The BBQ Paradox

It's June, it must be summer! A time for your caveman to come out of his cave, light the fire and declare "I am cooking dinner Saturday night". Heaven. He's cooking dinner. Maybe we can even entertain? Yes. So here's how it goes in my house:

What I do:
Call the friends and invite them over. "It's a BBQ. Hubby is doing the cooking, lucky us". I then plan the meal (which does need a salad or two), go food shopping, shlep it all home and put it all away. On the day I wash the salad, chop the veggies, make a pasta/potato salad, put out chips and dips, count out the plates and the cutlery, set out table mats and napkins, fill the salt and pepper for the table, slice the bread, chill the wine, set out the glasses, slice some lemon, put out any condiments, make a marinade, unwrap all the meat, locate the BBQ tools, (don't you just love how a spatula, tongs and an oversized fork are called tools?), tidy up, get out the frisbees and suntan lotion, pop the potatoes in the oven and do a quick hairbrush/lipstick check before the doorbell rings.

What he does:
Opens a pack of charcoal, lights said charcoal, opens a beer an watches as charcoal very very slowly turns white (it takes an hour), calls for the meat, then cooks/burns the meat.

Yeeha.

So with all that labour in mind, I will propose a super easy kids dinner here:

Fake Pizza

My kids worship at the alter of Ask Pizza, and it's the one place where every morsel of food is eaten up, no tears or tantrums. So sometimes at home, I make "fake pizza". You need toasted english muffins (I use wholemeal to make them a touch healthy), smear them with some tomato pizza or pasta sauce from a jar, and top with cheese (I just use cheddar). If your kids stretch beyond marguerita pizzas, then add some ham or tuna before the cheese - whatever your kids are happy to eat. Pop them under a grill to melt the cheese, and call them mini pizzas.

Sneaky sidelines

No I am not talking about affairs, but time spent at work NOT doing work! I confess there are some days where I spend way more time than is acceptable planning my next holiday, sorting my daughter's social life, booking babysitters, doing my internet shopping, booking a pedicure... Surely I shouldn't feel guilty about this? But I do. When will this mad rush of life get simpler, slower and easier? Who has time to clean out the front hall cupboard? I have enough children's clothing that mine have grown out of to start my own kid's charity shop! I guess the bottom line is that I do grab the time at work to do it all (except that cupboard). A happy working mother is a productive working mother, and there are only so many hours in a day...

Meat on a Stick

This may strike you as a bit obvious, but it always works in my house which is filled to the brim with fussy eaters. Putting meat on a stick turns a mundane meal into something that kids find fun to pick up and munch.

You will need 2 wooden skewers per child. Then I slice up a chicken breast, or a lamb steak, or a steak, and I skewer the little pieces (1/2 inch each) onto the sticks. I often drizzle on some chinese hoi sin sauce, or some barbecue sauce so they are well coated. If you have neither, then a little olive oil and a touch of salt flavours the meat just as well. Grill them on a very hot grill pan or frying pan in a bit of oil (or best on a BBQ outside) until they are browned and cooked. Serve with their favourite vegggies and some boiled potatoes.

Are you also a Married Single Mother?

Since when is the care of one's children a one parent job? I just spent a weekend making pancakes for breakfast, going to the playground, lifeguarding, washing up, making lunch, changing nappies and spoon feeding my grumpy two year old, supervising homework, piano practice, doing laundry, serving hot chocolate and cooking dinners. My husband played tennis, had lunch with a friend, tinkered with his car, had tea at the neighbours... you get the picture.

As my profile says, I started an earlier blog called the Angry Working Mother. I have thought about this a lot, and even considered keeping both blogs going simultaneously, as, really, I bounce between being angry and happy. But overall I am happy, and willing to commit to this blog now because here I am, at my desk on a quiet Monday morning and with all love and respect to my children I am HAPPY to be here!

I made this last night for the kids - dinner in 4 minutes (if you have the right leftovers):

Healthy Pasta

I chopped up some cooked chicken, some cooked broccoli and grated some parmesan cheese. (Just use your best judgement and use portions your children normally would eat, plus about 1.5 tbsp of cheese per child). I heated a deep frying pan with a bit of olive oil, adding some leftover cooked pasta until it was warmed through. To that I added half a tub of creme fraiche (cream will do) - enough to generously coat the pasta. Heat through, then add all the chicken, broccoli and cheese and keep stirring until it's all hot. I added a 1/2 tsp of garlic salt too, but if you're a psycho-mum and avoid salt in all kids' food, that's fine too.