Sausage Plait for the Whole Family

The sausage plait; grown up big brother to the sausage roll, ideal for changeable summers like these; equally at home served hot with vegetables or cold with a salad or in a lunch box.  The ultimate "what on earth is the weather doing?" food.

The good thing about this recipe is it has some sneaky hidden vegetables too which are not only your fussy child insurance policy but also helps make the recipe more thrifty.

I used the herbs which are growing in my garden and so far not completely destroyed by slugs.  Just use what you have or fancy.

Sausage Plait - would serve 4 easily, maybe more

Ingredients

One 375g, 13oz pack of ready made, ready rolled puff pastry (there will be trimmings you can use for cheese straws or similar if liked)
400g, 14oz good quality sausages
1 grated courgette (zucchini)
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
1 tsp vegetable oil
Herbs - I used a mixed tbsp of chopped fresh parsley, sage, thyme and oregano
1 egg

Method

Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently saute the onion until translucent.  Add the garlic then the courgette (zucchini).  Fry for a few minutes until lots of the moisture has been driven off.  Put into a bowl to cool.

Once cool, preheat the oven to 200oC, 400F, squeeze the sausage meat out of the skins and mix with the vegetables and herbs.

Now I used some non stick baking paper on my tray and annoyingly this still stuck.  I'll be tempted next time to dispense with the paper.  Lay out the pastry onto a tray, I trimmed the ends as they were a bit folded over and damaged and making a large sausage shape, put the meat mixture down the middle of the pastry leaving a gap either side and at the ends.

Cut strips down either side as shown in the picture and then fold in the strips one side then the other.  Fold in the ends trimming out the corners a bit so there's not too much pastry.

Brush with beaten egg then bake for 20 minutes, lower the heat to 150oC, 300F and cook for a further 20 minutes.

Take out of the oven and either serve warm or cold.  (Once cold store in the fridge.)

The inspiration for this recipe was from a friend on a forum saying her son wasn't keen on vegetables but would eat a commercially made sausage plait and also in response to Beena Nadeem's request for lunch box friendly food.  Not that I'm pretending this is the healthiest thing to serve every day but it would be a great idea as a "suitable for tea and handy for leftovers" meal.  If your house is anything like ours, we eat together at lunchtime but with the best intentions I'm just not hungry when my son is at 4:30pm so either we have something different or we need something that will keep.  Likewise when I'm going to work, it's great to have something you can grab from the fridge at 5:30am.  After all I have been known to steel a small pot of meatballs I'd intended to serve to my son and have them warmed up in a sub!  Naughty Mummy!

I've submitted this to 'herbs on a saturday' competition hosted this month by Bangers and Mash.

I've also linked this up here.

Goats Cheese and Walnut Salad for Grown Ups

This is only for adults or at least kids old enough to eat whole nuts.  I make no apology for making a recipe which is not suitable for preschoolers as this is a genuine start to end 10 minute dish.

When you've just had a bath meltdown, a reading meltdown, a bed meltdown, sometimes you want to cook something quick for the adults.  It's great to have a healthy recipe up your sleeve as it's easy for quick = trash when you're a busy mum.

I've been making this recipe for maybe six years but until today it had not occurred to me to blog it.

Goats Cheese and Walnut Salad - serves 2 adults

Ingredients

Approx 130g Baby spinach leaves
Approx 6 small ripe tomatoes
Approx 180g Goats cheese with rind, I used chevre blanc
A large handful of walnut pieces

Dressing

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 - 1 tsp grain mustard

Method

Rinse the spinach leaves if not pre washed.  Rinse and cut the tomatoes in half.  Plate up the spinach and tomatoes.  Shake together the oil, vinegar and mustard.

Heat up a grill (a top down grill not a grill pan) and put the slices of goats cheese on a non stick tray and grill until browned.  Keep an eye on it.  When the cheese is browned, take it out from under the grill and leave for a few minutes.  Heat the walnuts through in a frying pan for a couple of minutes until smelling nutty.  Keep them moving now and again.  While the nuts are warming through, use a spatula or fish slice to carefully scoop up each cheesy circle onto the top of the salad (they will be delicate).  Put the nuts on top and drizzle over as much of the dressing as you fancy.

Done.  10 mins max, simple ingredients, delicious result!  Let the evening begin!

I've linked this up to the weekend pot luck here and tasty tuesday here.

Tempura for the whole family

Ok, I have to 'fess up, I've not tried my son with this yet but I have absolutely no doubt that he will LOVE tempura.  He loves spice, his favourite foods are prawns and mushrooms.  What's not to like?

That said, this isn't the healthiest, it is deep fried but most kids do need calories so that's not necessarily a disaster.  It can also be a great way to get reluctant vegetable eaters to give them a go.  You don't have to go with the dips I've suggested, perhaps if your kids aren't into all that spice you could mix some sweet chilli sauce with ketchup?

Anyway, here is the recipe.  A word of warning, make this when you have another responsible adult in the house.  This is absolutely not the thing to make with a toddler clinging onto your ankles!  Frying can be very dangerous.  Never leave it unattended.

Tempura - serves 2 adults easily

Ingredients

Approx 10 Large Raw Prawns (exclude if preferring a vegetarian option), defrosted if frozen
Vegetables of your choice, I used 5 mushrooms sliced thickly and 4 broccoli florets in thick slices

Batter:
60g, 2oz plain flour
60g, 2oz cornflour
150ml, 5.5 fl oz soda water or sparkling water from a new, cold bottle

Vegetable oil for frying

Salad or rice to serve

Soy dip:
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp white wine or rice vinegar
2 tsp water
1/2 clove of finely minced or grated garlic

or Sweet chilli sauce

Method

Weigh out the flours into a bowl.

Prepare the vegetables by slicing into thick slices.

Prepare the prawns by cutting down the back and removing the intestine (this is often referred to as a 'vein').  This makes the prawns butterfly as they cook but also makes them taste better.

When you're ready to cook, heat up a couple of inches (5cm or so) of oil in a saucepan or a deep fat fryer until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds.  Have a warm plate lined with kitchen roll ready.

As close to cooking as possible, pour the soda water onto the flours and mix.  You don't have to mix it completely, little lumps of flour are fine.  Now, you do need to work quickly.

Dip each piece of vegetable or prawn into the batter and fry for 1-2 minutes or until the batter is starting to colour slightly and they are cooked through and crisp.  Put on the kitchen roll to drain as you cook the rest.

Serve with either the soy dipping sauce (just mix the sauce ingredients together) or sweet chilli sauce with rice or salad.

Wish me luck!

Today is the awards ceremony for the Brilliance in Blogging awards and I am a finalist in the "Tasty" category.  I'm nervous, excited, thrilled, terrified!  Despite appearances having been in two local newspapers and on a BBC radio station in the last couple of weeks, I am incredibly shy but being passionate about what I do, I have taken the plunge moved out of my comfort zone and gone for it.  I never thought my little blog and recipes would be so successful!

So thank you kind readers.  Sorry for the lack of recipes, normal service will resume soon once the craziness of these few days has passed.  

In the meantime, if you want to hear what's going on, I have a twitter feed; follow @Mamacook_blog and no doubt I will be tweeting throughout the day and ceremony or search for #BiBs from around 7pm tonight.  Alternatively I've just set up a Mamacook email address for anyone interested in getting in touch:  Mamacook@hotmail.co.uk

Thank you everyone who nominated me and I'll let you know how it goes!  (Practicing my "I never expected to win, I am so happy you won, your blog is great" face right now.)

Mussel and Broccoli Pasta for Toddlers and Adults

I'm imagining at the title of this recipe a lot of parents getting weirded out.  I am perfectly serious.  This is a toddler friendly mussel recipe.

I'd been mulling over cooking mussels for my son for a while, after all, they fit into what I consider to be a good food to eat; delicious, cheap, easy, quick and full of lovely stuff.

Broccoli and Mussel pasta - serves 1 adult and 1 toddler, not recommended for children under 1 year

Ingredients

I small onion, finely chopped (or half of a large onion)
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
200g, approx 7oz live mussels (see below for preparation techniques)
2 tbsp apple juice
100g, approx 4oz pasta
3 florets of broccoli, chopped into halves or quarters
1 tsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp double (heavy) cream
A small knob of unsalted butter

Method

To prepare mussels scrape off the beards (hairy bits) and any barnacles.  If they are open, give them a sharp tap.  If they don't close then throw them away.  (I did this preparation step before going to a mum and tots group storing them in the fridge in a bag.)

When you're ready to cook, put the pasta on to boil.  5-6 minutes before the end of the cooking time add the broccoli.

In the meantime, heat a saucepan and saute the onion in the butter until starting to soften. Add in the garlic and stir for a few seconds.  Add the apple juice and then the mussels.  Put on a lid and heat over a medium to high heat for 3-4 minutes.  Take off the lid and discard any which haven't opened.  You want to keep the liquid in the pan though as that's full of flavour.

Take the mussel meat out of the shells (unless serving to adults where you could leave a few in, the photograph above was my portion).  Check the remaining liquid in the pan for grit.  If there is any, you may need to sieve it or pour it out discarding the last tsp (there wasn't with mine).  Add some cream to the liquid to make the sauce and heat through adding in the mussel meat; switch off as soon as it starts to bubble.  Add in the parsley.

Add the pasta and broccoli into the sauce, stir and serve as soon as it's cool enough for your child.

Not only did my son love the mussels, he stole half of mine and asked for more!

Making this got me thinking, what does "Mamacook" stand for?  What do I stand for?  Well Mamacook is the kind of food I like to (and do) feed my son and myself.  Generally this is low in refined sugars, quick, easy and full of flavour.  I don't think though that food for kids should always be boring.  When I made this pasta dish I had no idea if my son would accept it.  I figured if he didn't want the mussels, he would probably eat the pasta, so I gave it a shot.  The mussels cost me 81p, if the worst came to the worst, he would have had some bread and I would have eaten the mussels!

So, if I can encourage one thing, even if you're not in the mood to cook mussels for your toddler; why not just be a little bit brave and cook something different tomorrow for your child, just to try it, what's the worst that could happen?

I've linked this up here and here!

Meatballs for babies, toddlers and adults

Meatballs are a fantastic kids food and a great way to hide some vegetables for the reluctant vegetable eater.  There's no getting away from mess with meatballs, especially with babies but they are great finger foods if you're feeling brave!

The observant will notice I've posted a meatball recipe before but I've improved the flavour, changed it and made it easier.  The old one was a labour of love taking about 3 hours from start to finish (including making the sauce) but this is easier, nearer an hours commitment and requires no blender to make which is great considering my blender has gone to silicon heaven.  What with no decent camera this week either I'm not doing well on the electrical front!

Meatballs - makes easily enough for 2 adults, 2 children and plenty of leftovers (freezes very well)

Ingredients

1 lb, 454g sausages, I am a firm believer in using good sausages.  Garlicky sausages would be good.  (Use wheat / gluten free if following a gluten free diet.)

1 clove of garlic, finely grated

A generous 1lb, 500g Minced beef

1 Courgette (Zucchini), grated

1 tsp paprika

Herbs; I used 2 sprigs rosemary, sprig thyme, sprig oregano

A few grindings of pepper

Olive oil

1 to 1 and a half 500g cartons of passata

Method

Squeeze the sausages out of the skins into a bowl with the grated courgette.  Add in the garlic, paprika, chopped herbs, pepper and beef.

Get stuck in with your hands and squidge all of the meaty mix together.  Roll up into balls, my preference is for small balls a bit smaller than a walnut but you can do whatever size you like.  Roll up into balls of your preferred size and put onto plates putting in the fridge while you work through the mix.

When you're ready, put some oil into a non stick pan and fry the balls in batches to brown.  I should warn you that unless your pan is non stick, you will lose a few as they'll break up a bit.  Unfortunately my frying pan has also seen better days.  These are the trials and tribulations of someone who cooks a lot, things do wear out.

Get a large saucepan on a low heat, pour a little bit of passata into the bottom and add in the browned meatballs in a layer.  Continue to build up the layer adding a bit more passata after you've made a layer.    Continue to do this until you've browned all of the meatballs and layered up.  Don't add too much passata, you will only need 500-700g or so.

When they're all layered up, cook on a low heat with the lid on undisturbed for 15 mins or so and then with the lid off for a further 15 mins.  Don't stir them in the first part of the cooking time as you don't want them to break up but as soon as they're cooked through, they're pretty sturdy.

Serve.  I like these as they are with grated cheese and salad but you can serve with pasta, mix in pasta, top with cheese and bake for a meatball pasta bake or even in a sub!  Delicious!  A hit with my son and also a friend's 6 year old who had come to stay.  Result!

If you're on a gluten free diet, just use gluten free sausages.  Most meatball recipes contain bread to lighten the mix but I've used courgette instead which not only increases the vegetable content but also is useful for people with specific dietary needs.  Also many meatball recipes include cheese or egg to bind so this is a great recipe for those who have to restrict the kind of foods they eat without feeling hard done by.  In fact, I didn't write this recipe intending it to be good for restricted diets, I wrote it because it tastes nice!

Herb Crusted Salmon for Toddlers and Adults

I was thinking when shopping today how people would happily feed a toddler fish fingers but would consider this kind of dish to be too 'adult' for them.  Apart from the herbs, what's the difference?  The joy with this is not only is it really easy to make but also it's freshly made and free from anything artificial.

Herb Crusted Salmon - serves 2 adults, my son had an adult portion which he ate half of, you could always split one adult portion between two children

Ingredients

1 slice of bread, I used a slow fermented sponge and dough bread but I like good bread and I'm lucky enough to work in a bakery!
Herbs of your choice (I used oregano, thyme and rosemary as all of my other herbs have been eaten by slugs, parsley, garlic chives and lemon thyme would have been good.)
1/4 tsp Paprika
1 tbsp Olive oil
2 salmon fillets (mine weighed 140g each)

Method

Preheat an oven to 200oC / 400F

Use a food processor to process the bread into crumbs.  Chop up the herbs and add them into the crumbs with the paprika, mix then add in the oil.

Put half of the crumbs onto each salmon fillet.

Bake for approx 14-16 mins until cooked through to your liking (I'd go for 14 mins for me and 16 mins for my son as I like it only just done.)  If you buy a pack of salmon in a UK supermarket, I guarantee the cooking instructions will be to cook it much longer so it's drier than a flip-flop.  Probably sensible if serving to a baby to make sure it's super well cooked but for older kids and adults, it doesn't need to be nuked within an inch of it's life.

My son liked this, if anything, he was more keen on the salmon than the breadcrumbs but I'm thinking for kids who aren't used to having salmon in it's more natural form, it might be a gentle introduction.  If you don't fancy cooking a portion for your kids at risk of it being rejected, it's a tasty meal for you anyway.  Why not cook some for yourself and offer your kids a taste?  It's a fact that food off someone else's plate always tastes three times tastier (possibly not scientifically proven.)

So does it matter whether kids like fish or not?  Well in my opinion, yes it does.  Fish is one of the best natural sources of Omega 3 essential fatty acids and it's a great source of protein.  Salmon is quite often one of the most accepted oily fishes too so it's a great place to start and that is surely what cooking for young kids is all about, introducing the idea of having something a bit different.  Even if it's rejected, does that matter?  No, because next time it's offered, it won't be so strange.

Sugar Free Carrot, Sultana and Apple Cake for Babies and Toddlers

This is my first attempt at a sugar free 'large' round cake.  Generally I have stuck to smaller cakes, easier to freeze and reheat etc.  There was something which made me want to give it a go and to be honest I pretty much made this up as I went along.  The results though were pretty good if I say so myself.  Much lighter than a carrot cake and although it is missing out on some of that fabulous flavour you get from good unrefined sugar; it's a different result but no worse for it, light and fruity and most importantly a hit with my son.

Sugar Free Carrot, Sultana and Apple cake - makes 1 large cake

Ingredients

60g Stoned dates, chopped
240g Sultanas
250ml Water
70g grated carrot
2 small apples, grated (including the skin but discard the core)
260g Self Raising flour (I used 3/4 white self raising to 1/4 wholemeal but you could use all white)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
100ml mild flavoured vegetable oil
2 eggs

Method

Put the dates, sultanas and water into a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for approx 5 mins.  In the meantime grate the carrots and apples, add to the sultana mix and allow to cool until at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 180oC, 350F.  Line a 7 inch, 18 cm cake tin with non stick baking parchment.

Put the flours, nutmeg and baking powder into a bowl.

Add the oil and eggs to the cooled sultana mix.  Add the flour to the wet mix and mix it all together.

Pour into the cake tin and bake for 45 mins or until a knife comes out mostly clean.  Just be wary with this much fruit and vegetables in a cake, even when cooked the knife won't be spotless.

Sorry for the photograph, not my best, unfortunately I'm currently without my husband's camera so I can't do swanky things with depth of field as easily.  Ah now my photography secrets are revealed!

This post has been linked up here.

Thank you kind readers!

Well it's 9 days away from the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging (BiBs) finals.  Ooh I'm nervous but so excited.  I mean, how cool is this?

This last week has been a roller coaster.  I've been featured in my local newspaper and on the radio about making the final of the BiBs.  There's another article on a local newspaper website which will be in the paper tomorrow.  My blog has been circulated around a few different food companies with positive feedback.  What a crazy life I'm leading right now!  I've never been in so much demand!

The first newspaper photo.  As a friend said "I see you went for the 'Oh hi!  I'm just baking these, why don't you try one?' look."  Nice to see my friends are keeping me grounded!  

Readers from the early days will now there was a point I almost gave up on this.  It was some heartwarming and supportive comments which made me continue.

There have been loads of lovely moments which have happened since starting this blog and, at risk of embarrassing myself, I'm just going to have a bit of a big headed moment and share with you some of the experince I've had.

"Amazie" an Australian reader who found my blog through babywhispererforums started this idea in my head.  She posted some pictures of the cheese and pepper muffins she'd made from my blog.

They looked amazing Amazie I think you'll agree!

"Dark Eyed White" on twitter recently posted this picture of her cooking these saute potatoes "The sauteed potatoes from @Mamacook_Blog recipe was a hit tonight!  Yum!"

About a year ago, I went to a one year old's birthday party and saw a recipe on the table I recognised.  It was a strange moment but one which kept me going.  Thanks Kate!  Another close friend, Emma commented on facebook the other day "I made your ginger and date muffins to take with us on a weekend away, they lasted approximately 3 hours... my family is a big fan of your recipes!" 

Then things snowballed, people I had no connection to started to post links on different forums, I had feedback from a lot of people I respect and never thought I would have contact with.  The day Annabel Karmel started following me on twitter was a good one!

So, I hope I've shown you in this post, it doesn't matter to me if I win or not (BIBs - don't cross me off yet, I'd love to win of course) but isn't it so great that 18 months ago, I'd had no real success as a food writer, it's something I'd always dreamed of doing and now people I know (and people I don't) are cooking my recipes and getting joy from them.

My word of advice to anyone thinking about their life, thinking "I've always wanted to..." or "My real passion is...", why not take a chance?  Why not take one step towards your dream, your passion?  After all, the worst that can happen is nothing so what is there to lose?  Also I firmly believe that if you approach something it's your passion and you give it your all, it will be successful.

Starting a blog has been one of the best decisions I've ever made.  It has brought me so much joy.  Of course it would be great if this was my day job and not my hobby but that's not the point, it's made me happy just as it is.  So thank you readers for nominating me!  Now what on earth am I going to wear...

Little Gold Men! (Or cheese biscuits) for babies, toddlers and adults

Well it's now less than two weeks away from the BiB (Brilliance in Blogging) finals and yay, yay, yay, I've found a way that I can attend!  I'm so excited!  Obviously if I win it will be 100 times better to collect the trophy in person (and yes, there is a trophy!  How exciting is that?)  The best thing is I've found my passion in life with my blog which is the best prize of all.

So in honour of making it this far, and so I'm not going to be too disappointed if I don't get a little golden man for my kitchen, here is a recipe for lots of tasty, cheesy golden men!

Cheese Biscuits - Makes a good 24 depending on cutter size.  Suitable for babies on finger foods, toddlers and Grandparents (Granddad gave this a rating of "yum"!)


Ingredients

100g Grated extra mature cheddar
50g Unsalted butter
80g Plain flour
1/2 tsp mild, sweet paprika
1 tbsp cold water

Method

Preheat an oven to 180oC / 350F.

Using a food processor, rub the cheese, butter, flour and paprika together.  Add enough cold water to make into a dough (I only needed 1 tbsp).  Turn out onto a clean work surface and kneed lightly.  Roll out to 1-2mm thickness and cut out what shapes you fancy.  Little golden men are optional!

Reroll any scraps to make more.

Bake on non stick baking paper for 10 mins or until lightly browned.  You want to catch these at the golden rather than dark brown stage.

Put onto a cooling rack to cool down.

Not the healthiest recipe but remember, kids do need some fat in their diet and this contains no hidden nasties, no hydrogenated fats; 100% natural stuff.

My son ate 4, his Dad sneaked some extra when he thought no-one was looking and Granddad certainly seemed to like them.

I've frozen some and I'll try cooking them from frozen and let you know.

Update:  I found these cooked just as well within the 10 minutes from frozen in a preheated oven but if you find they're not quite done after that time, extend it to 12 or so.  My oven is a bit of a fast one I'm finding!

Britmums posted a sneak peak of the statue on twitter a couple of days back...

Am I excited?  Hell yeah!  Now, what on earth do I wear?  Ah panic!  

I would so do a Gwyneth Paltrow if I won. Tears, snot, everything.  So thank you kind readers for nominating my blog for this award.  Sniff... I couldn't have done it without you all!  *Melts into sobs*

Sugar Free Fruity Jellies for the whole family

I refuse to believe that summer will not arrive.  In the meantime, I'm sticking my head in the sand and cooking summery foods with the hope I will soon feel more positive about the whole thing.

Before I had my son, I occasionally used to make a jelly recipe with prosecco and fruit.  Obviously the wine is off the menu for him but it got me thinking, why not make something similar with fruit juice?  A word of warning.  My son initially thought this was very odd.  In fact, his response was very similar to Gareth from the office.

Anyway, once he'd got past being freaked out by the fact there were THINGS in his jelly and that NORMALLY DOESN'T HAPPEN!  He then tasted it.  Before we knew it, the jelly was all gone.

Fruity Jellies - serves 4 babies, toddlers or adults

Ingredients

400 ml, 13.5 fl.oz White Grape Juice
Assorted berries of your choice (I used strawberries and raspberries hulled and washed)
4 sheets of leaf gelatine (or enough to set around 560ml or 1 pint of liquid as strengths vary)
Oil (optional)

Method

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for about 5 mins.  In the meantime, heat 100ml of the juice in a microwave for about 90 seconds or until boiling.  Put the soaked, floppy gelatine sheets into the hot juice and stir until dissolved.

Top up the juice and gelatine mix to 400ml with the rest of the juice.

Chose the dishes you'd like to use, if you're intending to turn them out, brush them with a mild, flavourless oil, this will help them turn out later.  Put in some berries and then pour in the jelly.

Cover and put into the fridge to set until firm.  This took about 4 hours for me.  Either serve in the dish or turn out onto a plate.  To make turning out easier, put some boiling water into a bowl and then dip the dish into it (don't submerge).  Only hold it in the hot water for a couple of seconds, this will melt the outer layer and make it easier to serve.

Serve with cream if liked.  Mummy, Daddy and Son (eventually) all proclaimed these a hit!

I've chosen quite a firm set to these jellies to enable them to be turned out but if you want it softer, just add a bit more juice.  When I asked my very grumpy terrible two year old if he liked his tea it had enthusiastic nods and smiles. Joy!  All worth it!

Update:  Son had another portion the next day and loved it.  Worth trying something new.

Stick to your ribs chicken soup for babies, toddlers and adults

Why is it I keep wanting soup?  It's June!  Maybe it's the dreary weather.  Well this soup will warm the cockles and cheer up the drizzliest of days.

Well things could not be any less dreary in the Mamacook household!  Not only have I recently been in my local paper but I was on our local radio station today talking about the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging awards!  The lovely Holly Bell (who you may know from the Great British Bake Off or her blog recipes from a normal mum) interviewed me about my blog and made the whole, frankly terrifying experience a lot less stressful.

Anyway, back to normality and the recipe!

Chicken soup - serves 2 adults and 1 toddler.  Would be great for babies on soft solids / finger foods as it's very thick as the pearl barley absorbs a lot of the stock.

Ingredients

700ml, 25floz of home made chicken stock (see below for instructions)
1 chicken stock cube (optional and depending on the strength of your stock)
200g, 7oz cooked chicken
1 carrot, finely diced
50g, 2oz pearl barley
100g, 3.5oz frozen peas

Method

For the stock:

This is where having a slow cooker is a great thing.  Put all of the bones, skin and nasties into your slow cooker, cover with boiling water and put on high.  Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 3 hours.  Longer isn't necessarily a problem.  This is a great way to get the most out of a sunday roast chicken.  You will find if you only have one carcass though that the stock isn't as strongly flavoured as you might like but if you don't have 2-3 carcasses burning a hole in your fridge, the way to cheat is to use some home made stock and a stock cube.  That way you get the mouth feel and depth of flavour from the home made stock with a bit more oomf.

If you're making this for a baby, it's probably a good idea to seek out a low salt stock cube or miss it out as it can be a bit high in salt.

For the soup:

Couldn't be easier.  Bring the stock to the boil in a saucepan, add the pearl barley and bring to the boil.  Simmer for 45 mins then add the carrots.  Simmer for a further 10 minutes then add the chicken and peas.

Once everything is hot and cooked through, serve.

My son loved this.  He ate it with some buttered sourdough then had a really good nap despite loads of hammering and drilling going on in my kitchen.  I like to think it was the warming cuddle of a bowl of soup inside his tummy.

Bombay potatoes for the Whole Family

I came up with this as the oven was on, I was thinking about what to cook us for lunch, didn't feel like a sandwich and this popped into my head.

I probably would have added a little mango chutney if there had been any in the cupboard.  It was good, I'm not totally convinced of the wisdom of eating carbs with carbs, feel like a snooze now but that's no bad thing as my son has a sleep after lunch.

Bombay Potatoes - serves 2 adults and a toddler as a main dish, more as a side dish

Ingredients

400g, 14oz new potatoes, halved if large
2 tsp curry paste (I used Madras)
2 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tomato, chopped up

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F.

Mix all together, pour into a dish which tightly fits the potatoes, add 4 tbsp water.

Bake for 45 mins or until the potatoes are cooked stirring once if you remember.

Serve with rice cooked with peas or as a side dish with another curry.

You might be surprised but my 2 year old loved it.  If you're unsure about your child and their ability to cope with spices, just tone down the curry paste, use something milder.

This post has been linked up to a Meatless Monday linky here and totally tasty Tuesdays here.

Sugar Free Very Berry Tarts for Toddlers and the Whole Family

Regular readers will know that I have been nominated for a Britmums Brilliance in Blogging award and I have made the final.  Yesterday a local paper contacted me to do a story about it.  It feels strange and humbling to think how far my blog has come.  A friend of mine said to me once that you should do what you're passionate about with passion and it will be successful.  This is just my hobby, I do it for the love of it and the love of cooking.  It feels amazing to be recognised in this way so thank you everyone who reads and I hope I continue to come up with ideas you like to make and thank you Britmums.

I came up with the idea for these tarts while trying to think of something visually impressive but not loaded with sugar.  Although I am a little more lenient than I used to be, there's no need to fill up kids with sugar and artificial colourings, they don't need it and if proper food looks good, why would they want it?

These tarts are easy to make, no added refined sugars and would be great as part of a party menu.

Very Berry Tarts - makes approx 18

Ingredients

2 Small apples
3.5oz, 100g Strawberries (plus additional berries see below)
5oz, 140g Plain flour (all purpose flour)
1oz,  30g Cornflour (Cornstarch)
4oz, 115g Unsalted butter

To decorate:
Blueberries
Strawberries
Raspberries

Method

Grate the apples including the skin back to the core on a fine grater (discarding the core).  Cut up the strawberries and put into a saucepan with the grated apple.  Simmer on a hob for 5-10 minutes.  Mash up the strawberries and then simmer for a little longer to thicken and drive off some of the water.  Take it out of the pan and put in a bowl to cool.

Ideally use a food processor for the pastry.  Rub the butter into the two flours then add some cold water a tbsp at a time until the mix still looks dry but it starts to come together if you press it in your hands.  Bring it together with your hands on a board or clean work surface.  Kneed it briefly (handle pastry as little as possible) then roll out thinly.

Use a large round cutter with a fluted edge to cut circles and put them into a bun tin (fairy cake or cupcake tin).  Press the pastry down in the centre.  Put in the fridge until ready to cook.

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F.

Put 1 tsp of the apple / strawberry mixture in the centre of each pastry well.  Bake for 10 minutes or until cooked.

Use a blunt knife to take each out and put onto a cooling rack.  Once cool enough or when ready to serve, top with a variety of summer fruits.

And there you are, or rather here I am!

Best served fairly quickly and on the same day as then the pastry will stay crisp but if you have any left, put them in the fridge.  A hit with husband and toddler.

If you prefer, to save time you could use a low sugar jam instead of the mashed fruit in the base, however, this will increase the overall sugar content but that's fine if you're just cooking for adults.

This post has been linked up to here.