Bunchland

Kid-friendly, camp-inspired long weekend eats and treats

Cook up the flavours of summer with your kids and you can have a barbeque-quality feast wherever this weekend takes you. If you’re staying in the city, don’t worry — you don’t even need a barbecue for these recipes. Here are some fun and easy ideas for long weekend grazing:

1. Avocado mango salsa

This creamy and sweet salsa is so versatile it can be used as a topping for grilled fish, burgers, or tacos. Or shovel it into your mouth with corn chips. Summer just ain’t summer without a fresh salsa.  Read more...

• ½ cup diced mango
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 1 Tbsp cilantro, finely chopped (you can omit if this makes your kids squirm)
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Not your average sugar and salt switcheroo

April Fools’ Day food pranks date back to the Victorian Era, when a young lady named Edith Walrach got the early-morning surprise of her life. She was having breakfast at a friend’s house in Binghampton and she cracked into a hard boiled egg to have a mouse spring out! Her blithe host had stuck the critter in and then sealed the shell back up with plaster. We can imagine it shocked the tatted collar right off her. Our picks for April Fools’ Day food pranks are far from unsavoury- – your kids will get a pleasant surprise as they bite into a sweet treat disguised as something a little less exciting. They’re also fun and super easy to make.

FAKIN’ AND EGGS

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Spring produce is screaming for homemade tarts

Tarts are most versatile dish out there. They can be adapted into desserts, dinner, breakfast or lunch. We’ve rounded up five recipes that eliminate the delicate and time consuming affair of the cutting of butter into flour, waiting while the dough chills in the fridge, and gingerly pressing it into tart pans. Not kid-friendly. These ones let you cut to the chase — filling that shell. We reckon tarts can taste just as good when you buy frozen because after all, what really matters is the seasonal fillings. Spring food is happy food!

ASPARAGUS TART WITH CAULIFLOWER CRUST

Get even more veggies in by making a pastry crust out of cauliflower! No magic assembly required, just a food processor or a cheese grater and a hankering for some killer vitamins. This creative recipe comes from ABC’s and garden peas.  Read more...

Slipping around in the snow requires energy and that bowl of Fruity O’s might not cut it

We don’t need to convince you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially for kids. But in the winter, little bodies have different needs. A stick-to-your-ribs morning meal should ideally have some protein, iron, whole grains and of course, a proper dose of fun. These weekday winter breakfasts offer some great ways to pump your kids full of good stuff before they venture out with a smile.

COCOA HAZELNUT OATMEAL

Reminiscent of Nutella but more action packed. The oats in this tasty bowl from grandparents.com are full of iron, protein, and beta-gluten, a fibre that amps up the immune system. Hazelnuts are high in healthy fats and high on awesome taste. The best part? Your kids get to have chocolate for breakfast.  Read more...

Kick off 2012 with a kickass kids table

If your kids are relegated to the kids table for New Year’s Eve, stock their setting with fun accessories.

A glowing setting:

Since New Year’s Eve is one of the few nights when kids can stay up late, create a night-time themed table stocked with glow-in-the-dark goodies. Fill jars with glow sticks, mini flashlights or glow in the dark temporary tattoos. Use glow in the dark stickers to create a night sky on the table cloth. Glow in the dark balloons are available at some party supply stores, and can be tied to each chair as a place marker for each guest. Achieve an ambience worth raving about by turning all the lights off close to midnight (or whenever you wish for your kids to celebrate the new year) and counting down to midnight!  Read more...

From the un-official pro-veggie lobby

Instead of trying to find ways to hide them, make veggies shine in all their vitamin–rich splendour!

Ditch the droopy, the soggy, and the boring. Winter vegetables don’t have to suck. On the contrary, they can be exciting and versatile, whether they’re standing on their own or supplementing a main dish. Fill your kid’s plates with interesting shapes, bright colours and appealing textures and introduce them to a world of fibre-ific fun!

Broccoli

Why it’s awesome: Broccoli, “the flowering top of a cabbage”, is rich with cold-fighting vitamin C, containing more than 52 mg per half cup. It’s also a source of anti-cancer compound sulforaphane. Broc n’ Roll!  Read more...

Create a fun dining space sans table; a happening kids table doesn’t require four legs

Here are 4 options for a table-free dining experience, each with a simple mocktail to add to the experience if you really want to kick up the fun a knotch.

The Magic Carpet Ride:

Channel the feeling of Arabian nights by setting out a rug on the floor (to act as a magic carpet, of course), with a centerpiece of a magic crystal ball. The glass globe around a ceiling light make the best ones. If you can deal with a bare light bulb for a night, unscrew it and fill it with multi-coloured cellophane. Now it will look like it contains the secrets of a thousand years! Set it on a cake plate. For a super fast and easy crystal ball, blow up a balloon and before you tie it, throw in some glitter. Set it inside a cylindrical container like a utensil holder. For place markers, use a tiny spice bottle with each kids name written on a scroll rolled up inside and sticking out.  Read more...