I loved apricot log rolls when I was little. Being raised by a fairly health-conscious mother we rarely had sweets or chocolate so these little delights were a big treat for us.
After making these for my family this week, I can’t believe how similar they are in taste to my childhood ones nor how easy they were to make. With not a scrap of added sugar and plenty of added healthy bits I love that my children are devouring them and my husband is enjoying snacking on them for a quick energy boost.
I have written previously about how fervently my daughter tests limits. She seeks out mischief. She enjoys the challenge and the excitement of finding new ways to keep us on our toes.
Whether she empties out all the tissues from the tissue box and scatters them all over the floor, pulls the petals off the bunch of flowers I have been given as a birthday gift or removes 18 towels from the linen cupboard, and places them in a bath tub full of water, everyday, we are discovering all the ways our so called child-proof house is not actually our-child-proof.
It is sometimes hard to keep our cool when it seems like everything she touches, she finds a way to mess up or destroy. When we come across her pulling every item of clothing hanging in my wardrobe onto the floor or smearing my lip balm all over my bedside table even though she has been frequently reminded she is not to do these things, keeping anger out of our voices can be difficult.
But who is ultimately responsible for these occurances? Is it really reasonable to expect a three year old to refrain from this mischief, to curb her impulses? I don’t believe so. She needs our help.
The use of peaceful discipline is sometimes misunderstood, but when adopted correctly it has the potential to not only guide children towards making better choices but to also build their confidence. When discipline uses fear, shame or other unpleasant strategies to force children to behave in an acceptable manner, it can have the complete reverse effect.
Discipline can sometimes be used as a tool of power to wield over children in the hopes they will obey our every command. Using this form of discipline may indeed convince a child fairly quickly that they don’t want to feel that horrible feeling when they do something wrong. It may even consequentially reduce the undesired behaviour as intended but in doing this the child has missed out on a crucial step. They have been denied the opportunity of internalising the right way of doing things; coming to their own conclusion that they shouldn’t behave in that way with good reason. They haven’t learned the art of self-discipline.
These Healthy Date and Pecan Cookies are so easy to make that even my two and a half year old could do it! They were a perfect choice for my Tasty Tuesday recipe of the week.
Date and Pecan Cookies
I have two very active toddlers who both seem to have boundless energy stores keeping them going all day long. Neither of them stop for sleeps during the day to recharge so I have found that it is important that they have a balanced diet that consists of foods which have a low GI (slow release, long lasting energy).
Risk taking is a natural part of our everyday lives. Many risks we probably don’t even think of as risky: pouring our tea, driving our car, crossing the road etc. We are so used to these things going right that we no longer associate them with danger.
Other risks we take on after careful consideration of the dangers/ pitfalls, the potentials and the overall feeling of worthiness it brings. The risk is at the forefront of our brain and it takes a level of consciousness before the final decision is made. These might include such things as a new job, a big role, parenthood or embarking on thrill seeking adventures etc.
It is important for us to be able to weigh up all the risk factors to make good decisions and keep ourselves safe in our daily lives. Often this can be done without too much consideration, if any at all, as we have the benefit of past experiences telling us the likely outcome.
At one point, though, nearly everything we have done in our lives was a new experience and one that came with an element of risk.
Pushing ourselves outside our comfort zone is often daunting but our ability to do this with a degree of confidence largely stems from our childhood experiences. It often goes hand in hand with how many risks we have been exposed to, how we handled them, the outcome and how the whole experience made us feel; our accomplishment.
That feeling of accomplishment is what makes many of us strive to achieve more and more in life. It makes us jump at the opportunity to take on projects and roles that we might have otherwise shied away from lest we fail. The emotion of pride, stemming from achievement made with an element of risk, is a powerful one and one our children deserve the chance to feel genuinely and often.
It is for this reason that I give my children a certain freedom in their explorations. I weigh up the risk
to benefit ratio for them, consider the worst that could happen and the likelihood and then let them go for it. Continue reading
My family loves lasagne. Served with vegies or a salad, it is easily a favourite. My mother’s lasagne is second to none with a creamy béchamel sauce combined with a rich mince mixture, it is easy to get lost in the deliciousness of it and sneak back to the kitchen for extra spoonfuls, stolen straight from the dish. Unfortunately, with the hecticness of life with children, the luxury of spending bucket loads of time fiddling around making this meal can no longer always be afforded so this ravioli bake is the perfect alternative.
When I arrived home from work the other day, I was looking forward to cuddling my children and having some fun spending time with and connecting with them. Instead, I was greeted with the sounds of children in distress and a husband at the end of his tether. It had been a long, sick week for the family and being the only healthy body in the house, my husband had been on night wake-up and child minding duty all week.
As he began reluctantly to make his way towards his screaming youngest child, I told him to stop, sit down, relax, have a drink; I would get this. I was feeling better. I missed spending time with my girls and this was my opportunity to reconnect with them.
It’s Tasty Tuesday and time to share our best weekly recipes…
I love fresh pineapple and we ended up with a large amount of it this week after a two for the price of one deal at the local markets. After devouring a significant amount of it with the children there was nothing left to do but to use it in my weekly baking spree and make these delicious Pineapple and Banana Muffins.
We are in the process of reducing the refined sugar we consume in our house. We have recognised the ill-effects of consuming too much of this sweet substance, both in the behaviours of our children and in our own feelings of well-being.
Having said this, we are not going cold turkey and I am happy to include a little bit of white goodness in my baking so as not to compromise on taste. I found that if I cut it out completely, the children would be happy to eat the first helping I offered them but would less than politely decline when offered again in another sitting. I would rather my children ate the food I made for them from scratch (with a little sugar), than consume too many highly processed, packaged products.
So these muffins were an experiment to see whether I could get the balance right between tasty, healthy and palatable (texture) and am pleased to say they have been a huge hit. The children love them and I am happy that they have a good dose of healthiness in each one.
Fresh Pineapple and Banana Muffins
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
Just over 1/2 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup pepitas
1/2 cup sultanas
2 teaspoons rice malt syrup
1 cup mashed banana
450g fresh pineapple (whizzed in the processor until finely chopped)
1/2 cup healthy oil (I used rice bran oil)
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line muffin tins with patty papers (I used baking paper cut into squares as we were out of proper liners). Combine sifted dry ingredients, sugar, pepitas and sultanas in a large bowl. Stir in wet ingredients until just combined. Spoon mixture into prepared cases (about 3/4 full). Bake for about 35 – 40 minutes, checking after 30 minutes with a skewer.
Please share a snap of something you have baked or a meal you have cooked on instagram and be sure to use the hashtag #ppcktastytuesday