food

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• healthy (3)
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• recipes (7)

articles

• Healthy kids lunchbox ideas
• Sweetcorn and potato soup recipe
• Veggie soup, simple but yummy
• Tasty Chinese winter soup recipes
• Roast butternut, feta and coriander quesadillas recipe
• Mother’s Day recipe: spinach, mushroom, tomato and béchamel crepes
• Chocolate chip pancakes for Easter
• A meaty issue
• Fast food made healthy
• A balanced nutritious diet for kids
• Lunchbox ideas for school
• Healthy family recipes
• Gourmet kids Xmas recipes
• Greenland’s separates the health shop & deli/ eatery!

provided by Matthew Ballenden, dad to Isabella & owner of the Fresh Earth Food Store, an organic health store and vegetarian restaurant with a  great online store.  Visit their website to find out more.

Lunch boxes are a priority in our book because the home is where a childs nutritional foundation is made. The home is where the child is taught how to eat, what to eat and the connection between themselves and the food they eat. Creating tasty, happy lunch boxes is so easy. Involve your child in the process and give them options to choose from.

Please be aware that actual time for eating lunch at most schools only lasts for 15-20 min and is filled with distractions. Make sure the lunch foods you pack are easy to eat, packed in easily opened packages, and don’t require peeling or special tools.

Things to take note of while packing a lunch box for your kids:

Invest in a good quality lunch box with different compartments to separate the food.

Pack a little ice pack with the lunch box to keep the food cool

Kids are more likely to eat fruit or vegetables when they have been cut up for them.

Plan your lunch box the night before to avoid the last minute panic

Involve your child in putting their lunch box together by giving them options

A healthy lunch box is a balanced lunch box, which means little to no ‘pick-a-pack’ food (food in packets from manufacturers with loads of preservatives and no goodness.

If your child wants the same thing day after day, go ahead and pack it, as long as the overall meal is nutritious and you are sure your child eats it. Kids don’t like a lot of change in what they eat. Did you know that it takes 10 to 12 introductions to a new food before a child is usually willing to even taste it?

When choosing bread for your childs lunchbox read the ingredients carefully. Stay away from preserved breads and buy bread from small scratch bake bakeries.

Keep the food as close to nature as possible It can be tricky to come up with new lunchbox ideas day after day.

Here are some more lunchbox ideas examples that you can try:

Lunchbox idea 1:
Sliced apple (squeeze a little lemon juice to stop it going brown)
Cheese and Cucumber Wrap
Mixed nuts, raisin and mango pack
Water

Lunchbox idea 2:
Carrot sticks and baby tomato
Brown English muffin pizza
Dried fruit balls dipped in carob or chocolate
Carrot and apple juice (2/3 apple 1/3 carrot)
Water

Lunchbox idea 3:
Banana
Dried organic mango strips
Avocado and hummus with cheddar cheese sandwich on a low GL brown bread
Mary-Anns Seed bar
Homemade ginger beer (sugar free)

Lunchbox idea 4:
Celery & cucmber sticks
Chunky cream cheese dip
Cooked mielie
Potato Salad
Natural corn nachos
Carob Cocoons (Free Food)
Homemade lemonade (sugar free)

Lunchbox idea 5:
Sliced watermelon
Mini Vegetable fritters
Banana bran muffin
Water

Lunchbox idea 6
Mixed dried fruit and nut mix
Egg and Cucumber sandwiches
Oat Crunchie
Apple Juice

It can be tricky to come up with new lunchbox ideas day after day. So here is a Healthy lunchbox ideas template that you can print and stick on your fridge.

provided by Diane Vaubell, a work-from-home-mom to 2 small picky, vegetarians. She is an amateur blogger with obsessive addictions to food, photography and online social networking. Visit her blog or catch her on @dirott

This is the first of many dishes made for me by a good friend. When you taste a soup as good as this, you know the friendship is bound to last…it has to!

This soup is incredibly nutritious, filling and comforting – absolutely perfect for chilly Winter nights. The soup can be liquidised and it presents a great opportunity to sneak in vegetables and legumes for little picky eaters.

Liquid for this soup comes from stock, milk and the can juices from the sweetcorn and butter beans, so don’t be tempted to add additional stock – it will dilute the flavours – rather double-up the recipe to serve more.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 onion, diced

1 potato, diced

1 green pepper, seeded and diced

3 tall sticks of celery, sliced (keep leaves for garnish)

1 clove of garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons Sunflower oil

2 teaspoons margarine or butter
(note: too much butter and oil will make the top of your soup oily – use sparingly)

600ml vegetable stock

300ml milk

1 can of butter beans (keep can liquid)

1 can of sweetcorn kernels (keep can liquid)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a pot, saute the onion, potatom green pepper, celery and garlic in margarine and sun flower oil for about 10 minutes.
2. Add stock and bring to the boil. Then cover and simmer for 15 –20minutes.
3. Add milk, butter beans (with liquid) and sweetcorn, (with liquid). Simmer for 5 or so minutes.
4. Remove half the soup from pot and liquidise till smooth. Alter this amount depending on how thick and chunky you like your soup.
5 Return liquidised soup the pot and re-heat.
6. Serve soup with chopped celery leaves on top

by Joy Robyn Dembo, married, with an 18 year old son and a 25 year old daughter.  Addicted to the www, particularly Twitter. Recruitment Response Handling Consultant and Freelance Copywriter, vegetarian and animal lover.  Here’s her blog.

Ingredients:

1 x pkt of  Woolies butternut OR lentil & barley ready cut soup veggies
6 – 8 Telma vegetable soup cubes
1 pkt thick veggie soup (Royco, Maggie, Knor etc)
Salt, pepper, garlic salt, vegetable spice, garlic and herb spice, Aramat

Method:

1. Boil veggies
2. Add stock cubes, at intervals (2 @ a time) and stir well
3. Mix half a pkt of the veggie soup into half a cup of  cold water and add to soup mix
4. Simmer until thick and yummy!
5. If you need to, add the remaining half a packet of soup, mixed into half a cup of cold water

NB! Once you add the powdered soup mix, keep on a medium to low heat to prevent the soup from scalding.

by Melanie Minnaar who works in corporate marketing communications and is currently enjoying her maternity leave.  Mother to ‘archangels’, Michael and Gabriel,  wife to an IT consultant she is an information-junkie,  hooked on news, technology and online social networking. You can tweet her @MelanieMinnaar

These are my favourite winter soups.  Both are Chinese recipes – very tasty and equally nutritious. I buy my Chinese ingredients at Yat Kee Chinese Supermarket in Derrick Avenue, Cyrildene. They don’t take credit cards.  There is also a good Chinese supermarket across the road from Rivonia Primary School down Rivonia Boulevard in Sandton.  The Hot-and-sour Soup may be too pungent for the Littles, but the Chicken And Sweetcorn Soup will be a treat for adults and children alike. Leave a comment, I’d love to hear if you enjoyed these recipes or not. Enjoy!

HOT-AND-SOUR SOUP

This is a winter staple in my house, guaranteed to clear the sinuses and pep you up on a cold day.  It is very easy – and quick – to make once you have got all the ingredients together. If you prefer a vegetarian option, just remove the meat and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. It is the pepper that makes this soup ‘hot’ but you may be more comfortable playing around with chilli to get the heat right. It’s more fun sharing a pot of this soup with others – this recipe will serve 4 adults.

Ingredients
* 4-6 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked in warm water for 20 min
* 115g pork or chicken
* 1 packet tofu
* 50g sliced bamboo shoots, drained
* 1 medium carrot
* 2½ cups stock
* 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
* 1 tbsp light soy sauce
* 1 tbsp rice vinegar
* Salt and ground white pepper
* 1 tbsp cornflour paste

Method
1. Squeeze the soaked mushrooms dry, then discard the hard stalk. Thinly shred the mushrooms, meat, tofu, carrot and bamboo shoots.
2. Bring the stock to a boil and add the shredded ingredients4. Bring back to the boil and simmer for about 1 minute.
3. Add the rice wine, soy sauce and vinegar and season – be generous with the pepper. Bring back to the boil, then add the cornflour paste, stir until thickened.5
4. Pour the soup into individual bowls. Sprinkle the top with sesame oil and garnish with fresh coriander or parsley leaves – and sliced chillies if you prefer.

Notes
1. Sliced canned mushrooms can be used instead of Chinese mushrooms which are quite pricey and not usually sold in small quantities.
2. You can use any leftover meat as long as its shredded.
3. Old Brown Sherry is a very good substitute for Chinese rice wine for cooking purposes.
4. Dried shrimp can also be added here. You will need 1 tbsp dried shrimp soaked for 10 minutes in boiling water, drained and chopped.
5. Before serving you can add 2 beaten eggs to the pot. Pour the eggs in a thin stream over the prongs of a fork. Stir well.

CHICKEN AND SWEETCORN SOUP

This is a foolproof familiar, as classic as ‘Sweet-and-sour Pork’ or ‘Cashew nut Chicken’ – it can even be easily made in the microwave oven. You can ‘Posh’ it up by replacing the chicken with shrimp, or keep it vegetarian by eliminating the meat. Serves 4-6.

Ingredients
* 6 cups stock, chicken or beef
* 1 chicken breast, filleted, skinned & cubed OR 2 cups raw shrimp, peeled, deveined & cut in small pieces
* 1 tbsp cornflour
* 1 tsp ground ginger
* 1 tbsp soy sauce
* 1 can cream-style sweetcorn
* 5 water chestnuts, chopped
* 2 tbsp rice wine2
* 1 cup milk
* Salt and ground black pepper
* 2 eggs, well beaten
* 2 spring onions, finely chopped

Method
1. Mix the chicken with the cornflour, ginger, oil and soy sauce and season well.
2. Bring stock to the boil. Add chicken/shrimp and cook, covered over low heat for about 8 minutes.
3. Add sweetcorn, water chestnuts, sherry and milk. Mix well and season to taste. Heat until boiling.
4. Stir in eggs when the soup is just below boiling point – add eggs in a thin stream pouring them over the prongs of a fork, lower heat and simmer 1 minute longer.
5. Pour the soup into individual bowls and scatter chopped spring onions over the top.

Notes
1. You can use any leftover meat.
2. Old Brown Sherry is a very good substitute for Chinese rice wine for cooking purposes. The rice wine/dry sherry can be omitted completely from this recipe.

provided by Diane Vaubell,  a work-from-home-mom to 2 small picky, vegetarians. She is an amateur blogger with obsessive addictions to food, photography and online social networking. Visit her  blog or catch her on @dirott

Kids love quesadillas and they love cheese so this recipe is always a big winner. Plus I’ll let you in on a little secret…you can hide veggies in an amongst all that cheesy tastiness. Our family loves experimenting with a variety of quesadilla flavour combinations and I especially appreciate how quick and easy they are to make (provided you’re buying pre-made tortillas).

Note: If you don’t have a sandwich pan then a non-stick pan will work equally well!

Roast Butternut, Feta and Coriander Quesadillas

Makes 4 Medium Sized Quesadillas
Time:  I’d say it takes about 30 minutes (including the butternut roasting, which you could do well before hand or you could use left-over butternut, in which case you’d have food on the table in 10 –15 minutes.

Ingredients:
500g cubed butternut squash
250ml boiling water
2tbs olive oil
1 vegetable stock cube
Salt & pepper
1tsp cumin
2tbs Dukkah (optional)
2 round wheels of feta cheese
Fresh Coriander (optional – you can also use fresh parsly)
8 medium-sized wraps (flour tortilla)

Method:

In a bowl toss the butternut, olive oil, salt and pepper. Transfer to a roasting pan.

Place pan under the grill for 10 minutes.  In the meantime mix together the water, cumin, Dukkah and stock cube.

Remove butternut from the oven and add stock to the roasting pan. Return to under the grill for a further 15 minutes or until the butternut is soft.
Once the butternut has cooled down a bit, cut into smaller cubes. Place in a bowl.

Cut and cube the feta to the same size of the feta. Add to the butternut.

Roughly chop the coriander and add to the butternut.

Now to make the quesadilla…

Place a wrap on your press or in a pan. Spoon some of the butternut, feta and coriander mixture onto the wrap. Don’t make it too thick – you can press down the mixture to make it spread further. Place the second wrap on top.

Now transfer quesadilla to your press or to a pre-heated pan.

If you are using a press, close press for a minute or so or until the quesadilla has browned slightly and the cheese has melted.

If you’re using a non-stick pan assemble as per above but flip the quesadilla midway until both sides are crisp and cheese has melted.

Slice each quesadilla into fours and serve with a variety of dips: guacamole,  sour cream or chili.

provided by Diane Vaubell,  a work-from-home-mom to 2 small picky, vegetarians. She is an amateur blogger with obsessive addictions to food, photography and online social networking. Visit her  blog or catch her on @dirott

This is a dish that I watched my mother make when I was a child. It wasn’t made from a recipe because my mom liked to make things up as she went along. In honour of Mother’s Day I’d like to share with you her true adventurous kitchen spirit, in what is a FIRM family favourite.

This dish does take a while to make but I can promise you that it is totally divine and well worth every minute spent on it. You can keep things simple by buying pancakes and even the Béchamel sauce. Simply sauté up the filling, assemble and bake.

The pancake element had my picky son intrigued and he became an instant spinach fan. So I can guarantee that it is 100%  kid-tested and kid-approved.

Makes ± 12 crepes. (about 4-6 servings)

INGREDIENTS:

Filling:

1 large onion (chopped)
Olive (or sunflower) oil for sautéing
250g mushrooms (roughly chopped)
2 tomatoes (diced)
200g fresh spinach (roughly chopped)
Salt and pepper

Béchamel (white sauce):

6 tablespoons plain floor
6 tablespoons margarine
3 cups of milk
Salt and pepper

Crepes (plain pancakes):

You can use store-bought pancakes (Woolworths sells them in the freezer section) or you can make your own. I usually cheat and buy the Woolworths pancakes…it saves a lot of time.

240g plain flour (not self-raising  flour, which will make the pancakes too thick)
Pinch of salt
4 eggs
410  ml milk
180ml water
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1-2 tsp margarine

To Finish:

240g Cheddar cheese (grated)

METHOD:

Filling:

Pre-heat your oven to 200C

Sauté the onion in oil until they turn translucent

Add chopped mushrooms and keep stirring. You don’t want the mushrooms and onions to brown too much.

When the mushrooms have cooked down a bit, add the tomatoes.

When the tomatoes are soft, add the spinach. It may look like a lot but it wilts down significantly. Sauté until the spinach is wilted.

Season to taste and set aside.

Now onto the Béchamel sauce:

Béchamel Sauce:

You’re more the welcome to make it on the stove but I’m going to tell you how to make it in the microwave – it’s a lot quicker!

Melt the margarine in a microwave-safe bowl (usually 30-40 seconds)

Add the flour to the margarine and stir till you have doughy ball.

Slowly dribble some milk over the doughy ball, all the while whisking vigorously. Take your time with this step. As the mixture becomes more runny you can add the milk faster.

Return bowl to the microwave for 2 minutes – on full power.

Whisk vigorously. Don’t worry about lumps, they’ll whisk out as you go.

Return bowl to microwave for further 2 minutes. Whisk and repeat until you have a thickened sauce. Don’t let it get too thick as it tends to thicken further on standing.

Season to taste and set aside.

Pancakes:

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and crack in your  eggs.

With a whisk, start to whisk the eggs, gradually drawing  in all the flour.

In a jug, mix your water and milk together.

Gradually pour the water and milk mixture to the flour,  salt and egg mixture. Whisk as you go along. You are aiming for a pouring  cream-like consistency.

Add the sunflower oil to the mixture.

Melt your margarine in a pre-heated non-stick crepe or  frying pan.

Using a ladle, ladle your mixture into the pan, swirling  the pan as you go to coat the base evenly.

Flip the pancake to cook both sides

Set Aside

FINAL ASSEMBLY:

Now the fun really starts.

Gather all three elements: filling, sauce and pancakes.

With your pancakes in a pile, sprinkle a tablespoon or two of filling in straight line down the middle of the top pancake.

Roll the pancake and place it in a baking dish. You use a large dish or smaller individual serving dishes – as I have done)

Continue until all pancakes are rolled and in the dish.

Pour over the bechemal sauce.

Sprinkle cheese over the sauce and place in the oven.

Bake at 200C for 20 –25 minutes (until sauce is bubbling and the cheese is golden)

(insert pic 5 here)

Allow to stand for 10-15 minutes before serving. This “sets” the dish.

You can serve with a salad or a meat dish – if you want to stretch it further.

Enjoy!

provided by Diane Vaubell,  a work-from-home-mom to 2 small picky, vegetarians. She is an amateur blogger with obsessive addictions to food, photography and online social networking. Visit her  blog or catch her on twitter.

A 4-day weekend begs for an indulgent, chocolate-filled breakfast and these pancakes certainly satisfy any chocolate cravings. They’re also a great treat for kids during the school holidays. You’re going to have to roll these pancakes so you want a nice, thin crepe-type pancake.

This recipe makes ± 12 pancakes

Ingredients:

240g plain flour (not self-raising flour, which will make the pancakes too thick)
Pinch of salt
4 eggs
410 ml milk
180ml water
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1-2 tsp margarine
1 box chocolate chips
Whipped cream (optional)

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and crack in your eggs.

With a whisk, start to whisk the eggs, gradually drawing in all the flour.

In a jug, mix your water and milk together.

Gradually pour the water and milk mixture to the flour, salt and egg mixture. Whisk as you go along. You are aiming for a pouring cream-like consistency.

Add the sunflower oil to the mixture.

Melt your margarine in a pre-heated non-stick crepe or frying pan.

Using a ladle, ladle your mixture into the pan, swirling the pan as you go to coat the base evenly.

Flip the pancake to cook both sides.

To serve, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the flat HOT pancake and roll up. You can top with whipped cream.

Serving alternatives:

Sprinkle flat pancake with lemon juice and cinnamon sugar.

Spread Marscarpone cheese on the flat pancake and sprinkle with thinly sliced strawberries.

Add slices of bananas to your chocolate chips.

Spoon a berry coulis on the flat pancake and add a dollop of whipped cream.

Kerry Haggard works in corporate communications by day and desperately tries to sleep at night, despite the best efforts of her sons, dogs and her conscience to prevent her from doing so. Thankfully, her husband has learned the hard way to let sleeping Kerrys lie… Follow her on Twitter @KerryHaggard

 Daniel (aged four and a half) and I were chatting over breakfast yesterday morning. “Where does meat come from, Mommy?” he asked. “From animals,” I said, hoping that that would be the end of that train of thought. Not so. “But how do the animals make meat?” he persisted? “Do cows make chicken?”

 “No – chickens make chicken, and cows make beef,” I said. “What about horses?” was the next question – and after confirming that we definitely don’t eat horse, I quickly changed the subject, desperate to postpone the moment when I have to tell my animal-loving little boy that we kill animals to eat them … that the kind animals don’t just donate chunks of their flesh for us to consume, before they move on to the next pasture.

But it got me thinking (and I know there are vegetarians and vegans out there who will snort and say “It took you THIS long?). As a South African brought up in a braaing culture, where meat has been my primary source of protein since I can remember, the whole notion of where it actually comes from has kind of been absorbed into my psyche. I make good decisions about the meat that I buy – grass-fed beef and free range chicken, for example, but the fact remains that living creatures have to die for me and my family to eat them. How do I explain this to my little boy, without him thinking that I’m a complete monster for sanctioning the mass slaughter of cows, sheep, pigs and chickens?

 Law of the jungle perhaps – our teeth classify us as omnivores, so we are just following what nature has set us up to do, surely? Or is it time to convince my whole household (we are seven now, including Thandi, my domestic goddess and my father-in-law whose given name is Johannes), that it’s time to ditch their meat-loving heritage and become vegetarian?

Recipes supplied by  Richard Rust , a  5 star trained, gourmet chef. He has cooked for, amongst others, British royalty, Woolworths and written for Taste magazine.  See more details below.

These recipes are quick, nutritious, kids will love them and enjoy making them – especially the messy moulding or crumbing part!

Vegetable Nuggets
Process uncooked but defrosted ready cut vegetable mix. Add a pinch of salt and enough flour to make a workable paste.  Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 200c until crisp.

Fish fingers
Slice hake fillets into bite sized pieces, dip in flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs. Bake at 200c for 10 minutes until crisp.

 ‘Fried’ Chicken
Mix freshly grated breadcrumbs with salt, paprika, and BBQ spice. Dip chicken braai cut pieces into flour, egg then crumb mixture. Bake at 180c for 40 minutes or cooked through

 Beef Burgers
Fry until soft finely diced onion, mix into beef mince, egg, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Mix well. Form balls and squish to make patties. Grill until golden brown on each side. Let the kids make their own burgers with a selection of greens, relishes and condiments.

 Oven baked potato, sweet potatoe or butternut wedges
Cut washed unpeeled potatoes,  sweet potato and/or  butternut. Boil for 5-10minutes until just going soft. Place on a baking sheet sprayed with cook and bake and roast on a high heat 220c for 20-30 minutes until crisp.

 Lower Fat Fruity Coleslaw
Mix equal quantities grated cabbage (red or white or a combination), and carrot, mix in some raisins and diced pineapple. Mix equal amounts of reduced fat mayonnaise and smooth cottage cheese and simply mix all together.

 Funky Rice Salad
Chop a handful of dried apricots, peaches, mangoes and apples together. Mix into cold rice with a tin of creamed corn.

 Low Fat Butternut and Feta Pasta salad
Mix cooked and cooled penne pasta with cooked butternut, feta, fat free yoghurt and a squeeze of lemon juice season to taste and serve.

Recipes supplied by Richard Rust, Chef and co owner of Deli SuCasa, Restaurant and Deli, Fourways – “feel at home” – Cell 0741722312 or richard@delisucasa.co.za

By Freda Paxinos, an  educator and  authority on the use of dietary supplements in the effective treatment of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder) in children. Read her blog

(And, NO,  kids… that should not be “Love and a PS3!)

We are half way through the first term, and your child should have settled into the school routine by now.

If he hasn’t, you need to ask yourself  if he’s getting enough sleep, if he’s  stressed out,  getting sufficient exercise, and most importantly, is he eating properly balanced meals that provide him with the essential Vitamins and Minerals needed to stay healthy, energetic and alert?

Going back to school can be stressful.  There is the anxiety of being in a new class, making new friends, bonding with a new teacher, absorbing more complex information, etc.  Most children deal with all this, with ease, but if your child is battling, get to the bottom of it now.

Make sure your child gets enough sleep. The “Early to bed, early to rise” verse is not as clichéd as you might think.  A child needs ample sleep in order to concentrate and focus at school.

But, what about nutrition?Most people lead a fast-paced lifestyle, which can,  unfortunately, lead to bad eating habits.  Sorry mom, but hamburgers and chips, fried chicken or sausages and…errrr…. chips, and pizza (with or without chips) are NOT nutritional meals. Fruit, vegetables, high fibre foods, dairy products, eggs and lean meat and fish are all essential to your child’s well-being.

IRON is essential in the building of healthy brain tissue. Research has shown that increased iron levels lead to better concentration in children. If your child is lethargic, apathetic and irritable (well, more than usual!), his iron levels could be low.  Lean beef mince, eggs, dried fruits, nuts, whole grains and green leafy veggies (yep, the dreaded spinach!) are excellent sources of natural iron.

PROTEIN is essential “brain food” for children. Your child should be eating small portions of lean meat or fish, eggs, or plant protein such as soya, lentils, tofu and other pulses.

UNREFINED CARBOHYDRATES will provide the body with the necessary supply of glucose. Wholewheat bread, oats and brown rice are great examples of “good carbs” and they will keep your child’s glycaemic index on an even keel and ensure that his blood sugar is kept at optimum level.

CALCIUM is vital for the growth of young brains and bones!  Dairy products are an excellent source of calcium.

OMEGA-3, found mainly in salmon, tuna and sardines, is important for optimal brain function in children, and research has shown that it has proven to be an effective alternative to drugs, in the treatment of ADD and ADHD.

In conclusion, if your child refuses to eat healthy foods, you need to try and re-educate him, but fortunately, there are scientifically tested natural supplements, yummy fruit flavoured vitamins and delicious protein shakes available on the market.

If you need advice in this regard, or have any questions, please feel free to ask!