thegingerbreadmum

Ricotta and spinach pasta sauce

Posted on August 20, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I love a quick pasta sauce for Nicholas. If I have ricotta in the fridge, I’ll add a tablespoon or two to cooked pasta and mix it together with a sprinkling of nutmeg; it’s a meal ready in a few minutes.

My favourite addition to this basic ricotta pasta sauce is spinach. Spinach is packed with almost every vitamin and nutrient we need, so it’s the perfect vegetable to add to our munchkins’ meals.

I wilt the spinach by pouring over boiling water (see my Super Easy and Fast Creamy Spinach Pasta Sauce for some photos of the process), but you can wilt it quickly in a frying pan if you prefer.

RICOTTA AND SPINACH PASTA SAUCE

Prep time: 5-10 mins (depending on how long it takes for your kettle to boil!)
Cook time: 0 mins 🙂
Makes 1 toddler serving

1 large handful of fresh spinach
1 tbsp ricotta
A pinch of nutmeg
A pinch of salt and pepper (optional)

Fill your kettle with water and turn it on. Put the spinach in a colander.

Holding the colander over the sink, pour over half the boiling water. Use a wooden spoon to push down the spinach to drain it. Pour over the rest of the boiling water and again drain the spinach as much as you can.

Chop the spinach and put it in a small bowl. Add the ricotta and nutmeg (and salt and pepper, if using) and mix.

Stir through cooked pasta.

Variations:

If you have more time, put the cooked pasta and sauce into an ovenproof bowl, sprinkle with parmesan and bake at 180C for approximately 10 mins until golden brown

Other uses:

serve over rice
use as a crepe filling

1 Comment

Posted in dinner, family, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged dinner, lunch, nutmeg, pasta, pasta sauce, recipe, ricotta, spinach, toddler, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Mozzarella-filled quinoa balls

Posted on August 16, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

Head over to Mindful Mum for my baked quinoa balls. They’re great finger food for little hands with the added surprise of mozzarella inside.

4 Comments

Posted in dinner, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged finger food, mozzarella, quinoa, recipe, toddler, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Beautiful blogger award

Posted on August 15, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

The lovely and charming Lara of Little Magic Beans nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger Award and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It really made my day.

My responsibility is now to nominate other lovely bloggers for the award and then let you in on some things you most likely don’t know about me. So without any further ado and in no particular order I hereby nominate:

Not Even a Bag of Sugar
Kylie shares her experiences of being a premmie mum and suffering post partum post traumatic stress disorder, raising money and allowing other premmie mums to share their stories.

Dust and Love
For his honesty in sharing what happens when a man becomes a dad, and his adorable stories about his darling daughter The Buggle.

Erin’s Gift
For being able to celebrate her daughter’s short life so soon after losing her, raising awareness and money for the charities who gave her support, supporting other grieving parents and making the flowers grow.

Thoughts from the Kitchen Sink
Jo’s the mum of six beautiful children… SIX! Two of them have disabilities and not only does she find time to share her family’s life, always with a smile, but also does charity work.

Kaye Makes, Bakes, Creates
For making it ok not to find the time to craft while still doing fun things with the kids like having a picnic in your own garden, and when you do, making cool things from bits and pieces you already have at home.

Sleeping Should Be Easy
Nina has made a community for parents to share tips and motivate each other on the difficult road of parenthood, while telling us honestly about her own achievements and failures.

Now to me.

1. I have an irrational fear of bees and wasps. I’ll happily chase after spiders, scoop them up and put them outside, and being an Aussie the big hairy ones don’t bother me, but I start screaming and flap my arms wildly around in the presence of a bee or wasp.

2. I can say the alphabet backwards in under 5 seconds.

3. I must have chocolate in the house at all times. I don’t need to eat it and rarely do, but I feel more relaxed knowing it’s there if I do want some.

4. I hate cooking just for myself and will end up eating toast.

5. The thing I most miss about Australia apart from friends and family is the open space. I feel claustrophobic in Europe.

6. I hate getting old. Luckily I can easily pass as much younger than I am, but I hate feeling old when I’m running around with Nicholas.

7. I lived in Belfast for 6 months and still remember the Irish for ‘bookies’ and ‘well done’.

8. Even though I’m the happiest I’ve been for a very long time, I cry a lot. Time doesn’t heal all wounds regardless of the saying. The pain does soften with time, but it certainly doesn’t heal. Four and a half years later I still miss my daughter desperately, and sometimes having another child to love makes you feel the loss of your other child even more.

9. I find doing these sorts of things REALLY difficult. I’m sure I’ll wake up tomorrow thinking of something much more interesting and wishing I could have thought of it now!

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Banana teething biscuits (take two and sugar-free)

Posted on August 13, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

Exactly two months ago I made my first attempt at teething biscuits from a recipe I found on Kids Spot. I’m a bit ashamed now to look at the photos of my very crisp (some would say burnt) biscuits! I’ve been playing around with the recipe since then and am finally happy. I’ve also made them sugar-free!

You’re really making a banana loaf, slicing it and then cooking it again. I’m sure there are lots of other flavours you could try this technique with; a carrot loaf immediately springs to mind… hmmm, I don’t think my experimenting with teething biscuits has finished! Also because you’re making a loaf or cake, you can substitute the sugar with applesauce/apple puree, which you can’t do if you’re baking traditional biscuits (they won’t crisp up).

Look at my original post if my instructions aren’t clear in terms of cutting the loaf to make the biscuits or you aren’t sure how to line the tin, as I included more photos there.

These biscuits aren’t super sweet, but certainly sweet enough for most babies and toddlers. My discerning client is very happy with them 😉

SUGAR-FREE BANANA TEETHING BISCUITS

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 1hr 30 mins
Makes about 20
Freezable

2 tbsp applesauce/apple puree
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 1/2 bananas)
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat oven to 180C and line a slice tin with baking paper.

Mix all of the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until well combined.

Pour into prepared tin and bake for 50-60 minutes, until golden brown on top and cooked through when tested with a skewer.

Take the banana loaf out of the oven, remove from the tin and let cool a little. Leave the oven door open to cool and drop the temperature to 150C.

Once cool enough to handle, cut the loaf into slices about 1 cm in width (using a bread knife is easier). Lay the slices on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for another 20-30 minutes.

Leave the biscuits to cool on a wire rack and they will harden as they cool.

Tip: if your biscuits start to soften being kept in an airtight container, pop them into the oven at 150C and bake them again (10-15 mins should be enough).

6 Comments

Posted in baby, recipe, snack, toddler and tagged apple puree, applesauce, baby, dairy-free, finger food, recipe, snack, sugar-free, teething, teething biscuits, toddler, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Quiche muffins

Posted on August 10, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

Thinking of something light I could make for a friend dropping in for lunch that would also be fine for Nicholas, I remembered coming across a recipe for making mini quiches without pastry. For some strange reason I hadn’t saved it on my Pinterest cooking board, so I had to make it up. Thankfully not that difficult.

Instead of pastry, the muffin ‘cases’ are made with ham. One of those brilliant ideas you wonder why you never thought of it yourself. Even if you buy ready-made pastry you need to cut it out and prebake it just to make sure it cooks through. Not that I’m a lazy cook (well…) but I do love a super quick recipe that requires very little thinking. Also not having pastry means it’s great if you happen to be following the Dukan diet.

I tried using prosciutto for some and slices of peppered cooked ham for others. While the ham was yummy, the prosciutto was nicer because it crisps up, especially around the edges. If you use prosciutto, be careful not to add too much salt to the egg mixture as the prosciutto is salty.

Like traditional quiches you can really add almost anything you want. Fry up some onion and pop it in the bottom before you pour in the egg mixture, do they same with mushrooms or asparagus tips, add a slice of tomato or, my favourite, add a dollop of creme fraiche.

I have yet to master lining the cups so the egg mixture doesn’t run out (you can see in my photo that it looks more like the prosciutto is through the muffin rather than encasing it), but so long as you grease the cups beforehand and then run a knife around the edge after they’re done, it doesn’t really matter.

They’d be great in lunch boxes or to take on a picnic. I can also see them smaller as party finger food. Definitely versatile! I haven’t tried freezing them yet; they’d probably need a bit of time in the oven to crisp up after thawing.

QUICHE MUFFINS

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15-18 mins
Makes 6 large muffins

6 slices prosciutto (Parma ham)
6 eggs
2 tbsp milk
20g cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and pepper
Oil for greasing muffin tray

Preheat oven to 175C.

Lightly grease a 6-cup muffin tray and line each muffin cup with prosciutto.

Lightly beat the eggs and milk together and season. Pour evenly into each cup (don’t worry if it doesn’t seem enough mixture as it will rise as it cooks). Sprinkle over the grated cheese.

Cook for 15-18 mins until egg mixture has set.

Variations:

Add a dollop of creme fraiche to each cup before pouring in the egg mixture.
Put lightly fried onion in each cup before pouring in the egg mixture.
Add cooked mushroom or asparagus tips, or sliced tomato

4 Comments

Posted in dinner, family, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged dinner, Dukan diet, eggs, family, finger food, gluton-free, ham, low-fat, lunch, mini quiches, muffin, prosciutto, quiche, recipe, toddler. Bookmark the permalink.

Mini carbonara

Posted on August 8, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

As an Italian living abroad my husband has two recurring food grumbles. I think you can probably easily guess one of them. Yes, it’s coffee! I can’t really say too much about this as I was a bit of a coffee snob before living in Italy, so ended up being an even bigger one, and it tends to be me more than hubby turning up my nose at things like Nespresso pods. However, I do love his child-like optimism and hopefulness when trying coffee in a new place and patiently explaining to the waiter it’s not necessary to fill the little cup right up (while I’m pessimistic and opt for tea!).

His other grumble, about which our friends have endured many a lengthy conversation, is carbonara. He can talk for ages about his disgust at what passes for carbonara in many restaurants outside Italy, his disbelief at the additions people make to it, and the right way of making it. I love his passion for his culture, and for this reason I’ve never admitted making ‘carbonara’ during my university days from a recipe using evaporated milk, for fear of divorce!

Making a carbonara for Nicholas, hubby was happy to be a little bit more flexible. His less salty toddler version uses prosciutto (parma ham) instead of pancetta or guanciale and parmigiano (parmesan) rather than the saltier pecorino. He used a quail’s egg simply for its smaller size, but you could also beat up an egg and use half the mixture instead. Hubby would approve of that 😉

The most important thing when preparing any kind of carbonara is to have the sauce ingredients ready once the pasta is cooked, so you can drain the pasta and immediately mix through the sauce.

Enjoy this authentically Italian toddler version of a famous pasta recipe!

MINI CARBONARA

Prep time: 5-10 mins
Cook time: about 15 mins depending on which type of pasta you cook
Makes 1 toddler serving

1 slice prosciutto (Parma ham), cut into small pieces
drizzle of olive oil
30g pasta
1 quail egg, lightly beaten (or 1/2 beaten egg)
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp parmigiano (parmesan)

Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a small frying pan and cook the prosciutto over a med-high heat until crispy. Take off the heat and leave.

Cook pasta as directed on the packet, but without adding salt to the water.

As the pasta is cooking, put the beaten quail egg into a bowl big enough to add and mix the pasta in. Add a pinch of pepper and the parmigiano to the egg and mix well.

As soon as the pasta is cooked, quickly drain it (keeping a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water) and put it in with the egg mixture. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat the pasta. Put it into the frying pan with the crispy prosciutto and stir constantly over a medium heat until the egg is just cooked (1-2 mins), adding a little of the reserved cooking water from the pasta if it seems to be getting too dry (you want a lovely creamy consistency to the sauce).

Serve and blow on it so you can eat it as soon as possible.

Variations: none!

2 Comments

Posted in dinner, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged carbonara, dinner, lunch, Parma ham, parmesan, parmigiano, pasta, pasta sauce, prosciutto, quail egg, recipe, toddler. Bookmark the permalink.

Butter bean pasta sauce

Posted on August 6, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

This is a super quick pasta sauce you can whip up in the time it takes for the pasta to cook, and using tinned beans means no cooking!

The amount of milk is an approximate measure; it depends on how much the beans soak up. If you let the sauce stand before using it, the beans will continue sucking up the milk and the sauce will become drier. Trust your own judgement as to how much milk to add.

You can easily make as much or as little sauce as you want, either using just a couple of tablespoons of beans to make one serving or using the whole tin and freezing the leftover sauce. Why not experiment using other different types of tinned beans?

BUTTER BEAN PASTA SAUCE

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 0 mins 🙂
Makes about 300ml of sauce
Freezable

1 tin butter beans (approx. 400g), rinsed and drained
Approx. 1/4 cup of milk
Pinch of salt (optional)
To serve: 1 tbsp grated parmesan

Put the rinsed and drained butter beans in a small food processor. Add about half of the milk (and salt if using) and blend until smooth. Check the consistency , adding more milk and blending again as necessary.

Mix through cooked pasta and sprinkle generously with grated parmesan.