Chicken bolognaise

Tip: All-round great meal for getting in those vegetables your child normally won’t eat. Red capsicum is one of the best sources of vitamin C. Use the leftovers as a filling in baked potatoes or free for a convenient meal on those ‘what do I cook for dinner’ nights.

Ingredients
500g of organic chicken mince
1 diced onion
½ an eggplant peeled and diced
1 can of organic tomatoes and a bottle of tomato paste OR a jar of Sacla
bolognaise sauce or Coles Romano Pasta Sauce
½ cup of water
1 grated zucchini
1 grated carrot
¼ cup of cauliflower finely sliced into speckles
1 grated zucchini
5 chopped mushrooms
¼ cup of finely diced red capsicum
2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Spaghetti

Preparation
1. Gently heat the olive oil in a frying pan.
2. Add the mince, eggplant and onion to the oil and brown gently.
3. Add the tomato and tomato paste and blend in with the water.
4. Add the vegetables and garlic.
5. Allow to cook on low for 25–45 minutes, stirring occasionally and mashing with a fork until the mince becomes fine and the vegetables are soft and blended. The meat is cooked when it is fine and the vegetables are blended.
6. Bring a pot of water to the boil and add the required amount of spaghetti.
7. Cook until parboiled or just soft through.
8. Drain and serve with the bolognaise and some sprinkled cheese on top.
9. Just as a little something extra a squeeze of lemon or lime juice really makes this dish something special.

Want more recipes? This recipe has been adapted from Sneakys Recipes for Fussy Foodies at www.cadencehealth.com.au

In the Winners Circle

Its Time to Announce our 10 Lucky Dumbo DVD Winners Thanks To Disney

Metro Mum has proudly partnered with Disney this month to celebrate the release of the family favourite Disney Dumbo to DVD

The following 10 Lucky Competition winners will all soon be receiving this wonderful DVD to share with their family:

Emily Montgomery NSW
Nicolle Williams SA
Elizabeth Kinzett VIC
Judith Carrans NSW
Rosslyn Tadd QLD
Mary Humme VIC
Anais Devenish WA
Michelle Garcia TAS
Alana McGrath NSW
Cheryll Mellier VIC

Congratulations and thank you for entering our competition this month

WeilBaby bottles and cups hit Australia this week

Read WeilBaby reviewed on Babyology today below. Visit www.babyology.com.au and get the latest on baby and kids products!

Have you ever opened that drawer or cupboard where you keep your mismatched collection of bottles, sippy cups, teats, old lids and various other bits of plastic you’ve acquired over the years and wished you could just chuck the lot of it and start over? I know I have.

What’s more, if you have a toddler who likes to open drawers and deposit their contents throughout the house, you’re probably missing vital components of all your feeding systems – and nothing causes stress like a screaming child when you just can’t find the lid for that cup.

There’s an even more compelling reason to consider replacing some of the plasticware in your home – the evidence of the negative effects on your family’s health from BPA toxins in many plastic bottles and cups. Exposure to and consumption of BPA has been linked to cancers and many other developmental and health problems.

Not only are the effects of BPA toxins more extreme on children, but recent studies have found that the process of heating plastics (for example, through sterilization) allows the BPA toxins to leach out up to fifty-five times more rapidly! All this adds up to a need for bottles and cups for our kids which are BPA-free and now you can get a whole range through the US-based WeilBaby system. It’s arriving in Australia for the first time on 20 May.

You can buy bottles and cups individually or in handy starter packs for different ages and stages. Not only are the bottles BPA-free, they are heat and shatter-resistant, dishwasher safe and they look great too. There are a huge range available at Metro Mum and prices for individual cups start at $17.95. Various gift and starter packs (four bottles plus teats and accessories) are also available, beginning from $109.95.

Post on Babyology by Leah Fitzhardinge on May 17, 2010 in Feeding

One More Story Perfect Book Food for Kids!

We are so pleased to partner with the fantastic educational resource www.onemorestory.com this month!

One More Story is an online library of the best of children's classic and contemporary literature. Through a simple point and click process, children can choose a book, see the illustrations and have the book read to them whenever they want.

The One More Story library features the highest quality children's books (including Caldecott Medal winners) from ten different publishers.

A child can easily choose a book by clicking on the green button under that book. As the narrator reads, words are individually high-lighted in the text box at the bottom of the screen. Each story is professionally narrated, and original music has been written for each book.

My son's favourite is the cheeky Pete's a Pizza book. You can experience this fantastic website and our favourite book first hand. Click for the SAMPLE BOOK here

For your chance to have access to their fabulous website which will have your children craving more storytime, simply enter our competition today. One More Story and Metro Mum are giving 3 lucky winners the chance to win an Annual Subscription this month. Enter HERE and Good Luck!

Meet Melissa Walsh Mumpreneur Behind Melobaby !

Its always a pleasure to meet talented mums, putting their personal joys and experiences of motherhood into creating products which other mothers can enjoy. One of the very first stylish products for mum introduced to Metro Mum were the extremely popular MELOBABY Change Wallets. Classy and clever this is one baby change wallet that you dont mind toting anytime of the day!

We wanted you to meet Melissa. We hope you enjoy reading out interview with her and seeing Melissa Mum and Mumpreneur with her gorgeous girls!

Introducing Melissa Walsh

What is your working background?

I used to work at Triple J and the ABC and moved to Independent Broadcast Production and we have produced a number of documentaries for World Health Organisation, United Nations and BBC World.

Why did you create Melobaby ?

Being always on the go and travelling regularly back and forth to London I needed something lightweight and I wanted to keep my favourite handbag and hold onto to a sense of the “me” before I became a “mum”.

I created our MELOBABY all-in-one nappy wallet + change mat because I went out with my first daughter when she was six weeks old with a nappy bag that had enough clothes and nappies to last a couple of days rather than a few hours. Realising from that one outing that all I needed was just the nappies, wipes and change mat which was a sense of relief that I didn’t have to lug around a big nappy bag that was always over packed.

What makes Melobaby different to other products on the market?

Our unique design makes MELOBABY different from all the others on the market. Amazingly, there are so many features on our simple nappy wallet.

1. The magnetic clasp to open it - means you can do it with one hand and when you have to open something over 1000 times in a year - you want it to be easy to open!

2. The wallet holds up to four nappies or three and a change clothes, creams and nappy sacks - more than any other wallet on the market.

3. There is a soft fleece mat that babies love and is detachable for washing.

4. It looks like a cute clutch and is so compact it’s deceiving how much fits in there and fits comfortably in your favourite handbag.

How were you inspired to start your business?

I started MELOBABY because I searched for a nappy wallet and couldn’t find one on the market. Ironically, just before we launched – two appeared! It’s great to have something of your own and having a business gives you a sense of purpose and a lot of fulfilment. My business doesn’t just benefit me but my two girls are inspired to be creative and not to mention our 20 year old baby sitter who also wants to start her own business.

How many children do you have?

I have two beautiful girls - almost 7 and 5.



What do you, and your children like to do together?

We love to going to the beach and also Disneyland Hong Kong is a regular spot because we have to fly back to London and it’s a great stopover.

How do you juggle your business with parenthood?

It's definitely a juggle and I hate being away from my girls for more than a few days. Owning my own business means that I can plan my business around them, I can be with them in school holidays and go and see them sing in assembly or watch them swim at their swimming carnival and I don’t have to ask anyone to go – that’s the perks...

The best piece of advice you could share with expecting mums ?

Don’t feel that you have to have everything to be a good mum... All babies and children need is to be loved! They are happy if you’re happy. Pack smart... Not big!

Melisa has recently created some new stunning mum and kid must-haves. We will be bringing them to Metro Mum shortly!

A big thank you Melissa for taking the time to share your personal details and clever creation with the Metro Mum community!

Checkout the ingenious Melobaby Change Wallet today