parenting | Vegie Smugglers

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Holiday hell-fryer (the curse of the dismal ‘kids menu’)

April 28, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, News · Tagged Fast food, feeding the family, parenting, recipe, vegetables

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm......

Here’s my post-holiday question to you all – why is it that kid’s restaurant menus are so universally crap?

The picture above beautifully illustrates the joys of it all. Doesn’t it look delicious! See how the fish & chips, calamari & chips and nuggets & chips are all so seductively similar. Just the shapes vary – the nuggets were even cleverly shaped like dinosaurs!

It may be the cheapest and most cheerful option for restaurants, but don’t you reckon that we should be trying just a little bit harder to feed the kids something that’s not golden? Don’t get me wrong, my kids can scoff a nugget as heartily as any child, but if you’re road-tripping about for several days then even the tin lids quickly reach their fried food limit.

I know I can get a side plate and give them a makeshift meal from the adult plates, but what I’d really love is the option of a small portion of something healthy that isn’t full of chemicals and soaked in fat.

I think food outlets Australia-wide should take note of these mince kebabs – they are cheap, inoffensive (no outlandish vegies on show), can be kept long term in the freezer, can be eaten without utensils and still offer kids some nutrition. I’m sure I’m not the only parent out there who thinks it’s not unreasonable for a kid’s menu to provide an option that requires the chef to do something more than tip the contents of a freezer into a deep fryer.

How about something like this?

Mince kebabs

If your kids are likely to use the sticks as weapons, just shape into rissoles or meatballs instead. Vary cooking times to suit.

1/3 cup cous cous
1/3 cup boiling water
1 brown onion, diced
1 bunch English spinach, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 kg beef mince
Salt & pepper
2 eggs, lightly whisked

2 tbsp olive oil, for frying

Preheat oven to 180º. Soak 12 bamboo skewers in cold water for 15 minutes. Line an oven tray with baking paper.

In a bowl or jug, combine the cous cous and water, stir and cover with plastic wrap. Leave for 5 minutes then fluff with a fork.

Combine the rest of the meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Use your hands to combine the mixture, then roll golf-ball sized portions into sausages and slide them firmly onto a skewer. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and fry in the kebabs on all sides (4-5 minutes total), then transfer to a baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes until cooked through.

Makes enough for 2 adults and 4 kids. Serve with the tomato relish pictured. Find the recipe in the Vegie Smugglers cookbook.

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Cakes, jams, woodchopping, cats and carnies

April 19, 2011 · Filed under News · Tagged family, kids, parenting

After years spent working on Australian magazines, I know that Rule One is to avoid offending non-Sydney-based readers by referencing Sydney.

Everyone outside of Sydney, hates Sydney. And with good reason, Sydney-siders are greedy, selfish, real-estate obsessed snobs. It is a city of wankers, a superficial place with little other than the harbour to recommend it. Although I must say that often you’ll find the driver who just cut you off and flicked the bird could easily morph into the delightful person who chats away with you in the Post Office queue. I suppose when forced together like this, perfectly lovely people survive with hackles up and their rude faces on.

Unfortunately I was born here and all of my family are here – which inhibits my natural desire to flee the congested, aggressive, unaffordable streets for some lovely smaller town where I might be able to raise my children with a yard devoid of overhanging balconies and police visiting to check how the neighbourhood dealer is faring.

So whilst I seem stuck here with a massive mortgage and medium density housing, I do like to try and soften the blow by enjoying the benefits of my home town when they occur. And really, they come no better than the Sydney Easter Show, which is bigger than Ben Hur and where the Vegie Smuggling family found ourselves on the weekend.

For those of you interstaters who’ve never been, stick with me, I’ll give you a guided tour…

Start slowly with a ferris wheel ride to see the scene and plan your route.

First stop- of course- the crochet (think I might enter next year...)

...a few doilies...

...and knitted clowns and carnies...

...prizewinning preserves (check out he passionfruit curd...

...lamingtons (plus sponges and insipid marble cakes)...

...our favourite stop - the regional districts fruit displays

...then pacify the kids with a few rides...

...oohhh and aaah over the cake display...

...including truly astonishing and gorgeous wedding cakes...

...and a novelty cake version of 'The last supper'...

...and one of suckling pigs...

...eat hot chips and fairy floss for lunch...

...then watch fast motorbikes doing cool boy stuff...

...and a bloke in a hat with a guitar in a ute singing about rodeos...

...and cats being judged on appearance (how Sydney).

Be freaked out by one of those scary, fluffy chickens...

...and the under 21s woodchop final (blades + feet = nervewracking).

A few more rides (we did more exciting one too)...

And a quick $80 on showbags that will be eaten or broken by tomorrow.

And there you have it. $300 spent wisely to get jostled by crowds, sore feet, a tummy upset and a few broken bits of plastic… aaaahhhh Sydney, how I love you.

We’ll be back next year.

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Crowd pleasers – feeding 4, 14 or 40

April 15, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, News · Tagged brunch, feeding the family, mealtime, parenting, recipe, vegetables, vegetarian

School holidays and my home is abuzz with a variety of children coming and going. After 18 months at school, we are now firmly entrenched in the local community and I’m having kids (with siblings) dropped off for a few hours, then all picked up and taken elsewhere – without tears or clinginess, just excitement and adventure.

It’s a nice contrast to those early baby days, where I was home, alone for 12 hours at a time, barely even knowing neighbours, with a whole long depressing day stretching out ahead of me. Now it’s all action and I love it. A little magic mirror to this time would have made those endless first days of motherhood much easier.

These days my biggest parenting stress is figuring out how many kids I’m going to be feeding each night, which is why I’m sticking to a range of flexible recipes that easily stretch out to serve everyone.

Sneak vegies into heaps of kiddies with ease!

Corn & chickpea fritters

If your kids are chickpea-phobic, blitz them up in a hand-held food processor before adding to the mix.

²/³ cup self-raising flour
1 egg
²/³ cup milk
315g can corn kernels, drained
1 medium carrot, peeled, grated
400g can chickpeas, rinsed, and drained
4 spring onions, finely chopped
Handful of basil and parsley leaves, finely chopped (optional, but recommended)
Black pepper
Canola oil, for frying
Salad and lemon wedges, to serve

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Slowly add the combined egg and milk, whisking as you go to avoid lumps.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the batter and mix until evenly combined.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the canola oil and ensure it is nice and hot before adding ¼ cup amounts of batter to the pan.

Cook for 3 minutes then flip over and cook on the other side for a further 3-4 minutes until nice and golden. Repeat with remaining batter. Drain on kitchen paper.

Serve warm with salad and lemon wedges.

MAKES 10

By the way, do you MAMABAKE?
If you love to make big batches of food for the freezer, don’t forget to track down your local Mamabake group, where you can team up with local parents and have lovely big social cook-offs. Feed everyone AND join in with your local community. Perfect!

You also might like to try these flexible recipes…

Cook the meatballs ahead then stretch the meal with extra pasta

It’s easy to double or triple quantities of these Vegie Dots

Comments (3) »

Ahoy me hearties!

March 31, 2011 · Filed under Craft for non-crafty parents · Tagged craft, ideas, kids, parenting

toilet paper roll craft pirate and wench

Don't ask why, just accept what is.

Regular readers will know that I need little encouragement to indulge my love of craft with toilet paper rolls. There’s been Gary & Ivana, The Christmas Fairy and Scary Snake, all within a few months. And all it took was ONE comment from Laura requesting MORE and voila, here you have Swashbuckling Steve & Wench Wendy.

Steve is your regular sort of pirate guy, a lover of the high seas, wild adventure and wilder women. Wendy is your typical sort of a wench and offers Steve the regular wenchly things (I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination).

Click to start your high-seas adventure.

As you construct these (with or without your kiddies), don’t forget to soundtrack your life. There’s an eclectic list of pirate song suggestions here. Don’t forget the more traditional song lyrics and I DARE you to not play this and have a bit of a smile and a jig! But for me, the best pirate song is Dreadzone’s dub-meets-sea shantie, Captain Dread.

While you’re at it, don’t forget Talk Like a Pirate Day. You can visit their official website here, which has a handy countdown underway (172 days, 04:08:32 when I looked). And isn’t the internet a fantastic place. Where else could Rob Ossian’s Pirate Cove exist? It covers all things pirate, including a ‘complete list of every pirate movie ever made’.

_______________________

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. Email me (vegiesmugglers@gmail.com) if you’re interested in grabbing a copy (I no longer run an online store, but I still do private sales!).

128 pages, 40 projects, 85 pages of printables…

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End of term fatigue (and the rot sets in)

March 29, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Fish, News · Tagged feeding the family, parenting, recipe, rice, tuna, vegetables

As we saw in NSW over the weekend, all good things must end. And before they end, they will usually become corrupt, festering things, self-interested and spoilt. And so endeth the first school term of Miss Fruitarian. Without checking the calendar, I knew when week 8 had dawned.

The mornings have been getting progressively tougher. Teeth brushing is taking a good 15 minutes, even with me keeping a watchful eye over proceedings. Uniforms are being put on back-to-front, school hats left in the car and the reading folder is never ready for return on time.

The exhaustion comes like a wave and finally crashes down to shore. Today, Miss F has collapsed and is in need of a day at home. Luckily, being a WAHM, I can accommodate it. In the olden days it would have been tears all around as I forced her into a uniform and off to early morning care. These days, it’s just tears on my part as I try to get work done around a complaining patient who has perked up considerably since I announced she didn’t have to go to school.

Dinner tonight needs to be something comforting yet healthy, that I can make whilst being constantly interrupted. This baked rice dish fits the bill – and it uses up the last of the eggplant and basil from the garden.

A more-ish, pick-me-up dinner for tired kiddlies

Baked tuna & tomato rice

Butter, for greasing
4 cups chicken stock
1½ cups arborio rice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 finger eggplant, very finely diced
1 medium zucchini, grated
500ml passata (bottled tomato puree found in the supermarket near the Italian pasta sauces)
½ cup boiling water
150g cheddar cheese, grated
125g can corn kernels, drained
185g can tuna in oil, drained
Handful of basil leaves, torn
Black pepper

Parsley sprigs, to serve

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a lasagne or casserole dish.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the stock to the boil, then add the rice and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times until par-boiled. Drain.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and eggplant and cook for 3 minutes, stirring regularly to avoid sticking.

Add the drained rice and zucchini and cook for a minute or so, stirring. Add the passata and water. Stir until well combined. Add the cheese, corn, tuna and basil and mix thoroughly. Season to taste and remove from heat.

Spoon into lasagne dish and bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes until the top is golden. Top with parsley sprigs and serve with green salad.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 3 KIDS

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You look like a monkey (or Rembrandt)…

March 25, 2011 · Filed under Craft for non-crafty parents · Tagged craft, ideas, parenting

Next step, the Archibald Prize!

In the footsteps of Dutch painter Rembrandt, we’re heading for the world of High Art (note capital H & A) this week.

Sit the (clothed) kiddies down in front of a mirror and get them to draw what they see, and create their first self-portrait. I’ve made it super easy with my Self-Portrait template, which already has the skull drawn and guides for where the eyes and mouth might go. Kids can add all the fun bits – eyes, hair, mouths and tongues. If you’re having an uber-parent day, you can go crazy with glue and wool for hair (or spiral pasta for curly-haired offspring).

Or leave the kids to it, sneak off for a sit-down, and see what they can come up to all by themselves…

Because wrapping stuff in pastry makes it yum

March 15, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Red meat, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged cooking techniques, dinner, feeding the family, kids, parenting, pastry, recipe, vegetables

vegie smugglers beef triangles with vegetables and puff pastry

Yum.

There are several universal truths when it comes to raising Australian children.

1. Getting them into and out of cars is going to be a painful and long-winded exercise. Shoes will be missing; toys lost and drink bottles astonishingly empty (and car seats wet).

2. The more disgusting the public toilet that you find yourself in, the longer your contented child will wish to languish (“the poo is almost here mummy”). And the bigger the incident, the fewer tissues you will have handy.

3. If they are to be struck down with a sudden and violent episode of projectile vomiting, it will be between 3-6am, usually just before you are due to do some incredibly crucial work thing.

On a brighter note, it is also true that things covered in pastry are yummier and much more likely to be eaten by your delightful youngsters.

Which is why the Vegie Smugglers cookbook features quite a few recipes making the most of the adored, yet not exactly healthy stuff. Being a mum, not a dietitian, I have the advantage of not freaking out at the idea of utilising some less healthy ingredients for the greater nutritional good.

Puff pastry though, is very high in fat – even the 25% reduced fat stuff. Use it occasionally and make sure that you make the most of it by cramming in all sorts of good ingredients – like my sausage rolls, which are full of mushrooms and lentils. (In the book I’ve got salmon pots full of broccoli and a fruit treat jammed full of apples, pear and prunes – which may help speed up your public toilet visits considerably).

Today’s recipe is a glorious Indian-inspired dish. Just a hint of spice gets the kid’s palettes keen for more exotic flavour and opens the door to a whole new cuisine (unless you’re Indian, in which case you might prefer a bolognaise or lasagne for a bit of cross cultural goodness). This mince filling is also good on baked potatoes and freezes perfectly for a couple of months.

Beef triangles

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
500g beef mince
1 tsp curry powder
1 carrot, peeled, grated
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
½ red or yellow capsicum, deseeded, finely diced
½ cup beef stock
1 tbsp soy sauce
Black pepper
5 sheets frozen puff pastry
1 egg, whisked, for glazing

Fruit chutney, to serve

Preheat oven to 190C.
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until onion is soft. Add mince and brown, breaking up lumps as you go. Add curry powder and all the vegies and mix well.

Add the stock and soy sauce and simmer vigorously over medium-high heat until most of the liquid is evaporated and the vegies are soft. Season with pepper.

Cut each pastry sheet into four squares. Place 2 tbsp of mixture in the centre of each square. Fold diagonally to create triangles, pressing firmly on the edges to seal well.

Brush with egg and bake on oven trays lined with baking paper for 10-15 minutes until golden. Serve beef triangles with chutney.

MAKES 20

Fuss-free kids parties and macho fairy bread

March 7, 2011 · Filed under Food experiences, Sweets & treats · Tagged celebrations, ideas, parenting

Mr Meat & Potatoes has turned 4.

The festival of him was at the end of a long week and celebrations needed to be simple.

Luckily 4 year old boys are awesome party guests, since they think everything is AWESOME. ‘Cooooooooooolllllll, buzz lightyear’. ‘wwwoooooooooowwwwwwwww smarties’. ‘aaaawwwwwwwhhhhhhh, cake’. Generally they just jump around talking gibberish to each other and playing ‘Ben 10’ (slapping your wrist, making noises and charging off to fight aliens).

I kept the food simple. A massive fruit platter, sausage rolls, cheezels (essential), a bowl of smarties, and a machismo fairy bread. Being that I couldn’t be bothered making chocolate crackles, I just added nutella to the fairy bread, renamed it ‘mud bread’ and the boys were happy.

Strictly adhering to my one-colour cake policy

Rarely do I bother making a cake from scratch for kids parties. Why would I? Nope, a packet cake was the main attraction, with my foolproof, one-icing, one-colour decorating policy. This year (as you can see) it was red, with the fudge-icing-pen drawn web and a spiderman candle. Done in 15 minutes. AWESOME. Last year it was black, which was drab until we popped Lightening McQueen on top and then we had an AWESOME edible tyre.

For the girls, make it a pretty pastel green, sprinkle over flower shaped sprinkles and pop some cute plastic kittens on top. Done. Fancy cakes are well and good for the first couple of birthdays, but geez they come around often and while we all own a copy of The Women’s Weekly Kid’s Birthday Cakes cookbook, I’ve yet to find one you can knock off in less than 2 hours.

Just add Blu-tack...

And games? Well, of course we had pass the parcel. Gotta have that. And I was keen for pin the tail on the donkey, but not organised enough to buy one. But I did have some AWESOME oversized life-like bugs. A bit of Blu-tack, a pen and A3 piece of paper and we had instant pin-the-bug-on-the-boy. And then the AWESOME little dudes got to take bugs home to terrorise their parents with.

...for instant 'pin the bug on the boy' fun

Awesome time, everyone, thanks for coming. Happy Birthday to my little man.

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A ‘one-of-those-weeks’ survival guide

March 2, 2011 · Filed under All recipes · Tagged feeding the family, parenting, recipe, vegetables

It turns out that this week is ‘one of those weeks’.

You’re probably pretty familiar with them yourself. All of the regular commitments dot the calendar with the addition of quite a few extra curricular thingys too. And then to get really razzed up, I’ll throw in a school hours classroom visit, extra graphic design jobs, a burglar alarm that mysterious and randomly is going off throughout the night, a child’s birthday and all of the ensuing extravaganza (two parties + one in-laws-for-the-weekend visit) and a car that is mysteriously ‘clunking’ every time I turn left. Did I mention that I’m having root canal this morning? Yep, 10.30.

Still, I had it all vaguely under control and scheduled. My mind was spinning but mostly clear when I kissed the top of Miss F’s head after school on Monday. But then I looked down and saw the hellish sight that triggers fear in the hearts of even the bravest parent….. a nit.

Schedules toppled as my mum-brain went into overtime trying to find the extra time and access to water needed to smoothly slot nit treatments into the mix before bell time the next day.

We work hard, don’t we, us life administrators.

Food is so totally NOT high on the priority list this week. The main requirement for this week’s dinners is anything easy and quick. With no time to devise something new, lets find the quickest of quick vegie smugglers fixes…

10 minutes mixing, 25 mins cooking (just enough to bathe everyone)

15 minutes prep. 30 minutes cooking (while you help with homework)

Grill capsicum & boil water while you do washing; then ready in 10.

Hope your week is going better than mine. Will report back once things calm down.

Hippie food for hi-tech kids

February 24, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Vegetarian · Tagged cooking techniques, feeding the family, parenting, recipe, vegetables, vegetarian

It’s time to brush off the cookbooks from the 70s and revisit the health food section of the supermarket. Don’t be scared, everything is going to be OK.

Remember that kids have no inborn aversion to cliched hippie food like lentils and tofu. They will take their cues from YOU, so challenge your own food aversions and experiment a little. You might even find, that ‘health food’ meals like these lentil burgers are actually delicious and quickly become family favourites. They’re nutritious, quick and easy to make and individual patties can be frozen (find full freezing and defrosting instructions in the book).

Lentils made delicious.

Lentil burgers

400g can brown lentils, rinsed, drained
1 cup mashed sweet potato (or plain potato)
1 carrot, peeled, grated
3 spring onions,
finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
Grated rind from
1 lemon
1 egg, lightly whisked
2 tbsp tomato chutney
½ cup fresh breadcrumbs
Salt & black pepper

Canola oil cooking spray

Avocado and tomato slices, lettuce, burger buns and plain yoghurt, to serve

Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to really combine everything well. Form patties (whatever size suits your family) and place on baking paper on a plate. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10-20 minutes.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Spray pan with cooking spray. Cook the patties for 5-6 minutes on each side.

Serve with avocado, tomato, lettuce and a dollop of yoghurt on a burger bun. These are also delicious in wraps dolloped with tzatziki.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS

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