JUNK FOOD VS HEALTHY FOOD

I get asked so many times what do I feed my girls. So many people look at them and think I am starving my kids because they are slim and petite. The truth is I am a balanced mum. I feed my kids the same way my mother would feed us, a balanced diet.

This is a sample of what our desserts look like every night

The majority of candy we see in the grocery stores are full of artificial colours and flavours

So here are a few simple rules that I follow:

• I don't allow any artificial food colours or flavours 
• No candy, chocolate or crisps on week days
• No juice to school only water
• we always have dessert after dinner
• dessert is always fruit
• treats and sweets are for the weekends
• my kids don't eat chicken nuggets unless they are freshly made or chicken breast
• no Mcdonalds, KFC, Burger king, Hungry Jacks or anything that I think is made of rubbish
• and finally yes I do allow my kids some artificial junk but only on the weekends if we are at a party or event

These are a few of the foods that I limit for my kids

I am not one of those crazy mums, but I try to do the best for my kids. Now my best might not be the best but its what I know. So this might not suit everyone, but at least it is working for me.

I see so many kids eating so much rubbish and what surprises me is that its the parents giving it to them. I don't blame the parents at all, because the majority of them don't even know what the hidden dangers  are inside these foods. 

When it comes to nutrition, education and understanding whats in our foods is so important.

GLUTEN FREE MINI - PANCAKES

I posted this a few days ago on my instagram account. 

The most fun thing to do on a weekend morning is to make pancakes with my girls. They love the mini one as well.

Being gluten free I just substitute normal plain flour with store bought gluten free flour and follow the instructions the exact same way. 

You can use any of your favourite pancake recipe to make these. They don't have to be gluten free

It all about a balanced lifestyle 

So easy and tastes delicious.

Bought this cute mini pancake maker from target in Australia. Absolutely love it

I always give my girls some kind of fruit with their pancakes and of course a dash of cream......

The finished product... Made my little jasmine the letter J using the mini pancakes

GLUTEN FREE BAKING

For those that don't know I have 3 daughters and their favourite thing to do is to bake. So yesterday while my older daughters were out on playdates my little one insisted we bake.

So on came the music, the aprons and the mess! Yes eventually we ended up with 12 chocolate gluten free cupcakes that taste amazing.

Now I didn't say they were fat free or sugar free just gluten free. So I guess this recipe would be left for those cheat meal days.

Recipe

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted room temp butter

2/3 cup of packed brown sugar

2/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup of buttermilk

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons instant coffee

1 cup of cocoa

1 1/3 cups of gluten free plain flour

1 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix and the divide equally into cupcake holders

bake for 20mins

This is what happens when I turn my back for a second

The baking mess

She insisted that she helps me clean up 

 The finished product. I didn't put any icing as it was already sweet as it is

FREEZE YOUR FRUIT

If you want to make your smoothies taste and look more like a gelato, why not try freezing your fruit. I try and bulk buy my organic bananas. I peel half and put them in the freezer. That way when I make my kids smoothies they come out like gelatos and they can eat them with a spoon.

YUMMY

QUICK PIC PREPPING MY BANANAS TO FREEZE

I used frozen bananas, frozen strawberries and blueberries, and threw in a few leaves of spinach in with this smoothie for my girls. I then topped it with Acia powder

The final product

NO CAKE POLICY

I was rather shocked to find out that I couldn't bring cake into my daughters class today to celebrate her fourth birthday with her classmates. However it gave me the chance to try something healthy for the kids.

I decided to give them a healthier option but also something that they would enjoy as well. I mean after all they are 4 years old and its a birthday.

So I made them chocolate dipped strawberries.

My little one was over the moon and the kids loved them. Their teacher was amazing and very helpful.

Chocolate dipped strawberries using Hersheys milk chocolate

I stuck them on toothpicks and onto the watermelon until the chocolate dried up

 My little munchkin