Growing up on a rural farm in the southern highlands of New Zealand, Angaline felt connected to the land and homegrown produce from an early age. She broke away to Sydney in the late nineties where she built a career in advertising, before stepping into design and production for the animated kids series Bottersnikes and Gumbles and Kazoops (Netflix, 7Mate, CBBC and ABC).

Currently studying Communications at Charles Sturt University, she juggles her “united nations family” in the quiet beach suburbs of Newcastle. With kids spanning two years old to 14 years old, vegetables are at the forefront of her domestic crusade to encourage them to eat healthily.

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Name Angaline Atkins
Occupation Admin Assistant, University of Newcastle
Location Rankin Park, Newcastle
Family members Angaline & Chris, Theodore aka Teddy (3yo), Hector (14yo), and Marley aka Bob) (11yo)

We’re a blended family, with three boys altogether. Chris and I both had a son going into the relationship and now we have one son between us (Teddy). We’ve been called the family of the United Nations as we cover a diverse range of family backgrounds. Hector, the eldest, is Swedish/ NZ. Marley is Chinese, Arabic and African. Teddy, the youngest is Eurasian. Chris, my partner, is Chinese and I’m just Anglo. The boys all get along super well. It’s a nice mix.

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My main side project is riding my mountain bike. I’ve started doing cross country races which is really fun. I got pretty hooked on it from all the little thrills you get from doing something scary. After Teddy was born I felt so jumpy and nervous about hurting myself. I like challenging these feelings. It feels fun and it’s a lovely way to spend time in the bush. It’s also become a common interest Hector and I have together which is lovely.

I grew up on a farm where we grew a lot of food and milked cows every morning. I remember pouring milk still warm straight from the cow onto our corn flakes. I think growing up on the farm gave me an appreciation of where things come from and I’m a big believer in “you are what you eat” – I hope to pass this onto the boys.

Before I became a parent, 14 years ago, I didn’t think about nutrition nearly as much as I do now. My oldest son Hector thinks I’m a really strict mum because I’m health conscious and have minimal sugary or processed things in the house.

I have herbs on the back deck. Plus, we’ve started growing some sweet peas and broccoli (favourites of the boys). We enjoy the farmers market on Sundays and get the best honey, peanut butter and apples from there.

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I make the boys chopped up raw or lightly cooked veggies as an after school snack. When they are really hungry they eat these all up. From there they can have fish and chips for dinner and I can feel good that they’ve had their daily fix. On long car trips, I always pack a container of mixed veggies for everyone to snack on.

My boys hate mushrooms. Little do they know I grate mushrooms into bolognaise and stews, pretty much anywhere I can disguise them – they’ve been eating mushrooms for years ☺

We mostly eat at our dinner table … but sometimes Teddy is really not keen to sit down and eat with us, so he’ll walk around playing and doing his own thing until he’s ready to eat. I’m not very strict around when and how we eat our food, as long as we’re all enjoying it in our own way.

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My husband travels a lot for work, so when I’m on my own I have to do a lot of prepping for the week. For example, I make big batches of pasta sauce and save portions in the freezer for the kids. I like to sometimes just eat toast for dinner when I’m on my own and feed the kids something they like. My favourite bachelorette meal is avocado and poached eggs on a nice piece of toast. I’m such a sucker for anything that is rich in omega 3s, it might be my inner hippy (I love putting LSA on anything I possibly can).

I’ve just rediscovered Nutmeg. I use nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom (my top spices) when I make my own muesli, which I have every morning with Kefir and fruit. Nutmeg reminds me of my childhood from the only thing I recall my mum cooking – rice pudding! Mum left when I was pretty young but I remember rice pudding with a sprinkle of nutmeg baked in the oven, and my two older brothers and father eating soooo much.

Salmon Mash-up Patties

This is a very flexible recipe, rich in omega 3. You can use leftover mash potato, add peas or sesame seeds or anything else you want to experiment with or use up out of the fridge. They’re also good to bag and freeze for another day.

Makes 16

4 salmon steaks
2 potatoes
1 sweet potato
2 eggs
A large handful of parsley, chopped finely
Breadcrumbs (make from gluten-free toast to make the meal gluten free)

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In a large saucepan, boil potatoes until tender. Drain, mash and set aside to cool.

Cook salmon steaks in a frying pan with some butter and oil. Break up into small chunks and add the chopped parsley.

Pop a piece of bread of your choice into the toaster. Then blend to make breadcrumbs.

Mix everything together in a bowl. Use two spoons to lump the mixture into a lightly oiled frying pan over high heat. Once browned, turned and cook the other side.

Allow to cool on paper towels and serve. My boys enjoy these with tomato sauce.