Fall into Freshness

Prepare for back to school with fresh food ideas

 

 Salads

Stuffed Tomatoes

Combine cooked Ontario corn kernels with diced Ontario tomato, sweet green pepper, green onion and minced fresh parsley. Split fresh Ontario tomatoes in half, hollow out and fill with mixed ingredients.  Add a splash of your favourite vinaigrette dressing.

Veggie Fried Rice

Sauté cooked rice with diced Ontario onion, carrot, sweet pepper and zucchini, season with soy sauce.

Variation: You can add a any of these delicious ingredients to to Cous-cous, curly pasta or Ontario romaine lettuce

Sandwiches  

Bagels 'n More Ontario

Top bagel halves with cream cheese and thinly sliced Ontario apples, pears, or cucumbers.

Cucumber Round

Top thick slices of Ontario cucumber with tuna salad.

Rice is Nice

(for those who are gluten intolerant)

Top rice cakes with sweetened cream cheese and thin slices of Ontario muskmelon, apple or pear. Add a dash of cinnamon if you like.

Pepper Wedge Ole

Combine softened cream cheese with some drained salsa sauce to taste. Fill wedges of Ontario sweet red or green peppers with the mixture.

Soups

Instant Corn Chowder

Add fresh Ontario corn kernels to cream of potato soup. Simmer 4 - 5 minutes.

Soup’s On

Add shredded Ontario Carrot and finely chopped Broccoli and Zucchini to chicken noodle soup.

Dessert  

Yoghurt Fool

Stir chopped Ontario seasonal fruit into plain yogurt.  Add Ontario liquid honey to taste and sprinkle with granola.

Cottage Cheese Delight

Cover cottage cheese with slices of seasoned fresh Ontario apple, pear, nectarines or plums.

Cheese and Fruit Skewers

Feed skewers with Ontario Cheddar and apple and pear pieces.

Soups

Instant Corn Chowder

Add fresh Ontario corn kernels to cream of potato soup. Simmer 4 - 5 minutes.

Soup’s On

Add shredded Ontario Carrot and finely chopped Broccoli and Zucchini to chicken noodle soup.

Preparing Baby Food

Kitchen Basics

Sterilizing Equipment

Baby bottles are a breeding ground for bacteria. Make sure you simply boil feeding equipment in a pot of water for ten minutes to stave off bacteria. 

Processors or Blenders 

Mini blenders are great for preparing small batches of food. Using a blender or food processor allows you to choose the consistency of your baby food; whether you need silky smooth for a first time eater or a little more chunky for an older baby or toddler.  The Baby Brezza is a great one step baby food maker. It allows you to blend or steam and blend your food. The Baby Breeza also offers a reheat and defrost option. This great product can be found at C.A.Paradise. 

 Food Mill or a Potato Masher

Food mills and potato mashers are fantastic tools for preparing baby food. Make sure you remove the husks or skins from food as they are hard for babies to digest.

Freezer Containers

Several ice cube trays allow you to freeze meal size portions of a variety of purees. Allow cooked puree to cool to room temperature, then spoon into ice cube trays. Once frozen, pop out and store in freezer bags, seal tightly and write the date clearly on the bag. Return to the freezer and store for up to six weeks.

Feeding Essentials

Bowls with suction cups are great to attach to high chair trays or tables. This is a great way to avoid spills.  I prefer spoons that are small and shallow for early stages of feeding. There are some any wonderful, useful and fun bibs available today. I simply recommend any bib that can protect your baby's clothes from mess. Style and materials are your personal choice.  Although, one thing I did learn with  my kids was to place a splash mat or old towel underneath the feeding chair. Clean up was a cinch. 

Preparing Baby Food

Steaming is the best way to preserve the taste of those food and keep all those nutrients intact. When you are steaming your fruits or vegetables over the stove, use the excess liquid to blend. It will return the nutrients that may have escaped in the steam. I always try to choose fresh local food. Foodland Ontario is a great resource for recipes in guides to in-season foods.

Pick a Recipe Resource.

I have used tips and ideas from Annabel Karmel's book on First Meals in writing this blog. This book was the best resource for me when I began preparing food in my kitchen for my own children.  I often revisit her book for ideas on feeding my toddlers these days.   

First Tastes

Baby rice cereal with breast milk or formula is a good starter food. You can also start with single ingredient purees. Root vegetables are very popular and palatable for babies who like the naturally sweet flavours and smooth blended texture. My babies loved apples, avocados, pears, bananas, sweet potatoes and squash along with a rice cereal. Combining a single ingredient with baby cereal is a great way to introduce new foods and flavours. Once baby is comfortable with single ingredient fruit puree, try combining two flavours to give a mixed flavour.

Baby food that is stored in the refrigerator should be used within 24 hours.

9-12 months

As your baby starts crawling, they will need more energy rich foods such as cereals, fresh and dried fruit, and pasta. This is also a fun time to encourage self-feeding. The experimenting is the fun part. The feel of food is great for kids.Some great ideal finger foods:

Vegetables:

Steam them a bit so they are not so hard but still a bit crunchy. Carrots, cucumber sticks, green beans,

Fruit:

Chunks of bananas, peaches, pears. blueberries ( my kids loved them frozen), peeled grapes,

Toast fingers or plain bread sticks

Dry cereals

Cooked pasta shapes

Small pieces of chicken or turkey

At the end of your baby's first year, they will be eating more solid foods. While your baby is receptive to new foods be sure to introduce different textures and flavours -mnashed, grated, dices, whole.

On the Go

I love being outside. As a new mom, I would go on long walks, rollerblade or run with my kids in the stroller. Often my kids would be on the sidelines while I played Ulitimate Frisbee.

My babies were big eaters and I had to have food on hand at all times to keep them satisfied. Containers were important. Thermos brand has always been my choice of on the go containers. I use their lunch bag as a cooler. I lovet that it is leak proof. Their vacuumed sealed Thermos’ keep things warm or cold without fail. This is a trusted brand for my kids’ food.  Sistema food storage containers are also good with their line of 'Klip it to go' , which offers sections and dividers in their containers. Their line can be found at C.A. Paradise

Let the Games Begin

I am so excited about the Olympics this coming weekend.  I  always look forward to the watching the spectacle of the opening ceremonies.  Do you remember the dramatics of snowboarder Johnny Lyall racing down slope and bursting through the ice-covered Olympic rings at the opening of the 2010 games in Vancouver?  

This year, my kids are getting old enough share in my passion for the Olympic games.  As a mother and a teacher, I find that there are so many wonderful opportunities throughout the games, not only for entertainment, but also for teaching – geography, culture, sport, environmental, history, fitness, science technology and art. 

Friends and neighbours will join us to watch the opening ceremonies on Friday evening.  Throughout the week, the kids and I are going to prepare by making some colourful decorations and Olympic themed food.  Since my kids are fairly young, I am going to keep the preparation quite simple. 

For decorations we are making a simple paper chain from construction paper in the Olympic colours and creating Olympic ring placemats using plastic cups.  While preparing these crafts I will teach my kids that the five interlaced rings (blue, yellow, black, green and red) represent the original  five continents of the world, united by games.  Jackson has a map of the world in his room, so I will take the time to point out each continent.  Looking at the size of the continents and understanding the vast populations represented by the games is a great way to teach the spirit of the games. 

I have not finalized the menu for the evening, but I do have a few ideas.  I can prepare healthy snacks of cheese and crackers, fresh fruit, veggies, whole grain breads and cold cuts.  To decorate the platters, I will print off some flags of the different countries and tape them to toothpicks. 

I could also prepare fish and chips or bangers and mash as a salute to London, the host county. I also love the ideas of these Olympic torches made by filling ice cream cones with popcorn. Either way, it should be easy to represent the Olympic rings or to use the colours in food.  I am thinking lifesavers, mini pizzas, cupcakes and round bowls to start.

London 2012 has its own YouTube channel which is great for kids. It is filled with educational and entertaining short clips on everything from venues to mascots. It gives a wonderful behind the scenes view of the preparation, planning and preparation that go into the Olympic games.

To make the evening even more fun for the kids, I am going to print off some of these fun Opening Ceremony bingo cards.

On our weekly trip to the library this week, we are hunting for the following books.  They are also available at scholastic online or through Chapters. 

Hour of the Olympics

by Mary Pope Osborne

Ancient Greece and the Olympics

by Mary Pope Osborne Natalie Pope Boyce

Wilma Unlimited

by Kathleen Krull

The Encyclopedia of the Summer Olympics

by David Fischer

Going for Gold!

by Andrew Donkin DK Publishing

The Canadian Olympic team features some wonderful stories of dedicated young people.  Their personalities, stories and perseverance enthuse and inspire my children.  We have visited the Team Canada website to watch videos and to look at many athlete profiles.     Along with the profiles, kids can explore athletes by sport, sport descriptions, the event calendar and photos.  The Canadian team motto this year is “Give Your Everything.”   After looking at some of the athlete profiles, I asked the kids what they though this meant.  Of course, Jackson though it meant he would have to liquidate his toy closet.  With a little more talk the kids soon understood the hard work required to be an elite athlete.

We have created a board to keep track of the medal standings throughout the games.  I simply printed out the flags of the countries that we would like to follow and glued them along the left side of a piece of printer paper.  We will use bingo dabbers or stickers to mark the progress of each country. 

Lastly I have purchased an Olympic t-shirt for each member of my family.  They make beautiful keepsakes of the event and serve as a reminder of the fun days we spent learning about the Olympics and watching the games together.

Please feel free to comment with links, ideas or comments.  I value your feedback. 

The Sweet Tastes of Summer

Summer is in full swing and it’s prime time for picnics and parties.  Whether at the beach, by the pool or at a cottage, this season’s food is fresh and portable.  Here are some ideas for sharing the sweet tastes of Ontario with your family and friends. 

 Here is a link to my appearance on Daytime Ottawa

Click to read more ...

Canada Day Fun for the Whole Family.

Dress it up Canadian Style

It’s great to be in a crowd and see a big sea of red!

Here are some fun ideas of how to be part of that.
Temporary Tattoos are fun to apply! Visit your local paint store and get a stencil of a maple leaf. Use face paint and a sponge and paint the maple leaf on your cheek. Use the stencil and paint maple leaves on your backpack or onto your old white or red t-shirts. Iron ons and buttons are also great to attach to your back pack or shirts.

There are a lot of Canada Day options at your local stores. Capital city luggage was a great resource for me. The kids and I are adding decorated crowns to our style for the day. Jackson used a foam crown from the local craft store and decorated it with Canada Day stickers, temporary tattoos and, of course, some royal jewels. Meghan made a mosaic sticker crown; the jewels are sparkling bright to catch the princess' eye.

We are still making many Canada flags to wave. Older kids draw their own flags, but my kids used a sticker kit and put the pieces of the flag together. A great tip for the stick, is to use BBQ skewers for the poles. You are now dressed and ready for the Canada Day celebrations!

MITK Quick Tips

Stand out in a crowd. Use a bright coloured backpack. The bright colour allows you to be recongizable in a crowd.

Keep food cool. Pack a lunch bag cooler. A tip for keeping things cold is to freeze your juice boxes overnight and use them as ice packs the next day. It's a great treat at the end of a hot day to have a cold drink.

Pack it all in Checklist

Here is a great  little checklist to help you 'pack it all in'. There are so many places to go and people to see, be ready for anything.

Don’t forget:

 Sunscreen

• Hat
• Towels
• First Aid Kit
• Dry Bag
• Water Bottles (green option -  many water stations out there)
• Cool Scarf
• Rain Poncho
• Wet Wipes
• Umbrella (for both sun and rain)

Into the Night

• Flashlight
• Kleenex
• Sparkles
• Glow Bracelets (safety)

Need some time away from the crowds?

Pack some travel games and find a quiet spot. A travel game selection can be found at Scholars Choice

A few of my favorites are:

~Kanoodle

~ Yikers

~ Magnetic Checkers

~ Cards

 From my family to yours, have a safe and happy Canada Day! 

Julie

Mom in the Know