Dishing Up Delish!

So you think you have a fussy eater? Join the club! At some point we all have to deal with fussy eaters. Toddlers & Pre-schoolers in particular can just get picky picky picky. Well - if you are still trying to get your toddler to eat that mush that we call baby food & comes out of little bottle or packets, you take a taste of it yourself sometime & then you tell me....would YOU eat it?

As easy as it is in today's rat race to heat up something ready-made after a tiring day in the office, consider this before you go through the ordeal of making your child eat the stuff. In general, by 18 months, many toddlers will have most of their teeth, will have been introduced to butter, salt & yoghurt & are observing the world around them in great detail, learning & picking up new things that they will amaze you with on an almost daily basis. So, what makes you think they are not noticing that they are eating different food from Mummy & Daddy? They are observing, they are connecting & most importantly...they are realising that their mush just doesn't compare!

I have a few tried & tested recipes my kids love...guaranteed to make them eat & some-how take in more nutrition than they would normally take in. Here is one of our  most popular dishes :

Buttery Boiled Fish with Veggies

Potatoes, carrots & any other veggies you find your kids likes

Chop the potatoes & carrots into bite-size chunks & boil in a little water with salt & pepper to taste. Make sure you use just enough water to boil the veggies, leaving a tablespoon or two of liquid in the pan once the veggies are boiled.

Once the vegetables are boiled add a chunk of butter (not margarine - butter!) - again according to your taste - but butter really adds flavour so being a little heavy handed here will only make the dish more delicious. When the butter is melted, add the fish & leave on the fire until the fish is cooked. Serve as it is with a baby fork & drenched in the buttery gravy so that your child can eat chunks himself or mash the potatoes, carrots, fish & some of the buttery gravy, add to rice & feed your child little mouthfuls at a time.If your child has been plagued by reflux the latter method may work better for you.

TIP :Sometimes I add a leaf or two of spinach into the water when boiling -I figure that even if they don't eat the spinach, some of the nutrition will have come out into the water whilst boiling!

I will dish up more recipes in a follow-up post- but in the meantime.....why don't you share some of your old favourites! 

Bon Appetit!

The Gabby Syndrome

How many of you mothers out there watch Desperate Housewives? Come on - be honest.....most of you would be glued to the TV set during that time. And why has this bizarre work of fiction found such a faithful following - with men &women alike? I'll tell you why - it because EVERYONE can relate. The hilariousness we see in the family lives of the characters ACTUALLY mirrors our own lives & those of the people we associate with.

We all know the control freak with a high-flying career who goes to work & still manages to keep her kids & (most importantly) husband,in line - then there's the so-called level-headed wife & mother who unknown to anyone is having an affair with the least likely character....it goes on.

My personal favourite is Gabby.....for the simple reason that she is simply human. The ex-model who 10 years before would never have foreseen her life as it is today - all the glamour gone, she's a housewife looking for a couple of hours me time. That is not to say that she doesn't love her kids....she does, it doesn't mean that she hates her life....no...far from it....she loves it. It doesn't mean that she doesn't try to make things happen the way they should....the cooking, the cleaning, everything. Why do I like Gabby.....she's very real....she is many mothers out there who feel alone......and mostly because she is quite simply  hilarious....OK she is a little over the top sometimes but let's face it....if she wasn't there would be no TV show. But she is me...she is you & she is almost every other mother & housewife at some time.....no matter how much laundry you do, how many times you clean the house & how much homework you supervise.....after doing all that as well  as trying to keep peace between your kids, get them to & from school in time with all related items.....at the end of the week you still need more fingers to count the number of time DH comes home from work & finds the house a mess.....your kids go to school or a concert minus some item, there is STILL un-done laundry in the laundry hamper......and you....well...you want to yell & scream & jump up & down when some-one says something as inane as "Why are so many fans on?" Because despite how exhausted you are.....you STILL don't seem to have achieved as much as you thought you would have. And hearing some-one else voice something as unimportant as the fans just makes you so frustrated you want to throw something...preferably the person voicing this stupid question!

Go on....tell me which Desperate Housewife you love the most & why.....you know you see a bit of yourself in each one of them....but which one really moves you....maybe I see hilariousness in Gabby....what do you see?