Noodle says...

Fun Food with The Olive Branch Cookery School

You may have gathered from previous posts that I am always on the look out for fun and interesting ways to present food to encourage Noodle and Squish to eat a healthy and varied diet. 

I was in luck. At the recent Mom Blog Meet, we were privileged to witness a demonstration by Margy Vally on how to make quick, easy and fun kiddies foods. As an added bonus, most of these are simple enough for me to get Noodle involved in helping me to make them.

Margy Vally of The Olive Branch Cookery School

Margy is the executive director and chef of the Olive Branch  Cookery School in Fourways, which hosts a variety of exciting cooking classes in their spacious and well equipped kitchen.Her lessons, which were done together with her son, were humorous and spontaneous. These fun dishes were created using some of Nuk's new range of toddler feeding utensils (they no longer just do baby stuff).

Some of the lovely recipes which she shared with us are set out below. 

She did some fruit skewers on sticks (something we have been doing at home for a while). This is not quite a recipe, it just requires cutting or balling fruit and placing on a skewer.

 

She also did some frozen yoghurt lollies. Her recipe is below, but I often do the same, taking a short cut by substituting the fresh fruit with a pouch of baby food fruit (like the Ella's Kitchen pouches we were gifted with on the day).

Frozen Mango and Yoghurt on a Stick

Ingredients:

300g full cream yoghurt plain
2 medium mangos, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks.

Method:

 

Place into a processor and blitz until smooth. Pour into ice cream moulds, put a lolly stick into each mould and then freeze until required.
N.B. You could also use strawberries or plums.

I grew up with the spicy Indian version of egg bread, beda vari- which is similar to the Western version but more savoury and typically includes salt and various spices such as chillies, cumin and coriander in the egg dip (try it, it is yummy!). As a teenager, I thought it was bizarre when I saw people in restaurants drizzling syrup over their French toast and it is only in my adult life that I discovered that not all egg bread is spicy and salty. The one below certainly is not.

 

Eggy Toast with Syrup and Banana

Ingredients:

2 slices bread white or brown
1 egg, beaten, seasoned with sea salt
20g butter
cinnamon and sugar
Drizzle of Syrup
1 banana, peeled and sliced

Method:

Cut out shapes you desire. Dip into the beaten egg. Melt butter in a frying pan and gently fry
until golden. Place onto dish sprinkle with cinnamon sugar , drizzle with syrup and topped
with sliced banana.

Frozen mango and yoghurt lolly and Eggy Toast with Banana (divided bowl by Nuk)

My children are not too fond of lettuce, but perhaps Margy's recipe below could sway them otherwise.

Chicken and Corn Lettuce Boats

Ingredients:

60g chicken, cooked and diced
30ml mayonnaise
Squeeze of lemon juice
10g frozen sweet corn
½ tomato, diced
½ red pepper, diced
1 spring onion, diced
sea salt and black pepper
6 iceburg lettuce leaves

Method: 

Mix all filling ingredients together and place into the lettuce leaves. Make a little sail for your boat with a napkin and cocktail stick. You could use Tuna or salmon instead of chicken

Chicken and corn lettuce boat

I cannot wait to try the below recipe, which I am sure will be a hit in our household. I did not catch a picture of this one, but a fish shaped cutter is used to shape into a cute little fishy.

Fishy Cakes

 

Ingredients:

200g cooked hake (free from skin and bone)
200g mashed potatoes
1 yolk
1 egg
25g flour
50g fresh white bread crumbs

Method:

Combine the fish, potatoes and egg yolk. Add salt and pepper. Make into fish shapes. Coat with flour, egg and breadcrumbs. Deep fry for 2-3 minutes. Add a frozen pea for an eye. Could also be crab, salmon, or other white fish.

Every child loves crumbed chicken. I do a similar version to the below, but oven baked and with more spices.

Chicken Goujons

200g chicken breast cut into 10cm thick long strips
50g cake flour
2 eggs, beaten
100g fresh breadcrumbs
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
A squeeze of lemon juice to taste
salad leaves to serve

Method:

1. Season the chicken.
2. Coat chicken with flour, then the beaten egg and finally the breadcrumbs.
3. Heat up a frying pan of oil and gently fry the Goujons until golden brown
4. Mix the lemon juice and mayonnaise and seasoning.
5. Serve with the Goujons and a few salad leaves.

The below is great for lunchboxes (I vary the ingredients though and use cherry tomatoes from my garden as Noodle does not really like regular tomatoes).

Rainbow Salad

2 tomatoes, large diced
1 cucumber, large diced
lettuce leaf, shredded
1 yellow pepper, de-seed, cut into large dice
2 carrots, peeled and cut into batons
½ cup full cream yoghurt
2 tablespoons chopped basil
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Method:

Place yoghurt in a bowl and mix in the basil and parsley
Layer your vegetables one at a time in a see through container. Put a container at the side to dip the vegetables.

The Might Mice below is a clever variation on the usual baked potato recipe. Margy says the secret is to bake rather than microwave the potatoes (which I must confess that I am sometimes guilty of).

Mighty Mice

4 large potatoes, washed and pricked
200ml cooked savoury mince or 200g can tuna drained
25ml butter
10ml milk
salt and pepper
100ml cheddar or mozzarella cheese grated

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C Place the potatoes onto a baking tray. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Cool the potatoes, cut in half horizontally.
3. Scoop out flesh and place into a bowl add the butter, milk, salt and pepper and mash well together.
4. Stir in the mince or tuna. Place mixture back into the potato skins and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for a further 15 minutes.
5. Make your mice faces on top of the potato while it cools down enough to be eaten. Use raisins for the eyes, salami for ears, red pepper for mouth, spring onions for whiskers, parsley for hair and anything else you may have.

Mighty Mice Potato Boats

Bon appetit! 

The Jozi WAHM's Guide to Making Gloopy Goo

This is another fun sensory activity that I came across looking for fun, educational activities that would be suitable for both a four year old and a one year old.

Making the goo is incredibly simple and only requires cornflour (maizena), water and food colouring (optional). This is how it is made:

1. Place one cup of hot water in a bowl.
2. I added the food colouring at the end but it was incredibly hard to stir so I would recommend adding it at this point instead. A drop or two is enough. I used green gel food colouring.
3. Add about two cups of maizena to the water, a little at a time, stirring gently as you go along.You might need a little more or less than this. It will become quite stiff and difficult to stir. 

1. Left: The maizena (cornflour) used to make the goo. Right: Maizena and water mixture. 

Once ready, this mixture takes on amazing properties. It looks liquid, but is solid on touching as force causes its viscosity to change. . If pressed it becomes rock hard, while it becomes liquid again if left alone.

I figured that the science behind non-Newtonian fluids was likely to go straight over the heads of my little ones, but they enjoyed practically testing the amazing properties of this mixture. They enjoyed watching the results as they poked and prodded, turned the mixture upside down (it looks runny but does not move) and squeezed it between their hands. This kept them busy for ages! It did seem to dry out after a while though.

With older children, a physics lesson can be incorporated into the activity.

Warning 1:

This is really messy. I did this outside to minimise the cleaning afterwards. Nevertheless, I had two filthy kids by the end of it. No surprise, Squish ate some of it, but called it quits when he realised it was not particularly pleasant tasting. 

Warning 2:

Do not throw this mixture down the drain as it will cause blockages. Rather dispose of it in he dustbin. Apparently it can be stored in a Ziplock bag for later use, but my mixture was full of grass and toddler drool so I opted to throw it out.

Noodle and Squish getting their hands dirty

Tea Party for Two

Squish was out to the shops with A, which meant it was time for some quality mommy and daughter bonding time. Even though dear little Squish has been with us for over a year now, I get the feeling that Noodle sometimes misses being an only child. While we spend lots of quality time together, it is unfortunately not often that I can give her my undivided and unshared attention.

I let Noodle pick the activity for the morning and she decided that we would have a princess tea party in her bedroom. Our reigning princess got dressed into her pretty party dress (complete with lip gloss, tiara and jewellery) and went about handing out invitations to all her dolls and teddy bears while I set the diminutive plastic table in her bedroom (this involved a total preparation time of five minutes and lots of improvisation, like the receiver blanket tablecloth).

Juices were poured into my tiniest espresso cups and a few sweets and snacks placed on the table.  Mismatched leftover serviettes, masks and party hats from a previous birthday party were added and Noodle insisted that we needed party packs, so I packed some of her old toys into bags for her and her favourite doll (she acted so surprised when she took each of them out that you would swear she had never seen them before). 

Then it was party time and we both sat down to enjoy the party. Luckily I am relatively small in stature and just managed to sit on the tiny plastic chairs without breaking them. We had an opportunity to discuss some of the pressing issues that perturb the four-year-old mind and the many oooohhhhs and giggles were evidence that Noodle enjoyed the affair.

 It struck me that Noodle enjoyed this impromptu little party far more than some of the elaborate birthday parties that we had previously thrown. All she wanted was a little bit of time with mommy, no laptops, no cellphones and no siblings. I thought back to my years as a corporate slave, spending very little time with Noodle and in this moment, my decision to become a work at home mother, spending more time with my children was re-affirmed.

The glorious tea table

The Jozi WAHM Reviews Real Kids Sunglasses

I must admit that despite being well aware of eye safety and the importance of UV protection for little eyes, especially in a sunny country like South Africa (apparently eighty percent of ones lifetime UV exposure occurs before the age of eighteen), I have never bothered with expensive sunglasses for my little ones. They fall off little noses and never seem to last more than a week before breaking anyway (then again I have been buying the flea market variety). 

Then I was given a pair of Real Kids Sunglasses for Noodle by a company called O-V Optics. While I am usually not easily swayed by marketing speeches, I must say that I am really impressed by these sunglasses.They are fashionable, comfortable and fit well on little heads. However, what sets them apart is their ingenious design. Their flexible arms bend and twist rather than break and they are virtually indestructible (I let both my little ones do a bit of tugging and prodding and this theory seems to hold). I am also told that they offer one hundred percent UV protection and that the shatterproof polycarbonate lenses pop out rather than shatter in the event of  impact. 

They come in two styles, Sport and Swag and come in various different sizes (ages 4-7, 7-10 and 10 plus). I picked the Sport style as I thought this would better suit Noodle's petite face. They also have nifty straps available to keep them from getting lost and can be adapted for prescription lenses.

There is currently a drive to incorporate these sunglasses into school uniforms, which makes sense given the amount of sun children are exposed to during break times and sports activities. Children's eyes are apparently also more vulnerable to sun damage as their eyes have larger pupils and clearer lenses.

You can contact O-V Optics if you would like to introduce your school to the 'Sunglasses at School Program'. 

Noodle's teddy poses in Real Kids Sport Sunglasses

Real Kids Sunglasses- Swag style

The Jozi WAHM goes to the Johannesburg #MomBlogMeetup

MomBlog MeetUp at Free Range Lifestyle Centre, Fourways

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of  attending a mommy blogger get together at the Free Range Lifestyle Centre in Fourways. With good coffee and an amazing play area, this is another fabulous venue to add to my list of child friendly hangouts (I did not have the little ones with me but will have to go back with them).

A big thanks goes out to Laura Kim of Harassed Mom and Heather Step of SA Mom Blogs for arranging an inspirational, enjoyable and enlightening morning. Being relatively new to the blogging scene, it was wonderful to meet up with other blogging moms who have perfected the art of blogging and new friendships were forged.

Various guest speakers kept us captivated at the Olive Branch Cookery School within the center on various health and food related topics and I hope to share some of their insightful wisdom in posts to follow.

The icing on the cake was that bloggers were treated to exquisite goody bags filled to the brim with treats, courtesy of some wonderful sponsors (a massive thank you to Gumtree,Nuk, Babygroup, Babymoov, Beautiful Earth, Not Bread Alone, Fresh Culture Cafe, Ella's Kitchen, O-V Optics and various other generous sponsors for the amazing treats and vouchers).

I am sure everyone is already looking forward to the next one!

The Jozi Wahm's Guide to Family Fitness

I often hear moms complaining that they do not have time for exercise. I know from experience that it can be tough to squeeze in a workout with children and since my children were born, I have given up on the notion of ever getting a chance to hit the gym. 

However, there is plenty of truth to the saying that a healthy body equals a healthy mind and I have learnt that the best way to incorporate exercise is to include the entire family (added bonus... kiddies get tired out and sleep better).

EXERCISE WITH BABIES

When you have a small baby it is a little trickier to exercise. It may be possible to exercise when your baby is sleeping, but the thought of catching up on sleep is probably more appealing. However, in the unlikely event that you got a good night's sleep, nap time may be a suitable time to sneak in a workout.

If that is not an option, here are some other tried and tested ideas:

• A good baby carrier or wrap will allow you to go for long walks or possibly light jogs (the motion is also likely to soothe smaller babies to sleep). If you happen to own a jogging stroller, even better. 
• Smaller babies can also be incorporated into exercises (use baby as a weight on your legs during squats or place baby on your tummy, facing you during sit-ups).
• You can bounce around on a Pilates ball with baby on your lap (this doubles up as an effective technique for putting colicky babies to sleep). Or roll backwards and forwards on the ball (give baby a turn too once they are a few months old, this works well for tummy time to develop those crawling muscles).

EXERCISE WITH TODDLERS AND OLDER CHILDREN

Once kids are a little older,the possibilities are endless- running around, cycling,swimming,creating obstacle courses, dancing, skipping games and much more.

Our family exercise staple for weekday evenings is to put on a good exercise DVD and get the whole family to join in. We used to do this before Squish was born and then stopped for a while, but now that he is mobile we have started again. Our old favourites are Tae Bo, Zumba, Pilates and we have also recently discovered the Insanity range. A and I get in our workouts and the little ones jump around and have a good laugh. 

This works really well if time is limited and you need a quick but effective workout.You might not be able to fit in one long workout but two fifteen minute workouts are better than nothing. 

Free exercise apps on your smart phone can be used to similar effect (try the Caynex and Noom ranges for example).

In short, while having little ones around might make implementing fitness routine a little harder, it can definitely be done with a little planning and imagination. Most importantly, don't give up. There may be days (or weeks) where you are just too exhausted to even try exercising but you can always just start again.

Jozi Wahm's Guide to Getting Kids to Eat their Veggies

Noodle and Squish have both always eaten very well, but recently it has been a bit of a battle to get Noodle to eat healthy foods, especially vegetables. (She always used to love vegetables but her friends have convinced her that they are yucky so I need to reverse this mindset). Fortunately my kids both love fruit so I have no problem convincing them to eat these.

I always thought I was cultivating fairly healthy eating values and awareness of different foods until I discovered last week that Noodle thought that potato chips grew on a chip tree (probably my fault- while I seldom make french fries, when I do they come straight out of a McCain's bag and Noodle has never seen me chop potatoes up for this purpose).

I thought I would share some of the tricks that I use to get my family to eat their veggies (and other good stuff):

1. Grow your own vegetables and herbs. I have a small herb and vegetable garden outside my kitchen door and while Noodle will usually not eat tomatoes, she will happily pick nibble at the cherry tomatoes that she picks herself from the garden. They take up virtually no space and are easy to grow.
2.  Salad skewers- because everything tastes better on a stick. (Fruit skewers work just as well).

   

   Child-sized salad skewer with cucumber, bell pepper, cherry tomato and cheese served with a yoghurt and herb dip

3. Food art- smiley faced sandwiches or food plated in animal, heart or flower shapes- the internet shows endless possibilities.
4. Vegetables cut into unusual shapes are more appealing to children than if they are in their usual form.
5.  Peas, carrots and broccoli can all go unnoticed if pureed and added to pastas, soups or curries.I take all my slightly overripe bananas, peel them and chuck them in a container in the freezer and then offer them as ice lollies once frozen or use them in smoothies. Berries also work well frozen.
6.  Speaking of smoothies, carrots, cucumber and even spinach can slip unnoticed into these. 
7. Children will eat anything on a pizza, covered with some cheese. Use wholewheat flour for the base.