Jono's Spicy Mince

Jono (12) brought this recipe home from school. He has cooked it for us a couple of times now.

500g beef mince (ground beef)

olive oil

1 tomato, chopped

1 small onion, diced

2 small cloves garlic, diced

3 tablespoons Moroccan seasoning

1/2 cup beef stock

small handful of pinenuts

handful of parsley

1/8th of an lemon

Here are the directions as Jono told them to me ...

Cook the meat in a little bit of olive oil.  Add the tomato and the onion.  Cook until the meat is browned.  Add the garlic.  Add the Moroccan seasoning.  Stir.  Add the beef stock.  Cook until liquid is gone.  Add pinenuts and parsley.  Serve on top of rice and drizzled with lemon juice. 

He always does something green on the side.  Peas are his favorite.

I don't even need to be in the kitchen when he cooks this!

Ps ... We call this spicy mince but it's not spicy spicy ... Alia eats it and she's got a kitten tongue!

Blueberry Pancakes

Jono (10) and I tag teamed the other morning for breakfast.  He made the pancakes ... entirely on his own !  (It took right on an hour ... !  but did I mention that my ten year old made pancakes ?  on his own ! from scratch !)

This is the pancake recipe he used ...

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients til just mixed. A few small lumps is fine. Cook the pancakes using a 1/3 measuring cup to add the batter to the pan. You know how to cook pancakes right ? Depending on how hot your stove is, cook on a medium to low heat. Flip the pancake once the bubbles start popping ...

I made the blueberry sauce.  Easy.  Sweet.  But also Tart.  Delicious.
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Over medium heat,  combine  blueberries, water, sugar and lemon juice. Stir frequently,  bring to a boil.  Slowly add cornstarch mixture.  Let thicken ... only took a couple minutes.  And it happened FAST!!  Stir in vanilla and lemon zest.  

All that's left to do is pour it on top of your pancakes !

What We Ate ~ Week 2 ~ 2012

Asian Chicken Salad



Chicken Curry cooked by my 10 year old (and his Grandma)



Mini Pastry Wrapped Sausages made by my 8 year old, with stir fry veggies



Tempura Battered Fish with green salad (spinach, avocado, tomato, cucumber, red onion, sauteed mushrooms, shredded carrot, olive oil and garlic chive flower vinegar !!  so yum !! )



Pad Thai w/Lumpia



Out to eat. 
I had a marinated chicken salad (it was rocket, goats cheese, pine nuts, red onion and roast pumpkin) and cajun calamari on the side.



Pizza
~ Garlic ~ Funky Lime ~ Roasted Garlic Chicken ~ Pesto Mushroom ~

I'll post a few recipes this week as a couple of those pizzas are new ones.
Also ... I'm going to try and get the kids to do guest posts on what they cooked !

In the Kitchen with Grandma

We may have another guest post from Jono !

He and Grandma cooked an amazing Chicken Curry the other night ...

So yum !

Ice Blocks for Healthy Kids

Remember we had Jono guest blogging earlier in the week ?  Well, today we have Alia ... my 7 year old daughter .... we have been making our own ice blocks for years now.  The kids love them and I don't have any problem with them eating them because they are totally fruit !!

Here you go, in Alia's own words (and spelling) ...

***

Hello my name is Alia and I am going to tell you how to make ice blocks. First you get some fruit and put it in a blender or food prowseser. I yoused 3 mangos, 3 bananas, 2 kiwi, frozen berries, a hole tub off strawberries and 4 cups off water. Then you get your fruit and put one off the fruits in the blender or food prowseser and wall it is on por some water in it to make it smouth. Next por it in the ice block contaners. After that put them in the freezer and once thier frozzen tack them out and run it under hot water to open them. Finily eat them I hope you injoy.

***
Mommy's Translation:

prowseser - processor
yoused - used (i love how she spelled that one !)
hole - whole
off - of
wall - while
por - pour
smouth - smooth
ice block contaners - ice block molds
thier frozzen - they are frozen
tack - take
finily - finally
injoy - enjoy

AND ... she's listed out the total ingredients which was pretty clever as I had written down for her what she did in each one and she's added them all together !

For the mango one, I chopped up three mangoes. She added a banana (that had been frozen for banana bread) and maybe 1 cup of water.

For the strawberry one, she cut the green leaves off one punnet of strawberries, added a banana (again, frozen but thawed) and water.

For the kiwi one, I skinned 2 kiwi fruits for her. She added a (you got it ... previously frozen) banana and the water.

For the berry one. We had an open bag of mixed berries in the freezer that no one was eating. We let them thaw then she threw them in with some water.

Super easy. Fun for the kids to make. (apart from the chopping/peeling of a few of the more fiddly pieces of fruit, she did ALL the work !) Super yummy. The kids love these. And best of all. Healthy.

Alia's Chocolate Oat Treat

So ... Alia made these the other day and by the time I thought to take a photo there was only this one left !! These were super easy and super yummy ! Such a fun treat.

This made 9 pieces the size you see pictured ...

150g chocolate ... we used a Lindt Milk Chocolate
8 TBLS rolled oats
2 TBLS butter
3 TBLS golden syrup
something sweet to put on top of each piece ... we used soft jubes

All you do is boil water in a small pot, put your chocolate in a heat proof bowl on top of the small pot to melt. Add the golden syrup and butter. Melt. Stir. Add oats. Pour mixture onto a small tray lined with baking paper. Put sweet decorations on top of each piece (you'll have to determine how many pieces you are going to cut it into !) Cover and put the tray in the fridge for a couple of hours til the chocolate is solid again. We left it over night. Cut into pieces and try to get one before they disappear !!

Macaroni and Cheese for Cousins

Alia, our 7 year old, loves mac and cheese.
She found this recipe in a kids cookbook and wanted to try it.

She loved it so much she wrote out the recipe and took it to school for show and tell.
Our 8 year old, Jono, also loved it. He reckons it is the best macaroni and cheese EVER.



I loved her little write up so posted it on facebook.
Her cousins in the States, Aidan and Jack, liked the look of it too ...



This photo appeared on my sister, Ellie's facebook a few days later !

LOVE IT !!!!

Kiddos Kooking

Alia saw a recipe for making a strawberry milkshake on playschool this week and asked if she could make it for us. We got some strawberry's at the shop and when we got home she made us shakes.

We made a video of her doing the shake ... and then I made a video of the kids watching the video. I thought it was funny how funny they thought it was.

As for the taste ... well, let's just say I wouldn't buy this in a cafe, but if my five year old makes it for me ... I'll drink it every time !!

Alia loved it !!