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Is your kid a fussy eater? Here’s where to start…

February 13, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, freezer, ideas, mealtime, parenting, pasta, recipe, vegetables

Start simple. Here.

Today’s recipe is for all the parents whose toddlers get pleasure from winding their mummies and daddies up as much as possible during each meal.

Look! They think. Daddy’s face goes so red when I refuse to eat that! Look! Mummy’s head is about to explode each time I shriek! How about I drop the rest of my dinner ON THE FLOOR – won’t THAT reaction be hilarious.

Ah yes. Lovely mealtimes like that with Miss F are the reason why Vegie Smugglers exists. We had SO MANY unhappy dinners together. So much scraping of uneaten food into the bin. So often I was SO CLOSE TO LOSING IT. We were locked in an ongoing food battle.

I was determined to win the war, because I love to eat and I hated that dinnertime had become so miserable. And last Friday night when I watched a now 8-year-old Miss F crunch happily through a salad of corn/snow peas/broccolini & cos, I realised that I HAD WON.

But how did I start to turn things around? Well Miss F liked cheese, so I started there. I made her cheesy pots. And she liked bread, so I gave her salmon pikelets (at first without the green bits). I started with what she DID eat and expanded out from there.

So if your little food fascist likes tinned spaghetti, then this recipe might be your starting point. Do whatever you need to do to have some dinnertime wins and if that means sneakily replacing a junk favourite with a healthy home-made version then DO IT.

If they eat this happily then next time you could make it with wholemeal pasta. Or put in some grated carrot. Then, in a while, try little chunks of carrot instead. If they like these flavours, migrate them to a lasagna, cannelloni or a lentil pasta sauce that has more smuggling potential. As time goes by, you’ll have to do less and less to hide anything, until they happily just eat a raw carrot or snack on grape tomatoes.

Watching Miss F munch through her raw greens, I was so glad that I’ve put all the effort in. Most toddlers are fussy eaters and without intervention many will grow to be fussy tweens/teens & adults. Teaching them how to love healthy food is a gift they will carry for life.

Couldn’t help myself.

Home-made tinned spaghetti

I don’t usually stipulate organic products, but think in this simple recipe they’re essential.

2 cups pumpkin, diced
250g organic spaghetti (half a standard pack) – broken into short lengths
125g can 4-bean mix, drained, rinsed
700ml jar organic passata (find it near the pasta)
1 tsp brown sugar

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the pumpkin and cook until soft (about 7-10 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces). Use a slotted spoon to remove the pumpkin and pop it into a drainer (keep the water boiling).

Pop the spaghetti into the same boiling water and cook according to packet directions.

Put the beans, cooked pumpkin, passata and sugar into a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to the simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Use a stick blender to blitz everything up into a smooth sauce.

Drain the spaghetti then add into your tomato sauce.

Serve topped with Parmesan. For a more substantial meal, top with crumbled crispy bacon or pop in some meatballs (try this lamb meatball recipe).

MAKES ABOUT 8 TODDLER PORTIONS (freeze some for easy dinners in a flash).

This recipe appears in my new "Kitchen Collection" cookbook, with a toddler-feeding tips and family-friendly recipes.

This recipe appears in my new “Kitchen Collection” cookbook, with toddler-feeding tips and 125 family-friendly recipes.

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Need more help with fussy eaters? Try these posts…

Please help Vegie Smugglers, my child only eats…
How to get fussy kids to try new foods.
My top 10 tips to smuggle vegies into children.

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A free printable that keeps shopping simple

February 10, 2013 · Filed under News, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, ideas, organising

A quick ‘this-might-help-you’ today. A nifty printable that keeps your shopping and meal planning all together. This is how I like to organise myself. I like to jot down what we’re eating for the week along with the list, so that when I’ve gone brain-dead in Aisle 3, I can easily remember WHY it is that I need such a large jar of pickled herring.

It’s divided up into categories too – with fruit & veg coming first – it’s the most important after all, and also the first section of most Australian supermarkets.

Hope this helps you!

Practical AND just a bit cute. Click to download yours.

Of course, you might like to get some ideas for meal plans from my Vegie Smugglers Meal Plans e-book. And remember to print out the kid’s visual shopping list – which will keep them busy for a good 5 minutes, maybe even 10.

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A salad to serve warm or cold

January 27, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, recipe, salad, vegetables

Here’s one last BBQ side dish for the summer – my version of a pumpkin, haloumi and spinach salad. You can serve it cold in summer or warm in the winter, so all you Northern Hemisphere smugglers can enjoy it right now as well.

It’s back to the idea I talked about when I made Panzanella – just serve good healthy stuff and enjoy it and hopefully the kids will join in a bit. Miss F likes the squeaky cheese and spinach (with the yummy sweet dressing). Mr M&P doesn’t find much to his satisfaction here yet, with the exception of the cashews and pine nuts. Sometimes these things take time.

Cashews and pinenuts are the big lures.

Roast pumpkin & haloumi salad

600g butternut pumpkin, peeled, cut into 1.5cm cubes
Olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts
¼ cup roasted, unsalted cashews
1 block haloumi cheese
Baby spinach leaves
Baby cos leaves
3 spring onions, finely sliced
½ red capsicum, finely diced

1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp honey
3 tbsp grapeseed oil (olive oil will do and if you have it, a bit of hazelnut oil mixed in is DELICIOUS!)

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line an oven tray with baking paper.

Toss the pumpkin cubes in the olive oil, salt and pepper and place in a single layer on the tray. Bake for 25-30 minutes until just tender but not totally squishy.

Place a frying pan over medium heat and add the pinenuts. Dry roast, stirring often to avoid burning. Remove and set aside.

Return the pan to the heat and add some olive oil. Slice the haloumi into 1cm thick slices and fry on each side until golden.

In a large salad bowl, mix together the leaves, onions and capsicum. Toss through the nuts and tear up the haloumi into bite-sized pieces. Pop in the pumpkin.

Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together and pour over. Give everything a good mix and either serve warm, or leave in the fridge and serve cold.

Serves 4 adults and 4 kids as a side dish.

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Every day ice-cream (fruit smuggling at its finest)

December 6, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Sweets & treats, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, freezer, fruit, ideas, recipe, treats

Nothing bad, the all-fruit ice-cream

When I put this dessert down in front of my kids last night, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Post-dinner treats at VSHQ consist of fruit and yoghurt (they get ice-cream at nanny & pa’s house) so they didn’t know WHAT they had done to deserve this magnificent creation.

Little did they know that there was some serious fruit smuggling taking place and there wasn’t a single unhealthy thing before them.

You see if you blitz up a frozen banana, you magically get the consistency of ice-cream. You can leave it as a magic one-ingredient dessert if you like, or you can add in some honey or other fruit. In this case I’ve used a couple of mango cheeks, then drizzled over some pomegranate seeds and ‘sprinkles’ of toasted coconut.

Best thing about this recipe is that it’s totally flexible to suit your family. You could replace the mango with berries and experiment with other toppings like pistachios and toasted almonds. I suspect frozen kiwifruit would work too, although I’ve not tried it. Maybe you can all do some experimenting and let me know what variation works at your place.

Magic fruit ice cream

1 mango
2 bananas (ripe but not over-ripe)
Pomegranate & toasted coconut to serve (optional).

Cut the flesh away from the mango skin (if you’re not sure how, watch this video). Pop into a plastic bag and freeze along with the whole bananas. When solid, peel the bananas (totally do-able – the skin comes away in chunks).

Place the bananas into the bowl of a food processor (a mini one will be fine for this quantity) and blitz until smooth.

Add in the mango and again, blitz until smooth. Pop this back into the freezer to harden up again (blitzing may have softened it all a little). Spoon into pretty bowls and serve to your astonished and amazed children.

Serves 4 kids, or 2 kids and 2 non-greedy adults

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Five tricky vegies (and how to smuggle them)

October 22, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, The best way to smuggle..., Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, recipe, vegetables

Chances are that if you sit the kids down and read out a list of the following vegies (and one legume), they will do all sorts of face contortions, with tongues out, shoulders up and arms flapping. They will quite possibly spend much energy and passion telling you just how much all of these things are GROSS. Which is a shame, because they are packed with a massive amount of nutrients that your kids really need to eat if they ever want to grow up to be astronauts or ballerinas.

So while I really like to spend a lot of time educating kids about how to eat well, at other times, I just like them to shut up and eat dinner. On some nights, with some ingredients, full scale smuggling is required.

I think these five ingredients are prime vegie smuggling candidates. Apparently disgusting on their own, with a bit of effort, you can transform them into delicious dinners that are down the hatch before the kids even have a chance to utter the phrase ‘I’ve been duped’.

Eggplant

Shepherd’s Pie

Chickpeas

Cheeseburgers

Broccoli

Cheesy pots

Tomatoes

Chilli (with no chilli)

Zucchini

Spaghetti carbonara

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

My latest e-book makes feeding your fussy kids a breeze. Visit the shop!

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Why mini food-fascists shouldn’t ruin your day

October 16, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, mealtime, parenting, recipe, salad, vegetables

So delicious, the kids might just join in after all.

So you’ve looked at the picture and now I can hear you screeching, “Has she gone mad! There’s NO WAY my kids would eat that”. And possibly you’re right. The vegies are all on show, there’s A LOT of them and there’s even little bits of poison like olives included in this panzanella.

But the thing is, kids are never going to eat a salad like this if they’re never introduced to it. I get sick of parents saying to me “my kids just WON’T eat (insert item name)”, to which I say, “do you ever serve (insert that item name)”, then usually they sheepishly admit that no, they never do.

I understand that you’re battle weary, but how on earth will your kids ever eat a wide variety of food if you’ve stopped serving it?

The kids shouldn’t hold us hostage, destined to a life of sausages and carrot sticks. They need to understand that while you do spend time creating their favourite dishes, sometimes they have to join in with your favourite dishes too. They need to see adults enjoying healthy food. And if you serve this at your next BBQ, they can see lots of adults oohing and aahing over it. Being that kids are such classic joiner-innerers, they might even have a stab at it. At this stage, my kids will munch on the bread, capsicum, cucumber and olives.

Who knows, by the end of summer, after seeing and eating it multiple times, I’m betting that they’ll just tuck straight in.

If cooked till nice and black, the skin will peel off the capsicums easily. No need to place in bags/tea towels or anything.

Panzanella

½ red onion
2 red capsicums
½ Baguette (or slices of sourdough – it’s delicious and chewy)
2 large cloves garlic
1 large Lebanese cucumber
2 punnets of cherry or roma tomatoes OR 3 big vine ripened OR 4 roma tomatoes
Handful of olives
½ bunch basil
¼ cup olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Slice the red onion and place in a cup of iced water. This takes the ‘bite’ out of the onion but still leaves it firm and crunchy. Leave to soak for at least 10 minutes then drain and set aside.

Cut the cheeks off the capsicum and place under a hot griller until totally blackened. Remove and set aside until they’re cool enough to handle. Once they are, peel and discard the skin.

Grill the baguette or sourdough slices until toasted. Do both sides then remove. Rub garlic over one side while the bread is still hot.

Chop your tomatoes (just in half for little ones) and add to a salad bowl. Add in the chopped cucumber and chopped capsicum flesh.

Tear over the basil and the toasted bread. Toss through the onion and olives.

Mix the oil and vinegar together (whisk with a fork) and pour over.

This salad can be served fresh but its nice to leave it sit for a couple of hours so that the flavours can combine.

Serves 8 as a side dish.

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Dinner for you two, dinner for me too

August 6, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, parenting, pasta, recipe, vegetables

One dinner, two ways.

Pretty much any parent I chat to starts the food conversation with “my kids are pretty good eaters”. I nod in admiration of their parenting prowess. But I wait (not smugly, I promise). Invariably a BUT is inserted next.

“But devil child won’t eat meat and Lucinda only eats greens if you let her hold a pink jelly bean and I sing ‘rock-a-bye-your-bear’. But apart from that, they eat everything”.

Battle weary parents tend to confuse ‘good’ with ‘normal’. Jumping through hoops every mealtime becomes just what you do and you forget that actually you might be able to tweak things and get away with doing much less. Like cooking one meal a night. Which would leave you more wine time and lower stress levels.

Which is something I aim for with my recipes. I’m too lazy (actually no, just too busy) to cook multiple meals, so I like to cook one basic dinner for everyone. Being a realist though, I understand that the same presentation won’t suit all members of the family, which is why in my books I often have tips for ways to convert a pretty basic dinner into something more gourmet for the adults.

This tomato & lentil pasta sauce recipe is the perfect example.

Mr VS & I like it with olives, tonnes of herbs, pepper and parmesan. It’s a healthy and yummy grown up meal. My kids will skip the accompaniments and have the sauce mixed through their current pasta of preference (spirals at the moment) with grated cheddar cheese on top.

If you have toddlers, take the time to spoon mouthfuls into large pasta shells and scatter cheese on top. Just serve them a few and watch greedy little hands shoving the mouthfuls straight in. No spoon middle-man to overcomplicate matters. Even if your fussy eater only eats a few, you’ve probably got some scraps of veg and a couple of lentils in, which should tide them over until next week.

I know it’s only Tuesday, but cheers. Here’s to you for being awesome.

Tomato & lentil pasta sauce

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
1 large fresh tomato, diced
1 carrot, peeled, grated
1/2 red capsicum, finely diced
800g can diced tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste (or 1x2tbsp concentrate sachet)
400g can lentils, rinsed, drained
Pepper

Optional extras: Fresh parsley or basil, olives, parmesan, crumbled feta.

Place a saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil and fry the onion for several minutes until softening. Add the garlic for a minute then scatter over the brown sugar. Keep stirring until well combined before splashing in the vinegar.

Mix in the dried herbs, fresh tomato, carrot and capsicum. Stir through really well before adding the tinned tomatoes, paste and lentils.

Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Season to taste. Serve however suits your family.

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How to get fussy kids to try new foods

July 21, 2012 · Filed under Food experiences, News, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, ideas, mealtime, parenting, recipe

Kendo Kai enjoys ‘go’ foods.

A while back I posted ‘Please help Vegie Smugglers, my child only eats…’ which included the line “not trying is NEVER an option – our deal is TWO big bites”. Ever since I’ve had a string of emails…’but how do you get your kids to TRY new things?’

Like all parenting advice, different tactics work for different kids and this post just covers how I approach it. Who knows, maybe there will be an idea or two that you can apply at your place.

Firstly, work out if you child’s fussing at mealtimes is behavioural or medical. It’s normal for kids (starting about 18 months) to exercise a bit of self-determination and provide you with some pretty frustrating feeding moments. BUT, other kids may have genuine medical problems that you will need to seek professional help to overcome.

Most kids on the autism spectrum are fussy feeders. They need special consideration. If your diagnosis is recent or you’ve just been so overwhelmed dealing with everything else and have only just started to tackle food issues, then visit here for some excellent information that may help you.

If you child gags or vomits at mealtimes, they might have motor skills delays or a hypersensitive gag reflex. There’s information about that here.

Other kids may have digestion problems that cause discomfort and indigestion – pretty hard for a 2 year old to convey. Again, you’ll need medical advice to help you with these issues.

But if none of these apply to you and your child is still being a dinnertime MONSTER, you might want to follow some of these strategies…

1. Relax

Smile. Don’t get worked up. Keep everything positive. Freaking out about this entire subject only increases mealtime tension and won’t get you anywhere. Try to focus on feeding the entire family well, rather than fixating on what one child is/isn’t eating. Don’t let a frustrating toddler hold you to ransom. But at the same time…

2. Make a list of the foods your child does eat

You may be pleasantly surprised to realise that they do actually eat more than you thought. If the number of items is less than 20 then definitely have a chat to your GP about it next time you’re there.

3. Change your (& their) expectations & behaviour

There’s a good PDF download here about setting and meeting expectations and changing behaviour. Just change ‘employee’ to ‘child’ as you read and you’ll have a few interesting things to think about. Basically, you’ve got to put a behavior system in place around mealtimes. Let your child know what is expected of them. Reward them (with positive reinforcement) when they meet these expectations.

In my house, it is expected that my kids will come to dinner happily, with an open mind. They will be appreciative of the person who’s cooked their dinner and thank them by taking two big bites.

Why two? The first bite of something new is often unwelcome. Keep in mind that humans are programmed to be suspicious of new foods. It’s how we’ve survived for centuries without being poisoned to extinction. So the first bite is the ‘shock’ bite and it’s the second bite that allows them to relax and actually taste.

Over time my kids have come to trust that I’ve tried to cook something that they are quite likely to enjoy. Often, this basic deal is all it will take. A couple of bites into a tasty dinner and they might be happy to continue on. Great!

BUT. Sometimes they won’t like dinner. If they’ve genuinely tried it and don’t like it then they can have something else and I won’t fuss. I don’t cook twice but just let them have buttered bread, cheese, yoghurt, banana – something simple but filling.

If I’m trialing a new dish that I know is a fair way out of their comfort zones, then I make sure I’ve got fresh bread on hand as a backup. I find my success rate is about 50/50. But I would urge you to try the occasional ‘leap’ – I’ve been pleasantly shocked to see my kids happily tucking into (and enjoying) some pretty challenging dinners.

In the early days of this system, my kids would sometimes refuse to eat their two bites. Which meant they ate nothing. That’s their choice. I would let them go hungry rather than resort to unhealthy food. Hold firm – they won’t starve themselves to death. Even the fussiest first world children are extremely well nourished. You may just find that they are much more compliant tomorrow once genuine hunger has set in.

At this point it may be worth noting that I don’t reward my kids for eating. Research has shown that rewarding kids for eating food is ineffective in the long term. And never EVER force them to eat or force them to overeat. Children often need far less food than we think.

Now, getting back to that list of ingredients that they do eat….

4. Give yourself the best chance of success

Make dinners based around ingredients they do like. They like meat? Give them a hamburger with smuggled chickpeas, smothered with beetroot dip. They like cheese? Try cheesy pots with grated or blitzed vegies. Make dinners that they ought to enjoy. Build up the trust that you’re going to present them with yummy stuff. Find a few standard meals and then keep pushing them gradually further and further out of their comfort zones. It’s really important to keep up variety so that new becomes normal and they stop fussing every time they don’t recognize something. And keep in mind that you need your kids to be hungry at dinner. Try cutting out snacks in the afternoon and make dinnertime earlier.

5. Teach them why they eat

I love the concept of ‘go’ foods and ‘slow’ foods rather than ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods. My kids understand that certain foods provide the nourishment we need to live happy, energetic lives. They understand that dinner is a great opportunity to enjoy a stack of ‘go’ foods to fuel them up for tomorrow.

The other side of this is that I also don’t make ‘slow’ foods taboo. Enjoy treats without guilt. All food is ok, just educate kids about how often they should eat different things. You’d be surprised by some of the crap we eat in our house. It’s not a big deal. We enjoy pizza, especially since we don’t have it very often. We do sometimes note though, how sluggish we feel after this ‘slow’ food.

Share with them a love of good food and of the social side of sharing a meal with people you love.

6. Life & food education

Once you’re past the panic stage and your child is accepting more foods, keep the variety coming and start into a new phase of food education, including shopping together (teach them how to choose good produce and get them to do it) cooking together (start with fun recipes like these pancakes), eating together (even if it’s just Sunday brunch and one or two nights a week) and gardening (show them where food comes from). Give them a couple of choices for dinner and get them to practice decision-making.

Model good behavior and healthy choices. Exercise together. Don’t diet or fuss about your weight in front of your child. Keep mealtimes happy (it’s a great chance for communication).

And remember, be consistent. Like all aspects of parenting, the second you waiver, your child will pounce. They’re canny like that.

Phew! What a long post! Thanks for sticking with me – I hope there are some ideas here to help you.

Some of my standard dinners for really fussy toddlers….

Chicken & lentil sausage rolls
Cheesy Pots
Lamb meatballs
Salmon pikelets
Tuna bites
Ravioli with orange sauce
Bolognaise
Okonomyaki

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From the suburbs to the world in just over an hour

May 8, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Fish, Food experiences, News, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged cooking techniques, feeding the family, fish, parenting, recipe, vegetables

I’ve got yet another awesome parenting moment to share with you (I do like to make you all feel better about your own efforts)… I went to pick up my daughter from her friend’s house at 3pm on Sunday afternoon. Was offered champagne. Had to admit that not only would I love one, but that I’d already had a couple, whilst on a playdate with my son, which had started at 10am. Bad look? Much?

It’s been nearly 8 months since THE MOVE and I’m having trouble keeping up with the partying pace of the suburbs, but I must say I’m having a great time and I’m wondering why I struggled raising kids in apartments for so long when there were spacious blocks, sunshine, beer (and champagne) fridges and HOBBIES to be enjoyed out here.

Still, with highs come lows, and Monday did roll around. Not only was the washing not done, but neither was the shopping, the nurofen box was empty and the kids were HUNGRY since all we’d managed for dinner the night before was boiled eggs.

I’m still trying to catch up, which is why it’s taken so long to post up this congee recipe. Over on facebook, some were intrigued and unfamiliar with congee, which is eaten by over 2 billion people throughout China, Asia & India. Basically it’s a rice soup, affordable to make and fantastic comfort food. The name, texture and additions change depending on the region.

In Japan it’s called Okayu, served thick, with eggs & grilled fish. Koreans eat juk, of course served with kimchi and the Indians call it kanji, a runnier version, served with lentils and chutney. Throughout all of these cultures, it’s commonly given as a first food to babies. Pretty similar to rice cereal after all, but a hell of a lot tastier.

My version is a cultural hybrid, quite thick, and cooked until the rice is breaking down but still has some texture. I use it as a carrier for small cubes of fish. But if your kids will fuss over that, then shredded cooked chicken (even a BBQ chicken) will be a fantastic variation.

Perfect for babies, the elderly, the sick (and hungover).

Fish & corn congee

¾ cup short-grain rice
6 cups good-quality chicken stock
3 tbsp shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine)
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
125g can creamed corn
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
White pepper
300g boneless skinless firm white fish fillets, diced
¼ red capsicum, seeded
125g can corn kernels

Sliced spring onions and coriander sprigs, to serve

Rinse the rice well under running water, drain and add to a saucepan with the stock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 50–60 minutes until the rice is soft and breaking down. Stir regularly to avoid sticking.

Add the shaoxing wine, soy and oyster sauces, creamed corn and ginger. Add white pepper to taste.

When this is nice and hot, add the fish and vegies and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5–6 minutes until the fish is just cooked through.

Serve the congee topped with spring onion and coriander.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS

Vegie Smugglers complete lunchbox planner

You can now buy the complete VS lunchbox planner for just $9.95!

Have you all seen that I’ve updated the Vegie Smugglers shop? And newly available is The Complete Vegie Smugglers lunchbox planner – which is a snazzy 92 page e-book, combining all of the term planners into one place for a bargain price of $9.95. Unlike my cookbooks, which only ship in Australia, you can buy my e-books worldwide! Click here to grab one.

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My second ever weekly meal plan – with an even prettier shopping list!

April 24, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged mealtime, menu plan, recipe, vegetables, vegetarian

Ask and ye shall receive.

It appears you all like it when I’m bossy. Weird. But I hear that some people also like whips and to dress in odd leather outfits. Not my thing, but you all go for it.

Anyway, I am an eager-to-please personality type, so against my better judgement, I’m answering the requests for dominance and here I offer you another weekly meal plan. If you missed the first one, you can revisit it here.

Knowing that I’m a bit lucky and at home more than most mums, I put out a call for a guinea pig to share their schedule so that I can create a plan that will be achievable in real-life situations.

It was interesting to get two identical pleas for help from mums who both have the problem of working evening shifts. One works Wed/Fri/Sat nights and the other Thurs/Fri/Sat. Now, not saying that men are crap (since there’s been a huge shift in the numbers of them now being the primary carer), but in the majority of households, it seems that the menfolk need to keep things simple. If they’re looking after the kids, then quite likely, rustling up a complicated meal at the same time is too tricky. So with this plan, I’m answering the question of “what can I cook ahead and have ready for my hubby to heat up and feed my starving darlings?”. So let’s go…

SUNDAY

A chance for family time, and one time in the week where you can cook and eat sequentially (how quaint)…

If you’re having breakfast or brunch, let’s have these oven-baked hash browns…

Perfect on Sunday mornings – home-made hashbrowns.

For dinner that night, roast a chook and have this cous cous salad. Of course, if your kids are too fussy to face that, they might prefer the vegie mash instead – which you can cook and freeze in suitable portions. The good thing of course, if that both the chicken and cous cous leftovers are great for lunchboxes on Monday.

Roast chicken is always a winner.

MONDAY

Let’s enjoy Autumnal flavours and take part in meat-free Monday with this Corn & Lentil soup.

vegie smugglers pumpkin and lentil soup recipe

Food alchemy.

TUESDAY

At the opposite end of the scale, swing back to meat with this pink meatloaf.

Pink enough to interest meat-phobic girls.

WEDNESDAY (Make ahead/freeze)

Leftover meatloaf can be used up in toasties or in baked potatoes. If you don’t have quite enough leftover, make a batch of these individual meatloaves. Use what you need and freeze the rest – then next week you’ll already have a dinner ready to go.

My kids love these so much, they don't care about what's inside.

THURSDAY (Make ahead)
An easy dinner to make is this Chicken & tarragon one-pot. If you do a double batch, then you can freeze half and you’ve got ANOTHER meal ready for next week (you go girlfriend!).

chicken and tarragon one pot winter warmer by vegie smuggers

Chicken, tick; pasta, tick; one pot, tick.

FRIDAY (Make ahead)

If you’ve got beetroot leftover from the meatloaf, why not whip up a weekend treat – these beetroot brownies.

I just can't help myself, I've even got a fresh root in here.

For dinner, you might want something end-of-the-week simple to eat. These tuna, rice & zucchini puffs are perfect. All dad has to do is reheat them. Microwave is ok, but under the grill or in the oven is best.

Remind dad - no metal cases in the microwave.

SATURDAY

By Saturday night, I think you can have a rest. Everyone has eaten well this week and surely dad can cobble up a toastie, noodles or boiled eggs. Perhaps he might want to whip up some okonomiyake. Super easy, and he can sound tres internationale as he expertly pronounces the Japanese name (remember, equal emphasis on all syllables).

Sneak cabbage and carrot in with this super-quick dish.

If you’ve got leftover cabbage, then tomorrow, whip up the crispy noodle salad and put hubbie to work on the BBQ. And there you have it – not just a week but 8 days of meals!

Here’s the shopping list for this week to download. As always, there’s a useful key, to help simplify your life.

So get to it [insert whip crack here].