Vegetarian "Sausage" Rolls for the Whole Family

I'm not vegetarian but I do like my vegetables and I see no need to have meat in every meal.  There's something great about normal sausage rolls but there's also something a fatty about them too.  So why not do something vegetarian?

Well I gave it a go.  I loved them but the toddler was slightly less impressed (there was a pate sandwich in his eye line which was drawing his attention).  But I liked and will definitely make again.

Vegetable Rolls - makes around 20 or so

Ingredients

1 small onion
1 clove of garlic
200g, 7oz courgette (zucchini), approx one medium size
1 tsp Olive oil
1 tbsp fresh oregano
75g, 2.5oz Feta cheese
1 egg
2 tbsp Quark or cream cheese
Approx 250g, 12oz ready rolled puff pastry

Milk to brush.

Method

Chop the onion into small pieces.  Crush or chop the garlic.  Grate the courgette.  Fry the onion for a couple of minutes in the oil then add in the garlic and courgette.  Fry until softened and the liquid has evaporated.  Put into a bowl to cool.

Preheat the oven to 400F, 200oC, 180oC (fan), gas mark 6.

Once cool, add in the oregano, crumble in the feta cheese, egg and quark.

Cut the pastry into about 2 inch, 5 cm strips.  Put a line of the mix to one side of the pastry.  Fold over to make a long 'sausage' roll.  Seal with a fork along the edge.  Cut little vent holes then cut into short lengths.

Brush with milk and bake for approx 15 minutes or until browned and cooked through.

I froze the few I had left over and then defrosted them for lunch.  Even without warming, they were absolutely delicious.  Maybe it's a Mummy thing!

Sweet and Sour for the Whole Family

Ok, I'm going back on my normal principles here.  There is no cutting out sugar in sweet and sour.  Well not unless you want to go down the sweeteners route which I don't.

That said, this is slightly lower sugar than a normal sweet and sour and full of fruit and vegetables.  It's all credits and debits, i.e. the hidden additional veg kind of offsets the sugar and much better than those nasty balls that you can get; you know the ones with the frighteningly thick batter.  Ewww.  I'm justifying it...

So I've written a recipe for the sauce and a couple of ways to use it.  The great thing is you can make the sauce in advance then use a few spoonfuls for your child's tea then use the rest for yours when you're ready for it.  I know in our household my son is ready for tea around 4:30/5pm which is a stretch for me.

Sweet and Sour - serves 2-3

Ingredients

5 tbsp White wine vinegar
3 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Tomato ketchup
1 tsp Soy Sauce
1.5 tsp Cornflour (cornstarch) mixed with 1 tbsp cold water
1 tsp sweet chilli sauce

To make into a dish
Green peppers
Pineapple
Carrot
Prawns or chicken (or tofu if you prefer)
Oil for stir frying

Method

Put the vinegar, sugar, ketchup and soy into a saucepan and bring to the boil and bubble until the sugar dissolved.  Mix in the cornflour paste and chilli sauce stirring all the time.  Stir well until thickened.

If you're not using immediately, put into a bowl and chill.

To cook stir fry the carrots and chicken if using.  When they chicken is nearly cooked if using or when the carrots are starting to cook, add the sauce and a few tbsp of boiling water (add more throughout cooking if it gets too thick before everything is done or it's looking like it's going to burn).  Add in the green pepper and prawns if using, stir fry for a few minutes.  When nearly done add in the pineapple and when everything is cooked through and hot and the sauce coating everything, serve with rice or noodles.

Low Sugar Yogurt Cake for the whole family

I hate food going out of date.  On realising some yogurt was approaching use by, I gave this a go.  Lower sugar and lower fat than a normal sponge and a slightly different texture, a bit more like madeira cake but none the worse for that.

Yogurt cake - Makes one round cake

Ingredients

150g, 5.5oz Greek yogurt
250g, 9oz Self Raising Flour (or all purpose flour with a couple of tsp baking powder)
100g, 3.5oz Sugar (I used white caster sugar)
150g, 5.5oz Sultanas (golden raisins)
3 tbsp Vegeable oil
3 eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC, 350F, Gas Mark 5.

Mix all of the ingredients together, pour into a approx 8 inch tin lined with non stick baking paper and bake for approx 45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for a while then cool on a rack.  Serve or keep in an airtight box or tin for a day or so.

Feta Cheese Chicken Kievs for Kids and Adults

Feta cheese is one of those fantastic cheeses like paneer which doesn't completely melt.  But unlike paneer, feta does soften and the action of heat is great on the flavour.  There is a traditional Greek recipe for baked Feta I keep meaning to make just because it's something I go a bit nuts for.

It also though compliments chicken pretty well and, in the spirit of invention and well just playing willy nilly with food origins, I've taken a chicken kiev style dish (either Russian or Ukrainian) added Feta (Greek) and Japanese breadcrumbs.  Some say a crime of (con)fusion food, I say "it tastes great!"  The other joys are:

• No frying
• No worrying about leaking filling because the feta stays pretty much where it's put
• My son will eat anything if cheese is involved

Result!

Feta Cheese Chicken Kievs - made 4 small Kievs

Ingredients

4 Fresh chicken breast slices (these were sold in my local supermarket, weighing approx 70-85g each; 2.5-3oz, about 1.5cm, half an inch thick but you could slice a thick chicken breast in half.)
100g, 3.5oz Feta cheese
1 Egg
3 tbsp Panko breadcrumbs (or normal fresh breadcrumbs)
Spray oil

Method

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

Cut the feta into four 'sticks'.

Wrap the chicken slices around each piece of feta.  It doesn't matter if you can see the feta at the ends.

Crack the egg into one bowl and put the breadcrumbs in another.  Line a baking tray with baking paper (this helps them to not stick.)

Dip each chicken wrapped feta into egg then into the breadcrumbs (tip; use one hand for the egg, one for the breadcrumbs.)

Put onto a baking tray and repeat until they're all done.

Debreadcrumb your hands!

Spray the chicken liberally with spray oil and bake for approx 20 minutes or until cooked through and golden.

Cut the chicken up for little ones as it can get pretty hot in the middle.  Enjoy with vegetables!