Sometimes I feel like I am running an a la carte restaurant in our house!
Mostly my kids do eat their meals because I let them have input into what they are reating. This gives them a great sense of control, and although they might not think it, it is limited.
Take breakfast, for example. I wake them up, kiss, cuddle, talk about the day and what's on and then ask “ how do you want your eggs today?"
I work on the presumption that they will have an egg of some kind; egg in a cup, egg and soldiers, scrambled, fried, poached or omelette. And with some lovely crispy sourdough toast?
About one out of two days they will actually choose to have an egg, usually, eggs in a cup or scrambled on toast. If they really don't want eggs, I offer Weetabix or porridge. Sourdough toast with hot chocolate is also an option.
Rice crispies are the only other cereal I have in the house and is allowed once a week and they can choose which day.
The goal is to have a protein at breakfast to give them the best start. This is the food that will help them to be strong and help them concentrate rather than judging it on being healthy/bad.
They will also have a glass of water kefir or a milk kefir smoothie to give them a dose of nature's probiotics! I have a passion for cooking and food and it is something I hope my children will benefit from.
What is water kefir, you ask? It is a naturally sparkling drink, rich in probiotics that I make every second day, I ask the kids to suggest the flavour. It varies from raspberry, pomegranate, lemon to elderberry or blueberry. They love when I open the bottle, sometimes it can ‘explode’ and fizz and froth over, which they jump in and suck it up! Other times, there are great expectations but no froth at all!
Milk kefir is made every morning in our house, it has more probiotics than the water kefir. It is made from fermenting full-fat organic milk with ancient kefir ‘grains’ which have been handed down for generations. It tastes like a mild, natural yoghurt. I find the best way to serve it is blended with fruit to make a smoothie or with frozen sliced bananas and fruit to make an instant ‘ice cream’ – depends if it is breakfast or dessert time!
Kefir is a fermented drink. It is best to make milk and water kefir at home, that way you can maximise the probiotic count. As ‘grains’ multiply each time they ferment, regular fermenters will often have a surplus and the community are more than willing to share. You can get them from places like the Facebook group ‘sharing starter cultures' or you can go to a fermentation workshop in your area where they provide attendees with starters.
I love running food demo's at my home and I have found that mums are now discovering some of the benefits of foods such as kefir that they may not have known about before.
