kids | Vegie Smugglers

Posts tagged kids

Why I hate the Jamie Oliver haters

October 26, 2010 · Filed under Craft for non-crafty parents, News · Tagged craft, feeding the family, fundraising, kids, vegetables, vegies

vegie smugglers healthy eating worksheet

Get your kids recognising all of these fruits and vegetables, or maybe just use the shopping list when seeking out names for your newborn.

Available for your downloading enjoyment this week is a nutrition inspired bit of craft fun – a fruit and vegetable shopping list where kids can practice numeracy, reading, colouring in and most importantly recognising a range of healthy ingredients. It was inspired after watching Jamie Oliver’s recent Food Revolution USA. Did you see any of it? This bit where the kids couldn’t recognise ANY fruit and veg was downright scary.

I like to think that Aussie kids are far more knowledgable – we have such a fantastic supply of fresh produce and are surrounded by an inspiring cauldron of world cuisines. Surely this scene wouldn’t take place in any of our classrooms, would it?

Say what you will about Jamie, and the poor fella attracts his fair share of haters, he’s passionate and devoted to improving the health of thousands of children world-wide. So I can ignore the mild child abuse he perpetrates on his own children with their eccentric names. Such is the privilege of celebrity I suppose.

This Jamie-inspired worksheet is one of the three that are supplied to your daycare centre or school when you participate in a Vegie Smugglers fundraising program. The VS Facebook community will know that it’s been all action with the first fundraisers starting this week. Good luck everyone!

If you haven’t already, download the info PDF and email it to your daycare manager, letting them know that you’re keen to join in the fun. There are great benefits for all with the program, my tagline for it is “empowering parents, creating healthier families, and raising money too!” – an ethos I’m totally committed to. I passionately believe that healthier kids lead to happier families. When everyone eats better, they sleep better and then they behave better. Meaning you are rested and calm enough to parent better too.

Well, we can all try…
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For other health orientated worksheets, try these…

Which vegetables grow above and below the ground? Find out with this colouring in page.

Or this plate worksheet, ready for the kids to draw on, colour and collage.

For a full look at all my posts with free printables… CLICK HERE!
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Like this project? You can find it, along with 39 other boredom busters in the ‘Craft for non-crafty Parents’ e-book. There’s a stack of silly fun stuff, projects that encourage healthy eating and a bunch of worksheets covering preschool education and school readiness. You can buy it at the shop now!

128 pages, 40 projects, 85 pages of printables…

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Junior Masterchef is blowing my mind!

October 19, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, News, Red meat · Tagged family, feeding the family, kids, lamb, vegetables, vegies

At Vegie Smuggling HQ, last Sunday night was spent watching TV with our jaws hanging wide open. Isn’t it a shock, to see a bunch of kids so young who can kick butt in the kitchen, sauteing, baking and slicing their way to foodie heaven? We’re all so protective these days and assume our little lovelies are so helpless that it’s refreshing to see competent kids, who’ve been well trained, concentrating and doing their thing with such aplomb. And putting the rest of us to shame. I mean, really, I doubt I could make Pierre’s Lamb Wellington that won the other night.

And isn’t it great, for younger kids to see these visions of accomplishment. Miss Fruitarian was grinning the entire time.

Why do I underestimate what my kids are capable of and wrap them in such thick layers of cotton wool? A while back, my Japanese friend shocked me by instructing in that helpful/harsh Japanese way that I must give my kids knives from the time they’re three. “They only cut themselves one time”, she assured me.

In some countries Miss F would probably of have a flock of goats under her control by now. Even half a century ago she would have been contributing to the household in ways more productive than her current “muuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm, iiiii nneeeeeeeedddddddddddd youuuuuuuuuuuuuu”. Of course, I run to her to check what the emergency is and generally find that she can’t find her red texta, or she needs me to kill the microscopic spider on the bathroom floor. With renewed purpose, I’m going to work on getting my kids more domestically skilled and useful.

In the mean time, here’s my contribution to the Junior Masterchef ‘pie’ challenge, a vegie smuggling Shepherd’s Pie that hides potato, pumpkin, onion, carrot, celery and eggplant. Strangely enough, I didn’t see any of the Masterchef kids sneaking too many vegies into their masterpieces.

Miss F may not herd goats, but she does love this Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd’s pie

Meat base
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, peeled,
finely diced
1 celery stick,
finely diced
500g lamb mince
2 finger eggplants, peeled, finely diced
2 tbsp plain flour
2 cups beef stock
Splash of Worcestershire sauce
Squeeze of tomato sauce
2 fresh bay leaves
(or 1 dried)
Salt & black pepper

Mash topping
3 mashing potatoes, peeled, diced
500g pumpkin, peeled, diced
½ cup milk
Margarine, to taste

Canola oil cooking spray

For the meat base, heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion, carrot and celery until soft (5-10 minutes). Add the mince and brown, breaking up lumps as you go. Add the eggplant and stir.

Add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the stock, sauces and bay leaves. Bring to the boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes. Season to taste.

Meanwhile, for the mash, bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the potato and pumpkin and cook for 15 minutes until tender. Drain.

Preheat oven to 200C.

Mash the potatoes and pumpkin well, adding milk and margarine to achieve your preferred texture.

Divide the lamb mixture between a family-sized souffle dish and 4 x 1 cup ovenproof dishes (eat the family one tonight and freeze the smaller serves).

Spread mash over the top as evenly as you can.

Put all the dishes on one oven tray, spray the tops with cooking spray and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and bubbling.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 6 KIDS

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My holiday house survival guide

September 28, 2010 · Filed under News · Tagged family, ideas, kids, parenting, top 10

Holiday heaven awaits you

Yippeeeee. Holiday time. The chance to settle into your family for more than a snatched half-hour. Time to play and explore together. Time to experience true moments of joy and remember why it is that you had a family and how much you all love each other. Awwww, don’t the kids look cute down on the beach! You just went exploring and here they are, after being soaked by a couple of waves, down to their undies frolicking. Soon, they’ll resemble sand schnitzels and soon after that the whinging and crying will begin… ‘I’m cold’ ‘the sand won’t get off’ etc. You get the idea. Like all of life, holidays are just as full of good and bad, perhaps we’re just a little more aware and focused than usual.

Family holidays are more fun now than they used to be. Remember those early trips, when you were still having to do all of the tasks of baby wrangling, but without all your stuff? So much hard work that you wondered why you bothered. Now though, it’s almost smooth sailing. But even today, I have a list of things that (if I remember to pack them) will make my holiday house or caravan cabin experience much easier.

Ten things to take on your next holiday.

1. A big sharp knife. Holiday rentals only ever have crap knives. Just pack one nice big one that can do everything. If you are particularly devoted to BBQs, pack steak knifes. Whilst talking sharp things, a good peeler and a pair of scissors that actually cut is handy.

2. Zip lock bags. Or a roll of cling wrap. Or IKEAs best ever product, the Bevara clip. So that you can do something with all that half eaten stuff.

3. While we’re at it, take a couple of plastic containers, which can store stuff and double as salad bowls and seashell storage.

4. A roll of paper towel. Use as napkins, for draining bacon and mopping up wee, when lovely child has been too preoccupied in the sand to make it to the toilet in time.

5. Olive oil. The frying pans are never non-stick. Or if they are, they have been scratched raw, which is a pretty good example of why frustrated landlords give up on supplying anything decent (see number 1).

6. Kids plastic bowls/plates/cups and cutlery. Because they WILL smash anything else.

7. Stove top cafetiere. Most Australian coastal towns have decent coffee somewhere. But it might be a walk, or slow service. Just take your own.

8. Salt & pepper. Because your prawn roll needs seasoning. And if you forget them, you’ll be forced up to the IGA to buy a picnic set that costs a fortune and when back home will gather dust along with the other 6 sets that you’ve bought on your 6 previous trips away. Tomato sauce falls into this category too.

9. Tea towel and face washer (wrap the knife in them). Mozzie spray. Bandaids and panadol for everyone. A spare roll of loo paper to keep in the car.

10. Two-use stuff. Pesto can be smeared on toast with tomato, stirred through pasta or dolloped on meat. Antipasto for nibbles and the oil works as salad dressing. Peanut butter can go on bread without margarine and also used to make a basic satay sauce.

And while we’re at it, beer coolers work as ice block holders and ice blocks work as ice packs. Towels and bunks make cubbies and champagne corks and a texta make cool little people. Yoghurt containers can be used as sand toys and cocktail umbrellas make everyone happy for so many reasons.

So with that I must go. It’s after wine o’clock and the front deck is calling.

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School holiday fun (on the cheap)

September 23, 2010 · Filed under Craft for non-crafty parents, News · Tagged craft, family, ideas, kids, parenting

Your kids can have THE BEST DAY EVER these school holidays.

Right-o. School holiday time again and desperate parents throughout Australia are trying to find fun ways to get through the break without killing their offspring. With Christmas just around the corner, it’s also great to find a few ways to pass the time without spending too much money.

I’ve done a bit of web trawling and here are some ideas about how to fill in those spare half hours (when the kids are starting to climb the walls)

Every kid I know is in love with Mister Maker. Amazing how a few empty containers and some silver paint can keep them busy for a bit. It doesn’t get much easier (or more unisex) than his Lolly Stick Lizard project that you can make in 1 minute.

Despite kids getting older, they still love to have a go with play dough – they can add a few paddle pop sticks and straws and start making a few more sophisticated things. There’s a nice article and playdough recipes at Sixty Second parent. Girls might like to add a big handful of glitter to their dough to make it all fairy sparkly.

The other morning on ABC 702, Adam Spencer played ‘Popcorn’ by Hot Butter. Remember it? Far out, my kids went nuts. So now it is on high Youtube rotation. A Youtube disco is great, since it is FREE. While you’re in the silly song groove, check out Yolanda Be Cool Vrs DCup – We No Speak Americano which will have them jumping about like idiots. And then finish them off with anything by Fatboy Slim, although The Rockafeller Skank has strange people dancing in weird dress-ups, a cowboy clad DJ and breakdancing. All good fun.

If you’re keen for a bit of kitchen time (after you’ve made all of my recipes, of course), check out Annabel Karmel’s cooking with kids section for a good range of recipes. Usually though, the kids just want to make sweet stuff – nothing beats this
chocolate chip cookies recipes from Martha Stewart kids.

And if they’re still bored? They can design and make a lounge room cubby house or whip up this cute paper chatterbox from www.freshforkids.com.au (which comes with instructions).

And don’t forget the craft worksheets that I’ve already posted on here. Reprint and do them again – kids don’t seem to mind the repetition!

So that’s my list. But what’s on yours?

Boys will be boys, and girls will be (quite annoyed) girls

September 9, 2010 · Filed under Craft for non-crafty parents · Tagged craft, ideas, kids

There’s no two ways about it. Miss Fruitarian is pissed off.

Demarcation lines in our house are usually strictly adhered to. She does the craft. Mr Meat & Potatoes plays with cars. It’s a gender divide that I would have denied existed 6 years ago, but I now know, that there is some inherent boy and girl gene that prevails over all nurturing factors. It’s the gene that stipulates that most boys like blue, machine noises and farts and most girls prefer skipping places whilst wearing frilly outfits.

And what have I done? Well, with my space boy and my soccer team craft projects, I have CROSSED THE LINE. And she’s not happy.

Yes, the neighbours did see me do this.

So here, dedicated to my little lovely, is the girliest of all girly crafts. A pretty birdie with cute patterns that you can colour, cut and paste. You can use them in a dainty collage (as Miss F has demonstrated below), or do several, stick them to lengths of curling ribbon and voila! You have a birdie mobile. Of course, actually taking them outside and putting them in trees where your neighbours can see you, is optional.

Maybe just stay indoors and make your little girl's day.

Go on, I dare you. This is foolproof craft, for non-crafty parents. Give it a try.

Download the birdie craft worksheet as a PDF.

Fly me to the moon, little buddy.

August 26, 2010 · Filed under Craft for non-crafty parents · Tagged craft, kids, parenting

An astronaut work sheet making parenting easy.

Print, paste, parent. Easy.

It’s Friday uber-parent time. Download and print this astronaut PDF and get the kids onto it this weekend. A bottle of glue and some tin foil is all you need. Remember, it’ll take just a few minutes of effort on your part and you might just be creating a happy childhood memory for your little lovelies.

As you can see, it’s been rigorously tested by Miss Fruitarian. Mr Meat & Potatoes was chief gun-consultant.

Enjoy!

All Vegie Smugglers worksheets are rigorously tested.

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The best way to smuggle… tomatoes

August 18, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, Red meat, The best way to smuggle..., Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged dinner, family, feeding the family, ideas, kids, mealtime, pasta, recipe, tomatoes, vegetables, veggies, vegies

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

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

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

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

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

Adam’s bolognaise sauce

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

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

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

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

Serve sauce with fettuccine topped with parmesan and herbs.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 6 KIDS

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

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How to avoid the sneering barista

August 12, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Vegetarian · Tagged breakfast, brunch, family, feeding the family, kids, oven-baked, recipe, restaurants, vegetables, veggies, vegies

Where will you be this Sunday, will you be tucked up at home, savouring your children and some home-cooked treats, or will you be valiantly going forth and trying to deny that your ‘parent’ status has impacted on your café lifestyle?

Ah the joys of brunching out with children.

It goes something like this; stressful car trip, struggle to find a parking spot. Carry offspring to avoid stroller jam. Outdoor table so that tantrums blend into the traffic noise. Wedge kids into hard edged chairs. Mr Meat & Potatoes headbutts table (first of 7 times) and wails. Look around café and see it is half packed with family scenes just like yours and half packed with childless folk, who are hating us.

An unimpressed waitress finally appears to take order just as Miss Fruitarian screams “I WANT SMOKED SALMON”. Smile apologetically – you have no idea how your child learnt how to be so pretentious. Order raisin toast.

The service is slow, so the kids have played maracas with all the sugar sachets, sucked them, busted a few and put them back in the container before the food finally arrives. Inevitably the wee arrives then too.

Drag sugar covered-sticky child to the grotty bathroom. Child assures you “don’t worry, mummy, it’s just a little bit wet”. Fish out spare undies from bag (which also stocks baby-wipes, nappy bags, spare cars, books, crayons, notepads, water bottles and sultanas). Child then decides they actually need to poo. Settle in; try not to touch surfaces. Wait. Finally done. Dress, wash hands, back to find food is cold. Other child being restrained by partner who is grimacing but assures you they’re having a great time.

Eat cold food as partner goes straight to counter to pay – you don’t have time to wait for hungover waitress to get your bill. Back to car. Strap in. Drive home only to realise you left blankie behind.

Next time, do everyone a favour and just stay home. Make these healthy hashbrowns and avoid all those (other) wretched children.

Save yourself on Sunday mornings with home-made hashbrowns.

Oven-baked hash browns

The combination of onion and parsnip is absolutely delicious in this dish. Microwaving the whole vegies first speeds up the cooking time and gives a nice creamy texture.

1 potato
1 swede
1 sweet potato
1 parsnip
1 onion, peeled, grated
1 tsp parsley or chives, finely diced
Salt & black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for cooking

Preheat oven to 200C. Line a large oven tray with baking paper.

Soften the vegies individually by cooking them whole in the microwave. Try 3 minutes on high for the potato, 2 minutes for the swede, 2 minutes for the sweet potato and 1 minute for the parsnip. Allow to cool slightly. Peel off the skins and grate the soft insides. Transfer to a mixing bowl, mix through the onion, herbs, seasoning and olive oil. Use your hands to combine well.

Form thin patties. Place on the oven tray, drizzle with oil and cook for 25 minutes, turning once during cooking.

MAKES 8

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Try, try and very trying

August 9, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, Fish, News, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged cooking techniques, dinner, family, feeding the family, ideas, kids, mealtime, parenting, pasta, tuna, vegetables, vegies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lulu’s favourite tuna pasta bake

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

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

Preheat oven to 180C.

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

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

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

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

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

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

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 4 KIDS

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

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Potato détente

August 2, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged cooking techniques, dinner, feeding the family, freezer, ideas, kids, mealtime, potatoes, recipe, vegetables, veggies, vegies

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

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

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

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

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

Vegie Mash

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

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

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

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

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

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 4 KIDS AS A SIDE DISH

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

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