TO IMPRESS, AND FEEDING THE 5,000...DAILY
Serves 8
INGREDIENTS:
500g fresh salmon
150g edamame beans 1 cucumber, peeled
3 ripe avocados
2 lemons, juice only
2 large firm tomatoes
3 sheets of Nori seaweed 125g smoked salmon, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp black sesame seeds
For the dressing:
2 tbsp rice vinegar 2 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp honey 4 tbsp olive oil Salt, pepper
SCHOOL holidays are here and it’s as if a storm of locusts has descended upon my larder. Not that I have a larder. I wish I did as my two large fridges and assorted food cupboards are currently looking as well stocked as Old Mother Hubbard’s.
During termtime, all I need to feed my children is breakfast; a healthy snack (or two) for break or after-school club, and then supper. I do one big supermarket shop plus a top-up.
As soon as they walk out of those school gates they utter the first “I’m hungry”. This is repeated at five minute intervals for the next six weeks.
So huge are their appetites, I’ve no idea how they get through the school day without passing out with hunger. Of course they’re not really starving, but what sort of a
www. homecookingbyfabienne. co.uk Jewish mother can deny her offspring sustenance?
To hush the constant whining, my mission for the next five weeks is to keep them fed — whilst somehow keeping my food costs in check. Difficult when I seem to be permanently marching up and down a supermarket aisle.
I also want to avoid giving them sugary snacks or crisps, so I’ve been trying to be creative. Here are a few of the healthy snacks I’ve been serving:
Frozen grapes
— in hot weather these are genius. Strip off the stems, wash and freeze in bags.
Apple circles spread with peanut butter — slice the apples horizontally into discs and punch out the cores a small round cutter or icing nozzle. Spread with nut butter and sprinkle with flaked almonds.
Fruit skewers — more fun when they spear the cut-up fruit for themselves.
Baby cucumbers — halve them horizontally, remove the wet seeds and spread with cream cheese or hummus. (Or quarter whole cucumbers horizontally, deseed, cut into smaller sections and fill them.)
I’m sure by week three I’ll be lobbing packets of crisps their way, with Smartie chasers, but for now, I’m winning.