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 lin...

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Minestrone Soup for all ages

Soup might not seem like the most summery recipe but with a drizzle of olive oil, this really hit the spot, especially when the weather is less than you'd hope for.Minestrone Soup - Makes enough for one adult and one child with leftovers, freezes well.Ingredients1 onion, finely chopped2 tsp olive oil1 courgette (zucchini) finely chopped1 rib of celery, finely chopped1-2 carrots, finely chopped180g, 6.5oz Smoked bacon2 cloves of garlic,...

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Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed mushrooms are one of those foods people think are difficult to make.  "Life is too short to stuff a mushroom" a phrase apparently coined by Shirley Conran.  Stuffing a mushroom does sound difficult, or fiddly but I promise it's not. This super simple stuffing also makes it easy (and delicious).  I just had this as an adult meal for one but my son, a fan of both mushrooms and cheese would love these.  Do...

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Rhubarb Cake

Rhubarb is such an odd fruit.  It's almost a twisted fact of nature that rhubarb is great at this time of year, just as we should be donning our suncream and sunglasses.  Then you have a spring like this one.  Days of dismal rain and almost tempted to switch on the central heating.So rhubarb suddenly has a strange purpose.  The joy, if you like, in the drizzled disappointment of British weather!After initial reluctance,...

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Cauliflower Pakoras; great finger food for kids

Cauliflower pakoras are something I'd never made before until recently, but as part of my 7 a day challenge I made some vegetable pakoras using peas and loved them.  When I moved house a few days back and restocked my cupboards (including buying some gram flour), the helpful assistant in the shop suggested cauliflower was pretty good and, in fact her favourite.  She also said that fresh spinach was, in her opinion much better...

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Quesadillas for the Whole Family

Quesadillas was something I used to make for my son when he was very little.  This is a slightly updated version with plenty of sneaky hidden vegetables!Quesadillas - Serves 2 adults and a toddlerIngredients1 tomato, diced1 tbsp fresh coriander, cilantro chopped1/4 Green pepper (capsicum), finely choppedApprox 1-2 inches courgette (zucchini) finely chopped1/2 tin (drained, 120g, 4oz drained weight) red kidney beans1 Clove garlic1/2...

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Spinach and Carrot Cannelloni

Cannelloni is a surprisingly easy dish to cook for one.  I had made some tomato and pesto soup the other day and the leftovers were in the fridge.  It occurred to me that it would also make a really good pasta sauce.  But I had no cream cheese, no goats cheese, no mince, nothing traditional for a cannelloni filling in the house.  So why not vegetables.  Why not?  You know what, it didn't just work, it was...

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Honey Ginger Glazed Tuna

Glazed tuna, a pretty tasty invention, I have a feeling this would work with any kind of robust oily fish.  The idea is you add the flavour after the cooking so you don't get issues with the sweet sauce burning in the pan.  I enjoyed this and have made it twice already, what's more, fresh or frozen tuna is a great source of Omega 3 (tinned isn't).  It's also great to make something like tuna the star of the show when so...

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Gluten Free Pancakes

Chickpea pancakes might sound like an odd proposition for breakfast but bear with me.  Chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour or 'Besan' has a distinctive, savoury taste but there is something delicious about that served with syrup, just like that salty sweet combo of bacon and syrup is something fantastic, so was this.The amazing thing about chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour is it has over double the amount of protein compared with wheat flour...

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Pasta Salad for the Whole Family

Pasta salad is one of those things you can use any old stuff in.  Leftover cooked chicken?  Marvellous.  Tuna?  Equally at home.  Well I'd picked up an avocado which was actually ripe (unheard of so of course it was down to 20p and 'reduced for quick sale'!)  I would have loved some guacamole and maybe I'll use the other half for that but I had nothing to serve it with so a pasta salad it was.  It's a...

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Weetabix Cake

Weetabix cake?  Am I serious?  Well I'd been trying different ways of using cereals quite a bit recently what with rice krispies with mackerel but I'd never found a way of using them in cakes like I had with bran loaf.  Shreddies seemed promising but were a bit of a failure when I gave them a go.  Who knew Weetabix would work?This tastes similar to my bran loaf, loads of fibre, sweet whilst being low in added sugar,...

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Pesto Crusted Fish

Bored of fish pie?  Want something interesting with fish and kid friendly?  This is a way to introduce a different flavour to white fish and great if your kids are less keen on fish without some kind of disguise.  Very quick and thrifty to prepare too.Pesto Crumbed FishIngredients2 White Fish fillets, e.g. Pollock, cod, coley.  I use fairly thin fillets around 100-150g each1 tbsp Mayonnaise2 tsp Pesto30g, 1oz Breadcrumbs15g,...

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7 a Day Challenge; Day 3 - Vegetable Pakoras

7 fruits and vegetables a day is a bit harder than I thought.A few days ago, I set myself a challenge to eat 7 fruits and vegetables minimum in 7 days to see how it affected me, my wellbeing and how hard or easy it might be.I'm on day 3 now and I need to find ways to liven things up!BreakfastI was at work early today so took breakfast of rice crispies and a banana.  This is actually far more than I'd normally eat for breakfast so...

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7 a day challenge: Carrot cake Bircher Muesli

The things I learned the most in my first day of trying to have 7 fruits and vegetables in my diet were:It takes organisationI need to buy more fruit and veg urgently (so much so after only buying some on Monday I went out for more today)A 'portion' is bigger than I thought so it's not just about variety but about quantityIt's a bit confusing what a portion size is for a child so for my 3 year old I aimed for variety and didn't get too...

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Nasi Goreng for kids

Nasi Goreng is a spicy Indonesian Fried rice dish based on peanuts.  You can do as much of the 'faffing' in this recipe as you like but the basic idea is a paste, rice, some protein and some vegetables.  I've made this to be reasonably mildly spiced so kid friendly but up the chilli if just cooking for adults (if you like, it's still blooming tasty as it is!)As spring is in the air, I even got outside for my lunch!Nasi Goreng...

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Fruit Crumble Bars

I'd looked online for a fruit crumble bar recipe which I thought wasn't a load of faff.  I failed to find one so this is what I came up with.  It's simple and you could switch in whatever fruit you have in the fruit bowl looking past it's best.Although plums aren't seasonal in the UK at least, they are in South Africa and the UK are a major export market.  Irrespective of what you think of imported fruit and vegetables,...

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Spicy Chicken Goujons

After making my crunchy mackerel strips, it occurred to me the same treatment might work pretty well with chicken and, lo and behold, it does!  The sweet chilli sauce lends flavour and a lovely sticky base for the coating.I've suggested serving with some gingery noodles but this would be just as much at home with salad or as a beer time snack.I've not tried my son with this yet but I think he'll be a fan.Spicy Chicken Goujons - Serves...

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Fruit Cobbler

Cobbler.  It's such a long time since I've eaten one and I'd forgotten how lovely they can be.  Essentially it's stewed fruit topped with a scone like topping.  On a whim I decided to make this while making my Spanish style sausage and beans.  This fantastically tasty pudding then happily cooked away using heat in the oven and then was left cooling slightly while we ate our first course.This was also devised as a way...

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Apple and Almond Cake

A big hit with my 3 year old and grown ups, this is a cake which is equally at home with custard as pudding and as a cake. The basic mix is based on a victoria sponge (so not sugar free) but by adding apples into the mix, this pads out the cake meaning you get something which feels special without needing layers of sugary icing or jam so still a treat but perhaps a less guilty one.This makes one shallow cake, which I think is the best...

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Healthy Fish and Chips for the Whole Family

Healthy fish and chips.  The mark of a good recipe is when you make it twice before posting it! We should all eat more omega 3.  One of the best sources of it is oily fish but that can be a tough sell to adults let alone kids.  Mackerel can be fantastic and delicious, especially grilled on a barbecue but can be strong tasting and a lot of people aren't all that keen on the bones.I introduced a way of cooking mackerel recently...

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