Leftover Vegetable Soup

For the last couple of years, I've discovered a liking for soups, particularly just before I go shopping and I've got a fridge full of aging produce.

I've discovered that you can throw just about any vegetables together to make a tasty soup, but today's was a particularly nice batch, so I'll record it here for future reference.

Put chopped zucchini, broccoli, half a cup of soaked lentils and corn off the cob into a large saucepan with about a litre of water and some miso soup paste. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes or so.

Add a wedge of chopped pumpkin and a tin of berlotti beans, stir well and simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Take off the heat and season with salt and pepper.

Serve when ready with a crusty bread roll or add a small packet of udon noodles to the soup.

Yummy!

And the good thing is, it's low in fat but really filling.

Cooking Teaches Children Healthy Food Habits

Have you heard that line, that if you get your kids involved in the kitchen they'll pick up better eating habits?

Why is it that whenever my kids get busy in the kitchen they only really want to make the unhealthy stuff and that it hasn't really changed any of their food habits?

I've had pizza nights where they make their own, and one or two of them will still choose the mega meatlovers, with the token slice of tomato because I've said they have to have one vegetable. Or they'll help make a curry or casserole only to say they don't actually want to eat it when it's time to serve the meal.

Rather than beat myself up as a bad parent, I've actually decided that the best I can do is offer healthy meals full of lots of colour, texture and taste. There's nothing to gain from fights at the dinner table over what they eat, so instead I just offer healthy meals and leave it to them to eat their fill, even if that is mostly plain rice or pasta. I've also taken to cheating by giving them multivitamins so that most of the essentials are covered, even if they're not getting it from food.

The trade off has been that they enjoy helping out in the kitchen without the pressure of eating everything they prepare, and the dinner table is a safe place for conversation and connection, not discipline and arguments.

Having said all that, the cookies were great - I might just have one now with a calming cup of tea.

Inoculatte

I've been reading the book 101 Things to Do Before You Diet, by Mimi Spencer. It's all about taking up a healthy lifestyle, rather than getting caught up in fad diets and wasting hours pondering how your body is going to ruin while you stuff your mouth with cake.

I've really been enjoying the book which is full of commonsense, plenty of research and bucketfuls of fun.

Today I stumbled across the concept of 'inoculatte'. It's a term dubbed by the Washington Post to the habit of "taking coffee intravenously when you're running late" and indicates a greater social problem with food - not having enough time to prepare healthy meals.

I work in an organisation where people consume heaps of coffee, and as a non-coffee drinker, it's easy to get sucked into the hot chocolates to match their high consumption. This paragraph today just reminded me how important it is to plan meals, no just run out the door and think about lunch at 12pm, which I've been getting into a habit of when I go into work.

Mimi talks about how life has always included food, and that there is so much more to food than the simple eating. We need to remember the social aspects of eating, like eating together around a table and enjoying a conversation, all the while slowing our meals down so we aid digestion as well as connection with others. She also talks about taking pleasure in our food, and not getting caught up on the guilt of particular foods and then gorging ourselves on those foods to deal with our guilt.

I know I've spent plenty of time thinking about eating healthier this week, and as a result, I've actually been enjoying my time in the kitchen, rather than dreading it. I can only hope that this continues!

MasterChef Winner

With an afternoon sleep under our belts, my husband, the 3 kids and myself all lept on the couch to enjoy the finale of MasterChef. We only got into the series a couple of weeks ago, but it really has lifted everyone's interest in food, cooking and the presentation of meals.

For dinner last night, I put a whole lot of leftovers on the bench with a loaf of bread and the sandwich press and let everyone make their own meal. My daughter was careful to 'plate' her dinner as proudly as Poh or Julie tackled the dishes later.

What I liked about both Poh and Julie was their desire to win, but their happiness for the other and the acknowledgement that both have learnt so much that neither can view themselves as a loser. So often in this world, we get caught up with someone being the winner, without realising that even those who come 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc have gained something they didn't have at the beginning.

I'm glad Julie won, because I think she represents every Mum, who straps on the oven gloves at 6pm each nights and tries to serve up nutritious meals that appeal to a picky clientele with a discerning palate. She clung to her cooking roots, but looked for fancy ways to present old favourites. I think that's a good analogy for parenting in these modern times - presenting old ideas and values in new, innovative ways.

Meanwhile, I've got a breakfast to prepare and plate...

MasterClass

I've been enjoying watching MasterChef on the TV lately. I've never realised how much thought goes into a restaurant meal, but then I don't think we're talking about McDonald's-type restaurants here, and lets face it, I haven't been to the other sorts for a while.

Anyway, back to MasterChef. Most of the contestants seem to be good cooks who think they'd like to be a chef. I consider myself a pretty good cook, but I've been learning a lot from this program. Their contestants have to think about the ambiance and environment that they serve their meal in, then there's the way the 'plate' their meal. They have to be careful to put vegetables from the same season together, so a chef doesn't seem to be able to gather up the least lively veges from the fridge and throw them together into a new dish. Every dish needs a name too, and not some lame name like Sausages and Potato and Withering Veges. It needs to sound impressive, like Venetian Sausages or Beef and Vegetable Hot Pot. There also needs to be plenty of thought about what herbs and sauces are added, so the taste and 'aromatics' are perfect.

I've been getting a box of veges delivered each week to make my shopping easier. I have to say these veges are always really fresh, but it's a bit of a lucky dip, because it depends what's in season. So this week, we've had garlic in everything, because I got about 30 cloves of garlic. We've had lots of potatoes, onions, gem squash (yes that was new to me too) and carrots, lettuce and tomatoes which come every week.

This has made me realise that the art of cooking isn't just about shoving plates of food on the table as quickly as possible. Cooking is about the whole meal - the conversation, the pace, the connection and the food. Throughout history food has been used as a reason to gather and as part of celebrations, both within families and communities. A good cook (as compared to a chef) probably works with what they have available, but the process should still be the same. We should be thinking about how we present food, what ambiance our meal is creating and what smells and tastes people can experience from our food. The modern notion of preparing simple meals as quickly as possible has probably taken the focus off this, to the detriment of our home-dining experience.

Well that's all I have time for, I've just got the sausages and mashed potato ready, so if we hurry we can catch tonight's episode of MasterChef. Some things are hard to overcome, aren't they?

Kitchen Cheats

We had some friends over last night who we hadn't seen for years. We decided during our holiday that we should make an effort to have friends over for dinner now that the kids are happy enough to sit in front of the television while we entertain.

It was a great idea earlier in the week - I was looking forward to using the nice dinner set where all the pieces matched, and I was keen to get stuck in to making some new fancy dishes too. I love cooking and putting on dinner parties is a real joy for me. But as Friday got closer, reality hit.

Work to do, the house to tidy, things to do for the kids... When was I going to cook a fancy dinner, let alone shop for it and make myself and the children look presentable for company?

So I turned to a magazine which offered me a 'Cheat's Dinner Party'. That sounded like what I needed! And I have to tell you, it delivered what it said it would. I managed to shop, prepare the dinner party and clean up the house, children and myself in 2 hours - not bad hey!

The food was delicious and only needed a few tweaks to feed 7 instead of the intended 4. My daughter and I even had time to pick some flowers from the garden and make the table look fancy.

This made me think of the other ways that we can make life simpler by 'cheating'. After all the dinner plan was just a set of instructions to follow. How often in life do we stress out about something, when if we sit down and list all the steps we have to follow, we can accomplish something without too much fuss?

So today, I've got about 5 things to do, some big and some small. But I think I'll just see them as a set of steps to get me to the couch tonight by about 6pm to enjoy some time with my family and a nice glass of wine. My kids might even learn from my good habits!

One thing I know for sure is that next time, I'm not going to worry about entertaining. I'm just going to invite people around and plan the food around what else needs to be done.