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Zucchini Noodles

Friday 23 January 2015

My two sons are normally very good eaters. Apart from a couple of things, which I really don´t like much myself, they eat almost everything. I was like that when I was a child. I have always enjoyed a good lunch, my most favourite being fried eggs with French fries and homemade garlic mayonnaise. Yum.


However, when my husband was a child he was really picky, which provides the whole family with endless amusement. My mum-in-law enjoys telling us time and time again stories about how she had to blend everything to make him eat something. Apparently, he liked to read house decor magazines, which she used to take advantage of to fatten him up. But her joy didn't last long, as he was a keen page turner and, no matter he was only 2, if she dared to give him the same magazine twice, he would refuse to eat for the day. But like the intelligent mum she is, she had other tricks like adding some cheese puffs on top of the mush or even M&Ms!


It is especially hilarious when she tells us about the day she almost killed him after discovering he liked "battered lamb brains" (don´t ask) and she gave him around a kilo followed by 4 fromage frais yogurt pots when he was just a toddler. He almost needed his stomach pumping. Screamingly funny, isn´t it?

My mum-in-law’s obsession with my husband’s eating patterns increased to unsuspected limits, becoming her goal in life to the point that even nowadays, the first thing she asks when we visit them is "are you eating properly?".

To be truthful, I can perfectly understand how worrying it is to think that your little one is not eating enough. And if there is something my mum-in-law can be blamed for, it is for being a great loving and caring mum.


When my eldest son started to eat things other than milk, stories of my husband make us look for alternative methods of encouraging small children to try and eat new food. We discovered something called  baby led weaning. Basically it consists of presenting different foods to the baby letting them to feel, smell, eat and play as they want, respecting their own wishes and timing. I could write a full post about this and how I still find rice and peas everywhere…. but, it worked.

As I was saying, my two little ones like eating and discovering new foods. However, if you ask any of them what their favourite food is they will say without blinking: noodles!!!!


So I have started exploring other ways of cooking noodles but without using pasta. The result is awesome: they love them. They can roll them up in the fork, play Lady and the Trump and slurp them as they would do with normal pasta. We leave our manners for the visits, I´m afraid.

These noodles are really easy to make, tasty and colorful that I'm exploring other ingredients such as carrot noodles, butternut squash noodles and even cucumber noodles!!


WHAT YOU NEED

Serves 4

5 Courgettes
500gr Smoked Salmon
300gr King Prawns
1L Water
25gr Salt
4tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
70gr Parmesan Shavings
A handful of grated pistachios
A bunch of chives.



WHAT YOU DO

Wash the courgettes in running cold water. Cut in halves and cut thin slices lengthwise, to resemble authentic pasta noodles.


Boil the water and pour in a deep bowl with the salt. Plunge the noodles and allow to blanch for around 5 minutes.


Place some kitchen towel on a tray. Strain the water and put the noodles on the kitchen towel so the remaining water can soak us. Season with the olive oil and reserve.

In a plate, place some smoked salmon. Then put the noodles and add some king prawns and parmesan shavings. Sprinkle grated pistachios and decorate with a couple of chives.

Serve while the courgettes are still warm and enjoy.



http://www.thehealthbay.com/big-recipe-competition



2 comments:

  1. That is my childhood!!... Full of memories reading this post. As I told you, I started to enjoy with the food when I met you...before then, I only survived. And then I've started to appreciate how good chef my mum is. Regarding the post, your pictures are better and better.

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  2. LOL!!
    Yes I'm afraid I was more or less that kind of child...my mum says she kept feeding me with cheese yoghourts and sausages during one year because it was the only thing I wanted...my Kids are good at eating, but my 4 yearsold starts being a bit..."mijita" ...every time I present her a new food, the first thing she says is "i dont like it" and we have to encourage her during 10minutes just to try. ...

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