cooking with kids:River and Sol cook fried rice

For many families cooking with kids equals baking. I've been thinking about this and about the influence it has on developing a taste for cake and biscuits over vegetables.

I announced to Sol and River one afternoon last week "You two are cooking dinner tonight". (Sol is age 3 and River age 6) "Okay" replied River casually, following up with "What are we going to cook?" "Chicken fried rice" I answered.

I have a few reasons for making a point of involving the boys in cooking on a daily basis rather than just for fun baking cakes now and then:

1. Having them contribute to the running of our home from a young age (obviously in ways appropriate for their age) is something Pete and I both believe is a great foundation for them. And for us - we do not want to be running a hotel by the time they are teenagers!

2. They learn about food preparation and cooking and my aim is that by the time they are 8 or 9 they can cook dinner once a week. (What do you think mamas with older children, is 8 or 9 realistic?)

3. I think that involving them in the planning and preparation of dinner they will be enticed to eat what they cook - including trying vegetables they would otherwise say they do not like.

Reason number 3 definitely worked with this dish. They both ate the whole bowl with excitement and pride. Munching their way through carrots and garden herbs, River said between mouthfuls "Everything tastes better when Sol and I cook it". Perfect. Just as I planned!

I kept the recipe very simple and the ingredients to a minimum. We had leftover chicken in the fridge from a roast the night before so the boys cut the chicken up. I cut carrots in half so they would sit flat and be safe for the boys to chop. They enjoyed using kitchen scissors to cut up the fresh herbs from the garden. Cracking and whisking eggs for the omelette to include was another easy task for little learning hands. Peeling and crushing garlic took some focus. I had cooked brown and white rice earlier in the day with this recipe in mind. Leftover rice from the day before makes great fried rice because it has dried out but if you don't have leftovers cook some a few hours before you need it and it will work out fine. Sol cracked and whisked the eggs. I supervised River to do the cooking of the omelette and then the whole rice dish, he was so thrilled to be able to hold the handle of the frypan and use the egg-slide to check the omelette and then take charge of the wok.

River and Sol's chicken fried rice

Ingredients

2-3 cups Cooked rice
2 carrots, cut into 2cm sticks
2 eggs whisked
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed or finely chopped
1 cup of cooked chicken, chopped into bite size pieces
1/2 cup fresh herbs (from our garden we had basil and garlic chives)

Heat some butter or oil in a wok or fry pan and cook the omelette by pouring the whisked eggs into the pan and tipping the pan from side to side so the egg covers the pan in a thin layer. Cook for about a minute and then flip over with a spatula and cook for a minute on the other side. Set aside to cool for a moment then cut into bite sized pieces.

In a wok or large fry pan heat some butter or oil of your choice toss in carrots and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Next add garlic and cook for one minute.

Add rice, chicken and omelette turn heat down to medium and cook until rice and chicken are heated through.

Dinner is ready!

Serve with tamari and if you like chopped spring onion scattered over the top.

* of course you can make this dish vegetarian by leaving out the chicken and adding in tofu or tempeh or another vegetable or tossing in a handful of nuts.

Any kids in your kitchen? What are they cooking?

this week in my wholefood kitchen

"I love chicken soup" came the cry from Sol this morning when I placed a bowl before him to eat for breakfast. He devoured every last drop and then announced with a mixture of pride and surprise "I love carrots now!" Ordinarily he would do his best to drink the broth and leave the carrot in the bowl. Not an easy task.

The chicken soup for breakfast was for River's benefit as he is fending off a change of season cold. I didn't manage to whip the camera out this morning to photograph the soup but as you can see there are a series of photos above that I am hoping will give you a couple of inspired ideas for simple yet delicious real food options to enjoy with your family.

My whole aim with keeping this blog is to celebrate wholefood and show that eating well is easy with a little planning. Posting recipes regularly though is not my strong point. It occurred to me though that even just a series of photos or a list of meal and snack ideas can be enough to help when inspiration is low.

Sunday night we were very lucky to have calamari, mashed potato and ratatouille. I say very lucky because the calamari was fresh, Pete caught it in the bay. I sliced it into strips rolled it in flour and cooked it in butter. Pete made the ratatouille with eggplants and onions from our local farm and tomatoes and herbs from our garden. The calamari, mash and ratatouille was a memorable combination. I didn't photograph that meal either but wanted to share the idea.

Now, on to the photos.

1. Rice noodle salad. This was a classic case of "I have no idea what we are going to have for dinner tonight but whatever we're having, I am making it with ingredients we have". And those ingredients were: rice paper noodles, avocado, cherry tomatoes, mixed lettuce leaves, carrots cut into small dice, basil from garden, tuna and olives. Dressed with olive oil and apple cider vinegar. The dressing might sound a little curious but as I said I was going with what was on hand and that was the combination I felt like, you could definitely be more adventurous.

2. Classic anzac biscuits. I made these as part of a meal hamper I put together for a school mama and her family, the mama has recently given birth to a beautiful little girl her third baby and I wholeheartedly believe in cooking for new mamas. In fact, any reason I can find to cook for people I'll take. New baby, moving house, sick children, sick dog. You get the picture. The joy for me yes is in the cooking but also the giving, I love giving presents and in this case it is more than the food it is the gift of time, the gift of not having to wash pots and pans. 

Speaking of giving, my friend Robin heard River was not well and messaged me offering to drop in carrots, celery, onions and thyme from her farm so I could make broth. I just love how we mamas find ways to support each other and how once we are on a wholefood path we connect with wholefood friends who know and value all the riches real food have to offer.

3. Spinach and fetta pie. Along with a garden salad, the pie was the main part of the new mama hamper. When I delivered it to my friend at school pick up she said, "It has been so nice today not having to think about what to cook for dinner." The thinking and deciding is often the hardest part!

4. This pretty as a flower squash arrived home with Pete from a friend's veggie garden. The basil leaves are from our garden and were waiting to be added to a salad.

5. We are about to harvest our remaining cherry tomatoes for this season. I love the process of growing vegetables of being as excited as a child, to see the tiny signs of first fruits appearing on the bush and then when the first fruit begin to ripen and then moving (hopefully) into an abundant crop where you can hardly bear to look at another tomato, and then tapering off to see the crop finish and savouring the last fruits as at the beginning of the cycle, as if they were gold. If you never grow food, you can never know the feeling of witnessing this cycle up close...back to the salad pictured...cherry tomatoes from our garden were halved and tossed into a bowl of mixed lettuce leaves, along with avocado, garlic chives, spring onions, red capsicum, green capsicum, and snow peas. It was a delicious salad that we enjoyed with organic beef schnitzel from Cherry Tree Organics.

The rest of the week will see more chicken soup, a spinach pie for us, whiting and salad and perhaps some dahl.

What's happening in your kitchen?

start 'em young

Developing a love of nutritious food at a young age goes a long way to setting people up (hopefully) for a lifetime of health and happiness. With rates of childhood obesity and diabetes sadly on the rise there is much to be done to put children and their parents on a positive path when it comes to eating well. Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution has inspired more children to eat well than any food pyramid ever will, and Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Foundation is taking children back to the source teaching them that real food comes from the earth not from packets. I think independent, innovative programs like these are fantastic because they engage children in a meaningful way and that is the true way to make a difference.

So, when a newsletter from my old friends at The Pantry in Church Street Brighton arrived in my inbox I read with interest that they have started a program called 'Pantry Garden Kitchen'.

I worked at The Pantry on and off for almost ten years, starting when I was 19 (where did that time go?!). The Pantry has grown from a bustling corner cafe into an award winning restaurant. Families with young children have always been a big part of their regular clientele and now that the owners and managers have young children it made sense to start a program that inspired children to eat well.

The Pantry's General Manager Tim Purton-Smith says, "The program is in its infancy but we are really excited about its potential. We are looking at ways to make teaching kids about healthy food the most appealing it can be, making it fun. We had a great morning at a local primary school recently with the take home message for the kids being they need to be eating twice as many vegetables as they are now. The feedback from parents and staff has been really positive. The kids had fun and are asking to eat more vegies!"

If you live in Melbourne and are interested in having The Pantry visit your school give Tim a call on 9591 0393.