"No reading at the breakfast table"

Where on the 'food spectrum' do you sit as a parent? There is the 'anything goes' approach to food.  The 'Soft drink in the baby bottle won't hurt them will it?' end of the spectrum. Then there's the other end.  The 'I've grown every ingredient for this snack in my own backyard' and 'My kids don't know what sugar is' end of the spectrum.  This is the end of the spectrum I am personally more familiar with and the end of the spectrum that induces the most parenting guilt. You do spend a lot of your time thinking about food as a mum.  It's starts the minute they are born and on it goes.  I learnt a lot about the impact of food chemicals when my eldest child was diagnosed with a significant number of intolerances and allergies.  It simplified our diet immensely and in general gave us a healthier diet. I do find parental anxiety about food, a little worrying though.  I think by making a big 'thing' of food, we p...

I got given Lisa McCune's book 'Hopscotch and Honey Joys' for free last year, but it is a recipe book and I have no more space in my kitchen for recipe books (however pretty).  The book includes lots of kid friendly recipes (these cute bear car racers are an example, it also has the instructions for the marshmallow/freckle teacup thingeys). So I thought I'd share it with one of my readers. You need to work for this giveaway though. What's the healthiest family dinner you can produce in 30 minutes? On Mondays I get home from work at 5:30 and we need to eat at 6 because music lessons start at 6:15.  Eeekkk.  Gets a bit tight. Oh and we can't eat eggs or nuts because of the allergy child. Join the challenge and WIN!

I'm writing this post to show off how much of a real mother I am, what with all my baking 'n all.  Other mum blogs often seem to involve a lot of craft and cooking and so I'm just trying to keep up with the pack here folks. I have to admit that I do bake every weekend so that the kids have things for their lunch boxes.  That's because at the start of the year we instituted our new system (helpfully outlined by my 9yo daughter).  They can only have one item of packaged food (I know, I know, one too many, I hear you say, but I always feel it is good to share my failures) and so I've been forced to be disciplined about cooking for them. The challenge is the same with anything I cook for them.  Finding things they can/will actually eat (rather than things that make me feel like a real mother/blogger).  One child has an intolerance to cheese so these don't work so well for him. Cheese and bacon scrolls And they don't like dried fruit, so sudd...

Another culinary masterpiece.  The well-known 'Puffy Sticks'.  Oh, you've never heard of them?  Cooked puff pastry (plain or the fancy alternative, with cheese) is all the rage at our place this year.  They are a big hit in the lunch boxes or warmed in the microwave for afternoon tea. And I can hear you wondering - 'Wow, where did she get such a creative name from?'  Why, from my very own creative head, I have to admit.  Ahh - such brilliance ...