food

• Christmas recipes (4)
• healthy (7)
• lunchboxes (5)
• recipes (19)

articles

• Summer Salads with papaya & strawberries
• Carrot/butternut & cardamom soup
• Split Pea and Bacon or Feta Soup
• Meal-in-a-bowl Lentil Soup
• Witchy Winter Pumpkin Soup
• Our kiddies pizza party
• Savoury & sweet party snacks
• Lamb & pork recipes with herbs
• Easy recipes with healthy herbs for busy parents
• Would you accept a C- when it came to your child’s health?
• YOU are what your child eats…
• Healthy food tips for your schoolchild.
• Cheese & Onion Drop Scones
• Back-to-school lunch box tips
• Christmas cake recipe – gluten free
• Easy Xmas biscuits I made with my kids
• German Xmas biscuit recipes-my family favourites
• Chocolate Hazelnut Cake Recipe (gluten Free)
• Healthy smoothie recipes
• 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!

By Sholain Govender-Bateman , Pretoria based journalism lecturer who worked for The Star, Pretoria & other  publications. She is mum to two gorgeous girls, Isobel and Aishwari, and wife to Barry. Follow her on Twitter @sholain

I am often confused when a parent complains about the poor eating habits of their child but doesn’t realise that the problem is usually their own eating habits.

Be honest now, how many times have you placed a plate of veggies and all things wholesome in front of your toddler for supper and then you’ve sat down with a meal that has the complete opposite amount of nutrition?

We have a profound influence on our children’s personalities and habits and even though their menus differ from ours for the large part of the first year of their lives, it is important to soon meld the kiddies and adult menu to provide a meal that will suit the tastebuds, development and health of all family members.

In our household, we managed to introduce our toddler(almost 3 years old), Isobel, to just about every food there is from sushi to salads, beetroot to braaivleis. I’m a huge fan of the ‘Baby Sense’ and ‘What to expect’ series of books so I used those as guidelines when introducing her to solids but we also realised that the only way we could really get her to eat something was if we ate it ourselves.

We let her play with her food and encouraged her to eat without stressing if she refused a meal from time to time or threw her food-tray on the floor. It was a wonderful and hugely rewarding experience as we now can sit at the dinner table with her and enjoy a meal together most evenings – being flexible to allow for the mid-meal wanderings of a toddler.

Isobel’s fond of veggies but not at all keen on raw tomatoes – and guess what… neither am I. She loves tinned tuna and pilchards but steers clear of prawns when daddy is around – could it be because dad never touches them because of his shellfish allergy?  She has a penchant for raw onions and can handle spicy food – is it just a coincidence that I love onion and dad orders ‘extra hot’? I don’t think so.

It may seem obvious but sometimes we try so hard to make our kids eat the ‘right’ things with no luck and just don’t see that they are just copying us most of the time…

Many ‘lazy’ parents will simply say, “I grew up drinking Coke/ eating junk food every day/ I’ve always hated vegetables…” etc… “…and I’m still alive.” And some of these families may have excellent genes that carry no risk for heart disease, obesity, high cholesterol and the numerous other silent diseases that plague millions of people. But isn’t a change in your attitude to food worth it if it’s going to help you mould your child into a healthy eater and an overall happy being?

By Christine Phillips, mother of 3. Loves spending time with her family and enjoys the fulfilment of running her own business. She is the owner of Little Cooks Club.

I don’t know about you but I find that as my children get older, their days have become filled with more activities, responsibilities and homework.

I can definitely see my kids begin to flag around 2pm if they haven’t eaten well up until that point in the day. I know a lot of children who, at the age of 10 are already doing sports activities that run until 6 or 7 at night during the week.

We, as parents, need to be sure that we are providing our children’s bodies with enough fuel to sustain this kind of energy output.

How to begin?

A good breakfast

Remember to start slowly with any changes to children’s food routines as they can be resistant  if the change is too drastic.

Next, let’s tackle the packed  school lunches.

Now that you have your perfect lunchbox, what to pack?

With a bit of planning, you could save yourself the cost of expensive shop bought sandwiches and snacks and avoid the temptation of packing chips, sweets and other high calorie, no good food into your children’s lunchboxes.

Little Cooks Club runs classes for moms that include ideas for simple, healthy weeknight suppers and more ideas and recipes for snacks and lunchboxes.

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

These Cheese & Onion scones are super delicious and because you don’t need to rollout the dough they’re super easy too. I usually shake things up by adding red pepper or corn to the onions as I fry them up. Baby spinach also works well. What I love about this recipe is that the scones can be frozen and can be whipped out the freezer in the mornings for lunchboxes (I freeze two per mini-plastic reseal-able bag).

Makes 12

Ingredients:
1 1/5 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons margarine
1 cup of cheddar cheese (grated)
1/2 cup chopped onion (a bit chunky)
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat over to 200 C (400F).
2. Grease a muffin tray.
3. Sauté the onions in some olive oil until clear.
4. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Cut margarine into blocks (or make little blobs) and add to flour
6. Using the tips of your fingers rub the margarine into the flour until the flour is quite crumbly.
7. Add HALF a cup of the grated cheese and make a well in the middle of the mixture.
8. In a separate bowl beat the egg and add the milk and onion you cooked earlier.
9. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and combine until all the ingredients are mixed together and you have a soft wet dough.
10. Spoon the dough into the muffin tray.
11. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over each scone.
12. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cheese has melted and crisped and a sharp knife comes out clean.

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

If you have a school-going age child then you’re no doubt in the swing of Back-To-School preparation. I thought I’d share some school lunch ideas to help break the monotony of the usual suspects (ham and cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and jam and marmite and cheese).

Warm lunches:
Insulated bags and containers now mean that you can send supper leftovers to school with your child and the meal should stay relatively warm until first break.

Pick ’n Pay sell a Fuel-branded insulated container, which I use to send pasta’s, stews and left-over veggies to school. I don’t put it in the dishwasher and it generally lasts for about a year or two. Well worth it for the ± R40 price tag.
In Winter you could send soups in a thermos flask with a bread serve on the side.

Salads:
The idea of lettuce wilting makes the idea of taking salads to school unappealing. But what if you replaces the lettuce with pasta or couscous? The carbohydrates would make the meal more substantial and the starch wouldn’t wither under the weight of the dressing. If you’re making pasta for dinner just keep some aside and add cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, onions and some dressing.

Crudités:
Crudités are a great way to boost your child’s 5-a-day and as long you’re packing fresh, crisp veggies they enjoy with a dip they like then you’re sure to get empty lunch boxes at the end of the day.

Veggie ideas:
Cucumber sticks
Carrot sticks
Cherry tomatoes
Baby corn
Sugar snap peas
Mange tout
Raw cauliflower florets
Lightly steamed baby asparagus
Quartered mushrooms
Celery sticks
Green Beans

Dip ideas:
Hummus
Sour cream dip
Low-fat cream cheese
Tzatziki
Guacamole
Cottage cheese
You can also include Melba toast or Provita as an accompanying carb.

Freeze Ahead:
I’m a huge fan of freezing lunchbox snacks and pulling them out the freezer in the morning . As long as you’ve individually packed your portions then you shouldn’t have issues of sticking.

The following snacks freeze well in mini-plastic bags (most plastic shops sell re-sealable bags in batches of 100 at very reasonable prices).

If it’s summer I don’t worry about defrosting as the snacks defrost within an hour or so. In Winter you may want to take your snack out the freezer the night before.

When packing lunches try remember that a little effort will go a long way to creating a meal your child will look forward to. Here are some tips:

Here’s to a year of empty returned lunchboxes!

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.

Makes 2 x 23cm cakes

Ingredients:

8g Xantham gum
15g Bicarbonate of soda
300g Cherries
600g Raisins
400g Sultanas
125g Mixed peel
50g Chopped almonds
500ml Sunflower oil
80g Apricot jam
2 Lemons zest large
430g Rice flour
5g Salt
3g Ginger
10g Nutmeg
4g Cinnamon
330ml Milk stout
5 Large organic eggs
4g Mixed spice
50ml Lemon cordial
80g Flaked almonds

Method:

1. Combine fruit, almonds and oil and mix well.
2. Add the jam and rind, juice of lemon and cherries and put into a pot and lightly cook for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and the spices and add to the cooled mixture.
4. Beat the eggs and the stout together and add to the mixture to form a moist but not a sloppy mixture.
5. Add the mixture to your grease proof lined baking tin.
6. Cover the cakes with foil.
7. Place the cakes tins into a water filled tray (like a double boiler).
8. Bake for 2 – 3 hours at 180°C.
9. When the cake is ready pour lemon cordial over the cake to soak.
10. Allow to cool.

Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside for 2 days to mature.

by Laura-kim Allmayer, co-founder of Journey2Joy, mom to two little people, compulsive blogger and twitter addict. When she’s not blogging she’s planning baby showers and helping moms prepare for their new babies.

CHRISTMAS DECORATION BISCUITS

625ml flour
125ml icing sugar
5ml cream of tartar
2ml bicarb
Pinch salt
250g butter

1. Sift the dry ingredients together, work in the softened butter to form a stiff dough.
2.  Lightly flour a flat surface, roll out the dough about 5mm thick, then cut out your shapes.
3.  Place on a lightly greased baking tray and bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes

Royal Icing

250g icing sugar
1 egg white
Squeeze lemon juice
Colouring
Decorations – silver balls, 100 & 1000s

1.  Sieve the icing sugar.
2. Place the egg white and lemon juice in a bowl and gradually add the icing sugar.
3. Mixing with  fork until peaks form.
4.  Colour the icing as required and then pipe decorations onto the biscuits.

I let the kids decorate them for their teachers

GLUTEN FREE PECAN NUT COOKIES

125g butter
250ml gluten free flour (I use Natures Choice Self raising flour)
125ml chopped pecans
5 ml vanilla
50 ml icing sugar

1.   Beat all the ingredients together well.
2.   Roll into balls, flatten with a  fork
3. Add a halved pecan on the top.
3.   Bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes.

CUP CAKES (this is the best recipe I have used)

125g self raising flour
125g castor sugar (I used brown and it worked fine)
125g butter
2 eggs
3 TBS milk
1/2tsp vanilla

1.  Beat the flour, sugar, butter and eggs together.
2.  Slowly add one tbs of milk at a time.
3.  Add the vanilla and mix well.
4.  Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.
5.  Ice as required.

provided by Merle Dieterich, passionate mom and businesswoman whose 2 beautiful children, Lerato and Marvin never cease to amaze and teach her about what counts. You’ll find her at  jozikids.co.za

The smell of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, vanilla and the taste of freshly home baked Xmas biscuits are the senses most evocative for me and my family for this time of the year.

The following biscuit recipes have been  tried and tested by my kids and  I.  I discovered them when I lived in Germany where the culture of home baked Xmas biscuits is widespread and deeply rooted.

Enjoy them and please add your favourites to this list.

CINNAMON STARS /  ZIMTSTERNE

Quantity: 70 stars
Oven temperature: 160 degrees
Baking Time: 7-8min

Ingredients:
500 g ground almonds
5 egg whites
450g icing sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbl rose water

Icing sugar snow for stars

Biscuit mixture

Making the stars

GERMAN LEBKUCHEN /HONEY CAKES

Quantity : 35 biscuits
Oven temperature: 220 degrees
Baking Time: 35-40 min

Ingredients:
200g honey
200g sugar
2 eggs
Freshly grated peel of a lemon
100g chopped candied orange and lemon peel
70g almond sticks
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of:
salt,grated  nutmeg, cloves, cardamom
500 g flour
2 tsp backing powder

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.

Cakes are for celebrating or simply to spoil your family. When we bake cakes we choose the best ingredients we can find. The finer the ingredients the finer the cake (try using an Organic stone ground flour next time you bake a cake).

Here is one of my favourite chocolate cake recipes which is suitable for kids (and big people) who are wheat or gluten intolerant.

Ingredients

35g Cacao powder
80ml Hot Water
150g Dark Eating Chocolate, melted
150g Butter, melted
295g Brown Sugar, firmly packed
100g Hazelnuts, finely ground
4 Organic Eggs, separated
20g Cacao powder (extra)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Grease a deep, 20cm, round cake tin and line with baking paper.
Blend the cacao powder with the water in a large bowl until smooth.
Stir in the melted chocolate, butter, sugar, finely ground hazelnuts and egg yolks.
Beat the egg whites in a small bowl until soft peak stage.
Fold into chocolate mixture in two batches.
Pour mixture into prepared cake tin and bake for one hour.
Stand cake for 15 minutes. Turn onto wire rack, top side up, to cool.
Dust with extra cacao powder.
Serve with cream or ice cream and fresh gooseberries.

Browse through other healthy recipes on from Fresh Earth Food Store: http://www.freshearth.co.za/store/c-2-healthy-recipes.aspx

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.

Smoothies for breakfast are a very gentle way of ‘breaking your fast’ . They are easy to make and you can add all your bodies nutritional requirements like omega oils, spirulina, probiotics and much more in one glass.

Starting the day with a proper meal sets the tone for the rest of the day. Slow down and make the time to feed your body the fuel it needs to get you through the day.

Superfoods Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients:

200ml Freshly Made Organic Apple Juice
1 Handful Of Mixed and Frozen Organic Berries
½ Organic, Frozen Banana
½ tsp Ground Raw Organic Cashews
1 ½ tbsp Soya Milk Powder
1 tbsp Hemp Protein Powder
1 tsp Sprouted Flax Seed
1 tbsp Macca Powder
1 tsp Raw Honey (optional)

Mix all ingredients together in the blender until you have a smooth texture.

Add the honey last. Pour and enjoy!

(If you do not have frozen berries and banana, add half a cup of ice cubes)

Raw Chocolate Smoothie

1 tbsp Raw cacao nibs
2 tbsp     Raw cacao powder1 tbsp     Raw maca powder
1              Frozen chopped up banana
200ml    Almond milk or rice milk or oat milk
¼ tsp      Agave syrup
½ tsp      Organic Cinnamon powder
¼ tsp Organic Vanilla

Add everything to the blender and blend until smooth

Smooth-No-D (Smoothie No Dairy) Recipe

What you’ll need:

*Best to use frozen bananas. Take a ripe bunch –peel and wrap individually in cling wrap and freeze

Method:

Browse through other healthy smoothie recipes on  Fresh Earth Food Store website.

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:

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.