August Cooking and Teeth

August Cooking

A new Friday tradition (stolen from Christine at Slow Living Essentials). The Big Bowerbird is cooking us dinner for pocket money.  Her first meal - vegetarian Thai green curry with rice and garlic chicken (for little ones that don't like curry).

It was pretty spicy but she and her friend were determined to eat it, and soldiered on with a glass of milk to kill the burn beside them.

French toast makes a perfect after school snack and does a great job of using up all the little bits of left over bread.

Finally using our humongous pumpkin, Blue Ballet, came in a Diggers Pumpkin mix. It's totally delicious and a wonderful rich  colour. Has been eaten roasted, in pasties, and in quiche.

 The little one likes to munch on it raw while I'm chopping.

Potato Latkes from a winter potato harvest, delicious served with smoked salmon, chives and sour cream.

 Some yummy cinnamon scrolls the Big Bowerbird made from a new cookbook.

Making Julie Goodwin's tasty Flat breads was a big hit with the kids, lots of kneading and rolling.

 You would think with all this good eating that our children would be thriving.

Unfortunately behind those gorgeous smiles is some serious tooth decay.  I'm suffering from  terrible mother guilt about it ,after a visit to the dentist yesterday.  "That is some of the worst decay I have ever seen in a 3 year old" is not what you hope to hear from your dentist, parenting fail. I'm really not sure why they are so bad, but all the kids have had major problems with their teeth. We eat biscuits and cakes, but in moderation, we rarely have lollies, and water and milk are the main drinks in our house. We brush teeth, we eat lots of home grown vegies, cook most things from scratch, and our town water is fluoridated. I am so sad for the little Bowerbird, as I know it's going to mean lots of dental visits, and a road that her big sister went down of teeth being removed, fillings, and infections. Sigh, there are worse crosses to bare, but I feel terrible for them. The big Bowerbird has a new molar just coming up that is already getting some decay in it.

We now have tooth mousse to use and were told the little Bowerbird needs a sugar free diet. Making  a concerted effort to rinse with water after all eating as well. Any other suggestions?

Apple Muffins

"What sweet thing will we make today mummy'?" Hmmm, making sweet things wasn't really on the days agenda.  "I want to make apple muffins". "Can we make apple muffins?". "Lets make apple muffins mummy", "Is that a plan mummy?" Such willpower. I can put off and delay her inspiration for a little while, pull out the paints, or the playdough, but the little Bowerbird does not forget, and she does not give up. "Mummy, you said after lunch we'd make apple muffins" (cleverly omitting the 'might' in my sentence).  Really, I should just say yes straight away and begin the inevitable, after all, what's not to like about apple muffins?

We are Googling recipes and the little one instructs, A is for apple. She knows I am typing letters. We choose this one http://www.food.com/recipe/apple-cupcakes-41260

They looked promising on the outside, but when chopped in half they were seriously moist, wet in fact, not quite the result I was after. 

At first I thought they were a disaster, but warmed up in the microwave they were like a desert apple pudding, and as the days went by they improved. Not one muffin from the doubled recipe was wasted. It did seem a strange recipe as I was making it, no eggs.

The above images are of May's apple muffins which I never bothered posting, as they weren't really up to scracth.

When the urge for apple muffins struck the little one yesterday we decided to try a different recipe. This one used chopped rather than grated apples. http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2010/08/apple-cinnamon-muffins.html  The little Bowerbird helped dice them into small pieces. There was mixing, and lots of tasting. Again we took a punt and doubled the recipe, 12 muffins last a pitifully short time in our house. Rather than making the topping we just sprinkled on some raw sugar.

These muffins are light and filled with tasty apple chunks, just perfect.  The funny thing is, that  the little Bowerbird has turned her nose up at them. She doesn't really like the chunks of apple. Sigh, at least the rest of the house is happy.

Honey Biscuits

  

    

, 

We borrowed a beautiful book from the library titled Honey Biscuits, written by Meredith Hooper, illustrated by Alison Bartlett. Meredith weaves a beautiful tale of all the ingredients that go into making honey biscuits, and explains their origin. 


A cow in a field eating fresh green grass, munch dribble munch, all day long. "A cow?" said Ben. "And grass! For honey biscuits?" "Oh yes!" said Gran. "The cow turns the grass into creamy milk." " Shake the milk round and round and it turns into smooth yellow butter."....


And so the story goes, explaining each ingredient. So wonderful to teach our children to see the ingredients, that we have in our fridge and cupboard, for what they truly are.


The recipe for honey biscuits is at the end of the book and of course we had to make them. Utterly delicious, so pleased we doubled the recipe.


Honey Biscuits
120 grams butter
120 grams sugar
1 large tablespoon of honey
1 egg yolk
1 tspn cinnamon
180 grams self raising flour
(extra cinnamon and sugar for rolling biscuits in)

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius
2. Beat butter and sugar until creamy
3. Beat in honey (we added a little extra - yummy Red Gum Honey), then egg yolk
4. Add cinnamon and flour and mix to a soft dough. if dough is sticky add a little extra flour (we did).
5. Shape dough into balls - about 1tspn dough per ball
6. Roll balls in cinnamon sugar
7. Put on baking tray (use greased tray or greaseproof paper or baking sheet)
8. Bake for around 15 mins until turning golden brown
9. Take out allow to cool slightly (biscuits harden as they cool)
10. Place on rack to cool

Try and stop at just one. Makes about 30 biscuits.