Another late-night note from the kitchen! This has been the first week of Natural Kids camp and it’s been exhausting, amazing fun. We’ve had 22 kids doing yoga, popping pistachios, cooking healthy brownies and finding artificial colours on food labels. There have been a lot of fart jokes, the occasional blocked toilet and lots of serious conversations about dead dogs and the meaning of life. Seeing the world from the hilarious and tender perspective of my youngest clients has been an eye-opener and a privilege.

In the meantime our Belle has turned four. She marched in through the school gates with her hastily decorated, made-with-love birthday cake and didn’t look back. At precisely the moment I was covering up my mistakes with sprinkles, my lovely friend texted me pictures of the party cake in progress. If you missed last week, you need to know that in a fit of working-mother’s guilt, I agreed that Belle could have a three-tiered “birthday-wedding” cake at the weekend. This type of creativity is beyond me, so I am being given a lot of help i.e. someone amazing is doing it for me. As we speak, plain fondant flowers are being accented with pink from beets and yellow from turmeric. Did I forget Belle is four? What is wrong with me?

But I’m not the only one. Rejecting age-appropriateness entirely, Naughty Nana bought her some French perfume and a dress from Lusso. I did draw the line when she tried to give Belle the cherry from her Cosmopolitan. I tucked our little-big girl in to bed clutching a Care Bear and marvelled at how our tiny people are so innocent yet so desperate to grow up. I would give anything to be small again. To live in a world where bills don’t exist and anything is possible.

However I have to say that the optimism from kids is catching. At camp we’re starting to see fussy eaters branch out and be less afraid of “foods with colour” or “things that have bits in”. One of our trickiest happily wolfed down roasted chickpeas today. I practically did a double take. I am not saying we could transform any picky eater (there are some who are still “challenging”) but they are having fun exploring.

The roasted chickpeas weren’t even on the agenda. Our intern Sarah just suggested we do it with the leftovers from another recipe. They were amazing! Crunchy, salty, nutritious — something new for the healthy snack cupboard and cheap as can be too. We just tossed ours in olive oil and sea salt and threw them into a hot oven for half an hour. However a quick Google this evening gave me a few more tips. I tried the method below and these were even better!

Crunchy oven-roasted chickpeas

Ingredients:

1 regular sized tin chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

1 tsp light olive or refined coconut oil

Seasonings — your choice, simply salt/pepper (add cayenne if you like things spicy), or try 2 tbsps maple syrup with a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.

2. Rinse the chickpeas really well and pat very dry. If you have time, let them air dry on the side for an additional ten minutes.

3. Dry roast the chickpeas on a baking tray for 20 minutes, shaking the tin at least once.

4. Remove them and toss in the oil and seasonings.

5. Pop back in the oven for an additional 20 minutes. Once the time is up, turn off the heat, crack open the oven door and leave them there as the oven cools. They go extra crunchy this way but don’t risk it if you have toddlers in the house!

The advice given in this article is not intended to replace medical advice, but to complement it. Always consult your GP if you have any health concerns. Catherine Burns BA Hons, Dip ION is the Managing Director of Natural Ltd and a fully qualified Nutritional Therapist trained by the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in the UK. Please note that she is not a Registered Dietitian. For details, please go to www.natural.bm or call 236-7511. Join Catherine on Facebook: www.facebook.com/nutrifitandnaturalnutritionbermuda