feeding the family | Vegie Smugglers

Posts tagged feeding the family

Fifty shades of red (the best way to smuggle… raw tomato)

April 12, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News, The best way to smuggle..., Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged cooking techniques, feeding the family, recipe, salads, vegetables

There are some current trends that I’m managing to avoid. One Direction, orange jeans, and MKR have been easy to skip. The Fifty Shades of Grey e-book though, piqued my interest as soon as I heard it classified as ‘mummy porn’. Realising that I’m their target market and determined to do my best to stay up with the trends I downloaded it IMMEDIATELY. Admittedly around page 40 when first introduced to the ‘playroom’ I had second thoughts. I don’t want to seem like a prude but I’m a bit of an Elizabeth/Mr Darcy kind of a girl and 480 pages of bondage wasn’t quite what I’d had in mind. Still I’ve done my best and have gallantly just finished book 2. I’ve stuck with Grey and Annnnaasssttaaaaassssssia through romps in bed, in the boathouse, on boats and in the playroom (eeewwwwwww).

As a way to spend some time, it’s somehow reminding me of a sexed up, book version of ‘Escape to the Country’ – I’m glued with promises of the next scene, the next escapist fantasy, a new reception room (where of course they will stop for a dalliance). Basically a bunch of absorbing snippets that compile to make a vaguely dissatisfying whole. At the end I’m feeling slightly hoodwinked and not sure why I’m spending any of my life consuming it.

Anyway despite posts on porn film food, and an admission that I had inadvertently introduced my toddler to internet nudity, this blog is supposedly about good food, not erotica and the real point of today’s post is to tackle a tricky ‘best way to smuggle’ – raw tomato.

Unlike other vegies that are easy to sneak into gorgeous meals (like spinach, mushrooms & cauliflower), raw tomato with its high acid content is pretty tricky to hide. While the kids like a mushed up raw tomato pasta sauce, gazpacho isn’t quite floating their boats just yet. And hiding it raw can be tricky, so my best option is to dress is up, Fifty Shades style, with a delectably kinky dressing.

My hubbie concocted this quick salad and my kids LOVE it. Dolloped into wraps, and onto burgers – it’s been a real success. And yes, before you email me with outrage, I know that it has SUGAR in it (the irony is not lost on me that porn will make none of you irate, but sugar is akin to the devil). It melds with the balsamic and cuts through the acid. I have no qualms about the sweet content – anything that gets mouthfuls of vitamin rich, raw tomato into my children’s tummies is just fine with me.

Laters…

Dressed up, with somewhere to go.

Adam’s ‘dressed up’ tomato salad

8 roma tomatoes (or equivalent quantities of cherry, grapes or vine tomatoes)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp brown sugar
Salt & pepper (be generous – they are essential to balance out the sweet/salty combo)

For the adults: chopped parsley.

Chop the tomatoes finely, pour over the vinegar, sprinkle the sugar, season generously and stir. Garnish with parsley if you like.

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Please help Vegie Smugglers, my child only eats…

April 11, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged cooking techniques, feeding the family, ideas, parenting, recipe, vegetables

Four thumbs up for Vegie Smugglers... hurrrahhhh!!!!!

For the sake of entertainment, I usually keep this blog deliberately light and fun, figuring that healthy food is best delivered with good times. But today I’m going to be serious. No truly, not a single joke, not a single bad pun. Why? Well over on the Facebook page I’ve had a recent influx of pleas for help from parents desperately bound and beaten by food wars with their children. I help where I can, but thought it timely to write a post on strategies to help solve your mealtime dramas. I’ll cover some basics and finish up with a real world example of how to apply it all.

OK! Let’s start with some basic vegie-smuggling thoughts and strategies…

1. It is possible to get your children excited about eating vegetables.
2. You have to tempt them with delicious smells, sights and flavours.
3. The techniques you need to do it are simple.
4. Commitment is needed from the parents – change isn’t always easy.
5. BUT! You’ll be so pleased that you made the effort once you’ve created a new habit of happy mealtimes.

Let’s look in detail…

1. Believe that you can make the change in your family.

I’ll be the example. Two horribly fussy kids. One ate only pasta, fruit & cheese, the other only meat & potatoes. Both now happily eat (nearly) anything. It’s possible. You can do it. And then you can start a fabulous blog and write gorgeous cookbooks.

2. You are going to tempt and lure your kids.

With food that smells great while it’s cooking, looks great when they sit down and is SO delicious when they take a bite that they won’t want to reject it.

3. Simple kitchen techniques can turn it all around.

Prepare ingredients wisely and introduce them to your family slowly.

I encourage you to do whatever you need to do to introduce new vegetables in a positive way. While I’m not a fan of hiding cooked and mashed vegies (too many wasted nutrients), if this is the only way they will be currently tolerated, then this is the place to start. My preference is to smuggle vegies by grating them or chopping them finely. Peel things like zucchinis first if your kids have a vehement hatred of green bits. Gradually the kids will become more tolerant and you will have to do less and less to hide stuff. The end goal of course, is to have children (and husbands) who happily accept everything.

Smuggle & don’t smuggle.

My recipes contain a combination of visible and invisible vegetables. Dinners serve a dual purpose – sneak in enough invisible vegies to solve the immediate nutrition concerns, and also present visible vegies to get the kids understanding that healthy food is part of the everyday.

Often food is a power play. Kids will pick out the visible stuff and think they’ve won the war. That’s fine, because the rest of the dinner they’re eating is also full of healthy stuff, so really you’ve won (keep your smugness to yourself). Getting a picky kid to happily sit and eat a chunk of cauliflower will take time. While you’re waiting for that miracle, you can relax knowing that their nutritional needs are being met.

4. Tackling change with your kids is tricky and requires patience and commitment from the parents.

Your child is not going to go from eating plain pasta to lentil soup overnight.

But you can serve their pasta with a dish of roast capsicum sauce to dip into. Soon, you might be able to serve the sauce on top. Then you can add some grated carrot. Gradually you’ll be able to work your way outwards, incorporating more and more ingredients and flavours.

It’s essential to keep your menus interesting (and new).

Please don’t serve the same thing every week. When parents say, “they only eat…”, it means that they’ve been browbeaten into only serving those things because they can’t deal with the dramas of trying to serve anything else.

The early days of introducing new foods can be tough. You need to persevere and get to the point where the kids are used to variety and unfamiliar food items. Get them used to leaving their food comfort zone and avoid the “I don’t eat that” food battle.

Don’t be put off by the tough times.

Not every new meal will have your children dancing with joy. Sometimes they will refuse food and they will have to go hungry. This is unpleasant. But hold firm – I never cook a second meal for my kids. If they’ve genuinely tried something (not trying is NEVER an option – our deal is TWO big bites) and they don’t like it, they can have some bread and butter or a banana. They won’t starve. It just means that they’ll be hungrier (and hopefully more open-minded) tomorrow. Hang in there, you will crack them.

5. And it’s worth cracking them.

I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to sit having a happy mealtime with your children, watching them munch away on something adventurous. It’s a battle worth fighting, because you are giving them a gift – a love of good food and healthy eating habits that will last them a lifetime.

So here’s our real world scenario from Zoe…

“Hi, my 3 year old son is a very fussy eater, the only things he eats are – pasta, schnitzel, nutella, cream cheese, butter sandwiches, it’s been like this for nearly a year, how do I change it.”

Start with what he does eat and work outwards.

He likes pasta. So try this orange sauce – serve it on the side the first time if necessary. Move onto a bolognaise. If he likes the bolognaise, try it in toasties and pop it into baked potatoes. Then move onto cannelloni or lasagne.

He likes cream cheese. So make these salmon pikelets (leave the green stuff out first time) and coat them with a generous slather of cream cheese as a lure.

He likes bread. So try these oat & banana pancakes, or these cheese puffs, or this okonomiyaki, or this frittata. You’re trying to break his narrow-minded approach and get him eating a wider variety of stuff. Then push further and further.

He likes schnitzel. So try this healthy schnitzel in a wrap. Add a bit of vegie dip.

And the nutella? Well, I’m really sorry, but that has to go. Remember, from now on, the parents are dictating the menu. Nutella offers you very little nutrition and keeps his palate trained to sweet stuff. Kids are still allowed to love treats and eat chocolate, but not everyday.

Once he’s making progress and eating a wider range of healthy stuff, surprise him with this beetroot & chocolate brownie. No one says food can’t be fun.

So I hope that helps. Remember, if you’re having ongoing concerns about your child’s health, please see your doctor. I’m a mum, not a nutritionist and can’t give any sort of medical advice.

And with a disclaimer given, I will just whisper from one parent to another, that Vegie Smuggling works, and you should try it. And it’s not just me; you can read testimonials here, about what other parents have to say.

Back to poo jokes next week, promise.

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Rice v. pasta

March 27, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Ham/pork, News · Tagged cooking techniques, feeding the family, mealtime, pasta, vegetables, zucchini

My first job was waitressing in an Italian restaurant.

The things I remember most about it were never remembering which way the coffee machine dial turned off (no-one ever told me ‘righty-tighty’), the embarrassment of returning to a table where I’d just been to admit that I’d just forgotten what they’d just ordered and one really busy night, after a quick loo break, running through the kitchen back into the restaurant with the back of my skirt tucked into my stockings.

Generally then, it’s safe to say that I was a crap waitress and the whole experience was vaguely traumatising.

For years afterward I didn’t touch pasta. And if I was held at knifepoint and ordered, “you must choose only one main meal carbohydrate for the rest of your life” I would happily marry rice and leave pasta, cous cous and potatoes behind forever.

Perhaps it’s karma then, for all the incorrect orders that I took, that my kids love pasta. I think nearly every kid in the whole wide world does. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that if your kid hates the stuff, they are weird. WEIRD.

Nutritionally, there’s nothing in pasta to get excited about. I’ve even seen it called BAD CARBS. Well said. Mind you, white rice falls into that category too so I guess my argument for rice is baseless and quite prejudiced. Did I mention that my kids don’t care about any of that and that they still LOVE PASTA? They do.

And so it’s been sneaking back into the house over the last few years. It’s still only once a fortnight or so, but now even I am a bit partial to a bolognaise or smoked salmon, dill & lemon or this spaghetti carbonara. On the scale of smuggling success, it’s fairly low, there’s little room to hide anything, but I still cram in spring onions and long strips of zucchini which just meld in(to the bacon fat).

It’s worth sharing, as it’s pretty much the only dish I’ve trialed this year that resulted in TWO EMPTY BOWLS, which is my version of THREE HATS, only better, cause there’s nothing to scrape before stacking the dishwasher.

The pasta will win tonight.

Spaghetti Carbonara

3 eggs
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
400g spaghetti
2 tbsp olive oil
250g bacon, rind removed, large areas of fat removed, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
6 spring onions, sliced
2 zucchinis – use a peeler to slice into thin pieces, then cut vertically so that you have long spaghetti-like strands (whether you leave the skin in or discard it is up to you and what you need to do to get your kids to eat it).

Whisk the eggs in a small jug, mix through the cheese. Set aside.

Now do two things at once…
1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and cook spaghetti according to packet directions. Drain, drizzle over half the olive oil and mix through (tongs makes this easier).

2. Heat the rest of the oil in a frying pan, add the bacon and cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the spring onions, garlic and zucchini and stir until the zucchini starts to wilt (about 2 minutes).

Return the drained pasta to the saucepan, pour over the vegies and use the tongs to mix a bit, then pour over the egg & cheese mixture. Combine quickly, season and serve, topped with optional parsley, pepper and extra parmesan.

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You big tart

March 20, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Sweets & treats · Tagged celebrations, cooking techniques, feeding the family, fruit, recipe

Serve with ice cream (low fat of course)....

Fruit desserts are great, aren’t they? Especially when they’re full of a stack of visible fruit and you can totally pretend that the copious amounts of sugar, fat & gluten are mere triffles in the overall scheme of things.

And so it is with this Bill Granger tart – but so pretty it is and so easy to make. And delicious too. I love Bill’s recipes. They’re simple, and generally they work well. He recommends plums and orange juice in his recipe, but I was short of them, so here’s my version…

Plum (and other stuff) jam tart, from Bill’s Basics

100g unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup caster sugar
Just over 1 cup plain flour
¼ cup almond meal

Topping
800g fruit (I used 6 plums, 2 soggy nectarines, and topped them up with frozen berries)
½ cup caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour
1 tbsp water (Bill uses orange juice, which would be great, but I didn’t have any)
Lime zest (my addition)

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 23 or 24cm springform cake tin.

Stir together the butter & sugar. Sift over the flour and a pinch of salt. Stir to form a dough. Press into the pan, bake 15 minutes until golden.

Sprinkle the almond meal evenly over the cooked base.

In a large bowl, mix the fruit, sugar, cornflour, liquid & zest. Pop over the pastry and bake 30-40 minutes until set. Cool before serving. (I ate this both warm, at room temp AND cold – all delicious).

Serves 8-10

Um on Cake

March 17, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken, News · Tagged chicken, feeding the family, parenting, recipe, vegetables

Even the papertoy monsters are needing a good lay down.

Each family seems to have its own charming vernacular ‘en famille’. A range of sayings based on cute toddler mispronunciations that become ingrained over the years and are known only in that household. For example, in our house, we all wipe our bums with “paper towels”, the second day of the working week is “tooosday” and “um on cake” is a cutsey, friendly way of asking the kids to HURRY THE FUCK UP.

The phrase originated from a friend’s 3-year old urging for action; “Come on Kate, come play”. Mispronounced it was cute and bossy enough, without being offensive. So it stuck.

I seem to have been saying it a lot lately. “Um on cake, get in the car… um on cake, put your shoes on… um on cake, get dressed”.

I realised, of course, that we’ve reached the dreaded WEEK 8 of term. In my household, it seems to be the tipping point, when tiredness catches up and everything starts to go pear-shaped.

True to form, Miss F started WEEK 8 by falling down the stairs. She was being a goose, attempting a risky maneuver that I’ve warned her off doing in the past. Usually kids have that fabulous innate aptitude that makes them bulletproof in all sorts of situations, don’t they? But by WEEK 8 of term, the reflexes have slowed and high-degree of difficulty activities just become disasters.

She fell badly, is quite bruised and I’m waiting for my phone call from DOCS.

So with basic movement proving tricky, the chances of them effortlessly eating challenging, nutritious meals just got that bit slimmer.

If your kids are at the same point, I don’t recommend trying out too much new stuff for the next few weeks. Stick to accepted basic meals, and familiar flavour profiles. Indulge them a little – you’ll just be making your own life easier, after all.

And I let my kids eat a bit more ‘junk’. Vegie Smugglers junk of course, like these oven-baked, egg-free chicken nuggets. Seeing as there’s no secret vegies in the nuggets I introduce the kids to the joys of a schnitty sandwich. The picture shows a lunchbox version with some pumpkin dip (recipe in the upcoming Term 2 planner) and spinach leaves. For dinner I add lots of grated cheese & carrot & iceberg lettuce (a current favourite). Secure the wrap with foil and you’re away.

Schnitzel sandwich heaven

BAKED CHICKEN NUGGETS

500g chicken breast
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 1/2 cups crumb mixture (I like to make of mix of regular bought breadcrumbs, posh panko crumbs and blitzed up pumpkin seeds – sesame seeds are also a yum addition)
Spray oil of your choice

Slice the chicken into even, bite-sized pieces. Mix with the lemon juice, soy sauce & paprika. Cover and marinade in the fridge for at least 1 hour, preferrably overnight.

Preheat oven to 200C, line a tray with baking paper.

Toss the nuggets in breadcrumb mix. Spray with oil spray and bake for 25 minutes, turning once, until cooked through.

Serve with tortillas and your choice of dip, leaves, cucumber, grated cheese and carrot.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS

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First ever VS weekly menu plan (with a pretty shopping list)

March 8, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, News, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, mealtime, parenting, vegetables

At the risk of sounding very ‘organised housewife’, this post is a menu plan for next week. Despite urging emails, I’ve always avoided posts like this because they sound… so… well… bossy, really. You know, it’s YOUR house and eat whatever the hell you like, I say. But nonetheless, I’ve had enough requests now that I’m GONNA DO IT. And knowing how much I love a free printable, I’m even including a complete shopping list (complete with a key so you know what to buy for which meal).

Main problem devising a meal plan for strangers is that I don’t know your schedule. But I’m assuming that you’ve got a couple of days a week at home, and a few afternoons a week that are crazy busy and I’m suggesting dinners that you can move to whichever day fits best.

So here goes…

SATURDAY

Family dinner, or friends coming over? What about this Sang Choy Bao? It’s a messy, fun, communal dinner. Don’t know about you, but my mess tolerance is better on weekends, when I’m not trying to combine dinner with homework and tired children. And it’s a quick cook too, because you’ve probably spent the day at birthday parties or sport or (god forbid) Bunnings.

Lettuce delights for your munching pleasure

SUNDAY

Nice healthy Fish Pie tonight.

Mmmmmm, cauliflower

And while you’re hanging about the house in cooking mode, also make up a batch of Spag bol. It makes heaps so you can divide it up and pop some in the freezer for next week, and some in the fridge for Monday night.

I freeze this, pasta and all, in kid-sized serves

MONDAY

Spag bol.

TUESDAY

Another crazy day ahead? In the morning make up the mix for these Vegie & bean quesadillas.

Onions, carrot, capsicum, tomatoes, kidney beans, avocado. YUM.

Then they’re easy to whip up once you get home from swimming or tennis or dance or whatever other activity you’ve just sat through (as if you have nothing better to do with your time than sit on an uncomfortable bench or wait in the car for the afternoon). Of course, if you meat-free Monday, then you really should have cooked these yesterday.

WEDNESDAY

Got a moment to cook today? What about this chicken & vegie pasta soup?

vegie smugglers chicken pasta and vegetable soup

Pasta, chicken and bacon amongst the vegies...

Maybe you’ve been feeling excessive love for your little gorgeouses today and have indulged them with these berry and oat muffins… awwwwww mum… you’re the best!

Ready for this arvo & tomorrow (if there are any left).

THURSDAY

Use up all the soggy vegies in this Vegetable Slice. Leftover are good in wraps for lunch on Friday.

Working the soggy contents of the crisper drawer.

FRIDAY

Zzzzzzzz…. What! Sorry! You want dinner AGAIN? See I’ve lost interest tonight, which is just what I discussed last week in ON THE SEVENTH DAY. Toast, pizza muffins, something else will do.

And here’s the shopping list to download. Best thing about the list is that it shows you just how many vegies your kids are going to eat this week! Hope this helps.

X
_____________________

Don’t forget that you can buy an e-book of meal plans at the shop.

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Hot, happy buns this Easter

March 6, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, News, Sweets & treats · Tagged brunch, celebrations, cooking techniques, feeding the family, fruit, recipe

The other day Miss F asked me why it is that Hot Cross buns are so cranky.

Fair comment really. And not one that reflects on my poor teachings of Bible fundamentals (I send them to scripture each week, after all). No, I’m going to cut myself a bit of slack here and blame the supermarkets for the collapse of Christian teachings in our society.

So maybe I never did mention the significance of the whole ‘cross’ thing on hot cross buns, but how on earth are my kids supposed to link these treats just to Easter when they’ve been on sale since last New Year’s Eve?

Still, I do like the idea of a fruit bun with attitude, don’t you? Just sitting with friends in a plastic bag, being angry and dour.

Of course I promised to rectify the situation and create some hot happy buns to balance out the emotional quid pro quo.

The cheeriest (and most secular) hot cross buns.

Hot Happy Buns

Don’t be afraid of cooking these – they actually really easy and fun. A nice thing to do throughout a weekend day with the kids.

1¼ cups warm milk
2 x 7g dry yeast sachets
¼ cup caster sugar
4 cups plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp salt
60g butter, melted
1 egg, lightly whisked
1 cup sultanas
¾ cup other dried fruit (I like a mix of currants and dried apple)

Paste:
2 tbsp plain flour
1½ tbsp water

Glaze:
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp boiling water

In a small glass bowl or jug, whisk together the warm milk, yeast and sugar. Leave for 10 minutes somewhere warm and draught-free.

In a large bowl, sift the flour and mix in the spices and salt.

After 10 minutes the milk mixture should be frothy (if it isn’t your yeast may be too old). Mix in the butter and egg. Pour this into the dry ingredients and mix to form a dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Sprinkle over the fruit as you go, until it is evenly distributed throughout the dough. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm and draught-free place for 45 minutes – 1 hour or until doubled.

All puffed up and gorgeous.

Grease a large rectangular baking tin. Punch the dough (yes, truly, punch it) to deflate it. Knead for another 2-3 minutes. Divide into 15 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and pop it into the tin.

Give them a bit of breathing space – they’ll rise more.

Cover, return to your warm spot and leave for 30-40 minutes until they’ve plumped up again. Preheat your oven to 200C.

In a small bowl or mug, stir the flour paste with water. Scoop into a plastic bag, snip off a tiny hole in the corner and pipe a face onto each bun.

So yes, the paste is basically glue… papermache with leftovers?

Cook for 10 minutes at 200C then reduce to 180C and cook for another 15 minutes.

Turn them out after cooking and immediately glaze by brushing them with the combined caster sugar & boiling water.

MAKES 15 delicious, gorgeously home-made buns.

If you like my food philosophy, you’ll love my digital cookbook full of essential family recipes!

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ON THE SEVENTH DAY (A serious case of the ‘can’t be bothered’s)

March 1, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Ham/pork, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged eggs, feeding the family, parenting, recipe

A dinner to cook when you're not cooking dinner.

A while back I surveyed a few of you to find out more about your cooking habits. Admittedly, it was probably completed by those of you who enjoy being in the kitchen (so is statistically a total sham), but I thought it was interesting to see how often each week you make dinner.

Not a single family reported that they cook every night of the week. Most reported cooking (in some semblance) 6 nights with a takeaway on the 7th (which was usually pizza).

I think this is an outstanding effort! Well done all of you who manage to put a homemade meal on the table 6 nights a week!

This fits the pattern at my place. ON THE SEVENTH DAY I have no motivation or intention to cook anything. For us, that night is Friday night. At about 4pm I come down with the most severe case of ‘I’ve-been-cooking-all-week-and-all-I-will-reach-for-from-the-fridge-now-is-wine’ and the children’s hunger becomes extremely uninteresting to me.

But the pesky little rascals still need to be fed.

Seeing as we submitted to the mega-mortgage last year, any decent takeaway is a bit too $$$ for the budget (and despite my temporarily uninspired state, I still can’t face giving them the nasty takeaway options on a regular basis) so I opt for the cheap and cheerful ‘cooking when you’re not cooking’ options which can be made in 10 minutes from start to clean up.

High on the list is toasties. Multigrain bread, cheese, avocado, a bit of whatever vaguely slimy cold meat is left from the week and I’ll even sneak in a bit of tomato.

Muffin ‘pizzas’ are popular too, and even a bowl of baked beans/spaghetti combo with toast soldiers.

But ever since our trip to the country, but kids are HUGE fans of eggs. I have embraced them like a new best friend.

So pretty they are, full of protein, minerals and iron (and cholesterol – but kids don’t need to worry about that). And they’re so easy to cook. Boiled with soldiers is always a hit, and when I’m feeling a bit fancy, I roll out these…

Ham & egg yummies

2 slices ham, chopped
4–8 cherry tomatoes
100g roasted capsicums and/or zucchini
4 eggs
Handful of grated cheese
Parsley leaves

Divide the ham, tomatoes and capsicum between four shallow ovenproof dishes. Crack over the egg (whisked or whole is up to you). Scatter with cheese and black pepper.

Preheat grill to medium and cook for 3–4 minutes until the egg is set. Serve with parsley and fresh bread or toast soldiers.

MAKES 4

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Don’t forget the daggy ingredients

February 28, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged chicken, cooking techniques, feeding the family, parenting, recipe, vegetables

Do you own some?

We’re all so terribly well educated when it comes to food these days, aren’t we? We’ve all sat on the couch and watched enough Masterchef to know that there are two different types of truffles (best not get them confused), we know that fois gras comes somewhere from inside some kind of poultry and a jus needs to be made with ‘exemplary’ stock.

Armed with this knowledge, we live our pre-kids lives throwing fabulous dinner parties and drinking way too much wine. But once the wee children arrive on the scene and tell us to shove our gourmet ingredients up our bums, we find ourselves ill equipped for the challenges of feeding a family on a daily basis.

Do you find your cooking style has changed considerably these days?

There are so many dishes that I’d never made before children – cheese sauce, muesli bars, pasta bake, sausage casserole (!) etc etc etc.

And there are so many ingredients that I wouldn’t have bothered with either. In the past, my curries would have been made with spice pastes and a million added extras, but these days they’re a milder affair to suit the very discriminating palate of Miss F. So I’ve gone back to curry powder. And so gorgeous it is in its cheery little tin. And so good at introducing a bit of flavour in a friendly way.

A good saucey serve of this curry on a fat bed of rice with a beguiling papadum and my kids are in heaven.

Some adults might secretly prefer this creamy mild flavor too, but those who crave a little more heat can add a big handful of fresh coriander and some chopped up fresh chilli on top of theirs.

Easy to make and delicious for everyone.

Mild (& creamy) chicken curry

1 tbsp olive oil
500g chicken thigh fillets, excess fat removed, cut into 4-5 pieces
1 onion, peeled, finely diced
1 carrot, peeled, diced
1 finger eggplant, diced (peeled if your kids hate the skin)
1-2 tsp curry powder (depending on your kids)
400ml lite coconut milk
1 cup chicken stock
2 cups pumpkin, peeled, diced
1 cup peas

Heat the oil in a large non-stick saucepan over medium/high heat. Add the chicken pieces and brown all over (takes 4-5 minutes). Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the onion and cook, stirring for a couple of minutes before adding the carrot and eggplant. Stir regularly for 3-4 minutes until everything is starting to soften. Sprinkle over the curry powder. Stir until fragrant and everything is well coated.

Pour in the milk and stock. Add in the pumpkin and return the chicken (plus any juices) to the pot. Mix well, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover, add the peas and simmer another 5 minutes until the pumpkin is tender and the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with rice and papadums.

Serves 2 adults & 2 kids.

PS: I cook my papadums by spraying them with canola oil spray (optional) then chucking them in the microwave on HIGH. Watch them CLOSELY, they suddenly sprout and are done in a matter of seconds. – They’re not as delicious as traditional ones, but they’re quick and easy and an essential lure for getting the kids to happily tackle this curry.

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Because I’m a sucker for advertising, let’s all eat lamb this Australia Day

January 25, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News, Red meat · Tagged celebrations, feeding the family, lamb, recipe, vegetables

Well yes, I DO swat my blow-flys with this, actually.

Perhaps I’m an overly simple person, but I never mind advertising when it’s funny. And I think the ongoing Sam Kekovich campaign has been consistently good. Although I suspect this year might be jumping the shark – there’s really no justifiable reason to resurrect Barbie Girl (or Melissa Tkautz) under any circumstance. Having said that though, I will admit that the video is pretty good fun. The whole campaign has been amazingly successful over the years at making our national day and lamb synonymous. Well done advertising gurus.

So here’s my lamb contribution – a lamb sausage roll, which is two, top aussie concepts all rolled up into one gorgeous fabulous pastry covered piece of yum. And it sneaks a whole bunch of hidden healthy vegetables into the kids, too.

Happy Australia day to all of you top Aussies out there.

A sausage roll that Sam Kekovich would approve of.

Lamb sausage rolls

3 sheets frozen puff pastry
1 egg, whisked, for sticking and glazing
Sesame seeds

Filling
500g lamb mince
1 red onion, very
finely diced
2 tbsp pine nuts
1 carrots, peeled, grated
¼ red capsicum, seeded, finely diced
1 cup English spinach, shredded
¼ cup parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp sumac
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
¼ cup dried breadcrumbs

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

Separate out your puff pastry sheets. Score down the middle with a knife and snap into two long rectangles. Leave to thaw.

In a large bowl, combine all the filling ingredients. Use your hands to mix it all well.

Divide the mixture evenly between the six rectangles of pastry (roll the mix into sausage shapes to keep it firm). Roll one edge of the pastry over the mixture. Brush the other side with the egg, pull it over the top and press down to seal. Place on the tray, with the join at the bottom.

Brush the tops with egg, sprinkle over the sesame seeds and bake for 25 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Cut into thirds and serve with salad.

MAKES 18

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Other lamb recipes…
Lamb & feta meatballs
Lamb & bean rissoles
Shepherd’s pie
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