Rasa Pelham Budget £, For little ones :), Inspiration, Outdoors, Travel

French holiday with friends

Back from French holidays last week and I can honestly say these were the best holiday so far since having kids. Although I thought I learned so much already how to do relaxing with kids, I still keep learning on the job. For those who are still struggling to holiday with babies here is my post from few years ago, I can only encourage you that things gets better with kids age.
With older kids you can create play area where they can play independently. Which is why it is so important to pick a place that is child friendly and safe. Self catered houses/villas are the best! Not only that they provide more space for your children, but it also come up much cheaper than hotels.

We loved eating in as it was so much more relaxing in the evening and that meant we could relax outside while kids are sleeping near by. I have learned (thanks to our friends that went on holidays with us) how simple is to pack lunches which saved us money and time (no need to find a restaurant and wait for a food with impatient kids). It was so much more relaxing just to picnic outside. We were so lucky to have such a good weather!

We loved local activities such as kayaking and walks by the cannel. So my advice is to pick a location/house that comes with activities you like. That way you can exchange with baby sitting and do fun things in turns!

We stayed in Brittany, near Carhaix-Plougue. It is a very cute and creative town with lots of wall murals around (I am so into #wallmurals right now!!!).

There was this crochet doily artworks all around the town centre and library. Feeling very inspired just remembering it!

Of course we also visited the lake and local sea side which was the highlight I think.

Amber water is not what people tend to get excited about lol, but I did!

Have you started the holiday season yet? Hope my tips help 😉
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Arty Love, For little ones :), Inspiration, Learn something new

Watercolour challenge: toddler doodles

So this month for my watercolour challenge I decided to collaborate with my own 2 year old toddler (Eek!!). I enjoyed watching Lukas do art so much that I thought it would be very cool to create some careless abstract art inspired by his doodles and fill our kids room walls with it. Isn’t that the greatest idea you ever heard? Well, not quite! Although it did not work out exactly how I imagined (no artwork on the walls yet), working with the toddler thought me one thing or two. Before I tell you all about it, shall I explain how we did go about it first? If you agree then read on to hear my full story below.

For our first arty session I set out with all material I had in stock. Although I don’t have crazy amount of art material, it was still little too much. This was my first lesson on how to make art with the toddler. Never give too much choice or you will be overwhelmed or (what happened in our case) he will be obsessed with one art media. I started by painting large rainbow on the page and Lukas joined in as soon as he noticed me painting. He picked a brush and kept dipping it where ever he could find: acrylics and water paint. The result was as I was expecting although I am not sure about the colour combo here, it did not go with our house interior at all. 

Because I noticed Lukas likes to spread a paint with the brush, I realised watercolour was too watery. This is why I mixed up few watercolours with white acrylic paint to get thicker paint. But that meant the colours ended up very pastel. If you like pastel colours than this is fine, but I was not a big fan of this as I LOOOOOVVEEE bold colours.

But why I did not like Lukas using water colour straight? Well… a 2 year old did not quite understand the concept of using it. To use watercolour you need to constantly dip your brush into water between colour change and before to moisten the paint as well. To fix this problem I tried to dilute some watercolour pigment in little water. Here it is, I made a palette that I though would work.

Except, yellow soon got mixed with green, created lime colour and other colours got mixed up as well. Did I tell you how easily watercolour mixes? You get the image: lots of grey/brown paintings. The pic below was the least overdone (lol).
I also tried placing few drops of watercolour ready on paper. You can blow on those drops to create pretty lines and patterns (this is my fave painting technique!!!). However this did not work out with 2 year old, he just did not quite get what exactly I wanted him to do with the straw I gave him (although I gave him plenty of demonstrations).

Eventually I let him scribble away with crayons.

I used Lukas scribbles to make my own abstract art which I much preferred. However I realised that this does not go with our house or my style.

The artwork with alphabet is my fav, however it does not have so much input from Lukas. I am thinking maybe for my next watercolour challenge I should do something alphabet themed (I really really enjoyed painting letters). Will see ;-).

Hope you have been inspired 😉
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Break-the-fast, For little ones :), Lunch or Dinner, Recipes, Savoury Delights

Savoury pesto crepes (cheese filling is the best!!!)

Truth to be told I recently started to dislike mealtimes with my kiddies. Lukas has reached such a fussy age that I can’t predict if the food I make will meet his standards. Can anyone relate to this? And guess what, it’s not a gourmet food he is after. It’s pasta and pancakes that makes him really happy. Ok, we recently found out that he also likes curry, but I shall keep this story for another post. Ok? For now lets talk pancakes… hmmm
I came up with pesto crepes on one of those days when I wanted to keep lunch time casual. You see, sometimes Tomas goes for a nap in the middle of the day, which is why I started using this time to sort the meals out. I prep the dinner (often in slow cooker) and then me and Lukas casually lunch in the kitchen. I sit Lukas up on the counter while I fry some pancakes for him. I find this totally relaxing as I love nibbling on pancakes myself (with a cup of coffee on the side of course). This week I added pesto into the crepe batter which was a game changer. I started imagining how I could add different herbs next time as well  because it is so easy to make your own pesto using different kinds of bases (it can even be spinach!!). And most of all Lukas liked these “pancakes” equally as the plain ones. I made these savoury and filled it with cheese and tomato which was even better.

PESTO CREPES

  • 200g flour
  • 2 eggs
  • pinch of sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tbsp butter, melted (+ more for frying)
  • about 350ml water or milk
  • 4-6 tbsp pesto (doesn’t have to be basil pesto)

1. Place the flour into the bowl together with eggs, sugar, salt and butter. Whisk everything together into a dry mass. While whisking begin pouring the water gradually into the flour mass (not all in one go because you might not need it all). You are aiming for a batter consistency that easily drips down the whisk when held up but still leaves temporary traces when whisked. 

Add pesto and mix again to combine.

3. You will need to fry pancakes in a well heated pan with a little butter. Pour one spoonful of batter into the pan and immediately start swirling round the pan to get a nice even layer. If you are having a cheese filling then add it at this stage as it needs to melt while the crepe is still frying.

Just roll the crepe once the cheese is slightly melted.

Best eaten warm!

Enjoy!
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Crafts!, Crochet, For little ones :), Maternity

How to make a baby mobile (+crochet jumping bunnies pattern)

No no, I am not expecting again! This baby mobile I made last week is for my new nephew Alexi. Although I do think this is a perfect project when you expecting… hmm. Think of all that time you have when the baby is not out yet (only kidding there is always another one near by to pester you about his needs lol).
Anyhow if you would like to make a baby mobile then you will need something to hang on it. I prefer soft mini animals or shapes and this time I chose crochet jumping bunnies, because that wast the requested theme (keep scrolling for the pattern). You can hang on it anything else suitable such as this knitted “pigeon” or this felt bird.

For this project you will need yarn (8 ply, DK), crochet hook (3mm), tread, two seed beads and a fork (for pom pom making).

(BODY)

row 1: Start with 26 chain stitches (ch).

rows 2-9: work 1 chain stitch (ch) and then 26 single crochet stitches (sc).

row 10: work 1 ch and then 5 slip stitches (slip st) followed by 16 sc.

rows 11-21: work 1ch and then 16sc.

rows 22-28: work 1ch and then 7 sc.

Work 1ch and then 7 sc all the way down to row 21.

row 22: work 2 slip st and then 7 sc.

rows 23-28: work 1ch and then 7 sc.

Fold the leg parts and stitch it up at the edges.

Fold the body part in half and stitch at the bottom to form the bunnies bum.

Turn the bunny inside out so all the stitches are hidden.

Stuff the bunny with some wool or polyester filling and close the stomach opening with invisible stitch (I used a crochet hook for all the stitches rather than a large needle).

(HEAD)

round 1: work 8 sc on top of bunny body to form bunny neck.

rounds 2-4: sc around by working 2 stitches at every third gap bellow. (should end up with 18 sts at 4th row).

rounds 5-7: sc around (18 sts each round).

round 8-9: sc around skipping one stitch at the bunny face sides (14 sts at 9th round).

Stuff bunny head with wool or polyester filling and close it with 7 slip stitches.

(EARS)

row 1: work 1ch and then 3sc.

rows 2-5: work 1ch and then 4sc.

row 6: work 1ch and then 3sc

row7: work 1ch and then 2sc

row8: work 1ch and then 1sc

Repeat the instructions again for the second ear

To finish the bunny stitch the beads for the eyes and mini pom pom for the bunny tail. At the same stitch as the eyes tuck the tread into the body next to the neck to make the head slightly tilted.

To make the baby mobile you will need a hoop (around 12 inches), some thread (strong enough to handle hanging weight), some mini jingle bells (or beads) and 5 jumping bunnies (or any other mini stuffed animal or shapes).

Attach five threads to the hoop together with the jingle bells.

Join all five threads leaving lots of space on top for hanging (you might want to hang it onto the ceiling).

Hang the mobile and carefully attach all the bunnies onto each thread at the bottom while trying to keep it all level (its very challenging I know!).

Ta-da!!

Hope your baby likes this mobile although I believe it is more for mummy to enjoy 😉
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Arty Love, For little ones :), Recipes, Sweet Treats

Kids art Easter biscuits

Hands up who is really really looking forward to Easter! We do! Me and kids are in Devon with the grandparents already and we are pretty much ready here (its easy when you are not hosting).
Me and Lukas has been drawing and painting lots recently so I initially thought we will do good old Lithuanian tradition and paint some eggs, but then I decided against it when I thought of shortbread biscuits… hmmm! I thought if I make the biscuits into egg shape then it will be like painting eggs but on the flat surface rather than the round surface (a little less messy I thought). Plus, I thought this is a very good opportunity to try out more of natural food colouring :-).

KIDS ART EASTER BISCUITS
(for biscuits)

  • 240g butter, softened
  • 200g sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 500g flour
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 4tbsp milk

(for the “paint”)

  • 4tbsp icing sugar, sifted
  • water
  • 1tsp beetroot powder for pink
  • 1/2tsp turmeric powder for yellow
  • 1tsp matcha powder for green

1. Place all the biscuits ingredients into the mixer and switch it on for few min till everything turns into nice soft dough. At this point you can wrap the dough and place it in the fridge for the next day or freezer for whenever you need it in the future.

2. Flour the surface and the rolling pin and roll the dough about 7 mm thick. Using biscuit cutter or a cup/glass cut the circles in the dough. Once the circles are out of the dough roll it once more again (only one way) to make an oval shape.

3. You can involve your kid at this point. Lukas was treating the dough as he would the play-dough.

4. Place all the dough shapes into lined baking tray and bake them in C200 preheated oven for 10min.

5. Meanwhile make the “paint”! gradually add water into the icing sugar until you are happy with the consistency. Split the icing into four cups so you can make up few different colours. Add each colouring to the separate cup and mix.

Initially I showed Lukas how to brush the “paint” onto biscuits…

but soon after he realised it is so much more fun to drizzle and splatter the paint over the biscuits. I totally agree, these remind me of Jackson Pollock paintings.

Have a very lovely Easter everyone xx
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Break-the-fast, For little ones :), Recipes, Sweet Treats

Breakfast banana bread

I am not going to lie, last week was a bit difficult. Coming back from holidays straight to real word is overwhelming! And we are going for another holiday again next week so not sure how I am going to cope to do this all over again. One thing is certain, I am trying to prepare as much as I can for it. Last week I had a meltdown when I find out we have no bananas left for breakfast. This is why this time round I am making banana bread to put in the freezer just in case so I can toast it if I am in banana emergency again (sounds funny, but it was seriously an emergency because banana is a very important staple in our house). I made this banana with porridge oats and replaced sugar with honey, so it is sort of healthier than regular banana bread. It’s not like I am giving cake to kids for their most important meal!

BREAKFAST BANANA BREAD

  • 160g honey
  • 100g butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbsp yogurt
  • 500g ripe bananas (3-4 bananas) + 1 for the decoration
  • 100g porridge oats
  • 150g plain flour
  • 2tsp baking powder

1. in the blender or food processor cream butter with honey then add eggs and yogurt and whizz once again.

2. Add remaining ingredients, including pealed bananas and turn the food processor on to make a smooth banana bread mixture.

3. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin. Top it with sliced banana and bake it in preheated 180C oven till it is baked through.

Don’t slice baked banana bread while it is still hot like me here. It wont cut well as it is a very very moist banana bread. Once it’s cool it can be eaten straight away or frozen ready sliced.

Hope January is treating you well!
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Cake decorating, For little ones :), Recipes, Sweet Treats

Woodland themed birthday cake

Although we celebrated Lukas birthday together with Granny birthday last weekend he is officially turning 2 today (wow, where does the time go!). It was good to get together with the family in Devon, staying here a little longer with the kids while Joni is sorting out our new kitchen (hopefully will share about it more soon).
As for a birthday cake I am very very pleased that I was not asked to bake him a cake in Paw Patrol theme (or something along those lines), so I chose to make woodland themed one. Which is much prettier and tasteful in my opinion. I really dislike heavily iced cakes! I also decided to keep it simple as I am quite busy these days (bringing up baby and toddler at the same time is no joke).
DAIRY AND GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE BIRTHDAY CAKE
(for the cake)

  • 6 eggs
  • 300ml oil (I used olive oil)
  • 400g caster sugar
  • 300g ground almonds
  • 3tsp baking powder
  • 50g cocoa powder mixed with 125ml boiling water

(for the frosting)

  • 1 avocado
  • 85g dairy-free sunflower spread
  • 200g dairy-free chocolate, melted (do it carefully if doing in microwave)
  • 50g cocoa powder mixed with 125ml boiling water
  • 150g icing sugar, sifted (+100g extra for thicker frosting)

(for the decoration)

  • woodland themed gingerbread cookies
  • rosemary stalks

1. First bake a cake. Whisk the eggs with sugar and oil until you have custard like consistency. Add almonds, baking powder and cocoa powder liquid. Mix everything again to combine. 

2. Pour equal amount of cake mixture into two lined baking tins. Bake in 180C oven for 40-45min.

3. While waiting for the cake to bake, prep gingerbread cookies. You may be able to buy yours in store, but I needed dairy free ones at least so I ended up baking my own. I used this recipe and replaced butter with sunflower spread. 

4. Finally, time to make the frosting. Place all the ingredients (only 150g icing sugar at this stage) into electric mixer/processor and whizz. The mixture should turn into smooth frosting.

Spread half of the frosting in between the cake layers, top and sides.

Use pallet knife to smooth the frosting on the cake.

5. To decorate add 100g more icing sugar into the remaining frosting to make it thicker. Pipe it on top to make a decorative texture. Top the cake with woodland themed cookies and rosemary stalks to represent trees/bushes. 

Hope I inspired you 😉
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham For little ones :), Lunch or Dinner, Recipes, Savoury Delights

My favourite kids lunch on the go

We have been traveling lots lately (I am talking day trips not an actual holiday) and to have something handy for lunch is essential (unless you want to spend the money at the cafe or something). This is why these muffins are amazing for obvious reasons. They are dry meaning the mess don’t stick to clothes, they are full of hidden veg (so hard to make Lukas eat veg these days) and they can be frozen for whenever you need them. Besides, they are carbs that children love to eat, su no fuss here ;-).

FULL OF VEG SAVOURY MUFFINS
makes 12 muffins

  • 2 handfuls of chopped veg of your choice (I had broccoli and cherry tomatoes)
  • 230g plain flour
  • 3tsp baking powder
  • 140g grated cheese
  • 200ml milk
  • 3tbsp olive or sunflower oil
  • 1 egg, beaten

1. First, finelly chop all the veggies. Especially broccoli as it needs to cook through when baked.

2. Combine the veggies with the rest of ingredients.

3. Mix everything well before spooning the mixture into 12 hole muffin tin (all lined and ready). Bake for around 30min in 180C preheated oven.

Enjoy your lunch!
Rasa xx

Rasa Pelham Cake decorating, For little ones :), Let's Celebrate!, Recipes, Sweet Treats

Baby friendly birthday cake

Last week we celebrated Lukas birthday and today I would like to share with you the recipe of the cake I made for him. I aimed for something sugar free of course that is suitable for a baby. I made sure to include banana in it just because Lukas loooovesss banana very much (maybe he is a minion who knows :D) and also because it adds some sweetness. The cake of course wasn’t very sweet. I would say it was a brioche sweetness level. I also thought that it is better eaten warm, but I had to cool it down unfortunately to decorate it and make it look a little bit more festive ;-). For “butter cream” I just used whipping cream, so it wasn’t sweet at all, but actually Lukas liked it very much so I guess it’s ok ;-).

BABY BIRTHDAY CAKE
(for the cake)

  • 150g banana (about 1-2 bananas depending on size)
  • 1 egg
  • 60ml oil (I used refined olive oil, but rapeseed oil would probably be better)
  • 330g plain flour
  • 27g oats (I used pack of portioned porridge oats that actually comes in 27g)
  • 2tsp baking powder
  • 125ml milk
  • 3tbsp yogurt (I used greek style yogurt, but natural yogurt would work fine too)

(for decorations)

  • whipping cream, whipped till stiff (one tube of 300ml will do)
  • no added sugar chocolate (there is no such thing as sugar free chocolate my friends!)
  • blueberries (or any type of other berries that are sweet)

1. Whizz bananas, egg and oil in the food processor. Add all other ingredients and mix everything to combine.
2. Spoon the cake dough into small lined spring form tins (mine filled 4 tins).
3. Place the tins into preheated 180C oven and bake the cakes for 20min or so.

4. Meanwhile I made chocolate cake decorations. I must admit I got little rusty, because I have not done it for aaaaages! I melted some chocolate, poured into pouch I made out of backing paper and cut the hole in it so I could pipe the chocolate out. I lined a metal baking tin with backing paper and piped chocolate on it in the leaf shapes. Placed it in the freezer for few minutes to set. Done!

5. Next up is decorating! Sandwich the cake by spreading whipped cream in between and then spread more on top and around to ice the cake. My tip is to really wait till the cakes are cool and trim the tops off, that really helps to make the cake square and therefore easy to ice.

Once the cake is iced, decorate it by piping some more whipped cream on top, sprinkling with blueberries and arranging some chocolate decorations on top if you wish.

Hope your baby likes it too 😉
Rasa xx

Rasa Pelham For little ones :), Photography, Sweet Treats

Photography challenge: birthday cake "smash"

I don’t know if you heard of a term “cake smash” (I am sure if you google it it would give you plenty of examples), but I wanted to try it on Lukas real bad! I thought it would be sooooo much fun for both of us, because I believe Lukas enjoys making mess :D.

So Lukas birthday comes up (I can’t believe he is now 1 year old!) and I finally come up with a plan of how its going to work. I found a few baby friendly recipes to combine (sugar free of course!) for the cake, which I was very pleased with in the end. I worked out where we were going to do this messy act (in the sitting room on the floor covered with the blanket). I chose an outfit (very important!), although I did not put too much thought in to that as it just had to be something simple. I also read a few tips on how to do such a photo shoot, they all suggested make it relaxing (not rushed) and make sure the baby is in good mood (fed and napped).

The result? Not quite what I expected! I failed on napping Lukas well that day, so I had to bake and decorate the cake while he was awake. I was rushed and definitely not relaxed. I finished the cake very late and was worried about the lighting (oh those early autumn evenings!). As I have mentioned in other photography post in the past, when there is poor light you need to compromise with a slower shutter speed which means I had to hold camera steady to avoid blur. But try telling a one year old to stay still, so I ended up with many blurry pics (which is ok I guess as it captures the movement). On top of everything Lukas did not destroy the cake, but picked out the decorations and sampled them. If you are interested, here is a video that Joni took during photoshoot.

So my advice if you want to take cake smash photos is to first relax, and pick a day that is completely activity free. Pre-make the cake perhaps? Take picture after babies first nap or something. And most importantly, enjoy!
Rasa xoxo