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!

Click Here To Get Download link

Banana and Honey Ice Lollies

I've never bought an ice lolly for my son which has led to full on, lying back, kicking, screaming because he wanted more.  Apart from my son's behaviour (and not wanting to reward it), it's not going to make you feel too bad giving him two.

It's also a great way to use up and store bananas which are past their best as you do want them slightly over-ripe.

Banana and Honey Ice Lollies - makes 4-6 depending on mould size

Ingredients

1 ripe banana
2 tsp runny honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
100g, 3.5oz Yogurt (low fat is fine)

Method

Peel and chop the banana.  Blend the ingredients together.  Pour into an ice lolly mould and freeze until solid.  Run some warm water over the outside of the mould to release them.

Don't give to under 1's due to the honey (you could always miss it out if your bananas are super ripe and sweet.)

Click Here To Get Download link

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.

Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1 courgette (zucchini) finely chopped
1 rib of celery, finely chopped
1-2 carrots, finely chopped
180g, 6.5oz Smoked bacon
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tin borlotti beans (120g, 4oz drained weight)
45g, 1.5oz small pasta shapes - I used alphabet shapes because I thought they were cute
1 tbsp fresh parsley
1 large fresh tomato, chopped
1 tsp pesto
Olive oil and grated cheese to serve (optional)

Method

Gently fry the onion in the oil for a couple of minutes.  Add the courgette and carrots and fry for a couple more minutes.  Add the garlic, celery and chopped bacon and fry until the bacon is looking cooked and the onion is translucent.

Add 650ml, just over a pint, of boiling water and the borlotti beans.  Simmer for 5 minutes or until the carrot is almost cooked.  Add in the pasta and tomato and boil until the pasta is cooked, this will depend on the pasta type so be guided by the pack.  Mine took 4-5 minutes.

Add the pesto, stirring in and serve with chopped parsley and cheese sprinkled on top if liked.  A lovely summery soup!

If you like this, you might like my lovely Moroccan soup too!

Or why not try this lovely chowder?

Click Here To Get Download link

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 include the herbs, after all, without them they'd be a two ingredient recipe and that feels a little bit lame!

Stuffed Mushrooms - Serves 1 Adult or 1-2 Children

Ingredients

5 White Mushrooms (I didn't use large open capped ones, just ones around 2-4 cm across.  The bigger they are, the fewer you'll need.)
A few sprigs of fresh herbs, I used parsley, thyme and chives
60g, 2oz Feta cheese, crumbled

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC, 400F, gas mark 7.

Take the stalks out of the mushrooms just leaving the caps.  If you like the stalks can be chopped up and used in another dish, like Bolognese or vegetarian lasagne.

Chop up the herbs and mix with the feta.

Put the mushrooms in a baking dish and fill the caps with spoonfuls of feta.

Bake for 20 minutes or until browned on top and the mushrooms are cooked through.  Great served with a simply dressed tomato salad.

Make it thrifty

It is possible to buy "Greek Style Salad Cheese" which is often less than half the price of feta which I sometimes do when short of money.  The quality of it is very variable though.  Certainly if having in a salad I would always buy authentic feta but in this recipe the alternative is fine for stuffed mushrooms.

Click Here To Get Download link

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, my son loved this cake and so did I.  It lasted for 2 further days in a tin and I also froze some wedges which defrosted in the microwave beautifully.

Great served warm as a pudding with silky double cream or custard or cold as a cake.  Ok, I'm not winning any prizes on health here but I figure it's still healthier than a chocolate bar, and, cream aside, it's pretty low in fat.

Rhubarb Cake - makes 1 large cake

Ingredients

60g, 2oz Margarine
300g, 10.5oz Sugar (I used a mix of half white and half dark soft brown sugar which gave lovely little toffee flavoured flecks in the mix)
2 Eggs
300g, 10.5oz Self Raising flour (or the same amount of all purpose / plain flour with 3 tsp baking powder)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp Mixed Spice (apple pie spice)
300g, 10.5oz Low Fat Yogurt
250g, 9oz Rhubarb cut into short lengths

Method

Preheat an oven to 160oC, 325F, Gas Mark 3.

Line a 7.5", 19cm cake tin with baking paper and grease lightly (a mild flavoured oil spray is great for this).

Cream the margarine with the sugar as best you can as there isn't much fat.  Add the eggs and beat in.  Add the spice, vanilla and the yogurt and beat together.

Add in the flour then fold in the rhubarb.

Pour into the tin and bake for approx 1hr 15mins.  Check after an hour and cover if it's browning too much.  Check with a sharp knife or skewer to see if it's done.

Allow to cool on a wire rack and serve warm or cold.  This would be great warm with custard.  Central heating from the inside thanks to Rhubarb cake!

Click Here To Get Download link

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 in Indian food than frozen.

I always like a bit of advice when it comes to cooking so I gave it a go.  The jury is out in the spinach.  In my opinion frozen is just as good but the great thing about baby spinach is you can use it as a salad vegetable or cook with it and it just so happened I had some in my fridge so I went with it.
Traditionally I don't think the cauliflower is precooked but although I don't like soggy cauliflower, I'm not overly keen on cauliflower which bites back either so I partially precooked mine.

 

Caulflower pakoras - serves 2-3

 

Ingredients

 

7 Small cauliflower florets
30g, 1oz Fresh spinach, finely shredded
100g, 3.5oz Gram flour (chickpea flour, garbanzo bean flour, besan)
2 tsp Garam masala
1/2 tsp Madras curry paste (or more if cooking for adults if liked)
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 tsp Baking powder (use gluten free if avoiding gluten)
75 - 150ml Cold water
Oil for frying
 

Method

Part cook the cauliflower by boiling for approx 4 minutes so still firm but almost cooked.  Cut into halves.

Heat up approx 1 inch of vegetable oil in a deep saucepan.  Never leave hot oil unattended.
 

Mix the flour, curry paste, lime and baking powder with enough water to make a batter like consistency.

Add in the spinach then add in the cauliflower.  Try a drop of batter in the oil, if it sizzles immediately, put a coated piece of cauliflower and see how it cooks.  If it browns too quickly but the batter is still runny inside, lower the heat.  If it takes a long time and seems greasy, increase the heat.

Cook in batches of 3-4.  Leave to drain on kitchen roll then serve as a starter, a side dish or as I did for my son with some rice cooked with peas and some mango chutney mixed with plain yogurt to dip.
 

Reheating:  Once cooked, keep in the fridge and either eat cold (although they do go a bit soft) or much better, reheat in a preheated 180oC / 350F oven for approx 6-10 minutes or until warmed through and crisp.  It's almost worth making extra to have the leftovers with no effort the next day!?

?

Click Here To Get Download link

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 toddler

Ingredients

1 tomato, diced
1 tbsp fresh coriander, cilantro chopped
1/4 Green pepper (capsicum), finely chopped
Approx 1-2 inches courgette (zucchini) finely chopped
1/2 tin (drained, 120g, 4oz drained weight) red kidney beans
1 Clove garlic
1/2 tsp mild smoked paprika
45g, 1 1/2 oz Extra mature (extra sharp) cheddar
4 tortillas
Salsa or chilli sauce, to serve

Method

Mix the ingredients apart form the cheese tortillas and salsa and heat in a saucepan for 5-10 minutes or until hot through and combined.

Spread half the mix on a tortilla, top with half of the cheese then put a second tortilla on top.  Don't be tempted to overfill them as they'll fall apart.

Dry fry in a non stick frying pan.

When browned on one side, flip by putting a plate on top then turning out and sliding back into the pan.

Brown on the other side then slide out, cut up and serve.  Grown ups might want some salsa for dunking.

Make it Thrifty

Use up leftovers in quesadillas.  Leftover cooked chicken might be nice.  You can use pretty much anything you want.  I keep meaning to put some cooked sweetcorn in sometime.  The only thing you must include is cheese as it holds it all together.

If you have any tortillas left over, either freeze them or spray with oil, bake for about 6 or 7 minutes at 200oC, 400F, Gas Mark 6 or until browned and crisp.  Serve with dips.

Amazingly I've been shortlisted for the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging awards.  Making it to the finals depends on a vote from people like you.  Please click on this image below and a survey will open.  It will ask for your email address but they don't spam you, don't worry!  It takes seconds!

 

 

Click Here To Get Download link

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 delicious!

A great idea for fussy kids not keen on vegetables (or even adults!)


Spinach and Carrot Cannelloni - Serves 1 adult or 2 children

Ingredients

1/2 a carrot, peeled and grated
20g, 2/3oz Fresh spinach, finely shredded
2 tbsp Single cream (light cream) but any cream could be used
30g, 1oz Extra mature (extra sharp) cheddar
200-250g 7-9oz of homemade tomato and pesto soup
4 tubes cannelloni.  Mine were quite small, weighing 45g, 1.5oz.  Make sure you choose the dried kind which can be cooked without precooking

Method

Mix the grated carrot, spinach, cream and grate in a third of the cheese.

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F.  With your fingers (the messy bit), shove the filling inside the tubes.

Pour a spoonful of the soup into the base of the baking dish, put the cannelloni on top, finish with more soup and then the rest of the cheese grated on top.

Check pack instructions but it should take about 30-40 minutes to cook until bubbling, browned and the cannelloni are cooked through.

Make it Thrifty

A completely different dish from leftovers.  What could be thriftier than that?

Only a few days to vote for the Brilliance in Blogging awards.  Making it to the finals depends on a vote from people like you!  Please click on this image below and a survey will open.  It will ask for your email address but they don't spam you, don't worry!  It takes seconds!

 

 

Click Here To Get Download link

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 often it's just bunged in a sandwich as a cheap protein source, although I have to admit my favourite way to have tuna is sushi but with the sweet gingery notes, this still hits the mark.

This isn't mad spicy so should be fine for kids but no babies please as it contains honey.

Honey and Ginger Glazed Tuna - Serves 2 adults

Ingredients

2 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Sweet Chilli Sauce
1 tsp Sesame Oil
2 Tuna Steaks
Spray oil
Stir fried vegetables and noodles or salad and rice to serve

Method

Mix the ginger, honey, soy, chilli sauce and oil together in a bowl and put to one side.

Cook the rice or noodles.  Fry the tuna steaks for a couple of minutes on each side or until done on the outside and still pink in the middle (fully cook for young kids).  Put onto a warm plate and spoon on some of the glaze.

In the meantime, finish cooking the rice or noodles and stir fried vegetables or this would be great with a shredded salad.

Serve drizzling more of the glaze onto the fish and vegetables if liked.

Make it Thrifty

Look out for frozen tuna steaks in the freezer section and defrost before using, they're much cheaper than fresh.

Amazingly I've been shortlisted for the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging awards.  Making it to the finals depends on a vote from people like you.  Please click on this image below and a survey will open.  It will ask for your email address but they don't spam you, don't worry!  It takes seconds!

 

 

Click Here To Get Download link

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 which makes them amazingly filling so a great start for the day, and, handily for coeliacs (or people choosing to avoid gluten), it's naturally gluten and wheat free.

The verdict was "nice but not quite as good as the normal ones" from the household, I disagreed.  I really liked them and I felt seriously full until lunch.

Gluten Free Pancakes - Makes enough for 3-4

Ingredients

Batter
225g, 8oz Chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour (besan)
2 tsp Gluten free baking powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 Apples, grated (including skin but excluding the core)
300ml, a generous half pint Milk
2 Eggs

Butter or spray oil

Butter, honey (over 1s only), golden syrup or maple syrup to serve.

Method

Blend all of the batter ingredients together including the grated apples.  I normally take them and crate them back to the core.

Heat a non stick frying pan and either rub butter over it or spray with spray oil (see my original pancake post for more instructions).

Pour or spoon on a little batter.  Keep on a medium heat and turn when the bubbles start to burst.  It might take a little trial and error to get the perfect heat.

Once ready, put on a plate and top with your choice of toppings.

Make it Thrifty

Look out for big bags of Besan or Chickpea flour in the Indian / South Asian section of your supermarket.  They're also great for making pakoras!

Amazingly I've been shortlisted for the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging awards for the third year running but I've never won and only once made it to the finals.  Making it to the finals depends on a vote from people like you.  Please click on this image below and a survey will open.  It will ask for your email address but they don't spam you, don't worry!  It takes minutes and at the same time, you can vote for other blogs you like the look of or not if you don't read many other blogs (or choose not to!)  I'm listed as "Mama Cook" in the food category.

 

 

Click Here To Get Download link

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 great way to squeeze in fruit and vegetables which your child might not ordinarily try.

I should have made this during my week of eating 7 fruits and vegetables a day!  A surprising hit with my youngster who's normally a bit of a salad dodger.  Substitute the dressing for mayonnaise or a mayo / yogurt mix if you prefer.

Pasta Salad - Serves 2-3

Ingredients

90g, 3oz Wholewheat pasta (use regular if you prefer)

90g, 3oz Frozen sweetcorn

100g, 3.5oz Smoked bacon, chopped

90g, 3oz Cucumber, chopped

A handful of cherry tomatoes or baby plum tomatoes

1/2 Ripe avocado

Dressing

1 tbsp Yogurt (I used low fat)

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

2 tsp Olive oil 

(Or alternatively use 2 tbsp mayonnaise mixed with 2 tbsp low fat yogurt)

Method

Cook the pasta following pack instructions, add the sweetcorn into the boiling water for the last 2 minutes.

Once cooked drain and refresh (rinse) under cold running water until cold.

Cook the bacon in a non stick pan without adding any fat until cooked and slightly browned.  Allow to cool.

Mix the pasta, sweetcorn and bacon together and add chopped cucumber and tomatoes.

Mix the yogurt and lemon juice then gradually whisk in the oil.  Peel and cube the avocado then toss in the dressing so it doesn't go brown.  Mix the avocado and dressing in with the pasta salad and serve.  Add seasoning if liked for adults.

Click Here To Get Download link

Baked Onion Rings

Onion rings, love them but don't love the oiliness.  I'm not some health freak but I can feel my arteries hardening as I eat!  These are cunningly baked so much less fatty!

Baked Onion Rings

Ingredients

1 Small onion cut into 2mm rings
2 tbsp Mayo
1 tbsp Milk
20g, Just over 1/2oz Rice Krispies
15g, 1/2 oz Plain (all purpose) flour
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
Spray Oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC, 400F, Gas Mark 6.  Line a tray with non stick baking paper.

Crush the rice krispies and put in a bowl with the flour and garlic powder.

Mix the mayo and milk together.  Dip the rings in the mayo mix then into the dry mix.  Put on the tray.

Once you've done them all, wash off all the gunk from your hands then spray with spray oil.

Bake for approx 10-15 minutes (12 in my oven, keep an eye on them so they don't burn).

Make it Thrifty

Use the oven for other things to maximise the use of the power while you're cooking these.  Also keep your eyes peeled (excuse the pun) for value or smart price packs of onions.  Often they're much cheaper because they're slightly smaller onions than the premium packs but still make delicious onion rings.

Click Here To Get Download link

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, dairy free fat free and lovely with a pot of tea!

Weetabix Cake

Ingredients

2 Weetabix (or own brand equivalent)
350ml, 12 fl oz Decaffeinated tea (just make with one decaf teabag)
110g, 4oz Muscovado or soft brown sugar
280g, 10oz Sultanas (golden raisins)
1 egg
225g, 8oz Self Raising Flour (or all purpose / plain flour plus 2 tsp baking powder)
1 tsp mixed spice

Method

Crush up the weetabix, mix with the sugar and dried fruit.  Soak in the tea for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 160oC.  Mix in the spice, flour and egg and pour into a greased silicone loaf tin or a greased and lined conventional loaf tin.

Bake for about 1hour 10 mins (in my oven anyway) or until a knife inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Eat warm or cool.  Keeps reasonably well despite being fat free.

Make it Thrifty

Keep an eye out for value or smart price packs of self raising flour, breakfast cereal and dried fruits.  They work just as well in this as the more expensive packs.

Click Here To Get Download link

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 Fish

Ingredients

2 White Fish fillets, e.g. Pollock, cod, coley.  I use fairly thin fillets around 100-150g each
1 tbsp Mayonnaise
2 tsp Pesto
30g, 1oz Breadcrumbs
15g, 1/2oz Grated extra mature (extra sharp) cheddar
Spray oil or olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F / Gas Mark 6.

Mix the mayo with the pesto.  Put the fish on a baking dish or tray lined with non stick baking paper.  Spread the mayo mix on the fish.

Mix the breadcrumbs and cheese together and sprinkle on the top.  Spray with oil or drizzle with oil.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until browned and cooked through.  The thicker the fish, the longer it will take. Mine was only about a cm thick so cooked reasonably quickly.

Make it Thrifty

Using pollock makes this a source of omega 3 (which is pretty much absent in most other white fish), it's also more sustainable than cod and cheaper!  Look out for it in the chiller or the frozen aisle where it's often marketed as 'white fish' (but pollock might be in small writing somewhere on the back); defrost before cooking.

 

Click Here To Get Download link

Chocolate Custard (low sugar)

Custard.  I never make it from scratch but I do make it from custard powder.  It occurred to me when making some custard from custard powder the other day that custard powder is simply cornflour (cornstarch) natural flavouring (vanilla) and colour (normally a natural colour like annatto).  I don't have much annatto floating around the house and there feels like something wrong about making white custard even though that's the colour it would be if not made with eggs, so my idea was to make chocolate custard.

This would be great hot with chocolate cake, poured over banana (if you want to keep on my 7 a day routine), on it's own or allowed to cool in small pots and eaten cold like blancmange.  It's pretty low sugar too with only 1 tsp added sugar per portion.  There's more sugar in a fromage frais!

Chocolate custard - Makes 2 small bowls

Ingredients

280ml, Half Pint milk
1 rounded tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tsp Cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 tsp Sugar

Method

Mix the cornflour with the cocoa powder and sugar with 1 tbsp of the cold milk then add the vanilla.  Heat the remaining milk in a microwave for 2 minutes or until hot.  Gradually whisk the hot milk into the cornflour mix then return to the microwave for 2-3 minutes on full power or until cooked and thick.  Keep an eye on it as it can boil up and boil over.

I would be honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

After all, who can resist delicious chocolate custard?

Click Here To Get Download link

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!

Breakfast

I 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 I ended up saving the banana for mid morning.  I will definitely be stretching myself more from a culinary point of view at the weekend when I have more time!

Lunch

Lunch was Gazpacho again (2 portions of vegetables) due to making a double batch yesterday with watermelon and a satsuma afterwards.  I was up to 5 of my 7 after lunch but felt the need to 'retox' with some chocolate cake.  A girl needs something unvirtuous!

Tea

Ok... this week has been harder (even by day 3) than I expected.  I needed fried.  So wrong.  I know, I had chocolate there was even some sugar on the rice crispies.

But the problem is I'm just so full!  Maybe I don't eat big portions but 7 lots of vegetables, in the portion sizes recommended really limits what else you can eat.

So I needed fried.  I needed something which felt wrong even if it was full of vegetables.  Pakora it is!

Vegetable Pakoras - Makes enough for two

Ingredients

100g, 3.5oz Gram Flour (chickpea flour, garbanzo bean flour, besan)
2 tsp Garam Masala
2 tsp  Curry Paste (as hot as you want it to be, I was cooking for myself so used madras but I'd use korma paste for my son)
60g, 2oz Defrosted frozen chopped spinach
60g, 2oz Defrosted frozen peas
2 Spring onions (scallions)
Juice 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp Baking powder (gluten free is easily available if avoiding wheat)
1 tbsp Fresh Coriander, chopped (cilantro)
70 - 100ml, 2.5 - 3.5 floz water

Oil for frying
Mango chutney to serve

Method

Mix the flour, spice, curry paste and lemon juice.  Mix in enough water to make a batter about the thickness of pancake batter.

Add in the baking powder, spinach, peas and spring onions and mix well.

Heat up about an inch or couple of cm of oil in a saucepan and when it's hot, drop a spoonful into the fat.  Cook until well browned turning a few times.  Use this 'trial' pakora to check that it's cooked through by breaking it open.  If it's a bit runny in the middle chalk that one up to experience and, turn the heat down a bit to cook the others.

Drain on kitchen paper and serve.  Update:  Store any leftovers in the fridge for a couple of days and reheat at 200oC for 6-10 minutes or until warmed through and crisp again on the outside.

I have to admit, I was going to have this with some carrot salad but I just fancied the pakora.  I know but they were delicious.  I could only manage to eat half of the batch which actually means I'm a bit light on my vegetable count for the day...

Or am I?  Under the '5 a day' rules anyway, pulses were permitted for one of the 5 a day... so my chickpea flour counts!  Result!

The pakora might not have been fabulous for the waistline but they were great for the soul.

7 a day done!  Kinda.  Why does it feel I've achieved it via a technicality?  7 portions of 10 different fruits and vegetables; banana, satsuma, tomato, pepper (capsicum), cucumber, watermelon, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), spinach, peas and spring onions (scallions).

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

Click Here To Get Download link

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 organisation
• I 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 quantity
• It'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 hung up on how much he ate
• I'm going to get very bored weighing ingredients very, very quickly...

Today was a day at home with my son.

Breakfast

My first day of 7 fruit and vegetables in 7 days started with a Bircher Muesli.  It might look like a bowl of mush (ok it is kind of a bowl of mush) but it's also a great way to get raw fruit and vegetables into your breakfast.

As I said yesterday, I think the key to getting to 7 in a day is to include fruit and vegetables into every meal.

I didn't add any sugar or honey and you could if you like but both my son and I liked it as it was  ("it delicious!")

Carrot Cake Bircher Muesli - Makes 1 adult portion

Ingredients

1/2 apple grated (include the skin)
30g, 1oz Carrot finely grated
30g, 1oz Porridge oats
30g, 1oz Sultanas (Golden Raisins)
1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon

Method

Mix everything together then add milk or yogurt to taste (I like milk).  If preferred you can make this the night before and store in the fridge but I like the oats to still have a little bite so I make just before serving.

After eating it I felt really nicely full without feeling like I'd eaten something awful.  It felt like a nice fresh addition to my day actually.

An alternative recipe for Bircher muesli is here.

The interesting thing about this recipe though with it's three different fruits and vegetables (carrot, apple and dried fruit) is there aren't three portions.  A 'portion' is about 80g so this breakfast only actually contains 1.  This is going to be harder than I thought...

Snack

I don't normally have a snack but I felt in the mood to so I had 80g of a Galia Melon and the wee man had an apple.  I was up to 2 out of 7 and my son was on 1 only having had a taste of my breakfast earlier.  The other thing I did was prepare more melon for lunch tomorrow.  That way there would be no "I'm running late" excuses in the morning.

I'm not denying I would have preferred to go to the local cafe but I probably would have had a hot chocolate had I gone there, expensive and full of sugar and fat.  So in some ways this was better for me and made me wonder if this 7 a day business is more about what you miss out rather than what you include.  The sheer volume of fruit and vegetables doesn't leave a lot of space for anything else.

So at 10am I'd managed two.  I was going to have to squeeze another 5 into lunch, tea and any snacks and my son would need 6.  Thinking cap on...

Lunch

I went for my bacon and broccoli frittata for lunch.  I upped the broccoli a bit to 120g per frittata so it was more likely I'd get the full 80g for me and served with cabbage and sweetcorn on the side, I hit three for the main course.  Again I was more worried about portion size for me and to get the 160g of vegetables on the side was a much larger amount than I was expecting.  I felt very full after my meal but I'm not totally sure I could be happy eating 80g of cabbage in one sitting every day; and I like cabbage.

After lunch I was up to 5 portions and my son on 4.

Snack

A handful of black skinned grapes each.

Tea

My son had a version of this fried rice dish with added sugarsnap peas, petit pois (ok still peas but kind of different) as well as the mushrooms.  So with his snack he was on 8 different fruits and vegetables.

For me later, I had some pan fried fresh tuna with rice and a salad made from cucumber, radishes and peppers (capsicums), three vegetables but in terms of quantity only 2 portions.

For me, 7 a day achieved in terms of quantity and here are the fruits and vegetables I ate:  Apple, carrot, sultana, melon, broccoli, cabbage, sweetcorn, grapes, radishes, cucumber, pepper and I'm feeling pretty full!

Day 1 - Success so far...  But can I keep this going on a work day?

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

Click Here To Get Download link

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 - Serves 1 hungry adult or 1 adult and 1 toddler

Ingredients

For the spice paste (you will only need half for this, store the rest in the fridge for a couple of days or the freezer)
1 tbsp smooth peanut butter
30g, 1 oz onion
1 tbsp ginger
1 dried chilli - use a mild one if liked (or a spicier one if the family are keen)
Juice of one lime

60g, 2oz Basmati rice
Large handful of frozen peas or French beans
1 Clove garlic
2 tsp Soy sauce

Remainder of onion (not used for the paste)
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
Coriander (cilantro) to serve

Cooked mackerel or prawns*

Method

Blend the spice paste ingredients in a food processor until blended.

Boil the rice for 10 minutes adding the peas or beans in for the last 3 minutes (if frozen, if fresh, add them for the last 4 minutes).

In the meantime, cut the onion left from making the spice paste into thin slices.  Fry in the oil in a wok or frying pan until browned and drain on kitchen paper.

Empty most of the oil out of the wok, reserving some and put back on the heat.  Whisk up the egg with a little water and fry to make a very thin omelette.  Once cooked, put to one side.

When the rice is cooked, drain.  Put a tsp of the oil back into the wok and fry the paste for a minute with the garlic (remember you're only using half of the paste).  Add the rice / vegetable mix and 2 tsp soy sauce.  Cook it all together for a minute and serve topped with the mackerel or prawns, slices of omelette, onions and coriander (cilantro).

* To cook mackerel fillets, just place on a baking tray and cook in an oven for approx 15 minutes or alternatively fresh or leftover barbecued fish would be awesome with this.

Make it Thrifty

Look out for value or smart price packs of Basmati rice.  Although you often get more broken grains, the flavour is still just as good.

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

Click Here To Get Download link

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, these plums were lovely.  Juicy, delicious and sweet but unfortunately my son on a whim has decided he doesn't like plums or maybe he's aware it's not UK plum season.  Who knows?  Stranger things have happened than my son deciding to put his foot down on carbon footprints.  Well he is 3.

If you are sticking to more locally sourced fruit, why not try using frozen fruit instead?  Raspberries might work well but will probably need boiling down more so they're not too wet.

Fruit Crumble Bars - makes 9 generous sized bars

Ingredients

100g, 3.5oz Plain (all purpose) flour

100g, 3.5oz Porridge oats

100g, 3.5oz Sugar

100g, 3.5oz Butter

1 egg

2-3 Ripe large plums

1 tsp Cornflour (cornstarch)

Method

Stone the plums and cut into small pieces (don't skin them).  Heat in a pan with a tbsp of water until the juices start to run, a few minutes or so.  Check they're not too sour (add sugar if wanted but remember the crumble is sweet.  I didn't add any sugar.)  Mix the cornflour with a tbsp water and mix into the hot plums to thicken the juice.  Take off the heat.

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F, Gas Mark 6.

In a food processor or bowl rub the flour, oats, sugar and butter together.  Add the egg to bring together.

Line a  20cm by 20 cm (8 inch by 8 inch) baking dish with baking paper.

Press two thirds of the mix into the base.

Top the base with the plum mix then loosely crumble the remaining mix on top.

Bake for approx 18-20 minutes or until hot through and browned on top.

Cut into bars and serve warm (not hot) or cold.  When cold store in an airtight tin.  Best eaten the same day or the next.

Make it Thrifty

Use anything which is needing eating up in your fruit bowl, especially stone fruit or berries.

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

Click Here To Get Download link

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 2

Ingredients

250g, 9oz Chicken breast

4 tbsp Sweet chilli sauce

30g, 1oz Rice Krispies

30g, 1oz Plain, All purpose flour

Spray oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC, 400F, Gas Mark 6.  Prepare a baking tray with a layer of non stick baking paper.

Crush the rice krispies and mix with the flour.

Cut the chicken into strips.  Dunk each strip into the sweet chilli sauce and then into the crushed cereal mix and put on the tray.

Spray with spray oil.  Roast for approx 20 minutes or until cooked through and crunchy.

Serve with your choice of accompaniment.  I've chosen some honey and ginger noodles with vegetables.

Make it Thrifty

Take a look at chicken breasts in the freezer department.  Often they're cheaper than chilled chicken breasts and as long as you remember to defrost them in the fridge overnight, you're less likely to have food waste by buying them frozen as they last for ages.

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

Click Here To Get Download link