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My kid’s brains have been sucked out by advertisers leaving only kid-bots

February 15, 2013 · Filed under News · Tagged family, parenting

Who says advertising to kids doesn’t work?

I’m thinking of changing my little boy’s name from Mr Meat&Potatoes to TAD. Not Ted, TAD. The. Advertiser’s. Dream.

He came to me the other day and stood slightly closer than usual which implies that he has SOMETHING IMPORTANT to tell me. I looked into his very serious eyes.

“Did you know mummy, that the happiest place on earth just got happier?”
Silence fell between us. Him looking up with wide eyes and a slight slow nod and me, perplexed, trying to place the phrasing, knowing that I’ve heard it before.
“And what place would that be, matey?”
Dramatic pause. Then a whispered reply as we leaned in so close that our heads were nearly touching.
“Disneyland.”
More slow nods.

Those who follow VS on Facebook, will have seen TAD’s drawing of the cricket, complete with the Vodaphone logo. This was funny, and after posting it on Vodaphone’s wall, it won him tickets to the test match and a signed Michael Clarke shirt.

Now I’m wondering if I can get him going on a large scale artwork with the full Disneyland map with a lovely QANTAS plane flying us there. And maybe a little Tiffany’s store down in the corner with a portrait of me, deliriously happy outside. Perhaps I could shop that around social media to the benefit of me my family.

TAD only wears labels.

Seriously though, I’m quite shocked by how much he absorbs from corporate messages that I totally tune out. Perhaps it’s because he usually watches ad-free ABC channels, so when he does see a thrilling 15-second snippet he pays attention? Perhaps in my vigilant anti-commercial stance I’ve done him a disservice and set him up to be the most gullible consumer of all time?

There’s good advice here from Raising Children about how to counteract it all.

Do you have an ad strategy? How ~~gullible~~ trusting are your children?

Comments (9) »

Is your kid a fussy eater? Here’s where to start…

February 13, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, freezer, ideas, mealtime, parenting, pasta, recipe, vegetables

Start simple. Here.

Today’s recipe is for all the parents whose toddlers get pleasure from winding their mummies and daddies up as much as possible during each meal.

Look! They think. Daddy’s face goes so red when I refuse to eat that! Look! Mummy’s head is about to explode each time I shriek! How about I drop the rest of my dinner ON THE FLOOR – won’t THAT reaction be hilarious.

Ah yes. Lovely mealtimes like that with Miss F are the reason why Vegie Smugglers exists. We had SO MANY unhappy dinners together. So much scraping of uneaten food into the bin. So often I was SO CLOSE TO LOSING IT. We were locked in an ongoing food battle.

I was determined to win the war, because I love to eat and I hated that dinnertime had become so miserable. And last Friday night when I watched a now 8-year-old Miss F crunch happily through a salad of corn/snow peas/broccolini & cos, I realised that I HAD WON.

But how did I start to turn things around? Well Miss F liked cheese, so I started there. I made her cheesy pots. And she liked bread, so I gave her salmon pikelets (at first without the green bits). I started with what she DID eat and expanded out from there.

So if your little food fascist likes tinned spaghetti, then this recipe might be your starting point. Do whatever you need to do to have some dinnertime wins and if that means sneakily replacing a junk favourite with a healthy home-made version then DO IT.

If they eat this happily then next time you could make it with wholemeal pasta. Or put in some grated carrot. Then, in a while, try little chunks of carrot instead. If they like these flavours, migrate them to a lasagna, cannelloni or a lentil pasta sauce that has more smuggling potential. As time goes by, you’ll have to do less and less to hide anything, until they happily just eat a raw carrot or snack on grape tomatoes.

Watching Miss F munch through her raw greens, I was so glad that I’ve put all the effort in. Most toddlers are fussy eaters and without intervention many will grow to be fussy tweens/teens & adults. Teaching them how to love healthy food is a gift they will carry for life.

Couldn’t help myself.

Home-made tinned spaghetti

I don’t usually stipulate organic products, but think in this simple recipe they’re essential.

2 cups pumpkin, diced
250g organic spaghetti (half a standard pack) – broken into short lengths
125g can 4-bean mix, drained, rinsed
700ml jar organic passata (find it near the pasta)
1 tsp brown sugar

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the pumpkin and cook until soft (about 7-10 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces). Use a slotted spoon to remove the pumpkin and pop it into a drainer (keep the water boiling).

Pop the spaghetti into the same boiling water and cook according to packet directions.

Put the beans, cooked pumpkin, passata and sugar into a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to the simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Use a stick blender to blitz everything up into a smooth sauce.

Drain the spaghetti then add into your tomato sauce.

Serve topped with Parmesan. For a more substantial meal, top with crumbled crispy bacon or pop in some meatballs (try this lamb meatball recipe).

MAKES ABOUT 8 TODDLER PORTIONS (freeze some for easy dinners in a flash).

This recipe appears in my new "Kitchen Collection" cookbook, with a toddler-feeding tips and family-friendly recipes.

This recipe appears in my new “Kitchen Collection” cookbook, with toddler-feeding tips and 125 family-friendly recipes.

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Need more help with fussy eaters? Try these posts…

Please help Vegie Smugglers, my child only eats…
How to get fussy kids to try new foods.
My top 10 tips to smuggle vegies into children.

Comments (14) »

Carry on holidays

February 1, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian · Tagged feeding the family, parenting, recipe, rice, vegetables

Waking up on holidays the other morning, I had my eyes still closed, but I could tell that I was surrounded by a lot of skin. I was smashed up against a deliciously broad back and I sighed contentedly. I love sun-kissed, hedonistic holidays. Then I realised that there was another hand poking through into my tummy. Oooo-errr! And another arm was around my middle and a leg pushed in between mine. Saucy!

Wriggling over in the limited space I was accosted by surprisingly bad breath and then a wee hand smacking me on the boob, bringing me back to my senses. This was no scene of wild holiday abandon. This was an early-morning wake up on our very-family-oriented getaway. And the double bed was crammed full of a snoring Mr VS and two children seeking refuge – one from the scary cockroach on the wall of our van-park cabin and the other from a tangled and smelly old quilt cover which was discarded on the floor.

Note to self. Must arrange a mid-year getaway with husband. Alone.

In the meantime, this mild Caribbean rice side-dish will keep the holiday vibe going. Just a hint of coconut and a stack of vegies. As always, everything is optional. Use whatever will work with your family. I’m including instructions for this in either a rice cooker or in a regular saucepan.

Why not garnish with an umbrella. Cute.

Caribbean ‘I’m still on holidays’ rice

2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 spring onions, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 cups long grain rice
1 litre water (boil the jug and use that to make cooking quicker)
160g coconut milk
1 cinnamon stick
Several stalks of fresh thyme (use half a bunch if you have it)
1/4 red capsicum
1 carrot, peeled, grated
1 zucchini, grated (peeled if your kids hate green)
400g can borlotti beans, rinsed, drained
125g can corn kernels

Heat your rice cooker on the saute function or heat a saucepan over medium/high heat. Add your oil and saute the spring onion and garlic for a minute, stirring frequently.

Pour in the rice and stir really well to make sure it is thoroughly coated and the edges are just starting to turn translucent. (This takes a minute or two).

Carefully tip in the coconut milk and stir. Then add the water, cinnamon and thyme. Stir well. Turn the rice cooker to the cook function and cover OR reduce the heat on the stovetop to low and cover with a tight-fitting lid (a glass lid so you can peak in, is perfect).

Once little vertical tunnels appear in the rice, it is practically cooked (about 15 minutes), so really quickly remove the lid and chuck in the vegies and beans. Stir briefly, recover, and leave for another 5 minutes or so (I actually tend to switch my cooker to ‘warm’ for this stage – the residual heat is enough to warm everything through).

Serve with salad and some meat from the BBQ – something tasty like jerk chicken is perfect (I’ll post a recipe for that next week.)

Serves 4 adults & 4 kids as a side dish.

Comments (12) »

Dig out the lunchboxes… again

January 22, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Sweets & treats · Tagged feeding the family, lunchbox, parenting, treats

How are you feeling about the upcoming return to school? I’ve enjoyed spending time with my kids and I’ve had a house full of them and their friends throughout January (I actually did a tally and I’ve had a total of 34 different kids pass through my doors!) – it’s been nice to listen to them all play and get to know the personalities of my children’s friends.

But the prospect of the return to routines and of empty lunchboxes staring at me every morning does fill me with a bit of dread. As always, I’ll turn to my Lunchbox planner, which has 40 weeks of plans which takes some of the thinking out of it! I keep everything pretty simple, but throw in a weekly recipe and use lots of seasonal fruit and veg to keep things interesting. You can buy a copy of the e-book here.

There’s been a bunch of great posts around lately full of back to school ideas and advice. I liked this post from Natural New Age Mum with biscuit ideas – they all look great! At the moment I’m working on a new quick-bake e-book and here’s a little preview. It’s another biscuit suggestion that pops a bit of fibre into the lunchbox and gives them some energy for the afternoon session.

Best wishes to all of those sending off your kids for the first time. I did that last year, and it was extremely bittersweet. This year is much more relaxed, there are no nerves, just excitement about which class we’ll be in with which friends. What a difference 12 months makes!

Biscuits. They make me happy.

Oat, sultana and sesame biscuits

½ cup self-raising flour
1½ cups oats
¼ cup Allbran cereal
3 tbsp sesame seeds (optional, but recommended)
¼ tsp cinnamon
Pinch salt
½ cup sultanas or currants
60g butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line two oven trays with baking paper.

Sift the flour into a medium sized bowl. Mix in the oats, bran, seeds, cinnamon, salt and sultanas.

In a separate, larger bowl, use hand-held beaters to combine the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg and mix well.

Use a spoon to fold in the dry ingredients. Pop on kitchen gloves to avoid mess and roll out ping-pong sized balls of mixture. Place on the trays and bake for 12-15 minutes until just brown.

MAKES ABOUT 24.

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The toys look as tired as I feel

January 7, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian · Tagged parenting, pasta, recipe, vegetables, vegetarian

Looking around at the constant mess that is my house during the school holidays, I keep seeing signs that the toys are feeling my pain. I suspect that ‘Toy Story’ is real after all.

Frazzled (with my body on backwards).

Askew (and just slightly stabby).

Confused (don’t know up from down).

Queasy (although the holiday hangover is passing).

In need of a good lay down (when does school go back?).

Funny how I was looking forward to these school holidays so much. Now after almost three weeks of it, I can’t actually discern any difference between the school and non-school parts of the year in terms of my workload. Actually during the holidays I have more interruptions and there isn’t a half hour where the house stays in order.

So the exhaustion levels are the same but the tasks have changed. Instead of packing lunchboxes and endlessly turning socks inside out and matching them, I’m now constantly washing the sand out of beach towels and applying sunscreen (my most hated job, but I can’t trust them to do a good job on their own).

The calendar tells me that the New Year is underway and many people’s holidays are over. Once more I’m reminded that mums don’t ever really get a holiday, do we? Yesterday, I did sneak an hour and a half on the deck with my kindle and a gin & tonic. I guess that’ll have to do.

Am I the only one feeling a little ripped off? What are your best ways to find some relaxation amongst the holiday chaos? Let me know QUICK! The kids don’t have to get off the PS3 for another 45 minutes – that’s my downtime slot for today!

In return, I’m offering you an easy dinner to ease your workload. It’ll use up all that basil which is probably going to seed in this heat. It’s from the Complete Lunchboxes Planner e-book.

Easy to make and yum either warm for dinner or cold on picnics.

Pesto Pasta Salad

1 large clove garlic
¼ cup pine nuts
1 bunch basil leaves
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup grated parmesan (please don’t use the powdered stuff)
250g pasta spirals
½ punnet cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

In a food processor (mini one is best), blitz together the garlic and pine nuts. Add the basil and blitz well. Combine in the oil (a little at a time). Stir in the cheese. Set aside (all day if you like).

Cook the pasta according to packet directions. Scoop out 1⁄2 cup of the water and set aside, then drain pasta and return to saucepan. Pour over pesto and mix through. Use more oil or reserved cooking water if too dry. Stir through the tomatoes.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS.

Comments (7) »

Hostess with the most-ess

December 19, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Sweets & treats · Tagged celebrations, Christmas, family, ideas, parenting, recipe

Hello 1970, it’s great to see you.

I am the proud new owner of a punch bowl. I’ve never felt the urge to have one before, but something overcame me this year and I couldn’t rest without one.

Since moving to the suburbs, we entertain much more and have greater numbers of people around at once. Primarily the adults are drinking alcoholic stuff, but it is nice to have something else on offer, particularly for the kids, who are all old enough now to be pestering for fizzy drinks.

Like everything else, my policy on soft drink is that ‘everything is ok in moderation’. But at this time of year, with fun parties nearly every night, I’m looking for a bit of an alternative.

So I’m compromising with punch. There’s still sugar and fizz, but it’s slightly diluted and packed full of fruit. Use Christmas cookie cutters to make cute shapes from watermelon and rock melon and you’ve got something pretty appealing. Serve it in small plastic cups and the kids will tend to drink much less than a standard size softdrink can.

This is my current recipe, but I’m sure it will change. My mum favors tea-based recipes, but I like the colour of the cranberry. What about you? Have you got a favourite version? I’m keen to try a few out.

I won't tell if the adults decide to pop a bit of vodka in.

Shhhhhhh. Adults might like to pop a shot of vodka in their glass too.

Cranberry punch

2 parts cranberry juice
1 part ginger beer
1 part lemonade
1 part mineral water
Heaps of berries, rock melon, watermelon & mint (although kids tend to stress about green leaves in their drinks).
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And with that, I’m off for a bit of a blogging break. Thanks so much for supporting my business and blog throughout 2012. It’s been another great year and I wish you and your family all the best for Christmas and the New Year.

Comments (6) »

What my children and twitter have in common

December 13, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Sweets & treats · Tagged celebrations, Christmas, family, ideas, lunchbox, parenting

I’ve been trying to teach my kids the finer art of conversation.

Talking isn’t a problem for them but actually having a two-way discussion around a topic is. Most of the time, they are like a twitter feed brought to life. Short-sentence comments unrelated to anything else (eg. “my brain is itchy”). Often they don’t make any sense at all (eg. “you blew big underpants”). Private jokes and brains farts that I have neither the understanding nor patience to reply to.

Despite my public urgings for families to eat together (it’s great for kids to see adults eating healthily and provides a positive and happy opportunity for family bonding), during the week the VS household rarely manages it. We make sure we have both breakfast and dinner together on the weekends, but I suspect more regular family dinners would improve the quality of their chatter quite a lot.

Like many families, we have little choice – Mr VS is off working long hours at Temple & Webster, providing Turkish towels and cushions for the needy, so the kids and I are left to our own devices. Half the time I let them eat alone (sometimes even with the TV on), the rest of the time I eat with them and that’s when I drill them on the finer points of using cutlery and how to have a good and rewarding discussion.

It seems to be working, gradually. Last night Mr VS did make it home and as he sat down, Mr M&P piped up with “and how was your day, daddy?” It was cute.

Apparently the other kids in infant’s school are unbothered by the Tourette’s-style conversation from my children. Somehow they have made a bunch of friends and we’ve reached that time of year where they all start loading each other up with Christmas cards and candy canes. Poor teachers.

Perhaps unluckily for my kids, I still had half a batch of gingerbread dough in the freezer. So I made the biscuits (little tiny ones) and then they spent an hour decorating them. We handed them out yesterday and they were a big hit. Of course, they’re no good if your friends have allergies, but luckily we’ve only got one BFF affected and we’ve bought her a little notepad instead.

It was raining, so I had a Martha Stewart moment.

They were concentrating so hard they even stayed quiet for a bit.

Just add a sprinkle of icing sugar and they’re good gifts for adults too.

Joseph and Mary join the party

December 10, 2012 · Filed under Craft for non-crafty parents · Tagged craft, family, parenting

Last Christmas, I took a break from Santa craft and produced a lovely little loo-roll baby Jesus.

Away in a (paper) manger…

This year I’m adding to the scene, with Mary and Joseph joining in, along with their trusty donkey transport.

Add to your scene with Mary and Joseph!

Download the PDF here to create your own loo-roll nativity scene. Weird? Maybe a bit. I’ve admitted before that I’m not religious, so perhaps this project isn’t as reverential as some of you might wish for, but I do like to remind my kids that Christmas is about more than Santa, and this is a nice, fun way to do that.

Do you like this project? Then you might like to check out my Craft for non-crafty Parents e-book. There’s a bunch of quick and easy (and often silly) little projects that will keep the kids busy over the Christmas holiday.

Comments (3) »

No, really, my daughter is MUCH better than yours…

December 4, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News · Tagged celebrations, feeding the family, parenting, recipe, vegetables

I’ll take the parenting win (I’ve had enough fails along the way).

Excessive bragging in parents is ugly, isn’t it? Managing parental pride so that you don’t become socially obnoxious can be tricky. I try to be self-effacing about my kids, which happens to be fairly easy since they’re pretty regular kids, with pretty regular talents. Both of them can swim without drowning (just) and both of them look acceptably cute when dressed well (which isn’t often). They find school pretty easy but I’ve never had the urge to get them tested by MENSA. They’ve neither too many nor too few friends and they seem to be generally taking life in their strides.

Despite their normal-ness, there have still been many awards in their lives. These days they’re unavoidable. Miss F received a medal at the end of netball season despite the team’s 12-match losing streak. Both have come home with myriad assembly awards for nondescript achievements such as ‘very good comprehension’ and ‘excellent class participation’. And Miss F did get a ballet trophy for turning up to 10 classes in a row.

So both my kids have been feted and awarded, and I have pondered in the past about whether all these awards are actually rendering achievement a little meaningless.

Our new school, however, still takes the end of year awards much more seriously and there’s none of this everyone-gets-a-prize mentality. There are four awards per class and this morning Miss F was the proud recipient of one. Not just any, but the ‘academic achievement’ award. Which I’m proud to brag about. She didn’t know beforehand and the surprise and delight and PRIDE on her face were so beautiful that I got all teary in quite an embarrassing way. It turns out, that some awards ARE a bit special, after all.

At school pickup Mr M&P had a sob because there was no award for him. We had a chat about how awesome it is to be proud of those we love, about the importance of being pleased for others. Miss F helped talk him down off his emotional cliff by pointing out that she’s made it to Year 2 without an award and he’s got a lot of opportunities in his future. I think the award caused them both to learn a bit about the complexities of winning, losing and life in general.

And now Mr M&P is really keen to apply himself and see what he can achieve next year. He’s fairly tenacious, so he might just be able to do it. Besides, he won’t have to push hard to reach his sister’s dizzying heights. Apparently after the presentation ceremony, Miss F trotted up to her teacher to ask what ‘academic’ meant. Which puts it all back into perspective nicely.

End of bragging for me. But what about you, what have your kids achieved this year? I won’t think you’re showing off.
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Possibly Miss F’s favourite meals have made her the mental powerhouse that she is today. Perhaps your kids might like them too…

Tuna pasta bake

Mini Frittatas

Nachos. Her latest favourite.

Comments (4) »

Just because

November 27, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Fish, Vegetarian · Tagged Christmas, parenting, pasta, recipe, tuna, vegetables

Miss F and Mr M&P were outside on the weekend, setting the ground rules for an imaginative play game. Being a Virgo, Miss F likes to have the back-story fully told, with characters thoroughly fleshed out before the playing begins. Usually she will transform herself and her brother into animals, so the species, colour, familial relationships, full names, colour preferences and purpose of journey/adventure will all be established before she get into character (and the dirt) ready to play.

Mr M&P is a less complicated fellow but happily goes along with it all. He was nodding away, agreeing to all the details and finally added his own, “and all their last names will be ‘Doodle’”. Smirk smirk snigger.
“Why?” demanded Miss F, more than a bit annoyed by his flippancy.
“Just because” said Mr M&P with such a sense of finality that I was impressed.

I loved evesdropping on perfect a moment of childhood. Just because. There is no reason. Just because doodle is a funny word and it makes him (and me) laugh.

I realised that I don’t do much ‘just because’. There doesn’t seem to be much room for ‘just because’ when you’re an adult. Everything seems to need a reason, a justification for why I’m spending energy on it. Things can be fun, but they are usually with purpose.

Perhaps this is why I love summer so much. There’s a whole lot more opportunity for ‘just because’. Sure you have a swim for the valid reason that you need to cool down, but while you’re under water it’s nice to have a glide about and pretend you’re a mermaid (if only for a few seconds). Just because it’s good for your soul to have a bit of silly fun from time to time. And I’m thinking that the pursuit of ‘just because’ might be one of my new goals for 2013.

Before that though, we’ve got the Christmas season to get through. The barrage of upcoming events is likely to cause havoc to your usual routines, which is why I’m proposing a pasta salad this week. Make a batch of it and you’ll have instant dinners and lunches ready to go whenever you need them. Should give you more ‘just because’ time.

Basic balsamic salad dressing
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
¼ cup lemon juice
¾ cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced

Combine all of these ingredients and mix well. Keeps for a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Ready, delicious and waiting (in the fridge)

Tuna pasta salad

500g pasta (I like orecchiette)
½ quantity basic balsamic dressing (if you like really glossy salads, you may want to use more)
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
5 spring onions, finely sliced
400g can tuna in spring water (drained) – Omit this ingredient for a vegetarian salad!
1 large carrot, peeled, grated
½ red capsicum, finely diced
400g can corn kernels, drained
Olives
Basil
Pepper

(other yum ingredients include fennel, cannelini beans, red onion, artichoke hearts, green beans and banana chillis)

Cook the pasta according to packet directions. Drain quickly and return to the hot pan. Pour over the salad dressing and toss through the tomatoes and spring onions (the residual heat of the pasta cooks them slightly).

Mix through the rest of the ingredients. Season well with pepper. Serve warm or pop straight into the fridge and enjoy later on, cold.

Serves a family of four for dinner, then enough for lunches the next day too.

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