Food change

There's been lots of talk around the interwebs about food and cooking from scratch, about healthier options and additives and preservatives.

Its been an interesting read and great to see what alot of other families are implementing into their lives and their childrens lives to eat more naturally.

To say it's inspired me is an understatement it's really got me thinking and planning more.

I have always cooked alot from scratch but I thought I could always have cooked more.

When we discovered Master J was additive and preservative sensitive (mainly colour 102 and MSG) we started cutting out a few bits and pieces and I started baking alot more.
Not to mention I have 2 boys who are going to need loads of food to fill their bottomless legs ;)

It's something I've really grown to enjoy.

I wont say Im 100% natural or additve/preservative free or from scratch, the whole concept of being compleltely free makes my head spin.
I am however making concisous decisons about what I am feeding myself and my boys and I think that even if I'm only doing half I'm helping my boys be healthy and not affected by nasties in some food.

I'll be the first to admit as a solo mumma of 2 I can get lazy and I will buy hot chippies for lunch every now and then or Maccas as treat but most of my boys meals are cooked/made at home.

The big thing I struggle with is their snacks.

My boys arent huge fruit or vegie fans so picking up and apple if they are hungry between meals just dosen't happen here, which I'm not too fussed about... at this stage.

I grate a whole lot of vegies into most of their dinners and I have started baking alot of things which require fruit and puree/stew my own fresh fruit, so they are getting their fruits and veggies just in a different way.

They love their milk before bed and are happy eating wholemeal bread or bread I have baked, they love yoghurt and cheese, weet-bix, rice bubbkes, sultanas and rice crackers.
Master J will also eat tinned peaches and bananas and Lil C will happily sit down to a bowl of mashed vegies with some gravy (he's his mummas boy in that department)

I have loved finding new recipes that are the "equivilant" to the pre packaged foods I would normally buy and It feels good to be getting the boys involved and helping and watching them try new foods.

Just today I made a few differnt food choices in our shopping.
I purchased a yoghurt maker and instead of the long life juice I brought the Coles cloudy apple juice from the dairy aisle (which I give them diluted) which is only apples.
I also brought some apples and strawberries to make some fruit filled oatmeal bars and wholemeal pitas and wholemeal crumpets.

We have baby spinach and rocket (we did have basil & corriander too... they didnt quite make it) growing in the boys old sand & water table and I plan on extending our vegie garden when we move in November and getting some egg laying chickens.

I am also now considering buying a few things that are Organic after seeing this on Pinterest

image from theoldsimplelife.blogspot.com

It may mean my shopping is a smidge more expensive but I think thats the comprimise for making

sure our food is that little bit healthier.

Looking at all the things I do it isnt very much right now slowly but surely we will get there and will choose differnt options as we go.

Small change is better then none at all... right?

I would love to know if you are doing anything like this... what you are doing? Do you buy organic? 
Can always use some more ideas ;)

Recipe Book ~ Fruit Filled Oatmeal Bars

I have been trying to find a recipe the same as the fruit filled bars you can buy at the supermarket for so long and I have had no luck so far!
Then I came across a recipe *here* the other night.
It looked easy enough and almost what I wanted.

So here's how I did it...

ingredients

1 cup wholemeal plain flour
1 cup of quick oats
2/3 cup of soft brown sugar packed
1/2 cup of margarine
3 granny smith apples
8-10 strawberries halved

method

Cut up apples and place into a small saucepan with a little bit of water.
turn on heat and boil until almost soft.
Add strawberries to apples and boil until they are soft too.
Take off heat and allow to cool.
Using a stick mixer or food processor blend until smooth or consistancy desired.

*Combine plain flour, quick oats & brown sugar
*Add margarine
*Using your hands rub margarine into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs
*Take out 1 cup of mixture and put to the side.
*In a small square or rectangle baking pan press the rest of the mixture into the bottom of the pan. (make sure it's nice and firmly packed)
*Spread the apple and strawberry puree over base.
(there may be some left over depending on how big your pan is)
*Using the 1 cup of breadcrumb mixture put aside earlier sprinkle over the top of fruit puree. I pressed mine down a little bit but don't press too hard otherwise the puree oozes through ;)
*Pop in over for 30-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

*Cool in the pan on top of a wire rack.
*Once cooled to room tempreature pop in the fridge so it sets a little more.
*Once it's cooled completely cut into sqaures or bars.

VOILA!

Both my boys and myself enjoyed these. I will definitely be making them again and experimenting with different fillings.

Just so everyone is aware this is NOT my recipe I just ommitted things and used slightly different ingredients to the original recipe all credit is www.food.com s

Our Adventure to the Farmers Market

On Sunday I decided to take my boys to the Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market
It was our first time going since it had become as big as it is, I went once before and loved it but it was quite small and then life just got in the way... as it does.

Master J has taken quite the interest in cooking lately, something I am over the moon and about, I feel so happy that he is starting to love it like I do.
So i thought this would be just another step for him in his small boy cooking adventure!
Because it was quite busy and they didn't have doughnuts (typical 3yo) and I was a little stressed because I hadn't got there as early as I would have liked he wasn't overly thrilled but he did enjoy finding the vegies for me just like we do in the supermarket.

waiting in line to pay for some of our vegies

The atmosephere was great the place was buzzing with chatter and bargaining and I loved the variety of fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers we could choose from, and it was so cheap!

After we had done the rounds on the fruits vegies and flowers, it was time to head into the shed and have a look at all the stalls in there.

They had bread and deli meats, olives and honey it was a little overwhelming as it was quite busy inside.

BUT I did wait in line for these gorgeous little treats! They are sooooo good!

Macaroons by From Scratch Patisserie

As we left I was excitied to use our vegies that night for our roast dinner and for the rest of the week.

our day at the market

I was not disappointed everything was so tasty and fresh.
The carrotts were sweet and fresh smelling and the broccoli smelt of the earth it was a wonderful smell. It's a smell I have smelt before when I worked in the Central Markets with my family but something my boys hadn't and Master J was amazed.

Tonight we are making Pastie Pie and we are using all the vegies we got at the market.
Both the boys will eat this without fail and they don't pick the vegies out even thought they are chopped quite big whihc is huge for Master J as he is my fussiest eater.

Our big bowl of vegies before they are cooked

Even better yet Master J couldn't wait to get in to the kitchen and watch me and help doing his favourite thing when we cook... Stirring.

"I stir mummy"

We will definetly be back to the market in a fortnight for another adventure and hopefully take it a little slower and soak up the atmosphere a little bit more and enjoy a hot chocolate too.

Do you go to any local farmers markets where you live? What's your favourite part of them?

homemade bubba food...

My kitchen must hate me i beat it to within an inch of its life at least once a week

Last week i made a whole lot of food for Lil C

and a few of my friends wanted recipes etc.

On this particular day i had an Italian chicken casserole just the Coles brand in the slow cooker

This was perfect as i used some of the sauce on his vegies for dinner.

I also made homemade vegitmite rusks

One of Lil C's favourites!

Just take 2 pieces of bread wholemeal or white

Spread vegimite on one slice top with the other slice and squoosh it down.

Cut all 4 crusts off and then slice the sandwhich into 3 fingers.

Lay on a baking try lined with baking paper

And cook in a low overn 125o for 1 hour or until hard.

They store in an airtight container for quite awhile.

Next on the menu was Apple and Strawberry

I peeled, cored and diced 3 apples (you can use any kind) and cut the tops off and cut into quarters a punnet of strawberries.

Pop them all in a small saucepan with some water and a sprinkling of sugar

(takes the bite away)

The colour of the strawberries will run but ot still tastes yummy ;)

Once they are all soft and mushy transfer to a bowl leaving behind the liquid and mash or puree

Let it cool and Voila!

You can use the liquid for their breakfast use it soften weetbixs or mix with baby rice cereal.

Vegie pancakes were a huge hit with both Lil C and Master J

Simply make a pancake batter as usual minus the sugar

mix in some mashed vegies ie. potato, pumpkin and sweet potato

grate some zucchini and carrott into the batter

and mix well

Cook as you would sweet pancakes

Master J loves having his cut into shapes using cookie cutters and served with tomato sauce

and Lil C just loves sucking on fingers of cooked pancake

I even attempted finger food vegies.

I simply peeled and sliced into fingers

potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrott and apple

then par boiled them in some water until they were soft, but not falling apart.

As they cool they harden a little but are still soft enough for little moths to suck/gum or chew and dont get mushed in their little hands.

At the momment the poor poppet isnt eating much because hes not well

but when hes feeling good he normally eats quite a variety of foods.

Homemade sghetti sauce with soup pasta

mashed vegies

banana muffins

Plain crackers or for something sweet yo yo biscuits

Strips/fingers of red capsicum and cucmber

Lots of pureed/mashed fruits

and

Yoghurt

Once hes feeling better and eating more again we will be moving onto

rices and differnt sauces including pureed casseroles etc

chicken nuggets and some more vegies.

So thats what gets cooked in my kitchen for my little Princes'

hope you can take some inspiration from it :)

and

Did your little ones have a favourite homemade food?

writers block, so lets cook

Do you have a fussy eater?

My master J is terrible.

As a wee babeh he would eat whatever i fed him

but as soon as he learned to feed himself and gained that independence

all food consumption went out the window.

Unless it came in tin spaghetti or nugget form

So i was left wondering what to do.

I child will never starve themselves that you can be sure of

But how do you deal with the mothers guilt of you child not eating their vegies?

I was given loads of advice

and took most of it onboard.

Some of its worked most of it hasn't.

So ive found our own little tricks that work

and by golly did i get sneaky ;)

I used pureed mixed vegies as a substitute for the egg & milk step on chicken schnitzel

It was a bit soggy at first but once they started cooking they turned out fabulously and he ate them all up

MUMMY 1 MASTER J 0

We use tomato sauce.

Ok so not the best way but seriously

Master J will eat almost anything with tomato sauce on it

I dont put much but there has to be some.

The boy ate roast beef and roast potatos because it had sauce on it!

I almost fainted he's never eaten roast beef!

We grate or finely chop vegies into EVERYthing possible.

Spaghetti sauce is the real winner

in goes almost every vegie

mwahahaha

AND dont forget the ravioli he luurves ravioli.

im yet to attempt making it myself but its definatly on the list

He loves chicken nuggets

a good friend of mine gave us a chicken nugget recipe using chicken mince

loads of vegies and breadcrumbs

mix it all together

well kinda

and VOILA chicken nuggets the fuss pot will eat

oh and dont forget the sauce.

RECIPE
this is my adapted version
500gms chicken mince
Grated carrott, zuchini, celery, i also grated capsicum and squash
plain flour to dust
milk and egg wash
breadcrumbs to coat
Oil to cook

combine mince and grated vegies in bowl
(no need to really bind the mixture as the chicken mixture is quite moist)
roll mixture into balls of the size you wish
then form into nugget shapes
dust in plain flour, dip in milk & egg wash and coat in breadcrumbs
Heat oil in fry pan and place a few nuggets in at once.
Cook unitl golden brown and cooked through.
Serve with favourite sauce.

These are good to freeze too
I froze some for the boys and just used the oven to re-heat

Meat Pie

Master J loves these especially if i make the little party pies

mince and vegies pastry and sauce

WINNER!

Chicken Pie

Another family favourite

He dosent quite like the mushrooms

but i never thought my boy would eat leek let alone sour cream

AND we dont have to have sauce on this one ;)

My latest winner was dinner the other night of

Baking Dish Pastie.

I chocked it full of vegies and he devoured it

sauce and all

Baking Dish Pastie
recipe from Play Time Snacks on FB
500gms mince
puff pastry
1 carrott
2 potatos
1 parsnip
1 sweede
1 turnip
1 onion
1 tsp of corn flour
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 beef stock cube
i also added
zucchini, squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, beans and brocoli

Brown diced onion & mince, add potato & carrott (diced small)
Cook for 5 mins, add stock cube, pepper & salt
Grate turnip, parsnip & sweede
I added all other vegies here too
Mix in a small bowl corn flour and curry powder pour over meat
Mix well, add lid, cook for 15 mins, stir when needed.

Put a layer of pastry in baking dish, fill with mixture
Add a top layer & prick with fork
Brish with milk & bake for 30 mins at 180o or until golden.

not my own image, image from Play Time Snacks

All these recipes help ease the mothers guilt

I'm happy for him to eat all of these insead of meat and veg sepeartly

because at least even if he dosent know whats really in it, i do!
AND
if all else fails i whip out the trusty ol tin of spaghetti

Honestly somedays you just have to pick your battles and give in.
Theres always tomorrow nights dinner!

If you are after some fussy eater tips check out the gorgeous Nathalie of Easy Peasy Kids blog post.