food

The cheesiest parenting idea ever. We love it.

To the person who invented the cafe-style-sandwich-press. You poor, deluded fool.

Any parent knows that those sandwich presses are absolutely useless when it comes to making toasted creations for children because everything falls out of them.

When you have kids, it’s all about…The Jaffle, perfect pockets of toasted goodness.

Our jaffle-maker is the most used item in our kitchen after the kettle and we’ve become pretty creative with our fillings, thanks to one particular episode of Masterchef.  Remember the Jaffle Challenge? Way to get creative. Reynold even did a dessert jaffle with apple and cinnamon, though we knew he should have grated the apple.

Ahh the jaffle. What more could you ask for? Image via Instagram @j.p.prewitt.

My children are just as attached to their technology and devices as many children are these days and it’s really annoying, especially at meal times. I get really sick of them moaning when I call out that dinner is ready because I have to drag them away from their latest videos and games. They are constantly asking for three more minutes to finish watching a video or can I wait until they get to the next level of whatever game they are playing.

No. Dinner’s ready (you ungrateful little so-and-so’s).

One way to get them away from technology and force them to spend some time with me and actually appreciate meal times more is to get them involved. Enter: Family Jaffle Night.

Making jaffles is an event in our home. We have a make-your-own-jaffle night where we lay out lots of different ingredients and let the kids choose what they want to put inside them. It is really fun, teaches them about cooking and also encourages them to try new foods, something I am constantly working on with my kids.

Enter: Family Jaffle Night. Image via @vegemite.

Here are some of the fillings we have invented on our jaffle nights:

Baked beans and ham;

Peanut butter and nutella;

Mild salami, cheese, tomatoes and olives;

Hummus, avocado and cheese;

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Chicken, grated onion, tomato and chives.

Okay, that last one was just me.

I have three children and always feel like we don’t get enough time to talk. Also they often don’t want to talk and direct questions such as, “How is school” or “Who is your best friend” is met with shrugs and groans and eye rolls, except from my youngest who is always happy to talk to me.

One out of three isn’t bad. But when they all come into the kitchen for jaffle construction it’s actually fun and something they are happy to do. Devices are forgotten for a precious while and we all make our jaffle dinner and then sit down and eat them. That’s when I hit them with the hard questions. That’s when I get them to actually talk.

Baked beans and ham...Peanut butter and nutella...Mild salami, cheese, tomatoes and olives. Image via @cafe_vue.

I always know we have heaps of time to talk during the eating of the first half of the jaffle because they are normally boiling hot and take longer to eat, however by the time they reach the second half of their jaffle I know I have only minutes left, so I hit them with the hard questions.

“Remember when we talked about getting a dog you said you’d help look after it.”

“It’s not that hard to make your beds, I’ll show you how, again.”

And they ask me some.

“Why don’t we always get paid for chores?”

“How come you haven’t upgraded our Nintendo Wii yet?”

By the time they’re licking the crumbs of their plates and pushing their chairs back to leave the table we have pretty much sorted everything out, except for the part where I ask for some help cleaning the dinner dishes and they pretend they can’t hear me and I give up.

I’ll use every trick in the book to force my children to talk to me and I consider our jaffle maker “the big gun”.

What do you put in your jaffle?

Here are some of our favourite fillings: