Sound familiar???

And only 48 hours into the school holidays!

The solution? Get out the mixing bowl and get cooking!

Kids love to get creative in the kitchen. It’s an inexpensive activity which you can do together, with the bonus of feeding them too!

Getting kids involved in food preparation can also teach them new skills, and they are much more likely to try new foods if they have had a hand in making them!

Below are some fun and nutritious recipes to try. Let me know what they think!

Pear and Cashew Slice

• 3 ripe pears, peeled or 6 pear halves in sugar syrup, finely diced
• 75g raw cashews, roughly chopped
• ½ cup gluten-free self-raising flour
• 100g soft brown sugar
• 25g dairy-free margarine
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Place the pears, cashews, flour and brown sugar in a bowl and mix together.

Place the margarine and golden syrup in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until melted.

Gently stir golden syrup mixture and egg into the pear mixture.

Pour the mixture into a lightly greased 20cm square tin and bake for 35-40 minutes at 180°C, or until golden and cooked through. Leave to cool in the tin before slicing.

Banana “Ice Cream”

• 1 banana per person
• 1 tsp honey or 1 tbl peanut butter or 1 tbl nutella

Pull the bananas out of the freezer and let sit for about 3-5 minutes until you are able to peel them easily. Place them in a hand blender by themselves or with honey etc. and process until smooth.

Baked Egg Muffin Cups

• 1 large tomato
• salt and pepper to taste
• a couple of teaspoons olive oil
• 2 slices bread
• butter to butter the bread
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons grated cheddar
• tabasco or chilli sauce as desired

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease 4 cups of a muffin tin.

Cut the tomato in half, place each half in a muffin cup, sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle a little olive oil on the top of each half. Put them in the oven to cook for 10 minutes before adding the eggs.

Grate the cheese. Butter both sides of the bread and gently push down right into the muffin cups (you could also use crispy fried bacon instead of the bread). Bake for about 5 minutes – till they crisp a little..

Remove from the oven. Crack an egg into each bread cup (I crack them into a teacup first). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the top with grated cheese. Put the tray back in the oven, bake for 12-15 minutes…12 minutes the egg will still be a litle runny. Serve as is – an egg cup with a tomato on the side.

Pizza

• Wraps
•  Lego’s Pizza sauce or pesto
•  Grated cheese
•   Sliced mushrooms, tomato, ham, pineapple, capsicum

Heat the oven to 200 degrees celcius. Thinly spread wrap with pizza sauce or pesto. Place ingredients of choice on top, sprinkle on grated cheese, then bake for around 10 minutes or until the edges of the base are crisp.