Blog - CLEAN PLATE

CP Bircher Muesli

1/19/2018

By Clean Plate

A delicious combination of oats, yoghurt, apple and cinnamon, our CP Bircher Muesli is a refreshing and healthy snack, perfect for the hot Summer months and as an alternative to porridge or cereals!

Bircher Muesli originated in Switzerland around the 1900s, but nowadays, it has gained in popularity and is eaten across the world. Much like the dried muesli version most of us are familiar with, there are numerous variations of the original.
Traditionally, bircher muesli is made by soaking oats overnight in a combination of one or more ingredients such as milk, yoghurt or fruit juice. It is then mixed with chopped nuts and grated apple, and sweetened with a little honey or a similar natural sweetener. Quick and rolled oats speed up this process, meaning they only need to soak for as little as 1 to 2 hours. However, if you'd rather make it the day before and have the space to store it in the fridge, go ahead and you'll have morning tea ready when you arrive.
Because most early learning centres in New Zealand opt to be nut-free, we make our CP Bircher Muesli with no nuts, but if that's not a concern for you, feel free to add your favourite nut or a combination. We love the taste of roasted almonds with ours.
We also keep it honey free, if serving for children under 1, as honey may contain the spores that may lead to botulism, and is not recommended for children under 1 year.
If you'd like to use honey, you could always make a separate batch for under and over 1s, clearly labeling each one. However, we find it sweet enough as is, especially if serving with sliced or mashed bananas, mangoes, or other fruits which are naturally sweeter, ripe and in season. Yum!

CP Bircher Muesli
Recipe by Clean Plate
Serves 10 (as a snack)
1 cup oats
2 Tbsp sultanas, raisins or diced apricots
Juice of 2 oranges
125 ml milk
1 cup greek style yoghurt
1 apple, cored, unpeeled, grated
Pinch of ground cinnamon
1 tsp honey or maple syrup (optional)*
Fresh fruit, to serve – e.g. sliced bananas, quartered strawberries, blueberries, peaches, kiwifruit, or any other fresh fruit available.

Method:
1. Place oats, sultanas and orange juice in a large, non-metallic bowl. Stir and leave soaking while preparing the other ingredients.
2. In another bowl, mix the milk, yoghurt, cinnamon and honey (if using), until well combined. Add to the oats and mix.
3. Add the grated apple to the muesli and stir to combine.
4. Cover the bowl and let it stand for at least 1 hour, up to overnight.
4. Serve the bircher muesli with fresh fruit.

*Omit the honey or maple syrup if serving the bircher muesli to children under 1 year-old.

Kinetic Sand

1/15/2018

by Clean Plate

Kinetic sand is a great messy play option! Much like bubbles it is not too messy, but can provide ages of open ended play for the children. Kinetic sand has a much different texture than normal sandpit sand, and can be more easily molded and manipulated. This makes it a great medium for children to create with! You can easily incorporate cooking skills by allowing the children to help make it, providing cooking type utensils in your set-up or even using ingredients like purple cabbage or beetroot to colour the water (rather than using food coloring)! It also has a very pleasant feel and can be excellent as a calming material for anxious children.

Kinetic sand can be purchased from just about any toy or $2 shops. But to get quantities that are usable for a large group of children, I would suggest making your own. You do need to prepare it ahead of time, but involving the children in the process as well can be a great way to get in some extra mixing and measuring practice!

Kinetic Sand Recipe

10 cups clean, fine sand*
1 cups cornflour
1/2 cup dish soap
Water to mix (1 to 2 cups)
Food colouring (optional)

Mix the sand and cornflour in a large mixing bowl.
Add the dish soap and combine with a whisk.
Add water and mix until all the ingredients are fully combined.
Add the food colouring (if using) and mix in.
Leave the mixture to dry, the more water you add, the longer it will take to dry (usually 3-4 hours). You can spread it out on a large baking tray to speed the process.
Play!!

* Fine sand can usually be purchased in small bags from places like Mitre 10 or Bunnings.

To ease clean-up, play with the kinetic sand over grass, in the sandpit or over any other barked outdoor area. However, if you want to save the sand to use again, it is fairly easy to sweep up after the children are finished. Kinetic sand can be a fun indoor activity as well, in place of playdough, as it is equally easy to pack away. If using with under 2s, make sure they will not eat it - it will not poison them, but the soap can hurt their little tummies!
Give it a go, you won't be sorry!!

Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere

1/10/2018

by Clean Plate

As promised, here is the first in my series of posts on messy play. I have decided to start out with a clean messy play idea to hopefully engage those of you that feel daunted by the idea of giving children even more reason to make a mess. ;)
Bubbles make a great substitute for your usual water play and are super easy to make! The children will love scooping, blowing, gathering and fondling these fluffy little wonders!

I made these on a small scale in a large bowl, but they can easily be made in the water trough as well. Simply add dish soap to your water - to make giant, fluffy bubbles that last, add quite a generous amount - about 10 big squirts. I then used my mixer to speed the bubble creation process (the children loved this part!), but if you don't have one handy,s imply offer a range of buckets, whisks and mixing spoons and get those kids agitating! The more they mix, the more bubbles will form. If the bubbles disappear after a while, simply begin agitating the water again and more will form, no extra soap needed!

If you'd prefer not to use dish soap, any kind of bubble bath would work equally well, and may be more gentle on the children's skin. Cleanup for this is easy, the bubbles will simply melt away after some time and the water trough will just need to be rinsed thoroughly.
Go ahead, give it a go and get some of the messy play mojo! ;)

Messy Play Mojo

1/10/2018

by Clean Plate

As a teacher, especially of young children, it can be hard to maintain your 'mojo'. So much is expected of you and with so little time, it is so easy to get bogged down and forget why we ever chose this profession in the first place, but I am here to remind you that you chose it because you love it! You love watching those little minds work, you love seeing how they can take three sticks and some sand and use them in a completely novel way, you love the growth you can see each and every day, the new words, new movements, new ideas and ways of expressing themselves that these children continuously surprise us with!

For me, when I feel myself loosing my 'mojo', I fall back on my trusty friend messy play. I love messy play for so many reasons:

Messy play can be adapted for all age groups!;
It's guaranteed to engage at least some of the children for an extended period;
It's totally open ended;
Much like cooking, it can allow the children to explore a wide range of maths and science concepts (weight, volume, changes of state/colour, viscosity, new vocabulary, etc.), and skills (mixing, pouring, scooping, turn taking etc.);
It's simply fun!

,Although messy play, in most cases, is completely open ended, I have found the children quite often mimic cooking when engaged in messy play. Therefore, I often offer cups, spoons, scoops, colanders, containers of all shapes, pots, pans and mixing utensils when providing messy play to the children. This can be a great way to encourage practicing cooking skills and vocabulary without having to always offer cooking activities.

Over the next few weeks I will be posting some ideas and recipes for messy play, along with suggestions for keeping it from getting TOO messy ;). For those of you who are already into messy play, hopefully you can find some helpful ideas and suggestions, and for those of you who feel a bit to overwhelmed and bogged down by it all, give messy play a try! The children will love it and you will love watching where they decide to take you!

Sensory Ornaments

12/11/2017

By Clean Plate

Although I use the word "crafts" lightly, this is an excellent open ended Christmas craft activity for children of all ages. Simply cut shapes (we used stars, Christmas trees and gingerbread men) out of sand paper. Christmas shapes like these make cute ornaments, but you can cut simpler shapes as well if you have a lot of children, or are short on time!
Give the children a range of whole spices (we used cinnamon sticks and whole cloves) to rub onto the sand paper shapes. This will create a lovely scent on your ornaments. Other great spices include star anise, whole nutmeg and dried ginger. This activity not only allows the children to experience what these spices look and feel like in their natural state, but gives them some familiarity with the smell and texture as well. It also allows them to practice their fine motor skills by handling a range of differently shaped and sized spices.

After the children have 'spiced' their ornaments they can decorate them in a variety of ways. We used crayons because they are really easy to use on the sand paper and can be used by any age child to create cute designs. They also don't impede the scent coming through!

Healthy Celebrations in the Centre

12/3/2017

As any of you that follow us already know, we view celebration times as a great opportunity to encourage, promote and enjoy healthy eating. Celebrations are also the perfect time to develop and build on relationships with the families and whanau, and encourage their participation in your healthy food culture.
We have created a whole range of healthy, delicious and straightforward recipes that could be made with children in the centre or given as ideas to parents to bring in for a potluck style party. By giving the suggestions to parents, you can invite their participation and demonstrate that celebration foods can be healthy and tasty. An effective way to achieve this is to print some recipe options they can choose from. Not only parents will thank you for helping them decide what to bring, you'll also end up with a range of healthy and appetizing choices at your gathering!

Cheesy Stars Crackers

Green and Red Festive Smoothies

To ensure you end up with a variety of foods for your celebration, we have included a range of baked, fresh, savoury, sweet and even drinkable options. For instance we prepared our guacamole recipe with a Christmassy twist by cutting the tortilla crisps with a Christmas tree shaped cookie cutter!

Guacamole and Tortilla Crisps

Savoury Mini Muffins

We created a pair of smoothies, red and green, a duo of mini muffins, savoury and sweet, and our vegetarian snack, Xmas Roll-ups; as well as a range of fresh fruit preparations that are sure to be a hit with the children!

Christmas Roll-ups

Fruit Pizza

Creating healthy foods is not only preferable in a centre setting, it's a valuable opportunity for the children and families to learn and share plenty of other great skills. Getting the families involved will enable them to recreate these ideas at home, for their own celebrations, or allow them to share some fabulous, healthy ideas of their own!
We wish you all a happy holiday from Clean Plate!

Christmas Roll-Ups

12/3/2017

By Clean Plate

Another easy-to-make snack to add to the Christmas spread at the centre, these Christmas Roll-ups take no time to put together and are another great option for a cooking activity for over 2s.
As usual with our recipes, you can be as creative as you wish, and add or swap ingredients in the filling. Sometimes, we like to add chopped herbs to the cream cheese, or blend it with frozen spinach to make it green.
They can also be made in advance and stored in the fridge before cutting, for up to 1 day.

Christmas Roll-Ups:
Serves 10

4 x Tortilla wraps
Spreadable cream cheese
½ Red capsicum, chopped
½ Green capsicum, chopped

1. Spread the cream cheese on one side of each tortilla wrap, making sure to cover the surface all the way to the edges.
2. Sprinkle some chopped green and red capsicums on each tortilla.
3. Roll each tortilla to make a wrap.
4. Wrap each roll in cling wrap and place it in the fridge for 10 minutes, or up to 1 day.
5. Remove the clingwrap and cut each roll into 2cm slices.

Mini Muffins - Sweet and Savoury

12/3/2017

By Clean Plate

These Mini Muffins are so quick to make and delicious. Plus, there are infinite variations depending on the season and the tastes of the children! Here we create two varieties, a sweet and a savoury, which pair well and look super Christmassy!

Sweet - Strawberry and Cream Cheese Muffins

The children can help with just about every step in the process! The cheese and strawberries are easy to cut and can be done roughly so children can easily be involved in these steps! They will also love trying to mush the cheese into the flour. Spooning the mixture into the muffin is also a great way to practice their fine motor skills!

Serves 10

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup self-rising flour
2 Tbsps cream cheese
6-8 fresh strawberries
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 cup milk
spray oil

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200° C.
Mix the two types of flour in a large bowl.
Chop the cream cheese into small chunks and mash into the flour with a fork until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Dice the strawberries and add to the mixture.
Add the brown sugar and milk and mix until it forms a soft dough.
Lightly spray down the muffin tins with the spray oil.
Spoon mixture into the tins and bake for about 15 mins

Savoury- Spinach and Cheese Muffins

For the savoury version, our base is the same, but the additional ingredients differ. As with the Strawberry Muffins above, the children can help all the way. Mashing, grating and chopping are all valuable cooking skills they can master with this recipe. I usually ask them to use scissors with the spinach because it is easier and gives them snipping practice as well!

Serves 10

Ingredients:
2 cups self-raising flour
2 Tbsps margarine (rather than Cream Cheese)
2 handfuls of baby spinach
1 1/2 cups grated Edam cheese
1 cup milk
4 cherry tomatoes, sliced

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200° C.
Mash the margarine into the flour with a fork until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Roughly cut up the spinach and add to the bowl.
Add the grated cheese and the milk, and mix until it forms a soft dough.
Lightly spray down the muffin tins with the spray oil.
Spoon the mixture into the tins, top with the cherry tomato slices, and bake it for about 15 mins.

Red and Green Festive Smoothies

12/3/2017

By Clean Plate

To go along with our table of Christmas eats, we added these colourful Red and Green Festive Smoothies.
Smoothies are a great way to introduce a range of fruit and vege into the diets of young children. They are delicious, fun, easy to make and easy to eat, even for the littlest littlies! Plus, as we all know, having a variety of colours means a variety of nutrients as well! These smoothies are both dairy free as well, but should still be served cold to be at their most refreshing!

Red Festive Smoothie

Serves 10

Ingredients:
2 bananas
1/2 punnet of strawberries, washed and hulled
1 1/2 cups watermelon
water (to help with blending and gain desired texture)

Method:

Quarter bananas and strawberries and roughly chop the watermelon.
Add all the ingredients into the blender with 1/2 glass of water.
Blend until smooth.
Add a bit more water, or ice, to thin it out if needed.

Green Festive Smoothie

Serves 10

Ingredients:
2 Bananas
2 Kiwifruit
A handful of baby spinach
1 pear (we used canned pears in juice, drained; since the ones at the shop were too hard)
Water - just enough to help with blending and gain desired texture

Method:

Peal and quarter the bananas, kiwifruit and pear (unless using canned).
Add fruit to the blender along with the spinach and a bit of water.
Blend until smooth.
Add a bit more water, or ice, to thin it out if needed.

Cheesy Star Crackers

11/26/2017

By Clean Plate

These cheesy star crackers are a lovely addition to your healthy Christmas spread. They look great, taste yummy and are super easy to prepare. Here we have paired them with some red, white and green vege skewers, but they could just as easily be served with a dip like our guacamole!

Cheesy Star Crackers
Serves 10

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups grated vegetables (we used a mixture of carrot and kumara)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup of Edam cheese, grated
1 1/2 cups of flour (we used a mixture of wholemeal and high grade), plus more for rolling

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Grate the vegetables on the thin side of the grater, place them in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with water and microwave for 3 mins. Allow to cool slightly and strain the water out. Squeeze the grated vege mixture to remove as much moisture as possible.
Mix grated vege with the cheese and eggs.
Slowly mix in the flour. If your mixture is sticky, add more flour as needed, until reaching a good consistency for rolling.
Flour your surface and the rolling pin and roll out quite thin (about 3-4 mm thick). Cut out the stars and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Bake for about 10 mins or until crackers are golden and crisp.