Sugar is a contentious topic! Particularly when it comes to sugar and kids. In this blog, I’ll share five things that, as a dietitian, I’d love you to know about the different types of sugar and how to manage it whilst not being afraid of it!
Read MoreI’ll be spending this month encouraging my children to get out into the garden and help me with my new food growing endeavours. I’m a novice gardener with barely a perennial or a flowering shrub to my name. I love nature and appreciate the beauty of other people’s gardens but I’ve never been able to fully commit to my own.
Read MoreHome schooling? Working from home? Self isolating? Whatever you find yourself doing during these heady days of 2021, it most likely involves eating lunch at home - because we can’t go anywhere….
I’ve come up with 50 quick and easy lunch ideas for that most challenging meal of the day and no, they’re not all sandwiches!
Read MoreHave you got a child that’s a picky eater? They’ll will eat carrots and roast chicken but turn their nose up at broccoli and salmon? Or will eat salmon but refuse to touch potatoes? Or will only eat white bread….. Then your child may suffer from neophobia - along with 50-75% of children aged under 6 years old.
Read MoreI’m not in the least bit sad to see the back of October. The first of November is the day we were finally allowed back out after 3 weeks of quarantining.
Read MoreWhat are your trick-or-treat plans for 2020? We all know that there’s not going to be a lot of trick-or-treating this year, if any, give the current circumstances we find ourselves in.
Read MoreSo everyone is safely back to school and people all around the country and even the world are settling back into somewhat of a routine after the past few months. Here in this house, breakfast has been a bit of a non-event the last few months depending on the child.
Read MoreBack to school is fast approaching and with it, the return of the dreaded school lunch box. And this year, with no school lunches for the past 6 months as a result of the school closures, will be a bigger challenge than normal to get back on the bandwagon!
Read MoreTeaching kids to cook online was never on my list of things to do in 2020! I had plenty of other aspirations but that was certainly not one of them!
Read MoreOur world’s changed on that fateful day in March when our Taoiseach announced the closure of schools and effectively, our society. And our lives changed out of all recognition.
Read MoreWhat age can kids start cooking? From 10 years old? Or maybe 13? What about the dangers of using the cooker and hot saucepans and sharp knives. And the mess, oh the mess….
Read MoreI’ve got it on good authority (2 friends and the empty flour section in the supermarket!), that people are doing a lot of baking at the moment! Kids love to bake and it’s a great skill for them to learn - but are we missing an opportunity here?
Read MoreA week ago, the schools shut down in a bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus and life as we parents knew it, stopped (or radically changed). I’ve spent a week reading news stories, following it on Twitter and worrying.
Read MoreI believe that food education is essential in schools. Recently, the The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment announced some proposed changes to the primary school curriculum.
Read MoreThe work of The Cool Food School is centred around children - mine and yours. Our
children are very important to us - nobody disputes that. We cherish them from birth,
and as they grow, their little world expands and they are introduced to more of everything - people, toys, experiences and food.
Read MoreIt’s that time of year again when we all go into a frenzy of list writing and google searching for the perfect gifts for our loved ones.
Read MoreI say no to my children a lot. I buy petrol, I say no. I’m grocery shopping and I have to say no. I bring them to the barber and I say no. We’re waiting to collect someone from swimming and I have to say no to sweets, jellies, ice cream, crisps. It’s wearing, frustrating and stressful.
Read MoreSo Halloween is over but the stash of sweets, jellies, lollipops and other trick-or-treat “goodies” is still hanging around. My #givecashnottrash initiative was popular with all the kids who called to my door but what about my own kids?
Read MoreOctober means it’s all about Halloween in my house. Along with the costume debate (who’s going to wear what, where can I possibly get a costume for a dead teacher/bus conductor/hedgehog?) goes the chat about the trick-or-treat haul. How many sweets did you get last year?
Read MoreMy daughter begged and begged me for a packet of Dairylea Dunkers in the supermarket recently. It is not the kind of thing I would ever buy for my lot as the list of ingredients reads like a chemists shelf (polyphosphate, calcium phosphate, lactic acid, citric acid, paprika extract..)
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