C is for Chocolate Pudding for The Kids Cook Monday

As far as I am concerned chocolate puddings never go out of style.  Whether they are baked in a large dish in the oven for family sharing or small individual serves in ramekins for a dinner party they are always a welcome sight.  Microwave versions are a great time saver (although the 5 minute chocolate puddings in a cup are a tad dangerous!).  This is our version adapted from this recipe at taste.  I have tried to make it a little healthier by using wholemeal flour, decreasing the sugar in the cake batter and using dark chocolate rather than milk.

Microwave Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding
Download a recipe card here.

Ingredients
3/4 cup milk
75g butter, chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 1/4 cup wholemeal self raising flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
100g dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 3/4 cups boiling water

Method

1. Place milk and butter in a large 8 cup-capacity, microwave-safe dish. Microwave on high (100%) for 1 minute and 30 seconds, stirring halfway through cooking, or until butter has melted.  The dish shouldn't be too warm for your child to touch - but make sure you check first.  Some microwave safe dishes do heat up alot.

Stirring in the vanilla

Adding the sugar and cocoa powder

Mixing in the flour

 2. Stir in vanilla, caster sugar, flour and 2 tablespoons of the cocoa powder.

Sprinkling on the chocolate chips

Spooning over the brown sugar cocoa mix

 3. Sprinkle chocolate over batter. Sprinkle with remaining cocoa powder and brown sugar.

4. Pour boiling water over the back of a large metal spoon to cover batter (this step should only be done by an adult or an older child under adult supervision).

5. Place dish on an upturned microwave-safe plate. Cook, uncovered, on medium (50%) for 10 to 13 minutes or until a skewer inserted into edge of pudding comes out clean. This time really depends on how powerful your microwave is.  Ours took only 91/2 minutes to be ready so keep an eye on the pudding towards the end.  You don't want to overcook it or the pudding will be dry.

6. Set aside for 5 minutes.
7. Serve with low fat ice-cream or low fat custard.

 

C is for Celery Prints

Carving potatoes to make prints is familiar to most of us from our primary school days. However I am starting to see more and more creative ways of using other types of vegies to make great prints with paint.

Flowers prints made using radicchio stems look great. Have a look at this idea from Martha.

Radicchio are a little hard to get here at the moment so when I saw this post on the Parentella site using celery to make prints that look a little like roses I knew it would be fun to try.

Supplies for celery prints

I followed Wendy's steps but as with all things involving children they didn't quite turn out as planned. I think next time I need a larger (more mature) bunch of celery and will cut it further up the stems.  I did think the smaller bunch of celery would be easier for Bear and Bee to hold but the flower shape wasn't as clear.  That's not to say the girls didn't have fun.  Bee immediately bypassed the celery stalks for the leaves which she had a lot of fun with.  At the moment Bee is loving painting the whole sheet of paper and mixing colours so this worked out perfect for her.

 

 

Print and swish!

Bear on the other hand is not as keen on getting paint on her hands so she was happy to stick to printing and filled most of the sheet of paper.  I was going to use the print for Mother's Day gifts but now I think I will keep them for another project.  Maybe I will cut out sections and use them, with a little embellishment, to make thank you cards.

What foods do you incorporate into craft activities for your child?

B is for Baked Spaghetti for The Kids Cook Monday

I always find it fascinating to see what television programs interest Bear and Bee.  Thankfully there are only a few programs that I don't like.  Not that there is anything seriously wrong with these programs - they often just have characters with really grating voices or not much of a story line.

Among the ones the whole family likes to watch is a British cooking show for children called I Can Cook.  This show features young (mostly primary school aged) children preparing interesting recipes.  The recipes are adapted for children's tastes and abilities and include many great tips such as using scissors to cut some foods, tearing herbs and capsicums and using a rotary grater to grate cheese and carrot. The children are also taught about hygiene and where food comes from as they visit the garden outside the kitchen to find ingredients for the recipe they are preparing.  Bear and Bee find this show very entertaining and we have tried a number of their recipes.

This recipe is a version of the Baked Spaghetti from the I Can Cook show.  It is a great way of seeing how a recipe that is usually difficult for young children to help with can be adapted to suit their age and abilities.

Baked Spaghetti
Download a free recipe card here.
Serves 2 children

Ingredients
1 spring onion
2 button mushrooms
1 rasher of bacon, cooked
50g dried spaghetti
100ml water
1 pinch of stock powder
1 cup of chopped tomatoes (we used tinned tomatoes but fresh would be just as good)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.

Apparently baby bear had to help too!

2. Chop the spring onion into small pieces and place in a small ovenproof dish.  Small scissors are great for children to use in the kitchen.  Just make sure that they are used only for food preparation and not from your craft cupboard!

3. Chop the mushrooms and add to the baking dish.

4. Tear or cut up the bacon and add to the dish.

5. Snap the spaghetti into small pieces that will fit into the dish and then place on top of the other ingredients.

 6. Mix the stock powder with the water and pour over the spaghetti.
7. Spoon the tomatoes over the spaghetti.

8. Cover the baking dish with either a lid or a piece of aluminium foil.
9. Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until spaghetti is cooked through.  Stir after 15 minutes.

10. Allow to cool slightly and serve.

This spaghetti dish is so full of flavour.  Baking the spaghetti in with the tomatoes and stock means it turns out super tasty with no signs of being watery or gluggy.   Bear and Bee both love bacon so we will stick with this version for them however I will try experimenting with flavours next time for hubby and myself - perhaps adding some olives and dried chilli.

M is for Mother's Day Treats

Pain au chocolat or chocolate bread is a treat that I love but have never considered making.  They are often sold as chocolate croissants here in Australia and are small rolls made from the same dough as croissants with chocolate inside.  When I came across a recipe for making easy pain au chocolat I knew they would be perfect for Bear and Bee to make for Mother's Day.

This recipe does use sheets of ready made puff pastry though.  I have seen recipes that include instructions for the proper dough but I didn't think that was necessary.  And after trying these I wouldn't actually bother with making the proper dough at home.  If I want more authentic pain au chocolat I can visit the local French bakery.  For a quick treat however, these are perfect.  They can also be made a day ahead and stored in the fridge before baking.  That way you can have fresh baked pain au chocolat and perhaps a cafe latte for breakfast in bed on Mother's Day - ah bliss!

Easy Pain Au Chocolat
Download the free recipe card here.
Makes 12

Ingredients
2 sheets frozen puff pastry thawed (my sheets were 25cm x 25cm)
200g dark chocolate pieces or chips
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2.  Line a baking tray with non stick baking paper.

3. Cut the puff pastry sheets into 6 rectangles each.

4.  Place about 1 tablespoon of chocolate on each pastry rectangle towards one short end.

5.  Roll up tightly around the chocolate and place seam side down onto the prepared baking tray.

6.  Repeat for the rest of the pastry rectangles.

 

7.  Brush each roll with a little of the beaten egg.

8. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

9. Allow to cool slightly before dusting with icing sugar.

Variations
You might like to try these with white chocolate chips and a raspberry for the filling.  Or even jersey caramels for a caramel flavour.  Almost any chocolate will work as long as it is a good quality one and you like the taste.  We have even used up leftover easter egg chocolate and a mint flavoured chocolate and they turned out just as good.

Happy Mother's Day for the 12th!

C is for Chicken in Pyjamas for The Kids Cook Monday

Chicken Parmigiana/Chicken in Pyjamas.  Chicken Parmigiana is a bit of a mouthful for kids to say so somewhere along the line in our household it became Chicken in Pyjamas and the name has stuck.

Bear and Bee both like crumbed chicken strips and this has been my attempt to get them to eat something more adventurous.  It still has the tender chicken, crunchy breadcrumbs, tomato sauce and gooey cheese - just presented in a different way.  In the interests of time and ease of preparation we use a bottled pasta sauce.  You can certainly use a homemade pasta sauce instead if you have some handy.  This is also a great recipe is you have more than one child helping in the kitchen as there is plenty to do crumbing the chicken fillets.

Chicken in Pyjamas (Chicken Parmigiana)
Download a free recipe card for this recipe here.
Serves 4

Ingredients 
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup plain flour
1 large egg
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (150g each)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup shredded or sliced mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons tomato pasta sauce

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

2. Place the Parmesan and the breadcrumbs on plate and mix together.

3. Place the flour on a plate and season with salt and pepper.

4. Beat the egg in a shallow bowl with 2 tablespoons water.

 

5. Dip the chicken into the flour, then into the egg mix and then into the breadcrumbs. Place on a clean plate.

6. Heat the oil over moderate heat in a large nonstick frying pan. Cook the chicken for 3 minutes each side.

7. Transfer to a baking tray lined with baking paper or alfoil and spoon the tomato sauce on top and sprinkle with the mozzarella.

8. Bake for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

To make a healthier version of this recipe you could spray the crumbed chicken fillets with olive oil spray and bake in the oven for 5 minutes before adding the sauce and mozarella. Make sure your fillets are quite thin (5mm) to ensure they cook through.

R is for Rituals

Rituals are important for families. They help children feel secure and develop a sense of belonging. Rituals say 'this is who we are as a family'. Rituals can be based on religious festivals and other community events or they can be as simple as allowing your child to chose their favourite food for their birthday meal.

For the threefootcooks, Friday afternoon happy hour is a ritual. Our version involves cordial or occasionally soft drink for the girls, grown up drinks for hubby and me and most importantly a plate of good cheese, crackers, nuts and other nibbles such as dried fruit. Happy hour is a time for us as a family to connect and relax after a long week. Bee was the one who actually initiated this ritual. She had heard her grandparents talking about the happy hour they have around sunset when travelling around in their caravan and it went from there. We usually have happy hour here at home but we have also had it camping, visiting relatives and most recently, last Friday on the beach watching the sunset.

This is one ritual I plan on continuing long into the future. It may evolve slightly but the importance of reconnecting as a family will remain. While we spend a fair bit of time together as a family now I can see that it won't be long before that starts to change. School, work, sport and community commitments will all start to impact on our family time as Bear and Bee get older. So if I can make this ritual something we have always done maybe it will continue to be something we always do (even through the teenage years!).

What family rituals involving food do you have that help your family connect?

Tsh from the Simple Mom blog has a great post on the importance of family rituals.

Book Review - Mealtime by Elizabeth Verdick

We have always maintained a routine for our family dinners.  More often than not, the whole family has dinner together every night.  As Bear and Bee are getting older and starting to express their independence there has been some challenges to this dinner routine.  Hubby and I try to expect the same things every night - everyone sits at the table (no getting up and down off the chair), try at least one bite, keep the food on the plate etc but it can be difficult when we are feeling tired or only one of us is present.

Mealtime by Elizabeth Verdick is a wonderful board book that reinforces these expectations and can be read with babies, toddlers and young children.  Through colourful illustrations and familar settings children are shown that not only are meals about eating healthy they're also about good hygiene, using your manners, helping out and trying new foods.

The simple text used in the story make it easily understandable for young children and there are extra mealtime tips for parents and caregivers on the back pages.

Definitely one to add to the collection, if you have or care for young children as many families experience mealtime issues at some stage.

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