Wednesday 25 February 2015

Do you have a fussy eater in your house?

 
 
Hi fellow home cooks,
 
I don't know about you but I have two fussy eaters in my house!
 
I was on YouTube trying to find some ideas to get my children eating healthy and nutritious foods, when I came across this video.  It gave me some fabulous ideas that I wanted to share with my readers.  I hope you find the video useful.
  
Link To YouTube Video:  Meg-5 Tips for Picky Eaters!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  
 
I like the tooth pick idea and I used this myself a little while back.  My children would not eat mince meat so one day I decided to make some really tiny meatballs and for something different I put them on a plate and placed a tooth pick in every single one of them.  I think I went through about 30 toothpicks that day, but BINGO they ate them!  I honestly believe it all came down to the fact they could hold the meatball on a little toothpick and dip it in some sauce.  It was a novelty that worked!
 
I think it is a good idea getting the children to try just one mouthful of each food.  Do not overload their plates with big piles of mashed potato and peas.  Give the children small serves and provide them with lots of praise when they try the food.  Do not ask them to eat more, once they have tried it then that's good enough for one dinner time.
 
I love the idea of cutting foods into different shapes and making patterns on a plate.  Here is a few of my favourites made by a friend of mine!
 
 

Dr Seuss




 
Teddy Bear Sleeping

 
 
My tips: 
   Pureed cauliflower mixed in with scrambled egg or quiche
  Finely grated zucchini and carrot mixed in with the Lasagne sauce
 
 
 
I hope you enjoyed the YouTube video and Best of luck!

Tuesday 24 February 2015

Donna Hay's Chocolate Panna Cotta Recipe from the delectable Simple Essentials Chocolate Cook Book


A birthday gift from my beautiful children

Handy Hint: Remember do not use a plastic cup as a mould if it has writing imprinted on the bottom of it!

 

The Recipe
Link To PDF: Donna Hay's Chocolate Panna Cotta Recipe

Some of my favourite cooking websites that I use regularly

Hi fellow home cooks,

I would like to share with you all a few of my favourite cooking websites that I use regularly.

The one I probably use the most would have to be http://allrecipes.com.au/
I find the recipes in it are really simple to follow both for myself and my children.  The ingredients required are well known and are easy to find in your local supermarket. 

For instance if I have chicken wings in my fridge, I go to the all recipes page and type in chicken wings into their search bar.  After clicking on the search icon (which looks like a magnifying glass), it brings up all the different types of recipes I can make using chicken wings.

When I placed chicken wings into the search bar it brought up 56 search results with chicken wings.  I personally like looking at the pictures to see what looks yummy.  Recipes with pictures are so much more appealing to the eye.

One of the recipes I use quite often off that site is Sticky Soy and Honey Chicken Wings.  It is one of my families favourites.


Recipe Picture:Sticky Soy and Honey Chicken Wings
Finger Licking Good!


Here is the recipe if you would like to make it yourself.
Here is the link http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/8330/sticky-soy-and-honey-chicken-wings.aspx

Ingredients
Serves: 6 
  • 12 chicken wings
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup (85ml) tomato sauce
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon minced ginger
  • 2 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon minced chilli (optional)
  • 1/3 cup boiling water
Directions
Preparation:1hour  ›  Cook:50min  ›  Ready in:1hour50min 
  1. On the barbecue: Cut chicken wings into 24 pieces and discard the tips. Combine all other ingredients and marinate for an hour.
  2. Cook on the barbecue plate on medium heat, turning once till they are cooked to your preference.
  3. To bake in the oven: Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
  4. Place chicken wings (prepared as above) in a baking tray. Combine all other ingredients and pour over the wings and bake (turning the wings after 20 minutes) for 40-50 minutes until the liquid has gone sticky and thick.

 Happy Cooking!

I will be back soon to tantalise your tastebuds with another yummy recipe and website to use.

P.S. For those of you who were wondering about the 'slight hiccup' to my Donna Hay's Chocolate Panna Cotta. I used a plastic cup as my setting mould and what I did not realise at the time, the cups had writing on the bottom of them.  When I took the Panna Cotta's out of their mould's, it left some writing including the words 250ml (the cup size) on the now top of my dessert.  Like I said in my last post, nothing a little whipped cream couldn't fix, but I won't make that mistake again in a hurry!

Sunday 22 February 2015

Greetings far and wide....

Hi fellow home cooks,

I would like to first start by introducing myself.
My name is Susan but my friends call me Susie Q. 
I am a SAHM who loves to try out new recipes especially desserts.  My children love to help me out in the kitchen and they are learning new skills everyday.  For example, master 8 has just started using the grater and I have FINALLY convinced him that rissoles would be better with vegetables in them.  He grated a carrot the other day, on the very fine side of the grater, and to my amazement Mr fussy pants ate rissoles with carrots in it (dipped in lots of tomato sauce!).  Needless to say I was more than happy.  I think having him help out in the kitchen contributed to him actually eating it.  He usually says "Yuck, I'm not eating that!" and pushes the plate away and sits and sulks during meal times.  Unfortunately his little sister Miss 6, decided she would do the same, but when she realised there was no more food coming out, she pulled her plate back again and started eating what was on her plate phew!
Well I look forward to sharing and swapping recipes with you.  I will post some pictures of my cooking and let you know where things went wrong and any tips I have to improve the dish.

Do you have a fussy eater at your house? Any advice?

Who likes my profile photo of Donna Hay's yummy chocolate Panna cotta? There was a slight hiccup with that dish that thankfully a little whipped cream covered.  Can anyone guess what I did wrong?

I am looking forward to chatting and getting to know some new people and sharing some recipes with you all.


Susie Q's Home Cooking