There is a story behind this bread recipe is close to all our hearts here at Kurth Kitchen. A loaf of bread is the first thing Mr Kurth gifted me before we even started dating. Yes, a loaf of bread! No flowers or box of chocolates from this romantic — bread was a quick way to my heart! You can see why we hit it off straight away. The original recipe is still on a little recipe card tucked away in his mother’s recipe card box in the back of the antique kitchen cupboard. Continue reading →
This statement is not a lie and led to an interesting dinner time conversation followed by a meal of seafood trading around the dinner table … which in my books is allowed as long as you try a little of everything. It occurred to me as a mother I have assumptions on what my children will and won’t eat and I need to try more often testing and disproving these assumptions. A friendly chat with other mums recently confirmed that it wasn’t just me presuming and preselecting the tastes, textures and cuisines that I think (or hope!) my kids will eat. Continuing to offer the same flavours time and time again may lead long term to a limited palette and closed mind on food choices, but yes there is no argument that at least they will have something in their body before bedtime! Continue reading →
The simple things like “mummy can we pick some carrots” and then breaking into song when she wants to wash them and eat them … it, well, makes my heart sing.
This year has been our first year planting carrots in our garden, and low and behold they actually grew edible viable fruits of our labour! Our home garden has been a bid to get our children to learn where food comes from and appreciate the time and effort to produce it, as well as supplement our growing grocery bills as the kids keep growing. It’s been an enjoyment for all of us as well as a lesson in life, time and patience.
I recently shared a carrot soup recipe and talked about 101 ways with carrots. What is your favorite carrot recipe?
“What’s for dinner mummy?” asks Amelia. “Orange soup with bunny ears!” I reply.
A little nose edges up to the side of the kitchen bench and then on tippy toes, two big eyes peer over the top of the bowl. A smile breaks out on her face when she sees a vague bunny nose & eyes (natural yoghurt drop), bunny ears (homemade sourdough bread) and a big bowl of orange soup (carrot & ginger soup). It helps that she is in orange class this year at school so the more orange in her life the better!
A good friend recently asked me how to get her 2 year old to eat more variety of foods. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I do hope that people can learn from what we’ve had success with in our house. Continue reading →
I call out from the kitchen window “Evelyn, show Daddy where the big eggplants are in the garden so he can help you pick one. I need it in the kitchen now for dinner!“. The deep purple skin is so firm, fresh and shiny it blows my mind that it grew in my own garden and it’s still warm from being on the plant enjoying the last of the day’s sunshine. I slice it, dress it with no more than a drizzle of olive oil, ground sea salt and a little black pepper, then just before placing it on the grill I decide that a sprinkle of fresh thyme from the garden that will finish it off nicely. Bliss… I’m in my happy place. It was the sweetest most tender eggplant I think I have ever eaten, but it my judgement may be clouded by the serene picture of my little girl running to the garden bed where the eggplants are and pointing out the purple beauties that have grown with little more than water and a bit of sunshine in our own backyard! I wear a smile ear to ear watching the kids jump off the garden edging, as they navigate the meandering sweet potato shoots now breaking the boundaries of the garden beds and watch them swoop down to pick a bean and munch on it straight from the garden, or pull our a carrot and run inside to wash it for immediate eating.
Right ladies, I hope you’re ready for this. It blew my socks off when I got this email from a friend who was about to go back to work full-time and in true form, she aced it in the kitchen scene. This week is a guest post for all the busy mums out there on making the most of your freezer to get ahead in the mid-week cooking routine. Over to you Yvonne:
So we haven’t got to the birds and the bees questions yet (phew, kids are only just 5 years old), but we have started to have spontaneous conversations about diet, exercise and nutrition. They often come from everyday moments like preparing dinner, walking through a mall or visiting friends. The perfect playground for this was a recent trip to the grocery store with one little miss. We came around the end of an aisle, she was pushing the trolley nicely like a ‘big girl’, then her eyes lit up, her hands let go of the trolley and she b-lined straight for a huge stand of chocolate teddy bear shaped biscuits. “Mummy. Mummy. LOOOOOK!”
–> Enter nutrition conscious mum with a hang up for real food <–
Lately the kids have made me feel torn between teaching table manners vs teaching a love of food. After all, we have just spent time together setting … and often unsetting, resetting and final setting the table according to everyone’s ever changing request for different coloured cutlery, cups and napkins. So with the table nicely set the kids then sometimes just push it all that aside to eat with their hands. They have smiles on their faces, food up their arms, but they eat with hunger and enjoyment, albeit with all 10 fingers. Continue reading →
Only 1 month until Food Revolution Day! This is about the time that I start to have WAY TOO MANY ideas of things to do and my husband just rolls his eyes at me and waits for final instructions the day before… This year it’s Friday 15th May 2015, so being a Friday and part of the weekend here in Dubai, it’s even easier to be involved.
What are you going to do? You could invite some friends around for an extended family dinner. You could get into your kids school and get the kids cooking. You could invite the neighbours around and make pizza from scratch. You could also join one of the location activities happening in your local town – like ‘Squash it Sandwiches’ at Galleries Lafayette in Dubai. Click here to keep an eye on the Food Revolution Day plans for your city. And if nothing else sign the petition at www.foodrevolutionday.com and help fight for food education for every child. Whatever it is – do something, get the kids involved and connect with your community.
I strongly believe in REAL food and cooking from scratch. My schedule doesn’t always allow for it, but the satisfaction Continue reading →
Kurth Kitchen 