Chicken stock

By Bec

If you have read my previous post about colours, preservatives and ice-cream you will know we did a trial of no colours for my son to see the impact it has on his diet.  Since then we have moved on to also cutting out preservatives and additives.  When I checked the ingredient list of chicken stock I was shocked, really shocked to see the ingredients.  Every single ingredient was on the no list - the ones to avoid.

I had heard of people making their own stock, chicken or vegetable, but always thought, "gosh there is no way I can do that, way too fiddly and hard".  Well was I wrong.  I dug out my Failsafe Cook book (by Sue Dengate) and found an easy recipe.

Here is what I did:
Skinned a whole chicken
Put the skinned chicken in a large saucepan (whole)
Chopped up a leek and 2 stalks of celery put in the saucepan
Put in some dried parsley and sea salt

I then filled the saucepan with water, so the entire chicken was covered.

Popped the lid on the saucepan, and left it to simmer for 2 hours.
Then strain the liquid, chuck the veggies and eat the chicken!

Oh wow, my house was smelling so wonderful after an hour!  And at the end of it I had a HUGE (read huge, I think it will last me all year) pot of chicken stock, and one tender, juicy cooked chicken.  I've been using the chicken in salads and sandwiches...boy is it delicious!

The stock I have been freezing in my awesome QUBIES (ice cube trays will do) and then putting into zip lock bags.  It will also last a few months in your fridge in an air tight container.  And now whenever I need chicken stock, I grab a cube and pop it into my dish and I have the most delicious, "additive free" stock!!

The Naked Chef

By Bec

Okay so he is 4, but who wouldn’t want a naked chef in their house? It’s raining outside so Hunter and I decided to make some cupcakes. Firstly, I have to admit, I’m a packet mix snob. We tried a packet mix once, but seriously, open pack and put contents into bowl, crack egg into bowl and mix. Put in cake in tin and voila – cake! How boring. Took a whole 5 minutes and didn’t entertain at all. And the taste, ewww it’s just like cardboard. Why waste calories on that???

So now we bake from scratch. We make a mess, but boy do we have fun.

Hunter was a little scared of the electric mixer to start with and would run into the other room until it was done, then he would come back to crack the eggs. One egg in, run to the other room whilst I mix, then back for another egg in, again run into the other room so I could mix, and then he is back to put in flour and milk and stir.  But now he is 4 he isn't scared of anything!

 I was a bit hesitant at first to let Hunter crack the eggs, so now I make him crack them into a mug so I can take out any shell if required, before he puts into the bowl. He happily puts the patty pans in the muffin tin, and then spoons mixture into the pans. Then for the best bit – licking the beaters and the bowl! Nothing beats uncooked cake batter!

Cooking with kids is a truly fantastic activity. They are never too young to begin learning this necessary life skill. And we also squeeze in a math lesson as we count, weigh, measure and time. And best of all, it’s fun!! 

My favourite cupcake recipe is:

125g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup milk.

Preheat oven to 160-180 degrees. Grease pans (or put patty pans in muffin trays).

Beat butter, essence and sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time until combined. Stir in flour and milk in two batches. Spread mixture into prepared pans. Bake in moderate oven until cake is cooked. Stand cake in pans for about 5 minutes then turn onto wire rack to cool.

(courtesy of The Australian Women’s Weekly kids birthday cakes)

Do you have any cooking with kids stories?




A Quick & Easy Dinner Recipe and a Tip About Tinned Tomatoes

I have a confession to make; I am not the cook in our house. There is no Chez Louisa in residence. Cheze le Architect gets home late most days and so if I don't feed the kids, they don't get fed.

As a result I've learnt a couple of really quick, easy and tasty meals that Bliss loves and will eat time and time again.

Tomato Sausage Delight.
(Original name, hey? Don't you think "delight" makes all the difference.)

Prep time: 10mins
Cooking time: 20-30mins depending on the oven.

You will need:

• Sausages - however many you want to feed your child/ren and some extras if you want to freeze. Hint: if you buy nice sausages it makes this dish even tastier.
• A tin of whole tomatoes, or two if you are making a huge batch.
• Herbs to taste and some salt, pepper and chilli.
• A baking dish.

Instructions:

• Grease the baking dish.
• Cut the sausages into bite sized pieces and place them in the bottom of the baking dish
• Cut up the tomatoes from the tin and pour them, and the tomato puree over the sausages
• Add herbs, salt & pepper and if your kids are up to it, some chilli.
• Bake in the oven covered. Uncover for the last 5 minutes.

Serve with a side of veges.

Voila!

Tinned Tomato Tip:

It's convenient to buy chopped tinned tomatoes but the next time you use them compare them to a tin of whole tomatoes. Do you notice the richness of the whole tomatoes, the thickness of the tomato sauce? To me there's a noticeable difference so I buy the whole tomatoes and just give them a quick chop before using them. Have a look and let me know if you see the difference too.