Gluten-free Cooking for Kids

Breakfast in our household is a lively event.  The children are brimming with energy after a full nights sleep and they spend their first waking hour building up an appetite by charging around the house and wreaking havoc on an industrial  scale. This gives me the opportunity to drink my piping hot cup of coffee and ponder what to make them for breakfast.  In most households, I suspect our breakfast menus would raise quite a few eyebrows.  I don't think there are many children in the western hemisphere who start their day with something called "chickeny rice".  If you are intrigued, there is a recipe for this in my cookbook, but here is a brief synopsis.  Chickeny rice was an idea I borrowed from my brother-in-law Scott.  It is rice cooked in a little chicken stock to which you add a generous knob of butter and lots of grated parmesan.  It is extremely comforting and filling and my kids love it for breakfast. You can also add carrots and peas and bits of chopped ham to make a more substantial dish.  I guess it's closest relative would be a rissotto, without all the stirring and hassle of ladling in stock bit by bit. 

Today, I tried something a little different.  I was considering making them some chicken soup with rice noodles, but I could see that time was not on my side.  So I offered them a quick version of Pad Thai and they agreed without any hesitation.  It was a huge success and I think this will become a regular breakfast item at the Balhetchets.  There is an easy Pad Thai recipe in my book, but I decided to improvise and go for something speedier.  I'll put the amended version on the recipe page of the web site for you to view, but once again, here is a snapshot.  Thai rice noodles soaked in boiling water for about 8 minutes, drained and then stir fryed for 30 seconds.   Then I  added a handful of cooked prawns and some sweetcorn, followed by a lightly  whisked egg and a little ketchup.  I stir fryed the mixture  for  about 30 seconds, then served it in bowls sprinkled with a little gluten free soy sauce and a squeeze of lime juice on top.  Yum yum and 24 thumbs up according to Ruthie.  Lucia (age 2) can also give me a thumbs up or down but today she gave me an empty bowl to which she added "more!".  That says it all. 

Okay so it's not as quick as bunging some toast in the toaster or dishing out a bowl of cereal, but it sure is different.