Year of the sleep over

Ella turns 9 this year and it seems it is the age that they start attending sleep over’s! Ella is a confident child when it comes to staying away from home. I think this has come from having Grandparents that lived in Norfolk when she was very young so she would go and spend half term breaks with them. Last night she attended her first Sleep Over Birthday Party. She was very excited and went off happily. The Mum had the girls phone home to say good night around 8pm which I thought was a nice thing to do. They all sounded rather hyper when she phoned. Ella said they had been painting their nails and had pizza and were now getting their pyjamas on and going to settle down to watch a DVD. Knowing Ella is a child who does everything she possibly can to avoid sleep I didn’t hold out much hope of her being asleep before midnight. I think it is quite a big responsibility looking after a group of 8/9 year olds over night and have to say I am not looking forward to May when it is Ella’s Birthday and she asks to have a sleep over. I never had, or went, to sleep overs until I was at least 13, but then everything seems to take hold a lot earlier in life these days – man I sound old!

I picked Ella up at 10.30, she was happy but uncharacteristicly quiet. The Mum said they had been chatting until past midnight and in the end she had, had to join them and sleep on the sofa downstairs. Apparently the more tiered they got the more they scared each other about people trying to break into the house! They had finally settled around 1am! The main thing is they all had a good time, but the aftermath of tiredness is trying to say the least. Thankfully it is the school holidays and Ella is good at laying in so I am sure tomorrow she will be back to her normal self, but really I do think maybe they are still a little bit too young for sleepovers and I may try to gently persuade her to have a different kind of party! I can hear it now – “Mum that’s so unfair!”

What to do with Brown Bananas!

In our house the moment the bananas start to turn brown no one will touch them! I hate waste and throwing out food so I am always looking for recipes and tips on how to save or use food that is on the turn. This is my favourite recipe for using up bananas that are past there best. The kids love eating it as well as helping bake it and it is a great lunch box treat or morning snack!

Banana & Chocolate Chip Loaf

You will need;

6 oz Butter or margarine

8 oz Caster Sugar

2 Large Ripe Bananas

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

1/25 tsp Salt

10 oz Self Raising Flour

3 Eggs

& 2 oz Chocolate Chips

Set your oven to 160 C

Line a 3″ deep Loaf Tin

To make, put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and melt in the microwave. Once melted add the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda and mix together. In a separate bowl mash the bananas with the vanilla essence then beat the 3 eggs into the banana mixture. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture in the large bowl and stir well until combined. Finally add the chocolate chips and stir lightly before pouring into your lined tin.

Bake at 160 c for 50 minutes. My oven is a fan oven and it sometimes needs a little longer. You know your cake is ready when you push a skewer into the middle and it comes out clean.

Totally yummy and counts as one of your five a day. What’s not to love!

If you have any banana recipes please comment and let me know so I can give them a go.