This weekend was lovely. The weather has turned the heat up a couple of notches and it was perfect beach weather, followed by an afternoon nap and then the exciting preparations for father and son camping night (in the back yard!). Yes my husband has been wanting to take our 3 year old son camping for some time. We have been on a few camping expeditions in the UAE and Oman (pre children) which were a lot of fun, dune bashing, 4WD ing up mountain ranges, spending days lazing on a dhow on the Fjords of the Mussandam region, and pretending we were experts and ‘at one’ with nature. It was good fun, but we were always thankful to have our hot shower and bed back!!
So this father and son adventure started with the assembly of the tent, we found it down in the deep dark cavern that our storage under the stairs is. The tent was put up, burgers were prepared, bath time, sun down and the fun began! Think mini weber, toasted marshmallows, smores (American delicacy!), and lots of fun and games…
All went smoothly without a hitch, our son was a bit juiced up on sugar and general excitement of the situation. I was inside watching a movie in the dark and he scared the living daylights out of me twice knocking on the window at 9pm before stern ‘go to bed’ words were had…. wake up was 5am so not a lot of sleep was had and unsurprisingly resulted in an over emotional morning until a mega day time nap was ordered!
It probably wont happen again for a fair while yet, but it was a lot of fun and really nice to have some family focused time at home.
I decided to post a couple of very easy recipes that I use for the kids meals. This evolved out of my daughter preferring finger food and having still only 2 teeth, food that was easy to chew and take bites with just gums (you would be surprised how much she can eat with no teeth!) Also I do run out of ideas for meals, especially healthy meat and vege meals.
They are meat and vegetable balls, flavoured with a few spices which are perfect for developing a good palate and also makes the normally bland flavours enhanced without the use of salt. They are great for adults to snack on or feel free to make for your dinner too!
The flavour combination possibilities are endless and I always make in larger quantities and free in flat portions for easy storing and fast defrosting. You can make them a bit of fun with your kids and see which shapes they prefer – sausages, balls or even made as patties to put in a hamburger.
The intention is not to ‘hide’ the vegetables in the balls, but to provide new taste combinations with the aded bonus that if that’s all they eat, then you will be satisfied they have had a pretty decent meal. They easy for on the go, not messy to eat so I think they are a successful stress free option for kids meals. And after a weekend like ours, this is a great meal for tired little people.
You will see in the photos of the beef balls, the chunks of carrots sticking out of the balls like aliens – I would actually recommend grating on a finer setting or grating the carrot and putting in the food processor with the other ingredients to make finer…
The making of the balls are the same, here are 2 different ingredient combinations
Beef and Beetroot Balls
Ingredient
- 500g lean beef mince
- 1/2 cup beetroot raw (finely grated or blitzed in a mini processor)
- 1/2 cup finely grated carrot
- 1 small onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Chicken and Apricot Balls
Ingredients
- 500g chicken mince (I used chicken breast and blitzed myself)
- 10 dried apricots
- 1 small onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 small carrot finely grated
- 1 stick of celery
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
To Make
- First start by blitzing the onion and garlic cloves (and celery and apricots for the chicken mix).
- Combine the meat, vegetables and spices until all ingredients well mixed.
- Form the mix into balls or sausages and fry in a little olive oil until cooked.
- With the remaining raw mix portion into freezer bags and flatten, stack and freeze.
- I was able to get 4 bags extra of each mix plus the meal prepared fresh, so 5 meals for 2 kids for 2 mixes, equals 10 meals in a matter of minutes!
P S – If you find the beef a little dry, try adding 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs and an egg to help it all stick a little better.
