ideas | Vegie Smugglers

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Is your baby’s food really organic? And a glass container giveaway.

August 25, 2013 · Filed under All recipes · Tagged baby food, feeding the family, freezer, giveaway, ideas

Did you know that in Australia, food products can be labeled ‘organic’ if they just ‘contain organic ingredients’? For instance, if they’re made with organic salt & pepper, they can use the word ‘organic’ on the packaging. Interesting, huh! And extremely unimpressive.

So if you want organic food for your babies and kids that is actually organic, you need to look for the words “100% certified organic“, which means that they’ve actually met all of the strict organic produce criteria.

Rather than be relying on ‘organic’ pre-packaged baby food, you might want to take things into your own hands. Luckily it’s easy to whizz up leftovers of your family meal and freeze portions, ready for your baby. From 12 months of age, babies should be eating the same foods as the rest of the family (see the government guidelines here), obviously just pulverised up a bit, to match their current level of development.

Heaps of Vegie Smugglers recipes convert well into baby food, but here’s a few specific suggestions…

Kid-friendly chicken pasta.

Beef casserole from the slow cooker

vegie smugglers pumpkin and lentil soup recipe

Pumpkin, corn & lentil soup.

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

Vegie mash.

And you’ll be able to portion them up into lovely little freezer-friendly parcels if you win one of this month’s prizes – a set of glass containers, from Littlelock. I’ve got three sets to give away – each with three large and three small containers, each set is worth $63.90.

Take a look at the Littlelock page, then come back and tell me what concoction you’d be whipping up for your containers.

To enter you must be in Australia and be a Vegie Smugglers subscriber. Entries close 8pm, Wednesday August 28, AEST. Good luck! ***29/8/13 UPDATE: CONGRATULATIONS TO ALISON, BECCA AND KRISTY – GABRIELLE FROM LITTLE LOCK HAS CHOSEN YOU GUYS AS THE WINNERS! HOPE YOU ENJOY THE JARS! X

Comments (56) »

Home-made strawberry topping

August 14, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Sweets & treats, Vegetarian · Tagged feeding the family, fruit, ideas, recipe, treats

Blitz it if the chunks will frighten your children.

Lickable.

There must be a glut of strawberries happening in the warmer parts of Australia at the moment, because my Colesworth supermarket has ridiculously cheap punnets on the go. Flavourwise, they’re good, but the shelf-life is terrible – I’m getting a couple of days at the most before they turn nasty. There’s a reason why they’re marked down, after all.

If like me, you’ve been over-enthusiastic with your berry purchases of late, I have a solution. Dig the spare punnet out from the back of the crisper and whip up this easy strawberry topping recipe. The finished product is multi-purpose – it tastes great on yoghurt, over ice-cream, in smoothies or on pancakes. If you’re feeling fancy, leave some vanilla icecream out to soften, then mix through the topping and refreeze it – delicious strawberry swirl ice-cream.

To use a particularly annoying internet cuteism – “You’re welcome”.

Home-made strawberry topping

Per 250g punnet strawberries
1 tsp lemon juice
1-2 tbsp maple syrup (depending on how sweet or tart the berries are)

Hull the berries, remove any really squishy bits. Wash them well and chop roughly (I like a variety of sized – pieces to give me a good final texture). Pop everything in a saucepan and cover. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 6-8 minutes until everything is mushy.

Serve as is, or blend if you’d like a smoother sauce. Tasty hot or cold.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Comments (17) »

The Vegie Smugglers promise to you [insert toothy smile & a wink]

June 24, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Vegetarian · Tagged feeding the family, ideas, potatoes, recipe, vegetables

Regardless of being on my best behaviour lately, it seems that I court Facebook trouble at every turn. Perhaps it is a special knack I have for pissing people off, or a general inability to keep my mouth shut.

I think I’m tired of it though, and need a rest. So from now on, I promise you that I will no longer use any of the following words online…

Fat.
Fat people.
Fat kids.
Overweight.
Obese.
Controlled-crying.
Bottle-feeding.
Smacking.
Jesus.
God.
Julia Gillard.
Teachers.

I think that just about does it. There will be no insinuations about fat kids being fat because they eat too much of the wrong food, or judgements about mothers in supermarkets. Instead my pages will be filled with stories about cute puppies, photos of babies in ladybird costumes and the recipes will be selected by you, not me.

Which is why this week, we’re eating potato bake. You chose it.

Now… (she says, tapping the table with her fingertips) with everything running without controversy, what will I do with the rest of my day?

Potato (& sweet potato) bake

1 kg potato (I use 700g regular waxy potatoes and 300g kumura or sweet potato)
300ml cream
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small onion, grated
½ cup Parmesan cheese
¾ cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 180C. Spray an oven dish with spray oil or rub with butter.

Combine the cream, garlic, onion, Parmesan and ½ cup of the cheddar. Set aside.
Thinly slice your potatoes (be patient and use a sharp knife, OR use a mandolin slicer).

Layer potato over the bottom of the dish, drizzle over some of the cream mixture, then do a layer of sweet potato. Repeat the process with another layer of potato, then the sweet potato then finish off with regular potato. Pour over all the rest of the cream, top with ¼ cup cheddar cheese.

Bake for about 1¼ hours until cooked through. (Cover with foil if it starts to burn before then).

Serves 2 adults & 2 kids

Comments (24) »

Social media etiquette and a simple breakfast idea

June 10, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian · Tagged breakfast, feeding the family, ideas

Let’s keep in mind that we all love our kids and are all doing our best.

Last week’s Facebook battle was a bit of a doozy. I won’t lie – I didn’t walk away from it unscathed. There’s no need to rehash the topic but it did make me realise two things.

1. I need a formal social media etiquette policy.

I love debating stuff. Being forced to defend my stance does help to cement my reasoning. And sometimes one of you will present a fabulous argument that makes me change my mind. When people are too fixed to consider the alternative views then it’s not really a debate or discussion, it’s an argument. And for some reason, arguments on the Internet are vicious and full of personal attacks. And that’s not fun for anyone. Which is why I’ve written this policy…
___________________

When I comment on Vegie Smugglers pages, I will try to…
* Be real & genuine
Please treat my blog and Facebook page like the real world. Despite the fact I post under a blog name, I am a real person and I’m venturing online with the same spirit with which I approach my whole life. I’m connecting with people, talking to them, forming friendships and having interesting conversations.

* Be open minded
Enjoy chatting to people here who are different to your regular circle of friends. Share information; feel free to passionately state your case in a considered and rational way. Then read and discover the other opinions. Foster empathy and understanding of others.

* Admit mistakes & be thoughtful
So if you wouldn’t say something in real life, don’t say it on my page. And if you do say nasty stuff then shame on you, apologise! If you do it more than once then you’re not welcome here and will be banned.

* Have fun
Please enjoy the Vegie Smugglers pages. Enjoy sharing your opinions in considered and passionate ways. Help each other, make friends and learn something new.
___________________

2. Now, the other thing that last week’s discussion did was strengthen my resolve around this whole vegie-smuggling thing.

The more I work on my business, the more passionate I get about helping people make little changes that will improve their lives.

For me, food is the foundation of everything. Good food enriches your soul. It leads to good health, which leads to positive behaviours, enthusiasm and motivation for life.

Perhaps it sounds silly but I really believe that introducing new ingredients and finding new healthy meals that your family can enjoy together will improve your life. By making good food choices you’ll feel better about yourself, you’ll improve the health outcomes and behaviour of your children and create a positive environment. And your life will just be that bit more interesting.

Regular readers will know that I am not even nearly fanatical about anything. A bit of white flour, sugar and wine can enrich our souls too. But I will always discourage consistently lazy eating habits. Considering that childhood obesity is still increasing, I’m committed to doing whatever I can to help families make good choices.

Here’s an example of what I mean. You can buy sachets of quick oats in the supermarket. They’re expensive and the flavourings taste a bit weird, but they’re easy. How about instead, buy the plain box of quick oats. They only take 30 seconds longer to cook. Then sprinkle this powder over the top. The result is an aroma that will make you swoon, some sneaky nutrition and a little bit of magic to make you smile first thing in the day. From soulless to spectacular with the minimum of fuss.

Magic powder to make your day awesome.

Magic Morning Powder

1/2 cup LSA mix
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix together and sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons over your steaming hot porridge.

Thanks for stopping by.

Comments (36) »

“Dull women have immaculate homes.” True or false?

May 17, 2013 · Filed under Craft for non-crafty parents · Tagged ideas, organisation, printables

For those of us who love a little visit to Officeworks.

A gift today, for those of us who get excited at Kikki K.

I read the other day that “Dull women have immaculate homes.” Which seems a little harsh on those of us who don’t mind a bit of order amongst the chaos of daily family life. There seems no harm in finding joy in a bit of neatness when it’s such a hard-won feat.

Although more accurate in my house would be, “Organised women used to have moth problems in their pantry.” Which is why I went a bit crazy a couple of months back finally getting everything into containers. Throwing packets of food away was depressing, and endless moth traps, while fascinating for the kids, weren’t such a source of joy for me.

As you can see, I store a few things in glass, but most of my pantry is BPA-free plastics. Please don’t e-lecture me about the evils of it – for someone as clumsy as myself, it’s a blessing. There’s only so much shattered glass that I can clean up (and stand in) in a year. If you are more co-ordinated than myself and are a glass-only household, then I wish you well and let’s leave it at that.

Luckily these cute labels will help keep things ship-shape no matter what your jar. Sure, you know what brown sugar looks like, but if you’re going to bother organising all this stuff, why not make it look as pretty as hell. It only takes a few minutes to print them out and stick them on.

See! Not dull, just making the mundane more interesting.

When I had ingredients out to bake yesterday, I was LOVING MYSELF SICK. Besides, you can jot down the use-by dates on the back of the label, blue-tack it on and just admire yourself for being so damn together.

Download the 3-page pantry labels PDF here.

___________________

And if you like these, you’ll also like my printable shopping list.

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Need some dinner inspiration for this week?

May 13, 2013 · Filed under All recipes · Tagged ideas, parenting

Struck dumb at the thought of another week of hungry mouths at dinnertime? Amazing how quickly Monday comes around and I’m left wondering, “What the hell am I going to feed everyone this week?” Which is weird, considering I’ve now published two cookbooks and three e-books on the topic and have around 200 recipes up my sleeve.

Still, being excited about making dinner EVERY SINGLE NIGHT is a battle for me too. Surely, SURELY, a night of air wouldn’t hurt while I have my feet up and my kindle (loaded with a crappy bodice-ripper) in hand? Alas no, pesky kids want actual food. So I’m trawling for meals that make me happy and inspired. Perhaps one of these will tickle your fancy this week too…

Rice paper rolls

Chicken nuggets

Witches’ stew (split pea soup)

Vegie slice

What about you? What’s on the list for this week?

Comments (16) »

A giveaway from Lunchboxes with Love!

April 18, 2013 · Filed under News · Tagged competition, ideas, lunchbox, parenting

This month’s competition is courtesy of the fabulous and inspiring Cath at Lunchboxes with Love. She was an early Vegie Smugglers supporter, supplying me with props for my Lunchbox Planner e-book. We’ve been in touch ever since and I love watching her business grow. Go Cath!

Here’s what you can win…

All this could be yours!

• Sleek design, black Zippered Sleeve. Insulated, water-resistant and food safe (no lead, BPA, PVC etc). Rrp $30.
• Bento-style Primary Lunchbox Set. Versatile, compact, and easy to clean (microwave & dishwasher safe). Pack and stack the containers in the fridge the night before. Store neatly in the cupboard when not in use. RRP $30.
• 10 Various Styled Leaf Picks. Gorgeous little picks to create a garden in your lunch. RRP $16.
• Luv It! cutter that quickly cuts food into small bites, complete with a matching popper that instantly pops out fun shaped pieces – hands are clean, food is untouched. RRP $16.

See full details of all the products here.

With so much AWESOME, your kids will be eating up every little scrap of their lunches. Especially once you start whipping up recipes from my new ebook, “10 quickbakes plus 10 sandwich spreads”, which will be available in a day or two.

To be eligible to win all of these items from Lunchboxes with Love, you must be an Australian-based Vegie Smugglers subscriber, then, simply comment below on the items that are most popular in your kids’ lunchboxes. Inspire us all!

Entries close Monday April 22 at 5pm AET.

24/4/2013 – THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR ENTRIES – AND CONGRATULATIONS TO DEB JAY FOR TAKING OUT THE SET – HOPE YOU ENJOY IT DEB!

And of course, visit Cath at www.lunchboxeswithlove.com or at her totally popular Facebook page.

Comments (152) »

Another idea for helping your kids like vegetables

March 22, 2013 · Filed under Food experiences, News · Tagged ideas, parenting, vegetables

Always keen to share ideas on this whole healthy living thing, I’m breaking my usual blog format so that I can introduce you to a fabulous woman who’s also focused on getting our kids to love vegies. Here’s the chat I had with her last week…

I love it! Vegetable school!

Who are you?
My name is Simone Emery and I own Play with Food, interactive & fun fruit and vegetable classes for 1.5-5 year olds.

Why would kids need a fruit & vegetable class?

Sometimes kids won’t even look at what’s on their plate! Getting them to EAT it seems less probable than getting them on a play date with Mr Moon. There are many paths you can assail to get your fussy eater to devour their meals (or at least get one piece to their lips).

What happens at the classes?

At our classes your child will have hands on exploration of seasonal fruits and vegetables. The classes progress week by week through different techniques that engage the child with the fruit and vegetables for that week. Yes! We lick, sip, kiss, squirt, bite, smell, suck and laugh our way through 8 weeks of classes. The classes also try to include some culprits from your child’s dislike list. For example, a popular dislike is broccoli so that usually makes a grand appearance in week one. The classes involve child and carer participation in songs, whole piece tactile exploration, activities, games and sensory engagement. The class concludes with free time to play with food. It’s a novel activity for your child to take part in that helps them develop a very important life skill, healthy eating.

What results do you get?

I just had a mum email me that their child just ate a huge amount of peas and macaroni for dinner, and she tried the tomato. These are things that just would never have happened a couple of weeks earlier.

Which kids are best suited to your classes?

Any children between 1.5 and 5 years are suited to the classes. I encourage carers to come along with their children even if they have a younger sibling that is happy to watch. The classes aren’t just for fussy eaters. Healthy eating is a life skill just like swimming and other extra curricular activities. These classes are a way to enhance that life skill and help foster healthy food appreciation.

How can people find you?

We are online at www.playwithfood.com.au and by clicking the link on our “bookings” tab you can see locations and prices. If there isn’t an ideal location or time for your class, let us know. You can request a group booking (8 children) for another area in Sydney that suits your group. Email Simone@playwithfood.com.au, if you have any other questions!

And [insert infomercial music here] you’ve got a special deal for Vegie Smugglers subscribers?

When you book an 8-week package or flexible class pass online – select “Vegie Smugglers” as your referral option on our booking form and get 10% off the listed price. This deal is valid for ALL of 2013 – more locations and classes are being researched and set-up for later dates this year. Like us on Facebook to keep up to date with where we are setting up classes!

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How to smuggle vegies at breakfast

March 14, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged breakfast, feeding the family, ideas, parenting, recipe, vegetables

At what stage in the day do your kids start eating vegetables?

If they have cereal and toast for breakfast, then a lunchbox of sandwiches and fruit, it’s quite possible that no vegies pass their lips until late afternoon.

The current Australian government guidelines suggest that a five year old child should be eating 3-4 serves of vegetables a day. Which is quite a lot. (BTW – If you don’t know what a serving size looks like, there’s a really handy visual guide in the beginning of a fabulous book called Vegie Smugglers 2.)

To have a chance of hitting that quota, it’s a great idea to start sneaking the healthy stuff in in as early in the day as possible before tiredness turns your little angels into grouchy and disagreeable monsters (or perhaps that’s just my kids).

Sneaking in some vegies at breakfast isn’t as hard as it sounds. You can make the breakfast burrito recipe from Vegie Smugglers 1. Or you can do a little baked egg dish with capsicums and eggplant. Pop a bit of corn in scrambled eggs. For a quickie, just put some avocado & tomato on toast. Or maybe you want to whip up a green smoothie.

They are my latest addiction. I used to come home from school drop offs needing tea and toast, but I’ve replaced that habit with one of these smoothies and find they fill me up and give me an energy boost in the middle of the day.

There are stacks of recipes for them, but this is my current favourite. I find for my kids to enjoy them, I need to load it up with frozen banana. Like the ice cream I made recently, using the frozen bananas gives them a real ‘thick shake’ texture that the kids can’t resist. And I find serving them up in a pretty cup never goes astray.

Oh la la! This is the fancy cocktail version (avec trashie).

Green smoothies

1/2 cup firmly packed spinach leaves
1/2 cup pineapple pieces
1 frozen banana, peeled, sliced
1/2-3/4 cup rice milk (you need a watery milk, so skim would work, but full fat isn’t so nice)
1 tsp white chia seeds

For an added kick, I also pop in 1 tbsp Nutra Organics super greens & reds food powder (click my affiliate link below to check out all their products).

I put everything in a glass jug and use my stick blender to whizzy it all up into fab green goodness.

This will make enough to divide nicely between 2 adults and 2 kids.
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So they’re my suggestions. What about you? Have you got a smoothie recipe or some breakfast vegie-smuggling wisdom to share?

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Every (odd) day I’m shuffling (and taking a stand)

February 24, 2013 · Filed under News · Tagged ideas, parenting

Generally my kids are fairly dismissive of me and my quaint ways. The abilities that I do have are of little interest to them. In fact, considering my ineptitude in so many areas (ie, I can’t catch or burp on cue and I don’t know the difference between a guinea pig and a hampster), my kids were astonished to discover that I am surprisingly skilful at shuffling cards. It’s a quirk left over from a life before screens, when instead of reading the ipad in front of TV, I would play endless games of solitaire. My secret skill was revealed during a holiday bout of ‘UNO’ and it was insanely ~~frustrating~~ interesting to watch my screen-savvy kids fumbling and dropping real cards all over the place. They just didn’t have the fine motor skills to cope. It did remind me of just how screen-dependent we have become. And I was quite frightened.

But even I hadn’t touched real cards for quite a few years. Shuffling cards is pretty annoying. Much easier to just hit the ‘shuffle’ button. Looking in my luggage I realised that all my holiday entertainment was screen-based too. A kindle full of books, puzzles and games on the ipad. Work emails and facebook on my phone. I did take a pen and notepad, but found no need for it.

This screen world is so invasive and complete, and myself and the kids are so entirely addicted. The tantrums over games and the pestering and obsession over how much screen time has forced me to put my foot down. Last year we trialled ‘screen free Mondays and Tuesdays’. No games, no TV. The only computer use was if we had online homework to complete on Mathletics.

The first week was tough. The second much easier and the third no problem. It went so well and stopped all sorts of tensions that we’ve happily gone back to it this school year. I snapped this pic of my kids on Monday last week. Absorbed in their creative games. Calm. Happy.

Which is why I’m sharing it with you. Usually I don’t offer parenting advice – whatever works at your house is ok with me. But this is going so well with us, that I thought I’d share.

And after Tuesday? Well, they get tired as the week goes on. So we continue with no games (keep them for the weekends) but we have a bit of tele on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, so that they can ‘veg out’ a bit. Everything in moderation, after all.

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