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As cooking for a family with kids (especially young ones) has to be easy and quick, I have completely fallen in love with the Knorr Bouillon Pur assortment. 

Initially I picked it up because it doesn´t contain MSG as almost all other instant broth products do. 

What I also like about it though is that it is a gel-like substance as opposed to powder which can end up in lumps or sticking to things, basically not dissolving completely.

Cook some noodles and carrots, add some chicken and the chicken bouillon and you´re done with the chicken soup. Add the beef bouillon to some cream and serve it as a quick and easy sauce (although they also offer ones specifically for sauces). Use the vegetable bouillon to round up literally any dish. That´s what I do and it has sped up my cooking considerably. These things are a blessing to any mother in my opinion. Thank you Knorr. 

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These must be the best-looking cupcakes ever! A friend made them for her brothers wedding. It was a huge hit with the young guests - obviously! But the older ones couldn´t resist either. The decoration was a bit crumbly which I think is so fitting as they look like the cookie monster who is not known for his table manners as I recall. If I were able to make cupcakes like this I´m sure they´d be a regular at Auroras Birthdays.

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I´m having a hard time thinking of things to give the babies for breakfast. Obviously a banana is good. Matt always lets Aurora snack on dry cornflakes (not that that would be all there was). Since I´m still not so sure about joghurt that´s another typical breakfast item off the list. I offer her a piece of bread with spread or cream cheese on it from time to time but she just crumbles it apart. It definitely has to be something that requires very little preparation from my side in the morning and it has to be something she can eat by herself since she doesn´t enjoy getting fed that much anymore.

So the other day it just came to me! Whole wheat cheese muffins. Broken into halves or quarters she can eat them herself, they´re sugarless and it makes me look so much better than if I just threw her a slice of dry bread, which let´s face it wouldn´t be that different. But this way if someone is watching it looks like I put in all this effort ;-) 

In all seriousness though: they make a great snack. They are perfect pick-nick material and you can cut them in half and spread them with something or add something along the lines of salami slices which turns them into a full on lunch. When it comes to the kids I just love having the security of knowing exactly what the things I give them to eat are made out of, obviously baking yourself ensures that. I find they´re a great bridge between what your kids will eat and you´ll enjoy too.

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My favorite fruit is sand berry. Or wait, maybe not. On the other hand... Let me try another one. Uh no! I was right they´re horrible! Well, I´ll give it one last try. Yum! Oh no discusting! Hm kinda nice. Gross! Yummy! Gross! Yummy! 

Gross! Yummy!

Gross! Yummy!

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Auntie Sarah is getting married in September. Auntie Sarah has asked me to make her wedding cake. Auntie Sarah has send me the link to a certain blog for inspiration. Auntie Sarah has scared me for life. This woman, I call her crazy cake lady, posts about her baking adventures and by the looks of it also has made a little business out of it. It´s beyond insane but go see for yourself. 

The Blog. 

Anyway I saw these babyshower cookies and thought they we´re cute. Plus I´ve got a baby shower bake assignment coming up. I´m going to go for cupcakes though, since I need to practise for the wedding anyway. ...Oh yeah and also because I am not insane.

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One of the favourites in our house is apple pie. What I personally like about it is that it´s so adaptable for children. The Crust is made with just a little bit of powdered sugar and could technically be entirely made from flour, without any sugar. And the filling can be prepared with basically as much sugar as you like. It could also be made with honey or molasses instead of sugar. Inside there is lots of fruit although you´re having a cake, so something sweet, and if that´s not enough to trick your kids, to get them more involved and interested they could even choose their own fruit. 

Crust:
250gr. flour 

50 gr. powdered sugar

125 gr. cold butter

1 egg

a splash of milk

crumble the ingredients, form a ball, wrap in cling film and put it in the fridge

Filling:

4 big apples

50gr. butter

100gr. sugar (preferably brown)

1 tsp. ginger, cinnamon

or other spices you like

melt butter&sugar, add cut up apples simmer for 15 min

roll out two circles of the dough for your pie form, lay the first circle inside the form, put in the filling, cover with the second circle, connect the edges of the circles so the juices don´t drip out, poke some holes in the top of the pie and bake at 180 C for about 50 minutes.

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Since my pizza wasn´t that much of a hit yesterday there was quite a lot left over. As I was eating leftovers this afternoon I discovered that Aurora was happy to help me with the rims. She is teething and she loves things she can chew on for a bit so this pizza dough recipe makes nice cracker sticks for babies.

Chewing sticks:

250 gr. wholewheat flour

1 tsp. sugar

1 tbsp. olive oil

110 ml. warm water

1/2 pk. (around 4 gr.)  yeast

1. place the flour in a bowl and pour the oil on it 

2. dissolve the yeast and the sugar in the warm water

3. add the yeast water to the bowl and knead until you have a ball of dough

4. cover bowl with a dishtowel and let it sit in a warm place for at least 30 minutes

5. form sticks or roll out and cut out shapes like animals or stars

6. bake at 180 °C for about 15 minutes or longer depending on how hard you want the crackers to be 

As the kids get older it makes sense to introduce some flavors to keep the interest up by adding some cinnamon, rosemary, crushed fennel seeds or other spices. 

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I´ve got a new oven! Anyone who has been to our place and seen my old stove knows that it was about time. Obviously it´s second hand and not a completely new one but it´s already so much better than it´s predecessor. I celebrated the occasion by making a batch of cinnamon rolls. I like the recipe because the dough is completely without sugar and the filling can be made with honey or brown sugar. So when you make it for your kids and you´re someone who is cautious about their sugar intake you get to decide how much it contains.

 Cinnamon rolls:

500 gr. flour

1 pack of yeast (7gr.) 

1 Tbsp. honey

1/2 tsp. salt

oliveoil 

300 ml. water

Work these ingredients into a dough, place into an oiled bowl and let it rest under a dish towel for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough into a tin square and spread with 200 gr. nuts and 100gr. butter flakes. Sprinkle with honey and/or sugar as much as you like and season generously with cinnamon.

 Take the longer side of the square, roll it up and cut it into slices place the cinnamon rolls close to each other into a baking dish and let them rest for another 45 minutes. 

Sprinkle the rolls with sugar. 

Bake at 180 °C for 25 minutes. 

I made a sort of an icing out of orange juice, icing sugar and maple flavoring and sprinkled them with it after they had cooled. 

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Whether it´s sweet in north America in form of a pie or savory in Europe as a soup. I love pumpkins. So do babies. They have a slight sweet flavor which babies love and in whole you can store them up to four months. Children can start eating pumpkin as early as 6 months.

For a basic pumpkin puree:

1. Cut pumpkin or butternut squash in half, take out the seeds
2. Place halves face down in a oven proof pan or pot and cover with an inch of water
3. then bake in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour - be sure the “shell/skin” puckers and halves feel soft then scoop squash “meat” out of the shell
4. Puree squash "meat" 
5. Add 3 drops of canola oil and water if necessary to achieve a smooth, thin consistency.

It´s so versatile as well. Together with rice and meat it makes a main dish or add apples and a tiny pinch of cinnamon for a dessert. And of course if you have an older child as well, I´m sure it´s fun for the older one as well as the she shell is up for grabs for carving fun.

Nutrition Facts (1 cup cooked-baked, cubes):

Calories - 79.95
Protein - 1.82 grams
Carbohydrate - 17.94 grams
Dietary Fiber - 5.74 grams
Calcium - 28.7 mg
Iron - 0.67 mg
Potassium - 895.85 mg
Folate - 57.40 mcg
Vitamin A - 7,291.85 mg



And since a baby doesn´t eat a whole pumpkin you can make a pumpkin spice cake for the adults from the left overs.

Click on the picture for the full recipe.

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One of my favorite magazines is "Delicious" from the UK. Once in a while I get someone to bring me one over, still this magazines is almost a reason for me to want to move to England. Luckily they have a Website as well where they archive all their recipes. Not just recipes also deco tips, gift ideas and such. So check it out for ideas or just the general wish to wash your mouth out with your own slobber. 

How about these Christmas bonbons for example:

Click on the picture for the full recipe

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Auroras aunt is crazy about  

www.thepioneerwoman.com

Understandable since this web page is insane. Lots of recipes and pictures that make the pulse of kitchen loving women like her and me race.

Obviously the theme right now is cookies as Christmas is coming up so go there to get some ideas for your baking with the kids (if they´re old enough) or try some of the more grown up (less colorful) cookies as advent presents for your friends.

My point being though as this is about the newbies: they have so many marvelous recipes and some might be really fun for your kids.

For example these rainbow colored pancakes.

Imagine you make these for your kid for breakfast - like on their birthday - can´t you just imagine them getting the giggles at the sight of them? I can´t wait for Aurora to be old enough to bake with me, it´s one of the things I look forward to the most.

Also a good page is:

www.allrecipes.com 

there I found a cup to gram convertion-table which might be a helpful tool for these American recipes.  

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Stevia rebaudiana

Not many people know about this plant and it´s benefits which is a shame and I want to do my part to help change that.

Stevia is a South American plant also called sugarleaf. It´s sweetness is up to 300 times stronger than sugar but unlike sugar it has several good effects on the body. Japan for example is one of the countries where Stevia has been used to sweeten food for centuries. Some studies show that Stevia might even be able to be used to treat Diabetes. In Germany it is not for sale as a food product because officially it hasn´t passed all the tests necessary, unofficially it it more likely that the sugar industry is trying everything they can to not be put out of business. 

You can still buy it online but it will always be labeled as cosmetic product, don´t let that shy you away from putting it in your tea though.

It has the same aftertaste as sweetener which might be off putting for some (like me) but I think you can train yourself to like it and I strongly belief that the health benefits are worth it in the end.

More than half the children in Germany have medical issue when they start school the bulk of them being overweight or bad teeth. (Source: Nido) When it comes to children we have to stop reading all these baby guide books or parenting magazines and start listening to our instincts again.

Which doesn´t mean that sugar has to be banned and that baking Christmas cookies has to be vegan and sugarless and - well no fun. I wouldn´t get far with my baking/cooking addiction if I wouldn´t use sugar.

But as far as I am concerned Japan is the expert on healthy living and I´m going to try to gradually follow in their footsteps on this one. 

 Buy Stevia online:

here

here

or

here 

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In a local parent magazine I stumbled over this blog by a young mum that gives instructions on how to make bento boxes.

Bento box is basically the Japanese lunch box but think less soggy cheese sandwich and more eatable art. 

Obviously I think it´s insane that anyone would find the time to make these but I am big fan of anyone who makes an effort to get kids interested in good food.  

With this blog as a guide I´m sure that eating these creations will be almost just as much fun as preparing them.

 I am definitely inspired. 

By Bentomania