Fast, satisfying and nourishing recipes, specially designed for solo dads, and dads who share parenting duties with their partners. Great fathers are unsung heroes who want to be ‘hands-on’ dads, the best dads they possibly can to their children.
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Dads & kids can have fun cooking together
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However, dads are usually good at things like building garden sheds, house maintenance, trail bike riding, fixing car motors, kids’ bikes, and mowing lawns. Some dads are even great cooks, but not necessarily the kind of cook needed at rush hour in a household when parents have outside careers as well.
Many parents are finding life very stressful; running a household and a career, but more especially dads. Society in Australia and New Zealand is changing rapidly for dads. I have spoken to dads who are on shift work, for example, aircraft engineers, nurses, who usually don’t get enough sleep during their shifts, but still want to be dads who share household chores. Time is always short but they nevertheless forego sleep to get up early afternoon to collect their children from school and kinder, take them to extra curricular activities and then race home to cook their dinner. With barely time to eat the meal they have just cooked, these great dads race off to their night shift for an intensive 12-18 hour stint.
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Helping dad in the kitchen
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HANDY TIPS FOR STRESS-FREE MEAL TIMES:
- Allow at least an hour and a half for each meal-from preparation to table; if you want the children seated at the table and eating by, say, 6.15pm, don’t think of that time, think 4.45pm because that’s when you need to drop what you are doing and begin the preparation for that evening’s meal. This is the most important first step, because a lot of stress comes about when dad is really pushed for time. Good planning is vital to avoid this.
- If you are the family cook for four days say, choose recipes for the four days, and write out a list of all ingredients you will need. Check the fridge, pantry, and cross off the items you already have. Keep a notebook especially for this purpose; one you can take to the supermarket with you to do the shopping (or of course use your iphone, it has a great app. for this purpose). This may seem too regimental at first, but once you get into the right mindset, you will be able to do it without the notebook. Having said that, I still have a notepad at the end of my kitchen bench on which I jot down any ingredients or veges I am low on and take the note with me to the supermarket. I am one of those cooks who go to the supermarket and open market only once a week and I very rarely run out of anything mid-recipe. I grow my own herbs and leafy green vegetables amongst flowers in my garden, or in large terracotta pots, which is a great help. Involve the children in growing things as well, they usually love it because these plants grow quickly and they can help you harvest them when needed.
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Raiding the strawberry patch
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- Always choose simple recipes for your working week and school nights. If the meat has cooked before the vegetables are ready, place the meat on a warm dish and cover with tin foil. You can do the same if the vegetables are cooked before the meat is ready. I have chosen recipes with young children in mind, therefore low on spices and ingredients such as garlic. It is easy to increase these at any time in the future when the children are older. Cook more complicated meals when everyone in the family has a relaxing day off together, and everyone can join in. Parents tell me they like to have their young children in bed by 7.30pm on school nights, not only so they get plenty of sleep, but to allow their parents’ to have some quiet time to themselves.
- You can include older children in the menu preparation, they will love doing that, but don’t let them rule the roost; you just want ideas from them. Meals need to be nourishing and filling, with little or no salt or sugar. By the time your children are teenagers you will be an old hand at cooking up a storm and they will love you all the more for it, and be less inclined to race to a fast food outlet with their hunger pangs. They will learn how to cook from you as well as from their mum. It’s all about learning new life skills.
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Great Dads
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CRISPY SPINACH & TUNA RICE CAKE
Crispy Tuna Rice Cake
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- vegetable oil, preferably olive oil
- 1 medium red capsicum finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- 200g baby spinach leaves (Italian or curled parsley if spinach not at hand)
- 2 cups cooked long grain basmati white rice
- 425g can tuna, drained
- 1 onion sliced thinly
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or fennel
- 4 egg whites beaten lightly
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in non-stick pan, add capsicum stirring until soft, add garlic and spinach stirring until spinach is wilted. In a large bowl, combine rice, tuna, onion, herbs, egg whites, capsicum mixture, lemon rind, salt and pepper. Brush or spray the same non-stick pan well with olive oil and return the mixture to the pan, cover with lid or tin foil, and cook over low-medium heat for about 10 or 15 minutes, or until the base is golden brown. Wrap handle (if not heat proof) with foil and place under a pre-heated grill for about 5 or 10 minutes or until set. Set timer so you don’t forget it!
Serve with side dishes of mixed salad. Little bowls with rings of cucumber and raw carrot sticks for the kids, they love those. Kids also love creamy mayonnaise spread over the slices of the rice cake. Praise have a lovely traditional mayonnaise which is made from eggs so is also dairy free. ( I have no financial interest at all in Praise, I just know how good this particular product is).
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Delicious Italian Pizza Dough To Which You Can Add a Variety of Toppings
An absolute favourite with the children in our families
Delicious home made pizza
Make the dough up in the morning or just before you race out to pick the children up from School or Kinder. So quick, so easy
- 2 teaspoons dried yeast
- 2 teaspoons mixed dried herbs or fresh rosemary (optional)
- 1 teaspoon castor sugar
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 2 cups plain flour
- 1 heaped teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Dried Oregano
Place the cup of lukewarm water in a bowl. Sprinkle over the sugar then the yeast. Leave for five or ten minutes until the mixture is slightly frothy. Add two cups plain sifted flour, the salt, and oil. Mix well in the bowl with wooden spoon and when all ingredients in a ball, roll around the bowl gently kneading with your hand for a couple of seconds until dough is smooth. Cover with cling wrap and leave in the pantry or dark cool place for at least and hour. I sometimes leave the dough all day.
This amount of dough makes two family sized pizzas. I use two large round pizza trays with holes and place these on pizza stones on bottom rung of oven, (pizza stones not essential, but still place trays on bottom rung in oven). The pizza stone must be heated in the oven at 210° for at least 40 minutes before placing the pizza trays on the stone. It is well worth buying a pizza stone for a crispier pizza base. They are not very expensive. Cook at 210° for 20 minutes. Use the forced fan function on your oven if you have it.
Prepare the pizza toppings while oven is heating up.
Pizza Toppings:
Gently knead dough until smooth for a few seconds on bench dusted with flour, then break into two halves. Roll out one half and place into the well oiled pizza tray. Press the dough gently around the edges of the tray.
Lay thinly sliced tomatoes all over pizza, then sprinkle over grated cheese. Colby and mozzarella cheeses are great for pizza toppings but you can also use a cheddar. (Leave out the cheese for dairy free).
Next sprinkle over finely chopped red onion or shallots, chopped bacon or ham, and a few pineapple pieces if the children like it. Other toppings you can use: anchovies, mushrooms, olives. Finally, lightly sprinkle over the dried Oregano.
Another topping children love is baked beans. You can spread a layer on to the pizza dough, add chopped onion and finely chopped bacon or ham, and then a light topping cheese if desired.
Left over cold pizza is great for lunches, that is if there is any left after dinner! We never buy pizza now because it is so quick and easy to make and you can usually find ingredients in the pantry or fridge for toppings.
If you have any tips or recipes to help out our dads, please leave in the comments section. This post has already helped more than one dad.
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