Summer snack ideas

What a busy time of the year!  I haven't stopped and it's not even December!  The girls and I have written up the "must haves" for Summer and here is our top 5...

1) Grape necklaces, a must have for the fashionable little girl who wants to look good and eat healthy :)
2) Fruit skewers, fantastic for alfresco dining and look great as a healthy centrepiece.
3) Vegetable dippers, mix avocado and lite Philly cheese with a dash of lemon, dip carrot, celery or veg of choice
4) Fruit smoothies, oh the possibilities!  Mix any fruit you like in a blender, add crushed ice and enjoy
5) and my favourite,  Fruity ice cubes.  We use any type of fruit and freeze in ice cube trays, you can have them by themselves or in a glass of water, yum.

I love experimenting in the kitchen but it is so much more fun when little ones come up with ideas, sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, but there is always fun to be had!  Until next time, happy cooking :)

I love summer!

Summer is just around the corner here in Australia, which means lots of fresh salads and my favourite stone fruits.  The girls and I love to go to our local markets early on the weekends to pick out some beautiful fresh fruit and vegetables and I like to let them choose what they like.  Before we leave I usually ask them what meals they would like to make during the week so we have an idea of what vegetables to pick and then let them choose the fruit, and they love choosing.  I find that if they have a choice, they are more likely to eat the foods that they choose, this can be with any foods so we, as parents/carers, may as well give them a large variety of good foods regularly.   Tonight we had salad rolls as a rare treat, funny how my kids only ate a little bit of the bread rolls and picked the salad off, makes me a happy Mummy :)

I'm hoping to get Hayley back in the kitchen soon, I've been a bit rushed in the afternoon and unfortunately, this is the worst time to be in the kitchen with the kids, when you're time poor.  It creates a stressful environment and kids in the kitchen need to feel happy and calm when cooking to create an area where they will want to return to over and over.  I look forward to posting some pics really soon.  Until next time, happy cooking :)

A grand selection

I realise we all have different tastes and as Children, we develop tastes according to the diet we are given by our parents/carers.  Some of us have a diet in rich, creamy foods and therefore are more likely to choose these foods every day.  If we allow our children to eat what they feel like, their choices may not be healthy.  So what is the best way to add flavour to your child's diet?  Let them grow their own herbs and vegetables!  Hayley has just picked her first two tomatoes and although she doesn't eat tomatoes by themselves or in a salad, we make a lot of tomato based meals so she feels she is contributing in a very personal way.  We have a lot of herbs growing and use them regularly, it really does teach a child the value and freshness of foods this way.  So the meal that Hayley has made by herself this week is a Tomato Pasta bake. Recipe: Cook the pasta till soft, boil and peel the tomatoes  then add Chives, garlic and onion, mix together, sprinkle with fresh parmesen and grill for 5 minutes, simple and fast.  Here is some pics of Hayley's first tomatoes.

Until next time, happy cooking :)

Birthday party food

How time flies...not only has it been quite a while since my last post, but my Hayley just turned 7...wow time flies.  And of course birthdays usually mean birthday parties, or at least cake and our house was no exception...because Hayley's birthday fell on a friday, and we had her party on the saturday, two cakes were needed, one for family and one for friends!  One thing I noticed when Hayley was overweight was that she didn't seem to know when to stop or even slow down  at parties, as you can imagine, this was very difficult for all concerned at any parties we were invited to.   Now, Hayley knows her limit without me saying a word, she knows that if she over indulges, she will end up suffering.  Hayley cannot eat a whole piece of cake and although she had a few lollies at her party, she will stop very quickly and wont go back, seems like my persistance paid off :)  But the place where we chose to have her party, although the games were active, they serve the children chicken nuggets, chips and usually softdrink, I asked for juice and water and they had no problem but the norm is softdrink.  I know they need to look at making money but I would have been more than happy to pay a little extra for some healthy alternative, maybe a wrap or little pocket bread with filling in, surely we have a right to choices.  The biggest problem that I have found is actually getting parents on board which can be so frustrating, a lot of them come to me for advice then tell me it's too hard, what is too hard about teaching your child healthy eating and healthy living, there should be nothing else more important!  So its back into the kitchen for Hayley and I and we are both really looking forward to some light heathy foods in the coming weeks...until next time...stay healthy :)

Photo's

I thought I'd put a couple of photo's of Hayley and her masterpieces up for now as I am in the middle of moving house.  The first one is of celery sticks with cottage cheese and sultana's in them, the second is of Hayley with her very quick morning tea fruit face :)

Finding the right information

I was looking through some of my research papers from around two years ago, catching up on some of the data I lost when my computer crashed, when Hayley started to read over my shoulder about some of the people I have worked with for our book.  At first I thought she was trying not to disturb me but she was whispering something that I couldn't quite make out.  I was on a page where several families that I  have worked with our version of a food pyramid.  I asked her what she was saying and she told me that she was working out in her head what foods are protein and which are Carbohydrates.  I taught Hayley about foods at a very young because she had a weight problem, I can honestly say, I don't believe I would have taught her about food groups and the like if she hadn't.  Which leads me to the question, why aren't we teaching our children about the best foods to eat?  I know we are a long way from knowing all there is to know, we wouldn't have such an out of control society of obese or overweight people is we did.  I find it very hard to stick to a program because I have intense cravings and I know the cause of these cravings is because I when I eat the wrong foods, I crave those foods even more.  I watched a program today about obese children, it broke my heart to see these little ones, wearing adult clothing at five years old, but I saw it on TV so at least its a message and its out there, a step in the right direction.  One of the paediatricians gave one of the children's parents a diagnoses of " insulin resistance" he said her body didn't have the ability to burn fat anymore, so sad.  But they can do something about it, almost the same thing that I did for Hayley and after months of research and rejection for us, the short of it is, I spent everyday scaling down the "starchy carbohydrates" out of our diets and replaced them with "fibrous Carbohydrates" everything was  healthy and a lot of it was arranged on a plate to make it fun.   I really do hope this means that people are finding more and more "helpful" specialists that will listen and not judge or assume that you are doing everything wrong.  As I look through more and more research notes, I am reminded of so many parents I have met and worked with in this struggle.  I know with enough people talking about it, we will find a way to help every parent to gain the knowledge and tools to help their own child to become healthy and happy.  Until next time, stay healthy :)

Festivities over!

Wow, what a relaxed Christmas we had this year, very little cooking and lots of rest and playtime.  I have found that there are a lot of "sometimes" foods at Christmas time in Australia.  With our climate, we usually have a lot of fresh protien like ham off the bone, chicken and seafood, but its the rich condiments we use in potato and pasta salads, then the sauces we have on the tables, not to mention the desserts...although I love fruit cake, Christmas cake takes the humble fruit cake to a whole new level of fat, sugar, carbs etc that should definately only be experienced but once a year.  On our table we had lots of fresh salad with lettuce, onion, tomato, stuffed olives, cheese, pine nuts and a little balsamic vinegar drizzled over the top that makes our table simple yet so delicious.  We have a lot of meat, fish, seafood and eggs over the Christmas break, usually lots of leftovers but it's the cake and desserts that usually leave us with a little bit more to love than we would like.  So it's back to coming up with ways to make our meals low GI yet visually stimulating.  I have been doing some more research over the last weeks that have given me a lot to think about...weight loss is the first thing that I needed to deal with but now I'd like to focus more on the health benefits of food and how foods help or hinder our kids little bodies.  I am amazed at how much Hayley knows about this too as she is a very good listener when I find some new (for us) and exciting information on foods.  Just tonight I am reading about artificial sweetner and how some believe it is causing big problems with our metabolism among other things.  If we are to focus on our health, all sugar should be kept to a minimum as well as highly refined carbohydrates, very important for health and weight loss.  I feel I am a  learner with the information I am finding and I would like to study health and nutrition this year but in the mean time, I try not to believe everything I read, some are a little out there so I think I need a little more evidence.  The foods that we eat are not always the healthiest choices but we need to eat to fit into our individual lifestyles, otherwise, it will be a lot harder to eat healthy if it always feels like we are missing out on something, that's not a nice way to live.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Christmas and Happy New year, may 2010 be filled with wonderful memories of fun in the kitchen with your littlies :)