Things I Should Have Said

It has been far too long since I wrote a blog post about anything. I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed by tasks I’ve committed myself to complete for other people. Since all of these ‘other’ things have had a screen time component, I’ve been putting all my own screen time stuff on hold.

I like working on blog posts but there is only so much sitting/screen time I can handle – honestly, I’d just die if I had to work in an office every day, I’d rather clean bathrooms than sit at a desk even if the paper/computer work was interesting. Some of the other projects are very interesting, even quite exciting, but the time commitment is daunting.

Also note, it isn’t just the screen time that prevents me from doing office work. If I have to talk on the phone then I must also be pacing or doing laps in order to maintain some type of focus on what the caller is saying. There is a strong possibility that I will see an interesting nature thing through a window and completely block out anything the caller is saying. They would be completely unaware that I had mentally left the conversation. Please don’t phone me with important info.

Back on topic…

Most blog posts don’t actually take a lot of time but some of the other projects I’ve committed myself to do are very time consuming. So, as these other projects have deadlines, I’ve felt a little guilty if I ‘wasted’ any stationary time working on my ‘fun’ computer activities when I had time sensitive commitments. The fun vs work turmoil has made me avoid most computer activities even when I probably had the time.

I finally managed to eliminate some of these ‘other’ things so I’m going to catch up on a few of our past activities I would have/should have written posts about. First up – the bannock we cooked over the fire during spring break – yes, almost five months ago.

Having campfires with babies is tricky which is why we usually only manage them during winter break when my husband is off work and can tend to the fire while I watch babies. I’ve written about some past campfire cooking in 2017 and 2020. This year, spring was so late that spring break was more like winter so we had winter type activities instead.

With three mobile babies I didn’t think there was any safe place to put a fire pit in the yard so we just used the wok in the parking area. The babies and I could see, and smell the yumminess safely and the older children were trustworthy enough to be outside the yard fence with my husband tending the fire.

We had a little trouble getting the strips of bannock dough to stay wrapped on the metal skewers (branches would work better but I don’t trust the sticks we collect in the city due to chemicals etc.). It was taking a long time to cook the bannock when we had to keep taking them out of the fire to rewrap. Putting multiple strips of bannock in hotdog roasters was much easier and faster – we had a lot of dough to cook!

The babies waited eagerly by the gate every time I went outside the fence to take a few pictures and get some of the cooked bannock. Getting back in was challenging as all the babies crowded around my legs with their mouths wide open like little baby birds waiting for morsels of tasty bannock. They couldn’t get enough – ate more than all the bigger children who preferred cooking over eating.

The bannock cooked in the hotdog roasters did look rather unappealing – several comments were made about ‘dog turds’ – but it tasted wonderful! The little nuggets were actually perfect bite-sized pieces for easy snacking.

It was a great spring break activity though on subsequent walks there were a few extra reminders that we never pickup anything from the ground when we are out for a walk – even if it looks like bannock.

Bananas

There are always bananas on my kitchen counter. I don’t ever need to write ‘bananas’ on my grocery list – they are one of the things, like milk, that I buy every time I go to the store. We have bananas for snack several times each week because they are so convenient to store and serve.

All the children like bananas – for some they are their favourite fruit – though occasionally I’ve had a child that briefly got tired of having bananas. However, I would not put bananas on my personal list of preferred fruits – I will only eat green bananas. (note: I also choose savory over sweet, vegetable over fruit consistently).

Whenever possible I will buy green bananas. If the store only has yellow bananas I will buy just a few and make another trip to the store later in the week for more. I cannot have ripe bananas in my kitchen – once I can smell them then somebody better eat them or I’ll have to freeze the bananas or bake something.

Yes, I do bake a lot of things with bananas – but I don’t usually eat any banana flavoured things. Luckily, the children do like most baked banana snack foods too.

I bought a bunch of bright green bananas on one of my shopping trips last month – and they would not ripen. This picture was taken almost two weeks after I bought these bananas.

Not only were these bananas still green, they were too green even for me – they were very hard and impossible to peel. I had to buy more yellow bananas to use for snacks. I am stubborn though and was determined to get these bananas to ripen or find another use for them.

I searched for uses for green bananas. One site suggested boiling and mashing them like potatoes – that just sounds gross. Another suggestion was to slice them and pan fry – I tried that at nap time one day in hope we would be able to have bananas for afternoon snack.

I still couldn’t peel these bananas so I sliced them and then cut the peel off. I fried them in butter and added brown sugar to make a sweet glaze. Even with the sugar they tasted just like fried potatoes! I absolutely LOVED them – the children definitely did not. None of the children finished their afternoon snack.

I placed the remaining green bananas in a paper bag with all the green tomatoes that I had picked from my garden before it got too cold. Over the next week, all the tomatoes ripened and we ate them but the bananas were still green. I thought maybe my house was too cool (I keep my thermostat set at 18C) so I tried placing the remaining bunch of green bananas in my oven set on ‘warm’ for half a day – didn’t help. Maybe these bananas were even more stubborn than me.

I checked the bananas again on Friday – almost four weeks since I bought them – still green, though may be not quite as hard as they had been. I placed them back in the bag and decided I would fry them all on the weekend – it would make a wonderful snack for my son and I but I wouldn’t expect the children to eat them.

I was busy outside all day Saturday – taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather – and didn’t check the bananas. On Sunday morning I prepared to fry the green bananas but when I opened the bag….ewww !

The bananas were suddenly not only all yellow but are they were even starting to turn brown. There is no way I will fry or even eat these bananas – too over ripe for me…but I know what the children will love for snack on Monday 🙂

Apple Burgers

One of my childcare families asked for this recipe recently and I replied that it was ‘on the list of future posts’. I actually have a list of blog posts waiting to be written…lack of post ideas is not the reason for the long periods of time between posts. Sometimes I just need a a nudge to move a post to the top of the list and get busy writing.

As I mentioned in my last post, this past summer we didn’t follow our regular four-week-revolving menu. Instead, I had made a list – yes, another list – of new recipes I would like to try without necessarily adding them to our regular menu. Apple Burgers were one of the new recipes that the children requested multiple times over the summer and asked to have added to the regular menu permanently.

In the spring, when I first started going through my recipe books to make the ‘new recipes’ list, I almost skipped reading the Apple Burger recipe…again. I say ‘again’ because all my recipe books are more than 20 years old, some may even be older than me. There are no pages in any of my recipe books that I have never looked at but there are definitely recipes that I have not read past the title.

Apple Burgers fell into the ‘skipped’ list because I don’t generally like apples. I mean, I won’t entirely refuse to eat them – like seafood (gag) – but anything apple would be near the bottom of a list. Like on my ‘pie list’ all other fruit pies and most meat/veggie pies would be ahead of apple pie. So, my initial response to reading the title ‘Apple Burgers’ would be ‘eww, why wreck a burger by putting apple on it’ and I would turn the page.

However, this time I read it – after all, I was looking for recipes for lunches for the children and even most of the picky eaters will eat apples. I discovered that ‘Apple Burgers’ are really just chicken/turkey burgers with applesauce in them. MMmmm, chicken and turkey are pretty high up on my list so Apple Burgers got added to the summer recipes to try list.

Now, I will first post the recipe ingredient list as it was originally written with the usual disclaimer that I have NEVER followed a recipe without modifying it. Then I’ll try to guess at what I really did since I don’t measure ingredients.

Apple Burgers

• 1 lb ground chicken (or turkey)
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 tbsp chopped onion
• 2 tbsp chopped red pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper

After reading the original recipe my first thoughts were; 1) the children will not even try these if they see a piece of onion or red pepper, 2) there is not nearly enough seasoning/flavor, and 3) why is there no egg or breadcrumbs?

So, when I made them I added the things I thought were missing – and I have done it differently each time I have made them so I don’t really have a ‘recipe’. Seriously, I just play with food like the children mixing potions with loose parts…as long as it is edible I’ll consider throwing it in a ‘recipe’. Also note, I am cooking for a big group so I usually start with double the above recipe. These are some of the other modifications I have made.

First, I add a lot more seasoning. I have dried vegetable seasoning (onion, peppers, garlic) that I add to things like scrambled eggs or herb bread etc when I want the flavour but not the chunks or moisture from chopped or pureed onions and peppers. I have used the dried vegetable seasoning in these burgers and I have also used oregano, thyme, rosemary – total of probably at least two or more tablespoons of various dried seasonings. Sometimes I add bacon bits, soya sauce, BBQ sauce, or Thai sweet chili sauce.

Second, I add an egg and some cornmeal/oatmeal/breadcrumbs. Actually, never breadcrumbs, I don’t buy or make breadcrumbs but they would work too. I usually add cornmeal to all my ground meat loaves/balls/burgers. Sometimes I use oatmeal though I put it in the food processor first because I only buy whole oats and they would make the burgers chunky if I didn’t grind up a bit it first. If I am adding pureed onions and peppers I will put the oatmeal in the food processor at the same time.

How much cornmeal/oatmeal? I have no idea, I just dump it in straight from the bag, maybe a cup? Normally I would add enough to enable me to handle the mixture and form patties but honestly every time I have made these I feel like I’m adding way too much filler and they have still been too wet to handle. I have spooned the mixture onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet like a drop cookie, shaped them a bit and then baked them. I usually get 16 smallish patties out of a recipe starting with 2 lbs ground chicken.

The original recipe says to broil them 8 minutes per side until no longer pink. Hmpf – too wet to put on my broiler pan – would make rippled burgers LOL. I bake them for about 25-30 minutes at 375 F on my oven’s convection roast setting (400F on regular setting) flipping after about 15-20 minutes so they brown a bit on both sides. I always use a thermometer to ensure min internal temp of 165F/74C. They always set up very solid, never crumble so I don’t know why they are too wet to handle raw.

AAannnd – no picture. That is probably why I kept putting off writing this post. I have never remembered to take a picture of the Apple Burgers – too busy eating them. I let the children choose the condiments they want on their burgers. For me, it is mayonnaise and Thai sweet chili sauce for extra flavour 🙂

In lieu of an apple burger pic – here are some barbecued beef patties my husband cooked for me (I’m a little fearful of the gas BBQ thingy). I’m always sad when he doesn’t BBQ beef burgers ‘crispy’ enough for me so he cooked these ones special just the way I like them…

What’s for Lunch?

I include a printed copy of our four week revolving lunch and snack menu in the handbook that I give to parents when they enroll their child. I always point out that the menu will change over time – possibly even before their child’s first day of care.

I have a current version of the full menu posted in my front entrance (licensing requirement) and the lunch menu is posted on my website because some of the parents like to check it periodically outside drop off/pick up times. I also have a printed copy on my fridge to reference when I am prepping meals and making my shopping list.

Over the years I’ve had some children, or groups of children that frequently ask “What’s for Lunch?” throughout the day. For this reason I have posted additional copies in both the main playroom and the art area. I encourage readers to check the printed menu instead of automatically expecting me to answer the question for them.

I don’t usually mind answering the question – often it is the beginning of a wonderful conversation. Occasionally it is more of a game where each of the preschoolers ask the same question over and over again leaving me to sometimes say “Same answer as I last time that question asked.” Still, this repetitive activity is wonderful for turn taking and communication skills.

I am a little more reluctant to answer the older children because I feel it is important to encourage them to seek answers instead of relying on me to provide information. Instead, I may just remind them of where the menu is posted and suggest they go check for themselves.

There are also options available for them to independently discover which menu week we are on and what day of the week it is so there is not really a need to ask these questions either. I won’t entirely refuse to answer when asked but I’m more inclined to just provide clues.

Many years ago there was a child for whom I was reluctant to answer the “What’s for lunch?” question. This child was, at home, extremely picky about what they would eat and adamantly refused to try anything new. If they knew in advance what we were having for lunch, they would obsess about it all morning, worried they may not like it, unable to focus on anything else or participate in play activities. By lunch they could have themselves so worked up that they would not be able to eat anything IF they even tried.

So, when they asked what we were having for lunch, I would reply “Protein, vitamins, fibre, sugar, fat and some dairy”. Then we would have a discussion about what their favourite foods were and we would classify those foods. At lunch time I would first Identify each menu item by its food group followed by “like your favourite food _____”.

With this approach, a group of peers who thoroughly enjoyed all foods, no pressure to clean their plate, AND no options for alternative foods, they were willing to at least nibble at what was on the menu. Over time they became far less stressed and picky about food. Sometimes they did not only clean their plate but ask for seconds too.

I still occasionally answer the “What’s for lunch?” question with “Protein, vitamins, fibre, sugar, fat and some dairy” – particularly when my preschool group has already asked that question multiple times that day. Most of my current group of children are definitely NOT picky about food at all.

When I tell them we are having “Protein, vitamins, fibre, sugar, fat and some dairy” they respond emphatically with “WE LOVE THAT!”

And it is true, they do 🙂

Hamburger Tarts

When discussing menu items in my childcare home ‘favourites’ can be defined in many ways. It could be a meal that all of the children eat at least some of and no one refuses to eat. It could also mean that some of the children really enjoy it and consistently ask for seconds but there may be one or two children who barely eat any at all. After all, not everyone likes the same things.

Sometimes it may be defined as one of my favourite things to make because it either doesn’t require a lot of work or it can be prepared well in advance and baked for lunch. I always prefer meals that don’t add to the already busy lunch time – between returning from outdoors and getting ready for nap time there is already a lot to do without including food prep.

Hamburger Tarts are one of the items that tick a lot of boxes. They require a bit of fairly easy prep early in the morning before the children arrive and then bake a bit just before we come in from outside. Most of the children like them – some don’t – some ask for seconds. Personally I find them addictive and left unchecked I could wipe out the whole batch because seriously – bread, meat and cheese is really just like pizza which I could eat all day every day.

This is the ‘original’ recipe which of course I only use as a starting point and then modify – a lot.

First of all, I don’t fiddle with cutting crusts (best part) off bread, buttering the slices and pressing them into muffin tins to essentially make more crusts. I use yummy brioche buns, placed upside down in a 9×13 pan, and hollowed out (keep for free bread crumbs). I have also tried this step using scratch made bread dough pressed in the pan and using a cup to make 12 indents for filling – good too but it requires much more effort and time and most of the children prefer the brioche buns

For the filling I do saute the onion and lean ground beef though I use much more than half an onion – more like one very large or two medium and very well cooked before adding the beef. One lb of ground beef will fill 12 buns. I never use the yucky mushroom soup – usually tomato soup or cheddar cheese soup.

I add all the saved ‘bread crumbs’ from the buns, eggs, and ketchup as well as some mustard and BBQ sauce too. I don’t usually grate the cheddar cheese to add to the filling. To save time I most often just place a thick square slice of cheddar in the bottom of each bun cup before filling with the meat mixture. At this point I cover with foil and refrigerate until closer to lunch time then bake covered at 325F for about an hour to heat through. Uncover for the last bit of time to brown a little without drying out.

Serve with salad or coleslaw – pick them up and eat like a burger or cut them up and use a fork (not as fun) – Mmmmm good.

Recipe Requests

After my last post about our new menu there were a few requests to post some recipes – an easy post but it still took me a month to get around to it. I think my increased procrastination may be due in part to my lack of early morning trips to the gym. I miss those 4 AM workouts that were always a great way to get energized for a productive day.

The first request was for ‘Texas Hash’ which was pictured in my last post. I rarely measure anything so all my recipe amounts are only approximations. I also buy a lot of things in bulk when they are on sale and I have time to cook and package them in meal sized portions. I always have a variety of cooked meats in my freezer ready to add to casseroles, stir fry’s, sauces etc so this step is not in most of my recipes.

Texas Hash

Dice 2 large onions and 5 green/red peppers, cook until tender.  Add 1 can tomato sauce/puree/soup (roughly 300 ml?), 1 lb cooked ground meat/soy protein, 1 cup frozen corn, and 3 Tbsp taco seasoning.  Simmer until heated through.  Cook 2 cups rice (I use brown jasmine or basmati) in 4 cups water and then add to warm sauce mixture.  Serve now or put in casserole dish to keep warm or reheat later. Pictured below: first just sauce mixture before rice added and second plated with jasmine rice added (sorry, blurry pic). Note: I rarely use beef, usually soy protein of pork.

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Meatloaf

In a large bowl soak corn meal in milk (I’m guessing 1/2 – 3/4 cup of each but I have never measured it). Add 1 pkg onion soup mix, 1 egg, salt, and 1 tsp of liquid smoke. Mix. Add 3 kg ground pork (I buy the chub pack from Costco). Mix well and press in to 9×13 pan. Bake in 325F oven for roughly 90 min until centre tests to 74C. I cut the cooled slab into three 9×4 inch ‘loaves’ and package for the freezer until needed.

The New Menu

As stated on my Menu & Recipe page; ‘We have a four week revolving menu. Occasionally I make changes the lunch menu due to the likes and dislikes of the children in care.’

When I make changes to the menu it is usually only one or two items that either the majority of the children dislike or have grown tired of. Sometimes, about every two or three years, I do a complete overhaul of the menu and try a bunch of new recipes.

One of the things I did during the low attendance/quiet period this past spring was to go through all my recipes and pick some new ones that I wanted to add to the menu. Possibly the biggest change I made to the menu was moving Sandwich Day to Wednesday instead of Tuesday but only one of the currently enrolled children seemed to really notice that change.

There were just three lunches that I left on the menu as I feared there may be a riot if I removed them. ‘Taco Pie’, ‘French Toast with Applesauce’, and ‘Fries with Meatloaf’. The children might actually prefer that I paired the meatloaf with something other than fries – for that meal it is the meatloaf they want, not the fries. I still struggle to find potato dishes that the children will eat. Read more about that here.

The completely new four week menu was introduced beginning on the week of June 8th as most of the children were returning. In retrospect I probably should have waited a little longer. My preschoolers may have actually preferred to have some familiar lunches after being away for two months. Also, the school-age children were attending full days now and are generally far more picky eaters than any of my preschoolers – their behavior greatly influences the little ones.

For the first four weeks each day was the same – all the children sitting around the table looking at each other, occasionally poking at or nibbling their food but no one willing to actually take the first real bite. I was eating my food – I always sit with the children and eat the same food that I serve them – modeling. This is the reason the little ones are generally willing to try new things but that strategy is less effective with the older children who have well developed preferences.

Interestingly there were more vegetables eaten during that first menu period – vegetables were familiar – not like the unknown main course menu items. Even once I told them what all the ingredients were they were still hesitant to try the new foods. I found it amusing that one of the school age children, striving to be a good role model for the little ones, would rave about how great the day’s lunch was going to be but would still refuse to eat any citing “I’m just not hungry right now”. LOL – translate to “I only eat sugar”.

The second round of the new menu was slightly more successful. Most of the children at least tried the new items but were still too unsure to have seconds. I was beginning to doubt some of my menu choices – I was finding some of the new recipes a bit too labour intensive. I missed some of my favourites from the old menu. If there was going to be a lot of leftovers I wanted it to be something I really enjoyed 😉

Still, I persevered and the third time the new menu was offered almost all of the children were eating the majority of the meals. Some were consistently asking for seconds. However there were still a few lunches that most of the children were not enthused by and were reluctant to eat. I was a little perplexed by some of the less popular meals – like grilled cheese sandwiches.

Seriously – it has been at least 10 years since the last time I had grilled cheese sandwiches on the menu and the reason I took it off was because it took too long to make enough – we could easily consume 18 or more at lunch – and it is not a menu item that is nice to make ahead and reheat. Yet this group was unimpressed by grilled cheese sandwiches. In fact, a total of FIVE sandwiches was most this group of eight children managed to eat in one meal. Some don’t like cheese, some don’t like bread, some don’t like cooked sandwiches. *sigh*

We are now midway through the fourth go-round for this new menu and there are some emerging favourites. There are also some items that continue to be unpopular and may be replaced once I am certain that the majority of the children consistently refuse to eat them. I can’t automatically assume that they don’t like a menu item when it is not a familiar food.

I won’t force them to eat things they don’t want but I also won’t offer them an alternate food item when they refuse to eat what is on their plate. Sometimes they may be too tired, grumpy, or just not hungry – I won’t assume they really don’t like a specific food until it has been offered multiple times and in various forms. Favourite foods are familiar foods.

Texas Hash is one of the emerging favourites.

December Fun

I am seriously behind on writing posts for my blog so just clearing some out some of the December photos with brief descriptions…

Last summer I had bought some waffle bowls for ice cream but nobody liked them and they were just going stale in the cupboard. I decided they could be put to use as ‘gingerbread’ houses for the toddlers.

We simply used cereal for decorations and ‘glued’ the pieces on by dipping them in icing.

Some chose to make a ‘hat with a pompom’

The bowls were fragile so if you used too much decorating force you created a ‘bear cave’

Some chose to create… a bowl for their cereal LOL

Everyone seemed to really enjoy this activity and because process is much more valuable than product I was fine with our non-traditional gingerbread houses until…my husband came home and said ‘Cool, you made yurts’. Huh, I should have thought of that.

Of course in December we also had to take advantage of my school bus driver husband being off work and able to do fire duty (it is too risky for me to watch both toddlers and fire by myself). We didn’t cook our whole lunch on the fire as we have in the past but bannock cooked on the fire is sooo good.

Add homemade Christmas Jam supplied by one of the children’s parents…

and we don’t care how cold it is..mitts are off and it is time to eat!

Pumpkin Tarts

Pumpkins are popular around here. We collect pumpkin seeds and plant them in our garden – sometimes they grow. We use pumpkins for decorations – usually we just paint the shell so we can still use the inside for our favourite pumpkin activity – baking!

I’ve previously written about making pumpkin pie with the children in 2012 and again in 2016 but it was a new experience for my current group of toddlers. This time we decided to make tarts instead of pie – a smaller product for my little one and two year olds.

First we removed the seeds;

Then we cut the softened pumpkin to practice some knife skills;

We measured all the ingredients and of course had to smell the spices;

The toddlers found mixing and mashing to be the most exciting part of the process;

Everyone got a turn to use the ladle to fill the tart shells before baking. There were enough tarts that each child got to take some home to share.

Of course we also got to eat some for snack too!

Sandwich Day

Since I first began writing this blog I’ve had parents tell me I should write a post about Sandwich Day. Well, today’s the day I’m finally getting around to doing that.

More than two decades ago, when I first opened my childcare home, I created the original 4 week revolving menu. On this menu I ensured that each week we had one lunch that included rice, one with potatoes, one with pasta, one day for hot bread meals like chili buns, burgers or meat pie and of course one day we had sandwiches.

There was a period of time, very long ago, when I had a couple children who would have been happier if we had sandwiches for lunch every single day because they didn’t want to eat anything else. With the whole group we had many discussion on the variety of food preferences and eventually these children learned to enjoy many other foods too but sandwiches remained their favourite. Hence the cheers for ‘Sandwich Day’ began.

There were no cheers for ‘Pasta Day’ even though some children really loved pasta. There were no cheers for ‘Rice Day’ either, and potato day usually got groans instead of cheers. The types of pasta, rice or potato meals on our menu changed often but so did the types of sandwiches. Yet, even when the sandwiches on the menu were not everyone’s favourite type, there were still cheers for Sandwich Day.

Parents have told me stories about their child’s Sandwich Day chant throughout the drive to daycare. They’ve commented how their normally reluctant riser will bounce out of bed when reminded that it is Sandwich Day. Some of the children have created Sandwich Day dances and rhymes. When two of the children arrive at the same time on a Tuesday morning there are special Sandwich Day hugs.

On numerous occasions I’ve been asked for my sandwich ‘recipes’ by parents whose children flat out refuse to eat sandwiches at home. However, I will also admit that all the children don’t always eat the sandwiches here either. I believe that ‘Sandwich Day’ isn’t really about the sandwiches – it is really about the shared experience, the friendships and the community.

The children who first deemed that Tuesday was ‘Sandwich Day’ left a long time ago and would be adults now. Still the tradition has continued – passed on through group after group of children in my care. As much as I would kind of like to take credit for the enthusiasm of Sandwich Day, I know that it is not something I initiated. I like sandwiches but I wouldn’t create a special day of the week for them – not without also assigning a special day for potatoes or rice or pasta too.

Year after year I have done nothing to promote ‘Sandwich Day’ other than ensure the menu has sandwiches on Tuesday because that is what the children expect. Sandwich Day is their thing – I’m just following their lead – and that is probably why they think it is so special.

I planned to take a picture of our sandwiches yesterday so I could include it in the post but lunch time was just too busy. Instead, here’s a picture of the Apple Bread I made without using the bread machine. After all, bread is a very important part of the sandwich.