Simple Baked Southern Fried Chicken

Ok, sorry to remind you but we're approaching New Year and the time for those resolutions.  What will yours be this year?  Lose weight?  Stop smoking?

Have you ever noticed how resolutions are always about what we don't want rather than what we do want?  That's a bad thing because we're not wired that way.  Don't think about a pink elephant.  Go on, think about ANYTHING else apart from pink elephants.  Don't think about it.  You're thinking about it aren't you?  You can't help yourself!

Anyway, in general, I'm always of the opinion that a bit of what you actually fancy is better than 101 diet products.  Let's face it, if you buy diet biscuits, you eat more biscuits don't you?  Go on, we all know the truth...  So although I'm not a huge fan of dieting per se, I also managed to lose quite a lot of weight in the last two years.  You didn't know that about me did you?  I am now a shadow of my former UK size 16/18 self and am now a comfortable size 12, size 10 in Fat Face or White Stuff on a good day with a fair wind behind me (and size 8-10 in US terms which is even better!)

I can't pretend that I'm healthy all of the time either.  It's not true.  I do exercise but I also occasionally eat chips and, very occasionally, fried chicken.  But that said, I can't bring myself to actually fry chicken at home, I can feel my arteries hardening at the thought and there is something a bit gross about the extreme fattiness of it.  If I ever do buy fried chicken (from a certain well known High Street chain), I always drain it on the paper towels to make it a bit less greasy before eating.

So this recipe is good all round.  Lower in fat but also much less greasy which is a good thing and makes it tastier.  No frying smells to stink out the house and you can feel slightly more virtuous for having your cake (or chicken) and eating it!  Just don't eat 10 pieces because it's 'healthier'!

Southern 'baked' chicken - Makes 4 pieces

Ingredients

200ml, 7 fl oz Semi Skimmed (2% fat) milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 dried chilli
4 large chicken thighs, skin on and bone in
60g, 2oz Plain (all purpose) flour
2 tsp Paprika
80g, 2.5oz Cornflakes
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Spray oil

Method

Mix the milk with the mustard and chilli.  Soak the chicken in this mix for about an hour.

Crush the cornflakes then add to the flour, paprika, garlic powder and seasoning (miss out salt for very young kids).

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

Take each piece of chicken out of the milk mixture.  Put each into the dry mix covering them, then onto a lined baking sheet.

Repeat with all of the pieces of chicken and then spray with the spray oil then put in the oven for 40 minutes, turning once.

The result was crunchy, gently spiced and tasty.  A hit with my 3 year old and me!

Mix it up; to make it more spicy if making just for adults or adventurous kids; use more chilli in the milk mix or a touch of cayenne pepper in the dry mix.

This would be great with coleslaw







So remember, when making your resolutions, think about what you do want this year, not what you don't and you never know, you might just achieve it!

I've linked this up to Nomday Monday and create, link inspire

Merry Christmas From Mamacook!

I hope Santa brought you everything you could wish for!

Merry Christmas!

Simple salt free poultry stock and how to make gravy

It's Christmas Eve Eve (i.e. the 23rd) and I picked up our goose yesterday from Seldom Seen farm.  Yes, goose is an extravagance but even at the pampered free range prices you're looking at less than £3 per portion for each meal we will eat it for.  You can't even get a meal in a Toby carvery for that!

So we're having goose but even if we have turkey I always make stock a day or two in advance.  I've been warned though that although you get masses of fat (great for roast potatoes) juices can be a bit thin on the ground with a goose so I'm making some stock.

Stock is stupidly easy to make.  Think about it as bones and water and you get the idea.  At other times of year I make stock from left over roast bones (especially chicken) but for Christmas it gets a bit special, albeit not expensive.


So why chicken wings?  It's all the skin, bones and stringy bits which make stock taste great and wings are not only cheap, they're full of that stuff.

Scared of giblets?  Get over it.  They are basically a free bit of the bird and full of flavour.  Use them!

Simple Poultry Stock - mine made approx 1 pint, just over half a litre of stock

Ingredients

Up to 1kg (approx 2lbs) of chicken wings - if you don't have any, it's still worth making but might not be as strongly flavoured
Turkey, chicken, duck or goose giblets (but not the liver; heart, and neck are great and any other bits and bobs they throw in)
2 Bay leaves
Water to cover

Method

You can just cook this from raw but to add extra flavour, I roast the wings first.  (It's all about the Maillard reaction if you want to know!)  Roast them for 40 mins approx at 200oC / 400F or until lovely and brown.  I do this on baking paper so I can get as much of the sticky brown bits off as possible.

A slow cooker is ideal for making the stock.  If you have one, put everything in, the giblets, roasted wings and bay leaves then boiling water to cover.  If you only have a sauce pan, do the same and put on the heat.

Bring to a boil on high on the slow cooker or on the hob then turn down and simmer with the lid on (or put on low) for approx 2 hours for the hob or 3-4 hours for a slow cooker.  Keep an eye on it if it's on the hob and add more water if needed.

Strain, remove any fat (see below), and taste.  If it tastes a bit weak, put into a saucepan and reduce (boil off some of the water) until it's flavourful (or you can do that later when you're making the gravy.)

Because this is totally salt free, it's great for gravy for babies or if you have too much, make some risotto.  Otherwise if you want to, mix with any juices from your roast bird on the big day (removing any fatty layer first) then heat to a boil.  Mix with cornflour / cornstarch paste (made by mixing cornflour with cold water in a cup then pouring in, whisking constantly) to thicken bringing back to the boil stirring constantly.  Start with 1 tbsp of cornflour mixed with about 1-2 tbsp water.  You might need more but you can't take it out once you put it in so add it slowly until it's at the consistency you like.  Add seasoning if you think it needs it.

I hope you have a very merry and very tasty Christmas!

Fat; goose fat is a marvellous thing and a tasty thing.  If you get a fatty lump in with your goose giblets, don't throw it away.  Put it in with your stock then, when it's cooling, scoop off the layer (the rendered fat) and save it for either putting on the goose thighs to help them not burn during cooking or for roasting your spuds!

How I decorated my Christmas cake (and I'm rubbish at this kind of stuff)

I'm no sugar crafter.  You will see this from my results but although an amateur, I am quite pleased with how my cake turned out this year and the big secret was, it was so easy.

There is no hard stuff here but I'll give it to you with all the short cuts...  You don't even need an icing bag!


I use ready made ready to roll marzipan and icing.  The first thing was to make the leaves.

Add some green food colouring to some ready to roll icing.  Try to avoid the "Southampton colours", especially if feeding to kids.  To do this, add in a few drops with a bit of icing sugar then kneed it in on a board (be careful, food colourings can stain).

Once the colour is consistent, roll it out.

I have some plunger cutters for some of the leaf types, otherwise I use cookie cutters.  If you don't have a plunger cutter for the markings, get a non poisonous leaf which hasn't been sprayed, e.g. a rose leaf and press the reverse side into icing.  Cut out the shapes.

Leave the leaves to dry, dry some on scrunched foil or on something cylindrical so they don't all dry flat.  This just looks a bit cooler!  If you like, either make some icing with slightly different shade of green or pick out the veins with additional colour.

Leave these to dry.  It might take a day or two if you do paint them with colour.

When you're ready to ice your cake, roll out the marzipan.  Warm up some apricot jam with a little water in a microwave.

Put your cake on the surface you're going to present it on, this might be a plate or a board.  Put it upside down so you have the flat side on top.

Brush the cake with the apricot jam then press on the rolled out marzipan, cutting off excess and moulding it with your hands.  Experience with play dough may be useful here...

Then boil some water while you're rolling out the icing.  Brush the marzipan layer with water then cover again with the icing.  This layer is a bit more forgiving than the marzipan.

Trim off the excess then add your decoration!

To make it stick or if you're right into the fancy icing stuff, mix some egg white with icing sugar until really stiff then use that for all that fancy icing stuff or to stick on your easy icing leaves.

Stand back and wait for admiration!  Leave it to dry out uncovered (but away from insects / pests / curious children and animals) for a few hours before covering.

Please add your Christmas cake pictures to my Facebook feed!

Merry Christmas from Mamacook!

Vegetable fritters - great for babies and toddlers on finger foods

After making my sweetcorn fritter recipe; I was determined there must be a good vegetable fritter recipe in me.  Look, I know courgettes (zucchini) aren't terribly seasonal at this time of year but they are still available in the shops and I'm sure you could substitute for another ingredient if you prefer.

This made a lovely, soft, pancake like texture which would be great for babies first finger foods, either alongside traditional weaning or as part of baby led weaning.

Vegetable Fritters - makes approx 10

Ingredients

40g, 1.5oz Self Raising flour (or plain, all purpose flour with 1/2 tsp baking powder)
1 egg
3 tbsp Milk
40g, 1.5oz Grated extra mature (extra sharp) cheddar
40g, 1.5oz Grated courgette (zucchini)

Spray oil or oil to cook.

Method

Mix the egg, milk and flour together to make a batter.  Whisk out any lumps.

Add in the courgette (zucchini) and cheese.

Preheat a non stick pan on a medium heat and oil lightly or use spray oil.  Fry tbsp of the mixture, probably about 3-4 max at any time until the bases are brown (better to cook too slowly rather than too quickly to ensure they cook through.)

Flip and cook the other side; maybe 2-3 minutes each side.

Serve with an assortment of vegetables.  My son really liked these.  The cheesiness is unexpected but really comes through.  This would be a great way to get some veggies into children who are a bit more fussy.

It just so happens that January's Family Foodies challenge is all about 'hidden goodies'.  Is there a more appropriate challenge for Mamacook?  I think not!  So I've submitted this along with a few other recipes to Bangers and Mash and Eat your veg's challenge:

No added sugar, nut free Granola

I find commercial granolas a bit too sweet if I'm honest and although my son loves things like this for breakfast, they're also pretty expensive and, as a three year old, there is still a choking risk on larger nuts.  Not of course if you make it yourself and control what goes in!  This is refined sugar free!

I have to be totally honest and say the chunks weren't all as quite as big as I would have liked but I suspect I might have to add more honey to make that happen.  There were some satisfyingly large bits though and a tasty and pretty healthy option for breakfast.

This should be for over 1's only due to the honey but also be guided by your child and their ability to chew the delicious chunky bits!  My son has been eating things like this since he was around 2 years old.

Raisin and Apple Granola makes around 400g (14oz)

Ingredients

2 tbsp Runny honey (substitute for golden syrup, maple syrup or agave nectar to make vegan)

2 tsp Oil (chose a mild, flavourless oil with high monounsaturates for health, like rapeseed)

1 tsp Vanilla extract

250g, 9oz Porridge oats

75g, 2.5oz Unsweetened dessicated coconut

4 tbsp Apple juice

2 tbsp Sunflower seeds

150g, 5.5oz Raisins

50g, 2oz Dried apple

Method

Preheat the oven to 170oC, 325F, Gas mark 3.

Mix the oats, coconut and seeds together in a bowl.

In a microwavable cup or jug mix the honey, vanilla, oil and juice.  Microwave for approx 30-45 seconds or until the honey mixes in well with the remaining liquids.

Pour the liquids over the dry mix and mix in well.  Turn onto a lined swiss roll tin and press into a layer.

Bake for approx 10 -15 minutes, give it all a stir and bake again for 5-10 more minutes; around 20 mins in total until you have crunchy browned pieces with no soggy bits.

Leave to cool then mix with the raisins, chopped up dried apple and pour into a sealable box (e.g. tupperware).

Serve with dairy or soy milk or yogurt and fruit.  My son loved this and suddenly wasn't quite so interested in Shreddies anymore!

I've linked this up here.

Make it Thrifty:

Look out for 'value' or 'smart price' packs of porridge oats, they work fine and are much cheaper than the branded varieties.

Turkey Sliders for all ages

A slider, so I'm told is a small burger.  I've mixed these up by making them with turkey (seasonal) but also sneaking in some hidden vegetables (why not) and a bit of spice!  These are super easy and healthy because they're made with white meat and baked not fried.

I do have a bit of love for sweet chilli sauce.  Although when my son was under 1 I diligently avoided giving him sugar as much as possible, I eased up as he got older.  Sweet chilli as an ingredient is a great way to introduce some gentle spicing in a way that is more predictable than using a small amount of chilli.

He tried some of my sliders with sweet chilli sauce but on balance preferred his served with ketchup.  Had I got any in the house, I would have served these with baked sweet potato wedges but I didn't so I served with cooked carrot sticks instead.  Might seem a bit strange but he loved it!

Turkey Sliders - made 5

Ingredients

125g, 4.5oz Minced (ground) turkey
60g, 2 oz Grated courgette (zucchini)
1 tbsp Thai style sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp chopped fresh Coriander (cilantro)

Method

Mush all of the ingredients together then shape into patties and chill on a tray lined with baking paper and covered with cling film (saran wrap).

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 200oC, 400F, Gas Mark 6.  Remove the film and bake for approx 18 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve in small buns with lettuce and either sweet chilli sauce or tomato ketchup.  I have to admit I liked them and I'd be tempted to make them again just for me!

It just so happens that January's Family Foodies challenge is all about 'hidden goodies'.  Is there a more appropriate challenge for Mamacook?  I think not!  So I've submitted this along with a few other recipes to Bangers and Mash and Eat your veg's challenge:

Mushroom and Bacon Frittata

I started off making frittatas just for me and my son but it's a sign of a recipe which is a pretty good one when I start making it for myself when he's already in bed!

Another frittata recipe.  Yes, I know, but they are good value, delicious, great warm or cold and a fantastic way to include both eggs and vegetables in your diet.  For some reason my body was craving eggs and mushrooms today and I went with it.  I didn't twig until I'd finished my meal how I'd chosen two foods high in dietary vitamin D.  What could I be craving?  Sunshine of course.  Now the nights are drawing in, our bodies aren't seeing the light so much so what could be better?

Mushroom and Bacon Frittata - Serves 2 adults easily

Ingredients

80g, 3oz Smoked bacon
100g, 3.5oz Mushrooms
100g, 3.5oz Red onion, finely diced
1 tsp Olive oil
4 Eggs
3 tbsp Milk
1 and a half tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
60g, 2oz Extra Mature (Extra Sharp) Cheddar
A few sprigs of fresh thyme

Method

Preheat an oven to 180oC, 350F, Gas Mark 4.

Chop up the bacon and fry in a non stick frying pan until cooked, remove to a bowl to cool.  Put the onions and oil into the frying pan and cook until softening and then add in the mushrooms and cook until browned.  Add into the bowl to cool.

In a jug, mix the eggs, milk, cornflour and grated cheddar.

Mix the egg mix with the vegetables and bacon.  Add in a little thyme and pour into a greased, lined baking dish.  Mine is 15-17cm, 6-6.5inch round baking dish but flares out a bit from the base from this diameter.

Bake for 18-22 minutes or until cooked and firm.

Allow to cool a little and cut into wedges to serve or allow to cool completely.

Make it Thrifty:

Look out for bacon offcut packs as these are often a much more cost effective way of buying bacon to cook with.

Baked Cherry Custard

This isn't a sugar free recipe but at only 2 tsp added sugar per portion and a step towards your five a day, it's not terrible!

I started trying to think of a custard recipe, then thought "what fruit could I include" and before I knew it, it was almost a clafoutis except a gluten free one.  Best served warm or cold not hot.

Baked Cherry Custard - Makes 3 puddings

Ingredients

150g, 5.5oz Frozen pitted cherries
2 tbsp Sugar
2 Egg yolks
150ml, 5.5 fl oz Semi skimmed (2%) milk
1/4 tsp Almond extract (or vanilla if you prefer)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC, 350F, Gas Mark 4.

Heat the cherries with 1 tbsp sugar until releasing the juice and starting to reduce.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer to three small ramekins.  Save the juice if liked for cheffy drizzles later!

Mix the remaining sugar, eggs, milk and extract and whisk together.  Pour carefully on top of the cherries and bake in a bain marie (deep baking dish with hot water poured up the sides of the dishes) for 15-20 minutes or until cooked with a slight wobble.

Make it Thrifty:

To make this recipe more economical to cook; put in the oven at the same time as something else so you're not wasting the heat.  Why not pop in while my chicken tray bake is cooking?

Chicken Tray Bake, a thrifty meal for the family

A whole chicken is a great thing.  It can provide multiple meals like chicken pasta bake, orzotto, soup, pie, even more pie etc, etc.

But that said, not everyone wants or needs a whole chicken.  Sometimes it's a bit daunting as well for some people to get to grips with a roast (even if it's one of the easiest things to cook in my opinion).  So this is a roast for extreme novices and also handy for people on limited budgets.

Any vegetables which roast well would work here.  Just make sure you cut them to a suitable size so they cook in the time.  The longer a vegetable takes to cook, the smaller you cut it.  If you cut it too small, it might collapse a bit (like my butternut squash did here) but it's still tasty.

Don't add any oil to the vegetables, there is some fat which cooks out of the chicken which makes them taste yummy.

Chicken Tray Bake - serves 2 adults or 1 adult and 2 young children

Ingredients

4 Decent size chicken thighs (skin and bone in)
120g, 4.5oz Butternut squash
1/4 Red onion, sliced into strips
1/2 Courgette (zucchini) cut into thick sticks
A few sprigs of thyme
Freshly ground pepper

Method

Peel and slice the butternut squash, cut up the other vegetables and mix with the thyme.  Put the chicken thighs on top and season with pepper (add salt if cooking for adults as it will make the skin go crispier.)

If wanted you could cover and put in the fridge until ready to cook.  When ready, roast at 180oC, 350F, gas mark 4 for 45 mins.

Cut the chicken off the bone for younger kids and serve alongside some green vegetables if liked.  Add a small pinch of salt if liked for adult portions if cooking for the whole family.

This would be a cracking recipe for baby led weaners, imagine giving soft roasted vegetable sticks and strips of the roasted chicken?  It would work a treat!

Make it Thrifty:

Chicken thighs are pretty thrifty as it is but save money further by using the oven heat to cook something else at the same time.  Also if you're a fan of nibbling on drumsticks, they are often cheaper still and would work here.

Child friendly Prawn Laksa

Laksa isn't an obvious choice for a preschooler but why not?  Most kids I know are fans of prawns and noodles.

I've toned this all down a bit to make it friendly for kids who aren't big fans of spice.  Although my son does have more spice in his food than he sometimes realises, last time his Dad cooked him a curry, he was less then keen and apparently ended up eating fish fingers so I went gentle (but noticeable) on the spicing here.

He looked at it.  Said "I don't think I like that"
I said "Have you tried a prawn?"
He said "Ooh, no"
Has a couple of bites, then starts eating the mushrooms and noodles.  I'm trying to photograph my portion while my stomach is rumbling because it smells pretty good (I'm not one of those food bloggers who cooks to photograph, I cook to eat.)
"Mummy this is yummy"
And indeed it was :-)
A touch too mild for me but there was spice there and a real depth of flavour.  You can do as I did and slice up a little raw red chilli to put on top for a bit of zing.  It's great to be able to make a dish that you can adapt for everyone in the family without feeling you're having a huge turkey twizzler compromise or reaching for the pack of emergency fish fingers...

Don't be scared by the long list of ingredients, this is a piece of cake.

Laksa - Serves 1 adult and 1 child

Ingredients
Paste
50g, scant 2oz Onion, chopped (half an onion)
2 Garlic cloves, chopped
1 heaped tsp smooth peanut butter
2 slices of green chilli, seeds removed (approx 1/4 of a chilli, use more if liked)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp chopped ginger (see 'make it thrifty' below)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp water

For the Laksa
1 tsp vegetable oil
150g, 5oz raw prawns (see 'make it thrifty' below)
100g, 3.5oz mushrooms
Half of a tin, approx 200ml, 7 fl oz canned coconut milk
1/2 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tbsp fish sauce
Juice of half a lime
1 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro) plus more to serve
150g, 5oz straight to wok rice noodles (see 'make it thrifty' below)
Additional lime and chilli to serve if liked.

Method

Chop the onion and garlic and put into a jug or small blender with the remaining paste ingredients.  Blend until smooth (I use a stick blender and a jug which I find which is the best way to make a spice paste as in a large blender, you often find bits get stuck).  You can make this earlier in the day and leave it covered in the fridge if you like.

When ready to cook, devein the prawns if liked (I prefer to if I have time) and quarter the mushrooms (or halve if small).

Heat a tsp of oil in a wok, add the paste and heat through.  Add the coconut milk (make sure if you're using half a can you use half of the thick stuff and half of the thin) and another tbsp fish sauce and bring to the boil.  Add the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the prawns, after a minute add the cornflour (cornstarch) mixed with a little water before adding.  Bring to a bubble and put in the noodles.

Heat through then add the lime juice and chopped coriander (cilantro) then serve sprinkling with extra coriander (cilantro) leaf, lime and sliced red chilli if liked.

Make it Thrifty:

I buy frozen ginger as it means it doesn't go off.  It's not that different in price to fresh ginger and it's frozen in portions of about a tbsp.  For this, just allow it to defrost before making the paste.  I also buy raw prawns frozen.  The great thing about buying them frozen is you can be sure of the freshness and again you're not going to have the waste.  Or you could make it with vegetables instead.

In general I'm not a fan of the straight to wok noodles (sorry manufacturers), I find them too soft.  The only reason I used them here was because I couldn't get any dried rice noodles but you can make it far cheaper by using dried noodles and cooking as per pack instructions.

Borlotti bean, bacon and vegetable soup

It's soup season.  I've called it.  Over the past few weeks I've been grabbing a pack of soup from the freezer and heating it up at work.  It's like a warming cuddle in my day.  Not that I often get bored of tomato and pesto soup, but a bit of variety is good and although this contains bacon, it also contains a lot of lovely fibre.

Borlotti bean, bacon and vegetable soup - Makes 5 adult or 10 child portions

Ingredients

350g Bacon
2 Small onions
2 Cloves of garlic
150g Swede (rutabaga) - peeled weight
200g Carrot
1 litre, 1 3/4 pints Water
240g Drained tinned borlotti (rosecoco beans)
A few sprigs of fresh thyme

Method

Chop up the bacon and dry fry in a sauce pan adding in chopped onions and garlic.  In the meantime peel and chop the swede, remove the tips and tops of the carrots and chop.  Once the onion has softened add the carrot and swede.

Boil the kettle then add 1 litre of water to the pan.  Bring to the boil and simmer with a lid on for 15 minutes or until the carrot is soft.

Drain the beans and add to the pan with the thyme.  Once all heated through, blend in a blender and serve with more thyme sprinkled on top if liked.  My little man ate all of his portion and the leftovers reheat well too.

Make it Thrifty:

Look out for packs of bacon offcuts, they're great for making soups like this from because you blend it later.  Also don't bother peeling carrots for soup, just give them a wash under a tap and take the ends off, that way you prevent waste.  By putting a lid on a saucepan when simmering, you can turn the heat right down and save money on gas or electricity.

Fresh thyme is easy to grow yourself but keep an eye out for 'growing thyme' packs in supermarkets.  They often have best before dates on and 'reduced for quick sale' packs once given some water at home last for way longer than the date on the pack.  Also although they don't always survive, I've had some success planting them out in the garden too.

Onion Bhajis for Toddlers and Grown ups

Onion bhajis or pakoras; is there a more convenient finger food?  They are so ridiculously easy and cheap to make yourself too and you can mix up the type of vegetables in them.  Here I've included a bit of carrot.

My son liked them but only the bits with smaller onion pieces, he found the long bits a bit stringy.  Next time I might make them with more finely chopped or grated vegetables.  He was a big fan of the spicy yoghurt dip though which surprised me.

Onion Bhajis - makes plenty for one adult and one child

Ingredients

100g, 3.5oz Gram (chickpea) flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 tsp Garam masala
1-2 tsp Medium or mild curry paste
110g, 4oz Onions, sliced
Half a carrot, finely grated
Juice of half a lemon

Oil to cook

Spicy yoghurt dip (optional)
1 tbsp yoghurt
2 tsp medium curry paste
1 tbsp mango chutney

Method

Mix the garlic, spices and lemon juice together.  Add the gram flour and mix to a thick paste with approx 10 tbsp water, add it slowly until it's a thick batter only just thinner than a paste.  Add in the onions and carrot mixing to coat.  Make it thicker rather than thinner.

Heat a couple of cm / an inch or so of oil in a deep frying pan until a small amount browns in 2 minutes.  You don't want it too hot.

Drop dessert spoons of the mix into the oil and fry on both sides until browned.  Drain on kitchen paper while you cook the rest.

Serve as a starter or a side dish with dhal or as I have here as a simple lunch with a spicy yoghurt dip and some rice cooked with peas.  For younger kids or ones less keen on spice they might just prefer to dunk into mango chutney.

If just making for grown ups or for kids who are more keen on spicy foods, add some chilli or use a hotter curry paste.  If your child is less keen on spicy foods, you could miss out the curry paste completely so they are flavoursome without being at all hot.

Make it Thrifty:

This is a pretty cheap recipe as it is but I believe you could make them with plain flour rather than buying chickpea flour but I've never tried it.  Another way to keep costs down is to use a wok to fry them as they often have a narrower tapered base so you use less oil.  Also keep an eye out for large packs of Indian spices in supermarkets.  They're often cheaper than the small branded supermarket ones.  If you share a big bag of garam masala with a friend it will cost you far less.

I've linked this up to the wellness weekend.

Spinach and Potato Bites, great for babies and toddlers

I was out running this morning, as you do, and thought about something my Mum used to cook for us sometimes.  In retrospect I suspect it was a way to use up excess mashed potato but it was something I loved.  If I'm honest I was never a big fan of mashed potato on it's own and this mixed it up a bit.

So I made them smaller, added spinach and made these.  They were a big hit with my son.  I gave him 6 and he ate them all first off his plate, even before the fish fingers I served them with and he does love fish fingers (well we all need some time off).

This would be great as a first finger food.  They're still soft when baked.

Spinach and Potato Bites - Makes about 8 small swirly bites

Ingredients

40g Spinach, chopped finely
Spray oil
1 clove of garlic
100g Mashed potato
10g Extra mature (extra sharp) cheddar
1 tsp Milk
A few gratings of nutmeg

Method

Preheat the oven to 220oC, 420F, gas mark 7.

Fry the spinach with the whole clove of garlic in the spray oil until it's wilted, it only takes a couple of minutes.  Put in a bowl taking out the garlic and mix in the mash, cheddar, milk and nutmeg.

Line a baking tray or swiss roll tin with non stick baking paper.  Spray the paper with spray oil or brush with oil if you prefer.  Use a piping bag or piping syringe to pipe swirls onto the paper.  Spray or brush with oil and bake for 12-15 minutes or until hot through and brown.

It just so happens that January's Family Foodies challenge is all about 'hidden goodies'.  Is there a more appropriate challenge for Mamacook?  I think not!  So I've submitted this along with a few other recipes to Bangers and Mash and Eat your veg's challenge:

Low Sugar Mini Cherry Tarts - Great for kids or grown ups

I'm showing my age now, the urge to type "damn fine cherry pies" was very strong.

As I said in my last post, I promised to write up a recipe for the pastry leftovers.  Because I don't know how much pastry you might have, the quantities are per tart.  Please adjust for the number you have!

This isn't sugar free.  Jam is laden with sugar but there is around 1-1.5 tsp jam per tart and only half of that is sugar, not massive amounts of sugar at all, much less than a commercial tart.

Mini Cherry Pies

Ingredients

Leftover pastry (see the chicken and mushroom pie recipe if you would like the pastry recipe from scratch)
1/2 tsp jam per case (see instructions for more info)
5-6 Frozen, defrosted pitted cherries per tart
1 tbsp jam additional or more if you have several tarts

Method

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

For this, I would use a 'red' jam, ideally cherry but strawberry or raspberry is fine as long as it's not too seedy.

Roll out the pastry and cut circles big enough for a fairy cake tin, gently push them in.

Put approx half a teaspoon of jam in each pastry hollow.  Bake for approx 10 minutes or until the pastry is crisp.  Allow to cool for a couple of minutes.

Heat the additional jam in a microwave with a tsp boiling water until boiling (for approx 1 minute).  In the meantime, top the tarts with the defrosted cherries.  Once the jam is molten, pour over an additional half tsp over the top to glaze.

Allow to cool for a couple of minutes then serve slightly warm with a sprinkle of icing (confectioners) sugar if liked or cream.

Ok, not the healthiest recipe in the world but not awful either.  A dainty little fruity treat.  I'd rather give one of these to my son any day than a chocolate biscuit!  This is my ethos on life; I am happy giving my son treat foods but I try and put fruit and vegetables into every bit of food I can and I always try and use natural 'real' foods.  The fights I've had with our nursery who think sugar free instant whip is a great pudding for toddlers...

Make it Thrifty:

Oven cooking uses a lot of energy so ideally cook these when something else is already in the oven.  Why not make the chicken and mushroom pie at the same time as making these for pudding?

Chicken and Mushroom Pies

There is something great about chicken leftovers.  Something which is almost better than the original chicken (almost, I'm a sucker for crispy skin).  The other great thing about making your own pies is you can just stick with pastry on the top which cuts down on the refined carbs and fat and you can include some vegetables (or fungi) in the sauce.

You can make this into one large pie or several smaller ones.  There's certainly enough here for two adults and a child.  If you have any pastry left over, there is another recipe to follow, so stick it in a bag in the fridge...

Chicken and Mushroom pies - Serves 2 adults and 1 child

Ingredients

Pastry
100g, 3.5oz Plain Flour
10g, 0.5oz Cornflour / cornstarch (or use more plain flour)
70g, 2.5oz Butter
Cold water to mix
Milk

Pie filling
150g, 5oz Mushrooms, sliced
Spray oil or vegetable oil
300g, 10oz Cooked chicken
300-350ml, 10-12fl oz Gravy or thickened stock (you can use the chicken bones to make the stock, thicken it before allowing to cool.)
Fresh thyme

Method

Fry the mushrooms in the oil until brown and pretty much cooked.  Allow to fully cool.  When cool mix all of the cold filling ingredients together.

Preheat the oven to 180oC (fan oven), 200oC (conventional), 400F, Gas Mark 6.

Make the pastry, ideally in a food processor (because it's way easier but can be done by hand).  Rub the butter into the flours and then add enough cold water to come together.  Don't add too much, just keep adding the cold water until it just starts to come together.

Put the pie filling into your dish or dishes.  Roll out the pastry to the right size and approx 1-2mm thickness.  Cut to the size of your dish and put on top, pressing the edges of the pastry to the dish edge. Cut a vent hole in the top then brush with milk, adding some pastry decoration if liked.

Does my son care I put ivy leaves on his pie?  Probably not but I think it's nice to take time and effort over his food.  This was a mini pie, just for him and I refuse to do too much making food look like a face stuff!

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until browned and the filling is completely hot and bubbling.

Allow to cool a bit before serving as it will stay hot for a while.  Serve with vegetables.

My son loved it.  Initially saying "I don't like pastry" then trying it and realising that in fact he very much did!

Make it Thrifty:

Oven cooking isn't the thriftiest way to make a meal but if you have the oven on, you might as well make use of it.  Why not cook some jacket potatoes, either to make into mash or to scoop out and stuff later?  Also save any pastry offcuts or excess pastry in a plastic bag in the fridge to make my next recipe.

Broccoli frittata for babies, toddlers and the whole family

I'm in a frittata place at the moment.  Blimey, how middle class does that sound?  It shouldn't.  Frittatas are so cheap to make and they're a great way to get vitamin D in the diet and also include some hidden vegetables.  Great for the reluctant vegetable eater in your life (although perhaps chop up a little smaller so they don't see them!)

Broccoli Frittata Serves 1 adult and 1 toddler easily

Ingredients

70g, 2.5oz smoked bacon, chopped
100g, 3.5oz broccoli
3 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
60g, 2oz Extra mature (sharp) cheddar, grated
Spray oil or oil to grease

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC, 350F, Gas mark 4.

Chop the broccoli into small florets or pieces (see "make it thrifty" below) put in boiling water on a hot hob for 4 minutes, then drain and refresh under cold water.

Meanwhile, chop up the bacon and fry in a dry non stick frying pan.

Once the bacon is cooked, mix the egg, milk, cornflour, cheddar, broccoli and bacon together.

Line a 15-17cm, 6-6.5inch round baking dish with non stick baking paper (mine flares out a bit from the base from this diameter).  Spray or grease with oil.  Pour in the frittata mixture.

Bake for 15-20 minutes (it took 15 in my oven).

Leave to cool for a bit, it's better served warm or cold rather than hot.  This is what makes it a great food for kids who take their time over food but also it's great if cooking for one as the leftovers can go in your lunchbox.

For very young babies, chop up the vegetables very finely and perhaps reduce the bacon a bit as it can be a bit salty.

Serve with vegetables or salad.  Somehow even though these aren't necessarily summery ingredients, frittata feels summery even on the most dreary day.  This was the view out of the window as we were eating.

Make it Thrifty:

A pretty cheap recipe as it is but make it cheaper by making use of the broccoli stalk as well as the florets.  Just trim off the end and cut into an approx 1cm / half inch dice and cook like normal broccoli florets.  In the above photos, I used approx half and half florets to diced stalk, I think you'd agree, you'd struggle to spot that!

It just so happens that January's Family Foodies challenge is all about 'hidden goodies'.  Is there a more appropriate challenge for Mamacook?  I think not!  So I've submitted this along with a few other recipes to Bangers and Mash and Eat your veg's challenge: