After school eating: a play in three acts

My boy is always ravenous when he gets home from school - it doesn't matter how much he's had during the day he is ready to eat for England as soon as gets through the door. As a result after school food planning starts early.

I present, for your delectation a three act play about after school eating in our house.

The curtain goes up: 

Act one: 

The school run - My Boy on his scooter and me running / power walking alongside  

My boy: Mummy are you going to pick me up from school today ?
Me: Yes honey, I do every day.
MB: Can you bring me an apple / banana please ? 
Me: Yes of course. I'll bring it to the classroom with me. 

Act two: 

In the car on the way home - the boy is eating his banana / apple :

MB: Mummy I'm really hungry
Me: I know sweetie. What did you have for lunch today ?
MB: I don't know Mummy 
Me: Really ? Did you eat pudding ?
MB: Yes, I had chocolate sponge with custard
Me: That sounds lovely (it doesn't - I hate custard, it makes me retch)
MB: I had potatoes and carrots and broccoli
Me: Wow that's great. Lots of lovely vegetables

When we get home it's all about getting him out of his uniform so that he can wolf down a massive plate of fruit - on average it's strawberries, grapes, mango and sometimes a smoothie too. This is enough to see him through until dinner. 

Not far off how much fruit my boy eats

Act three: 

In the kitchen - the boy is dropping off, but just about keeping it together.

Me: do you want some bolognaise ?
MB: No thanks
Me: How about veggie moussaka ?
MB: No thank you 
Me: (getting irritated now) How about waffles
MB: Yes please
Me: and fish fingers 
MB: Yes please 
Me: (relieved) anything else ? 
MB: yes please - some beans 
Me: (rifling in the freezer) ok you set the table and I'll get the food ready. 

A few minutes later. 

He is sitting at the table and I'm on the sofa with a cuppa.

MB: I love you Mummy. This is so nice. 
Me: You're welcome baby boy. 

Peace and harmony at teatime thanks to Birds Eye :)

Birds Eye is this Mum's best friend :) 

This post is an entry for #Afterschoolchefs Challenge, sponsored by Birds Eye. Learn more on the Birds Eye Facebook page

Paneer & vegetable curry recipe.

Growing up with Indian parents we often ate vegetarian meals at home and meat wasn't a necessity at the meal table. In fact I barely noticed that meat was only eaten occasionally and cheaper ingredients like seasonal vegetables and pulses made meals go further in our home. In those days we always used to complain that we wanted to eat 'English food' instead of the Punjabi cooking my Mum painstakingly prepared from scratch. Now I appreciate how lucky we were to have such delicious food and a Mum who wanted us to learn how to cook it. We never order Indian takeaway as we find them far too fatty and I prefer to choose what goes into my meal.

In advance of National Vegetarian Week (19th-25th May) I'm sharing a recipe that is really simple to prepare and is really tasty.

spices, paneer and veggies

Ingredients:

Paneer - I bought this in Sainsburys ready cut into cubes
Mixed vegetables (I used frozen for ease)
Frylight oil spray
2 small Onions - chopped
2-3 cloves Garlic - chopped finely
a thumb sized piece of Ginger - chopped finely
Tomatoes 4-6 fresh or 1 tin chopped
Spices including; turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala and salt 
Fresh coriander

naan, rice and samosas

To serve: 

Naan bread
Samosas
Ready made rice









Paneer is an indian cheese that cooks a bit like Halloumi, but without the squeak. I found it in a large Sainsburys store near me, but my Mum used to make it at home. She's not a shirker my mother. You don't have to cook it first for this recipe, but I prefer to so that it doesn't break up when added to the vegetables. I cooked it in a non-stick pan using Frylight oil and kept turning it to make sure all the sides were brown. This keeps the inside soft and the outside a bit crunchier depending how long you cook it for. Set aside the paneer once cooked.

paneer cooked in Frylight

The tomato base is made by frying some onions then adding chopped garlic and ginger - if the garlic is fried too soon it burns and tastes bitter - then add the tomatoes and spices. You can experiment with the spices to suit your taste. but generally I find a few tsps of salt - too little and your curry will be too sweet - a couple of turmeric and some garam masala work well, you can adjust by tasting. I don't use exact measures because it is made to suit my taste and I don't like it too hot so I don't use chilli, but you can add that too. Turn the heat down to simmer until the onions have melted away and the tomatoes have all become liquid. Stir a few times to check it's not sticking to the pan.

paneer and mixed vegetable 

Once the tomato mix is ready add the paneer and frozen or fresh vegetables and stir through. Pop a lid on and simmer until the vegetables are cooked through. A low simmer for 15-20 mins occasionally stirring so it doesn't stick works well. When you're ready to eat it, stir in some fresh coriander and scatter some leaves on top for decoration. I served this with hot fluffy naan bread and a veggie samosa on the side.

The curry is vegetarian and gluten-free. If you prefer gluten-free side dishes there are lovely cornbread rotis or chickpea flour pakoras you can try instead of samosas, rice or naan bread.

Meat free and ever so delicious 

Storage: You can freeze this curry, so I make lots and freeze half for another meal. Defrost thoroughly before reheating or the paneer tends to fall apart. It keeps in the fridge for up to a week - if you can keep your hands off it that is !

Give it a go, it's really simple to prepare and ever so tasty.

Enjoy :)

This post is my entry to the Betta Living Vegetarian Recipe competition #Bettarecipe

What makes me smile ? A man, a boy and a cat :)

I'm joining Mummy never sleeps in her new linky to remind ourselves what teeny tiny things can make us feel a teeny tiny bit better when things aren't feeling so great. So for the inaugural All The Small Things I present the following:

1. Homemade soup with homemade bread - nicer than expected and my boy even said, "it's very tasty Mummy."

2. The first daffodils in our front garden - a delightful surprise every January :)

3. Looking out of the kitchen window and spotting our cat sitting in the window of the den - an unlikely sunbathing spot :)

4. A walk with my boys on a winter's weekend 

and finally

5. Finding a packet of cookies named after my cat :)

I hope at a least one of these things made you smile too - see you next time :)

[All photos are mine - please ask permission before reproducing them or any content]

Today I'm giving thanks… for Christmas :o)

I went along to the Britmums Xmas do on Monday which I was very excited about as I don't have a work do any more what with not having a job right now. It was a great chance to catch up with some bloggers I know and to meet a lot of others who I don't know. The room was absolutely crammed with goodies and I have to admit that I did wonder how I'd find any room for fruit cake and mince pies so early on a Monday, but I did manage a mini mince pie and a chilled glass of very nice white wine too.

Morrisons provided the food and drinks and Neil Nugent who is one of the chefs there talked us through some of the most common errors that people make when preparing Christmas food. I took away these top tips:

• Never use foil on the turkey - it steams it and causes overcooking and dryness.
• Pick up the turkey by it's legs and shake them to relax it. I say this as a vegetarian - honestly, I'm not making it up - it means the heat will distribute more evenly round the bird.
• When making roast potatoes use Maris Pipers and don't boil the spuds, just simmer them so that you don't have mushy roasties.
• You can prepare all the veg before the big day and keep it in the fridge or freezer (according to Neil the freezer is a chef's best friend !)

The festive feel of the morning was helped by some little ones who were running around entertaining us. My favourite was a toddler wearing a santa hat who kept stealing the limelight from Jen and Neil when they were speaking. I hadn't been feeling too Christmassy before this event, but I've since booked my boy in to have breakfast with Father Christmas, he's going to a meet Santa event and we're going to see Reindeer and hopefully go on a husky sled ride too. The tree will be going up on Sunday and I've got far too many advent calendars !

I came away from the do with a stash of goodies including a chocolate Rudolph cake complete with chocolate antlers. My son loved the decorate your own gingerbread trees and the mini sponge cakes in Santa, reindeer and snowman shapes are a lovely alternative to fruit cake.

I was really surprised and inspired by the range on offer and will definitely be checking out the Christmas goodies in our local Morrisons.

Thanks Britmums for such a fab event :o)

A good egg :o)

It is British Egg Week and a while back I promised my blogger pal Jen that I'd share my favourite Egg dishes in a blog post. So that time has now come. Here - in no particular order - are my personal favourite egg dishes. Nothing quite as fancy as recipes using eggs you understand, just ways to cook eggs that are simple, tasty and relatively good for you.

Poached eggs: 

I know there is a proper 'cheffy' way to make poached eggs using a pan of water on a rolling boil and my gorgeous friend Sharon can do this fantastically well. I have tried the old school poaching pans that leave you with a rock hard egg and an electronic gadget that Hubbie bought me that exploded the eggs and made the kitchen smell terrible for weeks after it's inaugural (and only) use.

I have finally settled on these fab little silicone moulds for making poached eggs. You lightly oil them (I use spray oil) and crack the egg into the mould and pop it into a pan of water and bring it to a boil. The timings are pretty exact on this and I find 4 mins creates my perfect egg. In this piccie you will see it's a little over as the yolk isn't as runny as I'd like, but it's still a pretty good brunch with some baguette slices and butter and marmite with a big cup of tea - yummy !!


Boiled egg and soldiers:

I love boiled egg and toast soldiers for breakfast or lunch. When I was pregnant I stopped eating them as I'd read that you could only eat fully cooked eggs while pregnant and I missed them like crazy. Then I found out (in my last few weeks of pregnancy) that I could have eaten Lion brand eggs all along as they are safe to eat. It is, however, an effort to make a 'dippy egg' and involves some scientific timing. I occasionally get it just right with a lovely runny yolk and solid white as well as perfect toast for dipping. More often though, I over or under cook the egg and the toast is either a bit too crunchy or a bit soggy and it makes for an ok meal rather than the one I've been so longing to enjoy with a lovely big mug of tea.

So imagine my joy when we stayed in a hotel in Edinburgh where the chef made my perfect egg and toast for me. I actually considered moving in permanently just for the sheer joy of perfect boiled egg and soldiers every day. Until then I have this gadget which my lovely friend Adrian gave me as he had two of them. You pop it into the pan with the cold water and egg(s) and it changes colour to indicate how well done it is. I've found that using larger eggs can throw this system though, so it does take some testing to get it just right. Can anyone tell me why they are called soldiers by the way ?

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Fried Egg:

Dead simple this one - spray the frying pan with a light spritz of oil and crack the egg into the pan. My chef friend Ajay told me the right way to make a fried egg so that it is cooked and the top is not too soft, but the yolk is runny. It involves cooking in a lot of oil on a low heat which makes me feel a bit ill so I do it this way instead. As I don't like the top of my egg to be too wet I have discovered - thanks to an unlikely tip from my father in law - that popping a lid over the pan will enable the steam to cook the top of the egg and prevents the edges or underside going crunchy (yeuch !!) If you have the grill on to do tomatoes, sausages, etc you can pop the pan under the grill and it will cook the top, but you also risk overcooking the yolk too, so I advise caution with this method. 

Scrambled egg: 

The fat free version of this is my personal choice, but you can make it in a pan and stir cream into it slowly until it's all rich and luxurious. I choose this method as it's fast and not as messy as a pan and it uses no fat at all. Firstly break the egg(s) into a microwavable bowl. Beat the egg with a fork and if want to you can add milk. Now depending on the strength of your microwave this bit can be tricky. I give the egg a blast of around 30-40 seconds and then stir the mixture. I keep giving it 10 seconds at a time and stirring between hits. Remember it will keep cooking even after you take it out of the microwave so don't overdo it. I like my scrambled eggs soft, but not runny, and on a piece of toast with - you guessed it - a cup of tea :o)

Eggy Bread: 

I know that this is called French Toast and all sorts of other fancy names, but let's keep it simple and call it what it is - eggy bread. This is actually my favourite way to use up eggs that are on the way out and to revive any bread I have that is going a bit stale. I make eggy bread with slices of leftover baguette, sliced up rolls, the scrag ends of bread and essentially anything bready - if you have it why not try brioche ? Soaking a dry crust of bread in beaten egg gives it a whole new life and it can be a sweet or savoury dish. When I'm feeling really fancy I have a savoury one with a side helping of HP sauce followed by a sweet one with a smattering of maple syrup (and if I've got any fruit to use up that goes on as well). This truly is the most versatile dish, but it does involve a little bit of effort to make. I beat the egg and leave it plain. My Mum seasons the beaten egg mixture with salt and pepper for savoury and sugar for sweet. I've added a smidgeon of maple syrup to the egg mix before now and it makes a delicious sticky coating on on the individual slices which works really well with sliced bananas and strawberries. If you're being proper fancy you can shake some icing sugar over the top too.

So these are my preferred ways to cook eggs.  I haven't even mentioned omelettes, or baked eggs, but here are some ideas that you might not have tried before. They're really simple and I find them filling and tasty.

It's often said that eggs are very versatile and it is true. Why not see how many different ways you can cook eggs and tell me what your favourite is ?

Love food - love cookbooks: a review post.

Ok I fess up here and now I love recipe books. Not cooking from them, but having them to look at, to pore over and to drool on. In the past my birthday and Christmas lists have included requests for books by Nigel Slater, Gok Wan (shutup)and cupcake compendiums.

My first husband worked for a publishing company so he often used to come home with beautiful cookbooks for me and I have a range of books that I've admired, but never cooked from. In recent years I've also developed a passion for collecting the recipe cards from Waitrose so the shelf of cookbooks is pretty weighed down now.

So when I was at Britmums Live and met the lovely ladies from Parragon books it may have been the tower of cupcakes that attracted me, but it was the books that kept me there. Not least as the books they were offering were these beauties.

Now I've got vegetarian cookbooks (even one signed by Paul McCartney - ooh get me !) so that isn't the appeal here. Instead it's the simplicity of the visual cues to assist with preparation and cooking. The photos show you all the ingredients you need - which is very helpful if it's something you haven't used before. I recall the first time I cooked with fennel and had to look up how to prepare it online before I could do anything. With this book you can see clearly what everything is and how to use it. There are some classic recipes here - like the caramelized onion tart for example - and some ideas you may not have tried before. I know there are people who don't feel confident to cook for vegetarians so this is a pretty good starting point.

Now we come to Mama's family cookbook. This gem is styled to look like a handwritten collection of family recipes and again some are deceptively simple, but the photography and simple instructions make it a practical guide to making family meals. I make the same pasta dishes all the time and often 'cheat' with bought sauces so I'm hoping this book will inspire me to cook from scratch a bit more often.

I have a few books from the Love Food range already and you may be familiar with the sparkly heart logo on the top right corner of the cover. It's a range that Parragon developed to inspire the aspirational cook in all of us. As well as the Step By Step range (which features a photo to guide beginners through each step of a recipe) the do the 100 Best range (the most delicious recipes in every category) and some new titles like The Burger, The Bistro Cookbook, and A Year Full of Recipes. The books I was given retail at £16 and are available in all the usual places including online retailers. They're lovely books and I'd recommend them to accomplished cooks and aspiring ones alike.

Disclosure: I was given these books to write an honest review.

Arriba Arriba it's Cinco de Mayo (sort of)

I've heard of Cinco De Mayo, but it's not on the roster of celebrations we mark in our family - and we pretty much do them all if food is involved - but we do love our version of Tex-Mex food.  I say our version because it's made with Quorn instead of chicken or beef (I'm the veggie) and is always popular in our house even though the authenticity and similarity to actual Mexican food is questionable at best.

We were lucky enough to be sent a fab bag of goodies by Discovery to make a meal for Cinco De Mayo. Now in the interests of full disclosure I didn't make this on the 5th of May as I spent that afternoon with lovely friends in a sunny garden eating and drinking. Instead I cooked this meal the following day to have with my lovely boys at home. So we're calling it our Seis De Mayo meal instead.

As we like assembling food ourselves (and anything you eat with your fingers is always tastier isn't it ?) I decided to make fajitas.

Ingredients: 

Discovery fajita kit: includes wraps, salsa and seasoning mix
Quorn chunks (in place of chicken)
Mushrooms
Peppers
Onions
A little oil

To assemble: 

Grated Cheese
Mexican dips incl: guacamole, Salsa, Garlic and herb soured cream
Red Jalapenos

Preparation:

Chop the onions, peppers and mushrooms into similar size pieces - we prefer it quite chunky, but you can chop them finely if you like.

Fry the onions in a little oil, add the mushrooms and peppers. Once the ingredients are softer add the Quorn chunks and seasoning and mix well then pop a lid on and turn the heat down to let it all cook in some steam.

I like to let this sit for a while to soak up all the delicious flavours before warming the fajitas.

To assemble: 

Warm fajitas either in a large pan or microwave. Add the quorn mix, some grated cheese and dips. Hubbie and I fold them differently from each other, but they get eaten the same so it doesn't matter really. I also like to add some jalapenos to my plate for and extra bit of spice.

I have used the fajita kit before and like that it has been updated so the box is made of less cardboard. The contents provide the right amount of wraps for our little family - there are 8 of a medium size - and the seasoning mix is good for two lots of mix as I only use half a pack at a time.

For convenience and ease this kit is great and the additional ingredients including dips and jalapenos can be resealed and used again so there is little wasteage. If you don't cook Mexican (ish) food yet do give them a try.

Sombreros are optional :o)

Foodie Friday: The fable of the frail frying pan

I have had a domestic disaster. Not a dishwasher / washing machine breakdown, or a cooker failure. Not even a fridge / freezer packing up (thank goodness - there's only so much frozen food we can eat and I'm pretty sure that even Hubbie would grow tired of fishfingers, garlic bread, peas and ice cream eventually !)

Nope it's none of these actual life altering disasters, it's a really minor and, therefore, exponentially worse one. The non-stick has gone on my small frying pan !!

I first noticed the other day when I spent an inordinate amount of time scraping an egg off the pan (with a non-metal spatula of course - I'm not a neanderthal !) and I put it down to my having the heat on too high under the pan. Then it took three attempts to get the pan clean (again not using a scourer, but a gentle cleaning sponge - this is not rocket science you know !) When I used it again yesterday I had the same, no actually worse, results with a badly scrambled egg mostly stuck to the pan. It wasn't as bad as the ones you see on Saturday Kitchen, admittedly, but it was not appealing to the palate.

I have another non-stick pan, but it is far larger so this one was always my go to pan for small things like an egg just for me or an omelette for lunch. Without it my attempts at healthy eating are foiled by laziness and the temptations of ready made foods. Why cook something without fat if you can just go to the shop and pick up something in pastry ? Frying pan as a dieters best ally may sound counterintuitive, but it's not, as any woman who's tried to lose weight on a low fat plan will tell you - and there are a few of us out there. Cooking with little or no fat means being able to eat 'fried' eggs and omelettes rather than foraging for food after an unsatisfying Ryvita and cottage cheese 'meal.'

It's not just the fat reducing qualities of the non-stick pan though. A few years ago I replaced my ancient collection of pans which I'd had since I went to University (and they were old then !). I'd been given gift vouchers for my 40th birthday so I decided to spend them on nice pans that all matched instead of the eclectic and 'pre-loved' looking ones I had. These ones are simpler to wash and aren't dented and discoloured from years of use. They haven't developed that distinctive smell that the old ones had which made all food taste vaguely the same.

In the short term it looks like I may have to use spray oil to coat the pan before cooking anything in it. If it is beyond reasonable use I may have to call on the guarantee that these things have when you buy them. The problem is I have no recollection of when I bought the thing and am only a little bit sure where I actually bought it. Worse case scenario I have to get a new one. Oh well I have a birthday coming up so I can always hint that I want one as a gift can't I ?

Like I said it's hardly an insurance matter, but this mini drama has rocked my world.

Wow I really do need to stop being a stay at home Mum don't I ?

Foodie Friday: My final fling - in the kitchen.

After much to-ing and fro-ing about hours and start dates I'll be back in the world of the working from next week. I am very nervous about it, but not because I'm worried about the boy. He will be doing an extra day at nursery and will be taken care of by his beloved Auntie or Hubbie on alternate weeks to cover the other day. This means he's taken care of from breakfast until teatime and I am let loose on the world from the time I drop him off to when I pick him up.

This week I've been making the most of our time together and it has been fraught at times. Apart from his ability to go from zero to high pitched tantrum and back again in seconds (just like his mother) he has also demanded a lot of attention from me as if he knows I'm going to be away from him. To counter this I've been baking and making things he likes. We made some oat and raisin cookies this week and he helped add the ingredients and stir the mixture as well as being the official taster for me. In my kitchen I keep a small ringbound notebook in which I store my most used recipes. Top of the tree is the perfect oat and raisin cookie recipe, by which I mean the ingredients list is less than half the page and it contains no more than one ingredient I haven't got already.

Even better is when I have a recipe that actively uses ingredients I have hanging around. I made a cake from frozen blueberries, fresh lemons and some butter that needed to be used up and apart from realising too late that the baking powder was past it's best it turned out pretty well. Hubbie likes it served with ice cream as a dessert so I've frozen it and will come back to it when the latest batch of cookies is finished and we are in the market for cake again.

Equally popular is the definitive banana bread recipe which uses up bananas that are past their best, freezes brilliantly and is just right for a packed lunch treat for Hubbie or a post work/nursery snack for the boys. I made it this week with fewer bananas and different butter and for the first time I actually enjoyed eating it too. I usually don't eat cooked bananas, but for some reason this one just hit the spot for me. I won't make a habit of it though as even with a walk up three flights of the narrowest stairs in London to get to my office won't counteract the effects of cake gluttony.

I am now faced with the prospect of taking a packed lunch to work again - which is tricky as I don't particularly like sandwiches. Hubbie has taken the same packed lunch since I've known him - he doesn't like change. I managed to swap out full fat for half fat crisps a few years ago and that was so traumatic for him that I daren't suggest any further substitutions for fear of the need for therapy. I suspect it's going to take a few tries before I get it right for me. After all I have to take my breakfast, lunch and possibly an afternoon snack with me as I'll be out from when I take the boy to nursery for breakfast until I pick him up at his dinner time. I can't eat too early in the morning so unless I have something healthy with me I risk a meltdown and low blood sugar late morning resulting in some very poor nutrition choices with so many cafes and coffee shops in Farringdon.

Cooking dinner may also require some forward planning as I'm not sure how inclined I'll be to roll up my sleeves and prepare food from scratch after a day at work. One of my favourite meals to prepare is the fastest veggie chilli recipe I have. It uses up leftover veg and always stretches to at least one more meal so it's efficient and timesaving. This is one where I pretty much pop all the ingredients into a large casserole dish and leave it to simmer with the occasional stir to stop it from sticking. Again it freezes really well so can be kept for a future date or an evening when Hubbie is out at football and I can't be bothered to cook just for me.

I mentioned at the start that I'm nervous about the new job. Not because of the boy. Not because of the logistics. Not even because of the travel. I'm used to being at home now. I'm used to planning my day with the boys in mind and a fairly open diary. I'm also used to doing my radio show and my yoga teaching and will be taking a break from both for the time being. You see I don't deal with change very well either.

So from Monday wish me luck with my new venture and pop a metaphorical note into my lunch to tell me it's going to be ok.

I'll try not to eat it by mistake :o)

Foodie Friday: Give us this day our daily bread

I am grateful to Penny Smith for a few things:

1. The yoga dvd she made with Howard Napper that I do when I can't get to a class with him

2. Her lovely, supportive tone when I called her radio show to talk about adoption

3. She dropped out of a bread class with Daniel Stevens last weekend which meant I got to go instead 

Now aside from my Penny love I now have total Daniel love. I did have a moment there where I expected Matthew from Downton Abbey to be teaching us, until I realised that it wasn't *that* Dan Stevens. This one is a chef and his pedigree is from River Cottage and he is now based in South London.

Daniel's Cookhouse runs a classic bread class that is a full day and begins with coffee / tea in the most amazing kitchen in Wandsworth and ends with a delicious meal and lots of wine and teeny tiny doughnuts that we filled with jam ourselves. If you like food and you enjoy preparing it this is a great day for you.

During the day we made Ciabatta (harder than I thought), focaccia (easier than I thought), wholemeal seeded rolls (a faff, but delicious) and a cobb loaf (still in the freezer, can't comment yet). The morning was spent kneading which takes longer than I realised and explains why my homemade bread has a tendency to be a bit on the stodgy side. We took it in turns and when we got tired Daniel took over and showed us how to do it properly. We learned how to check it was ready, the answer is always "not yet, keep going."

Daniel showed us how to turn some of the dough into crispy and delicious flatbreads, we made some houmous and mint yoghurt and had a snack break with a glass of wine before making our cobb loaves. The last thing we made was the doughnuts I mentioned before and I don't even like jam doughnuts, but I was all over these sugar coated little beauties !!. It's a pretty full day with a lot to do, but it's very well organised and the learning is balanced out with some good old fashioned graft. 

At the start of the day Daniel told us we'd fall in love with the dough scraper and all want to get one and I have to admit I had no idea how useful that small bit of blue plastic was going to prove to be. I did indeed get one to take home as well as a kilo of flour and more bread than the three of us could eat so I filled the freezer and we've been working our way through it all week. 

I've never done a 'cookery course' before and this was a gift from Hubbie which I'd basically told him I wanted. We looked at the Waitrose cookery school classes before Christmas, but didn't book anything as they are in North London, are very expensive and as far as I can tell you don't get a fabulous meal (with wine) at the end.

I left early on Sunday morning leaving Hubbie and the boy to their own devices and returned in the evening with a bag full of bread and a very full tummy.

If you fancy learning about bread and having a fun day with some delicious food this is definitely worth a go. If you can get it as a present, even better !! 

http://www.danielscookhouse.com/

Foodie Friday: the food of love

In foodie terms this last week has been an obstacle course of planning and preparation. Last Sunday was Chinese New Year and despite the various offers out there for prepared meals I decided to try my hand at homemade wontons. I had some wonton wrappers in the freezer that I'd bought a while back and I found a recipe in a veggie cookbook that my lovely friend Vicky gave me last year. Double bubble - working down the freezer contents and managing to get another of my resolutions going too. It was a very simple recipe with only a few ingredients: garlic, ginger, mushrooms and soy sauce. Preparing the ingredients and assembling the wontons took a little bit of time, but I used the one knife I love and hardly ever use (the proper chopping knife) and was very proud of myself once they were done. Cooking is very quick as they only need to be boiled for a few minutes and they're ready. They look like soggy samosas, but tasted really good.

I also made a pad thai using a kit from Waitrose to which I added prawns and an egg. It was half price, but to be honest I wouldn't buy it again as it's far too pricey when not on offer. We scoffed my efforts with some ready made prawn toast and some spring rolls. Not strictly chinese really, but it was delicious and made a change from the usual noodles and stir fry that we have. I plan to do the wontons again at the weekend, but next time I might pinch them into a small bag shape instead of folding them over. It has made me realise how few ingredients it takes to make very tasty dishes and that nothing beats the feeling of cooking from scratch and it tasting delicious.

Shrove Tuesday was a working day for Hubbie and a nursery day for my boy so we didn't have pancakes until teatime. One of the nursery staff told me they'd made pancakes with the children and my boy loved it - if he sees me using a frying pan he often encourages me to 'flip it' even if I'm making eggy bread so I do try and oblige to make him happy. I have a recipe for buckwheat pancakes that I'll be doing at the weekend - maybe a post swimming brunch or a light lunch I'm not sure yet. We usually eat pancakes for breakfast so having small ones with fruit for post nursery / work snacks made a nice change for the boys. I know it's lazy, but bought in scotch pancakes are such a lifesaver that I keep some in the freezer at all times.

The freezer also came in handy for Valentine's morning as we had fruit and pancakes complete with heart-shaped sparklers. At first my boy wasn't sure what to make of the sparkling and fizzing that was coming from Daddy's breakfast plate, but when I brought his food out sans sparkler he was most insistent that I go back and rectify the error. Now, of course, he's a bit put out if he's served breakfast without the pomp and ceremony, but I'm sure he'll get used to eating toast or Weetabix without so much fanfare,

I did my Valentines baking on Wednesday afternoon following a few weeks of planning and a variety of recipes to try. In the end I went with heart shaped red velvet cupcakes with chocolate topping. There was so much mixture left over from the dozen cakes that I made a red velvet loaf cake with chocolate topping too. It took a while to find a recipe I was happy with as I've found that what disappoints me with red velvet cake is that it just isn't as good as I expect it to be. In my imagination it's as rich as devil's food cake but bright red. Instead it's always a pretty dry chocolate cake with a buttercream topping and falls apart.

The recipe I used turned out pretty well although I might add a bit more raising agent next time for added oomph. The chocolate topping was partly so it would keep for longer (buttercream has a shorter shelf life so it compels me to eat them against my will !) Also, I like the contrast of a soft cake and a harder topping, but I did add icing sugar to the chocolate to make it spreadable and a bit sweeter because I used the 70% cocoa variety the same as in the sponge.

I've written before about food being about love and for me the challenge of a week like this one is being able to keep things interesting and delicious while also encouraging my boy to enjoy his food.

The bigger challenge is stopping myself from scoffing all the baking I've done when they boys aren't looking !!