60 Blog Posts In 60 Days Challenge

Yes, you read right. I have agreed to take part in a (crazy!) challenge to post 60 blog posts in the next 60 days. I'm used to posting 3 times a week lately, so this is going to be a real challenge for me, but one I'm truly excited for.

So, you can expect all kinds of inspiration in the next 60 days, from recipes to information to my kids lunch boxes and meals (and maybe even a meal or two of mine!).

I'm also simultaneously working on two eBooks - Grain Free Pancakes and The Picky Eater Survival Guide so I may just throw some recipes/research into my blog posts too.

I'd seriously love to hear from you too - PLEASE let me know what YOU would like to read and I will be sure to include it in the 60 day challenge.Thank you!

12 Ways To Make Food Fun For Kids

I'm sure you'll agree that getting kids to the table and actually eating their food can often prove to be a real struggle. However, when you make food fun, the kids will be more inclined to try and eat and maybe even enjoy what's on offer.

Don't be shy! Let your creative side run wild - present your kids with food which has fun patterns and different colors and they may even try foods which they wouldn't normally eat. 

Here are 12 ways I make food fun for my kids to entice them to the table and get them to eat the nutritious food presented:

1. Present Food In Shapes - using mini cookie/vegetable cutters and cutting their vegetables, fruit and even cheese into stars and other shapes can really liven up their plate. In this plate there are cheese, red pepper/capsicum and cucumber stars. Plus I cut a star from a green apple and placed it back into the apple in reverse for a simple yet eye catching effect. 

2. Egg Mold - shaping a hard boiled egg into a shape can turn this rich protein source into an appealing food item for kids. It's really simple to do, just click through for a step by step tutorial. The below egg is shaped into a fish which the kids always enjoy.

3. Food Picks - are not only a fun way to present food to kids, they are also a great learning tool to help kids with their fine motor skills. My kids often use food picks to carefully pick up individual peas.

4. Cute Cups - instead of placing food directly onto their plate you could use re-usable cups like the ones below. This is a simple way to add a bit of fun and color to their plate.

5. Muffin Tin Meals - when you present a meal to your kids in a muffin tin, it's incredible how much more they are likely to eat. They absolutely love it and have so much fun working their way through each compartment.

6. Kebabs - taking food they are less sure about and threading it on a kebab/skewer is a fun way to get through a meal. For example you could deconstruct their sandwich by threading bread, tomato and cheese in alternate layers on the kebab. They may try tomato if they have to get through it to get to the cheese!

7. Exploring Other Cultures - read books with your kids which explores food of different cultures and then go shopping for the ingredients and cook the food of other cultures together. A wonderful example to read is What The World Eats by Faith D'Aluisio which explores what 25 families from 21 countries from around the world eat in a week. You could also decorate the dining area with pictures and the flag of the country of the food you are cooking. 

8. Fun Plate For Kids - these fun plates are a huge hit with my kids. They enjoy making funny faces with the help of their vegetables.

9. Fun Lunch Box - putting together a lunch box using a combination of fun techniques is a great way to get them to enjoy they meal. In this meal, I combined together favorites like popcorn, cheese and grapes while presenting less familiar (and less favored) foods - tomato and spinach. Even my picky oldest son couldn't resist picking the tomato flower, eating it and then replacing the tomato 3 more times. For him it was a fun game - for me it meant that this little fun tactic resulted in him eating his way through 4 tomatoes. 4 more than at other meals when the tomatoes were just popped on his plate on their own.

10. Chopsticks - maneuvering chopsticks can be a challenging and rewarding task for children. At first, encourage them to practice with chopsticks by picking up bigger pieces of fruit and vegetables before moving onto trikier foods like noodles and rice.

11. Special Cutlery - having special cutlery which helps the kids feel "grown up" and be independent at mealtimes.

12. Rainbows - displaying fruit and vegetables in a rainbow pattern is a simple and attractive way to entice the kids to eat their way through the rainbow of nutritious food.

I'd love to hear from you. Please share your tips for how you make food fun for your kids. 

To create your own fun meals for your kids, these are some accessories which will help bring even more fun and color to your creations:

 

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Grain Free Berry Pancakes

The past month or so, I've been busily working on recipes for an upcoming eBook and I feel it's about time that I spill the beans and share the details of this delicious project with you... in late June/early July I will be launching a Grain Free Pancakes eBook for you. At the moment I have over 30 Unique Grain Free Pancake Varieties and I'm adding more to the collection every day!

You guys are going to go crazy when you try some of these pancakes... just today I made a batch of Grain Free Lemon Delicious Pancakes which were luscious, lemony and so, so good. Over the weekend I made Grain Free Apple Pie Pancakes and Grain Free Chocolate Fudge Brownie Pancakes (which tasted JUST like a rich, chocolatey brownie!) - as I said - you guys are going to go crazy when you sample these pancakes!

You may be wondering why I'm still so determined to cook Grain Free recipes when we have Transitioned off The GAPS Diet. Well, I believe it's important to have a degree of balance in our diet. While we enjoy grainy foods like bread, pasta and rice, whenever I make sweet treats, I tend to lean towards making them grain free - for balance.

Now, onto these Grain Free Berry Pancakes... they were a favorite of ours while we were on The GAPS Diet and are essential for any Grain Free Pancake collection. They are sweet and moist and full of berry goodness! They are also perfect for kid's lunch boxes.

Grain Free Berry Pancakes

4 Eggs

1/3 Cup Coconut Milk

1 Tablespoon Raw Honey

1/3 Cup Coconut Flour

½ Cup Berries (if frozen, thaw and drain to prevent soggy pancakes)

Coconut Oil for frying

1.       In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy.

2.       Pour in the coconut milk and honey and beat until well combined.

3.       Add the coconut flour and mix through until smooth.

4.       Fold the berries through the pancake batter.

5.       Heat a little coconut oil in a large frying pan/skillet. When hot, carefully drop a tablespoon per pancake into the frying pan/skillet.
6. When bubbles appear on the surface, carefully flip the pancake over, using a pancake flipper to help the pancakes hold their shape.
7. Cook until golden and cooked through on both sides.
8. Serve as is or topped with fresh berries.

Makes 10

To learn more about making Grain Free Pancakes, check out The Ultimate Guide To Grain Free Pancake Recipes.

Be sure to Subscribe To Receive Updates so that you don't miss out on any Grain Free Pancake Recipes or the launch of this must have eBook.

I'd love to hear from you - do you have any Grain Free Pancake Flavor suggestions which you'd like to see in the book? (If I use your flavor I'll be sure to send you a free copy when it's released to thank you for your inspiration!) 

Disclosure - This Post Contains Affiliate Links

10 Free eBooks to Celebrate Mothers Day (Including Gluten Free, Organic Gardening & Baby Food eBooks)

Happy Mothers Day! I hope you have a fantastic day with your family.

Maybe you've been spoiled to a Kindle (or you could treat yourself to one!) and so here are 10 Free eBooks to Celebrate Mothers Day. Note: These books are only free for a limited time (usually 24 hours), so if any of these titles interest you, I'd be clicking through to download them now:

1. 31 Gluten Free Cakes and Pies (Gluten Free Sweet Treats Series) 

2. Easy Almond Flour Recipes - A Decadent Gluten-Free, Low-Carb Alternative To Wheat (The Easy Recipe)

3. Tasty Gluten-Free Recipes Collection: 30 Fast, Easy and Delicious Gluten-Free Breakfast Recipes For The Whole Family

4. Gluten Free eaters Breakfast recipes: an easy to cook, delicious morning meal

5. Easy Coconut Flour Recipes - A Decadent Gluten-Free, Low-Carb Alternative To Wheat (The Easy Recipe)

6. Quick and Easy Gluten-Free Cookbook: TOP 30 Super-Tasty Side Dish Recipes For a Gluten Free Lifestyle!

7. Delicious and Nutritious Gluten-Free Recipes: TOP 30 Gluten-Free Main Dish Recipes For More Energy And Amazing Health

8. RealSmart Baby Food

9. Organic Gardening Ideas Book

10. Essential Vegetables Box Set (4 Books in 1 Package): Organic Gardening with Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peppers, Eggplants, Broccoli, Cabbage, and More

I regularly share Amazon Freebies on my Facebook Page. Make sure you Follow Yummy Inspirations On Facebook so that you don't miss out on any upcoming freebies. 

Remember - these books are only free for a limited time (usually 24 hours), so if any of these titles interest you, I'd be clicking through to download them now! If you don't have a kindle, then you can still download these books free when you Download a Free Kindle Reader.

I'd love to hear from you - do you have any Annual Mothers Day Rituals you'll be following today?

 

Disclosure - this post contains affiliate links.

The Ultimate Guide To Grain Free Pancake Recipes

Through our time on The GAPS Diet, I prepared more batches of grain free pancakes than you can imagine!

I experimented with different flours and flavors and have developed a deeper appreciation for working with grain free flours as a result.

Lets start with a Guide to Grain Free Flours for Pancakes Recipes:

Coconut Flour - although coconut flour has a rich and coco-nutty aroma, it can be an incredibly temperamental flour to make pancakes with. As a general rule, when making pancakes with coconut flour, a quarter of a cup of coconut flour requires at least 4 eggs for perfect pancakes.

Depending on a number of factors such as the size of your eggs, the weather conditions and whether your coconut flour is freshly opened or a tiny bit stale, you may need to add an additional teaspoon or so of coconut flour, or an extra egg for the perfect pancake batter.

These Split Pea Pancakes include coconut flour in the recipe to help bind together and add incredible flavor to the pancakes.

These Banana and Coconut Pancakes are from my eBook The Grain Free Lunch Box and combine together the flavors of banana and coconut and are super moist and irresistible. I used Coconut Milk in these pancakes to ensure they didn't become too dry.

Almond Meal/Flour - you can purchase almond meal/flour or you can make your own by buying almonds and soaking them overnight before dehydrating them in a dehydrator or in your oven on the lowest temperature. Then you simply grind them until they are smooth.

An example of pancakes made with almond flour are these Carrot Pancakes, which are a delicious way to increase your kids vegetable intake.

Hazelnut Meal - for pancakes which have a more decadent flavor, you can't go past the inclusion of hazelnut meal. Unfortunately hazelnuts are one of the few foods which my Husband dislikes, so I have little practice with cooking with hazelnut meal, aside from the odd batch or two made for the kids.

Cashew Flour -I discovered that cashews could be ground to a flour and used for cashew pancakes. They are super simple to put together, in fact you only need two ingredients to make Cashew Pancakes.

Sunflower Seed Flour - sunflower seeds can be successfully ground into a flour and used in place of nut flours in grain free pancake recipes. Sunflower Seed Pancakes have more of a nutty flavor than pancakes made with a nut flour.

And a flour I have yet to try - Banana Flour - yes, you read right - Banana Flour! Here in Australia there is a new flour available which is made from 100% ground bananas. I literally just found out about this interesting ingredient yesterday and will be making pancakes with it at the first opportunity. I'll be sure to share the results with you.

Once you've selected your grain free flour, it takes a few kitchen essentials to prepare perfect pancakes:

Measuring Spoons and Cups - when preparing grain free pancakes, it's important to be as accurate as possible (especially with coconut flour) so sets of measuring cups and spoons come in handy.
Mixing Bowls - a bowl deep enough for whisking is essential when making pancakes.
Manual Whisk or Electric Whisk - depending on the batter you're preparing and your personal preference you may need a manual whisk or an electric whisk to produce perfect pancakes.
Frying Pan/Skillet - the right sized frying pan/skillet is needed to ensure that the pancakes have sufficient room to cook. The frying pan/skillet also has an impact on the finished product. I find that stainless steel yields the best results, and is also the safest cooking material for your family.
Pancake Flipper - it's important to have the right tool for flipping your pancakes to ensure that they don't fall apart when you flip them over.

Once you've made up your pancake batter and you're ready to cook your pancakes, the following are a couple of options to ensure that your grain free pancakes don't stick to your frying pan/skillet:
Butter - unsalted butter ensures the pancakes don't become too salty and means that you can add salt at the table if you're making savory pancakes.
Ghee - clarified butter which has had the potentially troublesome milk solids removed.
Coconut Oil - coconut pancakes cooked in coconut oil is simply divine!


Here are a few of the grain free pancake recipes I've shared on the blog:
2 Ingredient Cashew Pancakes
Split Pea Pancakes
Carrot Pancakes

You'll love these Grain Free Pancake Recipes from a selection of my favorite bloggers:
Grain Free Coconut Flour Pancakes from Nourishing Minimalism 
Grain Free Banana Chocolate Chips Pancakes from The Mommypotamus
Organic Flourless Peanut Butter & Jelly Pancakes from Whole Life Nutrition
The Perfect Grain Free Pancakes from Naturally Mindful
Grain Free Banana Pancakes from Homemade Mommy
Grain Free (And Dairy Free) Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes from Nourishing Days
Banana Pancakes from The Well Fed Homestead
Coconut Flour Pumpkin Pancakes from The Well Fed Homestead
Grain Free Mickey Mouse Pancakes from Real Food RN
No Grains Vanilla Chai Pancakes from Primally Inspired
Sweet Potato Pancakes from Traditional Foods & Natural Home
Banana Spice Pancakes (Grain Free) from Healy Real Food Vegetarian
Paleo Pancake Recipe from Kelly The Kitchen Kop
Halloween Pancakes from Kelly The Kitchen Kop
Delicious Paleo Flapjacks Recipe from Nourished For Free
Coconut Flour Pancakes with Gelatin from Empowered Sustenance
Kefir Banana Pancakes from The Polivka Family

Now the only thing left to do is decide which Grain Free Pancakes to enjoy first!

I'd love to hear from you - please share your tips for preparing Grain Free Pancakes in the comments. 

Sharing at: Sunday School;

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Banana Bread French Toast

We absolutely LOVE French Toast of all variations in our family. This Banana Bread French Toast is the result of a conversation with the kids. They were enjoying their ordinary french toast and I was chatting about what they would like on top. My 4 year old told me he wanted banana INSIDE his French Toast! So I promised him that the next time I made him French Toast I'd cook the Banana INTO them.

So, the first time I made these for the kids and my 4 year old took his first bite of his Banana Bread French Toast and realised that there was actually Banana INSIDE his French Toast, he smiled a smile so broad that it melted this Mama's heart! 

Usually Banana Bread is used in a Banana Bread French Toast, but cooking mashed banana into the french toast batter saves you the effort of making banana bread from scratch and it tastes just about as good as if you'd used banana bread!

Banana Bread French Toast
1/4 Cup Mashed Banana (from 1 small banana)
3 Eggs
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
4 Pieces Sourdough Bread
Butter or Coconut Oil for frying

1. In a large bowl mix together the mashed banana, eggs and cinnamon until well combined.
2. Dip the bread into the french toast batter, flipping each piece over until the batter is soaked through.
3. Heat a little butter or coconut oil in a large frying pan.
4. When hot, place the french toast into the frying pan and cook until golden and cooked through on both sides.
5. Serve topped with fresh banana and raw honey or maple syrup.

Makes 4 Banana Bread French Toast

This Banana Bread French Toast would make a perfect weekend breakfast treat for the whole family! I'd love to hear from you. Please share your favorite way to enjoy French Toast in the comments.

Sharing at: Sunday School;

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