I love posting about food, don’t ask me why because I’m really not a big eater. I like eating but I can be picky and difficult at times. Then again we all have our likes and dislikes. Though I have to add that my husband eats much more kinds of food than me and has less problems than myself. Tonight however, I made one of my favourite meals, Wiener schnitzel with a field salad and simply fries. I used a ready made dressing this time (Mediterran) but often I make my own dressing with mayonaise, mustard (just your own favourite one would work I guess), a little bit water (so its not too thick) lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper to finish it off. Mix it all with a fork and try it with the tip of your finger to check the taste. The salad is just a field salad (also called spring salad), I cut tomato, a sweet apple and a onion in pieces and mix it with the salad and the dressing of my choice. The meat is just a normal schnitzel, I mix an egg in a little bowl and put the schnitzls in it so they all covered all arround. Then I put breadcrumbs (I use a ready made mix) on a plate and lay the schnitzel on it and cover them all arround with the dried breadcrumbs. Fry them on high fire with butter. Once done and on your plate, you put a little bit lemon juice on them and voila that’s it… now look here how good that looks!!! 🙂

My daughter has been helping me arround the house since she was little. The tasks she did where ofcourse very simple to begin with. Starting with cleaning up her own things to helping me cook a meal. She’s 12 now and I just learn her how to bake an egg for herself. She knows how the oven works although I only let her prepare oven breads yet and shove a pizza in.  Its great because it keeps her from getting lazy and learns her vallues and become independent. Yes, your children too can help you arround the house with little tasks. You could even give them a little pocketmoney for a job well done. Ofcourse it shouldnt go down to what you call slavery, they are not your free housemaid. Children need to have the time and space to be kids at all ages. And ofcourse you can not let them organize ur china cabinet at age 3, unless youthink its time for replacement of your wares LMAO. But they could learn how to fold kitchencloths, water the plants and making the table aside of picking up there own toys and putting them where they belong. Its not only helping you with your chores its also educating them on there vallues and showing them how things are done. It gives them a responcibility and makes them feel proud of helping. I found a few sites that listed tasks that your child can do at a certain age. Ofcourse I could have made my own list but why not just give those people credit for the jobs they did instead of trying to compete with them :).

Women News tells us about a bunch of task that your children can help you with, varying from age 3 till 15.  I will give you a few examples.

• Three and a Half to Five:In terms of food preparation, no one needs their lettuce torn up perfectly, so let them give that a try while you work on the rest of dinner.
• Six to Eight : Get your kids stripping their own beds, helping to separate the lights from the darks, and even folding their own laundry. If they cant handle everything yet then start simple, think about socks and towels :).
• Nine to 12: This group can be changing light bulbs for you, bathing the family pets and washing the car. ( I don’t know about bathing the pets but they sure could help you clean the cages from the pets, and washing the car meant for me a few extra coins in my pocket when I was a kid)
• 13 to 15: This age group can be changing the bed sheets by themselves and hang and fold your laundry all by themselfs. (I have to say that my 12 year old has been changing her own sheets since she was 10 though.)

Ofcourse you should be the judge when it comes to knowing what your children are able to handle and what not. One kid is not the other, some like it better then others and some do a better job at things then others because of that. Give them tasks that is not only boring but try find things the kid can make a little game out of. You will need to help them and explain and show how to do something. Don;t only critic on them when they did something wrong but show them how to do it right and applaud them for a job well done.

The Reel News write about how you could also set up your house so your kids can do more things themselfs so you don’t have to do everything for them. When they are at an age that they are able to help you unload the dishes, make sure that the plastic wares are low enough for them to reach in the cabinets, let the things they need to make lunch  also be reachable for them. Thank them and reward them occasionally. Don’t go overboard cause then they learn to get paid for everything they do for you. Helping someone should not only be done for the reward.

And last but not least I like to tell you about a family with 8 children. In that family everyone helps out except for the two youngest children because they are simply  too young still.  But with about 12 loads of laundry on one single day you simply need the help you can get. Read there story at Worldchild.org

Wentelteefjes is also known as: Sop in the pan and French Toast. Instead of tossing away bread that’s not fresh anymore, you can make a delicious brunch out of it for yourself, or the kids, for lunch or breakfast or maybe even as a dessert if you add some fruit.

I was thinking what to eat for breakfast/lunch and realizing my bread is not really fresh anymore. Then I remembered my mom made wentelteefjes sometimes.. I realized that its a great tip to put on my blog. I know most people know French Toast, but I also know that just like me, many people easely forget about it and just toss away there old bread or take it to the duckies in the pond (I myself do that often :))

For those who don’t remember the recipe, I put it right here for you to use!

What you need for 4 slices:

• 4 slices of old/dry bread.
• 1 large egg or 2 small ones.
• 1,5 dl milk (150 gram).
• a full tablespoon with sugar.
• butter or margarine to fry in.
• cinnamon mixed with sugar to use as topping.

And thats all the ingredients, most of us have them usually in the kitchen already so lets get it done.

Before you start here some tips to take with you so you don’t end up with a messed up lunch XD.

It takes up to about 15 minutes to make 4 slices. If you want to make more then 4 slices of bread then you may want to either make more mix in a mixing can and pour it from there in the soup plate or make your mix again and again for more because the recipe is  measured to fit in a deep/soup plate. Make sure you use enough butter to fry in, else the wentelteefjes will stick to the pan and can burn easely. Don’t let them get cold but eat them right away and do your dishes later, you will regret it  if you have to eat them cold o.o;.

Ok lets get it over with now and make those wentelteefjes.

Mix in a plate (or can) with a cooking whip or a fork, the eggs, the milk, and the sugar till the sugar is all melted.  Let a spoon with butter (margarine) melt in a pan and take the pan off the stove. Put one slice of bread in the deep/soup plate filled with the egg-mix. Count till 3 and turn the slice of bread around.  Put your pan back on the stove and carefully put it in the pan. The heat of the stove should be not too high and fry the wentelteef gold-brown. Turn it around and fry the other side as-well gold-brown. Now take a normal plate and let the wentelteef slide from the pan on the plate. Last but not least pour some of the sugar/cinnamon mix on your slice and you are ready to eat :). Repeat the above for the other slices and your brunch/lunch.snack is  done :).

Ok so a few times when I was too busy to hang up the laundry right away and I did it the next morning.. my laundry kinda had a bad smell on it… I couldn’t define what it was and I clean the rubber band that’s on the inside where it opens a lot of dirt came from it actually o.o wow little did I know that dirt gets stuck into the washing machine. Didn’t think much of it and  happily put in another laundry. When I was gonna hang it up (I have no space for a dryer rly in this tiny mini apartment) I noticed lil gray dirt stuffs in my clean white laundry o.o. Ok that got me worried. I started thinking and did a google search…

Little did I know you have to clean your washingmachine every so often simply by running it empty on the highest temperature with some dishwasher cleaner in it. I also read that bleach and vinegar for cleansing are helpful. the vinegar is for the chalk actually. I personally don’t like using the bleach and vinegar because of the smell and I really don’t want to run my washing machine empty 2 times. Its a waste of money and the environment has a hard time enough as it is already. So right now my washing machine is running empty on the highest temperature… o.o;. I hope this tip will help someone else as well.