Fussy little eaters: lemon coconut balls

 

I am always on the hunt for easy, healthy baked treats for kids. I like to have one in a packed meals for school, either as part of lunch or as afternoon tea. As all Australian schools are nut-free,

The Goodness Box: review

We started our trial run of The Goodness Box recently. I have been wanting to try out subscription goody boxes for a looong time. I think they are

Child friendly food joint: Westside Acton Park

Little E is currently obsessed with his trike, so much so that

Child friendly food joint: The Mandalay Bus

The Mandalay Bus
Cnr of Lonsdale and Girraween St
Braddon ACT
Opening times: Wednesday to Saturday 6pm – midnight (sometimes to 1am?)
Please check their Facebook page here to confirm opening hours or give them a ring on 0405 551 782
Note: Cash Only

We broke our “once a fortnight eat out” rule and finally made it to the Mandalay Bus recently. I have been wanting to go ever since

Child friendly restaurant: The Austrian Australian Club

The Austrian Australian Club
Ph: 02 6286 5793
Heard St
Mawson ACT

I first went to the restaurant with my Mothers’ Group mums for our first dinner get-together sans kids. It was such an awesome night and I thoroughly enjoyed the occasion. I wasn’t sure whether the food was good because I had loads of fun or because the food really was good. I did remember that the chips were amazing though.

Anyway, hearty German/Austrian food is definitely up to Mr E’s alley so I had to take him there and reconfirmed its awesomeness And I did, a fortnight after 😉 with Little E in tow, hungry and ready at the door at 6pm (their opening time).

The decor is a little tired and could do with a bit of refreshment, but it did bring us back to the lovely restaurant we went to in Austria

I had the chicken schnitzel with chips, bread dumpling and pepper sauce on the first visit. On my second one, I ordered the pork schnitzel, again with the amazing chips and mixed vegies (had to order this because Little E was there and I wanted him to have vegies). Oh, and a side of gravy.

A little side note, am I the only mum who ordered healthier food when the little one is around, just so that he eats better too? That just by having him around is actually good for me? Heh.

Yummy golden freshly deep fried chips...

I digress. Mr E ordered the lamb schnitzel with red cabbage, sauerkraut and an extra side of spetzels (which is noodley pasta thingies). The serving size is very generous, with us three sharing the two orders and we had more than enough. Little E would have eaten almost the entire serve of red cabbage, preferring it on top of everything else, so weird!

Digging for red cabbage

Just as I remembered from the first visit, the chips were amazing. I would just go back again and again for it. I didn’t like the pepper sauce nor the gravy, but I thought the schnitzels were really yummy. As per the order of prices, the lamb was the best, with the pork coming last.

The cake was moist and rich and was just delicious!

Though we were really full already, I couldn’t resist not getting dessert as I didn’t get any the first time I was there. We shared a black forrest cake with ice cream, Little E eating and scooping faster than I’ve seen him done before. We think he liked it lol

It took a little longer for our meals to arrive the first time I went, but I would imagine it was because there were 7 orders on our table. The second time around, our meals didn’t take long at all to arrive. I had the same waitress on both occasions and she was really friendly. She was patient with Little E, waiting for his response when she asked him if she could take his plate away. Which he didn’t give for almost a whole minute, out of shyness. When he finally did, she just laughed and didn’t seem to be rushed at all.

Austrian and German beers are available

We were the first people there, but the place did fill up as the night progressed, mostly with families. The mum friend who suggested the place did tell us that we should book as they get pretty busy. I would recommend the same, most especially if you need a highchair as I could only see one available. Mr E said to me as we left that we’re definitely going back there for their other meals and I have to agree with him 🙂

Fussy little eaters: Slow Cooked Sweet Soy Pork

I cooked this recently and gave a dear friend some to try. It is a dish that I grew up with, though we would have it with sausages and intestines instead 😉 Mr E would never eat that so I used pork shoulder instead. My friend liked it so much that she asked for the recipe. Since I had to write it down for her, I thought I’d post it as well, in case you would like to try it out too 🙂 My little one liked this dish as the meat is very tender.

Slow cooked Sweet Soy Pork

Ingredients:

• 4 stalks of shallots, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
• 6cm piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 600g pork shoulder, trim most fat
• 4tbs kecap manis (Indo sweet soy sauce, you can get this at any supermarket now)
• 2tbs soy sauce
• 200ml boiling water
• 1 long green chilli, chopped (optional)
• Any vegetables you like, I added about 4 potatoes (halved)

Method:

1. Pan fry garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add shallots and chilli until tender.
2. Quickly brown the pork then add all the rest of the ingredients.
3. Once all of the sauces are combined, put everything into a slow cooker for 6-8 hours.
4. Serve with rice, stir fried vegies and a dollop of sambal (Indo chilli paste)

You can use chicken or even tofu for this dish. When I’m feeling ultra extravagant, I also add in peeled boiled eggs into the slow cooker. The eggs will end up soaking the juices, making them sweet and spicy and eggy. It is definitely one of my comfort food dishes, I normally make this when only food can make me happy 😉

Happy cooking (and eating)!

Ps. Let me know if you would like me to post the recipe on my Indo chilli paste. That one is definitely not child friendly! 🙂

Fussy little eaters: Two-ingredients Pizza Base

Here’s our dinner tonight!

The simplest, fastest and “healthiest” pizzas we could make from scratch. Little E ate his whole dinner, with no fuss!

Two-ingredients Pizza Base

Ingredients:

• 1c plain Greek yogurt
• 1c self-raising flour (we’ve tried GF flour before, it worked out fine)
• Our toppings tonight: cheese, chicken breast pieces, slices of capsicum, grated carrots, BBQ sauce, mixed herbs and garlic

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Mix both ingredients, then knead until they come together into a ball (adjust the flour if the dough is too wet. Unfortunately, different yogurt has different water content)
3. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 1cm thin
4. Put toppings on top then into the oven for 15-20 minutes

Voila! Dinner for the entire family! 🙂 Easy peasy.

Child friendly restaurant: Outback Jack’s

Outback Jack’s
Westfield Shopping Centre
Belconnen

I have been meaning to try Outback Jack’s for a very long time. One, because I am obsessed with ribs. Two, they have ribs.

We went in for a late lunch on the weekend, so the place wasn’t too crowded. We were served promptly, a highchair provided and our orders taken. We were impressed by the effort they took to cater for children, Little E was given his own menu which doubled up as an activity book. He was also provided with a small bucket of crayons. When we looked around the place, we saw that they also have a children’s corner! It’s amazing.

Yep, they have xbox!

We were a quite nervous about the waiting time as there were a few tables still waiting for their meals and Little E started to act up. Understandable, as I was about two hours late giving him his lunch #mummyfail Luckily, our orders came within 20-30 minutes (which isn’t too bad).

I had their ribs and wings combo with medium and “ass burner” sauce. Mr E had a medium rare porterhouse steak with spicy Jack’s sauce. We gave Little E a bits of our meals, which he enjoyed. I think he liked the wings best, with carrots next. He also shared Mr E’s banana milkshake, served in a cool boot-shaped mug.

I liked my meal, the ribs were all tender and the wings crunchy and moist. I didn’t think that the chilli sauce was particularly hot, and weirdly, the “medium” sauce had more of a lasting heat. The serving size was too big though, with it almost defeating me. Mr E had to help me eat all of it, and towards the end, I didn’t think it was good anymore 😉 Sadly, my tummy has shrunk but my eyes haven’t followed suit.

I tried a little bit of Mr E’s steak and I liked it. It had a nice red meat taste without being too strong, though it was too rare for me. Mr E thought it was delicious and said that he had made the right order. Yay.

I like how the restaurant pays a lot of attention towards families with children. They offer “children eat free” deals on some days, and if you look at the menu on the photo above, children’s meals are $3! Amazing!

If you’re a big eater, you could attempt the 1kg challenge and have your name on the board with the other champions. Mr E said that you’d also win something with it. Or, go there every Mondays to Wednesdays for all-you-can-eat wings and ribs!

Other than it being slightly too pricey, Mr E said you are also being subjected to listening bad country music the whole time 🙂 However, the fact that they obviously cared about their younger patrons, I would go back there for special occasions where I can have Little E preoccupied while I enjoy the event.

Anyway, ater all that food, we hopped next door and had dessert. As the Japanese would say, I have a betsubara. Behold………

Yogurtland: plain and dragon passion fruit froyo with cinnamon donut, choc brownie, choc fudge, oreo biscuit and mini mochi

We then rolled our way through the mall to our car…

Child friendly restaurant: BentSpoke Brewery

BentSpoke Brewery
Ph: 02 6257 5220
38 Mort St
Braddon
Website here

After a whole week being cooped up inside, we decided to go out for lunch last Sunday. Mr E wanted to try a new place so we went to BentSpoke Brewery. We arrived just as they opened (11am FYI) and were served straight away. It was their 5th weekend since they opened on the weekend and you could feel it too. The restaurant is decorated in a “warehouse” style, it’s open and airy, with cool decor using old bike parts. Mr E said that apparently the owner’s wife did the welding herself! So cool.

I really want to recreate that vertical herb garden on my top right picture.

The menu isn’t extensive but I think it caters for a lot of people. I couldn’t go past the ribs and wings so that’s what I ordered. Mr E went for the Ploughman and I was glad that he did, because I wanted it too. We were able to give Little E bits of our food for lunch so he was happy too. There is also Kids’ menu if you prefer, which I think are reasonably priced at $8 each.

I liked my meals, though there were things that I think they could have done better:

• heat up the sauce that came with the meals, as it was weird having hot things with cold sauces
• or even better, marinade the ribs with the sauce
• the Ploughman needed a bit of “something” like chutney, salsa, cranberry jam or even just a knob of butter, as it was a little dry

In saying that, I think Bentspoke Brewery has way better food than the owner’s last gig. I will go back to try their other meals, definitely. It’s also in a cool area, so I need to hang around there more often 😉

I didn’t mind the beer that Mr E ordered but as I’m not really a beer connoisseur I couldn’t say anything other than that I liked the fruity beers that the owner’s old joint did. Mr E liked it though, so I guess that is good. They seem to have a number of selections, which they of course brew in-house, so for any beer-people, do check it out. The menu for last weekend, the place isn’t cheap but as I said above, it is located in a hip area so I guess we have to allow for that. I like that they have a highchair available – though they have only 1 that we could see, so you may need to mention when booking a table. The beverage menu indicated that they’ll have a bigger range of beer as they go, so I can foresee Mr E wanting to visit loads in the future.

Fussy little eaters: Vegetarian noodle cups

A recent recipe inside an Aldi brochure got me inspired to make noodle cups. They’re freezable, they’re compact (ie. Not messy) and can be made in advance/bulk. Unfortunately, the recipe calls for instant noodle packets,  so I had to change it a bit.

Vegetables noodle cups

A picture of the picture on the actual recipe – mine look significantly uglier than these but still tasty! 🙂

Ingredients:

• 150g noodles/pasta
• 3 eggs, lightly whisked
• 1/2 finely chopped (or grated) vegies – I had cauliflower, carrots and capsicum
• 1/2tsp chicken stock powder
• 1/4tsp each of cumin, tumeric, sugar, paprika
• Pepper

Method:

1. Cook noodles, drain then stir through the spices, pepper and chicken stock
2. Line a muffin tray, divide noodles into portions
3. Top with vegies
4. Then pour in the egg mixture evenly (you will need to put it in slowly else it’ll overflow)
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 180C (preheated)

Little E had one of these for lunch today and he liked it. It was one of the least messy lunch ever, that’s a plus for me 🙂 Mr E had yet to have one but they’re in the freezer for him to take to work for lunch-emergencies.

Please try this recipe and let me know if you like it! 🙂