Tag Archives: recipe

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.

Kofte

Posted on May 25, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

There’s no doubt my offspring loves meat. How could he not when he’s half Australian?! The other night I made him a fish pie. He’s had something similar before and eaten it but not with any great enthusiasm. This time I put a nice topping of mashed potato and carrot on the top with some fresh bread crumbs and grated cheese. Lots of grated cheese. I was hoping the cheese (one of his favourite foods) would encourage him to eat the fish. To skip to the end of the story, he had slow cooked lamb for dinner, part of the leftovers we were eating, and was very happy about it!

This recipe has a little bit of spice in it (ground cumin). If you’re not sure about your little one having spices, you can leave it out without any problem.

KOFTE

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Makes about 16
Freezable

400g lamb mince
1/4 onion, diced as finely as possible or coarsely grated
1/4 tsp ground cumin
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
A little oil for greasing the grill pan
Yogurt to serve

Heat a grill pan over high heat.

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together until combined. Shape into short sausages about 5cm in length.

Turn the grill pan down to medium heat and brush the bars lightly with oil.

Cook the kofte for about 10 minutes until just cooked through (they’ll be quite chewy if you cook them too long), turning every few minutes onto each of their four ‘sides’ so they cook evenly.

Serve with yogurt as a dipping sauce.

Variations:

use 1 shallot instead of the onion for a lighter sweeter flavour
used dried herbs rather than fresh
add some herbs to the yogurt dip
hide some vegetables in the mixture

Other uses:

dip them into houmous
serve in a pita bread or wrapped in a flatbread with salad

Leek and potato pasta sauce

Posted on May 23, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

I love French food. I really love French food. I love eating French food and I love cooking French food.

I have a well-worn French cookbook I bought in Australia and one of my favourite recipes from it (hubby’s too) is leek and potato soup. I adapted the recipe to make a soup for Nicholas (my adaptation was mainly omitting the large quantity of cream!) but he wasn’t very keen on it. I spooned it over pasta and he loved it. Leek and potato soup became leek and potato sauce.

You could cook the onion, celery and leek in the microwave to be quicker and/or to avoid the butter. 2-3 minutes on medium with a couple tablespoons of water should be fine. Try to dice the potato into the smallest cubes you can as it will cook quicker. If your finished soup is a bit too thick, add a dash of milk or cream.

LEEK AND POTATO PASTA SAUCE

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

1 leek, sliced and rinsed
1/4 onion, finely chopped
1/2 stick celery, cut lengthwise then sliced finely
1 tsp butter
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
1 cup water

Put the butter, onion, celery and leek in a medium-sized saucepan. Cook them gently over a med-low heat until the onion is opaque, and the celery and leek are softened (about 5 mins).

Add potato and the water and turn the heat up slightly to bring it to a light boil. Keep lightly boiling until the potatoes are cooked (about 10 mins depending on the size of your potatos).

Take off the heat and, if you have time, cool for a few minutes. Puree, and season if you wish.

Serve over cooked pasta.

Variations:

use stock (chicken or vegetable) instead of the water
cook some finely chopped garlic with the onion, celery and leek
garnish with fresh chives
add a dash of cream at the end for a richer sauce

Other uses:

add milk or cream to make a soup
add milk or formula and serve without the pasta for younger babies
serve over fish

Tip: leeks can have dirt stuck between their many layers which can sometimes be difficult to wash away. It’s more effective (and easier) to rinse them after you slice them. Put the slices in a colander or sieve and rinse under running water. Leave the leek to drain while you prepare the other vegetables.

Have you successfully adapted any of your favourite recipes for your baby?

2 Comments

Posted in baby, dinner, lunch, recipe, toddler and tagged baby, celery, dinner, freezable, freeze, French, French cuisine, leek, lunch, onion, pasta, pasta sauce, potato, recipe, sauce, soup, toddler, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink.

Creamy mushroom pasta sauce

Posted on May 21, 2012 by TheGingerbreadMum

Pasta. What child doesn’t love pasta? My Italian husband’s very happy that Nicholas absolutely adores pasta. And the amount of pasta Nicholas can eat in one sitting constantly amazes me. Lunch after his swimming class at the weekend was a chunk of lasagne at Carluccio’s, from their lovely children’s menu. A chunk of lasagne that looked like an adult’s portion. He didn’t eat all of it, but almost all of it!

While this isn’t a pasta sauce you’d make several servings of and freeze, you can whip it up very quickly in the microwave while the pasta is cooking.

CREAMY MUSHROOM PASTA SAUCE