Fabulous five : Edible gardening

There are several reasons I grow edible plants in my garden. It occured to me that people sometimes wrongly think that vegetable garden is something for country folk. As a women living in the suburbs with a post stamp garden I can tell you anyone can grow edible plants.

GardenChives

Chives in my rock garden

Vegetables and greens that are easy to grow:

  1. Wild garlic, I took some bulbs from my mothers garden and planted them under my pear tree. The leaves and flowers can be eaten raw or cooked. The garlic flavour and spinach texture combine well with steaks, mushrooms or salmon. I rarely eat mine raw, just because that’s safer.

    Rocket in our gnome garden

    Rocket in our gnome garden

  2. Rocket, once you have had this plant in your garden, you will never need to sow it again. It spreads like a weed! When I have to harvest great amounts, I make my own rocket pesto.  It is also great to mix through my salad leaves, or to garnish my pizza‘s.
  3. Rhubarb, a zero maintenance plant! I have this plant thanks to my parents garden. My father made a rhubarb patch next to the house. He devided some rhubarb plants from my grandfathers garden to create this patch. Now I have a piece of this patch in my garden. I like to use the rhubarb to make rhubarb crumble. I freeze some rhubarb in the summer, so I can even enjoy this dish in the winter!
  4. Nasturtiums. Another easy plant to sow. You can eat the leaves and flowers of this annual plant in a salad. On top of all this, they look great too. I like to grow lots of edible flowers, such as pansies.

    Tomatoe salad with nasturtium

    Tomatoe salad with nasturtium

  5. Herbs. Nothing beats fresh herbs, so I like to always have these herbs on hand:
    • Chives (we even eat the flowers!)GardenHerbs
    • Flat leaf parsley
    • Marjoram
    • Thyme
    • Rosemary
    • Regular mint, balm mint and peppermint – also great for making (iced) teas
    • Sage

You can plant these plants in a seperate vegatable patch, but my garden is so small that I choose to let my edible plants live among the decorative plants. But all the plants in this list would also be very happy living in a flower pot or window box.

Adding edible plants to your garden or balcony is also a great way to teach your children how their vegetables grow. You could even consider making a gnome garden. For children I would always recommend including some strawberry plants. They are low maintenance, high reward plants for children.

I recommend choosing plants you enjoy eating and easy to grow & maintain. This way you are more likely succeed and reap the rewards soon!

Cola Chicken Stew

ColaKipBW - S1
This is a great way to get your entire family to enjoy a chicken stew. I know it might seem crazy but this stew has a lovely and balanced sweet and sour taste. You can make this stew fresh, or a day in advance.

ColaKipBW - S2

I like to have this stew with white rice, the stew should be garnished with large hand fulls of spring onion. Your children might also really enjoy having chips and a glass of coke with this meal!

Cola Chicken Stew

  • 1 tbsp of oil
  • 3 onions, finely sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 6 chicken legs or thighs
  • 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
  • 3 tbsp ketchup
  • 4 tbsp ketjap manis or sweet soy sauce
  • 400 ml cola
  • Optional: 2 tbsp corn starch to bind the sauce
  • Serve with white rice and sliced spring onion
  1. Fry your onions and garlic until they are soft.
  2. Add the chicken and let it brown.
  3. Add the smoked paprika and fry it a little while.
  4. Stir in the final ingredients.
  5. Let your stew simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until your chicken is tender.

Let’s bake!

My son and I love making cookies on a rainy day. I know now to make this a truely memorable experience with these nifty tricks:

  • Make the dough a day in advance, and keep it in the fridge. Cookie dough also freezes well, so I like to make a large batch and freeze half for later.
  • While your cookies cool, and your children are otherwise occupied (in my case: building some new Lego creation), create some colorful icing for decorating.
  • Place small amounts of decorations in a muffin tin, this keeps your table organised. When we are done decorating, we put the leftover decorations aside. My son mixes these in a bowl of yoghurt for a festive desert that evening!

    www.cookingwithmykid.com

  • Display your children’s creations on a pretty dish or cake stand. They take a lot of pride in their work.
  • Place the cookies in a transparant zip lock bag, then attach this bake to a decorative tray. This makes a great present for grandma or an aunty with a sweet tooth!
    WrappedCookies
  • Remember your child’s attention span is a lot shorter than yours, don’t be surprised if they are bored after making 3 cookies. In their minds this is still helping and they will take the credit for all the work! This always makes me smile, because it does mean my son takes pride in his creations.
  • Nigella has provided a great cookie recipe in het book “how to be a domestic goddes”. Me and my 4 year old have made multiple batches of these cookies, and they never disappoint! These cookies are tasty, with and without the colorful icing.

CookiesS

  • I love making chocolate chip cookies. All my son does is make dough balls and press them flat, but he has so much fun!
    cookiemonster

Find more tips for cooking with children here.

Great birthday treats

My son recently celebrated his birthday. He handed out these lovely creatures for some festive fun. We just combined these googly eyes from Flying tiger and simple carrots. This made for a healthy snack and a fun simple trinket for the kids to take home.

HappyCarrots1

Last time I made these beautiful cars, but my son really enjoyed being able to join in this year. This made all it feel extra special for a toddler in the “I wanna be independent” fase!

Bookmarks made with love

BookMark1

My sweet mother bought me a laminating machine the other day (thank you mum!). And I must say I have been feeling very inspired! I used this machine to create a beautiful gift for my son’s daycare lady’s. They are like second mothers to him, which makes them extra special!

I drew 3 bookmarks with a black marker. One with a lucky theme with clover fours, one with a love theme with hearts and one book marker with a party theme with balloons. After this I went crazy with the coloring pencils. Of course I wrote a personal message on the back of the book marks and I added a foto of my toddler. To preserve the book marks I laminated them first, after which I cut them out. I attached ribbons with a bead that can stick out the book they read.

BookMark2

I attached each marker to a beautiful bouquet for a festive surprise. Of course you could also let your toddler do the coloring for a personal touch too.

Mmmm monster cookies

The other day I felt a strong craving for some decadent American style chocolate chip cookies. After dome experimenting I found a recipe that works for us.

I made the dough a day in advance and I pulled the dough out when my pre-schooler seemed bored. We had great fun slicing the cookies and watching the oven do all the work.

cookiemonster

After this we enjoyed these satisfyingly chewy cookies with a tall glass of milk, yum!

I turned this recipe into a lovely coloring project. You can download MonsterCookieColoring here.

ColoringS

Monster cookies (8 to 10 cookies)

  • 250 gram selfraising flour
  • 200 gram light brown sugar
  • 100 gram butter
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon of milk
  • 250 gram chocolate chips
  1. Mix the sugar, butter and salt well.
  2. Stir in the eggs and milk.
  3. Combine with the flour and chocolate chips.
  4. Form a roll of about 5 cm in diameter. Wrap the roll in cling film and rest for 30 minutes to 3 days.
  5. Slice your cookies and place them well spaced apart on a baking tray.
  6. Bake at 190 degrees C for 10 minutes or until golden.

Enjoy your baking and coloring project!

mmmonstercookies

Fall coloring – free printable

FallColoring

For this rainy fall weather I created this beautiful drawing for coloring fun with my toddler. I would like to share this lovely printable with my readers. A great project for all ages. Download FallColoring here.

I colored mine using water colors and crayons and I had great fun making it.

FallColoredSmall

If you are in need of some winter time mommy inspiration, here you will find more kid’s fun.

Easiest healthy cookies ever!

I love looking for inspiration on Pinterest. This time I ran into a 3 ingredient cookie recipe. This inspired me as it also contained no sugar and they looked delicious, find my inspiration here.

The cookies were easy to make. They are best eaten right away, or within 24 hours. This would not be a problem in my home! It is a great way to make use of that overripe banana. The riper your banana gets, the sweeter your cookies will be.

These cookies make a great healthy snack for the entire family. They could even be used as a breakfast cookie along with a smoothy or a tall glass of milk. I tested my cookies on my toddler and my colleagues. They were all amazed at how delicious they were without added sugar.

Koek2

This simple recipe would also be a great recipe for children to make with very little help from you!

3 ingredient cookies

  • 1 overripe banana
  • 2 handfulls of quick oats
  • 2 handfulls of chocalate chips
  • Optional: dried fruit and/or nuts

Mash up your banana and mix your ingredients. Spoon your cookies on a baking sheet. I made 6 smaller cookies, but you could make 3 larger cookies as well.

Bake your cookies in a preheated oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees C and enjoy!

Find more tips for cooking with toddlers.

Father’s favorites

koekjes2In the Netherlands, June 14th will be fathersday this year. Obviously I would like to state that me and my toddler are  daddy’s favorites. However, these cookies also go down well. They are a dutch classic: speculaasjes. The dough should be made beforehand, so the spice mix can flavor the entire dough. I recommend making the dough 2 days before fathersday, then making the cookies with your toddlers 1 day before fathersday.

I have this recipe from a dutch classic cooking book aptly named; “Het nieuwe kookboek“. This is a great book for beginners, let’s call it the “silver spoon” of the Netherlands. My toddler and I tested this recipe for valentine’s day and it was a huge hit!

Getting your hands on some real speculaas might be difficult for you, I do promiss you that this festive spice mix will put a smile on your face, it is like cinnamon for grown-ups (although your kids will love it too). For the UK, check out this site, or make your own blend.

Father’s favorite cookies (40 to 50 cookies)

  • 110 grams butter
  • 90 grams of light brown sugar
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 2 tsp of speculaas spice blend
  • 1 tbsp of beaten egg
  • 100 grams selfraising flower
  • Almonds, sugar pieces or sugar decoration

Mix all the ingredients and combine into a ball of dough. Wrap the dough in cling film. Let it rest in the fridge for 1 to 4 days. This will allow for the spices to flavor your dough.

Take the dough out of your fridge 1 hour before rolling it out.

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C.

Roll out the dough to a thickness of 5 mm. Use flower to prevent your dough from sticking. Cut out any shape you like. Place your cookies on a baking sheet lined with grease proof paper. Sprinkle your decorations, sugar and/or almonds on the cookies and lightly press them in.

Bake your cookies for 20 minutes, take them out to cool on the sheet.

Once cooled, the cookies keep for about a week in an air tight container. My son even decorated his own container for daddy.

Koekjes1