well as chopping veg really small to add to Spag Bol or Shepherds Pie”, and this – also on Shepherd’s Pie – from Heather: “When I make Shepherd’s Pie, I include in my recipe lots of “hidden” veg, apart from carrots as usual in with the mince, I also add leeks and parsnips to the mash which adds to the flavour and incorporates several of your five-a-day too!”

And thanks to Juliet, who explained how to make a healthy, warming soup in a matter of minutes: “You can de-mystify making any soup by simply throwing onions, stock and any array of veg in a pan for 20 mins and hey presto, add a hand held blender (and top with cheese if you fancy) and you have the most delicious, warming delight that kids just love!”.

We also loved this different approach, from Jo, which is all about the serving: “With my twins, I think I cracked it the day I put all the food in serving dishes and they were eating the veg they had been pushing away. With control over their own plate and choices they were helping themselves and it broke the issue for me”.

Thanks SO much to everyone who entered, and you can check out more tips at the Green Giant Facebook page!

Finally, Green Giant asked us to post this Christmas greeting from the Jolly Green chap himself! …

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Santa hasn’t been the only one making personal appearances and ‘ho, ho, ho’-ing about the place lately. So has this big guy …

As we posted last month, the Green Giant paid a visit to the Trafford Centre, Manchester, in October, where families – 193 of them, to be precise – got to ‘high five’ him on a huge screen.

Accompanying the man in green was world champion hurdler Colin Jackson, who met the audience and, at one point, demonstrated his hurdling skills over a giant sweetcorn (don’t try this at home) …

We’ll be announcing the winner of our competition to win an Abel & Cole hamper at nonstopmama very soon (we LOVED all your tips and tricks, thanks so much for posting them!).

In the meantime, Green Giant have sent us this video clip, capturing some of the fun that was had in Manchester …

You can find lots of tips, too, on helping your family get their five-a-day at the Green Giant Facebook page.

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