I Quit Sugar for Life (45 page)

You can buy a sprouting kit from garden centres and some health food shops. Or follow this method: first, get the kids to soak the legumes or seeds – simply dump the beans
in a big bowl with plenty of water to cover. Have them pick out any ‘floaters’. In the morning, drain and rinse in a wire sieve. Place the sieve over a bowl and put a saucepan lid on
top. Leave on the worktop for 2–3 days (sunflower seeds only take 12–24 hours), and put the kids in charge of rinsing twice a day: rinse really well, filling the bowl with water up and
over the legumes and stirring a little before draining. In summer, you’ll need to rinse more often. White shoots will start to form after a day or so. Once they’re about 5 mm long,
store in an airtight container in the fridge.

DON’T GO OVERBOARD. YOU DON’T WANT TO EAT TOO MANY RAW SPROUTED LEGUMES. THEY STILL CONTAIN A FEW TOXINS . . . AND CAN BRING ON, UM, EXCESSIVE WIND IF CONSUMED IN
BULK. THE BEST IDEA IS TO ALSO COOK YOUR SPROUTS WHERE POSSIBLE. I BRAISE OR STEAM MINE, OR ADD THEM TO STEWS AND SOUPS.

Wash the empty eggshells thoroughly under warm running water, removing any membrane stuck to the inside. Fill with some soil and sprinkle the chia seeds on top of the soil.
Spray thoroughly with water (you can use a garden hose) and leave for a day or two (not in direct sun), spraying the seeds lightly each day.

By day five or six the seeds will be ready to eat. Meanwhile, paint some eggcups with miniature outfits. Feel free to add limbs and other accoutrements. Give each one a name.
Hey, look, Marija’s sprouting!

Use old shoes, coffee mugs, dolls’ heads that have the top cut off (actually this could be a little macabre!)...

FOR USING THE SPROUTS:

►
Add to a peanut butter sandwich.

►
Make Ants on a Log (see
here
).

►
Toss through stir-fries, soups and salads.

IT’S A FACT:
kids’ lunchboxes are little, snap-shut vessels of horror when it comes to
hidden (and not-so-hidden) sugar. A couple of commercial cereal bars together with a snack pack of sultanas adds up to about 22 teaspoons of sugar. Parents trying to do, the right thing and follow
guidelines are sickened to realise a standard muesli bar and a small apple juice ‘popper’ adds up to 12 teaspoons. And so mums and dads around the world collectively chorus, hands in
the air: ‘What are we meant to feed them?’

Here are a few ideas for the school lunchbox and afternoon tea snacks. Mix and match as you like, but try to sneak in as many vegetable items as possible.

Monday
KFC DRUMSTICK
(
here
) – call it a ‘lollipop’ and serve with a little container of Satay Sauce (
here
)
SPICED PUMPKIN GRANOLA BAR
(
here
)
BENTO BITS
(
here
)

Tuesday
CUCUMBER LAUGHING HEADS
(
here
)
CHEESY ‘GRAVY’
(
here
)
POPCORN BAGS
(
here
)
BOMBAY GRANOLA
(
here
)

Wednesday
PEANUT BUTTER ’N’ JELLY PORRIDGE WHIP
(
here
)
COLOURED STICKS
(orange and purple carrots and celery)
LCM BAR
(
here
)

Thursday
SWEET POTATO BURGER
(
here
)
GREEN SLIME SMOOTHIE
(
here
)
FLOWER POWER EGGS
(j
here
)
NUTTY TEETH
(
here
)

Friday
RAW BREAKFAST BALLS
(
here
)
NOT-QUITE-APPLE-CRUMBLE MUFFIN
(
here
)
ANTS ON A LOG
(
here
)
LEFTOVER QUINOA MAC ’N’ CHEESE
(
here
)

ANTS ON A LOG

Spread nut butter along a stick of celery and top with mung beans or other sprouts.

Spread Homemade Cream Cheese (see
here
, or the commercial stuff is fine) between two slices of apple.

Using a Bento cutter (you can buy these in speciality Japanese shops or online), cut cucumber, carrot, pepper, cheese, ham and cooked sweet potato slices into little shapes. Use
the leftover bits in salads, casseroles and frittatas.

Bake sweet potato rounds coated in a little olive oil and salt in a 220°C (gas 7) oven for 20 minutes. Cool, then spread with avocado, a slice of tomato, cheese and
mangetout cut into slivers.

Place a slice of cheese between two thick slices of cucumber. You could use a cookie cutter to cut the cheese into cucumber-sized rounds. Get the kids to do this with you the
night before. They can stack them up to make ‘triple burgers’.

Spread nut butter over a slice of apple and stick another slice into the nut butter at a ‘jaw-like’ angle. Spike some flaked almonds into both slices to form
teeth.

Cut a cucumber in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Fill one ‘tunnel’ with Homemade Cream Cheese (see
here
) and the other
with a thinner layer of ham. Press the two layers together, then slice carefully into 3-cm rounds. Place two capers on the cream cheese layer for eyes.

PORRIDGE WHIPS
[see
here
&
here
]

These little packages combine two tricks. First, it’s a no-cook porridge that’s totally tote-able. Second, you soak the oats overnight, which makes them easier to
digest.

Pour ¼ cup (50 g) of popcorn kernels into a brown paper bag and add a ½ tablespoon blob of coconut oil or butter. Shake and seal the bag by twisting it at the top.
Microwave until there are 2 seconds between each pop.

Blend 30 g of baby spinach leaves, 250 ml milk (any kind) and 150 g frozen strawberries with 1 frozen banana and ¼ cup (40 g) almonds soaked overnight in cold water (or
almond meal) in a high powered blender until smooth and divide between 2 cups or jars.

Kids hate soggy tuna on sandwiches! To avoid this, mix the tuna with about 1 teaspoon of chia seeds. It becomes a thick ‘spread’ in about 5 minutes.