7 Days of Love – Marshmallow Krispie Hearts

I found this recipe at Nurture Store and it seemed like an easy, fun treat to make for the girls to give to their teachers. We had a trial run first, just in case it turned out to be a disaster.

It really is as simple as melting the ingredients and pouring the mix into a baking tray to get firm.

I couldn’t find my small heart-shaped cookie cutter, so used the next biggest size. I struggled a bit to cut the hearts just using the cookie cutter and needed a knife to make sure I got all the way through. I’m not sure if it was because the cookie cutter is plastic or if my Marshmallow Krispie layer was too thick.

The hearts looked amazing, though.

And my taste testers agreed that it was delicious.

So we’ll make them for Poppet and Pixie to give to their teachers for Valentine’s Day.

Do your kids give their teachers Valentine’s gifts?

7 Days of Love – Chocolate Hearts

What is Valentine’s Day without chocolate?

Every year I like to send a little something to school so that my girls can give their classmates a Valentine’s gift. Last year we did cookies; this year we made mini chocolate hearts.

The girls were curious about what “making chocolates” entailed, and more interested in eating the chocolate than in spooning melted chocolate into the moulds.

I bought the chocolate, heart moulds and foil at The Chocolate Den (on Linksfield Road in Edenvale). This is my favourite baking shop, partly because of its name, but also because they have absolutely everything you need there.

The girls each filled in one tray, then licked their spoons clean. I made the rest of the chocolates later.

When they had all been made, I cut the foil into small squares and wrapped each chocolate. I did this while the girls were at school to avoid the whining for chocolate that I knew would happen if they were around.

20 kids in each class. That’s a lot of chocolates.

I wrote a little note and stuck a chocolate on each.

Hopefully there’ll be a lot of smiling kids next Friday.

Do your kids make Valentine’s gifts for their friends?

Surprisingly Delicious Chicken and Baby Marrow Pasta Bake

Has it ever happened to you that at around 4pm, you open the grocery cupboard and realise it’s not quite as full as you thought it was? And then you remember that your plans to go grocery shopping never materialised for some reason?

It happens to me, more than I’m willing to admit.

The other day, I found myself rifling through the grocery cupboard, desperate to find something to feed my children because toast and cheese three nights in a row was not going to happen.

What I found: pasta twirls and a packet of Knorr Creamy Chicken soup (just one month past its Best Before date – what’s one measly month, right?) and some Mozarella cheese, baby marrows and chicken breasts in the fridge. (Look, you’ve got to give me credit for defrosting the chicken ahead of time. Technically, I had a plan. Chicken and . . . something.)

I chopped up the chicken into strips, tossed them in salt and pepper and fried them in olive oil while the pasta cooked.

Then I grated two baby marrows and mixed the soup powder with boiling water to make a thickish sauce.

I put the chicken, pasta, baby marrows and soup-sauce in a baking dish and mixed everything up nicely. Then I grated some Mozeralla cheese and sprinkled it on top, then put it in the oven for 15 minutes at 180°C.

I nervously presented it to my children, who promptly scarfed it down as if they hadn’t eaten in days. They didn’t drop dead, so Hubby and I had it for supper a bit later.

Oh. My. Word.

Delicious.

Seriously. You guys have got to try this dish.

Did you try it? Did you like it?

5 Lunchbox Ideas

As a kind of follow-up to this post, I thought I’d show you what my girls have been getting in their lunchboxes.

Poppet and Pixie love grapes. They eat them so quickly I wonder if they actually get to taste them. I made those bran muffins with a muffin mix – easy peasy. Pick n Pay has a great range of character yoghurts that are also good for the budget.

Popcorn is a super-quick and super-cheap snack to make. The Fairy yoghurt is also from Pick n Pay. There’s just enough space for the peach. 🙂

Old Faithful – yoghurt, Mini Cheddars and a banana. I like it when the girls choose diet-friendly flavours I don’t eat (like biltong).

Pretzels aren’t expensive if you buy in bulk – although, if your kids are anything like mine, they don’t last very long in the cupboard. Yoghurt and yellow peaches. Yum.

Provitas and Mozarella cheese, a nectarine, and yoghurt. Always yoghurt.

What do you put in your child’s lunchbox?

Lekker Lunchboxes

Poppet and Pixie have two breakfasts during the week: one at home and one at school. They also get a cooked lunch at school (so I feel less guilty when supper consists of fruit and sandwiches). I do have to send a mid-morning snack, though, and it’s hard to keep from falling into the rut of Mini Cheddars, yoghurt and a banana every day. Luckily for me (and you) there’s Pinterest.

For those of you who are also running low on lunchbox ideas, here’s a list of inspiration for you. You’re welcome.

Image credit: http://www.easylunchboxes.com

5 Dollar Dinners has 31 days of lunchbox ideas as well as free printables to help you compile affordable, healthy lunchboxes for your kids.

Keeley McGuire offers 20 non-sandwich lunch ideas for kids with allergies or gluten intolerance.

Princess Pinky Girl has a link-up to 100+ lunchbox ideas for you. She also gives some tips on how to successfully pack a lunch box.

Image credit: http://www.taste.com.au

Very Culinary has some yummy ideas that don’t require a lot of time to prepare.

Following In My Shoes has ideas for lunchboxes that can be made the night before. This will help free up some time to sleep later in the morning, or have a cup of coffee, or just slow the routine down. Some of the ideas are gluten-free.

My Life and Kids links to 30 lunchbox ideas for your kids.

Image credit: a2zlifestyle.com

A Bowl Full of Simple has some advice on not driving yourself nuts making lunches.

This blog has some healthy lunch options.

Image credit: http://www.thehealthcloud.co.uk

Family Fresh Meals has some holiday-themed lunchbox ideas.

Paging Fun Moms has 20+ ideas for kids who don’t like sandwiches.

Image credit: http://www.ahealthiermichigan.org

I don’t know about you, but I’m really, really hungry now.

What do you normally pack in your child’s lunchbox?

12 Days of Christmas – Gingerbread Cookies for Santa

Stuck for an idea of what to leave for Santa? These yummy gingerbread biscuits are easy and quick.

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter or margarine
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup golden syrup
1 egg, separated
2 ½ cups flour sifted
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two baking trays with baking paper.

Beat the butter and sugar using an electric mixer. Then beat in the syrup and egg yolk. Fold in the flour, spices and bicarb. Cover in plastic and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

The cookies spread a little bit during baking, so don’t place them too close together.

Bake cookies for about eight minutes. Allow to harden for a few minutes on the tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

These cookies taste best fresh out of the oven, but will keep for two weeks in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

What do you leave out for Santa?

12 Days of Christmas – Candy Cane Cookies

I saw this cookie recipe in the Artful Parent’s Winter e-book a while back, and it looked like a fun activity for the girls to do. (I haven’t included the recipe because I couldn’t see it on her site.)

It started off well enough. Poppet had a lot of fun rolling the dough into snakes. Instead of twisting the two colours together, she broke off pieces of white dough and pressed it onto her red snakes to make the candy canes. Pixie decided that it would be a lot more fun to break up her dough into lots of little crumbs.

When Poppet got tired of making candy canes, I gave the girls cookie cutters. Pixie was far more interested in building a structure than rolling dough.

The cookies turned out rather well. (And they’re delicious.)

Do you bake with your kids?

12 Days of Christmas – Day 1 – Christmas Cookies

It’s a tradition to make Christmas cookies as end-of-year gifts for teachers. This year we decided to make star-shaped cookies. I say “we” but the girls decided they would much rather watch Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure than help Mommy ice cookies. Of course, they were still very eager to do their jobs as taste-testers.

I bought little red cardboard boxes from the baking shop near our house. Then I made notes to stick onto the boxes.

This is my favourite cookie recipe:

Ingredients:
3 ¾ cups flour
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 C margarine/butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence

Sift flour, salt and baking powder together, and set aside. In a large bowl, cream margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla essence. Gradually add sifted ingredients. Cover and chill until ready to use. Preheat oven to 200°C. Bake cookies for about 6 minutes until the edges start to brown. One batch of dough makes about 56 cookies.

Do you bake Christmas cookies?

Pantry Raid Pasta

Named thus because I had no idea what to make for supper, so I grabbed whatever was in the cupboards and fridge. We’ve all had days like that, right? Tell me I’m not alone in my lack of planning and frantic last-minute searches through the cupboards!

Ingredients

250g fusilli pasta, cooked

2 tomatoes, diced

2 baby marrows, diced

1 tin tuna, drained and separated with a fork

a large handful of grated cheese

400ml pasta sauce (I used a packet of Royco sauce and thickened it with a spoonful of flour)

To make

Mix all the ingredients in an oven-proof dish. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake at 190°C for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown.

To my surprise (and delight) it turned out to be rather delicious. Who knew I could cook without following a recipe?

As expected, the girls ate everything except the veggies. Sigh.

What are your go-to meals?

10 Healthy Snack Options For Kids’ Parties

 

With Poppet’s birthday this month, and Pixie’s next month, I’ve had parties on my brain for a while. Poppet has been planning her parties since she was two – yes, really! – giving strict instructions on the guest list (I had to put my foot down when she wanted her whole school last year), the cake (chocolate, even though she doesn’t eat cake herself), and what snacks to serve (“Sweets, Mommy!”). She is already starting to talk about next year’s party – and we haven’t even had this year’s yet!

Over the next two weeks, I’ll be doing a party series, which I hope you’ll find helpful the next time you’re planning your little one’s special day. First up: some healthier options for the snack table.

1. Fruit kebabs

 

Image credit: http://www.aldi.co.uk

This shouldn’t be too expensive if you stick to what’s in season. My girls are fruitaholics so they love these.

2. Veggie crudites with hummus dip

Cucumber and carrot sticks, baby corn, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers . . . mmmm.

3. Popcorn

Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

It takes two minutes in the microwave. Serve it unsalted – the kids won’t mind.

4. Carrot cupcakes

Image credit: gimmesomeoven.com

Put some cream cheese icing on a carrot muffin and voila – a cupcake!

5. Frozen yoghurt popsicles

Image credit: nutrivize.com

You can add some chopped fruit before freezing to boost the yumminess factor.

6. Roast veggie chips

Image credit: drgullo.com

Forget all the MSG-riddled rubbish, pop some sliced sweet potato, butternut and parsnips in the oven to roast. Delish!

7. A watermelon boat

Image credit: http://www.partyblog.mygrafico.com

A bit of effort, but how cool is this boat? If you’d rather, just serve sliced watermelon.

8. Pretzels

Image credit: http://www.photo-dictionary.com

Poppet and Pixie love pretzels and could easily polish off the whole bag if I’d let them.

9. Chocolate-dipped strawberries

Image credit: threesbarandgrill.com

Always a winning combination.

10. Biltong

Image credit: themarketbarrow.co.za

You can’t get more South African than this.

What would you add to the list?