Kinder Kitchen Kid's Healthy Recipe - Sandra's easy peasey non-diary banana ice cream

A handful of ripe bananas

Sandra, a chefy colleague taught me this recipe on Monday. I was flabbergasted at how easy yet delicious it is. The most difficult thing in this recipe is finding room in your freezer for all the chopped up bananas and washing the head of your hand blender afterwards. Bananas can be quick to ripen and I always like to have banana recipes on hand as I don't like throwing food away. So, if you have any other banana recipes you'd like to share, please send them over.

Sandra's easy peasey non-diary banana ice cream

Ingredients:

5 ripe bananas

(yep that's all the ingredients you'll need - honest)

Method:

1. Peel and cut up the bananas into equal chunks
2. Place in the freezer until frozen 

   

   Bananas peeled and chopped and
   ready for the freezer

3. Once frozen, remove the chopped bananas from the freezer, place in a bowl and blend with a hand blender until smooth

Hey presto - banana ice cream. Genius if you ask me!

Kinder kitchen Kid's Healthy recipe - the wonders of an avocado

My breakfast (sorry couldn't resist taking a bite)

Well the hot weather has left London and headed elsewhere. In it's place we have torrential rain
showers. It is actually a wonderful relief as the trees, plants and garden grasses are soaking up the well needed rain. My herbs are flourishing with all the sun and rain.

One of my many favourite breakfasts in the morning is soda bread with avocado. I use half an avocado which I thinly slice and place on a thick piece of bread. I pour over it half a cap of vinegar, a drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper. It's a prefect way to start the day and keeps me full until lunchtime.

I love eating avocados and generally buy them from local Turkish and Mediterranean shops as they are much cheaper to buy. They are also reasonably priced in Aldi too. If they have gotten a little too ripe in your fruit bowl a great recipe for using them up is this easy kid's guacamole. I teach this a lot in all my cookery classes as initially kids go yuck but once they have followed all the processes they try it and mostly like it.

 

Kids Guacamole

 

Ingredients:

 

2 very ripe avocados

1 tomato

Juice of ½ a lime

2 tbsp olive oil

A little salt and pepper 

 

Method: 

1. On a board, chop the tomatoes up as small as possible
2. Place the avocados into a bowl and with a fork mash them up
3. Now add the tomatoes, lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and mix well
4. Serve the guacamole with freshly made flatbreads (http://kinderkitchenrecipes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/healthy-kids-cooking-together-with-your.html)

Nutritional value of avocados

Great site with nutritional values of avocados - http://www.naturalnews.com/034370_avocado_nutrition_facts_health.html

Winning recipe - Easy Leek and Mushroom sauce

Below is the winning recipe from July's Kinder Kitchen Competition.

It is very easy and extremely delicious and because the vegetables were so small my 3yr old fussy eater did not complain. I also used white mushrooms as he likes to pick out the brown ones from most sauces I put them in.

Easy Leek and mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:

Half a large leek or 1 small one
A handful of mushrooms
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 small tub of cream
2 tbsp. grated parmesan
Some black pepper

Method:

1. Place the leek and mushrooms into a mini food processor. Alternatively slice very finely or use a hand blender
2. Add the oil to a frying pan, and fry for 5 minutes
3. Next add the cream and a little black pepper
4. Once the sauce begins to bubble, remove from the heat and sprinkle in the parmesan

Serve on pasta or a great sauce to serve on top of chicken or fish.

Overcoming fussy eaters - adding in hidden goodies

Over the coming weeks I will be posting more tips on how to work with fussy eaters in your family. I use all these techniques in my classes and consultations. They really do work in the long term. Your children will not change their ways over night but with a little coercion and care their taste buds will develop over time and they will be more confident around different foods.
.

my daughter enjoying homemade mixed
berry sorbet with reduced sugar

Hidden goodies

 

One of the keys of overcoming fussy eaters is to get them to try as many different tastes as possible. Many people disagree with hiding certain foods in meals but where there's extreme fussiness it can be beneficial. Try and add some goodies into everything you cook because by making your meals healthier makes them tastier and this will benefit the whole family in the long run.

Here are some examples:

•  If you are baking a chocolate cake or muffins, grate some courgette or fresh beetroot into it. Also, by adding half the amount of sugar stated in a cake recipe will not alter the taste that much - children will definitely not realise the difference.
• Add a red pepper to a homemade tomato sauce
• Add some grated apple to basic pancake batter
• Add some grated apple and carrot to homemade hamburgers
• Add a handful of lentils and finely chopped mushrooms to a basic homemade bolognaise sauce

The food will taste slightly different but not noticeably so, so your children's taste buds will get used to new flavours and textures and as a parent/carer you will be happier as they are getting some hidden nutrients.

 

Kinder Kitchen Competition

Fun Boiled Egg Cup & Spoon

 

It's competition time again!

 

Thank you for all your entries last time. This time there is a egg cup and spoon up for grabs. All you have to do to win is send me through your healthy pancake ideas. They can be toppings or additions to the batter. You have until midday, Friday 2nd August to send me your recipes. Good luck!

 

PS For those of you outside the UK, I will post this anywhere around the world so please enter.

 

Competition winner - Child friendly peeler

Congratulations to Polkadotumbrella who won the child friendly peeler for their wonderful easy pasta sauce recipe. Please contact me to claim your prize. Recipe to follow.
Regards Natasha

Healthly kid's recipe - Thirst Quenching Homemade Lemonade

Another balmy day in London welcomed a children's tea party in my back garden. Homemade bunting and decorations, blankets on the lawn and 12 happy and hungry 5 years olds prepared a variety of dishes for their tea party. Vicky helped me today and together with the children we made:

• Tea Sandwiches
• Lemon & beetroot muffins
• Strawberry & white chocolate muffins
• Homemade popcorn
• Thirst quenching homemade lemonade
• Strawberries & pineapple dipped in chocolate sauce

I thought it may be a little too busy a schedule for the 5 year olds but they enjoyed every minute of it. Cooking together with friends is a great way of getting children to overcome their food fears. Seeing their friends trying new foods often encourages them to do the same. A couple of children said they don't like lemonade but when they tried the one they made themselves they loved it!

Below is the recipe for the homemade lemonade. The great thing about this recipe is you can control the amount of sugar that goes into it - either by reducing the amount stated below or diluting the lemonade with more sparkling/still water. It is all natural too and a great vitamin C booster. It was a hit with the parents too and would taste wonderful with something alcoholic added to it (once the kids have gone to bed) - especially on a warm night like tonight.

Thirst quenching homemade lemonade

 

Ingredients:

 

Syrup:

 

1 cup sugar

1 cup water 

 

Lemonade:

 

6 lemons, juiced

5 cups still or sparkling water

Ice cubes 

 

 

Method: 

1. To make the syrup, place the water and sugar into a saucepan and on a low heat, heat until the sugar has dissolved. Place in the fridge until chilled
2. Juice the lemons and keep to the side
3. Once the syrup is chilled, add the fresh lemon juice and your choice of still or sparkling water. If very hot outside add some ice cubes for extra refreshment
4. And enjoy!