Category Archives: family

Frozen yogurt strawberries

Posted on June 1, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

A very quick post before we load up the car and spend the Jubilee long weekend abroad. Our spell of hot sunny weather has finished here in the UK, but hopefully it will soon return and this is another recipe that’s perfect for hot days, and not just for your munchkins.

I came across this simple idea on Pinterest (how I love Pinterest!) but unfortunately there was no link. It is, however, very easy to figure out. Use whole strawberries for adults and quartered strawberries for little ones. I’ve also seen (yes, still on Pinterest) blueberries pierced on bamboo skewers, so you have blueberry ‘kebabs’, dipped in yogurt and frozen. Yum! You could try sliced bananas, raspberries, let your imagination go wild!

FROZEN YOGURT STRAWBERRIES

Dip quartered strawberries into plain yogurt (the thicker set yogurt is best simply because you get a good coating).

Place on a tray lined with baking paper that you can fit in the freezer.

Put in the freezer for a few hours until the yogurt has frozen.

Eat!

How do you keep your little one cool in the hot weather?

2 Comments

Posted in dessert, family, recipe, snack, toddler and tagged banana, blueberries, finger food, frozen yogurt, strawberries, vegetarian, yoghurt, yogurt. Bookmark the permalink.

Banana pikelets

Posted on May 30, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I find it extra hard to get inspiration for breakfast. My biggest hurdle is not being a morning person. Even if I’ve been up for quite a while before Nicholas wakes up, I don’t have the same enthusiasm for making him something different for breakfast. He’s also more fussy at breakfast.

Pikelets are little thick pancakes. They’re also called drop (or dropped) scones because of how the batter is dropped from a spoon into the pan to make them. They’re a perfect size for little hands to eat on their own.

I loved making them as a child and have vivid memories of impatiently waiting for the bubbles to appear so I could flip them over. They’re easy and very satisfying for kids to make.

I replaced the sugar in my favourite pikelet recipe with some honey, and added mashed banana and cinnamon. Even with the fruit, they’re not very sweet (if you want them sweeter add some more honey or use 1/4 cup of sugar). I also added some bicarbonate of soda to give some extra fluffiness, but they’re still good without it. After they’re cooked, they’ll still be a bit soft and gooey inside from the banana.

Freeze the ones you don’t eat immediately and have them as a snack another day.

BANANA PIKELETS

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Makes about 20
Freezable

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 bananas, mashed
1 tbsp honey
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
small piece of butter, melted, to grease the pan

Sift flour, bicarbonate and cinnamon into a medium-sized bowl. Add banana, honey and egg, and mix to combine. Add milk gradually until you have a fairly thick batter (you might not need to add all the milk).

Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat and brush with melted butter. Use a tablespoon to drop the mixture into the pan. Cook in batches, turning when bubbles appear on the surface (1-2 mins). Cook the other side until golden brown (about 1 min). Lift out and cover with a clean tea towel to keep warm.

Variations:

add some vanilla essence for extra sweetness
leave out the banana and serve with fruit
try adding other fruit (grated apple, mashed strawberries, whole blueberries, sultanas or raisins)

Other uses:

top with jam and cream (or Nutella!) for afternoon tea

Tip: Wipe your pan clean with a piece of paper towel after each batch and then brush with some more melted butter.

4 Comments

Posted in breakfast, family, recipe, snack, toddler and tagged banana, bicarbonate of soda, breakfast, cinnamon, drop scones, dropped scones, family, finger food, freezable, freeze, honey, pancakes, pikelets, recipe, self-raising flour, snack, toddler. Bookmark the permalink.

Asian-style salmon

Posted on May 28, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I’ve discovered that while Nicholas isn’t a big lover of fish, he usually happily eats salmon. Well it does have a meatier flavour and texture to white fish. Maybe because of the sweetness from the honey in the marinade, this recipe is one of his favourite salmon dishes.

Nicholas happily eats a 50g chunk of salmon, but if this seems too much for your munchkin a serving half this size will still give fabulous health benefits.

I’m usually not organised enough to think ahead and marinate the salmon overnight. I tend to marinate it just for around 30 minutes while I’m doing something else in the kitchen and it still works out great. I have it marinating on the bench and when I remember I spoon the marinade over.

This is definitely a meal you can do for the whole family without making any changes. All you need to remember to make more marinade is that there are equal portions of the three ingredients. Easy!

ASIAN-STYLE SALMON

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 5 mins
Makes 1 serving

Small chunk of salmon fillet, skin removed (25-50g depending on your toddler’s appetite!)
1 tbsp vegetable or ground nut oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp honey

Mix oil, soy sauce and honey in a small container. Put salmon in and spoon over the marinade. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge or leave to marinate for 30 mins spooning over the marinade a few times.

Heat a small non-stick fry pan over a medium-low heat.

As your piece of salmon is very small it will cook quite quickly. A minute or two on each side is plenty. The honey will caramelise and burn if the heat is up too high and if you cook it for too long, so keep an eye on it. Take the salmon out of the pan and let it rest for a couple of minutes (it will keep cooking in this time).

Flake the salmon and check for bones. Serve with rice or noodles.

Variations:

bake the salmon in the oven rather than frying it
use dark soy sauce for a less saltier flavour

Other uses:

use the marinade with chicken or white fish

2 Comments

Posted in dinner, family, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged asian-style, dairy-free, dinner, family, fish, honey, light soy sauce, lunch, oil, recipe, rice, salmon, soy sauce, toddler. Bookmark the permalink.

Dairy-free banana ice cream

Posted on May 27, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I can’t believe Nicholas has spent the afternoon in board shorts. It’s May. It’s the UK. I could get used to this weather!

What’s the perfect thing to eat when it’s hot? Ice cream of course! And I can’t get over how simple this recipe is. You don’t need an ice cream machine and you only need one ingredient. Yes, I said one. It takes very little effort and it tastes great. It’s great for all the family and it’s dairy-free. It couldn’t be more perfect.

I caught a bit of a cooking show recently where two contestants cooked dinner in their homes for a group of strangers who then paid what they thought the dinner was worth. One was serving ice cream for dessert, but I was confused as she hadn’t done any preparation. Where was her ice cream maker and how could she be making it while her guests were eating their mains? She used a food processor but it still wasn’t clear how she made it. Her guests loved it and I started searching online for recipes.

So what I discovered was that frozen berries blended together in a food processor become a wonderful creamy ‘ice cream’. It sounded too easy. Why didn’t I already know about this? Before I got the chance to buy some berries to try it out, I stumbled across a very popular recipe on Pinterest using bananas rather than berries. Even better!

The bananas I used weren’t overly ripe. However, the riper and browner they are, the sweeter your ice cream will be.

DAIRY-FREE BANANA ICE CREAM

Prep time is cutting up the bananas, waiting for them to freeze and then blending them.
2 bananas make about 2 adult servings.

Cut your bananas into slices about 1cm thick and lay them on a tray covered with baking paper. Put in the freezer for a few hours until frozen. If you’re not going to use them immediately, put them in a bag and keep in the freezer.

Put your frozen banana slices into a food processor. For the small amount I made I used my mini food processor.

Blend and blend, scraping down the sides, until it becomes creamy (about 5 mins). Don’t worry if you think it’s not going to get creamy, don’t be tempted to add anything, just keep blending.

That’s it, you’re done. Now all you have to do is grab a spoon and try it, and I’m sure you’re going to be impressed with your effort. Just make sure to leave some for your munchkin to enjoy!

When hubby tried this he kept asking questions even though I’d told him how I’d made it. ‘But does it have any dairy in it?’ ‘No, it’s just banana.’ ‘There’s no sugar?’ ‘NO, it’s just banana!’

It’s definitely creamier if you eat it immediately. Freezing it again makes it icy and colder to eat, although you could blend it another time.

Variations:

add tahini paste before blending for a richer flavour
add chopped nuts
swirl through caramel or Nutella
add chocolate chips
use berries instead of the bananas

Other uses:

sandwich between two biscuits and roll in chopped nuts

1 Comment

Posted in baby, dessert, family, recipe, toddler and tagged baby, banana, banana ice cream, dairy-free, dessert, family, gluton-free, ice cream, recipe, sugar-free, toddler, vegan, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate fork biscuits

Posted on May 20, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

Happy World Baking Day! Although I should have baked a cake, I decided to bake something much quicker and that would last a bit longer than a cake – biscuits.

This is one of my oldest favourites, written down in the first notebook, when I left home to go to uni at 18, that became my first recipe book. I don’t remember whether it was a recipe I copied from my mum or from a magazine. It was long before being able to easily scour the internet for recipes. Can you imagine not being able to do that?!

The recipe says to stir in the flour, cocoa and salt, but I just add them to the food processor, after the sugar and butter have been nicely whipped,and whizz them up to combine. Most of your preparation time is rolling the dough into balls. I’ll definitely try to get Nicholas doing this job as soon as possible!

A lovely crumbly buttery biscuit, from the simplest of ingredients, they’re perfect to whip up for afternoon tea, for parents to snack on during playdates, to give as a homemade present, or simply as a well-earned treat. Put your angel down for a nap, and you should be able to make these and have happily eaten some before they wake up.

CHOCOLATE FORK BISCUITS

Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 8 mins
Makes about 25
Can freeze uncooked dough

125g unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
A pinch of salt

Heat oven to 190C and grease two baking trays.

In a food processor or with electric beaters, cream the butter until soft then add sugar, gradually beating until white and fluffy. Stir in sifted flour, cocoa and salt until a creamed mixture.

Roll mixture into small walnut-sized balls and place on greased baking trays. Flatten each ball with a fork dipped in cold water.

Bake for 8 mins. Leave to cool on trays for a few minutes and then be careful when lifting them off as they’ll still be quite soft. Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy with a large glass of milk!

Variations:

sandwich two biscuits together with some icing (an orange flavoured icing would work well)
break up some fruit and nut chocolate or some white chocolate and stir into the finished mixture

What are your ‘go to’ recipes that never fail and always impress?

1 Comment

Posted in family, recipe, snack and tagged baking, biscuit, caster sugar, chocolate biscuit, cocoa, cocoa powder, freezable, freeze, salt, self-raising flour, sugar, vegetarian, world baking day. Bookmark the permalink.

Tomato pasta sauce

Posted on May 15, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I have to start my blog with Nicholas’ favourite meal – pasta in a tomato sauce. He eats it a lot for lunch and I think he’d happily eat it day after day after day. It never fails. It’s quick and easy and very versatile. You can use the tomato sauce with rice, cous cous, lentils, add vegetables, add meat. It’s one of the things I most like to have in the freezer because it can turn some mundane ingredients into something much more interesting.

Although I use a little olive oil in Nicholas’ food now that he’s had his first birthday, when he started eating I wanted to feed him as naturally as possible and so avoided oil, salt and sugar. I started using my microwave a lot more to steam vegetables rather than boiling lots of the nutrients away in a saucepan. I worked out an easy way to cook onion in the microwave and I’ve continued using the method because I don’t have to stand over a pot stirring and making sure I don’t burn the pieces (I very rarely manage not to have some degree of ‘caramelisation’ while attempting to soften onions over the stove!).

I chop the onion finely, simply so it cooks quicker in the microwave. You don’t have to worry about chopping the tomatoes and basil very small because the sauce is blended in a food processor after it’s cooked. By blending it you also don’t need to worry about big pieces of tomato skin as they’ll be broken up.

Nicholas

TOMATO PASTA SAUCE

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15 – 20 mins
Makes about 400 ml
Freezable

1/4 onion, finely diced or grated
3 tbsp water
6 tomatoes, roughly chopped
Approx. 5 large basil leaves, roughly torn or chopped

Put the finely diced onion and water in a small microwave-safe bowl and cook on medium for 2 mins until the onion is transparent.

Transfer the onion and cooking water to a small saucepan and add the tomatoes (and a pinch of salt if you want).

Cook over a medium-low heat (a light bubbling boil) for approx. 10 mins or until the tomatoes have softened. If it’s looking a bit dry, add more water; if you don’t think the sauce is thick enough, cook it for longer to reduce it.

Turn off the heat, leaving the saucepan on the stove, and add the basil. Leaving it to cool for a few minutes allows the basil to infuse the sauce.

Blend the sauce in a small food processor until the tomato skins and basil have broken up into small pieces. Add to pasta with or without a drizzle of olive oil and with or without some grated cheese.