Marrow: Wonder Food.

So. It turns out... my kids love bone marrow. Yes. They love it. To the point where they were fighting over the very last morsel. I must admit, as a child, I too found this delicacy irresistible. It was only as I grew up and learned about animals and the provenance of bones that I let the ewww factor outweigh everything else.

Bone marrow is super, mega, logic-defyingly rich in nutrition, including Vitamin A, iron, zinc, selenium, magnesium, manganese and calcium - to name a few.

I would never have thought to try the kids on marrow, except that we've had my mum visiting. Yes, she who introduced me to this glorious food in my childhood. Not only is she super-nanny with the kids, and a huge help and source of entertainment to me when she comes to stay, she kicks me out of the kitchen and takes over meals. And they're amazing. She left this lovely stew for us - with marrow-filled bones and all. And now, I can safely say, I won't be turning back.

Let's all eat a sweet potato plus pie

My little boy loves that nursery rhyme. Tonight I made him a sweet potato pie, except I served the sweet potato (and carrot) mash in a basket made out of Parmesan cheese. I topped it with a poached egg and some snow peas- all favourites over here.

They also love smoothies. Tonight, they're washing dinner down with a spinach, berry and beetroot concoction.

A whirlwind kitchen affair.

I've been really busy lately. Job busy. Kid busy. Life busy. And like all busy mums, this means something's gotta give.

For me, it's been a slight decline in the time I have to spend cooking. And this makes me sad! I love to cook. It has always been my favourite hobby; and a source of relaxation. Giving my kids great nutrition is a cornerstone of how I want them to grow up. The double headed beast of fast food and processed foods are insidious amongst today's children. Even products mocked up as healthy are loaded with hydrogenated vegetable oils, sodium, colours, and suspect quality ingredients.

Today, I put aside a pretty scary list of to-dos so that I could get my head back in the game.

Like in most homes, brekkies are a major hassle.

We have about an hour to get everyone fed and dressed, bags packed and out the door. Lucky for me, my kids love: sandwiches, muffins and porridge. Porridge is especially handy to put together- and my kids love it served as a Bircher muesli. This one contains- organic oats and sultanas, grated Apple, yoghurt ad full cream milk. I will serve it with a drizzle of Manuka honey.

I made fruit cubes for sweet treat snacks. A mix of dried apricots, Brazil nuts, dried coconut, marmalade and filtered water. 

Baked beans! I have blogged my recipes for these before. And here is the real motivation for my cooking session today... I was looking at baked beans in the supermarket and saw the levels of sodium and sugar and panicked. I used to always make beans for my kids, until I got a bit busier. But there's no excuse! This is so quick and easy and I've frozen six cans worth for future dinners.

Ice cream! Oh, my kids love ice cream. I blitzed raspberries and cream in a nutribullet then whipped it until thickened. That's it. No sweetener. My guys love this..

And finally, chicken nuggets! A heap of raw veggies with organic chicken mince- seriously yummy.