New Recipe

For those of you that have been eagerly awaiting the new carrot cake recipe...it is now in the recipe section of this blog for you to enjoy. Do let me know what you think!

Happy Baking!

More Cake Anyone?!

See the recipe section of this blog for this delicious summer berry polenta cake...perfect for all people big and small. Kids will love the colour and sweet, fruity flavour...adults will also love the fact that its 100% wheat free, gluten free, dairy free and sugar free - guilt free indulgence!

Get children involved with making this cake, they will love to be a part of the process.

Fruity Pancakes

Want to start the weekend with a fun breakfast for all the family? Buckwheat pancakes are perfect for those with wheat or gluten intolerance's. You can use 100% buckwheat flour or even better soak buckwheat wholegrain overnight and simply blend with some rice milk and use as a great pancake batter - 100% wholegrain with more long lasting energy compared to refined wheat flour.

A simple topping of strawberries marinated in rice syrup and a tiny pinch of sea salt (helps to bring out natural sweetness of the fruit) works a treat as well as Carobella spread (found in most health food shops)

YUM!

Mmm Carrot Cake!

Who said sugar free, dairy free, wheat and gluten free can't be sweet,  indulgent and deliciously creamy? This is a great, moist carrot cake with a zingy, lemon cream topping...perfect alternative for iced cakes and a great way for children to enjoy a healthier treat . To add more fun simply use a shaped cake mold and decorate the cake with fruit, nuts or a smiley face :)

Recipe to follow soon in the recipe section of this blog!

Pinterest!

Exciting news, My Fruit And Vegetable Friends is now on Pinterest! You can use this link My Fruit And Vegetable Friends for more great recipe ideas and photos.

See you there!

Vegetable Skewers



Vegetables skewers are always a fun way of presenting vegetables to  children*, being perfect for barbecues, parties as well as adding some fun to normal mealtimes. Vegetables can be roasted in the pan, on the barbecue or the oven and served with some delicious homemade barbecue sauce - guaranteed to go down a treat!

BBQ Sauce

Mix 1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour with 1/2 a cup of water in a saucepan. Add a generous teaspoon of Mugi or Genmai Miso, 1 tablespoon of juice from grated ginger and 1 tablespoon of apple juice concentrate. Mix well and bring to the boil and simmer allowing the sauce to thicken (continue stirring well throughout to minimise any lumps).

This works well with vegetables and fish...and not just for the little ones!

Enjoy :-)

*provided that they are old enough not to harm themselves with the sticks!

Great Offer!!!

Do you want to learn delicious, healthy recipes for you and your family?

Do you want to improve your family´s helath and vitality as well as your own?

I would like to invite you to a very special Natural Nutrition Course in English at the heart of Barcelona. Learn to cook tasty and healthy meals for you and your family as well as begin to learn the comprehensive study of the energetics of food and how we can use it to our advantage to create vitality and great health.

This course will include...

The 7 levels of Cooking

Our body’s needs. Why, what, how and how much

The modern way of eating and its effects

The move towards a healthier way of eating

Transitional steps. Changing for the better

Quick cooking for busy people

The inner journey of digestion – achieving its maximum potential

Creating good quality blood

Activating our body’s natural ability to detoxify

Breakfast – start a day with harmony and vitality

Introduction to the Energetics of our daily foods

Simple menu planning for daily use -theory & practise

Mastering the art of daily balance

Cooking for individual energetic needs

Learn about our Constitution

Self-diagnosis and its practical application in daily cooking

The wheel of life: our needs at different stages of life

Reclaiming our natural weight – general guidelines to achieve it

Seasonal cooking – how to achieve balance in each season

This course (In English) is an exclusive for 2013 at La Escuela de Montse Bradford, spaces are limited so book now!

For more information and bookings please email recepcion@montsebradford.es


Begin this summer with increased energy, health and wellbeing!

Biocultura

Its that time of year!

Every spring time Biocultura trade fair comes to Barcelona with 4 great days of ecological, organic and forward thinking companies. Everything from food, clothes, books and jewelry as well as great talks by the top professionals in the business.

I will be helping 'la Escuela de Alimentacion Natural y Energetica de Montse Bradford'...see you there, its going to be a good one!

Biocultura Barcelona 2013

Happy Belated Birthday!

My fruit and vegetable friends has been online for just over a year now...a big thank you to all the viewers, google+ followers, Mumsnet, Bloglovin and twitter followers (@FruitVegFriends) for helping to spread the word about My Fruit And Vegetable Friends and make a difference to children's diets.

Thank you :)

More great stuff to come...!

Tip #3:

So heres the 3rd tip for this months NLP theme on improving childrens diets...

Role Models

If you want to achieve a goal one of the best ways is to find a role model that has already achieved what you want to achieve and to notice what they did to achieve it. Model their behaviour.

How does this fit in with improving children's diets?

Find another friend or relative that has improved their children's diets and find out what they did...how did they behave, think, believe and feel in order to achieve their goal? What practical steps did they take? Do they have any useful tips and advice for you and your family?

Be curious, experiment with new ideas and enjoy seeing the healthy eating improvements unfold!

This also works the other way - children use adults as role models and if they are surrounded by a healthy eating family who enjoy good, home cooked food, and are able to explain the importance of good food in a fun and creative way them then they are likely to follow in their footsteps.

Children will have a very hard time believing that vegetables are good for them if the rest of the family is eating microwaved junk food and fizzy drinks!

Be that role model for your children.

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi

There Is No Failure - Only Feedback

Tip #2: Congratulate yourself for persevering and learning something new from every situation. If you don't receive the results that you were hoping for, try something else.

Children are great examples of this, they will try all sorts of methods to influence you to buy that new toy or chocolate bar!

...asking politely, demanding it, having a tantrum, saying that their friends have it etc...

Flexibility and creativity are key

Be Flexible: Try a different method and see what happens, if they didn't like carrots cut into stick shapes, try them cut in flower shapes (see vegetable shapes post)

Be Creative: You know your children better than anyone so use that to your advantage, be creative in presenting vegetables in a way that will be appealing for them.

"If you always do what you've done, you'll always get what you've got"

Henry Ford

NLP - What is it and how can it help?

What is NLP?

NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming, and I often describe NLP by saying that it is a tool...a tool to understand any unhelpful patterns we may be creating unconsciously in our lives, and to enhance or alter our patterns of thought, behaviour and emotion so to become the best version of ourselves.

So what does NLP have to do with Fruit and Vegetables?

I wanted to share some NLP skills on this blog that can help improve situations with getting children to eat fruit and vegetables - NLP can be used in any situation, for anyone - not just in coaching sessions!

Not only will you be equipped with great recipes and food ideas, you will also know how to positively influence your children through the use of body language and words!

So here is the first tip...

Tip #1: Building Rapport

You cannot lead and positively influence your child if you do not have rapport with them. Rapport is a sense of trust, a common ground, a connection which can be increased by a few simple steps.

First, a few things to take into consideration when building rapport are…

Be genuine – If you’re not genuine they will pick up on it

Be curious – Ask them questions, find out who they really are and how their brain works

Step into their shoes - Aim to see the world from their point of view

Body Language - adopt an open posture, subtly matching and mirroring your child's body language.

This means if you want to talk to them about the importance of vegetables, get down to their level physically so you can communicate at eye level to gain better results. You will come accross as more welcoming, friendly and less threatening.

Notice how differently your child will react if you stand over them with your arms crossed compared to talking to them at eye level with a friendly expression and posture.

Voice And Language - adopt a friendly way of speaking, subtly matching and mirroring your child's voice and language.

This means if you want to talk to them about the importance of vegetables, use language that they understand and also deliver it in a way that they understand.

Notice how differently your child will react if you shout and demand that they eat their vegetables compared to using a similar pace, tone and words to what they use?

PACE: Start by aiming to see the world from their point of view

RAPPORT: Build rapport between you

LEAD: Now you have the opportunity to positively influence them

One more thing to mention is your state. You cannot positively influence your children if you are in a negative state, and by state I mean feeling unhappy, sad, angry or irritable.

93% of communication is non-verbal!

Notice how differently the each of following two examples play out...

a) Parent is feeling angry and irritable, because of this they may stand over their child and demand that they eat their vegetables, they may have also adopted a crossed arms posture or tapping their foot, a harsh tone of voice and stern words...how willing do you think the child is to cooperate in this situation?

b) Parent is feeling optimistic and motivated, because of this they may to get down to the child's eye level and explain why eating their vegetables are important, they also may choose to use words that the child understands, a friendly expression and acknowledge the child's feelings...how willing do you think the child is to cooperate in this situation?

Your thoughts→  Your behaviour/physiology→ Communicated to other

Whatever you think will be communicated to others on some level. By thinking positive thoughts you will start to feel more positive. By feeling more positive you will start to behave in a positive way through your choice of words and body language, therefore gaining a more positive reception from others.

Try it and see what happens!

How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & How To Listen So Kids Will Talk

'How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & How To Listen So Kids Will Talk'

by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish has to be one of the best books I have read. Practical, useful, eye opening and entertaining with great tips on how to communicate with children.

This books helps to bring peace and harmony to the home with tips and ideas on how help children gain confidence, responsibility, initiative and most importantly knowing how to acknowledge their emotions so they can grow to be happy and healthy individuals.

A few tips that can help with children eating vegetables...

Give Information: Explain WHY vegetables are important - children are smarter than we give them credit for and if we explain the facts in a way that is easy to understand they will be less likely to react and refuse than if we say "because I said so"

"Vegetables are important to eat because they help your body to work well so you have energy to play and study at school"

Write A Note: For older kids you can leave a fun post-it note near the fruit bowl or by some healthy snacks saying

"please eat me if you want a snack :) "

However the best way to reduce junk food consumption is not to have it in the house in the first place!

Give Choices And Show Respect: Give children a choice allowing them to choose what vegetables are cooked for dinner...

"do you want green beans or broccoli with your dinner?"

If a child is struggling with a vegetable then acknowledge their feelings and show respect...

"It can be weird trying new things at first...what would be better eating it with your eyes open or closed?"

Describe What You See: When a child is trying to eat vegetables describe what you see...

"I see_(name of child)_trying some vegetables"

Describe What You Feel: After describing what you see, add in some feelings...

"Its a pleasure to see the vegetables being eaten"

Sum It Up: After the two previous descriptions, sum it up in a word so they can also expand their vocabulary...

"That's what I call perseverance!"

Try these tips and notice what changes!

A Different Approach

As you may already know, one of my other passions is NLP. During the week I coach people to realise their goals, help to remove limiting beliefs so they can begin achieving the life they have always dreamt of.

So how does this fit in with My Fruit And Vegetable Friends?

Over the month of April I will be posting tips and ideas on how to improve children's diets through the use of language, NLP skills and other valuable tips that I have picked up along the way.

So watch this space!

Simply Delicious!

Last weekend saw another great seminar at 'La Escuela de Alimentacion Natural y Energetica' in Barcelona. Here is a great recipe idea by David Marcos, one of the Teacher Training students.

Simply core, peel and half some apples and cook by pan frying or steaming. Mix carob sauce with raisins and chopped nuts and place in the centre of each apple half. Decorate with an agar agar glaze, chopped nuts and strawberries.

YUM!