October Top Droppers

Thanx to all of you and everyone else who drops by.

Take Stock

In my quest for healthier, preservative free food, I have decided to throw away my soup mix powders and make my own soup stock. After reading a couple of recipes, one of which is at Fabulous Foods.com, it seems easier than I thought. The recipe I'll be using, though, is from Annabel Karmel as it is more child friendly. It is as follows:

Chicken Stock
MAKES APPROX 2 ¼ LITRES

Stock cubes are unsuitable for babies under a year as they are high in salt, so I make my own chicken stock and use it as a base for chicken and vegetable purées. It keeps in the fridge for 3 days. For babies over one year you can add 3 chicken stock cubes for a stronger flavor. Instead of a boiler chicken, you could use the carcass from a roast chicken.

1 large boiler chicken, plus giblets
2 large onions
2 ¼ litres water
1 celery stalk
2 parsnips
2 sprigs of fresh parsley
3 large carrots
1 sachet bouquet garni
2 leeks

Cut the chicken into eight pieces, trimming excess fat. Trim, peel, wash and chop the vegetables as necessary. Put the chicken pieces into the large saucepan together with the giblets. Cover with the water, bring to the boil, and skim the froth from the top. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for about 3 hours. It is best to remove the chicken breasts after about 1 ½ hours if you are going to eat them; otherwise they will become too dry.
Leave the soup in the fridge overnight and remove any congealed fat from the top in the morning. Strain out all the chicken and vegetables to make the chicken stock. You can puree some of the chicken breast in a mouli, together with a selection of the vegetables and some stock to make a chicken and vegetable puree. This also makes a wonderful clear chicken soup (with added stock cubes and seasoning) for older babies and you can add some thin noodles.

Bon Appetit!

Hairstyles for Little Girls #1

Every woman's dream; a daughter with beautiful long hair. I was very excited when Angel Starr's hair was long enough for me to start "playing" hairdresser and give her some beautiful, creative (but practical) hairstyles. But I didn't really know where to start. Sure, I can do a ponytail or braids but it gets boring after a while. I wanted some new trendy, fun styles. So I searched on the net but was surprised to find that I could hardly find anything on little girl's hairstyles. Eventually I found a few (most of them are for weddings!). But this one I came up with on my own. It's easy and gives a little twist to the normal ponytail. This is how it's done: Create a low ponytail and position the hair elastic a bit further down the hair away from the child's head. Then part the hair at the nape of the neck (where the hair elastic should go) until you get a hole. Push the ponytail up and over through this hole, forming a twist. Then pull the hair so that the elastic slides up the child's hair. And presto you have the 1940's style, Angel Starr twist! Great for kindergarten, as keeping your child's hair tied back helps prevent them getting lice.

Midweek Mommy Tip # 4

Get a babysitter. This is a crucial part in maintaining sanity, especially for all the SAHMS and WAHMS out there!! Make it a monthly/2 monthly/bi-monthly event. Get a babysitter (someone who is capable, that your kids know and that you can totally trust), get dressed up (don't forget the make-up and perfume!) and take your man on a date. Even if it's just to a coffee shop down the road. GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!! Just go and have a coffee/dinner/see a movie/whatever and make a rule not to talk about the kids, laundry, housework, homework, cooking etc etc etc at all. This is incredibly difficult and you'll be shocked to find that for the first 10 minutes of your date you might not have anything to say to the sex muffin sitting accross the table from you. Take a deep breath, be creative and soon you'll be chatting away and you'll remember what it was like when you were wild, free and just a couple. It's fun and most importantly it really does keep that love spark going between you and your man. Have fun!

PS Whatever you do, don't get into an argument. Just for this night, wear your push-up bra, bat your eyelids and say "yes dear" to everything he says (he'll think you've finally come to your senses!). You'll score major points and will probably be ravaged when you get home!

Operation Veggie Smuggle

I am becoming the Queen Smuggler, of veggies that is. I am on a new mission, to keep away (and keep Angel Starr away) from as many processed foods as possible. The problem is that she hates vegetables and refuses to eat them. She's very strong willed and it turns into a huge, HUGE fight. It's terrible to sit down to every meal with a child whining about how she doesn't eat this and that and picking it all off her plate and heaving (yes, she actually gags just looking at the vegetables!). So I've decided that it's all completely psychological and I will pump her full of goodness, no matter what. The solution, to disguise everything. She eats soup happily (because I put croutons in - OK so a little bit of processed crap in order to get her to eat loads of goodness. I think it's worth it!) so I decided to puree sauces too. I've come up with a great tomato sauce that she just loves and she has no idea how healthy it is. I make it with onions, tomatoes, courgettes, red capsicum peppers and carrots. Then I take my hand blender and blast the hell out of it, so that she can't detect any of the veggies. It just looks like red, chunky, sauce. Which I refer to as.......bolognaise sauce. You see if I called it tomato sauce she'd freak out and boom, in one second her veggie walls would go up. She loves this sauce and I put it with meatballs (which I have made myself with mince meat, onion, carrot and apple - yay more veggies!) or just by itself on pasta or with chicken and couscous (which she just adores). So far so good. She's happy and I'm happy, feeling that I'm giving my child healthy, nutritious food.