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:

Gingerbread men

...or considering the time of year... Gingerbread Mummies!!!

I posted a recipe for Gingerbread men a while back (or ninja bread men, I do like a play on words!)  This though is adapted to give a lighter result which is less dominated by anything other than the ginger flavour.  I found the treacle in the old recipe tended to drown out the spicy warmth.
Gingerbread Men – Makes 8-20 depending on size

Ingredients

60g, 2oz Butter or margarine (use non dairy to make dairy free)

60g, 2oz Caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp Runny honey

115g, 4oz Plain (all purpose) flour

1 tbsp Ground Ginger (Powdered Ginger)

Pinch mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice)

Method

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

Cream the butter and sugar, add the honey, vanilla extract, cream together then mix in the dry ingredients.  Bring together with your hands and kneed lightly.  Roll out thinly, using flour to dust and cut out the men.  Reroll any scraps and repeat.

Put the men or shapes onto baking trays lined with non stick baking paper.

Bake for approx 8-10 minutes or until starting to brown and crisp (they won't be completely crunchy until allowed to cool).

Cool on a wire rack, then decorate.

I did the gingerbread man "Mummy" decoration with a simple plain buttercream and a narrow plain nozzle criss crossed over the men.  I then cut off the excess at the sides of the biscuits and did the eyes with some black writing icing (I can never find I get a 'true' black from home colours.)

I have no idea whether having one of these is better than eating a pile of sweets.  Ok, one of these is obviously better than a pile of sweets but I have always thought that home baking, even unashamedly full on, naughty ingredients home baking like this is somehow more fulfilling than sugary sweets.  Hey, I could be wrong but it makes me feel good.

Store in an airtight tin and they should keep a couple of days.

There's no need to decorate these in the Hallowe'en style I've suggested, you could make it more traditional or, a great idea for a kids party, get some writing icing and get them to decorate them themselves!  Surprisingly popular with adults as well as kids!

Over 1 year olds only please because of the honey.  Enjoy!

Make it Thrifty:

A pretty cheap recipe as it is but look out for bags of Indian or Chinese spices rather than buying ginger in tiny jars.  It does lose a bit of potency over time but it still keeps reasonably well.

I've linked this lovely old recipe up to the Spice Trail Ginger challenge.

Anchovy and Broccoli Pasta

I started this blog to get a bit of myself back while I was on maternity leave but one thing I didn't expect was how it would push me to be more creative with my son's food.  One thing I'm very bad at though is cooking just for myself.

If there are other people around I'll go to huge amounts of effort and, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy cooking but I also have 30 hours of work to do in an average day and I kind of like to get some sleep.  The amount of times I've slung some oven chips in while cleaning up or doing an exercise video.  It's not good.

So I'm making an early resolution (why wait till New Year's anyway?)  I promise to respect myself more when cooking for one.

So you might start to see a few more grown up meals on here which are quick, easy and contain my favourite ingredients!

And so we come to anchovies... A pizza isn't a pizza without anchovies but I struggle to get through a whole tin and so often end up throwing half a tin away.  I'm also someone who loves broccoli.  My sister told me about a recipe she made featuring both.  I had a look around at what I could find but frankly didn't like any recipes out there, so me being me, made up my own.  I thought it was pretty good.  I'm not sure I'd use spaghetti next time.  The sauce was a little chunkier than I intended so probably a shaped pasta would be better but it was blooming delicious.

Anchovy and Broccoli pasta - Serves 1 adult

Ingredients

75g of the dried pasta of your choice (or more if you're hungry)

90g Broccoli florets

1 Clove garlic

4 Anchovy fillets, chopped

1 tsp Olive oil

1 tsp Pesto

Grating of parmesan to serve if liked

Method

Put the pasta on to cook; 5 minutes before the end of cooking time, add in the broccoli.

In the meantime, heat the oil and add the chopped garlic and anchovies to the pan.  Fry on a very gentle heat, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.

Once cooked, drain the pasta, reserving the water.  Take out and mash the broccoli with a fork.  Stir into the anchovy / garlic mix on a low heat with some pesto and a tbsp or so of the cooking water.

Stir in the pasta then turn into a bowl topping with parmesan if liked.

Devour in front of your favourite TV shows.  After all, there has to be some benefits to being on your own!

Make it Thrifty:

If you do use some anchovies on a pizza, put the remainder of the tin in a jar and cover with olive oil. Put in the fridge and they'll keep for a few days so you can make this!

Like this?  Bet you'll love this Mushroom pasta!

Ham, Spinach and Courgette Frittata Fingers - great for babies and children

This got a very excited greeting by my little boy.  Little does he know the hidden vegetables contained inside!

Another sneaky Mamacook recipe to hide some vegetables into your child's meal.   Keep offering them alongside too though, just think of them as your insurance policy!  My son devoured this with some broad beans from the freezer and some cooked carrot sticks.   Clean plates all round!  I'd be tempted to say that leftovers would be great in packed lunches but there weren't any!


I used fresh spinach in this, I'm struggling to find chopped frozen spinach recently which I love using in recipes but I'm sure frozen spinach would be fine.  Quantities would have to be adjusted, just defrost and add at the same stage as there is quite often a bit of moisture to drive off.

Ham, Spinach and Courgette Frittata Fingers - Serves 1 adult and 1 toddler

Ingredients

1 tsp oil
90g, 3oz grated courgette (zucchini)
50g, a generous 1.5oz of spinach leaves
1 clove of garlic
3 Spring onions (salad onions, scallions)
75g, 2.5oz cubed / chopped ham
3 eggs
50g, a generous 1.5oz grated extra strong (sharp) cheddar
1 tbsp plain (all purpose) flour
2 tbsp milk
Spray oil or more oil

Method

You can prepare the vegetables in advance if liked.  Grate the courgette and finely chop the onions.  Heat a frying pan and add the oil, courgette and onions and start to soften.

Finely chop the garlic and shred the spinach.  Add to the frying pan and continue to fry until the garlic is softening and the spinach has wilted.

Allow to cool (this can be done ahead and left in the refrigerator until ready to cook.

Preheat an oven to 180oC (350F, gas mark 4).

Oil a dish approx 20cm square.  Mine was 22cm, I think I'd use a smaller dish next time though so the 'fingers' have more depth.

Mix the vegetable mixture with the cheese, ham, flour and milk.  Pour into the dish and bake for approx 13-18 minutes or until starting to brown and fully set.

Allow to cool a bit and serve either warm or cold.  Fingers would be great for baby led weaners or squares if you prefer for older children or adults.

Just like quiches this is better not served 100% hot so great for kids who take a while over their food or busy parents who get called away from their plates!  A great source of vitamin D too.

I wish we hadn't eaten it all.  I'd planned a square with a baby leaf spinach salad dressed with a sharp, mustardy dressing for tomorrow's lunch.

Make it Thrifty:

Using frozen, defrosted spinach would make this recipe even cheaper.  If you had leftover ham from another recipe you can also freeze that in cubes until you're ready to make this.  Alternatively use what you have in the fridge and use up leftovers.  Some cooked bacon instead of the ham and finely chopped cooked broccoli or shredded cooked sprouts would be good instead of the spinach.

Cheap eats; thrifty recipes for end of the month

I've been thinking a lot about Jamie Oliver's approach to cheap meals recently and I think he has a good point.  A roast can yield a lot of meals, cheap cuts can be really tasty.  What disappointed me though was when I saw his interpretation of 'cheap'.  Many of his recipes are aimed at £2 a head.  Yeah, cheap if you buy ready meals but not cheap if you're on jobseekers allowance, what's more when MSN tested it, they couldn't make them as cheaply.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a religiously cheap cook but I do believe in thrift.  My parents brought me up this way, not to be wasteful.  They grew all their own fruit and vegetables and when you've invested that much time, it's worth respecting them.  As I said in my post about Jamie Oliver's approach it's not just about overall cost, sometimes when you pay less for something you respect it less.

It doesn't have to be this way though.  I would say that one of the cheapest, most filling ingredients there is, lentils, is impossible to cook without respecting it.  They take 20-45 minutes to cook.  Ok, not quick but sometimes slow is good, slow makes you think about what you're eating and, let's face it, it's not that slow, it's not necessarily food you have to be stood over poking and prodding for the whole time!

So in answer to the £2 a head meal, I've costed out some recipes for you for the price of an adult portion.  Remember even if my recipe says "serves 2" and you're cooking for one it might be worth making the full amount (or even doubling it) to have some left over for lunchtime, freezing can give you some variety so you grab something from the freezer and head out.  It's so easy to spend £3 on lunch in even a subsidised canteen in the workplace or more in a coffee shop.  Over a year if you reduced that cost to £1, you could save £500 a year!


I've used Sainsbury's to calculate the cost of the recipes, partly to be consistent with the review of the above recipes but also then you may be able to shop around and get slightly better prices.  All prices were correct at time of writing as shown on the "mysupermarket" website.

Where I have used less than a pack I've priced it as the recipe quantity.  There are no weird or wacky ingredients here which would stay in your cupboard or fridge for months untouched (at least not in mine) and several are dried, can be frozen or keep fresh for a long time so waste is unlikely but of course that's always a risk.  I've not included cooking costs but if you look at the recipes I frequently suggest ways to keep this down, e.g. by avoiding use of the oven.

Toad in the Hole for 3 portions

(Priced without gravy) likely costs of the recipe £1.06 per portion for 3

Vegetarian Lasagne for approx 3 portions

Actual likely costs of the recipe £1.09 per portion for 3

Mushroom Pasta Bake for 2 portions

Actual likely costs of the recipe 94p per portion

Sweetcorn Fritters for 2 portions

Actual likely costs of the recipe 26p per portion.












Lentil and Bacon soup for 2 portions

Actual likely costs of the recipe if you exclude the low salt stock cube (which I normally do), 32p per portion.

Gazpacho for 2 portions

Actual likely costs of the recipe 85p per portion.

Porridge

Approx 15p per portion










I hope I've convinced you that eating cheaply doesn't necessarily mean eating badly.  By the standards of Jamie Oliver, many of my other recipes would be easy to make for less than £2 a portion but the above represent some of the super cheap ways to pad out a small salary.  Have a look around and see if there's anything else you like the look of and remember that thrift doesn't have to mean anything other than delicious, reasonably healthy and very cheerful.

(Disclaimer:  I have not been endorsed in any way for this post and my mentioning of brands and sites does not imply I support or use them.)