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Father's Day Fun!

Dad's are rather special! But when it comes to gifts, they don't always do that well. If you think your dad deserves something a bit more special than socks, ties or a pair of pants, then we might just have a handmade creation that is sure to bring a smile! With Father's day just around the corner we decided to make some amusing food art to show how much we love our dads! And who doesn't appreciate a handmade gift?

Your dad may be your hero, Super Dad! We created this with him in mind. Made from red and yellow peppers, carrots and mushrooms. We chopped peppers into strips and also finely shopped some pieces too. The stars are cut from yellow peppers and mushrooms. And the lettering is cut from carrots. 

If your dad has a large collection of ties, then maybe this plate would be perfect for him. Made using red and yellow peppers, carrots, cucumber, mushrooms and black olives. The letters are cut from carrots. The ties are cut from red and yellow peppers, carrots, and mushrooms. They have been decorated with strips of cucumber, black olives, and red pepper stars. 

Maybe your dad likes to spend time in just his pants! Made using tortilla, mushrooms, carrots, yellow peppers and cucumber. We cut out the base of the pants from tortilla. Decorated with carrot and cucumber stars. The letters are carrot and mushroom and the large stars are cut from yellow peppers.  

We did use letter cutters and some shape cutters too, these can be found online or in wonderful shops like Lakeland! 

We think that it's highly unlikely that your dad will ever have been given a handmade gift like this. It's much more fun that shopping for socks, pants and ties! It's bound to raise more of a smile too :)

You can be as creative as you like. Use our ideas for inspiration and get crafting something perfect for your pappa!

We love to see what our Mini Makers have been up to, remember to photograph some pictures of your creations and share them on our Facebook page. You might just win a little prize! 

Mothers Day Treats - Homemade Sugar Free Chocolates & a Spring Fruity Flower!

Mothers Day is a matter of days away. If your house is anything like ours are, plans for the day will still have to be decided upon, those little hands that are eager to craft the perfect handmade gift will be struggling for inspiration, and you'd just love something as simple as breakfast in bed... and maybe some chocolate! Luckily we have the answer. A beautifully simple, naughty, yet nicely nourishing, handmade treat. Easy for little hands to craft, all that needs to be done is to shop for ingredients and let those little hands get mixing and crafting. If you were really savvy you could share this with another adult and get them and the kids to do the work. It is Mothers Day after all! 

Honey and Vanilla Chocolates - makes approx 12

60g cashew nut butter

30g cacao butter

30g honey

10g cocoa powder

pinch sea salt

1/2 tsp vanilla 

Chocolate moulds - we used silicone rose and heart moulds, but you can use whatever takes your fancy!

 

To make these delicious treats, weigh out the cacao butter, place in a heat-proof bowl and place over a pan of gently simmering water. Once melted, remove from the heat. 

Measure all other ingredients into a bowl, pour in melted cacao and mix well until smooth. 

Pour into chocolate moulds and place in the fridge to set for 30 mins or until ready to enjoy.

Once chocolates have set, turn out of the moulds, admire your handy work, and try your best not to gobble them all up! 

Spring Fruity Flower

You will need:

1 orange

1 large strawberry

1 tbsp pomegranate seeds

1 green apple

Slice the orange in half as if you were going to juice it. Slice a 1 cm slice from the middle of the orange and lay on a flat board. Slice the orange through each segment, leaving you with lots of orange triangles. 

Take the apple and slice off two of the sides. Lay these flat and cut into matchsticks.

Slice the strawberry into 1/2 cm slices. Shape two of these pieces into butterfly wings (see image)

Lay 6 of the orange triangles on the plate as seen in the final image. Fill in the middle with pomegranate seeds. Save 4 seeds for decoration on the butterflies wings.

Use the apple matchsticks to make the stalks and the leaves, saving one for the centre of the butterfly. 

Finally make the butterfly using the strawberry wings, apple matchstick, and 4 pomegranate seeds. 

Your fruity flower and chocolates are now complete. Place on a lovely tray with a cup of tea and treat your mum to an extra special breakfast in bed. 

If you've liked this and know of other mums who deserve a deliciously creative treat, please share away!

To make the fruity rose pictured above, instructions are in the Newsletter, sign up for this on the homepage.

Please share any images of your wonderful Mothers day creations on our Facebook page

 

 

 

 

Our Top 6 Tips for Nurturing Adventurous Eaters, and Ways to Tame Fussy Ones Too!

Here at The Mini Makery, one of the most asked question has to be "How do I deal with my child being a fussy eater?". Now, I'm sure we have all experienced times when our children have shown challenging behaviour towards food, some more than others! But in our experience it happens to all children at some point. So, we wanted to share our top tips of what we have found to work with you. 

Many people will tell you the key to raising an adventurous eater begins from an early age, and we would have to agree. It is important to get weaning off to a good start. However, it is never too late to encourage healthy eating habits, no matter how old your child is. 

Lead by example. 

How can we expect children to develop healthy eating habits when their role models are not eating what they preach. Children need to regularly see you eating, AND enjoying healthy, fresh foods. Children learn what is "safe" to eat based on observing you. It is unlikely you will have a veggie loving little'un, unless you are a veggie loving big'un. Make sure you try and eat together as much as possible too. 

Make food fun!

When meal times diminish into a battle of wills, it is never going to end nicely for one, or both of you. We appreciate that dealing with fussy eaters can at times be very stressful, but bringing frustration and unhappiness to mealtimes is not going to help the situation. Your child will pick up on your feelings, and most likely end up feeling them too. Approach mealtimes in a fun and exciting way. Smile, laugh and enjoy them! For little people we encourage regularly playing games with food. We've played "food football", scoring a goal every time a mouthful of food goes in, and shouting "goal" as a celebration. Another good one is playing a memory game which involves the adult closing their eyes, and then having to guess which bit of dinner has been eaten from the plate. You could even pretend that you think a wizard has been and eaten it. Kids love to think they have tricked you!

Another great way to add some fun, is to make a special effort with presentation. Create food faces, landscapes, animals, whatever takes your fancy! It it a little more time consuming, however it is time well spent if it encourages your little one to eat good stuff. This works wonderfully with bigger kids who are past the game playing stages. Bring your imagination to the table and keep persevering.

fruit lion.jpg

Get your kids involved! 

Little people love to feel that they are being a good help. Utilise this and get them helping around the shops searching for fruits and vegetables, and when preparing tea at home. One of the most successful tricks we have found, is to get some mini cookie cutters and allow them to help cut shapes out of vegetables to put into dinner. Courgettes, thin slices of carrot or parsnip, cucumber..  there are lots of options. You only have to look at how successful character pasta or spaghetti shapes are to see it really works! This works well when making something like a fruit salad for pudding, or to just add a bit of excitement to fruit snack time. 

Reduce their sugar intake

It is hard to not give little ones treats from time to time. But we need to be careful that it is only time to time, and not too regularly. If you imagine that every time you have chocolate, biscuits or sweets, your taste pallet becomes used to that level of sweetness. Compare the sweetness of sugary treats to the sweetness of fruit and vegetables, and it is easy to see why kids will choose sugar laden treats over fruit. Yet fruit is plenty sweet enough! If you can keep treats to a minimum, you will find over time that fruit becomes more appealing as their taste buds become accustomed to a reduced level of sweetness. Their bodies will thank you for it too, as they will get a wealth of vitamins and minerals from lovely fruit that they wouldn't have gotten from sweets and chocolate. 

Play!

We know from first hand experience, that playing with food outside of mealtimes is an excellent way to give your child positive experiences with a variety of foods. We share regular craft ideas in our newsletter that are are a perfect way to put some fun into their food. Playing in a non pressurised environment, is a great way to teach your little ones about where food comes from, how it is grown and why it is good for you. Educating your kids and allowing them to explore new foods, without the expectation to eat it, often leads them to want to try more. This can take time, but we believe that if you craft with food as often as you would paint or glitter, you are on the road to nurturing a fuss free eater. 

Persevere! 

It may appear that the tactics you are trying are not working. The key is not to get disheartened. Undoing fussy eating can often be a long road. Some kids are more receptive to it, and some take more time. It can be frustrating when food goes to waste, but it is vital that you keep offering a variety of fruits and vegetables and making them fun! 

We wish you luck on your food adventures with your little people. As always we are here to help and support. Feel free to comment, ask questions or even share, if you know of someone we could help!

With love, 

Ellie & Kate