Top Five - Using Up Bananas

This is an idea that I 'obtained' from one of my school friends via Facebook lateley - on the notion of Facebook there is now a Not Just Fuel community page, want to come join in?  Please do!  

The idea that Katrina had was to share ideas on what to do with the things that we all end up with at the end of the week or that just pile up and your not quite sure what to do with before they go off.

We start with a good one... Bananas.

So there we are, five banana ideas! It just so happens that one of the ladies I watch on YouTube shared a face mask recipe featuring... bananas!  Give it a watch and try not to think 'that would be really nice with graola for breakfast' like I did... oops!

now, forgive me.  I wrote this yesterday and forgot to publish it, I just came back today to add Tati's video!

Sorry!

Menu Planning for Kids

Hello! I am in a planning mood today and I have stolen an idea from one of my friends Rachelle.  She is helping her brother get organised and part of this project is menu planning - he has two children and I was thinking about how to involve the kids in menu planning.  This is an adaptation of a method of exploring food that I have used with Rainbows, Brownies and Guides (girls form 5 years old to 14 years old) so I hope this is useful to you if you have kids or if you have kids coming to stay or visit you and they need feeding!  This is also a fun way to plan as an adult - especially if, like me you can't draw for toffee and your banana split looks like a diagram of sedimentary layers... Oops!

I used the sheet that Eliza made for us, (which you can download here in in four different colours) and drew in the spaces instead of writing... nice and easy!  I then annotated it so that you knew what I was trying to draw!  This is based on one of the sheets that one of my Brownies drew me before our last pack holiday - and yes, she did ask for kiwi fruits for lunch!  With older children they will be able to annotate it independently but younger kids will enjoy drawing in the shapes and then you can annotate it with them.

TOP TIP!  Never try and guess what a drawing is, always ask!  

Obviously kids don't worry about what is on special or what needs used up, but these spaces might be handy for asking kids to elaborate on their requests, what do they want on their spaghetti, for example? I might chance my luck and ask Eliza to design a special kids one if anyone thinks it would be handy!  Please do let me know!

So there we are, how to ask kids what they want to eat and to get them started on their journey interacting with food... makes me wish I had a kid to practice on, anyone got one I can borrow to add to my mini focus group?  

One last thing to note that this exercise can literally open a can of worms so if there are any restrictions on what you want from your kids then be sure to set them out at the start.  Ask them for their favourite fruit and veg that week, and maybe limit the number of 'treats' they can choose, or explain that you're having a guest for tea one night and they don't eat a particular food - challenge them!  It amazed me how much thought some 5 and 6 year old put into this exercise - don't underestimate them but equally try and guide them away from drawing pictures of all the sweets and biscuits that they love! 

Chicken Fajitas... in the Slow Cooker!

We love fajitas in this house and I think most people do.  They are an easy thing to make the conventional way, but when I find a new recipe for a thing I love I can't help but try it!  I saw this on Pinterest (I'm obsessed I know...) so yesterday afternoon I cracked open the slow cooker and filled it full of deliciousness.

This is so easy to do and has become my default meal because I always have what is needed in the cupboards!  It's great for days that I have to be out and about and I know I will be knackered when I get home (like the three medical appointments in one day Wednesdays that have happened in the last few weeks!) - I put this together before I go out and then when we come home it's ready to go!

You will need:

veggies - what ever you fancy! You've got to have onions, and other than that I recommend bell peppers, onions, mushrooms and chilli. 

A quarter cup of fajita seasoning, make your own or use a shop bought version.

A cup of water (a little less if you add mushrooms)

A chicken breast per person.  

And that's all.  Chop up the veg and put it in the slow cooker, then mix the water and seasoning together, pour this over the veggies and then put the chicken on top.  Putting it on top lets it steam more than cook in the water and it goes so wonderfully tender and shreddable.  Put it on high and leave it for three hours, if you need to leave it for longer feel free to put it on for the three hours and then turn it to low and leave it for as long as is needed.  After this time take two forks and shred the chicken, mix it all up and remove the excess water to serve.  Meanwhile you need salsa, cheese, cream cheese, salad to serve and wraps to wrap it all up in!  Easy!

I know it's not the most appetising photo, but it tastes so good!  I have served this up to my husband, my parents and then used the left overs on bagels for lunch! Delicious.  

Have You Met Eliza? Free Printables!

As I'm sure you might have realised if you have read through my blog here I love planning, I love Pinterest and I love a free printable. So I happily scour Pinterest to find the perfect printables and I can never find them... they're never just exactly what I want and I do not have the ability to make them myself, I just draw boxes with ProMarker and write in them... wee while ago I found some printables on Pinterest by Eliza Ellis and I fell in love a bit.

Eliza has a lovely blog and everything is displayed so beautifully that I just cannot stand it.  There are printables for all sorts of things, from Christmas planning to calenders, and there are different colour options, quotes, all sorts of lovely gems.

 It turns out that she and I have very similar ideas in how printables should be - it just so happens she has the skill to make them happen and I don't.  I followed her on Twitter and tweeted to tell her how pleased I was with my discovery and how jealous I was of her talents... Skip forward a few weeks and I went a bit planning mad a few weeks ago in my Menu Planning Produce Box Three and Eliza read it... and had a wonderful idea.

So we have been working together, across the globe all the way from Australia to Scotland, to make some printables that fit in with my mad method to make it less mad and much easier to pass on... and they are ready!  We both have different methods for planning our households, so do go and look at Eliza's version too (there are ideas there I have stolen already, thanks love!) but for now... fanfare please!

The following four are all A4 documents that come in four colours and can be downloaded via the links below.  Look at them! Are they not lovely!

And this one is printable in A3 an A4 so that you can frame it, laminate it, write on it, however you want to use it - but do be kind to it!

And here we have all of the links for all of the lovely colours available.  I started off using hemlock, and then moved on to placid and this week I am all about the orchid!  Peach next I think.  Maybe I need to start colour coding my weeks (can I do that, am I that obsessive?).

Placid:

Recipes

Pre-Planner

Groceries

Meal Planner

Orchid:

Recipes

Pre-Planner

Groceries

Meal Planner

Peach:

Recipes

Pre-Planner

Groceries

Meal Planner

Hemlock:

Recipes

Pre-Planner

Groceries

Meal Planner

Exciting times! Get downloading, get printing and get planning!  Please do tell us what you think and any more ideas you have for planning printables... I love them and I hope you do too!