Parsnip Mash

I came up with this recipe for Parsnip Mash on my new blog but thought I'd would share it here as well because it would be absolutely fantastic for babies too.

Very simply made and even easier to eat, this would be great for adults or first weaners.

Check out the recipe for Parsnip Mash by clicking on the link!

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Vegetarian Cottage Pie for all of the family

Sometimes you just need vegetables.  My son loved this!  He'd had a week of nothing really home made and was a touch bunged up if you don't mind me being crude so I was determined to get him a full on meal of delicious vegetables without either of us noticing we had no meat.





Vegetarian Cottage Pie - Serves 3-4

Ingredients

1 Onion
1 tsp Oil
1 Clove of garlic
1 Carrot, chopped
150g, 5oz Butternut squash, peeled and chopped
400g, 14oz Tin of tomatoes
125ml, half a cup Red wine
A couple of sprigs of rosemary
Black pepper
100g, 3.5oz Green lentils
1 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1 Potato
2 Sweet potatoes
50g, 1.5oz Extra mature (sharp) cheddar - miss out or use vegan cheese substitute if avoiding dairy

Method

Cook the lentils following pack instructions until pretty much cooked (although keep an eye on them, they often cook a little quicker than the pack suggests).

In the meantime, chop the onion finely and fry in oil.  Add the squash, carrot, tomatoes, rosemary (chopped) and simmer for 30 minutes until the vegetables are softening.  Add the lentils, simmer for a further 10 minutes.

While everything is simmering, peel and chop the potato and sweet potato.  Simmer until cooked.

Preheat an oven to 200oC / 400F.

Once the vegetables and lentils are cooked.  Take three different spoons and put into a food processor.  Return to the saucepan.  Mix the cornflour with a little cold water and mix in with the hot vegetable mixture.  Stir to thicken.

Put into a baking dish.

Drain the potatoes.  Mash them (a ricer is great for this).  Top the vegetables with the mash then top with the cheddar.  You can let it all cool down then chill until ready to cook if liked.

Bake in an oven for approx 25-40 minutes (shorter time if cooking directly from hot).

This would be great even for babies on soft lump stage upwards.  So many veggies you gotta love it!  I've linked this up to the wellness weekend.

Make it Thrifty:

The ingredients of this area already very thrifty but if you like you could just use regular potatoes for the topping.  Bake directly from hot and you'll reduce the cooking time.

Even if you prefer meat cottage pies, include some cooked lentils in the sauce and you will not notice while reducing the fat, the calories, reducing the cost and increasing the fibre.

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Porridge for Babies, Toddlers and Grown Ups

Why don't more people eat porridge?  I think part of the reason is people think it's difficult.  It's not at all but if you make it on the hob it makes no sense to cook it for 1 and the pan ends up pretty mucky.  Making it in the microwave solves all of that.

Until March this year, I was commuting for up to 90 minutes morning and night.  I'd been working at the site for several months before I realised they served porridge in the canteen.  Seeing as I had to leave before 6am to be at work on time; I never had breakfast before I left home.  It was such a joy then when the canteen opened and a steaming dish full of thick porridge went onto the counter.

The portions were huge as well.  Way too big for me really but I normally finished it anyway and ended up having the smallest snack at lunchtime.  That's the great thing about oats, they fill you up.

So, this is a more sensibly sized portion for me but my son (at the age of 3) being a lover of oats would probably eat the same amount.  Increase or decrease accordingly (and you might need to change the microwave instructions too.)

Microwave Porridge Oats - Serves 1

Ingredients

1/2 cup, 40g, 1.4oz Porridge Oats - use confirmed wheat free oats if suffering from a gluten allergy*
1 cup, 220ml, 8 fl oz Milk (use full fat for under 2 year olds)

To serve
Honey (over 1's only), brown sugar, cinnamon, golden syrup (optional)

Method

In a large jug, mix the oats and milk.

Microwave on full power for 2 minutes, stir then microwave for 3 more minutes.  You might need to decrease or increase the cooking time depending on the power of your microwave and how old it is (they tend to lose power over time).  Make sure it's bubbling and thick before serving.

Allow to cool, even for adults a little cooling time is needed (it somehow ends up molten!)  Add a little cold milk if needed to children's portions to speed this up or if you like it a bit thinner anyway.  Just add the milk and whisk it in.

Serve with one of the topping options if liked!  (No honey for the under 1s though please.)

This is great for babies who are starting to be on more coarse and mashed foods, i.e. from the age of 6 months.  Also because it's pretty sticky, it's a great food to start self feeding with, either with hands or with a spoon.  Messy but lots of fun!

After my posts about food thrift last week, it's well worth remembering that you can buy a kilo of porridge oats for 75p and 4 pints, 2.27L of milk for �1.  Microwave cooking is very low in energy usage so the total cost of this breakfast, even topped with a tsp of golden syrup (at an additional 2 pence) is less than 15p.  Even if you're not choosing to be thrifty, that's surely a good thing!

Keep an eye out on my posts for a "Make it Thrifty" comment at the end.  I'm going to start this with new and old posts so anyone on a limited budget can see how to adapt a recipe to make it cheaper to make.

*Note, although oats are naturally gluten free; there is inevitable cross contamination in the field between different grains.  You can get some oats which are confirmed as gluten free.  If you are on a gluten free diet, look out for these specifically.

I've linked this here.

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Root Vegetable Mash for Babies, Toddlers and Adults

A great recipe for the whole family this and an awesome recipe for the reluctant vegetable eater in your life (baby, toddler or *ahem* adult).

Root Vegetable Mash - Makes enough for 2 adults and a toddler easily

Ingredients

1 large potato, peeled (mine weighed 350g it was a monster!)
120g Butternut Squash (peeled weight)
1 carrot
A large knob of butter or olive oil if you prefer

Method

Cut the potato up into approx 1 inch (2.5cm) or so chunks.  Cut the butternut squash into pieces a bit smaller and cut the carrot into thick slices.

Cover with boiling water and boil, turning down to a simmer for 22 minutes or until everything is softened.

Drain and mash through a potato ricer with some butter or with olive oil.

My 2 year old described it as "yummy" then ate his broccoli and left his beef stew.  He loves beef stew.  You can't please all the people all of the time but it's great to get some vegetables into my sometime reluctant vegetable eater.

I've linked this up here.

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