Proudly South African Recipe: Biltong potato bake with sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms

OMG!

Who doesn't like Biltong anything! I get that some people are not crazy about mushrooms but I am and let's be honest, potato bake...all potato bake rocks, who doesn't eat potato bake?

Ok, this isn't the healthiest recipe so if you are on a major "eat clean" moment in your life...I DO NOT suggest you try this recipe unless you're have having your cheat meal...then go ahead and enjoy every last spoon full because it is YUMMY!

You can all thank getaway magazine for being kind enough to share this mouth watering recipe because it means I could share it with you.

If you make it, let me know what you think and how it came out.



Ingredients

– 1kg potatoes, sliced
– A handful of sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped
– 100 grams of biltong, sliced
– 1 punnet button mushrooms
– 3 tablespoons butter
– 2 tablespoons of flour
– 250 ml milk, at room temperature
– two handfuls of grated cheese (optional)
– breadcrumbs
– 50 g biltong dust

 Method

1. Put the potatoes on to par-boil. Depending on the size of your slices, this should take 10 – 20 minutes.

TIP: You could always assemble the bake with raw potato slices, you’ll just have to keep it in the oven for over an hour.

2. Slice your mushrooms, heat about a tablespoonful of butter in a large pan, and add them only when the butter is hot. Stir them about on a high heat until they’ve cooked down and look delicious, about 10-15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, start with the white sauce:

• Melt the leftover butter at a medium heat.
• Add the flour.
• Stir for a few minutes with a wooden spoon, until bubbling but not browned.
• Add a splash of milk and stir like crazy. When the milk is fully incorporated, add a little more and repeat. When you’ve added about half of the milk, switch to a balloon-whisk and carry on applying elbow grease. Lumps? Shame on you. Whisk harder.
• When it’s thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, and no floury taste remains, take it off the heat.

4. Drain the potatoes. Leave them to cool down in the colander, then layer in a dish.
 

5. Pour the white sauce over the potatoes, and mix in the biltong and sun-dried tomatoes.

6. Sprinkle cheese over the top, then finish with breadcrumbs and biltong dust.

7. Bake at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until it’s browned and potatoes are tender.


MMMmmmhhh

Enjoy!

10 Months today ~ Camden Kingsley Loxton

TEN months old, we are in the double digits and on the first birthday count down little man!

Oh it is breaking my heart, don't get me wrong I adore our little monkey but in just two short months he turns 1 and becomes a toddler. I can't deal!

Such an active boy with an extremely short attention span, no TV for this little guy. Wayne and I laugh at times because he reminds us of Dory from the move "Finding Nemo". When you look at him you can see his mind is all over the show, to keep him entertained you literally need to give him a new toy every minute. I just place him in front of his toy box these days and he helps himself by throwing all the toys out, I will need to start teaching him how to pack them back soon but he isn't quite ready for that just yet. He bashes, clangs, pushes buttons on the toys he knows light up or make a noise, puts the balls in his lion toys mouth and opens the hatch to let the balls back out again - such a clever little boy. He has started taking a liking to specific toys lately and he absolutely loves this walker of his.

Giving his lion some love

He is becoming so independent and I shouldn't let it scare me because there are many more years before he will be out of the house and I need to let him be his own little person but wow when those days come I will sure miss him being my little boy.

These days he loves to point, at everything. His finger is almost permanently in the pointing position.

It is very difficult to get pictures of Camden, well it has been that way for a few months now. I am no photographer and I have little patience when it comes to photography. He has a complete mind of his own. When I call him to look at the camera he looks the other way on purpose and smiles with that naughty little smile of his. It is becoming increasingly difficult to even get one nice picture of him.

Talking about his naughty smile. If he is doing something he knows he shouldn't be doing he tends to look at me, scrunch up his eyes, reveal his teeth and give me the biggest naughty grin ever, something like this...

YAY! Our little champ has started walking with his walker. He still only takes a few steps, by a few I mean about 5 steps without his walker on his own and then remembers that crawling is way more simple, drops to his knees and shoots off like lightning.

He is loving his bath time, especially his bubble baths with dad. Brushes his teeth like a little champ these days - it is CRAZY how much he is changing!

There is so much more to say but we will be here forever. This month has been a tough one. I wouldn't say it has been the toughest month in all 10 months but it has been trying at times. Camden had a cold from month 9 right through to month 10, it finally cleared up about a week and a bit ago after finally taking him to the Paed as it hadn't cleared properly in almost 6 weeks.

He started sleeping better after his cold cleared and all was back to normal and then as if to just tease us...we think he started teething again this past week so we are currently back to sleepless nights with Camden waking up about four times a night, messy nappies, nappy rash, rosy cheeks and a little bit of an upset baby at times ( exhausted parents) but for the most part he has been a cheerful little chap full of noise!

We love our little monkey and we hope that this teething, if that is what it is takes it easy on our little guy because cutting the six teeth that he currently has was no joke for him...or us!

How big?: 77cm tall and around 11.2kg

Clothing Size: Currently 18-24 months

Eating: Almost anything but he prefers it if it is on your plate and if you don't give him some of your food quick enough he will be sure to help himself or moan and lick his lips while staring at you until you give him some. Even if you are eating exactly what he is eating it somehow seems far more interesting on your plate.

We have him currently on:

• A formula bottle when he wakes up, then around
• 8am he will have jungle oats for breakfast.
• 10am he may have a snack and 100ml of cows milk before his nap.
• For lunch he will have veg and protein or yoghurt, he loves plain yoghurt and fruit.
• 2pm he will have a 180ml formula bottle before his next nap
• Dinner he either has what we are eating or I give him a wholesome Umatie meal
• Just before bed time he has his last formula bottle for the day

He had his first taste of milkshake with dad this month and loved it but we won't be getting him too used to that - loaded with sugar!

Sleep: It hasn't been the best month when it comes to Camden and his sleep. In the beginning of the month he was terribly sick and due to a blocked nose his sleep was interrupted. We had a week and a bit of blissful sleep and then we think he started teething again and we went back to sleepless nights. All in all Camden is an extremely restless sleeper, always moving and rolling around. Most mornings this month he was wide awake at 4/5am and refused to go back to sleep. Some mornings we were blessed with a 6/6:30am morning but not many this month.

On a good night he will go to bed around 7.30pm once he has eaten, been bathed, played a bit more to get his last bit of energy out and then had his last bottle. We try read his bed time prayers to him when he is having his last bottle but the minute the book comes out Camden grabs it and just turns pages and more pages, opens and closes the book and then opens it and closes it and seems to get his second wind and go wild, he sometimes even tries to climb in the book of prayers, something about ANY book gets this child of ours so excited. It is the craziest thing so we have put reading books to him on hold for a while and I just sing his bible songs to him while he drinks his last bottle. Most nights he will wake around 2am and then go back to sleep until 4:30am, we give him his bottle at 4:30 because he will never just go back to sleep at this time in the morning. After his bottle he then goes back to sleep until about 6am.

Camden's sleeping through can be anything from 9 to 11 hours a night.

Movement: Stands on his own and drinks his bottles, so he is standing by himself for long periods of time now. He is walking about 5 steps unassisted and he is now walking and controlling his movements using his lion walker. Mostly he is crawling and getting around EVERYWHERE.

Milestones:

• Has mastered the art of sipping out his spout sippy cup and his straw cup. He was only able to get little bits out of his straw cup at a time but now he has it waxed. He has figured out that he needs to suck on his spout cup while turning the cup upside down - before he would just suck on it with his head down for ages and nothing would come out - lol.
• Walking totally unassisted with his lion walker - I am sorry, I know as his parents we must not laugh but to see him do this for the first time was the funniest yet most adorable thing we have ever seen.
• Stands next to dad in the bathroom and Brushes his teeth while standing unassisted.
• Had his first taste of milkshake
• Pointing
• Started standing for longer periods of time unassisted
• Stands and then bends down with both hands to pick up whatever he wants, this is so cute but funny at the same time.
• Loves to speed crawl away and then you must act as if you are chasing him and he screeches and kills himself laughing
• Celebrated mommy's first mothers day by going on his first cycle on a bicycle along the promenade.
• Had his first bubble bath (with dad)

Ten months post-partum: Mommy is finally starting to feel more like her old happy self emotionally.

I have been extremely sick again this month though and was feeling very down because of it, one cold virus on top of the next. Each time I started training at gym again, just like last month I seemed to catch whatever Camden had brought home with him from crèche and I would get sick. I am still currently getting over last weeks cold so I am hoping to be able to start training again this week - holding thumbs. It seems due to the lack of sleep my immune system has taken a knock but they say it gets better and the first year after having a baby is tough - here is to better sleeping patterns soon.

Family Ride!

There are a few things that we have on our "Bucket List" of things to do in the Mother City and one of them is to cycle together along the promenade as a family and yesterday we got to do exactly that!

Yay to ticking off another item on the list and what better day to do it on than on - Mother's Day!

The weather was certainly showing off in Cape Town yesterday, the perfect winters morning for a family bike ride.

The sun was out in full force and the smell of the sea was so strong - no better way to enjoy Cape Town than to soak up some sun rays, breathe in the fresh ocean air, let the wind blow through your hair and admire the amazing surroundings while you get some fitness in with the best people in your life.

We hired our Vitality bicycles from Up Cycles, they are stationed at The Pavilion on the Sea Point Promenade. You can visit their website here to find out more.

The guys working at Up Cycles were so good with Cam, we had a few laughs before we got to cycling because Cam looked rather unsure about what was happening when they were fastening his helmet. It was SO big for him but safety first so we just used it anyway.

LOL, excuse the look on Camden's face in most of the pictures. He was struggling with the glare of the sun, definitely takes after his mamma in this regard. Next thing on my list of to do's - find Cam a pair of shades that fit his face. We have tried on so many pairs but sadly they just fall off or he looks like a fly. My poor child.

Back to our bike ride!

It was so awesome to be able to hang back and just watch my boys. They both looked so chilled out and peaceful. Camden didn't complain once for the entire hour that we cycled, normally after 1 minute of trying to get him to sit still he will start wriggling and moaning to make sure you are aware of how unhappy he is.

I got to admire the beautiful surroundings and I felt so at peace and stress free. Wow! How blessed are we, we sure live in an amazing City!

On our cycle, Cam cottoned on to the fact that if he turned the bell on the bike it would make a noise and people would move out of the way. He clearly found this rather amusing because every group of people we went past he would ring the bell and smile with his scrunched up eyes. At first people looked rather irritated until they realised that it was Camden ringing the bell, then they laughed, oooh'd and aaahh'd and made comments about how cute he is.

Getting to spend Mother's Day with the two favourite men in my life, I couldn't have asked for more.

It was a great day!

Happy Mother's Day to us.

 

It has always been difficult for me to find the words to describe what motherhood means to me. I also never pictured myself ever being a mother...and then I had you.

The moment I heard your first cry I knew my life was no longer just about me anymore and it never would be because I was now a mother and for the rest of my life it would be about you.

This is why I don't believe that Mother’s Day should be about celebrating the fact that I am now a mother, I feel it is more about being a mother to you. The best gift I  received  this Mother's Day wasn’t the coffee I got in bed, or the chocolates that you gave me. The best gift was being woken up and seeing you look down at me with that smile that melts my heart.

Today was the best day because I got to spend the day with you,celebrating the amazing little person who made me the woman I am today, a mother.

From the bottom of my heart,

Thank you.

Coughs, Colds & Snotty Noses

To all the working mammas (and SAHM), you may find this article interesting.

Source of image

Since 6 months of age Camden has been going to a crèche  because Wayne and I both work unfortunately and from the minute he stepped foot in there he has been getting one cold after the other.

His Paediatrician referred to it as the crèche cold and she told me that it is possible for him to have the cold virus and get another one right on top of it - this seems to be the problem we are experiencing because just as you think he seems to be getting better he gets sick all over again?!

She gave me an article to read on Coughs, Colds & Snotty Noses from a website known as www.paediatrician.co.za .I found it extremely informative!

A child in the first year of life breathes through the nose. This means that the only way a child can breathe comfortably is if the nose is clear and not blocked. The nose connects to the 4 sets of sinuses and the ears by little tubes and this creates a structure of many little passage ways. This is important because this system helps to clean and humidify the air we breathe so that the air that gets to the lungs is clean and warm.

The nose and sinuses produce mucus that traps the dirty particles in the air and little hairs along the passage ways beat in time to clear the mucus.

The nasal passages of a child are very small and they find it difficult to clear even the mucus that is normally produced in the nose. They are also not able to blow their nose so they frequently sound like they have a blocked nose. Flushing their noses with sterile saline is safe and very useful to clear their little noses.

The Common Cold

This is a viral infection due to a virus called Rhinovirus and is very common especially in the winter months. The whole infection lasts about ten days and starts with a blocked nose and sore throat for about three days and then the nose starts to run, a cough develops and your child may develop a slight fever.

This continues for another five to seven days. The nasal blockage is usually worse at night when the child is lying down.

The runny nose usually starts when the cold is starting to get better. When the cold virus (Rhinovirus) first infects the nose and sinuses, the nose starts making lots of clear mucus. This mucus helps wash the virus out of the nose and sinuses. After two or three days, as the body fights back, the mucus changes to a white or yellow colour. As the bacteria that usually live in the nose grow back, they change the mucus to a greenish colour. This is normal, it does not mean that your child has an infection that needs to be treated with medicines such as antibiotics (As I was originally told by the crèche when they asked me to fetch Camden the one day)

Why not take antibiotics for The Common Cold?
Taking antibiotics that your body doesn't really need can be harmful. After each antibiotic your child is more likely to have resistant germs in his or her nose. If your child gets infected again, it's more likely to be with these resistant germs. Resistant germs aren't killed by the usual antibiotics. If your child gets infected with a resistant germ, it might be necessary to use more expensive and more powerful antibiotics or even antibiotics that have to be given in hospital. Since a runny nose generally gets better by itself, it's best to wait and take antibiotics only when necessary.

How can I treat The Common Cold?
Runny nose, cough, fever, headache and muscle aches may bother your child during a cold, but medicine won't make them go away faster. Using a cool mist vaporizer or giving your child an over-the-counter nasal decongestant in the form of a nose drop or nose spray may help. It is very important to note that the nasal decongestant must not be used for longer than a week at a time. Using them for longer periods of time will cause the nose to block up when the medication is stopped.

The most important part of the treatment is to ensure that those nose is clear and that the child is taking fluids and feeds.

The use of combination cough and cold medications are not safe in children under 2 years of age and they should not be used. They have no benefit in the treatment of a cold as they do not help your child get better faster. Over-the-counter cough and cold remedies have side effects such as disturbed sleep, unusual movements & Hallucinations. Check with your doctor to see which medications are ok to use.

Warning signs of the Cold being more than just a Cold:

• A fever of >38.5 degrees lasting for more than two days
• Poor feeding even when the nose is clear
• Vomiting or diarrhoea
• Difficulty breathing and rapid breathing
• Noisy breathing: grunting, whistling or wheezing
• Overly sleepy or listless

Hope you enjoyed the article as much as I did, I just thought it gave me a much better understanding of what has been going on with Camden these last few months and I feel more at ease knowing the the Paed says it is normal during winter for him to have up to 7 of these "colds"

Bring on SUMMER I say!

Qualified First Aider.

Qualified First Aider, yes that's me!

I have been on and qualified as a first aider a good couple of years back but your certificate expires after three years and I hadn't felt the need to renew it (silly me).

Companies here in South Africa are required by law to have staff trained in First Aid on site during office hours. We officially opened our Head Office in February this year and we have been getting all our ducks in a row and one of those ducks were getting staff trained in First Aid so we have First Aiders on site.

There were four of us at the office nominated to do the two day First Aid Level one course, we are only required to have 1 First Aider per every 100 staff members but because some of us travel for business we are not always all in the office together so hence my company opted to train a few people to ensure we have someone on site at all times who is able to administer first aid.

Accidents happen, and having trained staff on hand and a first aid kit means enhanced safety for all

I definitely wasn't going to decline this offer. Having a baby at home is another great reason to have this behind your name. We touched base on CPR at our antenatal classes last year before Camden arrived but I didn't feel confident at all to be able to handle a situation should something happen to him. Now, I DO!

Monday and Tuesday this week my colleague and I joined some other "students" at Clinical Dynamics for the extremely informative First Aid Level One training course.

Besides learning we had a good few laughs. Our facilitator, a qualified Paramedic was great. Not only was he extremely knowledgeable but he opened and closed each session with prayer - what a great way to start and end your day!

We learnt the following on the two days that we were on the course:

• The meaning of First Aid and the law
• First Aid at work
• Principles of First Aid
• Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation
• The CPR C.A.B Method
• Steps to CPR
• The Recovery Position
• Primary Survey
• Secondary Survey
• Vital Signs
• Bleeding and different wounds and their classifications
• Nose bleeds and how to handle them
• What to do if someone is choking
• How to treat shock
• Fainting
• Different burns and their classifications and how to treat them
• Factures
• How to splint a fracture
• Sprains
• Skull Fractures
• Head Injuries
• Concussion
• How to use the AED ( Automated External Defribrillator)
• The first aid box at work

I must say it was quite daunting to have to learn all that theory in two days. I haven't written an exam in years coupled with post pregnancy brain for me BUT we stressed for nothing, the exam went well and the best part was the practical part of the exam where we each had to demonstrate in front of the class how to do CPR, how to splint a fracture and what to do in a situation when someone is choking.

All in all it was a fun learning experience and I now feel confident to not only assist at work if something goes wrong but I am now able to help if something happens to Camden or anyone at home for that matter.

I will blog about:

• Steps to C.P.R for an infant/child
• Burns and their treatment
• Choking
• Fractures
• Fainting and
• How to treat for shock

shortly for all my mommy friends who read my blog, this could help you if you ever found yourself in this situation with your little one at home.

Splish splash, I love my baths!

From a tiny baby who would scream absolute blue murder every single bath time to THIS! That's a face of a  baby who loves his baths.

No more tears just splashing, playing around and plenty of giggles while he acts the fool. We used to dread this time of the day with Cam but now we absolutely love it! We get a good few laughs out of bath time in the evenings, he has become such a little character.

In addition to bath time being "getting clean" time it has also become fun time in our house. When Camden isn't sick we leave him in a little longer because bath time is a great time to bond, play and learn.

He loves to brush his teeth, we let him do this in the bath to create less mess. When he brushes his teeth while we brush ours in the morning he tries to grab our tooth brush as well and we end up with toothpaste everywhere hence the bath is a much safer place for this activity.

When instructed, he closes his eyes so that his hair can be washed. This isn't the best part of his baths but he is well behaved and when it is all over the smiles return in a flash.

 

We experiment with filling the cups that came with his bath duck, this is good for his hand and eye coordination and we try to teach him words like "duck" and "cup" in between all the splashing and him slipping and sliding from one side of the bath to the other like a crazy person who is on a major sugar rush.

It is so amazing to see Camden this happy and excited and it is such a great way to unwind after a stressful day at the office.

 

 

 

An outing to the park

Wow, another long weekend has passed us by in the blink of an eye! Just as you start enjoying it, BAM it is Sunday and the time has arrived for you to prep for the week of work that lays ahead.

We had quite a jam-packed weekend. Wayne had to work, I had appointments, a baby shower to attend and Cam spent some quality time with his GG while we were busy. We even managed to squeeze in a "date" and went to watch "The Duff" at the cinema on Saturday afternoon, while Cam was out shopping with his gran and GG.

When Sunday arrived we decided to have a time out and spend some quality family time together down by the park before we headed to my gran for Sunday lunch. Mmmmhhh Yum, nothing better than my grandmothers home cooked meals.

Besides being naked or at least without trousers, being outside is definitely one of Camden's favourite things to do! Check at that BIG smile on his face, that just says it all. He is such a boy with a massively curious mind so he just loves exploring.

We took a slow stroll to the park, admiring the neighbourhood - something we forget to do because we are so used to always being here that we forget to appreciate the area we live in. When we arrived at the park we first took Cam on the seesaw. He just loved it, started looking around in amazement, smiling and giggling until we took him off then he started to cry.

Every time we put him on a new item at the park he would start smiling and giggling until we took him off then he would start literally screaming to get back on. We had to make sure to keep the swing, swinging or else the air would be filled with Camden's screaming, we thought it was rather funny but the neighbours in the area outside their houses started to stare. The boy knows what he wants it seems so what were we supposed to do?!

Poor Camden is terribly sick, hence he was dressed like it was snowing in Cape Town. We are on the 7th week of him being sick now, poor boy and he is miserable at times due to not feeling well and lack of sleep. He was enjoying himself thoroughly even though he was extremely tired, on the walk home he actually passed out in the stroller with his bottle.

We had a fun filled family park experience even though our little champ in so sick.