Sausage Squishes for Babies and Toddlers

Hey you, kid who doesn't eat vegetables?  Yes, you!  You know who you are!

We all feel like that sometimes and I swear if you ask any Mum what an acceptable level of vegetables are and contrast it with your average child... I mean, I hate to generalise but "pork" is not a type of vegetable and "sausage" is not a food group!

I jest I jest.  I know not all kids are the same but we all need those recipes where you can squeeze in a bit of hidden vegetable goodness, just once in a while as an insurance policy.

These are kind of burgers, kind of patties or let's just face it "squishes".  Great finger food.


Sausage Squishes - Serves 1 adult and 1 toddler

Ingredients

150g, 5oz Sausagemeat
50g, a scant 2 oz Mushroom
60g, 2oz Courgette (Zucchini)

Method

Grate the mushroom and courgette (zucchini) on a microplane style grater (not sure a box grater would work with mushroom) watch out for the fingers!

Either use fresh loose sausagemeat or squish the sausagemeat out of the skins of some sausages or chipolatas.  I always believe in getting decent sausages as they have better meat content and flavour and no sausage is really expensive.  Smoosh the sausagemeat and grated vegetables together.  Form into 4 patties with your hands and put on a baking paper lined baking sheet.

Chill until ready to cook, this helps them firm up.

Preheat an oven to 200oC / 400F and cook for about 15 minutes or until fully cooked through and starting to brown.

Serve with some ketchup (aka "Tommy-K" in our household) and vegetables and ta-dah!  Instant happy child and even if most of the vegetables get shunned they are sneakily eating some more veg without even knowing...

Spanish Chorizo with Haricot Beans for the whole family

This was inspired by a Spanish version of Cassoulet.  It's pretty rich but absolutely delicious as certified by my son loving it and eating all of his portion.

Ok, it's not the healthiest meal in the world but a dish full of haricot beans and garlic has some benefits.  Think small portions perhaps with salad or some fruit afterwards.

Spanish Chorizo with Haricot Beans - Serves 2 adults and 1 toddler with some leftovers

Ingredients

200g, 7oz Haricot Beans
1 onion, finely chopped
5 cloves of garlic
1 tsp olive oil
175g, 6oz Chorizo
4 Chicken thighs, bone in
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 bay leaf
Parsley, crusty bread and / or salad to serve

Method

Soak the dried haricot beans overnight in cold water.  Drain.  Put into a saucepan with fresh boiling water, bring to the boil and boil for 15 minutes.

While the beans are boiling, saute the onion in the oil until softened.  Add in the garlic.  When the garlic is softening, add in the chorizo and fry gently until the oils start to run.(  Put this to one side.

Fry the chicken, (dry, skin side down) in a non stick pan until browning.  Once the beans have boiled for 15 minutes, put the chorizo, chicken, beans and add in boiling water to cover the beans and add in a bay leaf.

Simmer for 45 - 1 hour, with the lid off if turning up the heat a bit at the end if it looks a bit too liquid.  When the haricot beans have softened, take out the pieces of chicken and remove the skin and bones returning the meat to the pan.  Stir and serve.

Ninja bread men for kids (or Gingerbread men)

My mother is my inspiration in life in general.  Incredibly intelligent she didn’t have the breaks in life nor the education.  At the time giving a woman an education was seen as a waste of time and money.  How much we have moved on.  I was lucky enough to have all the opportunities she didn’t and she encouraged and supported me through everything in life, every bump, every triumph, every disaster and here I am with two degrees a Dr of Chemistry and she still is far my superior.

It’s funny how we learn how to love and be loved first from our parents.  My Mum shows people she loves them through food and I have inherited this from her.  This was the first ever recipe I made with my son and I remember making it with my Mum when I was little.  I also handily got some cool “Ninja” bread man cutters from an online shop which I loved and so did my son but he made some hearts for me too.

This does make a very traditional, crisp gingerbread man with a strong ginger flavour which is how I had them when I was little.  If you prefer them a little softer, take them out a little earlier or it might be an idea to substitute the flour for self raising (they will spread though).  If you like a milder flavour, cut down on the ginger a little.

(Ninja) Ginger Bread Men – Makes lots

Ingredients

60g, 2oz Butter or margarine

60g, 2oz Caster sugar (regular sugar or granulated sugar is fine, just gives a grainier texture)

1 tbsp Black treacle – sorry US readers, I don’t think there is any direct replacement but molasses is probably closest

115g, 4oz Plain (all purpose) flour

1 tbsp Ground Ginger (Powdered Ginger)

Pinch mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice)

Little milk to mix, use soy milk if liked

Method

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

Cream the butter and sugar, add the treacle then mix in the dry ingredients.  Add in enough milk to make to a stiff paste (you might not need it.)  Roll out thinly, using flour to dust and cut out whatever shapes you like, hearts, ninjas...

Bake for around 10 minutes, cool on a wire rack and decorate!  I've linked this to Simple Living's linky.

Tuna 'meatballs' for babies, toddlers and grown ups

Fish can be a hard sell for a lot of kids.  Partly it's flavour, then there's the bones and the look of it.  I was lucky though and for some unknown reason as soon as I had the chance to try fish, I loved it and ate it as much as I could.  I remember peeling prawns at the age of about 6 or 7.  I only hope I encourage my son to do the same because people who say "I don't like fish" are missing out.

We all know nowadays how important Omega 3 oils are in our diets and fish is a great source, especially oily fish like tuna.  Unfortunately unlike some other fish, tinned tuna doesn't have much in the way of Omega 3 but fresh or frozen does.  The great thing is about tuna is it does taste so meaty so if you really do have a reluctant fish eater on your hands, this could be the dish for you!

Tuna "meat"balls - serves 2 adults and 1 toddler

Ingredients

For the Meatballs
200g, Raw tuna (defrosted if frozen)
1 Clove garlic, grated finely
70g Fresh bread made into breadcrumbs
25g, 1 scant oz Extra Strong (sharp) Cheddar
1 tsp Pesto
Olive oil for frying

For the sauce
500g Passata
1 tsp Pesto
1/2 tsp sugar

Method

Cut half of the tuna into a small dice, about 1/3 inch or a cm dice.  The remainder process in a food processor with the breadcrumbs, cheddar, garlic and pesto.

Mix the fish mix with the small chunks of tuna.  (By not processing it all it has a bit more texture.)  Form into balls and chill for a few minutes until they're all ready.

Start to form the sauce by pouring a small layer of passata into a saucepan.  Gently fry the tuna balls then once browned put them onto the layer of passata.  Once you've added all the balls, add in the rest of the passata, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or so.  Check the tuna balls are cooked then add the sugar and remaining pesto to the sauce.

Serve with pasta.  My son was initially reluctant then once he tasted the balls, they all went!  Definitely a hit!

Make it Thrifty
Buy frozen raw tuna rather than chilled.  Although it should say on the pack or display if raw tuna has been defrosted, it almost always has been frozen and defrosted if bought in the UK.  By buying frozen you save yourself a small amount of money but perhaps more importantly it has a huge shelf life meaning if you don't get round to cooking it immediately it's not wasted.

Sweetcorn Fritters for babies, toddlers and even grown ups!

11:55am, he normally has his lunch at some point between 11:30 and 12.  Panic!  What on earth do I cook?  Considering Grandpa had given him a pack of cheese and onion crisps for his snack (thanks Grandpa) I wanted healthy!

So this is what I came up with from the contents of my fridge and freezer.  Not only did it make a meal out of simple vegetables, (served with peas and broccoli we were racking up our 5 a day) but with a bit of extra sweet chilli sauce for Mummy on top, it officially rocked!

My 3 year old ate two and a half and Mummy had three but the last half of his got dropped on the floor and it led to a HUGE meltdown because he'd lost it.  The sure sign of a well received recipe!

The sweet chilli sauce obviously introduces a bit of sugar and spice so miss out if you prefer for very little ones but it does add some interest.  I reckon this would be a cracking recipe for baby led weaners.

Sweetcorn Fritters serves 1 adult and 1 toddler

Ingredients
70g, 2.5 oz Self Raising flour (or Plain / all purpose flour plus 1 tsp baking powder)
1 egg
2-3 tbsp milk
2-3 tsp Sweet Chilli sauce (mine is quite mild so I used 3)
90g A generous 3oz Frozen sweetcorn kernels, defrosted*
Spray oil or a little vegetable oil to cook

Method

Mix the egg into the flour then gradually mix in the milk until you get a batter.  Mix in the sweet chilli and the sweetcorn kernels.

Heat up a frying pan and either using spray oil or a thin film of oil, fry spoonfuls of the mix and cook on medium (not too high) heat, flipping a few times until cooked through.  It will take about 3-4 minutes per batch.

I found the easiest way to tell if they were cooked was to press on them and check no batter was oozing out and they were firm in the middle.  They don't bubble on top like normal thick pancakes would.

Serve adding a little extra sweet chilli sauce or ketchup if liked.  Might be nice as a breakfast dish but great just for lunch!

*To defrost quickly, put into a bowl with cold water and drain after a few minutes.

Apologies for the lack of decent photo, currently I'm back onto my compact camera, last seen used on this blog more than a year ago!  Sad thing is there is a certain amount of cost to taking decent photos of food; compact cameras can get pretty much everything in terms of composition, as that's down to you but the fact is they're just not as adjustable as an SLR.  Not that I can pretend to be any kind of expert!

If you liked this recipe you might like cheddar and sweetcorn muffins

or thai fish cakes using sweet chilli sauce