The Saladacco - Great for Spaghetti, Great for Kids

Recently I met Emily (left). Now, Emily is rather exceptional, not only as a person but also in her ability to find a way of melding passion with profit - which can only be a good thing. Amongst many other things, Emily has created the brilliant web site Cafe des Enfants which is all about feeding kids healthy food in the UK.

"Café des Enfants is for parents and children and its focus is on Kids Food: on eating in, eating out, staying out and going out with kids. Featuring articles, interviews, recipes and reviews, Café des Enfants seeks to change the way we think about Kids Food."

What follows is a copy of her most recent newsletter to her mailing list, which, as you will see brings raw food (for the very first time) to her audience. This features quick top tips for feeding kids raw, as well as my two Saladacco-utilising recipes. I thought this would be one you'd want to know about!

CAFÉ DES ENFANTS NEWSLETTER                                                

21st April 2006

Welcome to Café des Enfants Newsletter.

This week’s newsletter is all about raw food and the benefits of the amazing Saladacco… what.... WHAT IS THAT? I hear you shout, which is exactly what we said when we first discovered it!  But the Saladacco is actually a fantastic device that is masquerading as a spiral slicer – or the most devious way we’ve come across of getting your kids to eat their vegetables.

I recently met the fantabulous Karen Knowler at a conference, famous for all things raw and for living, eating and coaching others on the raw food diet. Karen, herself a mother is only too familiar with the eating angsts that we all go through with our kids and recommended this amazing piece of kit to me then and there… with a little extra persuasion she has also graciously contributed this week’s recipe for (un)cooking with the Saladacco.  If you want to know more about the Saladacco or eating raw check out her site here. We’ll be featuring Karen again later in the year with more tips ideas and recipes for healthy, raw kids food. 

Raw food is all the rage at the moment, and it's true the health benefits seem to be totally awesome! Now we're not suggesting that you and your family all rush over to a raw food regime right away... we're still concentrating on getting them eating healthily in the first place! Slowly but surely... it will come. 

But certainly incorporating a variety of raw foods into their diet is a great idea and it's easy for you too... no cooking required!  So here's our top 10 food ideas for getting some zinging freshness inside them this week!  Good Luck!

• Grated carrots ~ much more edible than raw sticks, although these do serve their place, grated is just more attractive don't you think and easier for even little ones to eat.
• Avocado dip (afraid we cheat here with the raw a little bit by adding a boiled egg - mixing it all up with a little lemon juice and seasoning - the perfect accompaniment for crudités and loads of protein too!).
• Fruit salad ~ classic, simple and colourful.
• Dried fruit ~ dried apple rings are fantastic!
• Pumpkin and sunflower seeds ~ a great and tasty healthy snack.
• A simple fresh apple ~ my 2 year old regularly grabs one from the fruit bowl - now he can reach it...thinking I won't want him to...it's a great "trick" and he'll eat the whole thing... just because he's got it for himself.
• Smoothie ~ you can experiment with your own ideas, buy a book or an innocent or try Cafe des Enfants' latest concoction which is completely refreshing, perfect for spring and absolutely gorgeous! (Pear, strawberry and apple juice with ice, blend in a juicer and voila!).
• Fruit ice lollies ~ make them yourself by adding some yoghurt to the smoothie mixture and freezing in lolly moulds.
• Bananas ~ plain and simple, easy to eat, transport and peel. Easy to digest and a rich source of potassium (essential for energy) and Vitamin B6 (helping the body to utilise protein)

Recipe of the Week

Veggie Spaghetti With Bolgnaise Sauce or Green Pesto

This week's recipe comes to you courtesy of raw food queen herself, Karen Knowler of The Fresh Network. For this recipe you’ll need a Saladacco / spiral slicer.

To make the spaghetti: Take your spiral slicer and set it on the fine spaghetti setting. Use any of the following vegetables to create the flavoured spaghetti of your choice: Carrot; Beetroot; Courgette (zucchini); Marrow; Sweet potato/ yam.

My personal favourite for using in conjunction with a sauce is either marrow or courgette as both soak up flavours very well and have a very mild flavour themselves which doesn't interfere with the flavour of the sauce.

Here follows recipes for the two most commonly used dressings for veggie spaghetti, the green pesto sauce and the tomato bolognaise-flavoured sauce.

Green Pesto Sauce - Serves one large portion or 2 small

• ⅓ cup pine nuts or macadamias (or combination of)
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• Half a handful of basil
• 1 clove garlic
• Water to taste

Blend all ingredients together until smooth. According to your personal taste, add more nuts for a deeper/creamier flavour, more oil for an oilier texture, more basil for a stronger flavour, or more water if it’s too rich. Pour onto your spaghetti and toss well for even coverage.

Bolognaise Sauce - Serves one large portion or 2 small

• 3 cups diced tomatoes
• 2-4 dates for sweetness
• 1 tsp. Celtic sea salt (optional)
• 1 Tbs. Italian seasonings (dried)
• 1 handful fresh basil
• 1½ cups sundried tomatoes
• 1 tsp. minced jalapeño pepper (optional)
• 1 medium clove garlic

If you do not have a Vita-Mix you will need to soak the sundried tomatoes in water before blending to soften them. Blend all ingredients together until quite smooth (a few chunky bits can be good!). When blended, pour on top of spaghetti and top with some pitted and halved black olives and some chopped basil.

The Saladacco is available to buy from The Fresh Network priced £24.99 + postage and packing.

Comments

[Mark Attwood]

Hi Karen
The link to Cafe des Enfants doesn't work - has that site gone out of business? If so, do you know if Emily is operating elsewhere as I am keen to get some tips on getting my kids on raw food. Thank you.