Sunday 26 May 2013

21/52

'A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, for 2013'

Gus - working out how the drinking fountain works at Petone


Felix - having a wonderful time on the flying fox at Featherston and trusting that Pop will save him from crashing into the metal pole at the end

Sunday 19 May 2013

Meet Daddy Donkey

I have finally completed a few projects that I had been working on for a while now so I thought I'd share them. I am a person who doesn't like to leave things incomplete so it was so rewarding to finally get these things ticked off!

I started Felix's donkey in December, intending to give it to him for his birthday. Well, his birthday was in January and all it took was an hour to finish him off. Felix needed a new bed friend as since he's been teething again he has nearly chewed the tail off his rabbit and penguin so it was time for a new friend. This fellows name is actually Gordon but as soon as Felix saw him he called out "Daddy Donkey" and it has stuck.


This jersey is just a little short because it was started in August last year and obviously Gus has grown a little since then. He'll get some wear from the jersey this winter but its probably going to be something that Felix will get more use out of. It has been perfect for keeping his neck warm over the past week while he's had a cough. Perfect!


Sofia from the wonderful crochet class at Holland Road Yarn Company taught me how to finish Felix's vest to stop it from rolling. Thanks Sofia! Felix is getting heaps of wear from it.


Crochet saved the day for me to with these little slippers for Felix. He is starting at a Rudolf Steiner childcare very soon (well it was supposed to be last week but he's been crook), and the children need to wear slippers inside. Thanks again to the lovely Sofia for the lessons as it meant that I was able to whip these up in no time, and adjust them slightly so that they fit perfectly.


I was determined to crochet a hat for Gus and it took three goes to get it something like what I was after. It's still not exactly what I wanted but Gus is pleased with it.


I only have two projects on the go right now - unheard of for me although I'm sure that I'll find another something to add to the list. Xo

Days 10-19

Nope, we haven't fallen off the wagon. Still going strong although not quite as organised as were in the beginning. Both the boys have been unwell on and off over the past two weeks and so there has been little sleep and much chaos at dinner time as I hurriedly throw something together to feed the hungry tummy's.  Its a good thing that we only have Paleo foods in the house as things could have gone off track very easily.

We seem to be eating a lot of mince meals as this is something that the boys are really enjoying at the moment, and is always a favourite with Grant. Plus a fair amount of bacon too - this morning we had bacon and scrambled eggs with focaccia. Felix acted like a true Paleo convert - demanding "More bacon, I want MORE Bacon. Not all gone!"  

We've been doing a fair bit of experimentation with baking with some successes as well as a couple of epic fails. The cauliflower pizza was dreadful with both the boys flat out refusing to eat it, so it was yoghurt for dinner for them! Grant and I ate it because we were starving but then had to make the Delighted Momma's Three Minute Chocolate Puddings after. Yum - made us forget about the cauliflower completely. One thing that we have all really enjoyed is the cauliflower rice - simply cauliflower fried up in butter, salt and pepper then whizzed in the food processor. Pretty darn good.

Only 11 days to go now and we've been talking about how we are going to eat after May 30..... 

20/52

'A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, for 2013'

Gus - discovering how the new spring works at The Dowse.

Felix - pants on, pants off, pants on, pants off. Felix can't make up his mind at the moment - driving us a bit batty to be honest.


Sunday 12 May 2013

19/52

'A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, for 2013'



Gus - designing wrapping paper for his friends' birthday presents


Felix - "Dsst, Dsst, Dsst, I am a robot"

Thursday 9 May 2013

Day 9

Great kai day today! 

Breakfast
Paleo porridge with banana and cinnamon

Lunch
Yesterday's frittata for the boys and I had avocado, bacon and eggs 

Dinner
I made Cypriot Pie again as the boys loved it so much last time.

Snacks
Chocolate biscuits, bier sticks, dried banana, carrot sticks and for afternoon tea I made courgette and tomato soup. Yum!

Wednesday 8 May 2013

Day 7 (& 8)

What day is it today? Yesterday passed by in a blur and then suddenly it's Wednesday.

All of my best intentions of being organised for food and life yesterday went out the window, and all I can say is thank god we only have Paleo food in the house, otherwise the challenge would have been over for me!

Yesterday
Breakfast
The boys ate mini frittatas (that's what Felix is scoffing) and I had Paleo porridge

Lunch
A rushed affair of yoghurt, salami, cheese and carrot sticks

Dinner
Savoury mince with mashed potatoes and broccoli

Snacks
Trail mix and muffins

Today's kai
Breakfast
Biscuit before breakfast (!) then bacon, courgette and kumara frittata. Gus and I made Chocolate Cutout biscuits by The Paleo Mom yesterday and they are awesome.

Lunch
See lunchbox pictures below.

Dinner
Last nights leftovers but with pumpkin mash

Snacks
See lunchbox picture below.

At least I don't have to cook tonight!







Monday 6 May 2013

Day 6

First day of term and I had one tired boy this afternoon, and an empty lunchbox. Success!

Breakfast
Grant and Felix had Paleo porridge, which I have made up in the freezer ready for quick breakfasts, while Felix and I had ham and courgette frittata.

Lunchboxes
Mini frittatas, yoghurt with maple syrup, corn beef and cheese, dried banana and seeds.

Dinner
Last nights' leftovers. That Cypriot Shepherd's Pie is sooooo good!

Snacks
Gus had banana muffins for morning tea but didn't eat his banana. Felix ate everything!




Sunday 5 May 2013

Day 5 - baking day

What a lovely day in Wellington it is! Not quite the 31 degree autumn days that some of our friends are experiencing, but lovely just the same.

Things have been a little muddled today as Grant dashed off early for a motorbike ride with my Dad and Uncle, so our nice and relaxed breakfast became a eat and run kind-of affair. Not to worry though, it just meant that I had eggs and mushrooms instead of porridge.

Breakfast
The Paleo Mom's Paleo porridge was well received by the three boys. It was lovely to have another argument free breakfast.

Lunch
Well, morning tea sort of evolved into lunch today as the kids sampled the Banana Muffins from The Unrefined Kitchen which kind of involved me fighting them off from eating them all! I wanted to freeze a couple as well as save some for tomorrow to see how they keep. (Thinking of kindy lunches again.) The boys also had some yoghurt to top them up while I made a smoothie banana, feijoa, raspberry and LSA smoothie.

Dinner
Cypriot Shepherd's Pie by Annabel Langbein as recommended by one of the MaD Clean Eaters. Delicious! Peter Pan (see photo below) ate it so fast he barely paused to breathe.

Snacks
Salami and cheese, trail mix (which I have now made up in a jar ready to eat), the banana muffins Felix is eating in the picture below. He kept appearing beside me as I washed the dishes saying "More please Mummy. One for Gus too."

One of the things that concerned me most about going Paleo/Primal was lunches but especially what to put in the boys lunchboxes for kindergarten and playcentre instead of a sandwich. Over the past six or so weeks we've been experimenting and are confident that we've got it covered. I imagine that others share the same concerns so I thought I'd include a photo of the lunchboxes on kindy days too.



Saturday 4 May 2013

18/52

'A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, for 2013'

Gus - completely exhausted after our scooter ride and refusing to scoot anymore. My poor boy!

Felix - "Horsey back ride, horsey back ride" is all we hear from Felix at the moment and when Mummy and Daddy were both too busy with dinner to oblige, Gus did so most willingly. The fun times and laughter was wonderful to watch.



Day 4

What an incredible day it has been both in terms of food and life in general.

Breakfast
There were no 'discussions' about eggs vs. porridge from Felix this morning as I made Apple pancakes with fried banana and eggs. Felix chose not to eat the egg but ate plenty of pancakes instead.

Lunch
Yesterday's leftovers of fish cakes and frittatas

Dinner
Corned silverside with pumpkin, kumara and broccoli. The boys asked for dessert tonight so they had a little yoghurt with honey.

Snacks
The usual trail mix, brownies, avocado dip with carrots and rice crackers, and banana.

Below is our happy breakfast! I think we're going to try Paleo porridge tomorrow for Felix's breakfast as I hear its good.

Friday 3 May 2013

Day 3 - and what a lovely day it has been

Today seemed governed by our puku with lots of time spent in the kitchen cooking and eating.

Breakfast
Bacon and scrambled eggs made with coconut milk and butter

Lunch
Super-mini frittatas with ham, cheese and courgette, which I sort of made up as I couldn't find the previous recipe I'd made. I mixed 6 eggs, a splash of coconut milk, salt, pepper and paprika together and filled two little muffin cups up to about 2/3 full and then topped them with finely chopped ham, grated courgette and cheese, and baked them at 180 degrees for about 12 minutes. I have frozen a couple to see how they defrost - am thinking ahead for kindy lunches. Note: lots of 'abouts' as I winged it but it doesn't seem like you can really go wrong with frittata. In the below photo, Felix is trying to figure out what's inside the frittata.

Dinner
Fish cakes from The Paleo Mama served with mashed pumpkin and potato, and steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

Snacks
Banana, feijoas, trail mix, and the most delicious Paleo brownies from Paleo Brownie. These got the "Mmm yummy, can I have more" approval from both boys. Photo below.

We paid a visit to the Park Avenue Butcher in Lower Hutt yesterday - the good old-fashioned type who grabs a couple of chooks out of the cool room and chops up what you need while you wait and minces the exact amount of lamb mince that you need. I've started going fortnightly and stocking up on a few general things which I then plan our meals around. Yesterday I got 1 kg each of lamb and beef mince, some chicken breasts, corned silverside, and additive-free salami, ham and biersticks.

Meal planning really seems to be key with eating Paleo. Felix and I typically do our grocery shopping on a Thursday and so the night before (or sometimes the morning of) I do a quick inventory of what we've got in the cupboards, fridge and freezer, and then make a list of our lunches and dinners for the next seven days. I try to bake on the weekend and once during the week so there is muffins or biscuits for lunchboxes, and on the night before kindy/playcentre I try to make something for dinner that the boys can easily eat for their lunch straight out of their lunchbox. It does seem like a lot of work but it is definitely worth it.



Thursday 2 May 2013

Day 2 - argh what a day!

I don't know if its the hangover from the weekends' party with all that sugar and wheat, or if its because the boys are sick and we're all tired but please let this day end! I dissolved into tears in the New World car park this morning, so incredibly embarrassed that Gus was spitting everywhere and just generally behaving atrociously. My ever-so-sweet Felix simply reached out his little arms around my neck and squeezed as tight as he could as though to say 'Its okay Mummy'. Bless him.

On the upside, we have managed to stay on track foodwise, despite me wanting to pull into every cafe as we drove home from the supermarket, and order a large hot chocolate and piece of cake to make me feel better (what was that I read about emotional connections to food today Donna?)

Breakfast
Bacon, fried eggs and mushrooms

Lunch
Last nights frittata which was just as nice as last night

Dinner
Meaty Paleo pizza from Paleolicious (see photo below)

Snacks
Bananas, trail mix of almonds, walnuts, cashews, raisins and pumpkin seeds. We made up some avocado dip with lemon, garlic, salt and pepper this afternoon for some carrot sticks and rice crackers. Gus loved helping to prepare the afternoon tea and was thrilled to share what he had made with Felix once he woke - not that there was much left as Gus had scoffed most of it!




Wednesday 1 May 2013

Day 1 of our Paleo Adventure

Today is the official first day of the nutrition clean up and it started out poorly with both boys refusing to eat eggs for breakfast. Amid the tears and tantrums of being sick and tired they ended up having porridge with a little honey - couldn't very well let them starve now could I! One small saving grace was that at least it was organic oats - so no added nasties.... but!

Breakfast
Omelettes with silverbeet (from our garden)

Lunch
Last nights leftover Lasagne - isn't it so much better the next day? The boys were still hungry after our walk/ride/scoot this morning so they also needed some yoghurt to top them up too.

Dinner
Silverbeet, leek (both from the garden) and venison salami frittata with carrots and parsnip on the side.

Snacks
Banana around morning tea time for the boys then some carrot sticks and rice crackers (the only other non-Paleo food the boys are having and we buy the brand that is additive free) with almond butter and some cashew nuts.

Having sick and contagious kids over the school holidays sucks big time, so much so that I just had to get out of the house today, even though it meant that they were too tired and grumpy to do anything all afternoon. The healing power of the sun could not be missed today!