Weekly Highlights

This week has been super busy, and although some of you may think I'm Super Woman and keep up with everything effortlessly, I'm not, and I don't. In fact, today I feel a bit like my little nephew after a hard day of being Super Man...

(Isn't he just too cute?)

Yep. That's me right there.

This week has been: school holidays and lots of kids coming and going; an exciting project I'm working on (which I'll tell you about soon); lots of cooking (mostly for the exciting project); wrapping up loose ends with my job (I'm scaling down there - can't do everything!); sight seeing tours with a visitor from overseas; a birthday party with a bunch of noisy boys (plus a few girls who don't like to miss out on nerf wars and messy fun, ie. my 16 yr old and her friends); plus everything else. Result: exhausted 'super woman' with saggy muscles. Lol.

So here's a quick update, with the highlights from our discussions on the Quirky Cooking Facebook page...

I bumbled my way through the boys' birthday BBQ on Thursday. I'm not great at organising amazing kids' parties. I'd rather just supply some food and let them entertain themselves by running around outside, so a BBQ at the lake seemed like the easiest option. Sadly, the weather turned bad so we arrived at the lake, took one look at the wet and windy BBQ 'shelter', then turned around and drove back to town. Thankfully my lovely friend Giselle was happy for a party of 14 boys (plus a few girls) to descend upon her home and run around crazy in her yard, so a fun time was had by all despite the rain.

Of course, being a country kids' birthday party, it included things like an 'epic' nerf war (I borrowed that word from Mr I, who seems to say it a lot), bushwalking to a waterfall, throwing rocks into a volcanic crater, and eating sausages and fried onions in bread with plenty of tomato sauce. No lollies at this party, or party games or party bags - but I'm pretty sure they all had a good time. :)

I managed to get a birthday cake made before dashing out the door in the morning - another Zebra cake (Mr I's request), but with a few changes to make it healthier and yummier. The kids loved it. It's a bit messier than my last one as I was in a hurry, but I really don't think the kids noticed.

It's funny how we mums sometimes think that if we don't do everything 'just right' the world will fall apart. I'm always reminding myself that there are more important things to worry about in life than whether a cake is beautifully decorated, or a party is perfectly organised. Sure, if you can do it and enjoy it, that's great! But getting stressed out over things like that just spoils the fun. So we had a slap dash, informal party, and a fun day was had by all. 

Here's what's been happening on my Quirky Cooking Facebook page this past week... 

FOOD

Pear recipes: This 'Whole Poached Pear Cake' was being tested and tweaked this week in my kitchen. I'm working on a dairy free, grain free version, and although it's not quite there yet, it still tasted delicious! What are you favourite pear recipes? Try some of these out.

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake: the lovely girls from Confetti Mag shared my cake recipe on their blog - check out the recipe here, and make sure you subscribe to their beautiful online magazine!

I'm also working on a recipe for a gluten free, dairy free shortcrust pastry... lots of pies being cooked here lately! (No one's complaining.) No recipe yet, all part of the 'project'.

Weird breakfasts: I explain why I eat weird things for breakfast, like chicken soup and fried rice, here.

How to make soft eggs, poached in the shell: too easy, very quick, and delicious! Photo and recipe here.

Don't have time for a 'proper' breakfast? My quick protein smoothie recipe.

A very interesting version of my Creamy Chicken & Brown Rice Soup: You know that soup that everyone's making? Well, you may not want to make it like this. Then again, maybe you will, just for fun!! :D

15 foods that can be regrown from scraps: great tips from Mrs Happy Homemaker

Favourite thermomix chicken recipes: Got chicken? Try these!

Trout recipes: some tips and recipes for cooking trout here.

Homemade two minute noodle seasoning mix: healthier versions you can make yourself!

Healthier biscuits to replace Tiny Teddies: some great ideas here for little homemade bikkies for kids, without the nasties.

10 reasons to make your own bone broth: check out this article by Alexx Stuart - I call bone broth 'liquid gold'. 

How to dry ripe olives: tips for drying and perserving olives here.

How to make dairy free dulce de leche with honey to sweeten: a reader's tip!

Homemade fruit chutney: readers' favourite recipes here.

Chilli jam recipes: find some recipes and links here.

Fig jam recipes: made with dried figs - ideas here.

Pickles: I also made pickled cucumber slices this week, so if you're wanting to try them yourself, the recipe is here - first half of recipe is in the comment on the photo, second half of recipe in the last comment on the photo. (These are not sweet pickles, they're the salty, vinegarry type.)

HEALTH

Homemade face masks: no need to spend big bucks on fancy schmancy facial treatments! Try these homemade face mask recipes!

10 reasons you should be using coconut oil: here's why I love coconut oil...

Why sugar makes us sleepy and protein wakes us up: ...and this is why I eat protein at breakfast time!

A reader's experience: how a mum got her daughter have more energy by giving her a protein breakfast before school! Her story here.

Sucrase Isomaltase Deficiency: a disorder that affects a persons ability to breakdown sucrose (fruit/table sugar) and maltose (grain sugar). Donna asked for some recipe ideas, in particular snacks & lunch box treats, for her 5 year old with SID - here's the answers and ideas that were shared.

AND OTHER STUFF

French Rules for Feeding Children: the French are known for having children who will eat all sorts of things - fussy eaters are just about unheard of! Here's some tips for developing great little eaters.

Nut milk bags: what do you use to strain your nut milk? Reader's tips and favourite brands.

How do you store recipes you find online? Here's readers' favourite ways to keep track of recipes they want to make.


Have a great week everyone!

Miss C and Shadow have the right idea...

Mr I's "FAR Too Easy" Chocolate Cake

This afternoon was cold, wet and dreary, and Mr I (my 11 year old) was getting bored. I told him to go do something creative.

     "Like what, mum?"
"Build something out of lego."
     "Nah."
"Paint a picture, or do a drawing."
    "Nah."
"Start a new project... build something."
     "Nah."
"Bake a cake."
     "YEAH!!!!!!! What can I make? I'll make my chocolate cake! Do we have all the ingredients? YEAH!!!" (running for the kitchen...)

Mr I loves to cook. Especially chocolate cake. (Now I wonder where he got that from??) He tells me he needs to learn to cook so he can cook for his wife one day. I think that's a pretty good idea, and I know she'll thank me for encouraging that idea one day, so he pretty much has free rein in my little kitchen. And he loves our Thermie. He is slightly messy though. I must admit, I get rather nervous when he rings me from home while I'm out at a demo, and asks where a certain ingredient is... he always hangs up before I can say, 'Clean up your mess!!!' Sigh.

Another thing Mr I loves to do is tweak recipes. (Again, I wonder where he got that from??) He loves to make his own quirky version of the Too Easy Chocolate Cake from the Thermomix Everyday Cookbook, tweaked to suit our way of eating. He doesn't need my help with it, just dashes off and does it all himself. He says the hardest bit is tipping the cake batter into the pan whilst scraping out the Thermomix bowl with the spatula - he's still kind of short and has to hold the bowl up high, and he says it hurts his arms. But he manages it, and I leave him to it.

Far Too Easy Chocolate Cake with Cashew Cream

I'm actually amazed this cake even works when Mr I makes it! He changes it all over the place, whacks all of the ingredients into the Thermomix at once, puts the timer on for 30 seconds, whizzes it up, and goes off to bounce his ball while it mixes... I'm much more 'delicate' with cakes, only adding the baking powder at the end, and not mixing too long so I don't 'beat the fluff out of it'. But this one has never failed. Even though he checks it about twenty times in the oven, banging the oven door shut each time, poking it endlessly with toothpicks... Poor cake. It's very forgiving.

By the way, he calls it the 'FAR Too Easy Chocolate Cake', because with his version you don't have the extra step of melting butter first, you just use oil and toss it in with everything else. Awesome.

Here's a video of Mr I making his cake, just to prove how easy it is... Be prepared for some kid stuff, like spatula licking and mess making!!

Far Too Easy Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 180C.
(Mr I usually forgets to do this until he's pretty much finished mixing. It still never fails.)

Weigh all the ingredients into the Thermomix bowl and mix on speed 5 for 30 seconds.
- 120g macadamia oil (or other light flavoured oil)
- 2 eggs
- 100g coconut or almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100-120g Rapadura (or coconut sugar)
- 130g unbleached white spelt flour (or plain gluten free flour or almond flour)
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 25g raw cacao powder (or 30g cocoa)

Pour mixture into a lined (or greased) 20cm round cake tin. Bake in 180 degree oven for about 40-50 minutes (depending on whether you remember to preheat the oven or not!), or until a toothpick/skewer inserted in centre of cake comes out clean.

Serve warm with cashew cream or coconut cream, sprinkled with a little cinnamon. Preferably with hot chocolate with cinnamon and a blob of coconut cream. (Well that's how Mr I likes it anyway!) :)

Don't you love my gorgeous jars? They are Anna Gare Blackboard Spice Jars. Cute huh.

If you'd like to see some more of Mr I's amazing recipes, just let me know. But don't ask for his Caramel Custard with Licorice Allsorts recipe, because it wasn't at all nice. Just saying.

He thought it was pretty funny though.

(Oh, and blame Grandma for the licorice allsorts - I don't buy those vile things!)

:)

Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

 

 (Egg free, gluten free, dairy free, nut free options. Naturally sweetened.)

 

This is my healthier version of an old childhood favourite. I remember scraping the hot cookies off the trays with a spoon as a kid, because I couldn't wait for them to cool and set - yum! 

 

The orginal recipe contained 2 cups of sugar (eek!!), so a few years ago I made up this version using honey or rice malt syrup. My kids love them even more than cooked bikkies as they're so moist and chocolatey. I love them because they're so quick and easy. They're great for when you don't want to turn the oven on but really want cookies. :)

1. Cook in Thermomix at 100C for 15 mins, speed 2.

- 250g rice malt syrup (can use honey, but reduce amount to 150g or leave out coconut sugar)
- 50g coconut sugar (or Rapadura) optional
- 30g cacao powder (or cocoa)
- 120g coconut oil (or butter)
- 130g rice/almond milk (or milk of choice)

2. Add and mix on reverse speed 3 until combined.

- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 220-250g quinoa flakes (or rolled oats)

* If using quinoa flakes, leave in bowl for 10 minutes so flakes soften. If using oats, continue with recipe as soon as mixed. *

3. Drop spoonfuls of mixture onto lined trays and place in freezer to set.

 

Enjoy :)

I like to keep these in the fridge or freezer as they taste best cold and chewy!

 

To make these by hand:

Heat first 5 ingredients in a large saucepan on the stovetop, stirring. Allow to rapid boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mix in remaining ingredients and drop by spoonfuls onto trays.

Thermomix Menu Plans - 9th April

Menu planning is a joy when you have access to so much fresh produce. Our meals often depend on what's in our local food box (which we get from the Realfood Network), as well as what's available in our small local supermarket and butchers. (As well as some herbs and passionfruit and things from mine and my mum's gardens. Okay, mostly mum's because I killed mine by neglect. Trying again though.) 

I love living in Far North Queensland - we are so blessed with a variety of amazing fruits and veges. This week's food box included custard apples, a pomelo, ruby red grapefruits, Shepherd avocadoes, mini local pineapples (the original type grown in this area), mushrooms, happy eggs, organic bananas, mandarins, chokos, potatoes, sweet potatoes, limes and a big, fat cucumber - all local, all organic or pesticide free. It came just in time - I'd forgotten it was a public holiday and hadn't gotten what I needed from the shops, and needed mushrooms and eggs desperately... And then comes a knock at the door and there's an angel in the form of the food box man. Ha ha! (Thanks Chris!)

My Realfood Network food box

Since it's school holidays, I had a houseful of kids today, so here's what I made for lunch: a tropical fruit platter, and mixed seafood, shallow fried. Very simple, very delicious. My youngest is a voracious seafood and fruit eater, so she was very happy pigging out on mussels and custard apples. :)

Fresh fruit for lunch - passionfruit, pomelo, custard apple, pineapple, bananas, limes for the seafood, and avocado.

You don't have to feed kids junk to keep them happy. Keep it simple, and just vary the way you present fresh fruit and veges, and you'll be amazed at how the fussiest of eaters will 'dig in!' We eat with our eyes first, and that seems to be especially important with kids. I've noticed if I just put out a basket of fruit, it hardly gets touched. But if I cut it up and arrange it on a plate, it goes in no time.

Kids digging in to fresh fruit and seafood

For those kids who only want to eat pizza and chips, try some healthier versions of pizza, using homemade spelt or gluten free or grain free bases, and topping with raw salads after cooking... And bake some sweet potato wedges in the oven with olive oil and herb salt - yum!

Wholemeal spelt pizza with avocado pizza topping, baby spinach, roasted red peppers, Kalamata olives and macadamia 'cheese'.

 

Another tip for getting kids to eat healthy food is to let them make it themselves. Teach your kids to cook! Let them experiment. Don't worry about the mess... They're not going to remember a messy kitchen when they grow up, they're going to remember the amazing things they created and how you loved them enough to let them learn to cook with you. Again, it doesn't have to be complicated - our kids love to make fruit salads or fruit plates and serve them up to each other. They get quite inventive!

A fruit plate made by Miss C (7 yrs old) - apple, cherries & honey

Here's my menu  plus a few lunch ideas which I'll decide on on the day - nothing flash, just simple family meals, using my Thermomix to save time and make life easier. If you need some ideas to help you with planning your weekly menu, read How to Menu Plan. If you have a menu plan on your blog, website or public Facebook page, how about linking it up here so we can all share ideas? Here's how: Thermomix Menu Plans.

Enjoy your holidays and have a great week!

Monday:

Mixed seafood, shallow fried (like this), with a fresh fruit platter.

Creamy chicken & brown rice soup, spinach and avocado salad.

Tuesday:

Brown rice risotto (tmx)

Beef & choko curry (tmx) with cauliflower 'rice' (tmx), cucumber & greens salad

Wednesday:

Lentil bolognese (tmx) on brown rice (tmx), leafy green salad

Thursday:

Sweet & sour beef (tmx) with raw spiralized veges instead of pasta

Friday:

Cooking class

Slow cooker meal for family - Corn & potato chowder with chorizo sausages (white sauce made in tmx & added to slow cooker; made with half sweet potatoes, half regular) & raw vege sticks

Saturday:

Sausage & sweet potato bake (homemade sausage meat, white sauce & crumb topping all prepared in tmx; baked in oven) & leafy green salad

Sunday:

Honey mustard chicken (baked), mashed potatoes (tmx) and salad

...and a Flourless Chocolate Espresso birthday cake for me! :D

Lunches...

- stir fries (tmx) with either cabbage 'noodles' steamed in varoma, or mung bean noodles cooked with veges in tmx

- quinoa salad

- baked sweet potatoes & raw veges sticks/salads

- devilled eggs & salad

- pasta fagioli with gf pasta

- grain free pizza

- leftovers

I'd love you to link your menu plan below! :)

Gluten Free Gingerbread Men

I made gluten free gingerbread men people this year based on Gluten Free Girl's recipe, with a few tweaks of my own, and they turned out great - so spicy and crispy, just how I like them!  I'm sure these would have been yummy with the usual pre-ground spices, but I decided to grind the fresh spices myself for a stronger flavour, and it made them soooo good!  

I know this recipe seems like a lot of bother, but it really is worth it :)  You don't have to do it all in one day - you can make the flour mix and dough one day, make the cookies another day, and ice them another day if you like.  And don't feel like this is just a Christmas recipe - use different shapes of cookie cutters and make them all year long!

Below is the gluten free flour mix I've developed (with a bit of inspiration from Gluten Free Girl) - it makes great biscuits and cakes! (Makes 1kg of baking mix.) If you don't have the time or the ingredients to make the mix, go ahead and use a bought pre-mix, it should work fine. They can also be made with spelt or wheat flour - you may just need to adjust the amount of flour to make the dough the right texture for rolling out.

Gluten Free Flour Mix:

1. Grind in Thermomix on speed 9 for 1 1/2 minutes:

- 200g raw brown rice

- 50g dry buckwheat (or dry chick peas)

- 50g chia seeds

(Tip: place a square of kitchen paper under the MC to stop bits spitting out while grinding.)

2. Add and mix on speed 6 until well combined, using TM spatula to help it along:

- 150g sorghum flour (also called 'Jowar Attah' in Indian stores)

- 150g potato starch or mung bean starch

- 250g sweet rice flour (also called glutinous rice flour)

- 200g arrowroot flour (or tapioca or corn starch)

Note: You can grind up the glutinous rice/dried arrowroot/tapioca/sorghum yourself - just make sure it's really fine, and grind in 250g batches for 1-2 mins/sp 9.

Pour into a storage container.

Now for the gingerbread men:

1. Grind the dry, whole spices and roasted almonds first, on speed 9 for 1 minute, until finely ground (don't worry if they're not perfect - they'll grind up more in the next step):

- 1 whole nutmeg

- 3 cloves

- 4 black peppercorns

- 1 vanilla bean, chopped in bits

- 1 cinnamon stick (or more if you like)

- a pinch of cardamom seeds

- 40g roasted almonds, unsalted (can leave out - just add 40g more flour mix)

Have a sniff of that...  Doesn't it smell good?!!

2. Add and grind on speed 9, scraping down now and then until everything is finely ground:

- 170g Rapadura or coconut sugar

- zest of 1 or 2 oranges (preferably organic)

- 1 inch of fresh ginger (peeled and cut in quarters)

3. Add and mix on speed 6 for 15 seconds using spatula to help combine mixture:

- 560g Gluten Free Flour Mix

- 1 1/2 tsp xanthum gum (or 2 Tbspns ground chia seeds)

- 2 tsp ground ginger powder (if you like it really gingery!)

- 3/4 tsp fine sea salt

- 1 tsp baking soda

Pour mixture into a bowl and set aside.

4. Place in Thermomix bowl and mix on speed 5-6 for 10 seconds:

- 230g unsalted butter or ghee or coconut oil

- 220g molasses

- 1 large egg

[Note: for egg free, leave out the egg, add 50g water mixed with 1 Tbspn ground chia seeds. Best to keep the xanthum gum in if leaving egg out.]

5. Scrape down sides, then with blades still running on speed 5, slowly add dry mixture through the hole in the lid, mixing until well combined.  Towards the end you'll need to use the spatula to help it along.  The dough will be a little bit sticky - that's okay.

6. Divide the dough into four pieces, wrapping each one in a piece of plastic wrap, flatten to a disc shape, and refrigerate.  Leave them in the fridge for a few hours, or up to three days - this makes the flavours stronger.  (Try not to eat all the raw dough - it's so yummy!!)

7. Now for the tricky bit: cutting out the cookies and getting them onto the baking trays without mangling them!  I found the easiest way to do this is to roll out one disc of well-chilled dough on a silicon mat, with a piece of baking paper on top of the dough so it doesn't stick to the rolling pin.  Roll it to about 5mm thick, or thicker if you like thick cookies, or if you're in a hurry! ;)  Cut out the cookies (I used a plastic cutter - if you are using metal cutters, do it gently so you don't damage the silicon mat!).  Don't even bother trying to pick up the gingerbread men at this stage - you'll only get frustrated!  Just pull away any leftover bits of dough (from around the cut-out g.b.men), wrap bits in plastic and re-refrigerate; then pick up the whole mat and place it on a baking tray and pop it in the freezer for about 10 minutes... Then you can easily peel them off the silicon mat because they're nice and firm, and place them on trays ready to cook!

I have two silicon mats, so this worked for me - one mat in the freezer, one mat being used, swapping them back and forth.  If you don't have silicon mats, just roll them out between two pieces of baking paper, using the same method.

8. Bake the cookies in a pre-heated 180 degree oven, until the centres are firm to the touch.  Be careful not to burn them - if they're thin they cook in 10 minutes or less.  Cool on racks before icing.  

I just keep gathering the bits of dough together in balls, chilling them, and re-rolling and cutting them - they all seem to taste the same and not get too tough, probably because you don't need any flour to roll them out with, if you use the baking paper.

Now for the icing!  I didn't want to use refined white sugar, so I decided to use xylitol so I'd still get white icing, instead of Rapadura, which I usually use.  It worked great!  This icing hardens as it dries.

Royal icing made with xylitol:

1. Grind on speed 9, scraping down now and then, until very fine:

- 100g xylitol

- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

- 2 tblspns cornflour

2. Insert butterfly and add egg white, mixing on speed 4 for about 4 or 5 minutes, until thick:

- 1 egg white

3. Sit a zip-loc sandwich bag in a glass and drape the edges over the sides.  Pour the icing into the bag, squeeze the air out, and seal.  Snip a TINY hole in one corner of the bag.  Voila!  A little piping bag, ready to decorate your gingerbread people!

We made gingerbread stars too...

As you can see, my kids wanted to add some dark chocolate chips and craisins to theirs... 

...and one of them made a skeleton gingerbread man!

Have fun! :)

Teach Your Kids to Cook! Why & How...

Making pasta - messy, but fun!

It is so important to teach your kids to cook, to teach them how to make good food choices, and to model good eating habits. Diet related diseases, such as heart disease, are much more likely to kill your children (and you) than anything else. More and more children in Australia are suffering from obesity and diabetes, because our culture has moved away from wholesome, fresh foods to refined, coloured, additive-filled junk! These problems are entirely preventable. According to the Australian government:

An estimated 1.5 million people under the age 18 are considered overweight or obese.

This means about 20-25% of Australian children are overweight or obese.

The proportion of overweight or obese children in Australian is increasing at an accelerating rate. This pattern, showing up since the 1980’s, is similar internationally.

If weight gain continues the path it is following, by the year 2020, 80% of all Australian adults and a third of all children will be overweight or obese.

These are scary statistics. What are you doing to teach your kids about healthy eating?

Jamie Oliver is a great advocate for teaching kids about real food, recently winning the TED award for his contributions in this area. He said,

"I wish for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again, and empower people everywhere to fight obesity."

- Jamie Oliver.

Please watch this video clip and share it with your friends and family. Refuse to 'go with the flow' when it comes to what you and your family eat! We can all make a difference, starting in our own homes.

If you need help knowing where to start to change bad eating habits, and how to teach your kids to make good food choices, read Cyndi O'Meara's book, "Changing Habits, Changing Lives". She will guide you one step at a time through the confusing maze of what to eat, what not to eat, and why. She also has a great recipe book that will inspire you with lots of delicious food that will help, not harm, your family.






Fun ways to help your kids learn to cook . . .

When I was little, my Mum always encouraged us to learn to cook, and we had a lot of fun learning how to make family favourites and inventing new recipes. We would even make our own 'dinner' sometimes in a little billy can over a metho stove in our bedroom - great fun! (Don't worry - my room had a cement floor!) When I was seven, I won second prize at the Cairns show for my chocolate fudge... when I was twelve I used to make a boiled chocolate cake for the teenagers at our church youth club, which they loved - until the day I decided to put a coin in it just for the fun of seeing someone's surprise when they found it... I don't think they liked it so much after that! :D

Kids making Marble Cake

I have many fond memories of cooking in our happy kitchen, and I want my kids to have those memories too. Sometimes it seems more trouble than it's worth, especially when they make such a mess! (And especially now I have such a little kitchen...) But it really is worth the trouble. If you're new to cooking with kids, here's some ideas to help you get started...

The girls making jam tarts

* Let them experiment! One of our kid's favourite pastimes is to invent new and interesting snacks - they call it 'making some gourmet', and they certainly turn out some very interesting concoctions, which they like to serve to us on a 'platter' as if we were in a restaurant! Miss C (6) likes macadamias dipped in molasses, and dates stuffed with almonds... Mr S (10) makes interesting juices, and fruit salads with nuts and honey or molasses, and carrot sticks with salt, pepper, tomato sauce and lemon juice (he's my main 'cook'!)... Mr I (8) likes anything that's covered in honey... And Miss I (12) is more into making biscuits and jam tarts and bread - she's a little more practical than the others! I don't mind them experimenting, because that's how they learn what tastes good with what. (As long as they eat it, of course!)

Mr I's 'Gourmet Crackers'

Miss C's very original Apple & Cherry Salad

* Kids love making pizza: Make the dough (older ones can help with this), roll it out on a silpat mat on the kitchen table, put it on the trays, then let the kids put on all the toppings. They can each do a small one of their own and make it just how they like it. Our kids like to make faces with the toppings just for fun. (Recipes: Pizza dough & toppings, Dairy free avocado topping, Lamb mince & salad pizza, Salmon & Salad Pizza)

* Fun Bread rolls: Make the dough, give the kids a mat/chopping board each at the kitchen table that they can work on. They can each get some dough and make it into faces, turtles, snakes, cats... whatever they like, then brush it with water, and add seeds or raisins for extra decoration. Place the trays in a cold oven and turn it on (moderately hot), and the rolls rise and bake at the same time. I like to make Poppy Rolls, and one day my dd (6) was making them with me and snipped them all around so they looked like this (see below) - she informed me they were 'Zinnia Rolls'! Cute. (Recipes: Spelt bread rolls, other bread dough you can use for rolls)

Miss C's 'Zinnia Rolls'

* Pasta: Make the dough, then roll out pieces of dough on floured mats (or straight onto the table) and let the kids take turns putting it through the pasta machine. This is probably our kid's all-time favourite - it's so much fun. (As long as you don't mind a bit of mess!) We like to do it with their friends when they come for the day - many kids have never made pasta before, and are fascinated that they can make their own spaghetti, and how yummy it is!

Making Spelt & Spinach Pasta

* Quick treat balls (or bliss balls): This is great for kids that are 'starving' and can't wait for bikkies to bake! Just throw all the ingredients into your Thermomix, grind them up, then give it to the kids to roll into balls. Instant snack! (Recipe: Raw cacao treat balls, Walnut & Raw Cacao Nib Bliss Balls)

* Eggs for any occasion: scrambled, fried, boiled, etc - it's very easy to teach kids to cook eggs, and there's so many ways they can make them. Our kids learnt to cook eggs at kid's cooking class (which we run with our homeschool group), so I bought them a non-stick frypan so they could do it easily on their own... Now if they're up before me at breakfast time, they can cook their own scrambled or fried eggs! (Obviously for kids who are old enough to use the stove.) I also taught them how to make egg sandwich fillings by mixing their choice of ingredients with mashed, boiled eggs - chopped celery, onion, pickles, tuna, mayonnaise, mustard, parsley... whatever takes their fancy... they love to make their own lunch this way.

This is a great breakfast for grumpy kids - or husbands! Never fails to cheer them up! :D

* Yummy fruit salad: Give them some washed fruit, some nuts/seeds, a chopping board and small knife, and see what they come up with! This is a great way to get kids to eat more fruit. Our kids love their 'slinky apple' machine, which makes chopping apples very easy and fun.  We also like to make raw fruit cereals for breakfast, which we usually do in the Thermomix.  (Recipe: Raw Fruit Cereal) Also vegie salads that they make themselves are more likely to be eaten! (Recipe: Easy Carrot & grape salad)

Mr S's Cherry, Nectarine, & Lychee fruit salad

These are just a few ideas for family cooking fun - add to those pikelets/pancakes, waffles, vegetable soup, muffins & cupcakes, fruit smoothies & juices, scones - I'm sure you can think of plenty more! The idea is not to be scared off by the mess - just think of the wonderful memories you'll be making together, and the good eating habits you'll be teaching them for the future.

(Note: most of these ideas are for small kids - the older ones can of course do more, like mixing dough, rolling it out, chopping with a sharp knife, etc. If you use a Thermomix, your child can start very early cooking for the family, as it's so safe and easy, and you don't have to worry about them cutting themselves or burning themselves.  By the time they're teenagers, they should be able to prepare at least one meal per week for the family, on their own.)

My friend Vanessa's daughter is just 11, and already cooks up a storm - here's a photo of her with a batch of ravioli she made all by herself - pasta dough, sauce & filling - and steamed in the Thermomix Varoma!