COOKING WITH YOUR SENSES

In this age of technology, where they are so many things like video games, movies, phones and easy access to emails from work, the temptation to continue work at home is very tempting. Aside that, there is also the demands from family and friends wanting our attention in the middle of cooking.

Never has cooking being a challenge. The tendency to forget that one  has something on fire is more, because of numerous distractions that comes with living in this day and time.

This could translate to food getting burnt, vegetables  loosing their nutrients because they are over cooked, oil getting to hot on fire and basically loosing a lot of gas.

One of the many arts of cooking, is cooking with your senses. The ability to cook with not just the eyes, but with the ears, tongue and mind.

Interestingly, as you practice cooking more often, your mind and senses begin to master the sounds of food. It is also the same way you look at the color of something you fry, and just know when it is cooked by merely looking at the color.

And when someone asks you how you know it is cooked, your reply is often "you just know"
Therefore, if you consciously listen to the sounds around you when you are cooking, you will soon be able to tell ; when the water is boiling, when the water is drying up, the sound for a perfectly sautéd vegetable, the sound of a well fried fish e.t
.c.

It is an art that may not be taught, but it can be surely learned. With conscious effort and a deliberate decision to awaken your senses when it is time to cook.

                                                                                                                             Written by Mary Jane.

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FORCING YOUR CHILDREN TO EAT

Often times, when our children are weaned, or when they clock six months,a mother is usually excited. It is that time of their lives when they are introduced to different kinds of meals. It is also that time of our lives as mothers, when we want to take a break. We become excited about the idea of them getting full on foods that we introduce to them, and spending less time on our nipples.

At six months, some children are already growing teeth, and would nibble on our nipple to test our reactions or maybe scratch their gums. Who knows?.
I'm usually fascinated at how hurt and upset they feel when they are flicked for nibbling on the nipples and would forget very fast, and nibble again.

When they are half a year, they begin to learn to sit, attempt to crawl and stay away from our weary arms a bit longer. The joy, the joy of not holding them all the time, and having a little spare time here and there, to do other things. And not having them get in the way with love!

The joy of this extra free time, gets to us, that we want to force them to eat other meals. We begin to try grains like

Corn (akamu)
Guinea corn (kunu)
Tom brown (a mixture of grains and groundnut)
Acha
And other available cereals.

These are easy grains to prepare, we get frustrated and start closing their nose, grabbing their hands, and forcing food down their throats. We begin to unconsciously make them prisoners of food.

As much as we enjoy this little freedom, the best thing yo give your child at this time is little smashes of fruits like

Avocado
Watermelon
Bananas
A little of things that you eat. Smashed of course.
And if they happen to like cereals, then go all out for it.

After all at six months, you are not weaning the child completely. You are a only taking a break from exclusive breast feeding. W.H.O (world health organization) advice's to breast feed till the child is at least 2.

So six months is not the best time to force them to eat. It is the time to observe them and understand what they like and what they don't like. And if your child is picky at 6months, don't worry. Just feed them what they appreciate for now.

As they keep eating the preferred food, it will ignite their curiosity to want more, or they will get tired of a particular meal and want more.

                                                                                                                   Written by Mary Jane.

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