Stewed Plums

Plums, plums, plums

So we have a loaded up plum tree out in the backyard. What are we going to do with all of these plums this year? We decided we really needed to pick the plums before they all landed on the ground and the dog ate them. Not good for him I know, but as a golden retriever Hercules is a bit of a pig when it comes to any form of food on the ground. Especially something as sweet as plums.

We had a bit of a debate. Should we try and make jam? To be honest I have never tried this. So we looked up some jam recipes. Looked easy enough I thought. 

Well no that idea went down like a lead balloon. My husband thought it would be too messy. Don't get me started on how he loves to clean in the kitchen. A good thing I hear you say. Well not always. Trouble is I'm a bit of a messy cook. I am learning not to make so much mess. After all of these years of marriage I have learned to put away as I go, a trait that makes my husband a happier person to be around. So I figure it is worth the effort.

So back to the plums. 

We decided to stew the plums. Yum I thought. So my husband went out and picked some. Some huh, 7 kg of plums as it turns out. As you can see by the picture below there are still plenty left on the tree.

Plenty of plums left on the tree.

I looked up lots of recipes on how to stew plums. I've done it before but thought it might be nice to see how others did it. In the meantime my husband started removing the stones/seeds. I ended up helping as this was going to be a long job. I found a great recipe and showed it to my husband. Jamie Oliver, that seemed like the best place to start. Interested? Nope so we just did our own thing. Actually my husband did his own thing. He wanted to cook them himself.

7kg of plums in there.

How much sugar? 

Well according to Jamie it is 2 heaped teaspoons per 500g of fruit. As I started measuring out the sugar hubby decided that what was left in the bottom of the large sugar container was enough. "Plenty here" he said and dumped it in. Oh well I guess we could taste as we go.

How much water? 

So again I looked to Jamie for inspiration. The answer was 2 tablespoons of water per 500g. "I've boiled the jug, so I'll just put the whole jug in". was what my husband said. So in went one jug full of water, and then another.

How long to cook it for?

Until it looks and tastes cooked I said. "OK". 

The result?

Well the result was lovely. Maybe a bit too much water, we had to siphon some off at the end. However as you can see I even had some on my porridge this morning.

Stewed plums on porridge.

Now to figure out what to do with those left on the tree ...

A healthy breakfast for children

Eating breakfast is the first meal of the day and also said to be the most important. 

And it is!

While adults need to eat breakfast each day to set them up for a productive and energy filled day, children need it even more. Children have growing bodies and developing brains and need regular refueling often, from food. When children skip breakfast, they don't get what they need to be at their best.

Eating a nutritious and wholesome morning meal can save you time in the long run. By recharging both the brain and the body, you'll be more efficient in just about everything you do. Children need this every single day.

So what is the best breakfast to feed your family, especially the children in the family? There are so many sites about what to eat and more about what not to eat, that quite simply it becomes overwhelming if you start trying to do research on the internet.

As a parent my biggest issue is making sure that my family, especially the younger members, don't have sugar filled cereals. When my children have friends come to stay, so many of them ask for the sugary cereals and are surprised when we don't have these.

One of the sites I really like for helpful information on children in general is www.kidspot.com.au. When looking for great breakfast ideas for kids I found this information in the following article:

"Ideally you should be looking to get your kids to eat around 20 percent of their daily calories at the breakfast table." http://www.kidspot.com.au/schoolzone/Breakfast-Best-breakfast-ideas+4266+330+article.htm

Admittedly this article appears to be written by a company that makes breakfast cereals, however it is still a good reminder that we need to be careful when preparing breakfast for children.

Now there are lots of sites where you can find "easy to make breakfasts for children". Something I have found is that some of these breakfasts can not only take time, but seem like they'd be a great idea for a treat but not an everyday meal.

The most common foods I found to be healthy and easy were eggs, muffins, pancakes and shakes.

Boiled egg

Glass of milk

One of my favourite breakfasts to make that my entire family enjoy is French Toast. That is so easy to make and fun to cook. I let our youngest help to cook this. He loves the fact that it is messy (dipping the bread in the egg) and quick to cook.

French Toast

No matter what you end up feeding your children for breakfast it needs to be something that will help them to be happier, healthier and stronger young people.

So what's for breakfast tomorrow?