Category Archives: toddler

Cute Lunches: Incy Wincy Spider

Posted on February 7, 2014 by TheGingerbreadMum

Nicholas is spider-crazy, whether it’s singing Incy Wincy Spider or arguing with his friends which one of them is Spider-Man! A spider-themed lunch is definitely his most requested.

I used an edible ink pen to draw a spider outline on a tortilla and cut it out with kitchen scissors. I then used this as a template to cut out another. The tortilla is filled with mashed boiled egg and shredded spinach.

I added two raisins for eyes and cut thin strips from a couple of spinach leaves to make Incy’s web.

Incy Jr. is a black grape cut in half, slicing one half very thinly for the legs. You could also use a black olive as I did here.

I’m linking Incy Wincy up to Fun Food Friday, a weekly round-up of fun and creative food by the lovely Grace of Eats Amazing.

2 Comments

Posted in cute lunches, lunch, snack, toddler and tagged cute lunches, Eats Amazing, Fun Food Friday, grape spiders, Incy Wincy spider, olive spiders, Spider-Man, spiders. Bookmark the permalink.

Happy Australia Day 2014!

Posted on January 26, 2014 by TheGingerbreadMum

While I still fail to do anything particularly Aussie when Australia Day comes around every year, I did want to share some Australian-themed food today.

For those of you who want to be extra patriotic when eating, why not try to copy the flags in food created by an Australian advertising agency? Their Australian meat pie and sauce flag is perfect! Click the photo to see their other flags in food, but before you do, can you guess which foods they used for Italy, America, Greece or Japan?

I love following the many people on Instagram who create amazing bentos and cute food; they give me lots of inspiration and encouragement to attempt my own simple creations. I just discovered Lunarbell’s this past week. Sarah’s koala lunch is just the most adorable plate!

Finally, I created these lamington cupcakes a little while back. You can have the taste of an Aussie lamington with a lot less effort!Wishing you a Happy Straya Day!!!

Cute Lunches: Perry the Penguin

Posted on January 24, 2014 by TheGingerbreadMum

Costa Coffee challenged us to take their newest gingerbread offering, Perry the Penguin, on lots of adventures for the next three days. Feel free to follow all the fun we’re having with Perry on Twitter and Instagram, as well as the adventures he’s having with other bloggers (just search for #perryontour). We’ll do a round-up of all the fun we’ve had on Monday.

Inspired by our new penguin house guest, I made Nicholas a cute penguin lunch. It was the perfect opportunity to finally try making the adorable penguins I often see in the bento boxes on my Instagram feed.

bento, cute food

To make the bigger penguin, I followed Ming’s from Bento, Monsters very easy instructions.

I used a normal boiled chicken egg, a sheet of nori and corn kernels. Ming suggests sticking the nori to the egg with a little mayonnaise; I just lightly wet the egg and it stuck well (using the nori was actually much easier than I’d anticipated). I used some mashed up egg (from the hard-boiled egg I didn’t manage to peel very well!) to stick the corn kernel feet on.

The smaller penguins are made from black grapes. There are lots of little penguins, especially on Pinterest, made from black olives, but I thought Nicholas would prefer grapes to olives.

I cut a thin slice off the fronts of the two larger grapes for the penguins’ tummies. I threaded the two smaller grapes on top for the heads using cut lollypop sticks. You could also use toothpicks, but be very careful of these with little ones. The feet and beaks are small triangles cut from a clementine/mandarine segment. Then I added some yogurt to make their tummies white and tiny dots of yogurt for their eyes.

Thank you to Eats Amazing for the tortilla snowflake inspiration. We actually had two more smaller filled snowflake tortillas on the side.

I’m linking up to Fun Food Friday, a weekly round-up of fun and creative food by the lovely Grace of Eats Amazing.

1 Comment

Posted in cute lunches, lunch, snack, toddler and tagged #perryontour, Bento Monsters, Costa Coffee, cute food, cute lunches, Eats Amazing, Fun Food Friday, lunches, penguin, Perry the Penguin, toddler. Bookmark the permalink.

Baked vegetable bites

Posted on January 22, 2014 by TheGingerbreadMum

These vegetable bites are really a variation of my zucchini (courgette) bites, with more veg thrown in! They’re great for using up vegetables lurking in your fridge (you can really use almost anything), and leftover bites can go into tomorrow’s lunchboxes or frozen for another day.

Since coming up with our leftover veggie pops (or ‘cheesy lollipops’ as Nicholas calls them), I often put food on sticks. If you have a fussy eater, I would definitely try putting food they don’t particularly like on sticks.

For littler ones, especially those doing baby-led weaning, these bites are the perfect size for little fingers to pick up and feed themselves.

The bites are baked rather than fried, which not only means they’re healthier but you can throw them in the oven and forget about them for a while instead of standing in front of a frying pan turning them over. Sometimes before baking them I roll the balls into some extra breadcrumbs so they end up with a thin crunchy coating.

Don’t worry too much about exact quantities. If the mixture is too wet to shape into balls, just add some more breadcrumbs; if it’s too dry, add a little bit more beaten egg.

BAKED VEGETABLE BITES

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15-18 mins
Makes about 16 bites
Freezable

1 medium-large zucchini/courgette, finely grated and squeezed
1 medium carrot, finely grated
1 handful spinach, finely shredded
1 egg
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
Pinch of salt (optional)
Extra dry breadcrumbs for coating (optional)

Heat oven to 200C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Put all the ingredients into a medium-sized bowl and mix until combined.

Shape into small balls (adding some more breadcrumbs if the mixture is too wet). Roll balls in the extra breadcrumbs if using.

Place on the lined baking tray and bake for 15-18 minutes until golden brown.

Parsnip Soup

Posted on January 14, 2014 by TheGingerbreadMum

While my friends and family in Australia are trying to cope with heat rising above 40C, we’re snuggling together under blankets to keep warm.

We’re also trying to be healthier after the usual Christmas/New Year over-indulging, and soup continues to be an easy way to get Nicholas to eat a variety of vegetables (even if sometimes he HAS to drink it through a straw!).

PARSNIP SOUP

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15-20 mins
Makes 4 adult servings

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
500g parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
1 tsp garam masala
1 litre hot vegetable or chicken stock
Salt and pepper
Handful fresh parsley, roughly chopped (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, parsnips and carrots cook for about 4 minutes until the vegetables are starting to soften.

Add the garam masala and a little salt and pepper, and cook for another minute.

Add the stock, bring to the boil then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes until the parsnips and carrots are soft.

Take off the heat, toss in the parsley and purée until smooth (either in a food processor or using a hand blender). Check if you need to add any seasoning.

If the soup is too thick after puréeing, stir through some milk (or coconut milk).

Variations:

For a curried parsnip soup, replace the garam masala with curry powder
Add some grated ginger with the garlic for a little more zing

What dishes to you and your family eat to feel warm?

2 Comments

Posted in baby, dinner, family, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged baby, dairy-free, dinner, family, lunch, parsnip, parsnip soup, recipe, soup, toddler, vegetable soup, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Kale Crisps

Posted on January 6, 2014 by TheGingerbreadMum

I’ve wanted to try making kale crisps for a while as they’ve intrigued me. When a large bunch of kale popped into my weekly delivered veg box, it was time to try them.

I think for a lot of people kale crisps don’t sound particularly appetising. And the first taste is a little odd, but… then I couldn’t stop eating them! Hubby was rather dubious, but… then he couldn’t stop eating them! And Nicholas tucked into them too!

Such a brilliant way to get some more green veg into your and your little ones’ diets, and kale is considered to be one of the healthiest vegetables around. Kale crisps are also super easy to make.

Some recipes suggest putting the torn up leaves into a bag with the olive oil and salt, and either shaking or massaging to cover the leaves. I tried this the first time I made them, but found the salt didn’t spread very well meaning I ended up with some VERY salty crisps and some without any salt. If you’re not using salt at all, the bag method works well to limit the amount of oil, but otherwise I would just drizzle the oil and sprinkle over the salt once the kale is on the oven trays. Be careful about adding too much salt as they can very easily become too salty (you can always add more salt after they’ve cooked).

KALE CRISPS

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 5-10 mins

1 bunch of kale, washed and patted dry
Approx. 1 tbsp olive oil
Salt (optional)

Preheat your oven to 170C and line two oven trays with baking paper.

Tear the leaves off the thick stalks and chop or tear into pieces about 5-7cm in size.

Spread the torn leaves in a single layer over the oven trays.

Lightly drizzle the leaves with olive oil and very lightly sprinkle with salt (if using).

Bake for 5-10 minutes, keeping a close eye on them, until the edges have just started to go brown.

Variations:

for kale crisps with a kick, sprinkle with chili powder before baking;
for zesty crisps, as soon as you take the crisps from the oven, grated over some lemon zest;
for cheesy crisps, sprinkle over some grated parmesan before baking;
sprinkle over some sesame seeds after baking.

Tip: if your kale browns too quickly, try baking them at 150C for 20-25 minutes.

Cute Lunches: Rudolph

Posted on December 18, 2013 by TheGingerbreadMum

Nicholas is SO excited about Christmas and I’m loving it! He talks about Father Christmas making lots of toys with the elves in the North Pole and how we have to leave out some food for him. Apparently our Christmas tree and decorations are just for Father Christmas and the reindeer to see when they visit. And, naturally, Rudolph with his big red nose also features heavily, and so I had to make Nicholas this cute, and very simple, Rudolph snack.

Rudolph is made from a peanut butter sandwich. I used a large round cookie cutter to cut out his face and then cut out two ears. His antlers are pretzels, his nose a piece of cherry tomato, and his eyes are raisins.