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Phone: (02) 9831 5252

Mobile: 0432 585 326

Email: admin@baccc.org.au

Address: 27 Richmond Road, Blacktown NSW 2148

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Cooking with Emma

Emma is our Service Cook and she is passionate about cooking with our children and educating them about good nutrition. Aside from making all the delicious and nutritionally balanced meals for our centre, you will often see Emma interacting with the children in their rooms and the outdoor environment, teaching them about growing food, harvesting food and cooking food. 

 

Emma chooses recipes that are derived from children's interest in play and creates these intimate learning experiences to teach children a range of skills including risk management, numeracy, literacy, problem solving, concentration and much more. She teaches the children to use 'real' utensils including our kiddikutter knives during each cooking session. She also encourages the children to collect fresh produce from the garden and chickens to be used in her recipes. 

 

Emma aims to provide children with experiences that will ensure their success in preparing for big school and hopes that these independent self help skills will be beneficial to their home lives as well. Emma has had more than 20 years experience in early learning environments and has recently found her passion for cooking for the children instead of being an educator. Emma is a mother with three children and she fully understands and appreciates the impact that healthy eating habits have on brain development and its direct relationship to ensuring children's education is a successful journey. 

 

Emma's Creations

As per a suggestion from one of our Blue Wren's parents (toddlers room), we will be posting recipe's weekly as a new segment of our service. These will be meals that are found on our rotational menu and all recipes are Emma's own creation.

 

 
Today's recipe (Thursday 2nd September 2021):
Apricot and Banana Muffins
Ingredients
  • 1 cups dried apricots – chopped
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cups apricot nectar
  • 2 bananas mashed
  • 2 cups wholemeal Self raising flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons egg re-placer (use soy or normal milk to mix) or 1 large egg if not using egg re-placer
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons nutlex melted
  • 1/3 cup soy milk
Method
  1. Preheat oven 180⁰C and spray muffin pans with canola oil
  2. Place apricots and nectar in a saucepan and bring to boil. Allow to cool.
  3. Sift flour then add the sugar and combine.
  4. In a separate bowl add apricots and nectar, bananas, egg re-placer, margarine, and milk.
  5. Add liquid and ingredients to dry ingredients and mix to combine.
  6. Do not over mix the ingredients.
  7. Spoon into mini muffin pans and bake till golden.
NB: This recipe is one of Karen's creations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Today's recipe (Thursday 5th August 2021):
Vegan Apple Crumble
Ingredients
  • 12 Wheetbix crushed
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup desiccated coconut
  • 200g melted nutlex
  • 4 (400g) tins cooking apples
Method
  1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degress Celsius. Mix all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl till well combined.
  2. Melt Nutlex in microwave for 30 seconds until just melted. Add to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly till mixture is wet. Set aside.
  3. Drain apples and roughly chop (if wanting the apple pieces to be smaller for younger children) and spread amongst 2 small baking dishes.
  4. Top each baking dish with crumble mixture evenly.
  5. Place baking dishes in the oven and bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until crumble mixture is golden brown.
  6. Serve with Vegan Vanilla Custard
NB: This recipe is one of Karen's creations
Vegan Vanilla Custard
Ingredients
  • 2 cups soy milk (500mls)
  • 60g white sugar (4 tbs)
  • Lemon Juice (2 tbs)
  • Vanilla extract (1 tbs)
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup cornflour/cornstarch
  • pinch of turmeric or yellow food colouring
Method
  1. Add soy milk, vanilla, salt and sugar to a small saucepan.
  2. Mix cornflour/corn starch and water in a separate bowl to form a paste.
  3. Add to saucepan and place on a medium heat on your stovetop.
  4. Gently bring to the boil whilst continuously stirring with a whisk until it thickens then take off the heat.
  5. To make it yellow, add either a tiny pinch of turmeric or vegan yellow food colouring.
    Note: Add more corn starch if you want a thicker custard. Alternatively if you don't like custard, try eating the crumble with ice-cream.
NB: This recipe is one of Karen's creations
 
Today's recipe (Thursday 8th July 2021):
Chicken Pasta Bake & Vegetarian Pasta
Ingredients
  • Evaporated Milk (1 can)
  • Thickened Cream (300ml)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Vegeta (2-3 teaspoons Vegetable stock)
  • Crushed Garlic (2-3 teaspoons)
  • 500g Chicken (1 can of mixed beans and 1 can of chickpeas for vegetarian option)
  • frozen mixed vegetables (1 -2 cups)
  • Cheese (1 -2 Cups grated)
  • Pasta
  • Oil (1-2 Tablespoons)
Method
  1. Boil up the pasta until al dente (just cooked, with slightly sticky texture).
  2. While pasta is cooking, heat up a frypan on medium/high heat. Add some oil, add the chicken. Season with salt and pepper, garlic and vegetable stock. Cook till browned.
  3. If using vegetarian option - add beans and chickpeas to the oil along with salt and pepper to taste, garlic and vegetable stock. Once cooked through, set aside.
  4. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees. In a oven safe casserole dish, lay the pasta and chicken/vegetarian mix and layer with mixed vegetables. Stir all ingredients together in the casserole dish.
  5. Add the evaporated milk and thickened cream to the casserole dish and stir through until all ingredients are coated with the white sauce.
  6. Sprinkle grated cheese on the top of the casserole dish and place in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until cheese is melted and starts to turn golden brown. Serve up with a side salad.
NB: This recipe is one of Karen's creations