Almost back to school

In The Netherlands the summer holiday is is divided in 3 parts.
This means the holidays are a bit spread.
This also means that this week the first (south) part of the Netherlands went back to school.
My daughter will start in 2 weeks, as we where the last to go on holiday, and therefore the last to start.
I haven't made anything fancy in the holidays....
And not sure if my eldest daughter wants to have Bento's (she asked me to stop 2 weeks before the school year ended)...
So maybe start little again :) They are just to cute to just stop totally.

I will have some nice en easy meals for the next weeks.
Us moms have to be creative sometimes to get our children to eat.
(Sometimes after a hard days work.)

Do you have any request? What would you like me to cook/bake/make?

Birthday cakes I made this summer:

Bento #11, Bumblebee

Our little girl had a very bad night, a bit tummy ache.
So we didn't had much sleep. Lot of time to think about my next bento though :D

Bumblebee Bento
- 2 pieces sausage (she wanted one the give to her friend :) )
- pretzels
- raisin bun disguised as bumblebee. (cheese stripes, raisin eyes, wings of edible paper)
- flowery cucumber pieces

Bento #10, Stars



A little to late out bed... so no fancy bento. :)

- 4 stars bread with cookiespread (speculoos) (a real favourit)

- cucumber stars

- piece of cheese

- baked fish piece

Strawberry cupcake

 My youngest daughter, L will turn 2 in July.
She really loves loves loves strawberries.
So I though  try to make here a strawberry cake.
But since she had cowmilkallergy, I have to practices making nice cakes (without milk and butter.) before I make the real deal.
I usually make mine cakes with water/soymilk/oil/ sometimes I replace the eggs.

So I tried making Strawberry cupcakes, with strawberry creme and (ofcourse)  a strawberry on top.

And then I bundled all the replies; Wowwie

jammie, this is so great, etc...... 

I think I did a really good job making them.

And so I have a great recipe for L's birthday cake.

Ingredients Cupcakes:

- 1 cup selfrising flower

- 1/3 cup oil

- 2/3 cup canesugar

- 1 cup small diced strawberries

- 2 eggs (or replacer)

- pinch of salt

Reheat your oven at 350F (175C). And prepare you cupcake sheet with liners.

Mix in a great bowl all the ingredients, exept the strawberries. Mix everything well and then stir in the strawberries with a spoon.

Then divide the dough evenly over the liners. Bake for about 20-25 minutes.

The cupcakes are ready, when a toothpick come sout dry.

Ingredients Frosting;

- 1/4 cup flower

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 cup strawberry-soymilk

- 1 cup butter/crisco

- 2 tbsp strawberry jam/confiture

- pinch of salt

First,  in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the sugar, flour, salt together. Add the milk and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally until the mixture has thickened into a paste and slightly bubbly at edges.

Then transfer the mixture to the bowl let it cool, till it's really cold. Strat mixing and then add the butter; beat until thoroughly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. At the jam/confiture and mix a little more.

Transfer the frosting to a decorating bag and make a nice swirl on top of your cupcake, and to finish it of, a nice strawberry on top :D





Bento #9, simple friday grilled cheese

On Friday it's really hectic in the morning.
Not much time...
So a simple one.

Simple bento

- 1/2 raisin bun

- 1/2 grilled cheese sandwich

- some cucumber

- containter with a little ketchup

Bento #8, Butterfly

Butterfly Bento
- bread shaped as a butterfly with cheesespread, decorated with mini meat & cheese hearts.
- pretzels
- dried cranberries
- fishstick

Bento #7, Ducky

A ducky bento.

- bun with cookiespread (speculoos pasta)

- meatball

- pretzels

- strawberries

Bento #6, Flower Power

Here the Bento four my youngest daughter.

They sat together at the table, enjoying and having fun.

I really liked it that they loved the bento's I made for them.

It felt like a little party.

Bento:

- bread spread with pate, shaped as a flower, topped with meat leaves and a pretzel

- strawberries

- pretzels

- mini pear muffin (egg/dairyfree)

Bento #5, Sweet Girl

Yesterday was the first schoolday after a 2 week holiday.

As usual on monday, I pick her up the eat lunch at home.

In the morning I thought I could surprise her with a nice lunch.

My first option was to have a little picknick... but the rain didn't agree.

So I deceided to practice my Bento's :)

Here the Bento for my eldest daughter.

She was so suprprised, Mama, how did you make this nice girl.

She couldn't wait to start eating... exactly as I hoped :D

Bento:

- bun with cookiespread (Speculoos) under the cheese/meat girl

- pretzels

- strawberries

Happy Mother's day

Happy Mother's day

I had some sort of breakfast on bed.... tea and a badly boiled egg :)
My youngest made a nice flower photo holder and teh oldest painted a saucer.
The looked so proud presenting it me, I'm the happiest mum in the world.

Strawberries

I just planted some strawberries in our garden...
Not really in the ground because our cats tent to destroy everything we plant.
So I planted it a bit above cat level :)
Cant't wait for them to grow........ so I can pick them with my girls and eat them :D

Quick Dora & Diego Pasta

On Wednesdays I try to cook for at least 2 days.....
I work on Thursday & Friday, arrive home late (in my eyes late... it’s around diner time, 6 PM ) after picking up the kids, hungry,  it's just soooooo great that I only need to reheat the food, before attacking it.

I'm a big fan of Damaris, from Kitchen Corners, she writes a great blog.
She encouraged all her readers to share our quick meals, as everyone of us could use a quick meal plan in our busy lives, sometimes.

Here is my recipe of our Quick Dora & Diego Pasta.
(the other thing I made was burrito's, if you wanted to know :) )

I usually have all of this at home... sometimes fresh in my  fridge, sometimes the veggies and meat frozen.
It was the children’s turn to pick the pasta... so yes: Dora & Diego pasta. :)

The ingredients:

1 pack Dora & Diego pasta

250 gr ground beef

400 gr vegetables (already diced, quick right!)

1 pack tomato sauce

salt

pepper

garlic (powder)

curry

brown sugar (when I add this, they al eat sooo much better, including my husband :) )

(all spices to taste)

My girls sometimes refuse to eat there vegetables... so sometimes I put the sauce in the blender... so they can't find them :D

Prepare the pasta as the box says.

Fry the ground beef, I usually already start adding the spices, except the brown sugar.
When all the meat is brown, add the vegetables, stir fry till it's no longer raw.
Then add the tomato sauce. Stir, add the brown sugar, let simmer for a few minutes.
..... done :)

Mix the pasta and sauce or serve separate.

When we have leftovers, I often safe them in the freezer, for a even more quicker meal.

Holidays

Yes I'm still here :)
We had a school holiday here, so I've been very bussy.
Not must Bento though, but that will change next week, when the holiday is over.

We had some special holidays:

April 25 th: Easter. After eating there Easter chocolat bunny (dairyfree). We went to an amusement Park, based on fairytails.

The children where a bit scarred of the witch of Hans & Grettel.

April 30th: Queensday. We celebrate the Queens Birthday. Everyone dresses up in orange. In every part of our little country you'll find garage sales, usually all together in the town centre.

Where you can be a whole lot of junk, and sometimes, nice things, as toys for the children. Disney books and a teapot :)

May 4th, we remember our deaths, (dodenherdenking) the whole country is quit for 2 min. at 8.00 PM. The Queen and several other important people (also a school class) lay flowers on the remembering monument.

First off all we remember WW2.

May 5th, we celebrate freedom. (bevrijdingsdag) Trough the whole country there a free concerts and festivals to celebrate our freedom. Which we sometimes take for granted, (and therefore we remember at May 4th).

Further we went to the beach a few times, had 2 BBQs and I went shopping with my 4yr old daughter :)

I was soooo proud doing this with her. See some shops, ate cake, more shops, gave her a little present and one of the things she liked best was that we went by train :)

Simple Soft Banana Cookies

I'm propably not the only one to find some some very very very ripe bananas in the fruitbowl.
So today we made some simple soft banana cookies.





Ingredients:

1 cup (cane)sugar

3 ripe bananas (mash them)

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs (or replacer)

2 cups flour

1 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn baking soda

1/2 tspn grounded cinnamon

pinch of salt.

Reheat oven on 350F or 180C. Combine all ingredients with a mixer , I used a ice/cookiespoon to make little heaps of dough on a cookiesheet.

(You can use a silpat or just use bakingpaper on a bakingtray.)

I takes about 15-20 min to bake.

I took them out when they looked slightly golden.

 

Bento #4, I Heart you

Yes a Bento filled with only hearts :)

- omelet
- suasage
- cucumber
- 2 pieces heart bread with cookiespread (speculoos)

Fun in the sun

Yesterday was a nice day.

The eldest first went to school and at 12.00 I picked her up to go picknicking in our garden :)
Since it was warm enough, the kids to played outside.
(So mama could cook for 3 days inside: macaroni, carrots/chicken, nasigoreng)
How I loved it when they play outside, sometimes our neighbour kid joins the gang.
A nice garden filled with children laughter.

Our eldest daughter made "soup"

And the youngest ate the "soup"   ^_^

Bento #3, Dutch Pancakes

Monday my eldest told me that she really really really would like pancakes.
But since I already made diner I told her I make some for here lunch.

So I gave her 1 normal pancake, with a frosting heart
And 2 pancakes with raisins. Sprinked with a little sugar on top.

Also aded some cheese and a mini sausage in her lunchbox..

And when she came home.... a totally empty lunchbox  :) 

Bento #2 a Bug

Bento number 2.
A bread roll with cheese spread. sausage. dressed up as a bug :)
Daughter told me: I do Not wan't to eat the sticks (pretzels).
And as I found out at the end of the day, she didn't but she did eat the rest :)
I also included dried cranberries and an apple (not pictured).

Time flies, Bento #1

Where did my time go? Does it really fly?

My eldest daughter is now 4 years, and goes to school.
And propably the worst eater in the world.
She has to eat her lunch at school 3 times a week....
And since I get here lunchboc almost as full back as I gave it to her in the morning I deceide to make her lunch more special.

So here my first Bento try:

 * Brown bread roll with koekjespasta (Speculoos)

 * cucumber

 * sausage

 * dried cranberrries

She ate the chees of her bread roll, all the cucumber and some of the dried cranberries.

Breakfast in a jar

What do you eat for breakfast?
In Holland we normaly eat one/some sandwiches.
But since a few weeks a browsing the internet to find recipes I stumbeld several times on oatmeal breakfast.
Normaly not my thing.
So sweet, not filling, no I just wanted to eat my savory sandwiches.
After rethinking it several times, I deceided to give it a go.
Not the instant oatmeal, but a variation.

I adopted Maria's version (from Chasing The Now):

Steel Cut Oats (Muesli)
Banana
No milk but water
some cinnamon
some almonds or a tbsp peanut/almondbutter...

Wow, this was beter then I expected and not as sweet as I thought.
And even more better: I could go on till lunch without feeling hungry. Jeeeeeej

So now I eat oats 3-4 times a week.
I normal eat my breakfast on work, if it's a work day.
To much hectic home, kids to feed,etc.
I arrive at work at 8.00 AM, turn on my pc, get me some tea and eat my breakfast.
Meanwhile the pc starts, and we are both readdy on the same time.
I know use an old peanutbutter jar, fill it with my banana, oats with dry fruits, peanut/almondbutter, cinnamon, etc. and take that to work.
In the office kitchen I ad some boiling water, heat it an extra 2 minutes in the microwave, stir well, and then enjoy my morning oats.

This morning I tried my new bought 4 kinds of peanuts butter, it was even better. :D

Saturday Pizza

Saturday was a really nice day, we went shopping with my parents, this means a nice lunch :)
We went togehter with my sister and het 2 boys.
The kids had the time of their life.

That afternoon my husband and my father had to play tennis (competition), so I invited my parents to dinner with us.
I made pizza, I used the recipe I found on Bakingdom.
Although it was an easy recipe, I forgot to read the yeast package I used... I forgot to dissolve the yeast in warm water with a little sugar... so the second batch was perfect :D :D :D

I made a cheese pizza for my eldest,

And a ham pizza for my youngest... and all the adults could choose from 8 diffrent kind of toppings.
They all tought the pizza was great (and they are picky).
So I'm very proud of myself :D

Pumpkin fries

Almost every sunday we eat at my parents house, togeter with my siter, her husband and her 2 boys.
My mother makes the best soup, really.
A few weeks back she had a piece of pumkin left over.
I don't like to spill good food, so deceide to make something nice with it.
I made, mouthwattering Pumkin Fries.
It was so delicious I want to share the recipe with you.

1/3 pumpkin
2-3 tbsp oil
salt
peper
(other herbs, like garlic, etc.)

Cut the skin of the pumkin, and cut nice fries size shapes, or squares, or rounds, ... :)
Put them in a bowl and drizzle the oil on top.
Add salt, peper, herbs and stir well.
Put the Pumpkin on a prepared baking sheet (I use bakingpaper).
Then appr. 20 minutes 180C (350F)

Very yammie

Conversion grams-cups

Normally in the Netherlands we use grams.
We have to weight everything.
But I'm also owner of measuring cups & spoon.... which I find soooooo much easier.
So since I really started baking and trying Enlisch/US recipes, I started using the cups.
I've got plastic and aluminimun.
(I even made my own recipes in cups because they are easier.)

And when in doubt, or a grams recipe, I use this site to convert the grams to cups :)

Dianas Desserts - Conversion Tool

Cooking day

Yesterday was Cooking day.......
Which means, I made 3 different dishes, so when I come home tonight, after work and picking up the kids from daycare, all I have to do is reheat the Lasagna :D

First take one piece apart for my Little one with cow milk allergy, then reheat in the microwave with a little cheese on top.
Also made little meatballs for my Big girl, who will turn 4 in February.
They taste great, I had to save them from my husband stomach :)
They are now save in the freezer.

Why no new recipes.....

Why..... Well first there where the very busy holidays, my birthday, my sisters....
& 2 sick children.

The holidays where great, how the suppost to be.
But al those nice treats & meals, not good for my tummy.
So instead of trying nice recipes I'm trying to diet & exercise.
Which, both, are very hard.

My sugar carving was sky high en needed to go down, also I needed to eat smaller portions... also very difficult.
Last Monday I started my Day 1 of 30 Day Shred.
Wow, I thought I die. No erxercise for 3 years can make you do that.
Tuesday went a bit better, Yesterday went great... almost no pain, I must say I did the modified version.
No use overdoing it :)

Ofcourse I still eat, but I need to find the right recipes to share with you.
Which fit in my "diet" :)