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Whether you live in a house full of picky eaters or are trying to up your game as a parent, there is always room to improve when it comes to healthy eating. 

Luckily, there are plenty of ways to sneak a few vegetables into your kids' meals without them even knowing. 

You've done the right thing and decided to give your children a healthy diet, but it can be a struggle when the picky eaters always want fast food. 

You can feed your children healthy meals by cooking food in bulk and storing leftovers in the freezer. 

Cooking large batches of food for your family will save time and money, and it'll also keep you from worrying about what everyone else is going to eat at mealtime. 

It is always best to foster an appreciation of food with your children as this will make your life far easier in the long run.

This can mean getting them associated with many of the most common fruits and vegetables in your region.

We say region because it is no use getting them addicted to something that has been exported at great expense.

Get your kids to appreciate local vegetables, and you will save money and hopefully also educate your children about the local ecosystem.

Hopefully, this post will enlighten you as to what meals are healthy, delicious, and fun!

Gas vs Charcoal 

The age-old debate over which grilling method is ‘better’ involves multiple variables, from flavour to cost and convenience. While no studies prove that either is healthier, gas does burn cleaner. From a taste perspective though, many people prefer the smokier, richer taste of food cooked on a charcoal grill.

Australians eat more chicken every year than any other meat or protein. It can be a nutritious and tasty choice, but raw chicken often contains nasty salmonella. If not handled properly, the bacteria could make someone really sick! Poultry is a product that deteriorates quickly, so it’s important to know when it is fresh or not. Here are some hints to find the freshest chicken and the best way to store it.

Whether they’re behind the counter of a major supermarket or running their own business, find a fishmonger who cares about cooking, eating and selling seafood. Wherever you are, don’t buy seafood in the same way you’d buy frozen meat or vegetables. Make it an occasion and try to eat it the same day if possible. Fish and seafood aren’t commodities you want to buy and eat the following week!

If you’ve ever been unsure of what fish sauce to buy for a particular recipe, or just wanted to stock your kitchen with some good quality fish sauce, then read on for our fish sauce guide.

Is there a difference between 'Dim Sim' and 'Dim Sum'?

A 'Dim Sim' is traditionally made with pork and cabbage wrapped in a delicate, pastry skin. It is lightly seasoned and delivers a delicious meaty crunch with each bite. 'Dim Sum' is an umbrella term and refers to a whole range of small dishes and parcels served at Yum Cha. Dim sum is a traditional Chinese meal made up of small plates of dumplings and other snack dishes and is usually accompanied by tea. Similar to the way that the Spanish eat tapas, the dishes are shared among family and friends. Typically, dim sum is consumed during brunch hours, late morning to early afternoon.

A couple of our dishes this week require you to cook a dough-based recipe using two different methods. The Spring onion pancakes are made using an unleavened dough and fried on the stove in a pan. The bao buns are created using a leavened (raising agent added) dough. They need to prove (rise) twice before being steamed into a soft, fluffy bread which will hold your sticky braised pork.

Steaming is one of the three main cooking techniques used in Chinese cuisine, alongside stir-frying and deep-frying. It is a healthy cooking method that allows the ingredients to truly shine without adding oils. It doesn't require mixing or stirring so it’s the preferred cooking method for delicate foods that might otherwise break apart.

Chillies were brought to China around 300 years ago and quickly found a home in the Sichuan province. The combination of Sichuan peppercorns (ma) and dried chilies (la) is perhaps the most known flavours of Sichuan cuisine. Ma denotes the sensation of pins and needles and la refers to spice and heat. When these two flavour profiles come together, you get ‘ma la’, literally meaning ‘numbing hot’. All the humidity makes Sichuan an exceptional chilli-growing region. It grows prolifically throughout this area of China. The reason the Sichuan province embraced chilli with such open arms - monsoonal weather. Oppressively hot and steamy summers give way to freezing, wet winters.