Posts tagged feeding the family

Mmmmmmm mince

October 8, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Red meat · Tagged , , , , , , ,

It’s just a fact, isn’t it, that once you have kids, you start filling your trolley with all sorts of new things. Actually, even the fact that you have a trolley and not just a nifty, easy basket is a dead-set giveaway that times have changed. No more baskets with pate, marinated feta and Brie for dinner. No, now it’s nappy boxes, huge bunches of bananas (no matter what the price) and MINCE.

Generally it is the easiest way to get meat into kiddies. You can make patties, meatballs, stir-fries and fajitas. And these days you’ve got a choice of flavours to rev things up a bit.

While I try my hardest to keep my recipes as appealing to adults as possible, I do admit that this savoury mince is more of a ‘kid’ dish. Adults might be uninspired by a lack of sophistication here, but doubts will be eased by the flexible nature of this dinner. It’s easy to make and can be made ahead and popped into the fridge, ready to be served with pasta, on potatoes, in toasties or over rice (my favourite choice). It also freezes really well in little containers that can be defrosted quickly on tricky days when You. Are. Only. Just. Holding. It. All. Together.

Best yet, you can switch vegies to suit your family. And while you won’t find it on the menu at any restaurant anytime soon, with enough coriander and fresh chilli on top, it’s yum enough for an adult mid-week meal too.

Yes, i know, a watermark. Hope this doesn’t bother anyone too much.

Savoury mince

500g beef mince
1 onion, finely diced
1 stalk celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 zucchini, grated
1 carrot, peeled, grated
¾ cup mushrooms, finely diced
½ green capsicum, finely diced (red capsicum is also yum and makes a more colourful dish)
1 cup beef stock
2 tbsp Worcester sauce
1 tbsp BBQ sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp corn flour
½ cup peas

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Brown the mince, stirring and breaking up lumps as you go. Remove and set aside.

(If you pan is now dry, add a bit of oil) Add the onion and celery to the pan and cook, stirring for a couple of minutes until starting to soften. Throw in the garlic for a minute before adding in all the rest of the vegies.

Once they’re all mixed through and starting to cook a bit, return the mince. Once that’s all mixed through, pour in the stock and sauces. Combine really well.

Put your corn flour in a cup or small dish. Spoon some of the cooking liquid into the cup and stir until you have a nice, runny, lump-free paste. Pour that back into the mince mixture and combine well.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes or so, until everything is cooked through. Remove from the heat and mix in your peas.

Serve with rice or pasta. Use to top baked potatoes or fill toasties.

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The best way to smuggle… fennel (is in sausage rolls, of course!)

September 16, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Ham/pork, The best way to smuggle... · Tagged , , ,

egg glaze for sausage rolls

Hide the sausage (roll).

So perhaps spring isn’t this vegie’s best time of year, but due to the supermarket’s supernatural powers, there were some good specimens staring at me the other day and I was inspired. Fennel is a divisive and often little loved vegie that even many adults baulk at. Not everyone loves the aniseed flavour. Which is a shame. When used well, it adds the best little dash of ‘noice & unuuuusssssual’ to a range of dishes.

After some thought, I decided the best way to entice you all to use it is to combine it with my most popular recipe of all time – sausage rolls. Consistently a winner with even the fussiest kids, a bit of puff pastry can hide a multitude of things – in this case it’s fennel, combined gorgeously with pork (which I don’t cook with often), apple, onion and carrot.

My kids were licking the plate at the end of this dinner, which is a rare and joyous occasion (last time it happened was this spaghetti carbonara). Anytime such a miraculous event occurs, I thank the gods and quickly dash to the computer to jot the recipe down. Et voila, a new family favourite to add to your repertoire.

Since the recipe only needs a cup of fennel, you’ll have leftovers. While the kids might not be so keen on it raw, I’m happy enough to eat it up sliced in green salads. And it’s also delish in this beef cannelloni.

vegie smugglers pork fennel apple sausage rolls

Smells fantastic and are seriously delicious.

Pork, apple & fennel sausage rolls

5 sheets puff pastry
500g pork mince
2 slices wholemeal (or white) bread
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 carrot, peeled, roughly chopped
1 small Granny Smith apple, quartered & cored
1 cup fennel, roughly chopped
1 stick celery, roughly chopped
1 red onion, peeled, roughly chopped
Pepper
1 egg, whisked, for sticking and glazing
Sesame seeds (optional)

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

Remove the puff pastry from the freezer. Separate out 5 sheets. Score down the middle with a sharp knife and snap into two long rectangles. Set aside to thaw while you mix the filling.

Add the mince to a large mixing bowl. Use a food processor (I use my mini one) to make this prep really quick. Add the torn up bread and garlic to the processor and blitz to make lovely garlic breadcrumbs. Add to the mince. Blitz the carrot and add to the bowl. Repeat with all the vegies. (I do them all separately as they need different amounts of chopping time – eg, the carrots can handle a good blast, but just pulse the apple, to avoid everything turning into pulp).

Sprinkle everything with a stack of pepper, then use your hands (wear kitchen gloves) to combine the mixture really well. Roughly divide into 10, to give you a idea of quantities, then shape into sausages and place down the centre (lengthwise) of your pastry rectangles. Make sure the filling goes right to the edges so that no-one gets ripped off!

Brush egg down one side then use the plastic backing to help you ease over the pastry. Peel back the backing sheet and seal edges together firmly.

At this stage, I cut the backing plastic down the middle and wrap it around the rolls to protect the pastry from drying out while I finish off. Work quickly on the rest. Set aside what you need for dinner tonight, then roll each of the remaining ones in a layer of cling wrap and pop into the freezer. (I freeze them on a tray, then transfer to a zip lock bag for even more protection against freezer burn).

Cut tonight’s up into whatever lengths you like, place on the oven tray, brush with egg and sprinkle over sesame seeds (if using). Bake for 25-30 minutes until cooked through. Serve with salad and these chips.

Makes 10 sticks (about 40 pieces).

DEFROST THESE: for 24 hours in the fridge, then once totally thawed, cook as usual.

NO FOOD PROCESSOR? Then buy breadcrumbs from the shops, grate the apple, carrot and onion and super finely dice the fennel and celery.

If you LOVE sausage rolls, check out this lamb sausage roll recipe too.

Comments (15) »

The easiest cupcake recipe ever

September 9, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News, Sweets & treats · Tagged , , , , , ,

It’s true that I own an embarrassing amount of cookbooks. It’s a compulsion that lures me into every second hand bookstore I pass. There are cookbooks for baking with yeast, Danish sandwich making and Pritikin diets. Most are curiosities, mostly unused. But amid the novelties are essentials and the Sally Wise cookbooks are ones I refer to over and over again. Possibly because her food is a perfect fit for me and how I cook. Family food. Flavour over fancy. No smears, no complicated reductions, just page after page of family winners. Her gluten free book should be a first port of call for those of you needing help in that area. Her slow cooker book is fantastic and her preserves books are the only ones you will need (should that be your thing).

So I was keen to get her new book, ‘Sweet’. It’s perfect for those of us heading towards a spring season of cake stalls and fete days.

Our school fundraiser was last weekend and I’d pledged 24 cupcakes. Thinking I’d be making my life easier, I went to buy a packet mix. Looking on the back I saw I’d need to add my own eggs, oil and milk. Soooo…. ummmmm…. what exactly is in the packet then? Just flour, sugar-like substances and a stack of preservatives, thickeners and colourings. I popped it back, pretty sure I could do better.

So straight to Sally and she came to my rescue. This cake mix is SO incredibly easy and the cakes were really good.

sally-wise-chocolate-cupcakes

A tiny teddy never goes astray.

Sally Wise’s Chocolate Cupcakes (from Sweet!) My comments are in italics.

Makes 10 (although I made a triple batch and ended up with about 3 dozen).

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup milk
1 cup self-raising flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
90 g butter, melted

Heat oven to 160C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.

Place all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for two minutes until thick & creamy. (YES, TRULY, THIS IS ALL YOU DO!!!!)

Fill cases to 2/3 full and bake for 12-15 minutes or so until the middle of the cake is springy (IN MY CRAP OVEN, THE COOKING TIME WAS ACTUALLY JUST OVER 20 MINS)

Cool completely, then ice.

Icing
180g icing sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp softened butter
boiling water.

Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl, mix in the butter and enough boiling water to make a smooth consistency.

I dipped my iced cakes in sprinkles and topped with a tiny teddy. I noticed during my time of the cupcake stall that lollies and really colourful toppings were MUCH more popular than the more measly, spartan looking ones.

vs-promo-1

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“What would my mom do?”

August 27, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News, Red meat · Tagged , , , , , ,

I’ve got a parenting dilemma on my mind, so I’ve been surfing the net and having a think about ethics, decision-making and how to raise ‘morally courageous’ children.

There’s a nice PBS story here (watch the video) about a fella who spends his life teaching people how to make ethical decisions. Not just any old decisions, but life’s tricky and less obvious ones. When a question has two right answers, which one is REALLY right?

He advises taking the ‘stench test’, which is a gut level response to something. How badly does does a particular response smell? And beyond that you can take the ‘mom test’ which is “what would my mom do?” Which is great advice, except when you’re the mom and you don’t know what to do.

Not that my problem is large – it’s just that Miss F has qualified for the next round of her year 2 public speaking competition. Which of course isn’t the problem. The problem is that her speech focuses on what a MEANIE her mum is, and spins an entertaining story of her horrible mum FORCING her to do ballet instead of karate. It’s a thrilling tale, full of arabesques and kung-fu kicks that was a hit with the 7-year-olds. And now in the next round, I can go along to cheer her on.

The problem for me is that the entire speech isn’t true. Not a word. She doesn’t do ballet OR karate. She does netball. And that was her choice. So do I stand in a hall and cheer her on as she slags off her mum in front of 3 classes of kids and their parents? Do I suck it up and clap and cheer for her at the sake of my own humiliation?

The STENCH TEST tells me that I have to. Other ethics articles I read talked about keeping a strong sense of ‘ethical goals’ in mind. Which for me, means that I want to be a supportive parent and regardless of subject matter, I need to be there for my child. The WHAT WOULD MY MOM DO test is tougher. My mum would definitely have been there. But to be fair, I would never have made a fictitious speech out of being mad at her. Tricky.

Your dilemma this week is simpler. Do you make this beef goulash in a pot in the oven or in your slow cooker? It’s another yes/yes decision and whichever you choose, there are instructions below. Best yet, there is no stench test, just a delicious aroma to enjoy.

Finish up winter with this delicious dish.

Beef goulash (two ways)

2 tbsp olive oil
3-4 tbsp plain flour (omit this for slow cooker)
1 kg chuck steak, cut into 2-3cm cubes
2 onions
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 large carrot, peeled, diced
1 parsnip, peeled, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp brown sugar
1 litre beef stock (slow cooker variation: ½ litre)
400g tomatoes
¼ cup tomato paste

You need a stove to oven casserole dish for this version of the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 160C.

1. Heat the oil in your casserole dish over medium/high heat. Toss the steak in the flour to coat. Shake off excess and cook in batches, turning to brown on all sides. Remove and set aside. Repeat until it is all done. (Take your time, it’s worth doing this properly – I always get this bit underway then chop up the rest of the vegies in between turning). Remove and set aside.

2. Add more oil to the pan if needed and sauté the onions, celery and carrot for 3-4 minutes until starting to soften. Add the parsnip then the garlic, stirring constantly.

3. Return the meat to the pan. Sprinkle over the paprika and sugar. Cook for another minute or so before pouring over the stock, tomatoes and tomato paste.

Cover with a lid, transfer to the oven and cook for 2 hours.

Remove, season to taste and serve with pasta, peas and sour cream.

SLOW COOKER VARIATION.

Heat a frying pan over medium/high heat. Add some oil and follow step 2 from the regular recipe. Pour this mix into the base of your 5.5-6 litre slow cooker.

Toss the meat in the paprika & sugar then pop straight into the cooker (yay – no need to brown). Pour over ½ litre stock, 400g tomatoes and ¼ cup tomato paste.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 6ish KIDS (or you’ll probably get enough for two family meals – stock the freezer).

Comments (20) »

Chocolate, bran & zucchini muffins

August 19, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News, Sweets & treats · Tagged , , , , ,

Well, there was much interest in these little chocolate morsels when I put up a preview pic the other day over on Facebook. So rather than making you wait, I’ve fast-tracked them onto the blog for you all to bake up this week. Rather than being puritanical about food and healthy eating, I like to acknowledge that the vast majority of us mortals WILL eat chocolate; so the least I can do is pack a bit of extra fibre into the mix to make them just a tiny bit healthier.

They’re nut free and easily made dairy free too, which means that most lunchboxes should cope with them nicely.

Now I know you’re all out there, I can hear you breathing. Well actually, I can see my traffic stats. But none of you ever really comment on here. Why is that? I know we all chat over at FB, but my poor old blog gets a bit lonely from time to time. I always love to hear about if you try out a recipe, how it goes and what variations you need to make for your family.

Don’t be shy. Remember then when you post recipe comments with the posts they get kept for future reference. On FB they just get forgotten in the jumble of cyber junk.

Both you and the kids will be happy with these!

Chocolate, bran and zucchini muffins

1 ¼ cups self-raising flour
¾ cup Allbran cereal (or any type of bran bits)
¼ cup cocoa powder
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
1 egg
¾ cup milk (soy works great)
¾ cup vegetable oil (I like grapeseed, but canola is cheaper)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 zucchini, grated (fearless VS testers report back that small/medium zucchini will work best, or a large one may need to have liquid squeezed out).

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 12 cup regular muffin tray (I just use spray oil since I’m too lazy to melt and brush on butter).

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, bran, cocoa, sugar and cinnamon.

In a separate bowl or jug, mix together the egg, milk, oil, vanilla and zucchini.

Pour wet ingredients into dry, mix gently until well combined. Divide evenly between your muffin holes and bake for 25 minutes or so, until they spring back when touched and a skewer comes out clean.

Makes 12.

Optional extra: a ½ cup of choc chips will make these extra chocolatey!

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Pink things and magical cures for man-flu

August 16, 2012 · Filed under All recipes · Tagged , , ,

Within millimetres of the winter finish line, sickness has reared its ugly head again at VSHQ.

Mr M&P and I are defiantly chipper, but Miss F has succumbed (I tell her it’s the result of refusing to wear shoes or a jumper on all those cold days) and the workaholic Mr VS has spent the last two days in bed with a fever.

In typical Aries style, he doesn’t just sweat and feel bad like normal folk but likes to combine fevers with hallucinations. Yesterday he swore that I was releasing hundreds of doves in the house to save him. Which is funny since I wasn’t even there, I was off freelancing all day. But bless, good to know I’m in his thoughts even in his darkest moments.

Discussing my situation at school this morning, a kindy mum and I talked through the merits of various medications before deciding that the best course of treatment would be for her to lend me a pink wig to wear on his next waking. I could bustle about like normal and just make the world that bit more confusing for him.

Not that I’m not supportive when my menfolk are feeling poorly, but you know, they do go on. Trying to get in on the action, Mr M&P decided to have a crack at getting the day off school too. His story was that he had a really sore hand, which would make writing his ‘recount’ too difficult. He didn’t get far with that one.

In tribute to a grown women owning a pink wig, lets take a moment to revisit my favourite pink recipes which should appeal to girls of all ages.

vegie smugglers beetroot meatloaf

Pink meatloaf for fairy-loving pre-vegetarians.

Brighten up a dull lunchbox with this pink hit

beetroot tzatziki dip recipe

Beetroot tzatziki with canned beetroot.

Off to tend my patients…

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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 , , , ,

vegie smugglers lentil tomato pasta

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.

new-book-on-sale

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Can’t help myself… bad habits

July 26, 2012 · Filed under News, Vegetarian · Tagged , , ,

My life saved by a stamp, contact and some blu-tack

Inevitably, with modern life being the tricky thing that it is, parts of our lives fall into ruts and nasty little habits emerge. They evolve slowly and sometimes it can take a while before we notice that they’re there.

Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a little ‘perspective’ fairy hovering in the background, ready to tap me on the shoulder and give me a bit of rude truth from time to time. She could let me know how many nights I’ve missed readers this week, point out that there’s a pile of unopened mail under the kitchen table and possibly even let me know if my current love of leggings is unsuitable for a lady of my age.

Tough gig though, being a perspective fairy. No one likes to realise they’ve been doing a bad job of anything. She’d need to be a fast flier to avoid the swats and insect knock down spray.

So it takes a little courage to take a step back from time to time and reassess how life is going – and look for the little (or big) signs that are telling you when it’s time to have a think and take steps to make adjustments and repairs wherever needed in order to obtain better outcomes.

For me recently, I’ve needed a big overhaul of my discipline system to accommodate my growing kids. Old parenting techniques weren’t working and most days I was just being the house shrew. “Gee your throat must be sore after all that yelling” said Mr Meat & Potatoes (AKA the perspective fairy).

So I’ve pulled my socks up and we’ve got a new star chart in place. Elegantly executed by the ever industrious Miss F (who individually contacted 40 star stamped pieces of paper), we’ve got a new system where stars are pretty easy to earn and can be transferred into either 5 minutes of iPad time or 25c. Took a bit of effort to get it going but it has totally turned the dynamics around from me yelling and them ignoring, to them looking for ways to be good.

On the food front I noticed that my own breakfast routine had come unstuck. I used to be a muesli girl, but I’d tired of my favourite brands and started buying other cereals that are on the healthy scale, but are still outrageously sweet.

My second perspective fairy was Rosemary Stanton (she specialises in Rude Truth, doesn’t she?!). I’m reading her “Choice Guide to Food” (which is really practical and great) and she pointed out that even those of us who read the product labels are possibly being duped. Instead of admitting to a cereal being 50% sugar, many manufacturers use two or three sources of sugar, so that each percentage is lower and they can appear further down the ingredient list. She offered such an easy fix that I feel stupid for being lazy and buying the boxed stuff. MAKE YOUR OWN. It’s cheaper. Yummier. Healthier.

This morning I tucked into my homemade muesli and it was so yum, that the extra 10 minutes it took to make the huge batch seemed entirely worthwhile.

Toast some bits (like nuts, oats & coconut) to increase the flavour and it’s delicious.


Toasted muesli

Use whatever grain, seeds, nuts and dried fruits you like.

Rolled oats
Flaked almonds
Pecans, roughly chopped
Shredded coconut
Pumpkin seeds
Oat bran
All bran
Currants

Spread the oats on a tray and bake at 180C – stir once or twice until golden.

Repeat with the almonds, pecans and coconut (stay near – they burn quickly). Toss together in a container with the other ingredients and you’re done.

PS. Did you know that most cereal serving sizes are ½ cup? Might be worth measuring your cereal out into a bowl to see just how much that is – I’ve been having waaaaaay more.

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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 , , , ,

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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Sunshine in a can. Why 1970s mums were right, after all.

July 4, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Sweets & treats · Tagged , , , , ,

Instant happy.

Buying fruit at the moment is a bit bleak, isn’t it? The oranges are nice enough. The apples are good. There’s been a bright spot of QLD strawberries, but really my cold feet and numb fingers are longing for something warmer, something more evocative of sunny climes.

So it was with enthusiasm that I found a tin of pineapple pieces shoved up the back of my pantry. Proving my theory, that sometimes disorganisation can indeed lead to happy moments.

Is this little pineapple can making you feel nostalgic? Did you eat much of the stuff when you were growing up?

My mum was possibly one of the only mums in the 1970s who resisted the urge to add pineapple to every salad, rice dish and dessert, so my approach to it is untainted by scary childhood memories of ‘Hawaiian Chicken’ or ‘Rice al la Tropicale’. Still, without those fond memories to guide me, I’m a bit hesitant to bung it into too many savoury dishes. But I promise to have a go. I’d love to hear about your MUST TRY pineapple dishes. Any culinary treat that I’m really missing out on?

While I search far and wide for new taste sensations, these happy little cakes will hit the spot for a bit of school holiday baking. Miss F helped me ice them. It made me feel all old-world ‘mom’ and I like the fact that they look fairly plain, but then you crack them open and are gifted with a world of sunshine. All that pineapple! Well, and all that butter… but hey, it’s a recipe for a fun time, not a long time.

Testing your ‘mom’-ness, I’ve written this recipe up old-school style, with minimal instructions, and an assumption that you know your plain from your self-raising, that creaming butter and sugar is just what you do most days and oven temps need not be discussed.

Looks quite sedate…

Hawaiian pineapple & coconut cakes.

Lightly grease a 12 hole muffin tray and line with paper cases. Heat your oven to moderate. Cream 140g butter with 2/3 cup caster sugar. Add 4 eggs, slowly and beat well after each. (Adding a tablespoon of flour with each egg stops the mixture splitting). Fold in the remains of your 1 1/4 cup of self-raising flour, 2/3 cup desiccated coconut and the drained fruit from a 440g can pineapple pieces (reserve the liquid). Bake the cakes for 20-25 minutes.

Ice with icing sugar mixture combined with enough of the reserved pineapple syrup to form a thick glaze.

…awwwwww, transported straight to Queensland.

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