Best Beef Stew for Kids

This is the best beef stew recipe for kids...mine devour the lot, even Cricket who doesn't fancy most cooked food.  The recipe is adapted from the Feeding Kids cookbook by Netmums.  I tend to buy really good steak to put in and then it is a real treat with meat that melts in your mouth.  The cookbook has dumplings in the recipe and it is cooked in the oven.  Sounds yum, but this is a simpler version.

1Tbsp olive oil
500g stewing steak cut into small cubes
1 large onion chopped
1 garlic clove chopped
1Tbsp flour
500 ml beef stock
1Tbsp tomato puree
3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
1tbsp balsamic vinegar

Cook the onion in the olive oil. Add the beef and cook till brown.  Add the garlic and stir in the flour. Add the stock, puree, carrots, potatoes and balsamic vinegar.  Simmer for two hours.  Serve with rice. and a green vegetable on the side.  Seriously delicious and simple to make.

Dinosaurs

Cricket is really into dinosaurs at the moment.  He has a colouring in book - one of Tigers that was refound amid much excitement.  So far it has been to nursery school twice and has been coloured with his nursery friends and it travels around in the car with us and has even gone around Albert Heijn in the trolley with me shopping and Cricket madly colouring.  We did a very simple dino craft today, which just involved sticking body parts together.  I cut them out and he stuck them. 

 

 

 

We also made some dinosaur bread...using pizza dough

 

 

Bird snacks





Cricket has a home day today and is tired and grumpy so we are staying in.  It's cold and gloomy outside too so perhaps a good idea.  We have made some bird snacks with stale bread and cranberries using plastic needles and twine.  



 

 

 



Here's picture of our bird house. We are hoping some small inhabitants will find it this winter.

Cinnamon Buns

Ooh yum, Cricket and I made Cinnamon Buns ...we are enjoying eating lots of these today..mmmm

Fabric lanterns

I have loads of jam jars lining up and am always looking for uses for them.  I stuck fabric on to make pretty lanterns and am quite pleased with the result.  We are eating together a lot more at the table and the kids love a candle to be lit.  I think it is quite nice to make the effort and have a centrepiece of some sort whether it be pinecones around a candle or a small vase of flowers.

 

Beekse Bergen

The husband and I have raging head colds at the moment ...add to that a sleepless night thanks to fireworks (it sounded like our house was being shelled by Sherman tanks) , but the thought of sitting home all day with bored kids was unthinkable so we dragged ourselves out to Beekse Bergen Safari Park in Tilburg.  The weather was very cold but sunny and so quite pleasant to be out and the park itself was quiet being New Years day.  I think the kids enjoyed the outdoor play area more than anything and another highlight was a giraffe eating leaves off our car.  Some of the animals we saw were cheetahs, tigers, lions, hartebeest, gemsbok, zebra, giraffe, reindeer, red pandas, ostrich, rino, eagle, cranes, gorilla and various other small monkeys.  Apparently in mid 2014 they are getting crocs and hippos. You can go on safari here by car, bus or boat.

Jumping on the south African flag

 A delicious apple cake and tea at the restaurant...we were quite dutch and had a car picnic of sandwiches and crisps as well.

and NO, I don't think we call the loo Vroukies Kakhuis in south Africa...we are not that rude and spelt wrong too...funny though

Some beautiful habitats for the animals.

Clay Snowman

We have been doing some snowman crafts ...the first was an airdry clay snowman, which we air dried in the oven at 200 degrees celcius for 30 mins and then painted with acrylic paint and modgepodged.

 

 

 

Below is Cricket's snowmen at night picture

Egg Carton Bird Mask

Last few days of school holidays and the kids are bored.  They want something to do 24/7 which is impossible and yes, at times they are playing and doing their own thing, but mostly they are bugging me to do something with them.  I found this cute craft on a website called picklebums.