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Aiming for rubbish free lunchboxes? + Giveaway

by Veronica on November 4, 2011

Amy’s class has been talking a bit about rubbish recently and how to reduce rubbish in their lunchboxes. Of course, I didn’t realise this until I was at the swimming carnival with the Kinders and heard one boy proudly telling the teacher that he had “no rubbish today!” and being praised for it.

I know that Marita’s school has been doing similar things and so I started to think about how to reduce rubbish in our lunch boxes. I use reusable containers for as many things as possible, but I am guilty of just quickly wrapping things in cling wrap and sending them, because it’s easy.

Imagine how pleased I was when the lovely Rebecca from 4 My Earth expressed interest in running advertising on my sidebar, and having me review her products as well. 4 My Earth sells all kinds of things, but I was really interested in the lunch wraps and pouches, that allow you to wrap sandwiches and keep them fresh.

Not to mention that they are super cool looking.

I’ve been sending these to school with Amy’s lunch for a week now with no problems whatsoever. I was a little worried that they wouldn’t make it home again, but Amy has adjusted really well and they are making it home at the end of the day perfectly.

They’re really simple to use and according to Amy, they’ve kept her lunch “yummy and delicious!” as well. You place the sandwich in the middle and then wrap it, using the velcro to hold it closed. Plastic lined, but woven material on the outside means that they look great and they keep everything fresh.

To clean, I’ve just been rinsing them in the washing up water at the beginning of the washing up and then hanging in the window to dry, which seems to be working well for us.

The pouches are exactly what they sound like and are pouches for placing food in. I haven’t tried these out properly yet because I’ve been too slack to bake, but the large pouch would hold a piece of quiche, or a slice quite well, whereas the smaller one looks perfect for putting crackers, or sweet biscuits into, or even slices of cucumber and olives.

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Giveaway!

Because Rebecca would like you guys to try out these eco-wraps and see how amazing they are, she is offering two Eco-Packs to give away, including one large sandwich wrap, one small wrap, one large pouch and one small pouch.

You MUST enter through the Rafflecopter widget.

To enter, tell me, what is your favourite lunch box food?

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This is a sponsored post.

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How to bake cupcakes with your children + giveaway

by Veronica on September 2, 2011

in Food-Issues,Gotta Laugh,Sharing The Love,Sponsored Posts

How to bake cupcakes with your children:

First, find yourself a good cupcake recipe. Mine came from a copy of Baked and Delicious.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT TELL THE CHILDREN YOU ARE BAKING CUPCAKES.

Especially do not tell them that you are going to be baking cupcakes tomorrow, while you’re putting them to bed the night before. Your children WILL wake you up at 6am, determined to bake cupcakes immediately.

Stall them.

When you’ve gotten sick of the ear drum bursting whining, get out the mixing bowls and then run for cover. They will swamp you with their sticky fingers and chairs dragged into the kitchen. Attempt to wash their hands, using soap.

Start the mixing and measuring process. When you notice your toddler eating the butter, measure it again. Add more. Fingers will be dipped in the sugar; your job as a parent is to dip them back in the soapy water and shake their hands until they’re dry(ish). A little soap never hurt anyway. Unless it got in your eyes and then it stings like nothing else.

Cream the butter and sugar, trying to keep little fingers away from the beaters. Swear that it will not be your fault if everyone ends up in Emergency, instead of eating cupcakes at the end of this.

Glare. Lots.

Finish adding the ingredients to the bowl and once there is no chance of flour going everywhere, let the kids have a stir. Discover an unmixed pocket of flour, as it bursts in your daughter’s face, leaving everyone coughing.

Carefully drop tablespoons of mixture into prepared cases. Chase your toddler through the house as he escapes with a case full of batter. Drip batter all over the house.

Let the dogs inside.

Open the oven and using a foot and one elbow, stop your youngest kid burning himself. Get the cupcakes into the oven and turn the timer on. Set a second timer, just in case.

Console your eldest child, who is upset that she didn’t get to mix lots, or eat batter with a spoon. Dole out hugs and soapy facewashers in squal measure, keeping both away from the eyes.

At the end of the cooking time, corral your children into a bedroom and LOCK THE DOOR*.

Only then can you remove the cupcakes from the oven without fear of anyone burning themselves. Pop them onto a cooling tray and have a cup of tea before letting the children out.

Wait.

Use earplugs to save your ears while the waiting happens.

Decide that lemon buttercream icing would be the best thing for the cupcakes and only then, discover that you’ve got barely 1/2 c of icing sugar. Go with glace icing and pretend that you’re not cheating by adding icing sugar, butter and lemon juice to a saucepan.

Use your feet to keep the smallest kid away from the hot icing.

Spoon it carefully onto the cupcakes, swearing under your breath as you go.

5 minutes later, enjoy your third cupcake, as the children race around you.

You deserve it.

*I did not lock my children into a bedroom. I should have, as it would have been less stressful.

***

COMPETITION:

Thanks to Baked and Delicious, I got to experience this slightly exhausting baking experience.

That wasn’t the fault of the magazine however, who had a super easy recipe for me to follow, even amidst the chaos. The cupcakes were delicious and soft and I’ll bake them again. Probably when my children are otherwise occupied. Maybe.

I have a subscription to Baked and Delicious to give away, which includes 60 issues of Baked and Delicious and 4 exclusive (subscriber only) gifts, the total value being $1,105.00.

Each magazine comes with a piece of silicone bakeware as well.

If you would like to win this amazing prize, then:

Leave me a comment in the comment box below, telling me your experience of baking with children. If you don’t have children, tell me a cooking story instead.

Winner will be chosen via Random.Org. Competition closes at 9am AEST on the 19th of September. Competition is open to Australian mailing addresses only.

ONE ENTRY PER HOUSEHOLD. Multiple entries will be deleted.

***

I received a subscription to Baked and Delicious as well. I’m excited about this and it didn’t change my post content at all.

Hosted by Three Lil Princesses

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Mushrooms at The Cupping Room

by Veronica on August 29, 2011

in Sponsored Posts

I don’t eat out very often, much to my great sadness. I would love to, but sadly, when you’ve got autistic children and bendy joints, it can make doing things like eating out quite difficult.

In turn, this makes it all the more fun when I do finally get to eat out and last week at The Cupping Room was no exception.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect actually, I had heard very good reports from my twitter and facebook friends, extolling the virtues of their coffee and food, but at the time I was researching, they didn’t have a website with a menu I could look over.

We arrived, ordered hot drinks and looked over the menu for a bit. I knew I was having mushrooms, but I rather like stickybeaking at menus anyway.

In the end, Mum and I both ordered the mushroom bruschetta (mushrooms on sourdough toast, with wilted baby spinach, feta, caramelised onions, basil and an apple balsamic reduction – $15), along with a coffee for Mum and hot chocolate for me.

The hot drinks arrived before the meal and I loved the novelty of my hot chocolate. I was able to work out how strong I wanted it myself, using hot milk and melted Belgian chocolate. It was absolutely divine and I hear that the coffee was just as good.

Then our mushrooms arrived. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but large mushrooms probably weren’t it. It was a good surprise though and even better when I tasted them. Absolutely flawless, in my opinion.

The balance of flavours was perfect and not only didn’t we speak much while we ate, I didn’t even want to stop eating to tweet about it. That is how good it was. I’m usually a fan of mushrooms anyway, but this dish was beyond what I expected from simple mushrooms.

It does go to show, when you’re using great ingredients, it doesn’t take much to make it spectacular.

I can highly recommend The Cupping Room, to anyone who wants a slightly quirky dining experience, with great coffee, great service and food that is, by all accounts, brilliant.

You can find The Cupping Room on Facebook, but their website is still under construction.

The Cupping Room is located at 105 Murray Street, Hobart.

***

Thanks to the Mushroom Growers Association for pushing me out of my comfort zone and asking that I eat mushrooms and review them here – I’ve found this a lot of fun. Even if I am slightly late with the review. This post was meant to be part of Mushroom Mania, but once I’d agreed to participate, we discovered that Tassie didn’t have any participating restaurants. So instead I got to do some food blogging.

Disclaimer: I was paid for this post and all opinions are my own and completely honest.

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How to take your children to a restaurant and not go insane

by Veronica on July 26, 2011

in Autism,Blogging,Food-Issues,Sponsored Posts

We took our small quirky children to a real live restaurant yesterday and it didn’t end in tears. I was incredibly proud of both of them for holding it together and not losing the plot. They even ate a few things.

I have some tips for how to manage this yourself, if you like. My children are 2.5 and almost 5, so definitely at that BAN ALL CHILDREN FROM RESTAURANTS age.

Tips:

Make sure your children aren’t terribly hungry. I fed mine before we left home, knowing that it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t eat much at the restaurant. For them, it wasn’t about the food, it was about the participation and experience.

Pick a day where the restaurant won’t be terribly crowded. Monday lunch suited us and while it was busier than we expected, the children held it together well and nothing went wrong.

Research the menu first. Ordering is easier if everyone knows what they’re having ahead of time. I knew I was eating the mushrooms, we ordered chips and aioli for the kids and Nat wanted something with steak. This lessened the time spent peering over the menu and deciding.

Choose somewhere quieter. Especially if your children have sensory processing issues like mine did. We didn’t research the restaurant first, but managed to luck out with a relatively calm environment, with nothing terribly overwhelming happening.

Bring something to keep kids entertained. I had my iPhone with Angry Birds, but they didn’t need it. Both kids were having too much fun with their lemonade to want to play silly electronic games.

***

Normally, I don’t go out to eat much, because I wasn’t sure how the children would handle it and because I don’t like to impose on the grandparents to babysit too often.

However, I was asked to participate in the Mushroom Mania campaign, which is running across the country. This pushed me out of my comfort zone, and forced me to go out and eat. Unfortunately it seems that Tasmania doesn’t have any restaurants participating in the official campaign, which meant that I got to pick any restaurant I liked and review the mushrooms.

We chose The Squires Bounty in Salamanca as our first place to review and I am so glad we did.

I had the roasted stuffed mushrooms, with roasted tomato, salad and aged balsamic dressing. It was lovely, even if I didn’t expect the mushrooms to be crumbed. Tassie does great mushrooms, normally grown down in the Huon Valley and when I was working in the kitchen, we would get giant boxes of mushrooms delivered. They were always fantastic quality and I got to inspect them closely, as I spent rather a lot of time chopping them for various things.

Basically, I didn’t expect Tassie mushrooms to be anything less than spectacular and I wasn’t disappointed. These were button mushrooms, stuffed with a ricotta mix and then crumbed and deep fried.

The children ate the chips – well, nibbled at them, sort of and Nathan had a steak sandwich.

All in all, it was more laid back than I expected and a lot of fun.

Like anything that involves eating with children, we basically ate and then left, we didn’t linger over dessert, which was a bit of a shame as the dessert menu looked rather tempting.

July feels like it has been the month of plague here, with the flu, a stomach bug, a cold, a crashed car and a Very Grumpy toddler. Nathan now suspects he has glandular fever and we’re just waiting on the stars to align so that we can find time to get him to the doctor for blood tests. It took a lot longer to make it to a restaurant than I anticipated. I guess sometimes, life happens. Especially when you have small children.

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This post was sponsored by Mushroom Mania and I was compensated for my participation.

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Let’s talk about mothers day

by Veronica on April 22, 2011

in Sponsored Posts

Mother’s day has never been a big thing in our house. I’m sort of blaming Nathan for this fact, because the kids are little and it’s his job to buy me something (anything!) for mother’s day. Or at least ensure I get a sleep in and a cup of tea made for me.

Of course, like everything though, this hasn’t happened and I’ve spent my previous 4 mother’s days walking around the house grumbling about being under-appreciated and screamed at. Thanks kids, mummy loves you too.

I’m not bitter.

Anyway, this year being the first year that Amy is at school, there will be a mother’s day gift coming home for me, probably hand pasted with glitter on it somewhere. Considering it will be my first mothers day gift, it’s going to be brilliant, whatever it is. I’m quite looking forward to it.

I’m lucky. My biggest worry is that I won’t get a cup of tea, or that Amy will jump all over me in excitement and make sure that I can’t sleep. Both of these things are likely to happen.

Some mothers aren’t so lucky, and there is a big drive to buy charity gifts for mother’s day this year.

UNICEF has an online store, where you can buy charity presents for this mother’s day. The Mother/Baby pack is especially important, because it would allow a HIV positive woman to give birth and breastfeed, without passing HIV to her baby. One thousand babies a day are infected with HIV, and without treatment, many will die before their second birthday. Medical centres are often long distances from remote villages and travelling to them is beyond most mothers means. The mother/baby pack allows medication to be distributed and used easily by the mother.

So, if you’re wondering what to get your mother this year, or trying to work out what your older kids can buy you, and you’d like to help out a family in need, then the UNICEF shop is for you.

[video]

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Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Kidspot and I received monetary compensation for writing it. I wouldn’t have agreed to participate in a campaign that I didn’t feel strongly about however, and I think that UNICEF’s charity gifts are an excellent idea.

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