Month: May 2021

P. A. R. E. N. T.

On By WanjoroIn Parenting3 Comments

What is a parent’s role in a child’s life?

There is a lot that can be said, but I came across this brief version I had jotted down years ago and thought I would share.

Parenting is hard, and we are all raising our children differently. These pointers are just some things I learnt over the years, and still learning as we apply them raising our children. I ask myself these questions on a daily basis on this journey that has no perfect manual. I am no perfect parent, nobody is, but we are all trying to do our best right?

1. Provider.

Once you get a child, you know your reason for living has changed. You are now conscious of being the provider to a little helpless human, till the time they can fend for themselves. How prepared are we for this?

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Keep in mind, humans are totally helpless when young, the child cannot provide shelter or feed or cloth itself, it is up to us the parents to do it.

The first seven years are said to be the most critical in setting the foundation for the kind of adult a child will grow to become. How are we fulfilling this provision role to ensure we set a firm and stable standard?

Parenting is not just paying the bills and ensuring the child is fed. Provision of basics is not enough.

2. Available.

Are we available when it comes to our children? Are we easily accessible to them or are they to be neither seen nor heard?

Do we look them in the eye when they speak to us, or are we buried in our phones, laptops and tv screens?

Are we approachable, or do they fear us?

Do we listen to them or just talk at them?

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Obviously, boundaries and respect are important, but we should not let them fear to come to us. We are all they have in a cruel world, if they cannot turn to us and trust us, who can they trust?

3. Responsible.

It is not enough to just provide as a parent, we need to be responsible for and to our children.

How quick are we to respond to their needs? (Including young babies).

I do not mean we should drop everything and centre our lives around them, but we do need to be responsive to their needs and teach them patience too.

When playing and they get frustrated, how do we teach them coping strategies? Do we demean them or do we help them understand that it is normal to get frustrated and anxious at times.

If it is about something they want; talking to them about the difference between wants and needs, will help in this.

I also learnt something the other day about looking for opportunities to say yes to their wants, as per our resources and dependent on what it is they need. “Yes, you can have that toy, but for your birthday, or special occasion”, instead of an outright “No!”

Children learn more by what they see, than what we tell them. Are we responsible human beings in our personal lives?

How can we expect our children to learn responsibility when they see us shirk ours in various ways; Escaping work early, lying to get out of family commitments, e.t.c. They see all this.

Let us lead by example.

4. Encourage.

We should strive to encourage our children at all times. Through their successes and failures.

It also doesn’t hurt to carefully steer them towards the vision you have for them, and encourage them accordingly.

This is tricky and it is easy to steer them towards our failed dreams; visions we had for ourselves and impose (read force) them to actualise them. Let us not do that.

Ask them what their vision is, and guide them accordingly, we know our children; their strengths, weaknesses, talents and that they like. That knowledge will inform us on how best to encourage them.

Also let’s not compare our children to others. It is so easy to do this, but let us not. Comparison is the thief of joy. Do not be the one making your child miserable because they are not as good as the Joneses’ seemingly perfect child, or not doing things as well as their sibling. Just don’t. It inflicts wounds that fester inside and damage their self confidence and self worth.

Photo by August de Richelieu on Pexels.com

5. Nurture.

Encouragement and nurturing go hand in hand. As parents we must try to be dream builders not dream crushers.

Is your child talented? Encourage and nurture that talent but! there is a big “but” here – keep in mind they are still children. And we should still let them be children.

Let us take care of them, be protective of what we expose them too.

This is easier said than done, as we might also end up being too protective. It is a delicate balance of allowing them to explore; but still remain within our sights.

6. Training.

As parents, we will drop the ball many times. Let us not be too hard on ourselves. We can strive to not give up, delegate our role or neglect it as the sole providers and nurturers of these precious children, no matter how difficult it will get at times.

We should keep offering direction, guidance, and discipline. We are their first teachers. Language, values, manners, how they talk and how they think, is up to how we train them.

Image Source : Etsy printable picture quotes.

Guiding them through each milestone is not an easy task, and many are the times we will ask ourselves what we signed up for and if we can hack it. We can and will hack this parenting thing but we have to be intentional in steering them the right way.

Leading by example, listening to them, correcting them, teaching them with love and patience the difference between right and wrong.

Training also includes basic body hygiene and how they conduct themselves in private and public. Toilet manners, table manners, making their beds, brushing their teeth, cleaning up after themselves, respecting authority and elders, proper communication. “Excuse me,” “pardon me,” “please,” “thank you,” “you are welcome,” ” sorry”, how to be safe, money sense, and many more.

We are the ones to teach them all this. Not the nanny, not the daycare provider, not the teacher, we the parents are the ones to do this.

There are age appropriate ways we can impart that knowledge to them as well as many teachable moments in our daily lives that we can use to do it.

Parenting is not an easy task, but with knowledge and guidance, and keeping a ‘village’ aka support system around us, that is respectful and shares our values, we will become more confident and feel less alone when navigating this parenting life.

What are some of your best parenting tips? Please share in the comment section.

Love,

Wanjoro.

Cheesy Zucchini Sweetcorn Muffins.

On By WanjoroIn RecipesLeave a comment

This is an easy recipe and a staple in many homes with kids, as it is a great lunchbox option as a snack, a light lunch with a salad or soup on the side and because they keep so well, are a great option for those long road trips!

There are many ways to make this, this is how I do it. The best thing about savoury muffins is there is no limit to what you can put in; it is all about what you like.

Our ingredients are:-

  • 2 cups self raising flour.
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 small grated zucchini aka courgette.
  • 1/2 cup of sweetcorn
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted.
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • 1 tsp dried parsley
  • A pinch of mixed spice (optional)
  • 1 tsp chia seeds
  • A pinch of salt

Another thing I love with this recipe is it is a one bowl one, so less dishes. Quick, fast and easy to make.

Method.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Line your 12 hole muffin pan with muffin cases.

Sift your flour in a large bowl, add the other ingredients and mix well.

Mix well but do not over mix and spoon into muffin cases.

Bake for 18- 20 minutes until golden and baked through, check with a skewer.

Enjoy them after letting cool for 15 minutes or so.

They are great on their own or with some soup on the side. Either way, you have to try them out. Tasty, filling and so easy the kids can make them themselves (with supervision of course).

Love,

Wanjoro.

Ossobuco and Spaghetti.

On By WanjoroIn Recipes, Uncategorized2 Comments

A simple way to enjoy your beef ossobuco. I like this dish as it has its own flavour and whichever spices or flavourings you use, are really just to enhance its richness.

The trick is to cook it low, slow and with love.

Ingredients:-

  • 4 beef shanks.
  • 1 large sliced onion.
  • 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped.
  • I green pepper.
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste.
  • A pinch of sugar.
  • 1 tablespoon spice blend of equal parts ground cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  • 2 tbsp of all purpose flour
  • Salt and pepper to taste.
  • A splash of Worcestershire sauce.
  • A splash of balsamic vinegar.
  • 2 chopped tomatoes.
  • Cooking oil.
  • 1 small bunch of coriander chopped and some lemon zest.

Method.

Mix the flour, spice blend and salt and pepper on a wide plate.

Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large saucepan.

Dry the ossobucco pieces and dredge them in the flour mixture. Shake off excess flour and fry in the oil till brown all round then set aside.

In the same pan, fry your onion and mix well till soft, before adding the garlic and green pepper. Add the tomato paste and the sauce and vinegar as well as the sugar, stir well.

Add the ossobuco pieces to the pan…

…and some water to just cover them.. then add the chopped tomato on top.

Cover and simmer on low for 2 hours, till the meat is ready and tender. Once ready, sprinkle with the coriander and lemon.

Cook your spaghetti as per the pack instructions and plate.

The sauce is thick, the meat is tender, succulent and full of flavour.

Worth a try right?

You can also check out these other tasty beef ossobuco recipes already on the blog:-

. Instant Pot Ossobuco.

.Curried Beef Shank.

. Naan and Ossobuco.

Broccoli and Potato Soup.

On By WanjoroIn RecipesLeave a comment

Ok. The soup has other vegetables but broccoli is the main star in this healthy bowl of soup.

I’ve been on a soft food diet for a while now and mashed food, porridge, soups and smoothies have been my main go-tos for a quick and easy nourishment fix. I will be posting the other soups too but you can check out some of my smoothie bowl and porridge recipes here and here.

This soup is easy to make. Uses easily available ingredients and is filling enough for a light dinner. Serve it up with some grilled cheese toast or crusty bread and you’re good to go. 🤗

Let’s get started.

Ingredients are:- One chopped red onion, 6 garlic cloves, 2 celery stalks, 2 carrots, 2 large potatoes, chopped and diced. Butter, coriander seeds, dried thyme, salt and Pepper to taste.
Heat your pan and add 1 1/2 tbsp of some butter, I added some olive oil so the butter would not burn. Toast one tsp of coriander seeds in the butter, they will be fragrant but make sure they do not burn.
Next, add the onion, cook till a bit softened before adding the minced garlic, mix well.
Your kitchen is smelling amazing at this time. Now it is time to put in the chopped celery and diced carrot. Mix well and add one tbsp of thyme, some salt and pepper to taste and a pinch of basil too.
Next go in the potatoes and the broccoli stalks which you can dice thickly.
Once the potatoes are cooked an beginning to soften, add your broccoli florets and one and 1/2 cups of water or vegetable stock. Remember to check seasoning.

Cover and let simmer till everything is well combined, taste then if done to your liking, blend to your prefered consistency.

I usually add a little splash of balsamic vinegar to my soups just to deepen the flavours a bit.

Serve hot in a bowl with grated cheddar cheese on top.

I garnished it with some baobab powder and moringa powder for additional nutrients and to perk it up a bit. They do not affect the soup’s flavour though.

The soup is delicious, colourful and tasty, the kids had seconds. It goes in well with buttered toast, and is perfect for cool days or evenings when you want to a comforting bowl of soup.

Try it and let me know what you think.

Love,

Wanjoro.

Tasty Chickpea, Eggplant and Spinach Curry.

On By WanjoroIn Recipes3 Comments

This curry is insanely delicious!

All you have to do is take your time and let it sit a while. As with all curries the flavors just melt into each other and are still delicious as leftover lunch.

This curry has eggplant, chickpeas, tomatoes, baby spinach and some coconut milk, making it an explosion of flavour that will please both meat lovers and vegetarians alike.

Ingredients are : a can of chickpeas, a small bag of baby spinach, two medium eggplants, one onion, 3 tomatoes, a heaped teaspoon of ginger garlic paste, some tomato paste, a pinch of sugar, cup and a half of thick coconut milk, and salt and pepper to taste, a small bunch of coriander, leaves and stalks separated and chopped. Our spices are 1 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp ground turmeric, 1 tsp dhania jeera powder and a tbsp of Kenyan curry powder. Also used a tsp of black mustard seeds, cumin seeds and 1/2 a tsp of fennel seeds, as well as a bay leaf.

First off, drain and rinse off our chickpeas, set aside. Chop /Dice your eggplant and soak in salted water to remove bitterness and avoid them turning black.

Heat your pan on medium heat and add 1 tbsp of coconut oil, add the mustard, cumin and fennel seeds and bay leaf.

Once they start sputtering add the chopped onion and some coriander stalks. Mix well and let it cook till softened, before adding the ginger garlic paste.

Once that cooks, add your ground spices, lower heat and let the spices cook a bit. Add the tomato paste and mix well.

You can now add your drained and rinsed eggplant, add a splash of water, cover and let cook for 5-6 minutes. Then add the tomatoes. Add a bit of salt and pepper, then cover and let the tomatoes cook down. ( I do not rush this as I want the flavours to blend properly, also I usually season food as I cook).

Once the tomatoes cook down, add the chickpeas and about a cup and a half of thick coconut milk. Mix well, cover and let simmer on low for about 20 minutes.

Add your washed and drained spinach leaves and let cook for about five minutes more. Check seasoning, turn off heat and garnish with dhania leaves.

Serve hot with chapati or rice.

We had ours with coconut and pumpkin chapatis, whose recipe I will share soon.

Enjoy this meal as a quick weeknight curry that is great for the kids lunchboxes the next day too.

It is healthy, colourful, tasty and easy to make which as you already know, I love!

Try it and let me know what you think.

Love,

Wanjoro.