Busy Fun Weekend

We spend every weekend as a family and think of different things to do. Every Saturday morning is the same. We have a nice breakfast together and then get ready to take Natalia to swimming. Natalia goes for swimming lessons in the north of Adelaide which is about a 40 minute drive. We leave home just after 10am and get there at about 10.45am, just in time for me to change her into her swimming nappy and cozzie. We have been doing this for about 2 months now and she's doing so well. This week she earned 3 certificates in her class. On Monday she got an ear infection so we decided that it would be good to get her something to protect her ears while swimming. The swimming school lent us a head band that covered her ears and if it was successful we could purchase one, which was really kind of them.

Then in the afternoon we went to visit our favourite supplier in the Hills; a guy that imports South African groceries and booze. We got a couple of packets of NikNaks and Simba crisps, some Moirs custard powder and a fizzpop for Natalia. Then we went to our favourite butcher to get some meat to make our own biltong.

This morning after breakfast we went for a cycle around the gardens around the city. Adelaide CBD has the most beautiful gardens and parks surrounding it. There are paths all over for walkers, joggers and cyclists and best of all its so safe; today was such a nice warm winter day and its surprising how many people are out and about.

In the afternoon after Natalia's nap we went for a drive to Port Adelaide to walk along the beach. There was also a play area there and a little 7 year old girl called Naomi took to Natalia and shared her prized possessions with her, the interaction was too cute.

The headband ear protector that was on loan

Floating

Out bikes

A quick pit stop for some fun

A happy girl waling on the pier

Walking on the beach with daddy

On the beach at sunset

Barney going to a ride

Naomi sharing her prized possessions with Talia

Hello granny, can you hear me ??

Deceptive French Toast

This is an easy one aimed at fussy kids. It’s a tradition to have French Toast every Saturday morning before we take Natalia to her swimming lesson.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

milk
½ cup cauliflower puree
6 slices whole-wheat bread
Olive oil spray

Method:

1. Spray a non-stick pan with olive oil and put on a medium heat.
2. Whisk the 4 eggs together with a splash of milk. Add the cauliflower and mix well together. Let  the slices of bread soak up the egg mixture for about 10 seconds on each side.
3. Fry the bread slices and when browned flip them over to brown on the other side. You need to keep a careful eye that it doesn’t burn.
4. Serve with your favourite spread or topping.

Natalia loves to have Bovril on her French Toast and she’s none the wiser that its healthy and has a hidden veg in it. This is definitely a family favourite……. And oh so easy to make.

Deceptive Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 24

These are the healthier kind with hidden goodness. Natalia continues to be difficult to please and I am on the constant look-out for this kind of recipe. The surprising ingredient is a can of chickpeas!

Ingredients:1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
¾ cup (180g) margarine or butter
2 large egg whites
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 can (400g) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups (260g) chocolate chips
¾ cup chopped walnuts
¾ cup raisins (optional)
2 cups flour
½ cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp bicarb of soda
¼ tsp salt

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C and line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and margarine on a medium speed until smooth. Beat in the egg whites and vanilla, then mix in the chickpeas and chocolate chips. Add the flour, oats, bicarb and salt, and mix on a low speed until a thick dough forms.
3. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the baking tray, spacing the cookies about 4cm apart. Press gently with a fork to flatten. Bake until the cookies are golden brown and just set for 11-13 minutes; do not over bake. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.
4. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Notes:
Watch out for flying chickpeas when mixing them in. Partially cover the bowl with a dish towel.
I used pecan nuts instead of walnuts and I didnt put raisins in. These are so easy and fast to make and taste astonishingly good. And since they have some goodness in them, you can enjoy them even more, yummo!

A New Bedroom For A Princess

Natalia's big birthday present finally arrived today. We wanted to make her new bedroom special for her for her birthday. Since we moved here from South Africa she no longer sleeps in her cot. She got used to sleeping with mommy and then later on with mommy and daddy, so going back into her cot was not an option. So we decided it would be a good idea to buy her her very own double bed and to get her 2 cute duvet cover sets to match her new fairy princess theme. The duvet sets finally arrived in the post today so I got to make up her bed nicely. When princess Talia got home I took her upstairs to her bedroom for a nice surprise which she just loved loved loved and she kept on saying 'new bed' over and over. Thank you also to Granny for buying the first fairy duvet set and her new heart pillow. Now Natalia loves her bed and she looks forward to going to bed every night and sleeps like a dream.......

The duvet set and pillow from Granny

Fairy wall art

My old cot converted into a chair with my growing pillow collection

My big ole teddy bear

Home from school and checking out my new bed

Sitting with my bear that daddy bought me before I was born

My second duvet set from mommy and daddy

Eating

It is becoming increasingly difficult to get Natalia to eat healthily. If its bread, chips, sausage, chicken, tomato sauce, egg, cookies, biscuits and chocolate then she'll gladly eat it. Fruit, veg, rice, pasta and anything remotely healthy will not pass her lips, not one bit. I wonder to myself if I am the only parent that has a problem with a toddler that refuses to eat good food; all the kiddies I know are the opposite of Natalia and love fruit for example....... Last night I had to resort to blackmail. I made a savoury mince with celery, brinjal, carrot and courgette in it. Kim and I ate it will pasta, Natalia of course doesn't eat any form of pasta or noodles so I just gave her the mince. I told her if she ate all her mince she could get a chocolate biscuit afterwards. She proceeded to gobble the mince up and fed herself by hand; what a mess, but mission accomplished.


So now I have started my mission to get her to eat better and healthier and the only way I can do it is to deceive her!!! Yes, I was lucky to receive a recipe book for my birthday called Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry's wife) from Jaycee and Wayne. I have only now been able to get cracking on making the recipes as we have been waiting for all out stuff to arrive and then I had to find all my baking and cooking stuff.


As I cook the recipes successfully, which are primarily to deceive princess Talia, I will be posting them here to share with all of you. So look out for these fantastic recipes!

Out And About With Our Birthday Girl

We planned to go out to the Adelaide Zoo for the day. Natalia just loves animals and can name a lot so we knew she'd love it. We woke up to very cold overcast weather, not unusual for this time of the year. July sees the highest rainfall for Adelaide. We arrived at the zoo at 9.30am wanting to spend as much time there as possible. It seemed to get colder and colder throughout the morning and became unbearably chilly at midday so we decided to leave....
After Natalia's midday nap we went to an indoor playarea called Wacky Warehouse but it was full so we found a nice cafe and ordered Natalia a muffin - she'd been asking for cake all day - and thsi was the closest thing to a cupcake that they had. They we nice to put a candle in and sing Happy Birthday to her and she just loved the attention. On our way home we went past Wacky Warehouse again and this time there was space. Kim and Natalia had a ball. The pics below tell all.......
All in all we had a fab day even though the weather was miserable.

Okay people, I'm ready to go out

This is Wang Wang eating his carrot



Pandas are on the endangered species list





This is Funi eating her tree

Our mode of transport

Poor old lion

Lemur - Julian from Madagascar

Cute little fella, mister meerkat

Naughty laugh

Fly fly fly

Model pose

Funny looking creature. Tapir also on the endangered species list

Big fella

Singing Happy Birthday again

Wacky Warehouse ballpit

Look whose winning

Help, the balls are eating me !