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Enjoy watching your toddler feed themselves lentils!

March 18, 2014 · Filed under All recipes, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged cooking techniques, feeding the family, freezer, recipe, vegetables, vegetarian

Yes, it’s true, these little balls of deliciousness are perfect toddler food but they’re also a popular snack with older kids, too. The secret is that the sweet potato (or kumara), is ROASTED, so they’re rich and enticing which means the lentils aren’t noticed at all.

To get the mash, I chuck the whole sweet potato into the oven (don’t peel it or anything so tedious) and cook it for about an hour at 180C. Then, whenever you’re ready during the day, you can get onto making this super-healthy, egg-free snack.

Perfect for independent toddlers

Sweet potato, lentil & rice balls

1 cup roasted sweet potato
1 cup cooked brown rice (or white rice is ok, too)
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/4 cup cooked brown lentils (I use tinned – give them a good rinse)
1 tbsp tomato chutney (or beetroot relish is also good)
1 cup panko breadcrumbs (or gluten-free breadcrumbs are good, too)
Spray oil

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a large oven tray with baking paper.

Mash the cooked sweet potato in a large bowl. Evenly mix in the rice, cheese, lentils and chutney.

Roll bite-sized balls of mixture, coat in the breadcrumbs and place on the tray. Spray them with oil and bake for 20-25 minutes. Turn once during cooking (if you can be bothered) and give them an extra spray of oil part way through.

Makes about 30

*THESE FREEZE!
Usually you’ll have more than one cup of mash after roasting a whole sweet potato. Just up the quantities of the other ingredients to suit and make a heap – these freeze well. Just remember for reheating that you need to thaw them then bake them in the oven – they go soggy in the microwave.

Toddler Recipes: What (and how) to feed fussy eaters

Advice on how to get your toddler eating a wide variety of vegetables with 26 clever recipes that smuggle the healthy ingredients in.

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Slow cooker chicken noodle soup

March 11, 2014 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged chicken, feeding the family, recipe, slow cooker, vegetables

Things have been a bit crazy here lately. What with parties, activities, homework, pesky jobs, large mortgages, endless chores and stressed husbands, there’s barely been time for a glass of bubbles (well, ok, maybe there’s been one or two of them, too).

Possibly your lives are just the same as mine, so you may want to note down this slow cooker chicken noodle soup recipe. It’s as easy as they come and delicious, too.

Just what I need to get through a busy week.

Slow cooker chicken noodle soup

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, roughly diced
250g bacon, rind and fat removed, roughly diced
1.5kg whole chicken (organic if you can afford it), washed, dried
3 mushrooms, thickly sliced
6 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed
1.5 litres of chicken stock
1 tsp ground pepper, plus extra to serve
2 bay leaves, ½ bunch parsley (flat or curly), ½ bunch thyme (use kitchen string to tie all the herbs together so you can remove them easily at the end)
2 carrots, sliced
2 sticks celery, sliced
125g can corn, drained (or 1 corn cob)
¾ cup frozen peas
75g packet 2-minute noodles (discard the flavour sachet)
sliced spring onions, to serve

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, toss in the onion and bacon. Sauté, stirring frequently, for 7-8 minutes or until the bacon is cooked and the onions are soft. Tip into the slow cooker.

Pop the chicken into the pan, wing-side down. After 5 minutes, turn over and brown the other side. Toss in the mushrooms and garlic for another minute or so. Tip this into the cooker.

Also add in the stock, pepper, herbs, carrots and celery. Cook for 7 hours on low. Remove and shred the chicken (discard skin & bones) and return to the pot with the corn, peas and noodles for 30 minutes more.

Serves 2 adults & 2-3 kids

This recipe is from my Kitchen Collection cookbook!

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4-ingredient frozen yoghurt

February 20, 2014 · Filed under All recipes, Sweets & treats · Tagged cooking techniques, fruit, kids, parenting, recipe

Do your kids fight? Mine do, in fact, they can manage to find an argument in pretty much every circumstance. This week, with a bit of welcome rainfall, we’ve been focusing all our squabbles on THE UMBRELLA.

Rain has been such a rare event this summer that as we were dashing out the door the other day, I couldn’t find an umbrella each, so the two kids had to ‘work together’ (my quote) and use the one large umbrella, which theoretically is more than large enough to shelter them both.

You’ll probably not be shocked to hear that so far with this system we end up at our final destination with someone dry & victorious and someone soggy & bitterly wronged. ‘Working together’ will have to wait for another week, apparently.

Working together perfectly are the four ingredients in this ‘frozen yoghurt’. And it’s a simple blitz & chill which takes about 2 minutes to make. Since the fruit content is high, it freezes hard, so remember to pop it out of the freezer a half hour before you want to eat to ensure it’s a scoopable consistency.

So pretty!

Fruity Frozen Yoghurt

1 banana, frozen, peeled, roughly sliced
½ pear, peeled, roughly diced
½ cup frozen berries
½ cup vanilla yoghurt

Pop all your ingredients into the bowl of a blender (or pop them into a large sturdy jug and use your stick blender). Blitz until smooth. At this stage you have a delicious berry smoothie, but if you pour it into a container and freeze for an hour or so, it will harden more and you’ll be able to serve scoops of delicious frozen yoghurt.

Serves 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS

PS: this is the perfect recipe to pop in some Superfoodz for kids “C Berry Blast”, for a bit of added nutritional oomph!

C Berry Blast – 200g

$39.95
$35.96

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Oh so cool as you nibble down on those Mexican shacks

February 12, 2014 · Filed under All recipes, Fish, What the kids eat in... · Tagged feeding the family, fish, recipe

It would appear that my eyesight is on the way out. I’d been warned that it would happen after I turned 40, but pompously I dismissed such negative jibber jabber until the other day when I read a crossword clue out loud to my family. “What’s a Mexican shack, four letters, T then A then something then O”?

Mr VS looked at me incredulously. Miss F was perplexed. Not put off, I continued. “You would know, Mr VS, after all that backpacking you did in central America. Is there a fancy name for a Mexican shack?”

But then of course I looked harder at the clue and had to concede that possibly, just maybe, it was asking me the name of a Mexican SNACK. Which made much more sense and caused large amounts of merriment for my nearest and dearests. Miss F patted me comfortingly and reassured me, “it IS very small writing, mama.”

Personally, I think they and their condescending ways can an all go to hell and buggered if I’m ever going to risk the ribbing of serving them tacos ever again. Which is a shame, considering how delicious these fish ones are. They’re easy too – the only hassle being crumbing the nugget-sized bits of fish. But hey, that’s why we have children and their nimble fingers. Line them up at the counter – each in charge of part of the process and you’ll be done in no time. Just make sure you cook these on the night before you plan to mop the floor.

More sea-shanty than shack.

Fish Tacos

This is a perfect meal to serve friends and family – you can make the coleslaw a few hours ahead, and the fish can be crumbed and stored in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.

500g firm white fish fillets (cheaper fish like ling or even flake will do – obviously if you have more money, barramundi is delicious!)
1/4 cup plain flour
1 egg
1 cup panko breadcrumbs (they give much more crunch, but if you can’t find them regular breadcrumbs will do)
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp cumin powder
Spray oil

Slaw
1/4 white cabbage (about 4 cups), thinly shredded
1 large carrot, peeled, grated
1 cucumber, halved lengthwise then sliced into half moons (scrape the seeds out first if you can be bothered)
3/4 cup Greek yoghurt (about a 200g tub)
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup each coriander & parsley (add these after you’ve served the kids if green flecks will cause too much grief).

Guacamole
1 large (or 2 small) avocadoes
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 small tomato, finely diced
Juice of 1 lime

To serve: tortillas, pickled jalapenos

For the fish:
Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and spray with oil spray.

Slice the fish fillets into evenly sized pieces (about chicken nugget size is good)

Grab three bowls. Pop the flour into one, whisk the egg into another and mix the panko, herbs and spices in the third.

Drop the fish into the flour. Shake off any excess and dip into the egg (coat thoroughly), then drop into the breadcrumb mixture and press on a nice even coating. Place onto your oven tray.

Spray with oil spray. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and cooked through.

For the coleslaw:
Mix the vegies in a salad bowl. Whisk together the yoghurt, juice and oil and pour over. Toss the herbs in now or leave them on the side for adults to mix in once the kids have been served.

For the guacamole:
Mash the avocado in a bowl and mix in the other ingredients.

Prepare the tortillas according to packet directions. Smear over some guacamole; add some coleslaw and fish pieces. Adults might like some jalapenos. Enjoy!

Feeds 2 adults & 3 kids

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Lazy lunchbox baking with one 1/2 cup measure

February 2, 2014 · Filed under All recipes, Sweets & treats · Tagged feeding the family, lunchbox, recipe

Are your kids back at school? All settled in? How are you all coping?

My kids are dealing with the change of classes much better this year. Not a single tantrum yet. Me? After flying back into the country the night before school resumed, I’m struggling more than the kids to settle back into the tedium of washing/lunchboxes/ironing/nagging/homework/extra activities. Family life seems to require so much self-discipline that I’m never ready to embrace until the weather cools down. Actually even then I find it a bit of a struggle.

I’ve considered letting life turn feral for a while, just leaving the kids totally in charge of themselves, but after contemplating the aftermath of that for a couple of minutes, I find enough motivation to pull my finger out and return to my place as fat controller of the family.

And here, look; I’m even managing to bake goodies for lunchboxes. Of course it’s a lazy solution – a cake/slice that can be measured out with multiples of a 1/2 cup measure. I’m not quite ready for too much washing up just yet.

So easy, I barely noticed I was baking.

1/2 cup lunchbox slice

1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup mashed fruit (a 140g tub apple puree is a good cheat)
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/2 cups dried fruit, chopped (apple, sultanas & pear are good)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 eggs, lightly whisked
50-75g melted butter – using 50g is healthier and it works out well, but 75g gives a more moist result

Preheat the oven to 180C, line an 18x28cm slice tin with baking paper.

Mix all the ingredients together, press into the tin evenly and bake for 25 minutes until golden.

Leave in the tin to cool, then ice…

Lemon icing
1 cup icing sugar
1-2 tbsp lemon juice

Sift the sugar to remove lumps, add the juice gradually until you have a nice consistency and spread over the slice. Leave to set in the tin, then remove and chop into 20 pieces.

Keeps well in an airtight container for 4-5 days.

Needing more help with the return to school? These morning jobs posters might be just what you need for smooth-running mornings…

a poster of morning jobs to help the kids get organised

Help the kids get themselves ready each day.

Finally, did you see that I launched my new Thermomix e-book? You can check it out here…

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A meal that would blow Honey Boo Boo’s mind!

January 11, 2014 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged chicken, cooking techniques, recipe, vegetables

Luckily I crawled out from under my highbrow rock last night and discovered the pleasures of Honey Boo Boo. Of course I’d HEARD of her, but I’d never SEEN her. What a revelation.

Anyway, the cooking segments from the show particularly caught my attention. Like this one where a regular piece of chicken breast is grilled, smothered in butter-like substance, and shredded into cook-in-the-bag rice, which had about a cup of margarine mixed through it. The final piece-de-resistance was the entire meal being drowned in store bought BBQ sauce. And voila, dinner ready.

And the vegies? Well look, I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they’d already had their 5 serves of vegetables and 2 serves of fruit before dinner preparations began.

The basic concept of their meal doesn’t offend me at all. Chicken & rice is one of life’s great pleasures. We eat it all the time at VSHQ. A regular is this Jerk Chicken which I serve with this Caribbean Rice. Delicious. Or this chicken & brown rice salad. ALSO delicious.

In Vegie Smugglers book 2, there’s a yum ‘red-cooked chicken’ – cooked in Chinese master stock. Served over rice, this will have you swooning. Or also from Book 2 (which will be out of print within months – get in soon if you want a hard copy edition), is this pilaf, which is SO good. And easy enough that Honey Boo Boo’s momma might want to give it a try.

Honey boo boo might leave off the coriander.

Easy Chicken pilaf

2 tbsp olive oil
500g chicken thigh fillets, trimmed (chicken breasts are too dry in this dish – you can use them but will need to add extra oil)
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled, grated
1 zucchini, peeled, grated
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
1–2 tsp garam masala
1½ cup long-grain rice (try basmati)
3 cups vegetable stock
¼ cup sultanas
1 cup frozen peas

Chopped red chilli, coriander leaves and peanuts (optional),
to serve

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Heat the oil in a large stove-to-oven dish over medium heat. Brown the chicken for 3–4 minutes each side. Remove and set aside.

Add the onion to the dish, stirring until starting to go golden, then add the carrot, zucchini, garlic, ginger and garam masala. Continue to stir for 2 minutes until the vegies are soft. Add a touch more oil if the pan is very dry.

Pour in the rice, coat all the grains well before adding the stock. Return the chicken to the dish. Cover and place in the oven for 20 minutes.

Remove the dish from the oven and stir through the sultanas and peas. Re-cover and set aside for 5 minutes more.

Serve as is for the kids. Top with chili, coriander and peanuts (if using), for the adults.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS

My new book is in my shop now! You can download a preview copy here…..

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What are you cooking this Christmas?

December 9, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, News · Tagged celebrations, cooking techniques, feeding the family, recipe

Gloriously home made good cheer.

How are your kids faring in the lead up to Christmas? Mine are nearly jumping out of their skins with excitement. Me? Not so much. For the grown ups, it’s a bit more stressful, don’t you think? So much to do! So much to remember!

To negotiate it all with the minimum of fuss, I resort to LISTS. And I’m not embarrassed to admit that I’m a chronic planner. Long ago I learned that my brain is unreliable, so don’t be surprised to walk into my kitchen and find I’ve got a running sheet for Christmas day, which starts at the time we want to eat and works backwards all the way to what time I need to preheat the oven. Sure, it’s a bit uptight, but for me it means that I don’t have to think, just do, which I find easier after an early afternoon glass of bubbles!

My menu for Christmas day is nearly set. Is yours? I’ll love to see your recipe links and ideas. Shall we do a bit of recipe sharing? You all pop yours in the comments below and here’s what I’m cooking this year…

Christmas Eve – I get off lightly, just turning up to my side of the family with a green salad and the traditional pudding, which is already in the fridge, ready to go.

This year, the other side of the family is coming to our house for Christmas day. There are only 9 of us, so I can do the traditional lunch without too much trouble. I’ll serve a starter platter of good crackers with smoked salmon, capers, chives, and lemons. Freeform sounds good to me – everyone can compile their own morsels. (If you like these flavours, and want a more formal starter, check out this smoked salmon & cheese tart recipe – it’s REALLY good).

For main, it’s a roast turkey. I’m going to use this recipe from Taste. I tested the stuffing on a roast chook last weekend and it was delicious (I used sourdough breadcrumbs). On the side I’m thinking that this green salad with mango looks good and some hassle back potatoes.

For dessert, I’ll crumble meringues into parfait glasses, along with chunks of Christmas cake, ice cream and some poached cherries (I’ll cook them in a sugar syrup with vanilla & cinnamon).

To nibble afterwards? Well, it’s gotta be rumballs. My gorgeous granny used to make them and as soon as I pop one into my mouth I’m bombarded with happy memories of childhood and love.

A cuddle in a recipe.

Rumballs

1 packet plain biscuits (I like Milk Arrowroot)
395 g can condensed milk
1 cup desiccated coconut, plus ½ cup extra, for rolling
3 tbsp good-quality cocoa powder
3 tbsp rum

Line a plastic container with baking paper. Tear some extra sheets so that you can store layers of the balls easily.

Place the biscuits in a large plastic bag and use a rolling pin or your fist to smash them up into crumbs. Tip into a large mixing bowl.

Add the condensed milk, coconut, cocoa and rum. Stir to combine. Use your hands to roll bite-sized balls. Toss in the extra coconut and place in your container. Seal and refrigerate for 2 hours.

MAKES ABOUT 60

ps….**CHRISTMAS DELIVERIES**

Wanting to buy Vegie Smugglers cookbooks as gifts? Make sure you place orders within the next couple of days – especially if you’re far flung. Of course e-books can be bought anytime – you’ll be sent an automated download link at the time of your purchase.

pps… **I’M ON HOLIDAY!**

After nearly 4 years of regular blogging, I need a break. The shop is still open and I’ll still be checking Facebook & emails, but to replenish my creative juices I’m taking a few weeks off (in the background I’ll be finishing off my new cookbook and Thermomix e-book).

Thanks to all of my regular readers – I hugely appreciate your ongoing support of this blog and my business! So have a wonderful Christmas, happy New Year and I’ll see you at some stage in January. xxx

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Old fruit, new tarts

December 2, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Sweets & treats · Tagged feeding the family, fruit, recipe, treats

In recent weeks the kids have become obsessed with watching me put on make up.

Every morning when I’m getting ready for work, I seem to end up with a companion. Someone will happen to need to brush their teeth at just the moment I start to slather on cosmetics. They pretend they’re concentrating on their own task, but standing beside me I can see their eyes tracking me in the mirror.

As I grab a new tube or pencil, toothpaste starts frothing everywhere and they’ll spout, “what’s that for?” Or “What do you call that?”

I explain concealer. “This makes mummy look less tired.”
I explain eyeliner. “This makes mummy’s eyes look nicer.”

Even as the words roll out I’m aware of how weird they sound. And how strange the whole idea of make up is. How trivial.

The kids just look at me quizzically. Bewildered that a mummy would even have ‘looks’ or should care about them. I’m just their mum, after all. I look pretty much the same to them every day.

The toothbrushing facade gets totally forgotten as they just stand and gape. After my entire routine is done (it takes about 2 minutes), I’ll say, “do I look better now?”

They shrug in that we-don’t-get-it way. If my companion is Mr M&P, he’ll eventually pipe up, ‘Yep’. Ever the charmer, he knows that it’s always worth complimenting effort, even if he doesn’t quite understand it.

Like make up, pastry with tart up anything.

Like make up, pastry will tart up nearly anything.

Old fruit tart

Use up excess stone fruit with these tarts.

2 sheets puff pastry
3-4 nectarines, peaches, apricots (or a combination)
1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp almond meal
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 egg, lightly whisked, for sticking & glazing

Ice cream (to serve)

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line an oven tray with baking paper.

Separate the frozen pastry sheets off the block. Score one into quarters and snap it apart. Leave to thaw while you chop the nectarines (chunks or pretty slices are all fine). Toss them with the maple syrup and lemon juice.

Brush the pastry quarters with egg, sprinkle the almond meal and sugar over the centre (leave a 1cm border).

Slice 1cm strips from your spare sheet and layer them around the edges of your squares. Brush with more egg.

Divide the fruit between the squares, reserving the liquid. Scatter a little more caster sugar or raw sugar over the entire tart and bake for 20 minutes until golden.

Serve with icecream and the reserved juices drizzled over the top.

MAKES 4

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Ho ho flipping ho!

November 18, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News · Tagged celebrations, feeding the family

I am horrified to report that Christmas is just over 5 weeks away. How the year turned into a high speed adventure, I’m not sure. Somehow since August, the year has compressed and now I’m dreading an impending crash. Because I’ve not done any preparations yet. Have you?

The kids did pop together their Santa list over the weekend. I like to lock that sucker down nice and early. But scanning through I’ve noticed that even the cheapest items will leave poor Santa with empty pockets until mid-March.

Fret not, though. With your mind full of to-do lists, I’ll sort out your immediate concerns. All these meals can be made ahead and stored in the fridge, ready to munch on when you get home late from the ballet concert, or ready to scoff before you head out for Christmas carols…

Chicken pies – reheat in the oven.

Tuna pasta salad – eat cold.

Mini frittatas – eat warm or cold.

And my present to you this Christmas? Until December 2, I’m offering an earlybird Christmas special. Buy a cookbook bundle (that’s 320 glorious colour pages, full of 120+ Vegie Smugglers recipes) and you’ll receive the Lunchbox Planner e-book (worth $14.95) for free.

So for $59.95 you get the two books delivered to your door and the ebook is ready to download. And just quietly, I won’t tell if you decide to gift on the cookbooks but keep the ebook for yourself. We all deserve a little something at this time of year.

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How to make friends with salad

November 12, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged competition, feeding the family, recipe, salad, vegetables

Hopefully, over the winter you’ve accumulated a repertoire of accepted (and even enjoyed) meals that contain enough vegies and nutrition to keep you achieving your status as an awesome-parent. But the casseroles and bakes that you’ve come to rely on may hold less appeal as the weather warms up.

It’s time to lighten the menu, and traditionally it’s the time when the BBQ gets trundled out and parents are faced with the screwed up faces of little kids who are not friends with salad.

There’s often not much smuggling potential in salads. They are, after all, full of raw and highly-recognisable ingredients. To get the kids interested in them, they need to be particularly tasty. While a good dressing helps a green salad to be more agreeable, there are a couple of more creative salad recipes that are a good starting point when you’re trying to instil a BBQ & salad culture.

Start simple and convey the whole concept of cold side dishes with a couple of particularly tasty examples that they can’t resist. Our favourite noodle salad works well, luring them in with flavour and crunch. Another sure-fire hit will be this Japanese-style potato salad that uses a mayonnaise-based sauce to entice them.

Dou itashimashite.

Japanese potato salad

Sauce:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp Dijon mustard

4 medium mashing potatoes, peeled, quartered
1 carrot, peeled, grated
4 spring onions, finely sliced
250g corn kernels, drained
1 cucumber, sliced into rounds

Combine the sauce ingredients well and set aside.

Pop the potatoes into a large pot of cold water and bring to the boil (adding them cold stops the edges from disintegrating). Reduce the heat to a strong simmer and leave for 15 minutes until soft enough that you can easily push a skewer through. Drain and add to a large bowl. Use a fork to roughly mash, but leave heaps of texture with lots of large chunks.

Stir the carrot and spring onions through the hot potatoes (this cooks them slightly). Season with plenty of salt & pepper. Pour over the sauce and mix thoroughly.

Leave to cool then combine in the corn and cucumber. Refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.

Serves 2 adults & 3-4 kids as a side dish (leftovers make great lunches).

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