healthy food = party pooper?
Misty had his first “Santa” experience today. To be honest with you, I’m not a huge fan of Santa, but I will play along – Christmas is for the kids, right?
The whole notion of Santa weirds me out a little. Viper calls me The Scrooge as he is all for everything Christmas-related. Anyway, the point of my little Santa-rant is to bring up my issue of the day. Today my plate of home made, healthful muffins (or cupcakes) was left in the kitchen at Misty’s Play Group Christmas party. This was no accident, and I didn’t realise until later what had happened. Typical Misty didn’t really want a bar of the whole “Christmas Party Orchestration” and had made a beeline outside to play.
By the time Misty and myself had made it indoors, the shared morning tea was pretty much done and dusted. My plate was still in the kitchen, all alone. Too brown? Too boring? Not laden with sprinkles, colourful frosting or doused in sugar? I don’t know about you, but I would consider these REAL food – and they ARE tasty – Misty ate 3 in a row when he decided it was time to eat. Good boy. It’s funny, I thought I was being responsible bringing a nut/gluten/refined sugar free treat to a children’s party (!)
I’m not trying to be preachy or anything – I’m not going to tell anyone what to eat, or what they should feed their child. I’m not going to touch that can of worms with a 10 foot pole…. yeah I’m a bit of a wuss when it comes to public confrontation. I just think if kids become used to “food” being of the processed, additive-laden, multi-coloured variety, then we are just setting up this new generation for a life time of health implications. It’s not about being a “Scrooge” or a “Kill-Joy-Hippie” – real, wholesome, nutritious food IS delicious, we as the adults have to set the example, am I right?
Speaking of nutritious, delicious food, my gorgeous friend made this recipe for healthy gingerbread cookies for the party – and Misty loved them. Why can’t healthy yummy food such as this be the majority, not the minority? Photo credit goes to her for the Santa-snap above too.
Fruity Nut-Free Cup Cakes
(Nut/wheat/refined sugar free – gluten free if you use certified oats)
Dry
- 1/2C oats
- 1C sunflower seeds
- 2T coconut sugar (or any granulated sugar such as rapadura)
- 1/4t sea salt
- 1/3C dark raisins
- 1/3C dried strawberries (or any dried fruit – cranberries or apricots would work well)
- 1/4t baking soda
- 1t baking powder
Wet
- 1C mashed banana (about 2 medium sized bananas)
- 1 large egg
- 1/3C milk (any full fat milk will be fine here – almond, soy, cow, coconut)
- 2t apple cider vinegar
- 1/2t pure vanilla extract
- 1T liquid coconut oil or other neutral tasting oil (melted butter would be fine too)
- Pre heat oven to 170 degrees C fan bake.
- Make your “flour” by whizzing together the sunflower seeds and oats in a food processor until a fine meal is formed.
- Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
- Lightly whisk together wet ingredients, and carefully fold into the dry.
- Spoon into silicone cup cake moulds, or a lined/greased muffin tin…. I only filled the cup cake moulds about 2/3 full for a smaller cake.
- Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown and “springy” to the touch.
They may not be the most attractive looking cakes, but an important lesson for kids to learn is to not judge a book by it’s cover, right?
Thoughts? Am I being over-the-top or do you agree?
34 Responses to “healthy food = party pooper?”
Leave a Reply
Vegan. Stay at home Mum of Misty. Yoga teacher in training. Passionate about REAL food - creating it, eating it, sharing it. I can never stick to a recipe.
its so annoying when youre deemed the odd ball for bringing things that are home-made and healthy and non processed.
oh and btw, santa is definitely creepy when you think about it – “he know when you are sleeping, he knows when youre awake, he knows if youve been bad or good…” ummmm. so santa is a stalker?
Don’t get me started on the Santa’s in the shopping malls. I can’t even look at them. Creepy is the kindest word I can think to describe them
Hey Lou. No you are most definitely not a Scrooge. I can’t believe people would be so stuck up!! My little man is super fussy as you know, but at home he is almost exclusively offered healthy food (maybe not quite as healthy as you – but I try!) he is just as likely to reject junk food as healthy food so I figure why offer him the ‘bad’ stuff all the time. Perhaps a little less irresponsibly when I take a plate to a party it’s def not of he healthy variety (cupcakes or some such thing), knowing y boy is unlikely to eat them anyway. Maybe I’m a little immoral?!
Keep being you Lou. You and your famiy will have the last laugh when you are all fit, healthy and full of energy well after everyone else has succumbed to some horrible and preventable lifestyle disease.
I totally get what you’re saying, Katie, and don’t get me wrong, I’m all for treats – I would just rather kids considered something a little-closer-to-FOOD a treat – well, that’s how I’m teaching Misty
You know what Misty is like WITHOUT all the processed sugar/additives, I shudder to think what will happen the day he discovers a Red Skin or anything similar
Also, your little one will get there with the eating…. I mean, we are ALL fussy in some way when it comes to food – he’s just taking his time working out what he likes!
And Santa is weird. I keep the Santa deception very surface level. I’m not into the old ‘photo with Santa’ trick. Some strange man with my kid in his lap… Say more.
I JUST said that about mall-Santa’s in the comment above – ew ew ew, I can’t stand looking at them.
oh Lou these look delish! I bite my tongue at these mom group events ALL. THE. TIME I actually avoid them like the plague for reasons like what you experienced. I often feel like the odd one out and people just assume I am all preachy and hippy dippy because I don’t bring florescent orange crackers or weirdo bright red “yogurt” in a tube for snack time, even if I don’t say I word. It’s really annoying. At the very least they could have PUT YOUR STUFF OUT THERE and let everyone decide for themselves, what the heck?! I guarantee you Holden would have been munching on those yummy cakes along with Misty if we had been there… and I HOPE that is the way he will always be
Ha, I love this comment, I’m snorting into my lunch as I read it
Fingers crossed my message of REAL FOOD gets through to Misty – Viper says I have no hope keeping him from junk food when he is a gangly-hungry teenager but we shall see. We just have to do the best we can as parents, huh? The rest is up to them!
I wish we could start our own hippy-dippy-Mama-play group
me too!!
I’ll never forget how upset I felt for my mum (damn that oversensitive empathy of mine!) at a post-concert supper once when her poppyseed cake, which is INCREDIBLE (and definitely has nuttelex and sugar in it!), remained barely touched because she’d labelled it as gluten-free and dairy-free. The funny thing is that, now, ten years later, I’m sure it would be swooped on and gobbled up for the same reason!
The point of my story there is that maybe, just maybe, ten years from now, yours will be the first plate out of the kitchen. xo
Oh thanks Hannah – this comment made me smile – I hope hope hope you are right!
That’s so unfortunate! : ( I was just at Mike’s holiday work party and there was literally nothing I could eat. I hate drawing attention to myself, so I had to sneak my food of my plate onto Mike’s plate so I wasn’t labeled “that weird health freak who doesn’t eat” in front of his colleagues! That’s a bit different from your situation, but the bottom line is still the same: healthy, veg-friendly, whole, unprocessed food is NOT yet the mainstream. And if the food we eat isn’t labeled “hippie” it’s labeled “bourgey”, or something only rich people can eat (ha! as if!).
There is still so much work to be done…..
I agree for SURE, Raechel – healthy whole food is nowhere near the “norm” or mainstream, which is so sad – how did it get like this!? Especially when kids don’t know any better it’s a bit scary.
Oh you are singing my song! Ditto to everything.
Yay! I’m glad I didn’t come across as a nutter
Yep I’m so with you !! I’m always labelled as weird and wacky cause
I bring our own foods everywhere. I have 3 lactose intolerant kids and one that’s been diagnosed with FODMAP and my other two quite possibly have it too, and all your cheap fruits, milk products onion and garlic things they can’t have without it causing upsets and even my in laws think I’m over the top!
I would of loved your muffins they sound awesome, going to try this weekend !!
Lets hope the world can change away from processed crap !!
Hi Robyn – thanks for your comment, it’s good to know I’m not alone! Wow, you certainly have your work cut out for you with THREE kiddos with food intolerances…. you sound like a super-Mama for sure
I really really really hope people become more aware that the food choices they make have implications on their heath and well-being – not to mentions their kids (!)
Aww that really sucks about the muffins, I hate when people treat you like the weir done for being healthy. At least you know you are filling you and your family with the best possible! I think they look delicious if that’s any consolation
Thanks Gabby! I’m going to try a vegan version next
Yep. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Children are being set up for a life filled with medications, illness, pain, obesity. Real food IS delicious! But most people have had their tastebuds hijacked by unnaturally sweet, salty and fatty foods.
I know, right? It’s amazing how you can train (or re-train) those taste buds – a little bit of effort for an amazing result. Wish more people would realise this!
I 100% agree and I’m sad to see that other people didn’t consider it worth serving. Its very easy to eat sugary foods nonstop, and then yes – other real food doesn’t taste as good. But you will feel better and have more energy..sigh. Here in Canada it seems like every children’s event requires hot dogs of questionable source, white buns, sugar-laden ketchup, and chips. This is the food that we are conditioning our kids to like as a festive comfort treat. I wish more mom’s were like you!
Totally agree. In fact it’s why I love your blog. You offer recipes for tests that are really, actually and truely healthy and unprocessed. Many blogs/websites etc promise “healthy vegan treats” they are loaded with sugar, refined flour and margarine. No thanks.
Once you start eating healthy, real food that other stuff tastes like chemical crap but this is impossible to convince someone of if they’re used to the taste of processed food.
For the record, I lived with my Dad for a few years and he ate very healthy. Whenever I took some whole meal/healthy treats to any events they were always rejected. I felt pretty sad about it ( I was 11 so peer pressure did get to me) but I loved my Dad for trying. i did rebell and eat a lot if junk at uni but here I am again back to healthy eating so not all was lost.
I think the key is to not only offer healthy food to your kid but also eat it yourself and love it and talk about why it’s great/yummy/ good for you
Oh, and Santa? Major creep. Especially the mall ones. I can’t look either.
Love.
E.
Thank you, Em – I agree wholeheartedly…. MOST people have trained their taste buds into thinking that processed, over-salted, sugary crap is NORMAL – so of course a piece of fruit or wholegrain snack is going to taste bland in comparison – it’s so sad!
I went through a “junk-rebellion” too – but these days the thought of consuming true junk food makes me feel sick – your Dad sounds like a sweetheart, it’s so cool that his ideals HAVE inspired you… I hope my message gets through to Misty!
Hehe, I am glad I am not alone in my feelings of Santa-creepiness
You are not at all being over the top and I agree with you 100%. Not only do I get slightly butt hurt when people aren’t willing to try my treats, but I get annoyed. They don’t have to love them like I do, but at least nut up and try it because you just MAY love them like I do. I would have been annoyed if my plate was untouched. It almost disgusts me that people have come to skip over the “brown” treats and go for the colored hydrogenated store bought treats. Sure the colors are fun, but what happens when these fat shits are struggling walking around the block? I get really annoyed ugh I should just stop now. Send your treats my way, I will eat them all!
I LOVE your passion, Brittany – thanks for your support
Colours ARE fun, I agree (Misty is learning his at the moment – he knows red, purple, while and blue which he pronounces “bruuu-ray”) BUT I don’t want him eating the ones that were conceived in a lab – my boy has a LOT of energy, and the thought of him eating refined sugar/additives/colours really scares me – seriously, he would be bouncing of the walls! Argh!
I spoke to my mum about this (she runs a pre-school) and she said that this is really poor on behalf of the teachers. Their preschool is registered with the ‘HHA; (Health Heart Award) and they actually have to continually educate parents about healthy eating. They even audit the lunchboxes and remove junkfood.
A big problem with shared parties, however, has been a new rule by the government body that audits pre-schools. Pretty much, homemade food for sharing is frowned upon because of potential food hygiene issues and unknown allergens. So in spite of their healthy heart award, they still have to stipulate ‘bought food only’ for parties where kids share food. The kids are only allowed home-made food for themselves, and are never allowed to share home-made food, either amongst themselves or at combined eating functions.
Crazy world? Definitely.
In fact, here are the stipulations for their EOY party (last week)
“All food brought for the children’s table must be commercially made and wrapped, with an ingredient list. Although we would love for the children to share your home-made food, at this time it is not permitted, except for the teachers (hint, hint).”
There is also a list of forbidden ingredients, which includes ‘all nuts’. It could have been that the teachers were unsure what was in your delicious muffins.
Wow, that is crazy! I understand the whole nut thing because so many kids have serious allergies these days BUT it does smack of a world gone absolutely “cotton-wool crazy” in terms of our kids!
That HHA sounds fantastic, I love that
I CAN understand the reasoning behind the government’s stipulation, I just wish there were more plentiful healthy options in the stores to buy for such occasions (and reasonably priced!)
Thanks for that info, it’s really interesting!
Oh, this story makes me so sad
I hope your feelings are less easily hurt than mine because I’d have been devastated (and am on your behalf!). The crazy thing is, I am sure ANYONE would love these muffins / cupcakes. They sound fantastic! They look lovely too and I think the people who left them in the kitchen seriously missed out.
Thank you, Kari – honestly I thought it was pretty funny! As long as Misty ate a few (and enjoyed them!) and stayed away from the multi-coloured treats I was happy
yummmo – I would eat your muffins anyday!!! hopefully with blogs like yours, the word will eventually trickle through to the masses xxx
Thanks Sonia! Oh I really do hope so