Vegan Goldfish Crackers – Chef Chloe – Vegan Cooking and Recipes.
Just came across this, and it seemed too cute NOT to share. I haven’t even tried it yet, but if the kids like it, I may be splurging for a goldfish cookie cutter as well (but not sure I have the patience to cut them all out!
Packing lunch for the kids is always a bit stressful. I even bought 2 of the Vegan Lunch Box books for ideas. However, I have found that I don’t have the energy to prepare yet another meal for lunch. What works for me now is kind of a leftover/snacky approach. Part of the issue is that one of my kids doesn’t like sandwiches otherwise they would get peanut butter and jelly every day. What you see in this photo is fairly typical and quite popular with the kids. I wrap the tofu dogs in some pre-bought dough and stick them in the toaster (idea from Vegan Lunch box) and I microwaved an ear of corn and sliced into wheels (also inspired by Vegan Lunch Box). I included some of the Energy Bars from Dr. Furhman (one of our family’s favorite treats with dates, nuts and cocoa powder). Then I top it off with raw fruits and veggies. I also have food jars which I fill with dinner leftovers several times a week (soup, rice or pasta dishes, etc). While I still feel a bit rushed and stress in the morning, these lunches don’t require much planning as I can just keep certain supplies in stock and fill their boxes with whatever is available on a given day, and, best of all, the kids like it!
typical school lunch
Here is a great page for ideas for healthy lunches.
I have travelled a bit in the almost 11 years since having my first child. Living abroad also means big trips home – a transatlantic flight plus trips all over the east coast and even beyond to see friends and family every year. Additionally, living in Europe is a travel paradise since there is so much to see in a relatively small space. I have taken trips to Asia and Africa with kids as well, so I have a bit of experience in this area. However, I am now returning from a 2 week car trip and realized that I could still learn something from my experiences. Here are my tips from what I have applied and learned from this most recent adventure.
I realized that on this trip I have packed lighter with each child. With my first, I remember filling up the whole car and packing every space around her. This trip with all four, we managed to fit everything in the back without a car top carrier. This is a true miracle if you consider how small the packing space is in the back of our car. How did I do this? I basically packed only a ‘girl’ bag and a ‘boy’ bag since I knew boys and girls would be in separate hotel rooms at certain stages of the trip. Also, I didn’t take many ‘baby’ things with me – only a pop up tent for sleeping , a very compact stroller and my ergo. I considered leaving all electronics at home but caved at the last moment, and that could have simplified packing more. One thing I probably could have left was my Nikon camera and lenses. I hardly used them since the iPhone is so easy and takes pretty good pictures for most conditions. Finally, we travelled in summer and that is always easier to pack for.
Since we never spent more than 3 nights anywhere, it really helped having fewer bags to load and unload. It also meant fewer things to keep up with as we left each place.
In general, I prefer car travel with small kids. One of the most obvious reasons is that you have more freedom in taking things even though I just recommended that it is better to pack light. Most importantly though is that I find the freedom of movement much better with small children. I don’t have to spend time waiting for busses, trains or planes. I can stop when necessary and I can go when I want. All of these are key with little ones. One of the worst things with mass transit and little ones is the inevitable waiting in lines – waiting to check in, waiting for security, waiting to board. Wee ones don’t understand why they have to stay in one place and usually want to run someplace causing you to lose your place in line or cause a security threat. Granted sitting in a car for hours may not but fun either, but the kid is contained and can usually be distracted with some sort of food or fun. If not, then you can always stop and let them run somewhere.
I also find getting kids around at my destination easier with a car for many of the same reasons. I find it stressful to keep up with 3 little ones running every which way on a bus or train and am always afraid someone will get on or off without the rest of us. I prefer being able to control my schedule. Inevitably a child will start screaming and I would rather that happen in the privacy of my car rather than on a bus where 30 people give me the evil eye. So even if I fly, I usually rent a car on the other end and then I need car seats, and THOSE are a pain to fly with, so it is easier just to drive to my destination when possible.
(Obviously, sometimes planes are necessary as one is not able to drive across the Atlantic, so I still have a couple of LONG flights every year, and I ALWAYS buy the seat for the infants and strap them into a car seat so I can eat and sleep when they are asleep. I also find they sleep better in their car seats than in my arms, and I have had little success with bassinets. In 10 years, I think I have only gotten one, you can’t have it for take off or landing, and the child shouldn’t even be turning over yet to use them, so really only the first 3 months….)
In general I prefer to stay in one place and make day trips as I find the packing and unpacking difficult with little ones. I also prefer to rent an apartment or house so we can put the kids down in a separate room. To be honest, I have never been able to get my babies to sleep with me in a hotel room. During one hotel stay on this trip, our one year old was up past midnight because she was in the same room with us and I don’t think she ever went to sleep before 9 in a hotel room, but she still managed to be up by 6 every morning.
On this trip we changed our usual plans because we wanted to catch up with old friends so every 2 days we went to another friend’s house, but we realized that was not the wisest decision with little ones. In hindsight we should have rented a lake house somewhat convenient to our friends and invited them to each come to us for 2 days instead. Then we wouldn’t have needed to repack the kids so much and the kids would have had a comfortable place to run around rather than us being paranoid about what the kids were gettin into at our friends’ house. For example, the kids were jumping on the couches and throwing down cushions, running through hallways and messing up rugs, playing around breakable objects. If we had rented a place these activities wouldn’t have stressed me out nearly as much.
Also, when you stay at a house/flat you can prepare cheaper and healthier food than a hotel and you can eat whenever the kids are hungry rather than trying to find a restaurant and wait for service.
Finally, one of the most important reasons for us to try for a house is that we can rarely fit all 6 of us in a hotel room. Most hotels in Europe don’t even allow for more than 1 child per room as they usually only have one double bed and sometimes no room for an extra bed.
Another advantage of a house is that you often have laundry facilities which are very useful with kids.
For those in Northern Europe, center parks have reasonably priced bungalows that sleep up to 12 in kid friendly parks. However, here are limitations on the days. Eurocamp offers vacation bungalows and tents with more flexibility in vacation spots in southern Europe. Elsewhere, Homeaway.com has info on renting houses all over the world.
My new favorite place to find hotels is Booking.com because they give lots of good information like: how many beds are in a room and may be added to the room, is there wifi, what is the parking situation, is breakfast included, etc. I think it is the only website I could search for rooms for a family of 6 and actually get results! I used it for all of my hotel bookings on this last trip with great success.
Every parent knows the necessity if these, but what I have found is that my younger children rarely play with the items in their bags and items often get list along the way. I suggest only bringing a couple of engaging activities like a coloring book or travel game and looking for new toys along the way. In general, I don’t like to add any more toys to our collection, but kids always prefer the new toys, even a happy meal toy. Alternatively, shop smart for good travel toys and pull them out along the way so that things are new and exciting rather than things they are used to. When traveling by car, we leave each child’s bag in the car as they usually find things to play with in homes and other places
One of my biggest annoyances while traveling is all the junk my kids are exposed to. It seems that vacations revolve around french fries and ice cream. So I try to load up on a bag a healthy snacks and let the kids eat as much as they want from that. The best would be fresh fruit, but I find that difficult to manage on the road since it doesn’t keep well and can be messy to eat. Instead I rely on rice crackers and dried fruit. I also splurge on fruit purée and fruit bars from DM since it adds variety and isn’t something I normally buy. Ideally you will actually pack lunches as well and eat those at road stops, but I am usually too lazy….
My kids seem to eat constantly in the car, so when we stop for ‘meals’ they aren’t really interested in eating what they really need is to run and play it seems that little ones cant last much more than 2 hours so I plan a stop with a playground for every 2 hours, I also limit driving to 6 hours/day and try not to travel 2 days in a row by alternating travel days with active days. For example , on our way back from Hungary, we split the drive with a day at playmobil fun park. These restrictions I find most useful with the under 3 crowd. By the time kids are 3 they can entertain themselves longer and handle longer drives (especially if you hand them an iTouch or iPad!). However, I haven’t traveled without younger kids in 5 years so I just add an hour for every 2 and limit driving to 6 so that the little guys don’t have to spend too much time locked into car seats and get a chance to use their muscles.
If you are in Austria, I recommend stopping at Landzeit or Marche as both have a large selection of fresh food and large play places. They also have neat carts to sit kids in that also hold 2 trays.
I always take a nylon bag to collect dirty clothes in since kids attract dirt and I don’t want it contaminating all my clean stuff. It also makes it easy to when you have a chance to do laundry.
We looked at the weather forecast for this trip and saw 90s and sunny so we figured we didn’t need to worry about long pants or rain jackets, but we were wrong on both counts. As I write this in July 21 from Germany the low today is 47 and it is raining. We spent many days underdressed and damp and would have been more comfortable with even one pair of long pants and a rain jacket for each
I am torn on this one. My kids have sat on these for an entire transatlantic flight, so it certain keeps the kids sedate for much longer than normally. The only time they made a noise is when I tried to take it away. So why NOT rely on these devices? Well, dang it, I never had one when I was a kid and I was just fine! Honestly, there is something to letting the kids experience the ‘boredom’ of the trip so that they are forced to bond with the family. After all, one of the points of a trip is family time. To get a good illustration of how traveling together can bond a family, watch ‘Little Miss Sunshine’! The other problem with smaller kids is that mine won’t catch up on sleep. Normally driving/traveling is a great time for my kids to get naps, but if they have an apple device in their hands, they will NOT sleep or do anything for the entire time said device is in possession.
Hope my lessons learned help you. Happy travels this summer!
Well, most of you know I am already a fan of Fuhrman so perhaps you won’t consider this an unbiased review. In fact, I should probably call this an ‘endorsement’ rather than a ‘review’! I have been talking non-stop about it with everyone I know, so I figure it is time for me to write something about it.
To be honest, I didn’t find too much new information. The beginning of the book is almost a synopsis of ‘The China Study’ but scarier. In ‘The China Study’ one feels hope that by eating healthier you can defeat all diseases, but in ‘Disease Proof’ one can feel doomed as so many diseases seem to be tied to childhood diet. If this is your first time coming across this information, it could be quite depressing, but it demonstrates the importance of not taking lightly what we feed our children.
The real reason I like to endorse this book is because of the practical information on how to feed kids, and I think EVERYONE with children should read this!! The most important message I walked away with is that we should seek to expose our children to as much healthy food as possible. To do this, we should keep only healthy foods in our house – that means no sugars, white flours or processed food. Once you have a house full of whole foods, you don’t need to stress about what the kids eat when they go into the kitchen to forage. If you have no ‘off limits’ foods in your house, the kids aren’t tempted by ‘forbidden fruits’. To further encourage healthy eating, most of what the child consumes should be this kind of home food. Therefore, limit meals out and pack the kids’ lunches. When you follow these steps, you don’t need to worry about the occasional ‘forbidden fruits’ that your children will be exposed to. I also find this much less stressful than saying, ‘no more gummi bears’. When my child gets the gummi bears at school or at the pharmacy, at least I know that 90% of what she eats is packed of nutrition.
This book also gives helpful information for eating during pregnancy, first foods for babies, dealing with teenagers and a 10 day menu plan. I haven’t ever followed any of Fuhrman’s menu plans completely because I find it hard to get all the foods at the same time (I think that we are more seasonally limited in our food selection here in Germany).
I must admit, I don’t really like all of his super healthy recipes. I have had some amazing recipes (the Chocolate Date Pop-ems! in Eat for Health), but salads with banana salad dressing are a bit much. It seems that he has put fruit in just about everything to sweeten it – apricots in the rice, apples in the tomato soup. Some recipes sound so weird I am afraid to try them (peach lentil soup?!). Also, he is not strictly vegan, so some of the recipes have meat or egg whites. I am fine with that except that I find it easier not to have any animal products in the house and have that be one of the things the kids can have when we are out. He also uses vegan cheeses occasionally which are hard to get here and I would rather stay away from.
So, in spite of the scary bits and so-so recipes, I still recommend this book because I believe the information in it is so important and helpful for parents. Get your copy today!
Happy 4th of July! Thinking of hot summer days, I wanted a healthier way to help the kids cool down. I found these great popsicle containers at Tchibo:
4 Silikon-Wassereisbereiter 284423 bei Tchibo.
Now I can put in some all natural fruit juice or even smoothies or healthy, vegan ice creams. The kids love it, and I don’t feel guilty about giving them.
I love these particular holders because they are a lot less messier than the traditional stick ones as the dripping and drops are more contained. Also, you don’t have to worry about keeping up with the sticks and it is easier to make a variety of quantities rather than having to make a whole set at a time. For example, I had some leftover smoothie from breakfast, so I simply poured it into one of these.
If you are in Germany, get them while they are out as you know they will disappear…
Asparagus Pesto Pasta Salad | recipe from FatFree Vegan Kitchen.
It is asparagus season in Germany, so I am using every asparagus recipe I have. An old favorite recipe of mine used asparagus, shrimp and pesto with gnocchi, but I have been trying to find a healthier replacement. Now I have found it! I made this last night, and it was fantastic. My three year old had 3 servings! The kids didn’t even realize it was asparagus, and it even tasted like regular pesto to me. As an added bonus, it uses twice the normal amount of asparagus (2 of the usual size bunches). This will definitely become a regular at my house every May in Germany!
Last weekend I went a little ball cray, and perhaps a little coconut crazy as well since all these recipes include desiccated coconut. The problem is that they are so dang easy to make, and the kids love getting involved. Although it is a great way to get them involved in food prep, it probably diminishes the outcome by about half.
On Friday, I made ‘Power Balls’ which I discovered and modified from my German Thermomix book. These are basically date-nut balls with a bit of orange punch. The kids all love them and I feel good giving them an energizing afternoon snack that they can get involved in. (the dark balls on the right of the picture)
On Saturday, my five year old son was begging to make what he calls ‘Snowballs’ that came from an old childhood cookbook of mine with the original name, ‘Quick-Energy Pickups’ (the balls on the left in the picture). I think they get the quick energy from the use of 1 cup of powdered sugar which I can’t bear the thought of now, so I played around with the recipe to lower the sugar and to make it vegan. For those in germany, I recommend using a pure organic product such as Rapunzel’s Erdnussmus which is one of the only products I have found that is 100% peanuts. 
On Sunday morning, I was flipping through my new ‘A Taste of Vegetarian’ by Thermomix which has so many fun and healthy recipes, that I decided I had to try yet another ball recipe. This one is called ‘Carob Bites’. I haven’t really used carob much or been a fan of other recipes I tried it in. This recipe mixes carob, tahini and honey for a really unique flavor. Obviously many vegans will find issue with the honey, and rice syrup could be easily substituted. The other issue is that it does have quite a bit of sweetener. I was a little confused by the recipe in that it instructs you to cut into squares and then roll it in this ‘LSA Plus’ mix. I ended up making the squares into balls, and that made it a bit more time consuing, but for my last few treats, I rolled the squares in the LSA Plus mix, and that worked fine and would make this a really quick treat. The LSA Plus that you make to roll these in is highly recommended. It makes a fair amount, and I have been keeping it in my fridge to add some goodness daily to smoothies, salads, cereals or whatever strikes my fancy. I did not add the ‘pimento’ as in my mind that is marinated red peppers and is totally out of place. However, I recognize that ‘piment’ is allspice in German, so that would make sense in this recipe (I will need to research this before I do my next batch).
As a final note, although I was inspired by my super duper Thermomix to make these recipes, I think any high powered blender would do, and you should be able to figure out the recipes. Just keep in mind that the speeds on the Thermomix go from 1-10 with 10 being the highest. However, I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to buy a Thermomix to simplify your life:-)
Power Balls
A few of my own modifications, but very popular with the kids.
INGREDIENTS:
- 250 grams almonds
- 2 tablespoons flax seed
- 200 grams dates, stoned
- 1 orange zest
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons orange juice
- coconut for rolling
METHOD:
1. Put the orange zest, flax seed and almonds in the mixing bowl for 10 sec / level 10 to grind finely. (see note to use a whole orange instead)
2. Put the dates, vanilla and cinnamon in for 15 seconds / level 10 grind.
3. Add the orange juice and mix 10 seconds / level 3 mix.
4. For each 1 tsp of the ground mixture, make a ball of about 3 cm. Roll in coconut.
5. Keep in the refrigerator.
SOURCE: Thermomix
Quick-Energy Pickups
Modified to a lower sugar/vegan version.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/3 cup rice syrup
- 1/2 cup powdered soy milk
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup coconut
METHOD:
1. Mix all ingredients except coconut.
2. Roll into bite-sized balls and roll balls in coconut.
3. Store in refrigerator until ready to eat.
SOURCE: Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls
Carob Bites
- 60 grams carob powder
- 220 grams tahini
- 290 grams honey
- 170 grams soy milk powder
- 2 tablespoons LSA Plus
METHOD:
1. Place all ingredients except LSA plus into the Thermomix bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 4.
2. Tip onto a clean work surface and press out into 2 cm thick rectangle. Cut into bite sized pieces, roll in LSA Plus and refrigerate.
SOURCE: A Taste of Vegetarian
LSA Plus
A great healthy topping for cereal or salads or mix in for smoothies.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 measuring cup flax seed
- 1 measuring cup sunflower seeds
- 1 measuring cup almonds
- 1/2 measuring cup goji berries
- 1/2 measuring cups desiccated coconut
- 1/2 measuring cup pimento
(the measuring cup refers to the cup on the top of the Thermomix which is about 1/2 cup(?), but the exact amount is not really important. The important thing is that you have the same measure of the first 3 ingredients and 1/2 of that measure for the second 3)
METHOD:
1. Using the measuring cup front eh top of the thermomix, place the flaxseed into the Thermomix and mill for 5 seconds on speed 9.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and set dial to closed lid position. Pulse the Turbo button twice for 1 second each.
SOURCE: A Taste of Vegetarian
One of the things I enjoy about living in Germany is the great access to whole, natural foods. The fruit purees available in just about every store is one example.
Fruit purees such as applesauce are great ingredients to keep on stock. Besides being a perfect first food for babies, older kids love them and they make a great ingredient to substitute for fats and sugars in baked goods.
Unfortunately, Applesauce is not always such a nice pure ingredient. In the States you can find a whole section dedicated to applesauce, but you will notice a list of ingredients in each which often includes words you don’t even recognize to flavor and color. Before living in Germany, I would usually, peel, core and quarter my apples, steam them and mash to make sure I had only apples in my applesauce. Now, that isn’t too difficult, but in Germany I can open a jar and get the exact same product. I can also easily buy the apples mixed with pears, mangos, apricots or peaches. It is a complete whole food with no added sugars and all available organically at all.
Now, for those of you living in Germany, you have probably already discovered these wonderful fruits in a jar, however, please be cautioned that there is a difference between the ‘Mark‘ and ‘Mus‘ products. The ‘mus‘ is a more readily available product, but it is sweetened – usually with apple juice which can have a variety of sweeteners. If you click on the links for the products above, you can see that ‘Mark‘ is 100% apples and nothing else.
So the next time you are in the grocery store, pick up some fruit ‘Mark‘ and eat it to your heart’s content!
So the baby’s birthday cake was a success in healthy treats! I made Dr. Furhman’s banana cake and the Rawtarian’s chocolate frosting. The baby ate it up and I didn’t feel the least bit guilty. My husband and older daughter both said they liked the cake (first time they have said that for a Furhman cake). I thought the flavor was nice but that it was a bit thick. Next time I will cut in half and put frosting in the middle (or bake in 2 pans to stack)
