A Creepy Crawly made from Cereals

According to a survey by Nestle, 47% of children have munched on a creepy crawly from the garden. Thankfully, my own five have never succumbed to the urge to chow down on a caterpillar, worm or heaven forbid, a slug! I would have officially freaked out if my kids had ever indulged in an insectoid treat. Just the thought of it makes me shudder.

Although almost half of the children of the parents surveyed would have happily gobbled up a bug or two, over two thirds would refuse to eat a plate full of greens. I know what I would prefer!

Despite some children's strange dietary habits, it's easy to get some wholegrain goodness and added vitamins and minerals in their diet by giving them a bowl of fortified cereals.

To celebrate how nutritious cereals can be and to show kids there are better things to eat than bugs, Nestle have joined forces with food artist Prudence Staite to create a giant caterpillar made from cereals.

Nestle have also challenged us to have a go at making our own cereal creepy crawly creation. So the children set to work to make their own cereal butterfly! I think that for every one piece of cereal stuck on to the butterfly, the kids ate at least two!

They cut the body from the cereal box and using PVA glue stuck the Cheerios all over it. While it dried they made the wings by splodging paint on one half of a piece of A3 paper then folding it in half to make a matching pattern on each wing. Once dried they cut it into wing shapes and attached the Cheerio covered body. The finishing touches included more Nestle Nesquik cereals, sequins, pompoms, pipe cleaner antennae, a smiley foam mouth and googly eyes. I loved the finished result. So colourful and bright - a really cheerful Cheerio Butterfly!

The butterfly had a photo shoot in its natural habitat, the garden! It looked so bright and cute among the bushes and plants. Who knew that cereals could inspire such creativity - while still tasting so delicious!

NEW Low Sugar Oat Cheerios

NEW Low Sugar Oat Cheerios, have just 1.4g of sugar per serving, are rich in fibre and are made with 98% wholegrain. They give families the opportunity to maintain the balance between a great tasting breakfast and a healthier way to start the day.

Freddy is a big fan of Cheerios so he was our first test subject.  I didn't tell him they were new, and just gave him a bowlful in his favourite bowl just like I always do.  Immediately he looked suspicious and asked why were they all white!  Then he tried a few spoonfuls and said that they weren't quite as tasty as his usual three colour Cheerios, but they were OK.  We compromised by adding a handful of regular Cheerios to the bowl, and he yummied them all up.

For me, this is a success story.  Freddy is the boy who hates change and likes exactly what he likes. I happily adopt compromises that will mean he is still getting all the taste and crunch, but with less sugar in half of what he consumed. I will never make mealtimes a battlefield, and when a happy compromise can be reached, I think it moves things forward for the better with everyone still smiling. The wholegrain goodness and lower sugar recipe provides a good start to the day for my little boy.

Ian, on the other hand, always complains about the sweetness of cereals, so the Low Sugar Oat Cheerios were perfect for him.  As oats are such a superfood, packed with slow release energy, these cereals make a great start to the day.  They are quick and convenient and they retain the element of fun with their tasty 'O' format.

It is good that Nestle are responding to the new guidelines on sugar, allowing us all to continue enjoying our favourite cereals in a healthier way.

Find Nestle cereals in the cereal aisle of supermarkets.

Shake Up your Wake Up with Nestle Cereals #BreakfastWeek

Nestle are celebrating #BreakfastWeek by inviting us all to shake up our wake up and make breakfast times more fun.  They want us to get creative with the kids and mix and match our cereals to make a yummy concoction to start the day.  Not only will this encourage kids to get involved with preparing their breakfast, it will ensure they enjoy a nutritious start to their morning.

Funnily enough, breakfast cereal concoctions have been a 'thing' here Inside the Wendy House for as long as I can remember.  Why have one type of cereal when you can have two or even three?  There is so much choice and with every green bannered box of Nestle breakfast cereals, you know you are getting wholegrain goodness and at least five vitamins and minerals.  You really can't go wrong.

Freddy's favourite, which he has every morning is a Cheerio and Shreddies combo with cold, almond milk.

So, here I give to you Freddy's Nestle Cheerio and Shreddies combo:

Freddio's Shreddio's!

Kezia went for a mix of Curiously Cinnamon and Cookie Crisp, served with a splash of cold almond milk (or eaten dry from a bowl as a tasty brekkie on her way to school along with a drinkable yogurt for a hearty breakfast on the go!)

Kezia called her combo:  Sugar and Spice.

Some Halloween Fun from Love Brands

We received a great Halloween Hamper from Love Brands full of lots of goodies for us to have some seasonal fun!  With products such as Nestle Milky Bar, Smarties, Yorkie, Hartley's Jelly, Shredded Wheat and Lyon's Golden Syrup, there was plenty of scope for getting creative.

The Smarties tubes are great for arts and crafts.  Freddy made a scary spider using green pipe cleaners wrapped around the tube to make a furry body and legs.  Googly eyes completed the amazing arachnid!

After doing some crafts we headed to the kitchen so Freddy could make his favourite chocolate crackle cakes.  He decided to add some extras such as chopped marshmallows, Jelly Tots, chopped Milky Bar and sprinkles to the melted chocolate, syrup and crushed Shredded Wheat mixture to make Witch's Cauldon Cakes!

Apart from heating the chocolate and golden syrup in a pan, Freddy was able to do everything himself.  He loved crushing the Shredded Wheat with his hands and stirring through the melted chocolate.  He added sweeties to the mix and topped each individual portion with some sweets and sprinkles.  You can add marshmallows, dried fruits, nuts or any jelly sweets to the mix.

This is a great no-cook kitchen activity for even the youngest child to participate in.  They love getting messy and can experiment with the ingredients.  We use cooking a an opportunity to brush up on maths skills; weighing, measuring and counting.

The Witch's Cauldron Cakes are left to set and then can be enjoyed as a Halloween treat!

A great tip to make a scary jelly treat is to oil the inside of a clean rubber glove and use it as a mould. Pour in the liquid jelly, tie a knot in the glove and leave to set. Cut away the rubber glove. The resulting jelly hand is a truly terrifying and tasty centrepiece to add to any Halloween party table!

Whatever you make this year, have some fun crafting and cooking!

Nutritious Breakfast Advice from Nestle

We recently took part in a campaign with Nestle, keeping a breakfast diary then discussing the findings with a nutritionist.

When it comes to breakfast, I usually sit down after the school run to eat a bowl of porridge or have a bowl of cereals both made using almond milk. The nutritionist said that porridge was a good source of slow release energy and is a great breakfast as long as it isn't served with too many sweet toppings.  She recommended topping with fresh fruit to get one of my five a day, although I usually have it plain.  Cereals should preferably be wholegrain and fortified with vitamins and minerals to maximize their health benefits.

I prefer using vegan milks rather than dairy, whereas the nutritionist was very much a pro-dairy advocate. Plant based milks tend to be fortified with calcium and vitamins and the one I use Alpro Almond Original is low in fat and just 48 calories per 100ml.  So I have no qualms about using non-dairy alternatives, which I personally think are a better source of nutrition and a healthier alternative.  Plus I really like it!

Ian likes toast for breakfast and as we tend to buy 50/50 wholegrain bread, which the kids prefer, so he's getting his fibre and also getting the fortification that goes into it.  He will also sometimes have cereals served with unsweetened soya milk, another good source of fibre and as the cereals and milk are both fortified, he is getting vitamins and minerals too.  He usually eats fruit on his commute into work, adding to his 5 a day tally.

The nutritionist reminded me of the importance of getting calcium in our diet.  By our late teens most of our future bone strength is pre-determined so it is vital to ensure our children get their RDA.  The kids do still eat some dairy products: cheese, yogurt and milk, plus they have have fortified non-dairy milks too.  Leafy green vegetables and pulses are great sources of calcium (as vegetarians we get plenty of both). So hopefully they will have plenty of calcium in reserve for when they get older and age causes them to lose bone strength. They don't need a high dairy diet to do this.

Milk and wholegrain fortified cereals make up the breakfasts of both Freddy and Kizzy. They tend to choose Cheerios or Shreddies, both fortified and not too high on the added sugars.  Wholegrain cereals are really important to our diets and the Nestle cereals are an easy way of getting one of our daily portions of wholegrains.

When it comes to 17 year old Ella, it's usually a case of breakfast on the bus on her way to college.  A cereal bar and a bottle of water usually does the job, giving her the hydration and the energy she needs.  Not the most nutritious start to the day, but she has a good healthy lunch and access to healthy food at college so I don't worry too much.  Anything is better than nothing when it comes to getting something to eat on a rushed morning.

We could improve our mornings by adding fruit such as bananas, grapes or berries with breakfast.  Fruit juices are also good but only in moderation.  Using our juicer to make juices that contain not only regular fruits but which also contain foods such as spinach, kale, fresh ginger and wheatgrass will provide a healthy plant-based boost to our breakfast.  But as vegetarians we generally always get our five a day anyway, and so any extra will be an added bonus.

Nestle kindly sent us a box of their cereals that will keep us in healthy wholegrain breakfasts for a good few weeks!  The kids absolutely love a bowl of dry Curiously Cinnamon cereals as an alternative to eating biscuits.  It's a healthier wholegrain snack for them to enjoy after school.

Fun With Food Art

Once upon a time, cereal was served in a bowl with milk...if you were really exotic, perhaps you'd slice a banana on top or add a dollop of yogurt.  Now however, we have Wholegrain Food Art brought to us by Nestle, in support of the Team Whole Grain initiative, which is encouraging busy families across Britain to be aware of the importance of wholegrain in their diets.

Using cereals from Nestle's delicious Whole Grain products, celebrities such as Zoe Ball, Matt Dawson and Greg Searle along with nutritionist Juliette Kellow have brought us some amazing recipes, showing us the Whole Grain can be added to the diet in a fun way!

How about this impressive looking bouquet of Nestle Cereal Flower Pops?  These crunchy flower lollipops are fun and simple to make and deliver 0.5 portions of whole grain per serving.  ( Recommended daily intake is 3 portions.)

Ingredients: Makes 12

200g dark chocolate

To decorate:

Chose a variety of different Nestlé cereals to make your own designs:

Shreddies, you can use a selection of Shreddies to add colour- Coco Shreddies, Frosted Shreddies, Honey Shreddies, Golden Nuggets, Nesquik, Cheerios, Honey Oats and More, Curiously Cinnamon

Glace cherries/ Strawberries

Method:

1) Break the dark chocolate into small pieces, and microwavable on medium in 20 seconds blasts, stirring every time, until melted, but not hot.

2) Using the teaspoon, make round pools of chocolate on the prepared baking sheet, and place the wooden skewers into the chocolate, at one end, twisting it to coat it and make secure.

3) While the chocolate is still set, press in your desired cereals to form petals and the flower centres; try to mix up the colours to make pretty coloured flowers.

4) Chill for 10 minutes, until set.

5) Peel the cereal flowers off the greaseproof paper.

6) Push the skewers into the melon to make a pretty centrepiece, or display the flowers by placing them into a glass. (You could fill the glass with pieces of fruit).

The children could let their imagination run riot decorating these flowers and will enjoy eating the end result!  It is a fun activity to do with the kids.

The Golden Nuggets Treasure Chest is a crispy and chewy cereal, nut, sultana and dark chocolate treasure chest decorated with whole grain cereal, cherries, nuts, and filled with fresh fruit treasure.  It would make an impressive centre piece for a party.

Ingredients (serves 24)

500g dark Chocolate (bars or buttons)

400g Sultanas

200g raisin oats & More

160g Shreddies, lightly crushed

180g Chopped almonds

180g Sliced Glace Cherries

750g Condensed Milk (2 cans) 

Decoration:

30g nesquik

30g Golden nuggets

100g dark Chocolate, melted (as glue)

(Cereal fish shapes see below)

Sea Bed: (Optional)

50g raisin oats & More

Method:

1. Break the chocolate into small pieces and place into a microwavable bowl. Melt the chocolate in the microwave on medium setting in 20 seconds blasts, stirring every time until melted, but do not get it hot. 

2. Dividing the melted chocolate into 3 portions, pour it into the prepared trays. 

3. Refrigerate until set.

4. Combine the sultanas, cereal, nuts, cherries and milk in a mixing bowl, and mix well. 

5. Remove 1 tray from the fridge and spread one third of the mixture evenly over the chocolate using the back of a spoon. repeat with other 2 trays. 

6. Bake in moderate oven for 15-20 minutes. 

7. Cool, refrigerate until set, and then remove from tins onto a chopping board. 

8. To assemble: Cut each slab in half across the shortest side, to make 6 pieces. Cut 1 of these in half, to make the sides of the chest. Using 5 of the pieces makes a lid, a front, a back, and a base all the same size, and 2 smaller side pieces. (6 in total)  Cut the remaining piece into fish shapes using a cutter, to decorate the background, or chest.

9. Place the base onto a board and using a line of melted chocolate join the back to the base, repeat until you have attached all 4 sides. You will have to be patient and hold them together until set!  Then refrigerate until really firm.

10. Using a teaspoon put a small amount of melted chocolate on to a Golden nugget and attach it to the box. repeat to make a pattern. Repeat using the nesquik. Add cereal fish if you wish. Leave to set firm.

11. Transfer to the serving dish or board and fill with the prepared fruits, and rest the lid on top. (you can fix this on at an angle with a little melted chocolate if you prefer) Surround with cereal seabed (and add fish shapes if not yet used). 

Seabed to Serve:

50g Curiously Cinnamon

30g Brown Sugar (for sand)

Filling:

Selection of fruit - (Photograph 

suggestion - red and black grapes, 

strawberries, raspberries)

Take a look at the Team Whole Grain site to find out more about including wholegrain in your family's diet.  Look out for the green banner on your favourite Nestle cereals, making them easy to spot  ...all Nestle cereals contain whole grain (unfortunately not all other cereals do.)

I am going to be making the Cheerio's Fluffy Sheep with the kids so watch out for the post...coming soon!