Recipe for Yogi Tea

Sorry, this has been a long time in coming. So, for a wonderfully delicious tea that strengthens your bones, purifies the blood, aids healthy digestion and is a natural antibiotic here goes:

To 1 1/2 litres water add 5-10 slices of ginger, 20 cardamom pods
20 peppercorns, 15 cloves and 3 cinnamon sticks.

Simmer for 40 minutes. Add 1 tbs. black tea (optional) then reheat to the boiling point, remove from the stove, and strain. Add honey/milk to taste.

It keeps in fridge for a week and is also nice iced (well, if you are in tropical Cambodia, that is, not snowy Kington!) Jemima likes it diluted with lots of milk and it is good for teething. My father is addicted too now, and the house smells lovely when you are making it.

Enjoy!



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Think your child will never eat spinach? Think again...

Asia life article July! For many parents, feeding our children is the most stressful aspect of parenting. We tend to associate meal times with battles over control, bribes we later regret, left over food and a lot of mess. Georgie Treasure-Evans offers a few ideas and some child-friendly vegetarian recipes to bring the fun back into family meals, as well as a balanced healthy diet.

It is a common misperception in many countries that children like their food plain and easily distinguishable. Here it is rice porridge. Where I come from, fish fingers, alphabet chips and tiny frozen veg spring to mind. You may find it hard to imagine your kids eating the necessary pulses and leafy vegetables that replace the iron, protein and vitamins that we get from meat and fish.

Luckily the reality is that most young children love strong flavours and will happily eat whatever their parents do, allowing for personal preferences, of course. Resistance at meal times usually has more to do with how they are feeling than with the food itself. When a child is ill, tired, upset or over excited his appetite is often the first thing to go, followed shortly by his ability to behave as we might wish them to.

The best advice I received for dealing with meal times is to relax, let go and trust that your children will eat what they need when they need it. Offer everything in small helpings and allow them to create a little mess as well. Give them some of the much sought after control that they so rarely experience in their young lives. And make it fun.

The tried and tested recipes below are just a start, to get your own creative juices flowing. Enjoy the process as much as the result. Remember that small kids love to cook and are more likely to eat what they have helped to make! Let them help you or your cook chop soft vegetables, grate cheese, crush the garlic, and lick the bowl. If you are in a hurry give them some pots and their own ingredients and let them make messy mixtures on the floor.

Lentil Bolognaise (vegan)
This can be a sauce for pasta or baked potatoes, with cheese on top if not vegan, or topped with mashed potato (sweet and normal) and baked as shepherd’s pie. Make lots and freeze half, or blend into soup. Soak green lentils or mung beans over night, cook red and yellow split peas from dried. Tinned lentils are a quick alternative.

Fry 2 chopped onions and 1 garlic clove in a large pan with olive oil until soft.
Add chopped carrot/courgette/pepper/aubergine/mushrooms (any or all as desired) and two cups of lentils. Fry for another minute. Stir in vegetable stock and simmer for about 40 minutes, adding stock until the lentils are soft. Add two cans of chopped tomatoes, season to taste, fresh thyme and oregano go nicely with this.

Ten minute green spaghetti
Puree steamed fresh or frozen spinach – either on its own or with a bit of cream / cream cheese / splash of milk, and grated nutmeg. Pour over pasta and pile grated cheese on top.

Spinach quiche
Find a short crust pastry recipe and follow, or buy ready-made from Veggies, on St 240. Line a quiche dish and bake blind for 10 minutes (score the pastry with a knife first). Fill with steamed spinach and cubes of feta. Pour over mix of 3 beaten eggs, half a pint of milk, and a teaspoon of English mustard. Grate black pepper on one side for adults. Bake
for 30 mins approx. Spinach is a great source of iron but you can replace with any veg you like.

Courgette pasta
Get the kids to cut or grate courgettes. Steam and toss into favourite pasta shapes with a little sour cream, crushed garlic and grate cheese on top. Add pine nuts or cashews for protein.

Peruvian bean stew with feta
Cut 1lb potato and1lb pumpkin into cubes and cook until nearly soft. Fry 1 onion and garlic, 1 optional chilli, 1tsp cumin and add 1 tin of tomatoes. When the onion is soft stir in potato and pumpkin and a little water and cook until soft. Stir in 1 cup white beans (cannelini/lima/butter), 1 cup corn and 1 cup peas. Crumble feta cheese on top and lots of fresh thyme, parsley or coriander. Eat with brown bread, rice or quinoa for really high protein meal.

Hot “chocolate’ ice cream sauce
Soak prunes and dried apricots in boiling water until soft. Blend with bananas and pour while hot over vanilla ice cream or plain yoghurt. Tastes like chocolate caramel but full of iron. Enjoy
.

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Cooking with small children (as a partner, rather than an ingredient)

A friend asked me the other day what I did with Jemima while I cooked. (Remember I am living in Expatria – the land where everyone has a cook). I replied that she cooks with me of course, doesn’t everyone do that? Ok, maybe not here, but in the normal world, surely this is just what mothers do, right? Judging by the look, of surprise and vague horror, on her face, apparently not. Well of course I have to blog about this! Because cooking with your toddler is simply brill. Even for control freaks like me.

When Jemima was 20 months I hosted toddler group. Six children, between the ages of 18 months and three years, came over with their mothers and we made cookies from scratch. It was a first for me, and my friends said I was crazy, they were too young and it would be mayhem. It was somewhat messy of course, it was supposed to be. But actually we were all amazed at their capacity for concentration and staying power. They followed the process through from start to finish and were so excited when we got the biscuits out of the oven - a delightfully sticky, sprinkled spronkled pile of misshapen lumps which, of course, they found delicious. It was pretty hands off for most of us, depending on our own individual ability to resist intervention that is, something I have had to work at.

My kitchen has always been my sacred space. It has to be colourful, full of family photos and, one day, if we could ever afford it, big enough to have a table, so that it becomes the main room in the house. I am totally unimpressed by huge, shiny steel and chrome fitted regalia – give me a crumbling, clashing old cottage kitchen any day. Really, even in my tiny, rented, sweltering Cambodian kitchen with hideous glass and mirrored cupboards (cockroaches like the dark so I shall never change these), I have successfully achieved the cosy, scruffy family kitchen effect that makes me think of home, earl grey tea and toast at 4pm. You can see how important this is for me.

I tend to make a ritual out of cooking. The right music (this has replaced Radio 4, cooking used to be the time I would catch up on the world), clear everything up first, cup of tea or glass of wine… I.e. Cooking has always been about ME. Friends and family are welcome to join me, but they normally have to sit and chat while I get on with the work. I have never been good at sharing this particular task.

So, anyone who knows me well would be seriously impressed to see how happily I have learnt to share my kitchen and my cooking with children (mine and strays) and the ants, over the last few years. This really is quite some feat. At the beginning I understood why my mother’s catch phrase when we were young was “GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN!” yelled at the top of her voice when it all got too much. There were four of us… For me, it has been a gentle process, beginning with a nervous “Yes you can stir…” about two years ago, to “Come on, haven’t you cracked the eggs yet?” yesterday.

I have to say that cooking with Jemima is one of my favourite things to do. We have our own ritual now. We take turns choosing the music and she sits up on the sideboard next to the oven in her Winnie the Pooh apron demanding to be involved in every stage of the process. At 18 months she could make a huge mess with her hands, at two she could stir and pour, grate cheese and chop soft vegetables, at two and a half she could crack eggs (egg shell is good for you right?), make flour and butter into perfect pre-pastry crumbs, and stir over the hob, at three she just wanted to lick the bowl (“I’m tired of cooking. I just want to watch you and eat”) and now, at three and a half, she can pretty much make a whole quiche/ lasagne/ cake under my supervision.

It has been very good for me actually, a huge learning curve in the whole field of relaxed and empowering parenting that I am such a fan of. I am also quite strict - you would be too if your entire oven, knobs and all, heated up on the outside as well as the inside. But this is the thing – small children are capable of so much more than we imagine, if only we allow them to try, get it wrong, make a mess and keep at it. They happily take on board simple rules, such as stay away from the oven/hob or ask me first before you use a knife. (Ok, a friend did walk into my kitchen the other day to find her daughter sitting on the sideboard, flanked by Jemima on one side and another child brandishing a bread knife on the other. But that was an exception…)

All this works in our favour too. They can run errands for you! Jemima has been getting my glass of water when I find myself stuck on the sofa breastfeeding for months now. James stiffens every time he hears me ask. He hovers behind her nervously (I have forbidden him to intervene unless she asks for help) as she gets the glass jug out of the fridge and puts it on the tiled floor. Then she gets on her stool, opens the glass cupboard, gets the glass, climbs down and pours the water from the glass jug into the glass glass, on the tiled floor. Then she carries the glass across the tiles to me muttering: “Ooops, spilt a bit, ooh it is quite heavy today…” Ok, I accept it sounds slightly risky given the harsh material in our house but the point is she can do it. She is just as likely to drop the glass as I am, given how much concentration she devotes to the task compared to how careless I can be. And then she feels great about what she has achieved. Everyone wins.

Obviously cooking with your child requires more time than usual, but this can be a good thing too, if you are at home with your kids, or on a weekend, and you are wondering how to fill the day. I can turn the task of making dinner into a whole afternoon’s activity if I need to. Sometimes Jemima will get bored and wander off and do her thing, sometimes she will want me to go and do something else too, but I can usually get her to stick at it if I have to finish, by giving her a bowl of flour and water and getting her to ‘make dough.’ Bella tends to play on the floor with a bowl of water and some cups. One she stops eating everything in sight I may upgrade her play things to some real ingredients too.

If I am in a hurry I let her get stuk into something messy with her hands while I do everything else without her input. Being flexible is something else children do well, if normally given time to do things their way. Jemima understands there are times when I just have to get something in the oven quick, if I give a good reason - Bella is about to wake up, her friend is coming - because most days she is allowed to linger over what she is doing.

But generally a lazy afternoon in the kitchen with my children is a lovely way to pass the time and I recommend you try it. In our hurried lives it is very healing to spend half an hour indulging in a simple task such as mixing. They don’t put sand trays in the therapist’s room for nothing!

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Baby-led weaning

Thank you so much for so many totally lovely and encouraging comments about my book and my blog everyone. Keep them coming! Last week I said I was pondering over whether to start Bella onto solids or not. Well I was not quite accurate. She had already tried mango, some porridge (oatmeal) and she had a good old chomp on a dried apricot. I was actually wondering whether or not to continue. She is only just six months and we live in a country full of exotic diseases. Perhaps I should wait a little longer?

I had hoped to delay the whole food thing with Bella for as long as possible. For her own good, and out of general laziness on my part, I decided I would just watch and wait until she was absolutely ready, without any encouragement from me. But about two weeks ago I got the impression she was definitely trying to tell me something.

The fact that she started feeding almost continually throughout the night might have been a sign, but then again she could have been teething, or just needing more breast milk, not necessarily solid food. When she became able to sit up unaided (wobbly so), something we are advised to wait for before introducing solids, I knew at least that she had got that milestone under her belt. Bella has always put everything in her mouth, but when she started launching herself violently towards our plates and forks at meal times, I admit I became a little curious, but still not convinced. Babies like to explore with their mouths. The idea that this means they are actually hungry and want to eat food seems unlikely to me. It is not as if they know what food is or how it will make them feel. No, it was the day I dressed Bella in Jemima’s old yellow dress and saw that it fitted her perfectly, that clinched it for me. I have photos of Jemima in this dress. She is one-year-old and has just taken her first step. It drops below her knees and she, a taller than average toddler, wore it well into her second year. Bella is six months, I have no idea how much she weighs or what centile she is on, but I now have a hunch she is very, very big – in a long and narrow sort of way.

So I gave in, exhausted, and decided to offer her some food. I put a bowl of porridge, a spoon and a peeled banana on the tray of her high chair and resigned myself to the long, messy road ahead. Bella looked down, took the spoon, shoveled up some porridge and put it straight into her mouth. This girl is a natural. It took Jemima months, nay years, to learn how to use a spoon. Since that day, (after a couple of days rest while I lost my nerve and puzzled over whether or not to continue), Bella has toyed with spinach, courgette, apple, pumpkin, toast dipped in tomato soup, toast dipped in celery soup, carrot, yoghurt and banana. It is all going in. Sadly the evidence is in her nappy, gone are the days of toffee-scented poo. I am mourning the end of an era, loving having Bella eat with us at each meal, and am making a big effort to feed her just as much breast milk as before (during the day at least – she is welcome to sleep through anytime she is ready.) And, as you may have guessed by the long list of foods, I am doing this the baby-led way. I.e. no mashing, no freezing, no ice-cubes, and very little spooning into mouths…

When I was five months pregnant with Jemima I heard an interview on Woman’s Hour with the Deputy Programme Director for the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, Gill Rapley. She had just completed a study on ‘Baby-led weaning’. (The name is misleading because it does not refer to weaning off the breast but to the introducing of solids.) The basic idea was that we should allow our babies to find their natural progression with solid food just as they do when learning to walk and talk. Her studies showed that babies are not ready to eat solid food before six months, or before they are able to sit up unaided, pick up food and put it in their mouths. And that at this stage they do not actually need to have their food pureed and spoon fed. They could instead benefit from being allowed to choose for themselves from a plate of unsalted finger food, softly cooked carrot sticks, pieces of cheese, pasta twirls etc. Anything with peel on is great – cut in chip shapes they can hold easily. They scrape the fruit or veg easily off the peel without it all mushing up in their hands.

The babies who took part in the study were allowed to start at four months old. The fact that none of these babies were able to feed themselves until they reached six months shows that if left to their own devices, a child will not eat before he or she is ready. It has taken us all this time to discover what the babies have known all along – that they are not ready for solid food before six months.

The study also showed that: ‘babies are at less risk of choking if they are in control of what goes into their mouth than if they are spoon fed. This is because babies are not capable of intentionally moving food to the back of their throats until after they have learnt to chew. And they do not develop the ability to chew until after they have developed the ability to reach out and grab things. Thus, a very young baby cannot easily put himself at risk because he cannot get the food into his mouth in the first place. On the other hand, the action used to suck food off a spoon tends to take the food straight to the back of the mouth, causing gagging. This means that spoon feeding has its own potential to lead to choking – and makes the giving of lumpy foods with a spoon especially dangerous.’

Also, by giving them the independence to choose for themselves what they want to take from the plate and what they do not, we are teaching them to be aware of their appetite, nutritional needs and to have fun playing with their food. This method would also prevent babies from eating food they are not ready for - the study showed that babies, if given the option, will reject certain foods to which they are later discovered to be allergic. It also showed that babies will choose to eat what their bodies need, hence one day they might eat lots of cheese or fish because they are lacking protein, but another day reject those foods and just eat vegetables. Given that the babies were not eating until six months, they did not need to be introduced to one food stuff at a time but could try everything at once.

Giving children control over their food intake also enables them to identify the tastes they like and dislike. If the food is presented separately it is possible to reject the offending item only, whereas if they are blended together they will very likely reject the whole meal. You can read more about this here and if you check out the great forum IWANTMYMUM.COM you can hear from lots of people who have tried and tested the method. Please do not give your child grapes unless you cut them up and teach them from a young age to bite into them as soon as they put them in their mouths. Grapes are sadly the perfect shape and size to choke a child or baby if inhaled.

It made perfect sense to me and one day soon I will publish some of the chapter from my book where I talk about how this all worked out with Jemima. (I shall be in the UK for most of February and unable to blog. To keep you entertained I plan to publish excerpts from my book. This is a huge scary step for me, having thus far only given my book to designated readers. Please be gentle in your feedback!)

For now I shall just say that having four at the table is a delight. Jemima loves it. She says “It would be nice if Bella could join us for lunch Mummy wouldn’t it?”
Talking of lunch, my time is up. But here are some of my favourite meals for Jemima, which Bella is slowly beginning to try too, and some ideas for baby-led meals.


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Recipes for toddlers and baby-led meals

Here are some of Jemima’s favourite meals, with variations for including babies. Bella is slowly beginning to try all of these. You might want to add lots of salt and pepper for grown ups! More ideas for baby-led meals will follow as and when I get inspired. Read here to know what I mean by baby-led introduction to solids!

We are mostly veggie I’m afraid, so no meat ideas, but there is one lovely fish recipe here too. Basically I find that Jemima will eat whatever we do, more or less, and loves vegetables if in some lovely meal or with a sauce. Steamed veg on the side does not really do it for her, so the more garlic, onions etc the better. Bella will hopefully just follow in her footsteps… N.B. Please research further for info on safe and unsafe foods but please do not give your child grapes unless you cut them up or watch them and teach them from a young age to bite into them as soon as they put them in their mouths. Grapes are sadly the perfect shape and size to choke a child or baby if inhaled.

Spinach pasta
Healthy, easy and quick – my favourite for when in a hurry.

Puree steamed spinach – either on its own or with a bit of cream / cream cheese / splash of milk, and grated nutmeg. Pour over pasta and pile grated cheese on top! That simple and they love it.

For babies - Bella sucks the pasta clean of spinach and then chews her way through the pasta too. I scoop up more spinach and offer it to her on my finger too.

Veggie lentil spag bol
Fry onions and garlic and any veg you like in olive oil (we usually use small chopped peppers, courgette, carrot and mushroom). When onions are soft add red lentils and a little water. (or tinned lentils if in a hurry). For dried lentils keep adding water til soft. Throw in a tin of tomatoes, some dried/fresh herbs and add salt and pepper for adults later. Serve with spaghetti and grated cheese.

For babies - cook some extra twirls or tubes for babies to hold, cut some of the veg into chip size before frying, and cut fat chip size cheese instead of grating. Maybe help feed them some of the lentil sauce.

Veggie lentil shepherds pie
Make the above but stick in the in oven with mashed potato or sweet potato or a mixture of both on top instead of pasta.

Courgette pasta
Jemima loves courgettes and they are great for Bella to hold and scrape the flesh off the peel without it all mushing up in her hand. So cut courgettes into chip sized batons if giving to babies. Steam and toss into favourite pasta shapes with a little sour cream, crushed garlic and grate cheese on top. Add pine nuts or cashews for protein.

Originally called Sole Florentine, we call cheesy fish and spinach
This is so lovely I would happily produce at a dinner party. Looks good in the middle of a big plate (or very yummy but less posh with mashed potato). Takes 30 mins (unless doing with child in which case can kill a whole afternoon). Feeds four adults or very hungry kids. Jemima loves this one best of all and I see no reason why Bella won’t be able to eat this with her hands very soon.

Fry 1 onion, 1 garlic with juice of one lemon, three peppercorns and two bay leaves in olive oil and white wine/water (prob not wine for babies! but I do for Jemima). When onions soft add big pieces of white filleted fish – we use something big and chunky from the local market but any of your favourite would do, or salmon maybe? (ideally avoid cod and get sustainably fished…)

Poach fish for 5 mins on each side and keep what is left of poaching liquid, removing pepper corns and bay leaves.

Put a good layer of steamed spinach on bottom of a mid-depth over dish. Place fish on top.

Add 4 tsp butter to poaching liquid. Stir in 2 tblsp flour and ½ cup of milk until have a creamy white sauce. Pour over the fish and grate parmesan over the top. Bake in hot oven for 10-20 mins.

For babies – Just let them at it with their hands! Cut spinach up, give big chunks of fish to munch on, let them suck off all the sauce….

Spinach and feta quiche
Jemima has always loved quiche, this is our favourite but I tend to make up new ones depending on what in our fridge/veg basket. Find a short crust pastry recipe and follow! Line a quiche dish and bake blind for ten mins (score the pastry with a knife first). Fill with steamed spinach and cubes of feta. Pour over mixture of 3 beaten eggs, half a pint of milk, spoonful of mustard and black pepper on one side for adults (or if your child likes black pepper – mine does not!). Bake for 30 mins approx.

For babies – Just let them at it with their hands as above!

Easy bean stew with feta
This is a Peruvian recipe with a difference. Cut 1lb potato and1lb pumpkin into cubes (and some bigger chip size ones for babies) and cook til just getting soft. Fry onion and garlic, (one optional chilli), 1tsp cumin and add a tin of tomato. When onion soft stir in potato and pumpkin and a little water and cook til they are soft. Stir in a can of white beans (cannelini/lima/butter), a cup of sweet corn and a cup of peas. Crumble feta cheese on top and lots of fresh thyme and parsley. We sometimes use coriander because Jemima loves it. Eat with lovely bread.

For babies – Just let them at it with their hands as above, but cut some veg chip size for her! Feta cheese might be a bit salty I have not given this to Bella yet. She loved the pumpkin especially.

Baked potato with tuna
Jemima likes this with tuna, tiny chopped celery and mayonnaise. Also loves that on toast. Bella loves baked potato cut into chip size, as the skin holds it altogether and makes very easy to eat. Also good is baked potato with beans, cheese, the lentil recipe from above, anything you want… I use normal potatoes as well as big baking ones – Jemima likes the little ones.

Any kind of vegetable soup
We eat soup for lunch every day. Sometimes from a recipe but often just based on what veg we have in the house. It is such a good way to get loads of veg into Jemima and you can make lots and freeze or eat two days in a row.

For babies – you can imagine that Bella makes an incredible mess and I do feed her a little too… Dipping lovely bread in is nice and fun for kids as well. Jemima’s favourites are pumpkin, celery, and minestrone, but anything will do, especially when brightly coloured!

Jemima also loves veggie lasagne with courgettes, carrots, peppers, broccoli, mushrooms etc or with pumpkin and spinach etc.

I will add more baby meals each week as I get inspiration but to begin with, chip shaped pieces of softly cooked vegetables or fruit, especially in their peel, are great. I tend to adapt whatever we are eating to suit Bella, as shown above.

Puddings?
We eat a lot of yoghurt and fruit salad and a brilliant one for babies is yoghurt and dried apricots blended – lots of iron in apricots.

One more thing - Ginger water. I have been drinking pints of the stuff ever since my friend told me it would make my skin glow. It doesn't, but ginger is a brilliant natural antibiotic and great for parasites and digestion. I try to get Jemima to drink it as often as possible. Just grate ginger into a bottle and fill with water and keep in the fridge.

All this makes us sound incredibly healthy. We also cook and eat loads of cakes, ice-cream, muffins etc so don’t be fooled, we get through butter way too fast in this family. Finally, the lack of Khmer food is apparent here – mostly because I have put down what I like to cook with the kids – i.e. easy and familiar! Stir fried veg seems too crunchy for babies and Jemima doesn’t eat much. And the curries are also not so great for babies! (The truth is I went right off Khmer food when pregnant, but I will get round to writing down the recipe for the lovely coconut fish amok one day soon).

Enjoy!

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