inner pickle

noodle heads

For someone that talks a lot about food it might surprise you that I have a lot of trouble feeding my middle child. 

I was spoilt by Henry who at two made me one of those incredibly annoying mothers who gave their child steamed broccoli to snack on, and he ate it. He's a terrific eater. Lots of fruit and carrot sticks and organic apricots and ham and cheese wraps. Easy. 

Not so much the four year old. 

And dinner is the hardest. So many things she claims she doesn't like. Whole reward charts stickered with incentives just to try something (not even something new. You've had risotto a hundred times child, what's the problem?!). 

And the things she will eat? Not in my from-scratch repertoire. She loves beef nachos. (I have never attempted corn chips.) She loves sausages and mashed potato. (I've never made sausage.) And she loves chicken noodles. (Am currently googling recipes for udon noodles.) 

 

I managed to grab this photo in between her wolfing this dish down. Unfamiliar as I am to her eating dinner at all. 

 

 

Tilly's chicken noodles

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp water

1 cup peas

1 cup corn

approx 2 cups shredded cooked chicken

approx 500g fresh udon noodles

 

Heat the oil in the wok then add the oyster sauce and stir till simmering. Add the water, the vegetables and the chicken and when the veggies are cooked stir through the noodles and cook for a further two minutes. 

Serve to reluctant youngsters. 

You never know your luck.

xxx

for this good food

I'm pretty good with dinner. I usually make it myself, the majority of people at the table eat it, and we mix it up. With the exception of Saturday pizza movie night on which the kids have what they call "plain" (homemade) pizza every week. And we have a grownup version. 

Sometimes though, I'm without a meal plan and I find myself staring forlornly at the fridge or pantry. 

It's always those days that I visit a friend and their amazing-smelling dinner is cooked at 2pm and cooling in the fridge. I've never been able to cook dinner at lunchtime. It used to be that I was working, and more recently I have no idea what I'm doing but it's not cooking dinner in the middle of the day. You? 

Last week I was walking with a friend at 5pm, she has four kids, and neither of us had made dinner. I asked her what they were having. Burritos. 

I never think to make burritos. 

I had mince in the freezer and flatbread in the bread box. The perfect quick and easy kid-friendly dinner.

 

 

Avocado optional.

What's your quick fallback family dinner ideas? I'm starting a list!

xxx

pumpkin's not for pie

I've been super lucky to be given two homegrown pumpkins in the last week. One Butternut and one Jap (or Kent). Both glorious. 

The first was in exchange for a bag of new mandarins off one of our trees (don't you LOVE a barter?!) and the second was a gift from new friends (who feel just like old friends) who treated us to lunch on their verandah this weekend overlooking amazing green hills. 

So pumpkin soup for dinner, and we'll roast the rest for pasta or risotto later this week. YUM.

(With homemade hummus and flatbread.)

 

PUMPKIN SOUP

Ingredients:

2 small leeks

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

tbsp olive oil

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground tumeric

1 tsp ground coriander

approx half a Butternut pumpkin, peeled & chopped

approx a third of a Jap pumpkin, peeled & chopped

3 medium potatoes, peeled & sliced

approx 1 litre of chicken stock

1 cup red lentils

 

Method:

Cook the leeks (trimmed, washed), the onion and garlic in the oil until translucent. Fry off the spices for a minute or two. Add the pumpkin and potato and cover with stock. Stir in the red lentils.

Cook for approx 30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and the red lentils have thoroughly cooked down (and disappeared.) 

Blend with hand blender until smooth. 

I got the idea for adding the red lentils from my mother in law - they're such perfect protein and no one would know they were there! Jen adds coconut milk to hers too, which is delicious. 

Ivy will have the pumpkin soup with cous cous stirred through it tomorrow. She eats before the rest of us then snacks in her high chair while we eat. 

Tonight it's peas.

This year I am planting pumpkins and peas. Two of my favourite veggies.

What are you eating?!

xxx

 

 

decision fatigue

Some decisions are easy. 

Like this morning. When my new-to-us old car wouldn't start. And Adam wasn't here. And I'm a feminist and all but not a mechanic. And it wouldn't even tick over.

Call my Dad? Of course I called my Dad. Who drove over (he can drive over! I LOVE living here!) and jump started it, and graciously said he and Mum hadn't shut their rear door properly before and run the battery flat many times too.

He even followed me to the school (we now know what the late procedure is) and stayed with the car so I didn't have to turn it off. Thanks Dad. Legend.

Another easy decision: send Tilly to preschool today with a shocker cough and dramatic ear infection? Ah, no. Not even if I'm feeling crook myself. Stay home and think up crazy crafts instead. Accompanied by lots of camomile.  

 

Give the baby a dreadful plastic snake to play with? Will it amuse her? Yep. 

 

Will I keep glancing at it out of the corner of my eye and jumping? Yep.

Will I at one point actually shriek when Tilly moves it and leaves it under the clothesline? (Even though it's bright green and fake looking?) Yep.

By late this afternoon camomile wasn't the beverage I was wishing it was. 

And I was pretty happy with a little list I'd drawn up last week to take some of the night by night decision making out of dinner. There was a time I loved looking at the the fridge at 6.30pm at night and throwing together imaginative creations. I can barely remember it. 

I now have this list:

Mon - salad

Tue - soup

Wed - egg based or bean based

Thu - Pasta or rice based

Fri - Slow-cooked (+ dessert)

Sat - Pizza & movie night

Sun - Roast (+ make stock)

 

I just get sick of thinking up balanced menu plans and this takes some of the guess work out. Using whatever's fresh and whatever's in the pantry, it just means I can cycle warm & cold salads, our favourite four or so soups, a frittata or quiche or a bean nachos or whatever on a Wednesday, maybe risotto or pasta bake or vegie fried rice on a Thursday.

On Fridays Tilly is at preschool so I can put something on at lunchtime. Saturday night's been homemade pizza at our place for a couple of years now, and the Sunday night roast and making stock straight after worked really well. I used leftover meat in the salad on Monday, and the stock was the base of the pumpkin soup on Tuesday and a vegetable risotto on Thursday.

So it was soup night tonight.

I had a jar of green split peas in the pantry and a few rashers of bacon left over from the weekend. Given my state of mind, I didn't think to soak the peas over night. I'd heard you could simmer them for five minutes then soak for an hour to the same effect. Tried it. Worked. 

Green split pea and bacon soup

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups of green split peas (ideally soaked overnight or as above)

2 medium brown onions, sliced

2 carrots, peeled, sliced

3 potatoes, peeled, sliced

3 rashers of bacon, chopped

1.5 litres chicken stock

seasoning

 

METHOD:

Cook the onion in a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Add a pinch of salt to help it sweat. Throw in the bacon and cook. Add the other vegetables and the soaked peas and cover with the chicken stock. Cook for approx 30 mins or until the peas collapse and are soft and the vegies are cooked well. Blend with a stick blender or in a food processor. Season to taste. 

With some bread or not. Wouldn't it be awesome if that was the hardest decision you made today.

Hope your week is going swimmingly, and thanks for stopping by! 

xxx

all about the girls

These two, actually.

This is quite an old photo of two of my favourite people in the world. Ten years old, in fact. On the left, my sister Naomi, on the right, my sister in law, Rachel.

Yes it looks like they're in some kind of incarceration facility but it is, rather, the front door to a basement apartment Adam and I lived in when we first came back from London. 

I also have lots of photos of these two in London, and other fun places, but they are not conveniently scanned and on a memory stick from my father in law (thanks, Jim.)

Once upon a time the four of us shared a one bedroom apartment in Bethnal Green in true Aussies-in-London fashion. It rocked. 

And we shared a LOT of meals at a place just like this:

Which brings me to my post. 

Ad and I took the smallies for an early dinner at above-mentioned noodle place and had a fab time (yep, a bit unexpectedly, smallies, public, all that.) And it took us back to those days (when we felt like adults) hanging with the sisters in Covent Garden. Eating number 42 Yaki Udon. Good times. 

(I hasten to add there's no free lunch/sponsorship/kickback thingo going on here... this is authentic nostalgia!)

What's new? Instead of being here with Nomie and Rach we're here with the kidlets. Who were great company. 

 

Instead of a hangover we have colouring in pencils!

The food is still really good. In fact, better than I remember. Maybe that's because we're in Sydney? And it was a glorious late afternoon and we had a view across Darling Harbour? I know, life really sucks. Poor me. 

If Nomie and Rach had been there it would have been perfect.

xxx

 

 

Vegetarian "Sausage" Rolls

Really.

So good. And no need for any animal to die for you to totally get the sense of a sausage roll! (Am I about to discover sausage rolls are really an Australian-ism?)

Anyway, I made these up initially for Henry's birthday party. They were OK - I made them creamier with sour cream and cheese in them - but I wasn't happy with the texture so tried again. And these are delicious. Really happy with them. Have to blog them so I don't lose/forget the recipe!

I served them with sweet chili sauce at the party, but for dinner will serve with steamed vegies. Or a spinach and haloumi salad would go perfectly too.

VEGETARIAN 'SAUSAGE' ROLLS

Ingredients:

3 sheets of puff pastry (I have yet to make my own. Coming soon. I used the frozen version.)

1½ cup wholemeal breadcrumbs

½ cup rolled oats

1 large zucchini, finely grated

2 carrots, finely grated

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 eggs

1 cup chickpeas (cooked)

1 tablespoon tahini

salt and pepper

Method:

This recipe is easiest if you have a food processor, but you can easily do it without. If you have a processor, whizz your bread into breadcrumbs, and throw in your oats and process till fine. (Otherwise make up your breadcrumbs and bash up your oats in a mortar/pestle.)

Add your zucchini and carrot into the processor and whizz (or add to breadcrumbs and oats in a big bowl and mix well.)

Add the chick peas to the mix and process well until smoothish.

Add the eggs and tahini and process again.

(Or just stir up well in the bowl!)

Add seasoning to taste.

Lay out a sheet of puff pastry and cut in half (into 2 rectangles). Spoon some mix down one long side. Paint edges with milk (to help stick) and roll up into long sausage. Cut into 4 (so each sheet makes 8) and paint the top with milk. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

I think I used a total of 3 sheets, making approx 24 rolls. I think. I'll make it again and update this if I've got that wrong.

Bake in a moderate oven (180°C) for about 20 mins or until golden.

Hide them from the kids unless you want them all eaten (note to self.) Also hide from Adam. In fact, make an extra batch because they freeze beautifully (uncooked) and you can take them out and cook from frozen for a snack.

Because it's all about satisfying snacks.

(I am a mad breastfeeding woman. You there, back away from the bakery item.)

Or any excuse, really.

xxx

stir fry for small fry

I don't know about you but damn I've made a few stir frys in my time.

Not so many lately; they were the kind of dinner I made a lot of before the kids joined us. The after-work, on-the-fly, protein-heavy dinner we used to love.

Time to rekindle the love, I think.

This one, above, came together so quickly, for me it challenges the old pumpkin soup as the quickest dinner from chopping board to table.

There's no recipe for stir fry, just inspiration.

I usually start with onion, garlic and ginger, peanut oil or sesame oil or both, olive oil works fine but sesame oil has fabulous flavour.

Lots of fresh vegies - carrot, mushroom, zucchini, broccoli and red capsicum in this one. Some herbs if you have them - coriander works well. About half a cup of vegie stock to get it all cooking.

I served this stir fry with cous cous made on vegie stock. You don't even cook it! Cous cous into bowl, stock in, lid on, voilà!

If I wasn't making it hoping small people would eat it I'd add lots of fresh chilies, maybe a squeeze of lemon or lime.

And did they eat it?

They tried it. Actually, Henry ate it. Tilly ate the mushrooms.

If it only takes 10 minutes to make then I'm more inclined to let them have a slice of bread and butter after they've tried dinner. If it takes an hour and it's fiddly and there's a mountain of washing up... well at least it's grainy homemade bread. No fighting over food.

Hope your dinner went down a treat tonight.

xxx

feeding small children (or Part 2 of 2: Flawed)

It's hard, right?

And anyone with children under six who says

* oh my children eat absolutely everything 

* dinnertime is always such a relaxing time of day

* I satisfy my creativeness in the kitchen and my children play quietly somewhere else while I'm cooking

is a cyborg. 

Really, they are. If you know one of these people I suggest checking all electrical currents nearby. 

I know some households have share-cooking arrangement but I can only talk about the households I know where it's the women doing the thinking, shopping and cooking. (In the interest of full disclosure I should admit I have a share-cooking arrangement in my house. I shop and cook and Adam cleans. We've done it like this since way before kids which is lucky because I am the single most incompetent cleaner or dishwasher you've ever met. I hate cleaning, he hates cooking. Perfect.)

Anyway. Back to the dinner table at six o'clock at night with two tired children that just want something for dinner that they recognise. Except their mother is currently unable to face shopping for or cooking and certainly not eating any kind of meat at all. Not even tuna. So there's been a bunch of new dinners on the dinner table as I trawl through our vegetarian options and try to make sure everyone's getting enough iron and protein. 

A few nights ago I made a delicious Nigella Lawson recipe, Pumpkin and Goats cheese lasagna, recipe here. Really yummy. Henry, usually relatively compliant with anything to do with pasta and/or pumpkin, flat out refused to try it. I cajoled Tilly into at least tasting it and she spat it out. Which of course you're not allowed to do here, but I don't think she's ever done it. I wasn't actually mad, I was just dejected. Then there was the spinach and goat's cheese frittata. Also very tasty. No go. Not at all. I was out that night having dinner with girlfriends and I'd made the frittata and left it for Ad to take out of the oven. He retreated to tinned soup from the back of the pantry which they also refused on the grounds it wasn't "good soup" and they had vegemite toast. They were lucky it was Daddy, not sure I would have fronted up the third option. 

What are your tactics?

If they don't eat it, do they go to bed hungry?

I've never wanted food to become a battle. I don't make a big fiasco out of it and am relying on the fact that one day they'll understand I'm offering pretty tasty healthy food that is probably worth trying. 

I also keep forgetting that when Henry was the age Tilly is now, he pretty much ate tinned spaghetti for about six months and not much else. That was all I could get him to eat. It was a phase, he grew out of it. 

Tonight? I made broccoli, sweet potato and barley soup and Henry had two bowls and Tilly ate all hers, no argument. Weird children. 

It's just that when it's you in the kitchen, and you serve up something you know is nutritious, and there are arguments and tears and lying down on the chairs and deliberately dropping of things under the table, it's just depressing. 

So if it's ever happened to you, please know you're not alone. I'm raising my glass of water to you saying cheers, lady. 

And as soon as I finish breast feeding this baby not even born yet, I'll be raising my glass of shiraz to you which always made dinnertime refusal a bit easier to take. 

Cheers to that. 

xxx

food for kids

Another super-quick and totally easy dinner that your kids might eat: Oodles of Noodles with Ham and Cheese.

A couple of years ago when I told my truly excellent mother in law that I had taken a job cooking for a hundred children at a big preschool in Brisbane, she sent me this book, available from here.

It's a fabulous resource designed for childcare cooks with recipes formulated to feed 40. 

One of my staples of my time in that job was Oodles of Noodles. I put it on the three-week rotating menu almost straight away, and the room leaders were always in the kitchen asking for more. The kids loved it.

Mine too. 

This recipe is an adaptation of Carolyn Bunney and Lauren Williams 'Oodles of Noodles' recipe from "Caring For Children: Food, Nutrition and Fun Activities". 

oodles of noodles with ham and cheese

1 x 250g packet dry egg noodles

4-5 slices of ham, chopped finely

1 cup grated cheese

1 cup whole milk

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 onion, finely diced

salt & pepper and a dash of nutmeg

1. Cook your noodles in boiling water.

2. In a bowl, mix your beaten eggs, milk, ham, cheese, onion and seasoning. (See I told you it was dead easy.) Toss cooked noodles into baking dish and pour egg mix over. Bake for about 20 mins, or until set, in a moderate oven, about 180°.

It'll look kinda like this: 

I blogged a similar dinner last year (gosh, look at that wee Matilda!!) as you can make this dish on any kind of noodles you find at the back of the pantry.

You can also grate some carrot and zucchini in (yum), omit the ham for vegetarian families, and replace the brown onion with chives or shallots. 

If your kids are herb-friendly a handful of fresh herbs lifts this; right now mine are very suspicious of herbs. 

Strange children. 

(Although the noodles went down with zero argument so that's something, right?)

xxx

Ten Minute Bean Nachos!

In our house I'm still hearing the 'kids food' and 'grown up food' differentiation as much I discourage it. 

So every second night I serve up validated 'kids food' (for heavens sake) to minimise the argument. 

Is this, alongside spaghetti bolognaise and homemade pizza, possibly the ultimate 'kids food'?

 SUPER quick bean nachos.

Here's what I think is in it (forgive me, I am quite vague this week. Blame six-months-pregnant brain.)

1 onion finely chopped

splodge of olive oil

pinch salt

1 x 400g tin red kidney beans (soaking & cooking them fresh or in fact hand harvesting your own from your biodynamic garden would be better of course, but today we are interested in speed.)

1 x 800g tin tomatoes (please see above)

1 x 400g tin baked beans

Handful of fresh herbs if you have them, or dried is good too (I used oregano)

grated cheddar cheese

corn chips

sliced avocado

sour cream on top

chilli sauce on top of that

METHOD:
Saute the onion in the oil and salt:

 

Rinse your kidney beans:

 

Hurl them into the pan. Add the tomatoes, the baked beans, the herbs. You could add sweet corn or chick peas, that'd be yummy. 

Cook for about 10 mins, or longer if you have the time and don't have hungry kids climbing your legs. The baked beans give a nice depth of flavour, cooking for a bit longer improves it. 10 mins will do though!

While it's cooking, grate some cheese...

  

The kids just had corn chips with beans and cheddar on top.

Adam and I melted the cheese onto the corn chips for ours, added the beans then sliced avocado, sour cream and chilli sauce.

Quick. Relatively kid-friendly. Beanie. Good. 

xxx