Author: Caroline

Healthy lunches

This post originally appeared on From the Wolf’s Den.

This week (6th October) is Healthy Lunchbox Week. It’s about packing more healthy choices in kids lunchboxes and limiting treats and sometimes foods.
I love cooking and providing healthy meals for Miss K but sometimes I fall back on the easy, prepacked foods & snacks for her day care lunchbox. I do always pack at least 2 types of fruit though so yay for that lol

Anywho, today I thought I’d share our plan for her lunchbox this week on the two days she goes and also provide some ideas and links for you, my awesome readers, to help give your kids a healthy lunchbox (or pack yourself a healthy lunch).

So what is a healthy lunchbox? A healthy lunchbox should aim to include at least one food item from each of the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating food groups in your child’s lunch box every day. That is:

  • Vegetables & salads
  • Grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fibre varieties
  • Fruit
  • Dairy
  • Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds and legumes/beans

This week’s lunchboxes for Miss K:

Day 1

 

  • 2 mini egg & bacon pies (meat, eggs and grain)
  • apple (fruit)
  • banana (fruit)
  • carrot sticks (vegetables)
  • fairy dip (YIAH Beetroot dip)
  • yoghurt rice cakes (dairy, grain)Day 2
  • pasta salad (grain, vegetables)
  • banana muffin (grain, fruit)
  • watermelon (fruit)
  • cheese (dairy)
  • tuna & biscuits (fish, grain)

 

Lunchbox Ideas from around the web:

What’s your favourite go-to healthy lunchbox treats?

Frocktober 2014 – Week 1

This year’s Frocktober theme is Every Frock Has a Story. I’ll be sharing the story behind each of my frocks in a weekly post. Here’s the first 5 days. You can sponsor me at my Frocktober page.

09-30

My last day in jeans for the next 31 days. God I hope it warms up!

10-01

Oct 1
Dress from Target, T-shirt – Hawthorn FC
Story: A total bargain from Target, found when looking for maternity wear. On special for $20 when it was near $80 at full price. Yeah there is a little bit of celebrating there too. Spent the day at the Hawthorn FC celebration of their AFL Grand Final win. 12 Premierships. Back to back premiers (2013-2014), 25 years from our last back to back (1988-1989)

10-02

Oct 2
Dress from Breastmates
Story: A gift from my Mum. One of a few breastfeeding friendly clothes from a great little online store (who I’ll be reviewing soon on my other blog – From the Wolf’s Den)

10-03

Oct 3
Dress from Breastmates
Story: Another breastfeeding friendly dress. Not quite warm enough to wear just the dress alone yet.

10-04

Oct 4
Dress from Rivers
Story: A pick up from a Rivers end of year sale a few years back. It’s a constant summer favourite.

10-05

Oct 5
Dress from Millers
Story: Another sale find. Still not warm enough for just dresses so long sleeve tops over dresses is the go.

My goal for 2014: $700
Total so far: $115.50
Donate here

Foodie post ahead

I’m often posting recipes here on the blog so have decided to create a list so you have an easy way to access them. So up there in the menu bar there is now a Recipes tab and you can pick what section you are interested in. Or you can just use the search feature 😉

I’m slowly adding to the list so not all the recipes will be there. Another thing I’m doing is re-writing the recipes to make them easier for you to print out.

The Frocktober challenge

So while everyone is challenging everyone to do the Ice Bucket Challenge (which I have been challenged to do) I’d like to put out another challenge. Donate to my Frocktober page and help raise funds for Ovarian Cancer Research. Oh yeah and then take a photo of you in a dress and share it.
So don those frocks, donate and share this link, I’ll be interested to see who is game to Frock up

I’ll be blogging my Frocking efforts here (along with my  frock stories), on Instagram & on my Facebook page.
Let me know if you’ll be frocking up in October so I can follow your journey in the dress 🙂

Lace it up

(So this is a little late but I’ve been away having a baby. You can read all about our newest little bundle over at From the Wolf’s Den)

Many years ago in my late teens, during what mum calls my troubled years, my period of being totally off the rails, i spent a short period of time without housing. Yes I could have gone home but I chose not to – you know, being a stubborn teenager and all that (plus a few other circumstances I put upon myself but that’s not what I want to talk about). It was early winter and totally not pleasant. Lucky for me & my then boyfriend, there was some great support from the local City Mission and through someone we met there managed to find housing. But this post is not about me. It’s about the approximate 47,000 young people who are homeless around Australia and what we can do to help them.

August 4-10 is National Homeless Week and as part of that Father Chris Riley and the Youth Off The Street programs are raising funds through the #LaceItUp campaign. By purchasing a pair of blue laces for $5 you can help Youth Off The Street continue to provide services to those in need in NSW. Then share your photos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #laceitup to spread the word.

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Some of the services provided by Youth Off The Street:

  • crisis accommodation
  • early intervention & outreach
  • drug & alcohol counselling & rehab
  • parenting programs
  • Food van

So let’s #LaceItUp and help support a great cause.

You can find out more or donate here or check out the #LaceItUp Facebook page

14 Days of Cooking with the Thermo #3

The new challenge for this fortnight is

MONDAY 14th JULY – SUNDAY 27th JULY

1. – Warming – healing – nurturing – easy meals for when we are sick or someone in the family is
2. – Cooking that you can do either with the kids – or for the kids whilst they are on school holidays

Pumpkin Soup Wagon Wheel Slice Celebration Cupcakes Banana Cake Cheese & Bacon Scrolls Beef & Bacon Pasta Bake Devilled Sausages

Monday 14/07 – Pumpkin Soup (converted from Mum’s recipe)
Tuesday 15/07 – ThermOMG Wagon Wheel Slice
Wednesday 16/07 – converted a cupcake recipe with Miss K (Celebration cupcakes)
Thursday 17/07 – Miss K & I converted our favourite banana cake recipe (Banana cake)
Friday 18/07 – Cheese & Bacon Scrolls (with a little added YIAH Pizza spice blend)
Saturday 19/07 – Beef & Bacon Pasta bake (not really healing but yummy on a cold winter night)
Sunday 20/7 – Devilled Sausages & potato bake (potato layered with diced bacon and EDC cheese sauce)

Jaffa Custard EDC Orange Juice Carrot Soup Jam Drops Spag Bol mince Sausage Rolls Cinnamon Scrolls

Monday 21/07 – Jaffa Custard
Tuesday 22/07 – EDC Orange Juice
Wednesday 23/07 – Carrot soup (converted from another of Mum’s recipes)
Thursday 24/07 – Jam drops
Friday 25/07 – Spag Bol using this Lasagne recipe (to put in the freezer – stocking up b4 bub arrives)
Saturday 26/07 – Sausage Rolls
Sunday 27/07 – Cinnamon Scrolls

Another 14 days of good cooking, food in the freezer and a few new to us recipes. Look forward to the next one.

#RPGaDAY in August

One of my past times is playing RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons and Conspiracy X. During August, one of my favourite RPG bloggers & RPG writers (he’s worked on Conspiracy X & the Doctor Who: An Adventure in Time & Space) Dave Chapman suggested on his blog about doing RPG a Day in August. Now if you’ve been following my blog & my Facebook, you’ll know we’re due to have our second child in August (not long to go now!) and might think I’m a bit mad wanting to take part BUT I’m not 😉 I’m handing the blog to hubby to answer the prompts (well, they’ll be scheduled posts but you get the idea.), namely cause he’s been role playing for longer than me. He remembers when D&D started and owns nearly all editions of D&D – we didn’t buy 4th Ed cause we think it’s rubbish, plus a whole HEAP of other games. We could have a room just for his RPG books 😉

Anywho, here’s the prompts that he’ll be answering for all your reading pleasure.

#RPGaDAY

I’ll be doing some updates over at From the Wolf’s Den when the birth of our little one is nearer and of course after he/she makes his/her grand appearance sometime around the 9th August.