The Australia Day long weekend starts tonight, so I’ve put together three easy recipes that the kids can help make, and then eat of course!
There’s a lot written about the dangers of letting children watch television, but I think all those articles are missing a key “danger”. The one where your child is watching television and calls out “Mum! Can we make {insert unsuitable food here}!” This happened with Play school and their apple and blueberry pie, which I turned into apple and banana pie, and now again with the Bananas in Pyjamas and their Honey Cakes. As I usually do in these situations I turned to Google and found this recipe by fuzzygirl on Best Recipes that claims to be the real BiPs’ Honey Cakes recipe. There were a few substitutions to be made, but they still turned out pretty good. The only thing was they were rock cakes the next day, so best eaten on the day they are made.
The cereal bites recipe came about because I wanted to find a new snack food for Oscar with a lot less sugar. I couldn’t find anything on Google this time so I made something up – they’re not very different to muesli bars. They must be good because Oscar kept coming back for more! As well as being refined sugar-free these are also gluten-free and dairy-free, as well as FAILSAFE / Low Chemical.
The instant pudding recipe is from Frills in the Hills, no modifications required, but I did halve the sugar. I haven’t had instant pudding since I was a kid, in fact I’d forgotten all about it before I came across the recipe. Oscar had great fun making and eating it, although I had to convince him that the pudding made with milk would taste even better than the dry mix!
Vanilla Instant Pudding
Print recipe
| Serves | 12 |
| Prep time | 4 hours, 15 minutes |
| Allergy / Intolerance | Amines, Artificial Addititives, Artificial Colours, Egg, Glutamates, Preservatives, Salicylates, Wheat |
| Suitable for | Gluten Free, RPAH Elimination Diet - Low Chemical / Failsafe |
| Meal type | Dessert, Sweet Things |
| Misc | Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold |
| Website | Frills in theHills |
Ingredients
For the Pudding Mix:
- 3/4 cups wheaten cornflour
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1 vanilla bean (seeds removed)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cups milk powder
To make:
- Milk (2 cups for three serves)
Directions
| To make the pudding mix: | |
| 1. | Split the vanilla bean and remove the seeds. |
| 2. | Place all the ingredients for the pudding mix into an airtight container. Seal the container and shake well. |
| 3. | Store the pudding mix in a cool dark place for at least a week to allow the vanilla bean to flavour the other ingredients. Can be stored for several months. |
| To make the pudding: | |
| 4. | Combine half a cup of pudding mix in a medium saucepan with two cups of milk. |
| 5. | Heat the milk mixture over medium heat, whisking continuously. When the milk has thickened like custard and can coat the back of a spoon remove it from the heat. |
| 6. | Pour into a single bowl or three smaller bowls. Place in the fridge and allow to set for 4 hours. |
Note
Low Chemical / Failsafe, Gluten-free
The longer the dry instant pudding mix is left, the more vanilla flavour will seep into the mix. The vanilla beans can be re-used several times with more batches of pudding mix.
Half a cup of dry pudding mixture makes three serves of pudding.
Variations:
- The vanilla bean can be left out and some vanilla essence or extract added when to the milk mixture when the pudding is made.
- Add some maple syrup to the milk mixture for maple syrup pudding.
Bananas In Pyjamas’ “Honey” Cakes
| Serves | 12 |
| Prep time | 10 minutes |
| Cook time | 12 minutes |
| Total time | 22 minutes |
| Allergy / Intolerance | Amines, Artificial Addititives, Artificial Colours, Dairy, Egg, Glutamates, Preservatives, Salicylates |
| Suitable for | Dairy / Lactose Free, RPAH Elimination Diet - Low Chemical / Failsafe |
| Meal type | Sweet Things |
| Misc | Child Friendly, Serve Cold |
| Occasion | Birthday Party |
Ingredients
- 90g butter or Nuttelex
- 1/3 cup rice malt syrup
- 1 cup plain white flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/3 cup Special K
- 1/3 cup rolled oats
- 1/3 cup carob kibble or carob buttons (chopped into small pieces)
- Canola oil spray
Directions
Note
Low Chemical / Failsafe
These biscuits need to be eaten the day they are made - they turn into rocks the next day.
You could also substitute maple syrup or golden syrup instead of rice malt syrup.
Cereal Bites
| Serves | 24 |
| Prep time | 15 minutes |
| Cook time | 8 minutes |
| Total time | 23 minutes |
| Allergy / Intolerance | Amines, Artificial Addititives, Artificial Colours, Dairy, Egg, Glutamates, Preservatives, Salicylates, Wheat |
| Suitable for | Dairy / Lactose Free, Gluten Free, RPAH Elimination Diet - Low Chemical / Failsafe |
| Meal type | Breakfast, Sweet Things |
| Misc | Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold |
Ingredients
- 1 cup millet rings
- 1 cup rice puffs
- 2 tablespoons quinoa puffs
- 2 tablespoons puffed amaranth
- 2 tablespoons rice bran oil
- 1/3 cup rice malt syrup
- 1 tablespoon carob syrup
- 1 tablespoon rice flour
Directions
Note
Low Chemical / Failsafe, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Refined Sugar-free
Makes 24.
These cereal bites keep well in an airtight container. They can be eaten as is for a snack or broken up and added to plain cereals at breakfast for a bit of sweetness.
Carob syrup can be purchased or make your own with this recipe. You can also substitute the cereals for any other cereals you would like to use and/or add dried fruit or fresh grated coconut.
