parenting | Vegie Smugglers

Posts tagged parenting

Don’t forget the daggy ingredients

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

Do you own some?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Easy to make and delicious for everyone.

Mild (& creamy) chicken curry

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

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

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

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

Serve with rice and papadums.

Serves 2 adults & 2 kids.

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

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Apparently, life is all about ‘gratitude’

February 12, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News, Sweets & treats · Tagged family, fruit, ideas, parenting, recipe, treats

Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight...

Gratitude seems to be the latest Facebook catch cry. I’m seeing it everywhere. How to cultivate it, how to acknowledge it, how to savour it and turn your gratitude into an endless patience and love.

As it turns out, I can’t be cynical about any of this, since I totally agree. I am always SO grateful and SO appreciate of my blessings that I’m always waiting somehow for them to come tumbling down. As I guess they will one day, although I hope I’ll be so busy being grateful for the minutiae that I won’t notice the wider catastrophes befalling me.

A couple of years back, when I was unhappy in my job and trying to find the courage to publish a silly little book about sneaking vegetables into children, I did what many women do and looked everywhere for omens and signs that I was choosing the right path rather than foolishly tossing away a well paid part-time job. I remember doing a psych test online, to determine my suitability to life as an entrepreneur. It told me that I wasn’t suited at all, because my strongest trait was ‘gratitude’, which I guess means I’m good at touchy-feely stuff, but not good at being a self-determined, small-business fascist. And perhaps they were right. I still struggle with being too self-effacing and embarrassed when it comes to pushing my business ‘out there’. But I refuse to submit to the theory that gratitude and success aren’t compatible.

It’s the simplest thing that has had my mind focusing back on gratitude (and joy) – the star stamp from the picture up top. As a girl I would do the whole ‘star light, star bright’ rhyme and WISH for a set of teachers stamps. I wished this wish OFTEN, hoping somehow Santa would hear and sort me out. But he never did. So this year when I was buying the kid’s school supplies I saw this stamp and bought it. And I can’t tell you how ridiculously HAPPY it makes me EVERY time.

With typical adult rationality I had to come up with a purpose for the purchase. Now instead of writing ‘PAID’ on the top of my bills, I stamp them. Oh, the joy of a paid electricity bill! And boy! What a time saver ;).

So what’s your joy? Where’s your gratitude? I’d love to know. It can be amazing how the simple things in life truly are often the best.

There's no simpler joy than a perfect pikelet.

Fruit Pikelets

1 cup self-raising flour
1 tbsp caster sugar
150ml milk (soy drink works well)
1 egg, lightly whisked
¼ cup sultanas
¼ cup shredded coconut
¼ cup dried apple, finely diced
Margarine, butter or canola oil cooking spray, to grease
Icing sugar and jam,
to serve

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar.

Combine the milk and egg and pour into the dry ingredients, whisking to remove any lumps.

You should now have a nice smooth batter. Add more milk if it is too thick. Stir through the sultanas, coconut and apple.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over low heat. Grease with either margarine, butter or canola oil spray. Add tablespoonful dollops to the pan. Cook until bubbles start to appear, ease a spatula under then flip. Cook on the other side for a minute or so until golden brown.

Serve the pikelets with a dusting of icing sugar and jam, on their own, or with butter and jam.

MAKES 24

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Money doesn’t grow on trees (but you can find it in my books)

February 10, 2012 · Filed under Craft for non-crafty parents, News · Tagged craft, fundraising, parenting, vegetables

Last year Vegie Smugglers helped stacks of daycare centres and causes around Australia raise money. It’s simple. You sell the cookbooks and keep a cut of the sale price. You can take pre-orders and keep $10 of each book, or this year, I’m also offering pre-packed boxes of 20 books (any combo of VS1&2) and you can keep $12/book. How easy is that! Just have them sitting in your daycare centre or school canteen and sell throughout the year. Or get a box for your trivia night, cake table, anything that takes your fancy. Full details of the programs are on this easy-to-digest 1 page flyer.

If you think your daycare centre would be interested in the program but you baulk at saying the word ‘fundraising’ aloud (lest you are suddenly thrust the title of ‘fundraising committee’) I’m happy to contact the centre for you. I won’t even use your name (unless you want me to). I just need the centre name, the director’s name and a valid email address. As a thanks I’ll send you a free lunchbox planner (if you’ve already got terms 1, 3 & 4, I’ll put you down for a preorder on Term 2).

Of course, if you want to download the form and email it through to your centre on MY behalf, I’d be eternally grateful.

To help the healthy eating & living theme along I supply a stack of fun activity sheets that can be used in class or at home. To get a taster, here’s a couple of freebies…

vegie smugglers healthy eating worksheet

This fun worksheet will help them recognise their fruit & veg.

There’s a shopping list with pictures of fruit and vegies that your kiddie can colour, practice numbers on or stuff up their nose! And there’s also this colouring in sheet of how vegetables grow. All good info for your little ones (with a few cute critters thrown in).

On your marks, get set, GO!

And to give my 2012 fundraising launch a bit of a POW, I’m running a colouring in competition! Download the activity sheet and email me with your masterpiece and be in the running to win one of 2x $10 Bakers Delight vouchers. Easy.

So get to it! All referrals and colouring entries should be emailed to me (Wendy) at vegiesmugglers@gmail.com.

Huge thanks.
x

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The parenting F word – frustration

February 5, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian · Tagged dinner, family, parenting, pasta, recipe, vegetables, vegetarian

The new VSHQ. A spot for everyone, even the papertoy monsters.

Recently I spent two days up a ladder turning my spare little gimp room into a family office. I lovingly tended every square centimetre with 3 coats of white paint to turn the dark dump into a THING OF BEAUTY that the whole family could share. Each of us had a spot. A desk. A pencil holder. One of those cool, Smiggle 6-colour pens. We all belonged.

The result was so gorgeous that I was quite in love with myself. I wanted to just go into this room and lay on the floor and lick it. It was deliciously schmick and we all moved in.

One week later I discovered that Miss Fruitarian had decided to show Mr Meat & Potatoes the joy of splatter painting. In the new office. She had procured a toothbrush from god-knows-where, dug out her full palette of watercolours and GONE FOR IT on her desk. And since it is HER desk, she didn’t feel the need for any kind of time-wasting preparation materials such as protective newspaper.

I am of course, piecing events together in a CSI fashion, but it seems apparent to me that mid-way through her masterpiece she had second thoughts. So the ~~blood~~ paint trail changed from a fine spray to dollops across the carpet as she made a quick getaway to the back deck. And across the back deck, to the table, where the splatter-fest continued. But at some point, clean up was required, so the large water container was emptied over the railing. Which was possibly a good idea, except that below at that point, was the path, so the now browny-green water was splattered over the railing, down the side of the house and all over the stone pathway.

Now I wouldn’t have discovered this so soon if we hadn’t decided to eat outside that night. Which of course we had to do because all of the dining table chairs were being used to hold up the lounge room cubby, which was full of every single stuffed toy from the two bedrooms upstairs. Plus most of the plastics from my kitchen. Apparently the toys were whipping up dinner.

And did I mention that later that same day, Miss F went on to ‘create’ a kangaroo made from tissues, wading and reused bits of fluff from her end-of-year ‘Cats’ dance costume? Again, in the newly refurbished office.

By the end of the day I was ready to kill. My best friend and I did paper, scissors, rock to work out who got the enviable task of dishes and cleaning the entire kitchen and who was going to be in charge of getting the kids washed, teeth brushed and into bed. I won and spent a delightfully quiet half hour cleaning up all of the breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes….ahhhhhh bliss…

Did you read the Huffington post article about parenting recently? Summed it up nicely, the dichotomy between overwhelming parental love and the tedium and hell of the every day. There is SO much work and slavery and boredom in being a mum that it really does grind you down. I can totally see how various pressure points compete and healthy food gets shoved further down the list in favour of sleep, silence and compliance.

The trick is though, to realise when food is actually the answer to the other problem areas as well. Well fed children, full of nutrients tend to behave better. They have full tummies, steady sugar levels and enough (but not too much) energy. They will play without crashing but sleep well at night. They get sick less often too. So perhaps it’s the times when you’re in your parenting lows that you need to stop, focus and rethink things, find the motivation to take on the food battles and get some healthy food into your little lovelies and see what difference it makes.

But trust me, they still make mess, regardless. It appears no amount of vitamins can stop that – sorry.

Here’s a nutritious dinner that is quick to cook and sneaks in heaps of vegies – even cannellini beans.

Get through to the end of the day, no worries.

Quick pasta bake

250g pasta (shell or penne is good)
1 cup broccoli florets
400g can chopped tomatoes
400ml bottle tomato pasta sauce
400g can cannellini beans, rinsed, drained
½ red capsicum, seeded, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled, grated
125g can corn kernels, drained
Handful of basil or parsley, finely chopped
2 cups grated cheese (cheddar/mozzarella mix is good)

Preheat oven to 200°C. Cook the pasta according to packet directions. Drain and set aside.

Place the broccoli in a microwave-proof dish with a drizzle of water, cover and zap on high for 1 minute or until just tender. Feel free to blitz the broccoli with a stick blender if your kids will pick out bits.

In a large bowl, mix together the pasta and all of the vegies, sauce, beans and herbs. Season with black pepper to taste. Mix through half the cheese. Spoon the pasta mixture into an ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake for 20–25 minutes or until golden.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 3 KIDS
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You might also like to try….
Baked tuna and tomato rice
Lulu’s favourite Tuna pasta bake

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Redundancy looms (as my baby heads off to school)

January 29, 2012 · Filed under News · Tagged parenting

Good luck my baby...

The uniform has been bought, buddies met and orientation days done. We’re off to school this week.

I have a strange hole in my heart about it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited for Mr Meat & Potatoes who has been keen to catch up to his big sister, but I’m also feeling a little empty for myself and what this means for our little family idyll. I’m feeling now that I am no longer needed (between 9-3) and I don’t know what will happen next. Once all of the kids are at school, there’s an expectation that we need to head off and ‘get a life’ (as if we are slightly sad, useless creatures), but only one that fits around everyone else’s busy schedules – mums are never entirely free, are we?

I guess I am lucky – Vegie Smugglers has bought in a good part-time income and kept my CV interesting rather than gappy. It’s only 2 years since I worked regularly as a magazine designer and my skills are still pretty relevant. It’s not the case for many women. At the tea & coffee table on the final orientation day, I got chatting to a woman who is farewelling her third (and last) child. The others are in year 3 and 5. She was looking anguished.

“Time to go back to work?” I asked.

“But what would I do, I have no skills”, she said, “Well, maybe deep down I have some skill somewhere, but nothing important”.

I was shocked. A beautifully turned out, friendly woman who has a track record of 12 years of loyal service, compassion and strength, thinks her future is bleak since her most recent experience is just being ‘a mum’.

I can’t express how angry I am about the relegation of the most crucial role in our society. Being a financier who can fill in forms and read spreadsheets, now THERE are skills. But a woman who can mentally, logistically and emotionally hold together a family for 12 years deems herself ‘useless’.

Sigh.

Another woman recently confided to me that sending her youngest off to kindy was followed by a good 3 months of depression as she shifted to her new life.

Ironically, the transition to motherhood triggered depression for me and I’m not eager to relive it as I mourn my babies growing up and leaving me. So I’m keen to hear from wise women who’ve been through this transition and can advise how to keep it as positive and smooth as possible.

So words of wisdom… please….

2/2/12 UPDATE: Yay! First day done and dusted. All went well – a bit of a relief to get things all underway. Thanks to everyone for your lovely emails and posts. My best friend took this pic this morning without me knowing and I love it – my little boy and me both heading off into our futures…

The first day of the rest of our lives...

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A loo-roll baby cheeses

December 14, 2011 · Filed under Craft for non-crafty parents, News · Tagged craft, parenting

Perhaps you can tell that I’m not a church-goer, but I still thought it about time to wrench the kids away from Santa & presents and get them to focus a little on WHY we have this glutton & greed festival each year. So here you have it, a baby Jesus craft project made from a toilet roll. Those of you squeamish at the thought of reusing a roll handled by your grubby children who are newly-toilet-trained, may like to just cut a 10cm length from a giftwrap tube instead.

And Merry Christmas to you too, baby jesus...

He’s a bit more complicated than my usual projects, so I’ve done a few step by step pics to guide you….

First, download the loo-roll Jesus PDF. Next, print it out onto A4 at 100% (if you scale it, it won’t fit the roll properly). Colour and decorate anyway you like (I’ve gone for a tasteful nude today). Cut around the thick black lines.

The manger is pretty straight forward. Just fold on the dashed lines, place the flaps inside and tape into place.

Then tape Jesus’s face onto the top of a loo roll…

Place him on his clothing and wrap the long arm side over so that it shapes around his face…

Then wrap over the other arm…

Fold up the nappy and tape, then fold over the hood and secure that too. Just fold and tape down any gaping bits.

Cut up the paper scraps to make hay, or even better, raid the catcher on the shredding machine and make the little guy a comfy bed.

Aaaahhhh... comfy.

And there you have it, the REAL meaning of Christmas…

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Now to business for a second… Western states need to order books TODAY for pre-Christmas delivery. Eastern states have until Friday. Beyond that, the shop is open, but I’m at the mercy of the Australia Post gods and can’t promise anything. I’ll still be filling orders over Christmas. And feel free to keep buying, you’ll get the books in time for your new year’s resolutions.

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We wish you a healthy Christmas…

December 5, 2011 · Filed under Food experiences, News · Tagged celebrations, feeding the family, parenting, vegetables

Apparently, it's Christmas...

OK, so the starting gun is about to go and your little lovelies are about to disappear into a haze of chips, lollies, chocolates, cakes and all the other sugar and fat laden rubbish that graces our tables at Christmas.

The Vegie Smugglers policy on food crap is that everything is good in moderation. I never actively deprive my children of party food, especially since they eat really well about 85% of the time. The Christmas festival, however, starts to get a bit out of hand as you attend event after event after event where party food is the standard fare.

So how to combat it? Well at other people’s houses, it’s REALLY hard. When the kids are toddlers, it’s totally acceptable to turn up at people’s places with a lunchbox packed for them. Surely your host will be silently commending your responsible parenting rather than thinking that you’re a bit uptight. If your kids are older, you can have a pep-talk in the car and remind them of all the healthy living conversations that you’ve (hopefully) been having throughout the year. Of course after much serious nodding and agreement, they will generally launch into the party and make a beeline for the buffet where a chip, marshmallow and tomato sauce sandwich will probably be the winner of the day. Breathe deeply. Remember, everything in moderation.

So elsewhere it may be a bit of a lost cause, but when you’re contributing or hosting a function there are HEAPS of healthy options that can lure the kids away from crap for a few hours….

FRUIT

Hallelujah, Australia in the summer time is a heavenly place to be. Load up fruit platters and let the kids start there. Cherries, watermelon, lychees, peaches. All delicious and ‘special’ enough to keep everyone satisfied.

Beetroot tzatziki

HEALTHY DIPS

Try this beetroot tzatziki from Vegie Smugglers 1. There’s a classic tzatziki recipe in the Term 4 planner. Here’s another great beetroot dip option. Or make homous. Or just a bit of cottage cheese and sun-dried tomato blitzed together. There are heaps of options for healthy dips. If you buy from the shops, take a moment to check the fat per 100g on the nutrition panel. You will be shocked to see how high most of them are. Of course, you can improve the situation by using raw vegies as dippers. Chopped carrot, beans, celery and cucumber are all perfect. You can cut a huge amount of these a couple of days before (store the celery in water) and it will be just as convenient as opening a packet of biscuits.

Vegetables hidden in these traffic light swirls.

Crowd pleaser, traffic light swirls

OTHER SNACK IDEAS

Try these traffic light swirls. Or these beef triangles. The pastry makes things fun and festive, but there are a few vegies to actually ingest here too. Simple rice paper rolls are easy and can be made ahead and do try out my sushi slice.

Older kids can eat unsalted nuts. Pistachios and peanuts in the shell are fun to crack open and the act of shelling slows down the eating. Much better than a bowl that they can just grab handfuls from.

Other easy to prepare things to munch on are cherry tomatoes, baby bocconcini and cubed cheese. Revert back to the 70s and pop everything on sticks. INSTANT FUN.

Make popcorn (the store-bought stuff is usually really high in fat) and if you are offering chips, give each kid one of the small packs, which lets them know when their share has finished. Again, they’ll eat much less than when there’s just a bowl that they can help themselves to.

DRINKS

Sometimes I will give Miss F one small glass of lemonade. Mr M&P doesn’t like anything fizzy and will stick to an apple juice popper. Leaving my ‘everything in moderation’ mantra for a moment, I just can’t see any good reason to let kids under 10 drink glasses of Coke, ever. The caffeine is terrible for them.

THE MAIN EVENT

While there’s little chance that they’ll want to sit down and eat anything much after a few hours of running around grazing, do make sure you set them a place and serve them a meal with a bit of everything to try. Give them a bon bon with a crazy hat. You never know, a festive occasion full of adults might just be the peer pressure they need to discover the joys of lettuce/roast pumpkin/turkey etc etc. Most things dolloped with gravy get the thumbs up from my kids, especially when eaten in the company of their extended family.

Yay! Summer on a stick.

PUDDING

And for sweets? Well, I’m not restricting myself and I won’t restrict the kids much either. Just keep the portion size reasonable and you’ll be sweet. If they don’t like any of the traditional Christmas treats, then revert back to fruit and some home-made ice blocks. Again, avoid having a bowl of self-serve chocolates. Maybe give each of them a chocolate coin or something similarly special.

And after all of that, I think everyone will be off for a good lie down.

So that’s my initial ideas list, but I’m sure my clever readers will have a bunch of fantastic suggestions too…

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Foolproof roast chicken & cous cous salad

November 29, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken, Food experiences, News, Vegetarian · Tagged celebrations, chicken, cooking techniques, feeding the family, mealtime, parenting, vegetables

On the fridge all year - Miss Fruitarian's 'to do' list for 2011

Each year I have a ‘to do’ list. You know, a list of things that I’d like to master in the coming year. Important stuff like “make choux pastry” and “be thankful every day”. Miss Fruitarian jumped on the bandwagon this year and has done well on her list, which included ‘get a kitten’ and ‘skip to 100’.

My list was blown out of the water by a house purchase, house sale, house move and job change (husband). I’m still catching my breath, and actually can’t even remember what was on my list for this year, let alone WHERE the piece of paper might actually be.

So with the year hurtling to a close, it’s lucky that my list in 2007 included ‘cook a perfect roast chicken’ – you know, where the vegies and meat are all cooked perfectly and AT THE SAME TIME. It’s a skill that comes in handy during the festive season.

Just in case you’ve got the chicken cooking thing on the list for next year, here’s a recipe that will cut you a bit of slack – a roast chook with a cous cous salad that is SO delicious and suited to hot Australian nights.

This cous cous salad is the best I’ve tried – it’s based on a recipe from Ainsley Harriott’s Barbeque Bible. It’s his spice combination and cooking method, which seems to produce perfectly fluffy cous cous. I’ve just added in a stack of vegies (of course).

Do my kids eat this salad with all the green flecks and pumpkin (their least favourite) bits? Surprisingly yes. The first time I made it, I thought they wouldn’t, which really vouches for how yummy it is. I do have to cut up Mr M&P’s chicken and mix it through as a lure, and Miss F does gag if she hits a chunk of coriander, but apart from that it disappears.

Now, if only I could get my kids to eat with their cutlery properly and have some vague semblance of table manners, I’d be feeling pretty accomplished. I guess I better put it on the ‘to do’ list for next year.

Fancy enough for the festive season, methinks.

Roast chicken with a delicious cous cous salad

1×1.8kg chicken
1 lemon, halved
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

¼ cup pinenuts

2 cups pumpkin (Jap is good), peeled and cut into a 1cm dice.
2 tsps honey
1 clove garlic, minced
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp cumin powder
½ tsp sweet paprika
¾ cup cous cous
¾ cup chicken stock
Pinch saffron (optional)
4 spring onions, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled, grated
½ red capsicum, finely diced
Handful fresh herbs (any combination of mint, parsley & coriander)
Juice ½ lemon (plus the zest if you can be bothered)

Preheat the oven to 170C fan-forced. Have a rack down low (for the chook) and one up high (for the pumpkin).

Don’t be squeamish and don’t think about how a wee chicken carcass feels vaguely like holding a baby… Wash the whole chook well. Use paper towel to dry it both inside and out. Place a rack in a roasting tray then pop the chicken on top (breast side down). Pour about ¼ cup of water and the juice of half a lemon in the tray. Shove the squeezed half and the full half of lemon inside the birdie. Close up the legs (a girl’s gotta have some dignity), drizzle over olive oil & salt & pepper.

Roast in the oven for about 40 minutes. Meanwhile…

Pour your dry cous cous into a heat-proof bowl.

In a small non-stick pan, toast your pinenuts and set aside. Add about one tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, then fry off the garlic, coriander, cumin & paprika for a minute or so. Pour in the chicken stock. Add the saffron (if using) and the spring onions (this takes the onion tang out of them). Pour into the cous cous bowl. Use a fork to quickly combine, then cover with plastic wrap.

Spread the pumpkin out on an oven tray (lined with baking paper), drizzle over olive oil and honey. Toss lightly.

Pull out your chicken. Turn over (carefully), baste or drizzle a touch more oil. Season. Pop back into the oven & also put in the pumpkin (on the top tray).

Bake everything for about 40-45 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft and the juices of the chicken run clear. (There’s a demo of how about 1:40 into this video – or push a skewer in behind the drumstick then press to see the colour of the juice)

Cover the chicken with foil for a bit while you fork through the cous cous then toss in the rest of the ingredients in. Then carve the chicken (good ‘how to’ video about carving chickens, turkeys etc here), serve and EAT. Yum.

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Let the festive season begin

November 7, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Fish, Food experiences, News · Tagged celebrations, feeding the family, parenting, recipe, tuna, vegetables

Perhaps I’m allergic to my new house, because it seems that I’m waking up on most Sunday mornings with a headache. You see my new house is quite FESTIVE with a nice deck and views and I find myself entertaining a lot of FESTIVE FOLK. And we drink wine. And being a bit of a drinking lightweight who can only safely imbibe 2-3 glasses of chardonnay before I’m in the hangover zone, I’m finding myself spending most Sunday mornings with a slight haze of discomfort and a new appreciation of the clever R&D teams who masterminded Nurofen zavance.

Perhaps there is something in the water of this big dry land that does predispose the population to a love of getting drunk. There is something GREAT about the sense of fun that comes with a warm afternoon, good friends and a cold glass of something that makes you giggle.

Yet again on the weekend, I served up something yum for the adults, but left the kids to run amok with a sausage and sauce in a slice of bread. Not even any onions. I know it’s a top Aussie BBQ tradition but with a full two months of festivities ahead, I think I need to do better and lift my nutrition game. No more mumblings about ‘fridge space’, ‘easiest options’ blah blah blah.

So I’m rummaging through recipes and thinking about ways to keep the upcoming summer parties slightly more healthy for the kids. Or at least providing good options for them that are enticing for the adults too. Probably a chip or two fewer wouldn’t hurt any of us.

The first thing that sprang to mind was this sushi slice. Most kids will eat some kind of sushi – it’s easy to adapt the filling to suit your family’s tastebuds. This recipe is a classic avocado and tuna combination which seems like a good place to start. Do you think your kids will eat this? What fillings will you try out? I always like to hear your opinions on my recipes.

And why sushi slice? Well, it’s perfect for folks like me who adore Japanese food but never quite got the hang of the whole rolling a sushi roll thing. Just two lamington trays the same size and you’re done. And it’s great party food, as you can make it a few hours ahead and refridgerate it. The less I have to handle sharp knives after a wine the better.

Anyway, let’s clink glasses and ‘kampai’ to the upcoming (healthy) party season. And of course, if you do find that you’re waking up with a headache EVERY morning, you might want to look over at AA and have a think about whether it might be time to pass the mineral water instead.

No sausage? No bread? Heresy!

Flat-pack sushi squares

1½ cups sushi rice (short-grain rice, available at most supermarkets)
2¼ cups water
100ml sushi seasoning
(or make your own: 90ml rice vinegar, 3 tbsp caster sugar, 1 tsp salt)
4 sheets nori seaweed
½ cucumber, sliced in half lengthwise, seeds removed, grated
1 small carrot, peeled, grated
95g can tuna in brine, drained
125g can corn kernels, drained
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 avocado, very thinly sliced, covered with a drizzle of lemon juice

Pickled ginger (optional), to serve

Give the rice a really good wash under running water until the water is no longer milky. Drain. Pop the rice into a saucepan and add the water.

Place the (well-fitting) lid on the pan and bring the water to the boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer for 10–12 minutes or until the water is nearly all absorbed. Turn off the heat, leave the pan covered and let it sit and steam for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the vinegar, sugar and salt (if needed). Pour over the rice and use a wooden spoon to mix through.

Prepare a lamington tin by lining it with plastic wrap. Place a layer of the nori seaweed paper over the bottom (use scissors to cut them to fit).

Mix together the cucumber, carrot, tuna, corn, soy and mayonnaise. Pour off any excess liquid and discard.
Use wet hands to place half the rice over the seaweed. Evenly top with the vegie mix and the avocado, then carefully top with the rest of the rice and another layer of seaweed.

Put a second layer of plastic wrap over the top. If you have another pan of the same size, place it on top, weighted down with a couple of cans. Place in the fridge for 1–2 hours to firm.

When ready to serve, use a really sharp knife to cut the sushi into bite-sized squares. Serve with pickled ginger (if using).

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS

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Spice is nice (except on your tongue – apparently)

October 18, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged chicken, feeding the family, parenting, recipe, vegetables

After four years of vegie-smuggling, I think I now have a way to get almost any vegie into my kids. Obviously some dishes are more popular than others, but my kids also realize each night that what you get is what you get and if you’re hungry then you just have to eat, since having a whinge and complain isn’t going to get you anywhere.

So what I’m working on now is pushing the boundaries on the spice front. Mr Meat & Potatoes is no problem at all. I can already see him as a drunken young adult ordering a curry or kebab with chilli sauce. Miss Fruitarian, however, is another story. She just can’t handle anything too spicy on her tongue. This is a bummer, since you can’t really hide spice, can you? Something is either spicy or it isn’t.

Usually I just make dishes like the pho that I can just add heat or extra spice to after I’ve served out the kid’s portions, but I’m also on a mission to get her to suck it up and handle of bit more flavour and heat. My starting places are mild tandoori chicken dishes and coconut cream curries. But to be honest, I get to add such insipid amounts of curry paste that my best friend and I are never too awestruck by these culinary adventures.

I do like this chicken curry recipe though. It’s based on one in Bill Granger’s Everyday cookbook. I like his family cooking. Unlike the boring-as-hell Tania Ramsey books, which are full of smiling photos of… err…. Tania and the odd recipe that my kids would just NEVER eat, you get the feeling that Bill actually DOES cook for his kids and isn’t just cashing in on a safe market.

So it was a Bill’s recipe where I saw this slightly unexpected mix of Indian and Asian flavours that results in something mild enough for fussy kids but interesting enough for the grown ups (especially with some coriander over the top). And of course it doesn’t hurt to serve this with pappadums – another lure ingredient.

I’m on the lookout for recipes to move onto after this one – ones that push the boundaries just a little further. Make sure you let me know if you’ve got any you enjoy.

Passing on a love of curry comfort

Gentle chicken curry

1 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely diced
1–2 tsp cumin powder
1–2 tsp coriander powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger, minced
500g chicken thigh fillets, trimmed, cubed
1 cup finely diced pumpkin (little 5mm cubes)
1 zucchini, finely diced (peeled first if you prefer)
400g can chopped tomatoes
¼ cup water
2 tsp brown sugar
Juice of ½ lime
Handful green beans, ends trimmed, sliced

To serve
Steamed rice
Cooked pappadums
Chopped coriander (optional)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Fry the onion for 4–5 minutes until soft. Use a quantity of spice that will suit your family. Add the spices, garlic and ginger for a minute before adding the chicken. Stir and brown for 2 minutes then add the pumpkin and zucchini and continue stirring for another 3 minutes until the chicken is brown and the vegies are starting to soften.

Add the tomatoes and water. Cover and bring to a simmer, lower the heat and simmer away for 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

Add the sugar, lime juice and beans and stir through for a minute or so (I like my beans nice and crunchy). Serve with rice and pappadums. Sprinkle with coriander (if using).

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS

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