Christmas Crafts

Do you have any Christmas Craft ideas???

I always struggle with the entertaining activities area with Alex and the ones I think he will like most (e.g. making a mini herb garden) turn out to be the ones that frustrate him most. Ha-ha! I suppose we both just have different expectations, I expect to plant the herbs, he expects to eat them, I expect to dig holes to plant the plants and he expects to be able to throw dirt everywhere!! 

I think that this year I will stick with the classics

·         Cotton ball snow men,

·         Making our own crepe paper Christmas streamers

·         And the green-pompom's-glued-to-a-paper-cone Christmas tree.

Ha-ha! These are the old favourites from my childhood that I will be passing on to Alex, and they are relatively cheap and easy to organise. Requiring only paper, crepe paper or card (old cereal, tissue boxes), pompoms, cotton balls, textas and glue, most of which you already have around the house.

My friend the other day gave me an extremely early Christmas card that she and her son had made. It was his little foot print with paint, stamped onto a piece of card, cut out and made into a reindeer with little pipe cleaner reindeer ears and beady little eyes, the heel of his foot being the nose. It was quite the little work of art and such a creative idea. It means that people have a Christmas card, and a memento of him at this age, it really is precious.  

An Amazing Mash!!

I made an amazing  mash, the other night and it was eaten and enjoyed by all. It may seem strange to add a Zucchini to a mash but it was so yummy! And I do not like Zucchini.

1 large Zucchini

2 medium sized Potatoes

1 chunk of Sweet Potato

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

1. Chop the Sweet Potato into medium sized chunks, the Potato into small chunks and the Zucchini into large chunks (this will even out the cooking time) pop them all into a pot, cover with water and boil.

2. When they are all tender, strain but save some of the 'stock' (the water the vegetables were boiled in). Pop into a food processor or blender and add a little of the stock. 

3. Add a little olive oil, to taste, but no more than a teaspoon. Add the salt and pepper.

4. Blend/ puree to the texture you like, adding more stock for a thinner smoother puree and less for a thicker mash.

5. Serve!

How easy, although all mashes are, but super tasty. I made it quite smooth and used at as a sauce for Alex and he ate a fair amount, dipping his carrot and roast beef slices into it. It’s just an idea for you to give a go, simple and easy and if your little one likes it then woo! 3 veggies down!

Also adding olive oil instead of butter, margarine or cream is a good idea as it doesn't contain the cholesterol, salts, animal fats or preservatives that they do and you can add your own salt to taste. Thus making it a lighter calorie, lower sodium meal without affecting the flavour, this is a good technique for most things, to help your family's overall health and nutrition.

Difficult Eaters

Are you a mum who has run out of ideas? Is the constant struggle to come up with entertaining ideas for meal times and playtime wearing you down? Or perhaps you have just run out of ideas, or are simply looking for something fresh to do with the kids?

Look no further than “Mummy’s Little Helper.” Lots of creative ideas for craft and play, recipes for those fussy little eaters and advice from other mums to get you through those situations you had no idea you would end up in.

Nearly all kids will go through a stage where they decide they don’t like to eat (unless it’s chocolate or my son’s personal favourite popcorn). It can be very frustrating when you put so much effort into making the family meal and your little one won’t eat it. Don’t worry too much though as this is generally just a phase and they will grow out of it. Also as everyone will tell you they will eat if they are hungry, no kid will starve themselves. Sometimes this phase is your child asserting their independence, I believe this is the case with my son, Alex, as the more we encourage and cajole him the more he digs in his heels and insists that he ‘dint lik it’. I have found that one way to make him eat is to make food ‘fun’. This is sometimes difficult as our idea of fun food can be a nice steak with some roasted veggies and a lovely glass of wine, or in my case oysters and champagne!!

Kids’ ideas of fun foods are quite different from ours and can be as simple as making vegetable mash a bit thinner so instead of mash it is Dip!

Some simple ideas to help make food ‘fun’:

• Make mash thinner and call it dip, maybe put it in a little bowl or container on the side of the plate so that it really is dip. Making a coloured mixed mash can help this idea take off, so instead of a plain Potato mash make a Sweet Potato and Carrot mash or a Pumpkin and Potato mash or use a pea puree to turn the mash green. To make it thinner simply add a bit more milk or water than normal.
• Instead if chicken breast, serve chicken skewers. If these are still of no interest to you child (Alex hates ‘yuk’ big ones) make mini chicken skewers so that they are more appealing. This also applies to beef, firmer fleshed fish, and tofu.
• Don’t be afraid to try your child on foods that you might consider ‘inappropriate’. Teriyaki chicken sushi is a great, balanced meal. Calamari rings fun to dip and easy to cook, same goes for prawns. Salmon has a lovely pick flesh and canned or fresh can be used in a variety of kid friendly fun dishes. Give everything a go, who knows what they will like!
• Vegetables are difficult for kids to like, so try to make them more of a background ingredient. Tuna patties with a Carrot, a Zucchini and some Onion grated in, same with beef and salmon patties, whatever vegetable you have with do. Spaghetti Bolognese is a great ‘vessel’ for veggies, so are pancakes. Make a regular pancake mix and grate in a few veggies, spring onions, carrot and celery maybe, cook as a regular pancake and serve with your child’s favourite sauce.
• Try using different ideas to make veggies exciting, for example instead of steamed Carrots make a Carrot Soufflé. (It sounds difficult but is SOOOOO easy) It’s like a carrot cake but more savoury, the recipe is further down the page.

Carrot Soufflé Recipe

Ingredients

1kg of carrots, peeled, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds

Salt for salting cooking water

1 cup whole milk

1 cup Saltine cracker crumbs

3/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

1/3 cup minced onion

1 tablespoon room temperature unsalted butter

Salt

Tiny pinch cayenne

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3 large eggs

Method

1 Preheat oven to 180C, butter a 1.8lt capacity baking dish and set aside.

2 Place carrots in a saucepan and cover with an inch of water. Add about 1 teaspoon of salt to the water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. Strain the carrots and puree in a food processor or with an immersion blender.

3 Place carrot puree in a large bowl. Slowly add in the milk, a little at a time, whisking after each addition so that the mixture stays smooth, not lumpy. Mix in the saltine cracker crumbs, the grated cheese, onion, butter, salt, cayenne, and black pepper.

4 In a separate bowl whip up the eggs until frothy. Then whisk them into the carrot puree mixture.

5 Transfer the mixture into the prepared baking dish & bake for 40-45 minutes, until puffed up a bit and lightly golden.

This recipe is great because it comes out of the oven looking like a cake, and smells delicious. As well as, at the end of each week we always have carrots, stale crackers and a few sprouting onions and they are pretty much all you need!!
If you like this then let me know, and if you discover any yummy variations I am definately keen!
I hope you liked my first bit of blogging,
Cheers Niquola!