How to fill up a gluten-free Tween

Today I realised that when I was growing up, afternoon tea must have been a battle for Mum. With five children, a loaf of bread could (and would) disappear as quickly as a dropped chip on Manly promenade. The fruit bowl was always crying out to be refilled. Pears were gone in a blink. Bananas rarely even made it to the bowl. Avocados were hidden by my father to be shared out on Sundays. Only lemons lingered for more than a day. There were always empty milk cartons in the fridge because my brothers would drain them in a gulp and place them back into the fridge, the little buggers. It’s not that Mum was forgetful; on the contrary she was stellar.

It’s simply that a pack of Tweens crept up on her and before she knew it, she was having to buy 20 loaves of bread a week, always knock on the bathroom door, fight for use of the telephone and worst of all, keep the food up to 5 permanently ravenous children.

And then, she discovered that Weetbix aren’t simply a breakfast cereal.  Slap something on top and you can stave off hunger quite easily come mid-afternoon.  What’s more (depending on the topping) they are a good healthy alternative.

With 6 Tweens in my house this afternoon and a new packet of Weetbix, I set to. Toppings included:

• Philadelphia cheese, sliced strawberries and honey
• Philadelphia cheese, sliced banana and blueberries with honey
• Philadelphia cheese, sliced grapes and honey
• Peanut Butter and honey
• Philadelphia cheese and raspberry jam
• Vegemite and lashings of butter
• Nutella
• Philadelphia cheese sprinkled with sultanas

Not a word of lie, these were inhaled. The most popular versions were definitely the strawberry and banana alternatives (the kids wouldn’t let me film them wolfing them down). Two each and the children didn’t ask for food until they were called for dinner.

So if you are looking for a filling and nutritious afternoon tea for your gang of Tweens, consider “Weetbix Sandwiches”.  Did you know that Weetbix have recently introduced a gluten-free version of their product? Made from sorghum rather than wheat grain, they contain not a skerrick of gluten. And as far as taste goes, I genuinely couldn’t detect any difference which is great because between you and me, most GF free products taste revolting. The gluten-free version does appear to be a little bit smaller and is darker in colour but that’s it. I do think though that Weetbix might need to rename them ~ Weetbixfree perhaps?

How do you keep your Tweens full after school?

Until next time….

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