Tag Archives: family

Creme fraiche fish (adult recipe)

Posted on July 11, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I’ve realised living in the UK (just gone eight years now… wow how time flies) I crave comfort food. A lot. Food has always been something I turn to when I’m sad, depressed or even bored especially during the colder months, and the regular grey skies and drizzly days here really take their mental toll on hubby and me. Since moving to the UK from Italy we’ve both gotten fatter. Not good!

So I’ve been on the search for low-calorie but tasty dinners. And they also need to be fairly quick and easy. This fish recipe has now become a favourite and tastes great (I don’t feel deprived at all!). The ‘secret’ is replacing the creme fraiche in the original recipe by Barefoot Contessa with low-fat creme fraiche. I don’t think anyone could taste the difference.

Smothering the fish with the mustardy creme fraiche keeps the fish lovely and moist, and there’s less chance of it overcooking. It goes great with the grated courgette/zucchini from this recipe (and it’s also low in calories). A perfect midweek meal that’s quick to make and tasty.

CREME FRAICHE FISH

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Makes 2 adult servings

2 white fish fillets (eg. haddock, cod or plaice)
4 tbsp low-fat creme fraiche
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp whole grain mustard
2 tsp capers, drained
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 200C. Line a baking tray or an ovenproof baking dish with baking paper.

Sprinkle the baking paper with salt and pepper to season the underside of the fish. Place the fish fillet on the paper (skin side down if it still has skin). Season the top with salt and pepper.

Put the creme fraiche in a small bowl and mix in the two mustards and the capers.

Spoon the mustardy creme fraiche evenly over the fish, making sure to completely cover it.

Bake for 10 minutes. Take it out of the oven and let sit for a couple of minutes. If you’re not sure if it’s cooked through, put a knife into a thick part and see if the flesh flakes.

Serve with a green salad or stir fried grated courgette/zucchini.

Variations:

the original recipe also has finely diced shallots in the sauce
add some fresh herbs (chives, parsley, etc) either to the sauce or sprinkle over at the end

Do you have any low-fat yummy recipes to share?

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Posted in family, recipe and tagged Barefoot Contessa, cod, creme fraiche, family, fish, haddock, low-calorie, low-fat, low-fat creme fraiche, plaice, recipe, white fish, whole grain mustard. Bookmark the permalink.

Sugar-free apple pikelets

Posted on July 4, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I’ve now whipped up three batches of apple sauce (or applesauce as Americans seem to use). Like most things, the more times you do it the easier it gets and I now feel like I know what I’m doing!

I thought I’d try it out this time as a sweetener in my banana pikelet recipe, replacing the honey. I still have a few banana pikelets in the freezer so I made apple pikelets this time using grated apple. I also meant to add some sultanas to the batter, but my mind drifted onto other things and I forgot. Oh well, there’s always a next time!

Pikelets are small pancakes and are perfect for children to cook when they’re old enough to start doing supervised things in the kitchen. They’d also be a good way to get kids to experiment with different flavour combinations.

These pikelets, like my banana pikelets, aren’t super sweet. You could add some honey to the batter or serve them drizzled with honey or, if you’re not worried about them being sugar-free, add 1/4 cup of sugar to the batter. And don’t worry if you don’t have bicarbonate of soda, as they work just as well without.

Pop the leftovers in the freezer to have for breakfast or a snack another day.

SUGAR-FREE APPLE 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
1 sweet apple, grated
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
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 grated apple, apple sauce and egg, and mix to combine. Gradually add the milk until you get 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 sultanas or raisins to the batter
use other fruit instead of the grated apple (mashed banana, whole blueberries, mashed strawberries, etc.)

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

3 Comments

Posted in breakfast, family, recipe, snack, tip, toddler and tagged apple, apple sauce, applesauce, breakfast, family, finger food, freezable, freeze, grated apple, pancakes, pikelets, recipe, snack, sugar-free, toddler, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Penne with courgettes and balsamic vinegar (adult recipe)

Posted on July 2, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

As promised, this is the original cold pasta recipe I adapted for my toddler-friendly herby courgette pasta salad. I don’t want to be repetitive, but it really is a great summer meal, and I love how it can be made the day before. It’s great in lunch boxes, on picnics or as an easy weekend meal. I’ve made it countless times and will make it many more times!

I’ve made very few changes to the original recipe by Ann and Franco Taruschio. I increased the eggs (each person only gets 3 small wedges in the original) and eliminated putting ice in the pasta immediately after you drain it to stop it from cooking (I don’t think you need to do it).

If you make it ahead of time, take it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you want to eat it so it can start to come to room temperature and taste better.

PENNE WITH COURGETTES AND BALSAMIC VINEGAR

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Serves 4
Keeps in the fridge for a day

300g courgettes, cut in half lengthways, sliced fairly thickly
4 tbsp olive oil
1-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch fresh basil, shredded
2 fresh mint sprigs, chopped, plus few leaves to garnish
3 eggs
250g penne
100g feta cheese, diced

Cook penne and drain it well (you can spread it out on tea towel to dry it if you want). Put pasta in a large bowl and dress with the remaining olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar.

Lower eggs into boiling water and cook for 10 minutes when water returns to the boil. Plunge into cold water and peel before cutting each into 6 wedges.

While pasta and eggs are cooking, heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan and add courgettes. Season and stir fry for a few minutes. Remove from heat, splash with about 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, and add basil and mint. Leave to cool.

Add courgettes to the pasta, scatter over feta and mix. Garnish with the egg and the extra mint leaves. Serve cold.

Do you have any yummy cold pasta recipes to share?

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Posted in dinner, family, lunch, recipe and tagged Ann Taruschio, balsamic vinegar, basil, cold pasta, courgettes, egg, family, Franco Taruschio, mint, packed lunch, pasta, pasta salad, penne, picnic, recipe, vegetarian, zucchini. Bookmark the permalink.

Sugar-free banana muffins

Posted on June 26, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I was very happy with my apple sauce efforts. Armed with the sauce, I headed back into the kitchen to use it in a recipe instead of sugar. As usual, staring me in the face were some rather ripe bananas so I thought I’d attempt to adapt one of my favourite muffin recipes.

If you don’t want to be bothered making apple sauce (but it only takes 20 minutes!), you can use caster sugar (150g) instead, although then these muffins won’t be sugar-free 😉

SUGAR-FREE BANANA MUFFINS

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 30-35 mins
Makes about 16 muffins
Freezable

3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
375g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
125ml vegetable oil
150ml milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan). Line muffin trays with paper cases.

Mash the bananas and then mix in the apple sauce.

Put the flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a medium bowl and mix.

In a separate smaller bowl or small jug, whisk together the oil, milk, egg and vanilla (if using). Pour into the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add the banana and apple sauce and gently mix through the batter quickly.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared paper cases and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden on top and cooked when tested with a skewer.

Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack.

Tip: the ‘secret’ to muffins is mixing the batter just enough to combine the ingredients. Mix too much and you’ll have heavy stodgy muffins. I like to use a spatula. It makes me use bigger stirring movements (smaller ones would beat the mixture too much), and I can scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as I mix to avoid having unmixed flour hiding in the bottom.

So how did they turn out? The texture was exactly the same as using sugar. The taste, for me, isn’t super sweet but sweet enough, and Nicholas wolfed down one whole muffin as soon as they were cool enough to eat, so a success! Hubby’s verdict is that they’re nowhere as sweet as the ones you buy… 🙂

What would you try making using apple sauce instead of sugar?

3 Comments

Posted in breakfast, family, snack, toddler and tagged apple sauce, banana, banana muffins, breakfast, cinnamon, family, finger food, freezable, freeze, muffins, recipe, snack, sugar-free, toddler, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Tuna and sweet potato cakes

Posted on June 22, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I made these to use up the half tin of tuna remaining after making our tuna and corn frittata. Make mini cakes for your munchkin’s mini hands to feed him or herself. Freeze the leftovers for another day or make bigger ones for the rest of the family.

Cooking the sweet potato in the microwave saves you peeling and chopping it. Steaming it also keeps more nutrients. If you can, cook it ahead of time so it can cool down to avoid burning your fingers when you peel it.

TUNA AND SWEET POTATO CAKES

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Makes about 12 mini cakes
Freezable

1 medium sweet potato
1/2 185g can tuna, drained and flaked
1 egg
2 tbsp dry breadcrumbs
3 chive stems
Pinch of salt (optional)

Use the point of a knife or a skewer to prick the sweet potato in a few places all over. Cook on high in the microwave for 4-5 minutes until it feels soft inside.

Cut the sweet potato in half and pull of the peel. Mash the flesh in a small bowl. Add the tuna, egg and salt (if using) and use kitchen scissors to snip the chives over the bowl. Mix well to combine.

Shape into small balls about 3cm in diameter.

Heat a small non-stick frying pan over a med-low heat. In batches, flatten the balls after you place them in the pan and dry fry for a couple of minutes each side until browned.

Serve with plain yogurt for dipping.

Variations:

use tinned salmon instead of tuna
use potato instead of sweet potato
add other cooked vegetables (finely diced onion, grated carrot, corn, peas, etc.)

Tip: to make your own breadcrumbs from leftover bread look at my previous tip.

Update (22 Nov 2012): The lovely and talented Filipa (Gourmet Mum) has been making these for her whole family and says they go brilliantly with horseradish or sweet chilli sauce. I’ll definitely be trying that next time!

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Posted in dinner, family, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged breadcrumbs, chives, family, finger food, freezable, freeze, Gourmet Mum, recipe, sweet potato, toddler, tuna. Bookmark the permalink.

Super quick avocado pasta sauce

Posted on June 18, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

Another fast pasta sauce you can whip up really quickly for your little one. The creamy texture of avocado lends itself perfectly to coat pasta, and not just for babies. Add some more seasoning and a dash of chilli sauce and it’s a yummy dish for you.

I use a mini food processor to blend the avocado, simply to get a bit more creaminess by making it super smooth. However, whizzing up such a small amount can be a bit annoying (you have to keep scraping down the sides of the bowl to get the mixture back under the blades). You can mash the avocado up by hand and either use a bit of muscle to mash it up to a paste or leave the sauce a bit chunkier. The chunks anyway will be soft enough even for babies to easily munch through.

We incorporated some sensory play into our meal. Long cooked pasta like spaghetti isn’t just yummy, but also so much fun to play with!

SUPER QUICK AVOCADO PASTA SAUCE

Prep time: 5-10 mins
Cook time: 0 mins 🙂
Makes 1 toddler serving

1/2 avocado
1 large (or 2 medium) basil leaf, roughly chopped
Squeeze of lime (or lemon)

Scoop the flesh of the avocado into a mini food processor. Add the basil and lime. Blend until smooth.

Spoon over cooked pasta and mix to evenly coat.

Variations:

to make it even faster, omit the basil and lime
use coriander instead of basil
for adults add more seasoning and a dash of chilli sauce

Other uses:

spread on toast
use as a crepe filling
spoon over cooked chicken

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Posted in baby, dinner, family, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged avocado, avocado pasta sauce, baby, basil, dairy-free, dinner, family, gluton-free, lemon, lime, lunch, pasta, pasta sauce, recipe, toddler, vegan, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Creamy lentils

Posted on June 15, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

Lentils are a great food. Full of protein and fibre, cheap and easy to cook. Puree them for your baby, keep them whole for your toddler, feed them to your whole family. They’re also low in calories so a great meal to fill a mummy up if she’s trying to lose her baby weight.

Red lentils break down more than other types when they cook, so they’re perfect for our little ones. They’re great too if you want to make a thick soup. The following recipe would also work really well as a soup. If after pureeing it’s too thick, add a little stock. And it’s easy to add some chopped vegetables like carrots, leeks, celery, etc.

A little while ago I came across a mummy blogger who freezes cooked lentils. Her favourite thing to do is add the frozen lentils to cooking rice. I haven’t tried this, but it’s a good way to add some extra protein to a meal.

My creamy lentils uses the tomato pasta sauce I often make for Nicholas and always have in the freezer. You could use some chopped tomatoes or some tomato puree instead. Add chopped tomato (chopped as small as you can) after you’ve drained the cooked lentils and cook them over a low heat for a couple of minutes to break the tomatoes down.

CREAMY LENTILS

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 15-20 mins
Makes about 4 toddler servings
Freezable

1/2 cup red lentils, rinsed
1 shallot, finely diced
7 tbsp homemade tomato sauce
1/4 tsp dried oregano
Drizzle of olive oil (optional)

Put the lentils in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and then drop the heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the lentils are soft. Drain off the excess liquid.

While the lentils are cooking, put the shallot in a small microwave-safe bowl, add 1 tablespoon of water and cook on medium in the microwave for 2 minutes. Drain.

When the lentils are cooked and drained, add the shallot, tomato sauce and oregano and mix well.

If serving to a baby or as soup, puree the mixture until smooth.

Serve with a drizzle of olive oil over the top if desired.

Variations:

use onion intead of shallot
add a little garlic
add chopped vegetables to cook with the lentils (such as carrots, leeks, celery)
use tomato puree or chopped tomatoes instead of the homemade tomato sauce

Other uses: