Nummy Nuggets

These organic chicken nuggets are always a hit in our house. I must admit, I end up snacking on almost as many of them as the children do.

Ingredients (Makes around 15 small nuggets)
1 Organic Chicken Breast
1 Organic Chicken Thigh
1/2 cup grated cheese (parmesan or cheddar)
1 whole courgette, sliced into pieces
1 onion, sliced in half.
1 organic FR egg
1/4 cup milk
1 cup quinoa flakes
Olive oil for frying (Coconut or Macadamia fine too)

Preheat oven to 200'c fan forced.

In a food processor, combine the chicken, cheese, courgette, and onion until a thick paste forms.
Whisk the egg and milk together in one bowl. In a separate bowl, place the quinoa flakes.

Set the oil heating to moderate-high in a frying pan on the stove.

White it heats, remove approximately teaspoon sized portions of the chicken mix and place it first in the egg, then the quinoa, then the oil.

Fry for around 3 minutes either side (until a light golden brown) then transfer to a baking tray to finish in the oven for approximately 10 - 15 minutes.

I served these with home made potato crisps (finely slice potato and fry in the same oil, once you've removed the nuggets, then top with a small sprinkle of himalayan salt) and some fruit.

Kitchen mice.

I've just begun our annual gingerbread house bake fest- a highlight of my calendar since I began the tradition four years ago. Let me tell you, though, this is the first time I've considered abandoning my goal after only one measly house of ging. 

Baking with a four year old and a two year old is a vastly different experience to baking with a three year old and high-chair-restrained one year old. The number of fingers I have had to bat out of dough, questions I have been asked, and the sheer quantity of batter my little kitchen saboteurs have snaffled is blowing my mind (and weaning my resolve). 

But, it's fun... And I do love the end result... 

Grudgingly Cooking

Woah. I have had a big week. Tough in many ways. Busy. Exhausting. Looooooong. 

I know I'm spoiled that my four year old and two year old still have midday naps. He has three hours, she has two. And that is time that I protect fiercely as it is when I work and remember that I was a me before becoming a mummy.

At the tailend of this hectic and hard week, my kids have utterly lost the plot. Both disavowed the need for a nap, insisting loudly, and in shrill unison, "I'm not tired!!". My little girl (miss two) finally drifted off. Which was, obviously, an invitation for master four to throw pillows at her until she woke screaming.

Usually, they're a little team of mischief. They play and whisper and plot and are sometimes a little like twins in terms of how they clash and love one another. Today, there was no love between them, just plain and simple antagonistic fighting. And it fairly did my head in, friends. After having to cancel a much-anticipated play date owing to dreadful behaviour, I still had to brave the local supermarket for a few weekend essentials. Because well, shopping on a Saturday is just no fun. 

If you're reading this, you've probably read that I'm not a huge fan of fast food. It's an occasional thing for us, simply because I am happy to feed them bananas or Vegemite toast for dinner if I'm tired/rushed. 

Tonight, however, having placated two teary, screaming children all day, and just wanting it to be over (!) I suggested, hopefully, a little afraid of my tyrannical duo, that we could get fish and chips on the way home. (Our local does unsalted chips on request and use local garfish). 

You can guess my mindset, right?

So when my master four said, in his own hopeful tone, that he'd prefer chicken drumsticks and salad, what the heck was I meant to do? Yeah, I'm a sucker and I came home and made it. The salad is his own composition- he requested watermelon, strawberries, Brazil nuts, snow peas. Then, as an afterthought, more strawberries and cheese, because they're his sister's favourites (I think they're back in the love phase of their relationship). 

A note. Please forgive the extremely excessive styling. I had to make it fun for myself. And, you know. I just love big plates.

My kids got my tastebuds.

When I was a teenager, I fell madly in love with natto. It's a japanese food - fermented soy beans. They're tiny and sticky and I have been pretty obsessed with them for two decades (yikes, showing my age). It's apparently unusual for someone who isn't Japanese to like natto. Or, at least, that's what the several hundred merchants I've purchased natto from over the years have assured me. My purchase always brings the question, first, to make sure it's actually what I meant to pick up. Then, confusion, "Do you actually like them?". 

They are unbelievably delicious, folks. Salty and sour, and sticky. I have to have them with a generous serving of finely chopped spring onion as the sharpness cuts through the natto perfectly. 

And now, I discover that my children not only love my edamame, and ask for them by name, but also natto. In the ultimate act of mummy sacrifice, I've just let them polish off my last tub (gah!) and, when they requested more, promised (for my sake as much as theirs) that we'll go to china town today to buy more!! 

I know, I know. Soy. GMO. Oestrogen. Whatever. I am proud of my dear little taste-bud-tastic kiddos!

Lamb Cutlets

Today, at childcare, kids were asked about the kinds of food they eat at home.

You have probably got the idea that I am reasonably intent on providing pretty healthy stuff for the kids. Treats are an exception rather than the rule. So you can imagine how I felt when the teacher said, with a laugh, that my son had said that "junk food is his favourite, even though it makes him sick." Ah dear.

Tonight, they're having one of our dinner favourites. This is a stove top to table dinner in under ten minutes. 

I boik chunky sweet potato "chips" (skin on for added fibre), and while that's cooking, I fry the lamb cutlets in macadamia oil for about 4 minutes each side. Then, I add greens (torn kale) and balsamic vinegar. Remove from pan, add prunes and water, reduce at high heat while you serve it up then drizzle the prune jus over the lamb. 

Fruit Yoghurts

My kids *love* yoghurts. And because I've succumbed to bribery and blackmail on occasion and bought those squeezey fruit yoghurts just to get us all through a supermarket shop, they now want that kind of yoghurt all the time. Gath. Those squeezey yoghurts- even the organic ones- are all sweetened. Best case, it's with apple purée, or organic cane sugar, but it's turning a nutritious food into a lolly, and training their taste buds to want sweet and sweeter.

So I'm thrilled to have been able to remind my guys how much they love plain yoghurt or, better yet, yoghurt with added fruit and nuts.

I'm a huge fan or five AM yoghurt which is organic and has no added sugar. Barambah is another favourite of mine though it's harder to get.

I added organic frozen berries. I'm finishing off my last two packs of organic berries - they're great but the food miles make me weep (they hail from Denmark, Belgium and Chile) but until recently they were all I could get my hands on easily. I've just sourced Elgin berries though which are grown (I believe) in NSW/QLD. 

I like the yoghurt with the berries and nuts on top but my kids prefer it all mushed up so it looks like "real" (aherm- read crappy) yoghurt.

Natural Remedies

My littlest one is sick today. She's running a high temp, and not even a bowl of glistening strawberries could induce her to eat breakfast today (they're her favourite- she scavenges them straight from the patch in summer). NB, she's wrapped in love courtesy of her "Arentie" Shay, who patched this gorgeous quilt for her before she was born.

So, I've just made a fresh lemon juice, and blended it with organic berries and a heap of Manuka honey, which I'm setting into little ice blocks in the hope it will cool her down and soothe her ills. Our house smells of eucalyptus and peppermint oils, too, which is gorgeous, and hopefully helpful. 

Do you have any natural remedies you swear by?