Archive for Vegie smuggling techniques

What the kids eat in… Mexico

August 24, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, Fish, Vegie smuggling techniques, What the kids eat in... · Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Rest assured Victorians, I’m not talking about you, but that colourful, warm territory to the south of that big scary country (the bossy one that cruises the world picking fights with little countries, pushing freedom and the right to eat donuts for breakfast, get morbidly obese then craned out of our house by emergency services). The territory of Dora and Frida Kahlo, where there’s a fantastic cuisine that stars in the Vegie Smuggling atlas. It’s healthy, with lots of legumes and salad, often served snugly in tortillas that hide the worst of the healthy stuff and leave the kids seduced by cheese and guacamole.

This Australian/Mexican quesadilla recipe warms my heart for many reasons – 1. It’s quick to make. 2. It’s fun to eat. 3. You can pretty much keep everything you need long term in the pantry, which makes it a perfect last minute/after work meal.

Another factor which makes it a VS winner is that it can be easily adapted to suit various members of the family which means you can get everyone eating the same meal with a minimum of fuss (add chillis or bottled jalapenos, leave out the coriander or add extra cheese).

Here’s a tip – the first time you make it, the flipping can be a bit nerve wracking. Mini tortillas make it much more manageable.

Tuna quesadillas

Dora eats these tuna quesadillas, and so should you!

Tuna Quesadillas

185g can tuna in springwater
185g can tuna in olive oil
125g can corn kernels, drained
2 green onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander
125g can four bean mix, rinsed, drained
¼ red capsicum, deseeded, finely diced
Black pepper
1 cup grated cheddar or mozzarella
10 ready-made tortillas

Drain the tuna in springwater and place in a mixing bowl. Add the undrained tin of tuna in olive oil and the rest of the ingredients except for the tortillas. Mix until combined.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat.

Carefully separate the tortillas (heat for a few seconds in the microwave if they are sticking). Place one on a chopping board, cover generously with the tuna mix and top with another tortilla.

Slide the tortilla sandwich carefully into the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. Using a spatula, ease out of the pan onto a large plate, hold the top with your hand and flip over. Carefully place back in the pan to cook for 3-4 minutes on the other side until the tortillas are crisp and the cheese is melted. Repeat with remaining mix and tortillas.
MAKES 5

 

real-healthy-families

Like this recipe? Check out my cookbooks to find a bunch more meals that your family will love.

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The best way to smuggle… tomatoes

August 18, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, Red meat, The best way to smuggle..., Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Over on the Vegie Smugglers facebook page (yes, that’s a blatant, go and ‘like’ it advert), I’ve had a request for solutions to an ongoing tomato battle.

Raw tomatoes can be tricky and I’ll tackle them later. Let’s start with cooked tomatoes, which are a little friendlier to kid’s tastebuds. A recipe that works well is The best-ever vegetarian lasagne. But really, if you think of cooked tomatoes, bolognaise is the dish that springs to mind. The classic Italian dish is SO popular, that people make fun of it. But let’s remember that it’s a cliché for a reason. A million families across Australia wouldn’t cook it every Tuesday night if it wasn’t a ‘bums on seats till the bowl is empty’ winner.

Alas, Claire on Facebook admitted to supermarket-jar-dependence. Easy to understand. But not nearly as tasty (or healthy) as home-made.

My suggestion is to get the menfolk onto it. There’s something about being king of the kitchen and brewing a big pot of meat that seems to appeal to them. Get them cooking up a double batch this weekend and freeze lovely kid-sized portions. Then you’ll have a quick and healthy meal ready to rock whenever you need it. Most households have a bolognaise recipe that they swear by – this is my husband’s fine work. There are a lot of ingredients, but please don’t be deterred, give it a try and marvel at how good bolognaise can be.

Adam's bolognaise

Me Tarzan! This my meat (with red stuff).



Adam’s bolognaise sauce

3 tbsp olive oil
500g veal mince
500g pork mince
1 large brown onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large carrot, peeled, grated
½ red capsicum, deseeded, finely diced
1 large zucchini, grated
1 tbsp chopped basil
¼ cup chopped parsley
400g can chopped tomatoes
700ml passata (bottled tomato puree found in the supermarket near the Italian pasta sauces)
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp tomato sauce
½ cup red wine (optional, but recommended)
1 cup mushrooms, finely diced
1 bay leaf
Salt & black pepper

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the veal mince and brown, breaking up lumps as you go. Remove from pan and set aside. Do the same with the pork mince using another tbsp of olive oil. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add remaining olive oil and cook the onion gently over medium heat until translucent. Add the garlic and carrot and stir for 1 minute. Add the capsicum and zucchini and stir constantly for 3 minutes. Throw in the herbs for 30 seconds then add the canned tomatoes. Stir that through then add half the passata and cook until the sauce bubbles.

Add the veal mince, then the rest of the passata and the pork mince. Stir well then add the tomato paste, tomato sauce and red wine. Stir through the mushrooms, add the bay leaf and season to taste. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally (simmer for up to an hour if you have time).

Serve sauce with fettuccine topped with parmesan and herbs.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 6 KIDS

KIDS ALSO LOVE IT when you serve this sauce scooped into cooked large pasta shells. No effort or fuss, they just pop them straight in – vegies and all.

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Try, try and very trying

August 9, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, Fish, News, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Apparently repetition works really well with children. Perhaps that’s the reason why I have to stand there and say “put your shoes on” multiple times – and with increasing volume – every single time we need to get ready to leave the house. But does repetition really work with food? We are told, often, to offer the kids an ingredient 6-10 times and eventually they will try it.

You can read all about food repetition at the ABC online, Better Health VIC,  Westmead Hospital, School Canteens, Sixty second parent, Jackie French, PGR network, Australian bananas, Yoplait and Bubhub.

Zzzzzzzzzz. Sorry! Still with me? Yep, that’s right. 10 examples of people telling you how long to persevere in your quest to get the children eating their greens. Are they for real? Who, in their right minds, is masochistic enough to suffer the cruelties of dinner refusal 10 times?

When I hear “I don’t like it” for the first time, I will deal with it in an understanding way. I will revisit the recipe and adjust it in a way I think will be preferred the next time I cook it. The second time, I cross my fingers and if there is an outright refusal this time, then I’m done! Safe to say that that recipe will not get cooked again.

Try not to be too discouraged when this happens. While some recipes might not be right for your family, it doesn’t mean you have to skip an ingredient entirely. Switch to another recipe that smuggles the same target vegie and try that. Mushrooms might be rejected in a The best ever vegetarian lasagne but they might be devoured in Vegie slice.

I think the feed them 10 times advice is one of those myths like brushing your hair 100 times will make it shinier and using certain beauty products night and day for 3 months will make you more beautiful. NO ONE can keep up the commitment, so the myth is never really tested.

Anyhow, let’s save you all the trouble and just give you a recipe for this tuna pasta bake that gets devoured first time every time (and it cleverly disguises corn, zucchini and capsicum).

Tuna pasta bake recipe hiding corn, zucchini, carrot and capsicum

Aim for a hole in one with this tuna pasta bake recipe


Lulu’s favourite tuna pasta bake

Don’t skip the step of infusing the milk – it’s the crucial taste factor.

1 small brown onion, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
Small bunch herbs of your choice (parsley, thyme, rosemary)
3 cups milk
250g dried wholemeal pasta spirals
60g unsalted butter
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Splash of white wine (optional)
425g can tuna in springwater, drained
125g can corn kernels, drained
1 zucchini, grated
1 carrot, peeled, grated
½ red capsicum, deseeded, finely diced
1 cup grated cheese
2 tbsp breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 180C.

Combine the onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, herbs and milk in a saucepan. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat immediately and leave to cool.

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water according to packet directions. Drain and set aside.

Pour the infused milk through a sieve into a jug (discard onion and herbs).

In a saucepan (non-stick is good), melt the butter over low-medium heat. Add the flour and use a wooden spoon to stir for 1 minute until bubbling. Gradually add the infused milk and keep stirring the whole time to avoid lumps. Bring to the boil and thicken until the sauce sticks to the spoon (about the consistency of custard). Remove from the heat and mix in the mustard and wine (if using).

In a large bowl, mix the pasta, tuna and vegies together with the sauce. Spoon into a baking dish and top with the cheese and breadcrumbs.

Bake for 25 minutes until bubbling and golden. Serve topped with parsley sprigs.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 4 KIDS

FOR THE ADULTS Kids can eat this on its own but adults like a nice leaf salad and – if you’re not carb-phobic – crusty bread (and white wine).

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Potato détente

August 2, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

At the risk of trivialising and being flippant about the Anzac legend and the atrocities of World War I, dinner time at my house does on occasion have me contemplating the war strategies faced by the German leaders of the time. Just as things calm down on one front, another opens up and just as the French are learning to sit still and eat their peas, the Russians start screaming “I don’t want anything mushy”.

What I’m clumsily saying is that the food and vegetable fight is fought on two battlefronts at my house. There’s the flavour battle, which is one I’m winning, thanks to my ever-growing stockpile of smuggling recipes. But then there’s the texture war. While Corporal Meat-and-Potatoes refuses mush or any soft food, Lieutenant Fruitarian fights anything too chewy or requiring too much utensil work and I struggle to find a happy balance.

Unlike the mums on the homefront in 1914, I do have a few mod cons working to my advantage, the freezer being a particularly useful one. Whilst I refuse to cook two dinners in one night, I do have to make textural concessions. I can get them eating the same piece of protein (ok, yes, perhaps it is just sausages), but potatoes for Mr Meat-and-Potatoes are best served chopped into chunks, tossed in oil and baked for 25 minutes and Miss Fruitarian gets a serve of this mash.

To avoid daily inconvenience, make a huge quantity of this recipe. Freeze large spoonfuls on oven trays and when solid, transfer to freezer bags for easy storage.

End the war with a stockpile of mash in the freezer.

Vegie Mash

1 carrot, peeled, diced
1 swede, peeled, diced
4 potatoes, peeled, diced
1 zucchini, grated (peel first if your child is scared of green bits)
1 cup grated cheese
¼ cup milk
Olive oil
Salt & black pepper

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the carrot and swede and boil for 5 minutes. Add the potato and boil for 10-15 minutes more. Use a fork to test that the vegies are cooked enough to mash easily. Drain.

Meanwhile, place the zucchini in a microwave-proof dish, cover and zap on high for 1 minute. Drain any excess water.

Mash the carrot, swede and potato for as long as you need to get the texture your kids will enjoy. Stir in the cheese and zucchini – the cheese should melt nicely. Add the milk and olive oil as needed to get a nice creamy texture. Season to taste.

On a good parenting day, serve this with fish fillets baked in lemon juice and herbs. On a bad day, add drained canned tuna. On a terrible day, serve with an enticing dollop of tomato sauce and peas.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 4 KIDS AS A SIDE DISH

FREEZING & DEFROSTING INSTRUCTIONS
Scoop separate portions onto an oven tray, cover with a large freezer bag and freeze for a couple of hours. Once frozen, snap them off the tray and store in a freezer bag back in the freezer. Squeeze as much air out of the bag as possible. Use within 1 month. Reheat in the microwave, stirring every minute until steaming hot.

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Chop chop!

July 2, 2010 · Filed under Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged , ,

A bowl of chopped ingredients

Cut the vegies up finely so that little fingers can't pick them out

Back in my post, top ten ways to smuggle vegies into kids, I touched on the concept of chopping things small. It solves the huge problem of targeted foods being picked out of the meal.

For instance, last night I’d made a vegie and ham muffin and my daughter, who was hoovering it down, did stop to ask, “What’s the red stuff?”.
“Sweet, delicious, red capsicum”, said I, valiantly trying to sell it in and avoid a muffin fiasco.
“I don’t like it” she said.
“Oh well,” I tried to act casual, hoping she couldn’t see the rising panic (you see, I know that once she rejects something, chances are little brother will loyally follow). “Oh well, they’re so small, just don’t look at them. As a general flavour you seem to like it?”.
She did quite like it. And the offensive red stuff was just tiny flecks here and there. So she ate it. And there is the joy of chopping things up finely.

So the best way to do it? My all time favourite would have to be a hand-held food processor like these. Or if you’re a member you can check out the Choice review of hand-held blenders. I use the pulse function on this all the time to do an easy, quick chop. You do have to watch it though and not turn everything into pastes and purees.

You can’t beat a good knife and basic knife-skills. Want a general tutorial on basic chopping techniques? See an astonishingly fat man with a light touch and a nice teaching manner here.

Or Men’s Health has a basic tutorial here. Typically on a video by men, for men, it starts with a discussion on knife size (8 to 12 inches is fine).

However, the most succinct and helpful is by a NY cooking teacher here. She’s also a little size obsessed – happy with just the 8 inch, but it has to be a good 2 or 3 inches wide.

Good luck!

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My top 10 tips to smuggle vegies into kids…

May 5, 2010 · Filed under News, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sadly, I’ve had to spend way too much of my time thinking about this. Miss Fruitarian (age 5) and Mr Meat-&-Potatoes (age 3) used to make most mealtimes about as joyous as stabbing myself in the eye. However after many mealtime disasters and much trial and error, I think I’m almost there with them reasonably able to consume most ingredients in moderate amounts. So I’m in a position to provide a helpful list of ways to get your children eating healthy food without complaint….

TIP 1:
Hiding healthy food in yummy meals

Some people are anti hiding food, thinking kids just need to learn to eat their vegetables. This is true. But my logic also states that once the kids are eating healthy food that’s hidden, their palates become used to the flavours and you can gradually reduce the amount you have to hide things until they will happily munch down anything.

TIP 2
Chop things small

Once food is grated or chopped finely, kids are much less able to identify and pick out foreign items. If it’s all mixed together in a yummy delicious meal that their tastebuds approve of, the battle is won. Use a grater, learn knife skills and invest in a mini food processor to make blitzing food quick and easy.

TIP 3
Keep it colourful

There’s a reason why kid’s toys are all bright. They love it! It attracts them and it looks fun. Use this logic in your mealtimes and you’ll have kids thinking ‘yum’ as soon as the plate is put down.

TIP 4
Kids love flavour

At some point around 8-12 months, both my kids went from loving bland, to needing much more challenging flavours. Don’t dumb food down thinking that they will prefer it. Sure, leave out the chili and olives, but experiment a little and you may be pleasantly surprised by how much the kids like interesting foods.

TIP 5
Variety

A British study found that 1 in 4 families ate the same meal on the same night of each week. If this works for you, fine. But my kids get really bored and uncooperative when being fed sausage rolls every Thursday night (I found this out the hard way). They like the surprise of ‘what’s for dinner’. It keeps it interesting and more playful.

TIP 6
Patience

Understand the current stage of your kid’s development and realise that it doesn’t matter if they don’t eat every meal. Perhaps it stems from the early frantic days when you shove as much milk into your kiddie as possible in the hope that they will sleep all night, but some days they are not hungry and do not need to eat. Maybe freeze their dinner, to avoid the frustration of scraping a whole bowl of food into the bin.

TIP 7
Plan Ahead

Yes, it’s boring. But it’s also a key to success. Know what’s for dinner before they ask you. It doesn’t mean you have to cook every night. When you do feel like cooking, make double batches and freeze portions so that even on hellish nights you have something good to give them.

TIP 8
You get what you get and you don’t get upset

This wonderful mantra is from Australian chef Bill Grainger. Visit him at www.bills.com.au. It sums up a couple of important things – 1. What you see in front of you is dinner. I WILL NOT go and make you toast or open a tin of beans. 2. You must TRY what is in front of you. You don’t have to like it, but you must try it.

However, if you kids are visibly gagging over something, or even you concede that perhaps things didn’t go so well in the kitchen tonight, then offer them a banana or a bowl of cereal. No interesting specials like spaghetti in the tin or cheese on toast. Please don’t prepare food twice in a night – they will sniff food victory.

TIP 9
Look at your own diet

Kids copy you. Assess what you eat and make modifications so that you are setting a good example. Quit crappy snacks. Start eating fruit again. Include more vegies in your cooking and rediscover how good fresh food can be. Perhaps your mum wasn’t’ so great in the kitchen and perhaps you didn’t have a good introduction, but now is your chance to eat well.

TIP 10:
Distract yourself

I’ve taken up knitting. Truly. So that I can sit at the dinner table, am present and can participate in dinnertime talk without having to actually watch the carnage. I breathe deeply, remember lessons learnt from the Buddhism for Mothers book and remind myself that food flying around everywhere, being smeared on chairs, spat out and pushed aside is part of children being children. If I watch them my blood pressure rises and I start yelling. Knitting seems to be more of a positive activity than guzzling wine which incidentally does also distract me quite nicely.

So there you have it, they’re the top tips that I’ve discovered. But what are yours?…

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