A Week of Toddler Lunches

I wanted to document what we are having for lunch lately. It's been a pretty awesome change over the last year. There is something so cool about when your kids start eating "people" food. Or grown up food. Or at least a variation of it. Here is what they had last week ...

Tuna Melt on Vogel's Bread with baby cos and capsicum.
Hard boiled egg, hummus, carrot and capsicum, and an apple.
Couscous Fritters, baby cos lettuce and carrot 'slaw' with balsamic, and blackcurrant jam
Curry Kumara Puffs, pear, mixed beans and lettuce
*Mousetraps, mandarin, edamame, and mixed beans

Please note the *. This was a very, very special meal. The mousetraps were made by the boys. Mostly. They spread the vegemite on the bread with actual knives, placed the cheese on top, and only ate a few bits of it. They were so interested and excited when I took them out of the oven! It made my day! Also, this was their first day with edamame in their pods. They loved it! It was a bit of a challenge at first, but even today, Willem had the technique down pat! Totally aced it! 

I love that they are so keen to help and watch what is going on in the kitchen. I never remember being that excited, but then again, when I met met Jacob, the only thing I could cook was pasta and red sauce. True story. 

The more I involve them, the more interested they are. The mousetrap making was just awesome to watch. They are naturals in the kitchen! 

xx

Big Batch Cooking... What took me so long?!

Honestly! What the hell!?

I have spent the last few months looking up all these big batch recipes online and wanting to join up on some cooking groups and such... But I was going about it all wrong!

Early last week, I decided to do a triple batch of the old standby tuna casserole recipe. Yes, those are peas in there, old standby recipe thank you to my dad. After no extra energy wasted I had three dinners in the time it took to do one. I popped one in the fridge for later and the other two in the freezer. 

Last night was the moment of truth. I took out one the freezer meals to thaw in the fridge overnight, and had pretty much the whole afternoon naptime to myself. Tidy up, vacuum, dishes, and finally sit down to finish up some crocheting. I'm such a nana, I know. 

Dinner time came, put the thawed meal into the oven, made a quick salad and that was it. Brilliant! Too easy!

I know a lot of people do this and have been doing this for ages, but it was such a lovely break for me to have. And I was all concerned about trying all these new recipes, when really, it was taking something I know how to make in my sleep and just making it bigger, doubled or triple, maybe even quadrupled! Wooooooo!

I have a strange suspicion that I made start secretly saving for a deep freezer in my piggy bank... Just saying...

Happy Weekend!!!

xx

A quick pantry lunch - Tuna Cakes

I've become one of those people that have a full pantry, basically my mother. You never know what you will need! Or, as I have found lately, "why did we need this?" I've come across a few things lately that I have NO idea what I bought them for... But this is not about my brain-fart moments... It's food related. I swear.

Anywho. I love being able to come home from playgroup and whip together something like this. It's not super flash, but it's good, I love it, the boys like it, and it takes all of about 10 minutes to make.

Tuna Cakes

Ingredients :

• 180 g Canned (tinned) Tuna in water
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• a little bit of dried herbs, chives, parsley (or fresh if you have them)
• 1 tsp seeded mustard
• 3 or 4 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 2 tbsp grapeseed oil, or canola is fine

Method :

1. Drain the tuna in a sieve.
2. Quickly beat the egg and add your herbs and mustard.
3. Add the drained tuna and flour to the egg mix and mush together with your fingers like you would meatloaf.
4. Separate into four equal amounts and roll into a patty shape.
5. Heat up the oil in a small fry pan and cook through until golden and crispy on the edges.
6. Drain them on a paper towel and devour.

Yum... I make a fake tartar sauce for mine, but the boys are happy to have them with some edamame.
Enjoy!
x