Strange habits and bread crusts

Over the past few weeks I have noticed how our little man started leaving bread crusts behind on his plate. At first I didn’t take much notice but after a while a realized that he does it on purpose (and not because he can’t bite it or isn’t hungry any more). It struck me as odd that he would this though since nobody in our house leaves bread crusts behind or cuts them off. Well – it took as a while to find out what was behind this new habit.

Call me a pedantic but for me there's something fundamentally wrong with not eating bread crusts (or even worse: cutting them off on purpose like some people do). It's like wasting food and the crust is a perfectly good part of the bread that can be eaten just like anything else. Especially when it's actually the healthiest part of a slice of bread (see research article here).

Saving money and cooking at the same time

My wife works as a hairdresser and so therefore we have very crazy eating habits, She might go all day without eating because she has been busy, and then she is straight into dinner then off to bed – especially as she has at least 2 late nights per week and they can have her finishing at up to 8.30pm/9pm.

Now on the days that Renee isn’t around I will cook for the household – including Pyper and she is relatively easy because it’s the same food different day, just a variation on the selection as such.

So this week because we are such budding chefs, I have been personally sick of the same boring food, and we wanted something a little different and healthy. Something that could be prepared in a smallish amount of time with minimal amount of ingredients. Well we managed to come up with a new system, and one that didn’t include chilli mince in either tortillas or taco shells. We seem to have a hundred weight watchers menu books or healthy menu books lying around gathering dust so we got them out and did what most smart people would do and read them looking for good recipes of which 95% of them are it was fantastic to see.

Father-food on Father's day

One of the greatest things about being a family is family meals, right? Unfortunately at times we tend to deprioritise cooking (or cooking the more fancy meals) because of all sorts of other things that are going on in our lives. How about remembering those cooking skills this Father's Day by dishing it up for the family!

Recently we've come across a website called "menumade.co.nz" - a great little site that provides meal planning and wholesome recipes for the whole family. It even tells you what to buy and you can specify any food likes / dislikes as well as dietary requirements or allergies. How Cool! In fact we liked it so much that we organised a Father's Day competition with them - check it out here.

Let go of the reins and let fathers be

Even before our children were born Al and I had always wanted to be equal as parents. We were lucky that both of us were home for the first few months of our first daughter's life. Even though I was very clear in my mind that I wanted both of us to be involved and equal - and we knew that I would have to go back to work and he would stay home with her - I found I had to bite my tongue when he did things differently from what I thought was the "right" way.

Recipe - Baby Food

No, I’m not referring to the goo that comes in jars. I’m sure there will be time to experiment with that later. I’m talking about the food mom demands for the baby before the baby is even born. What she eats, she tells me, the baby eats.

It’s the closest thing I’ve received to a decree from the King.

“In the name of the baby,” she says, “I request Stuffed Eggplant for dinner.”

She even sent me a link this morning by email to the recipe she had in mind. I thought she was busy studying at the university library, but it turns out she was looking up stuffed eggplant recipes.

Two hours later, no exaggeration, and dinner is ready.

A banquet fit for a king.

- Posted with permission from Spain Dad

Fathers, Food and Nutrition

Here's a cool dad thing to do - cook some food for your kids! The following recipes will work for babies and toddlers form 6 months onwards.

Mince

1 small carrot, peeled and grated
1/2 kumara, peeled and grated
1 tsp of oil
100g lean beef or lamb mince
1/2 cup beef or vegetable stock
1 tbsp of tomato puree

Mircowave or boil carrot and kumara in a little water until soft. Heat oil in a frying pan, add mince and stir well breaking up with the back of a spoon as it cooks until it forms small pieces about the size of a pea. Add carrot, kumara and stock. Cover and simmer until the meat and vegetables are tender, about10 minutes.

Christmas baking daddy style - 10 unusual cookie cutters

In many countries Christmas is a traditional time for cooking and baking. Cooking and baking with kids is of course a top activity and so here's some inspirations to liven up the cookie cutting (see below for a super simple recipe that you can use to make cookie cutter cookies).

50 Foods Every Pregnant Woman Should Eat (updated)

Re-blogging this article which was originally posted by us in 2010 - particularly useful for Christmas (and other festivites like Easter, Thanksgiving, etc that involve lots of eating and drinking). The following list is based on nutritional guidelines from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA's Food Pyramid), with specific boosts to certain nutrients (relevant for pregnant women) such as iron, folic acid, fiber, Vitamin C, protein, calcium, Vitamin A, magnesium, and a few others.

1. Iron Supplements
According to the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, normal, healthy pregnancy diets do not usually supply enough iron for the blood of both fetus and mother. Mayo Clinic recommends 27 milligrams a day for pregnant women.

2. Kidney Beans

Dino pasta

Here's another example of great innovation on the "food for kids" front ... Dinosaur Pasta. I can't believe nobody else thought of this earlier. Take two things lots of young kids like best and put them together - genius! The "Kids Pasta" range is made by a German pasta manufaturing company (Alb Gold) and is exported to lots of places around the world. So there's a good chance you'll be able to get it wherever you live (check out this store locator in the US).

Does it work?

Sequence of how baby teeth come out

We originally posted this article 3 years ago. It's been super popular ever since so I thought it's useful to have it up on the home page again for a while. Enjoy - Stef

Now that our little champ has pushed out his first two teeth and we are (anxiously) awaiting the next ones to emerge I was wondering what the usual sequence for teething is anyway. Well - as it turns out the good people of the "Journal of American Dental Association" already did some research back in 1974 to answer exactly that question.

[image by sedron.com]

Eruption Sequence of baby teeth (also called "Deciduous Teeth" or "Primary Teeth") in months after birth: