Some Simple, Tasty New Menu Ideas!

 I have had the book 'River Cottage Veg' for quite a while but haven't cooked much from it. Last week however, inspired by my husband's sudden dislike of sausages (another story but I blame the horse meat fiasco in the UK recently) I delved back into my cookbooks for some hearty, filling, main meal ideas. Now my husband always claims that he eats EVERYTHING...... but when you get down to the nitty gritty, it is everything bar aubergines, sweetcorn, beetroot, fennel....... you get the picture..... so cooking from veggie recipe books can be walking a fine line!

I first tried out the Spinach, Penne and Cheese Spouffle, a take on souffle but with pasta added to give it some oomph. I was so thrilled that it turned out just like the photo in the book that I took a picture before serving it!! In my experience there aren't many recipe books around where this happens! It was a thumping success and has been added to the favourites list!! This would be a great meal for baby led weaning I think too! I looked to see if the recipe had been published online but it hasn't and I don't feel comfortable copying it out of the book - you will just have to buy it!!

The second recipe I tried was for stuffed chillies, although I adapted it to use peppers as I wanted to make it as a main meal and I didn't think the children would enjoy chillies, nor did I really want to traipse round several supermarkets looking for the right chillies! Again I was really happy with the end result, and the filling made with beans was a really nice change - I have always made stuffed peppers with a rice filling before now  but think I like the bean filing more. I found the recipe published here for your enjoyment!

I'm looking forwards to trying more recipes from the book - it is always encouraging when the first two that you try are delicious, easy, successful AND popular with the rest of the family!!

Baking with Toddlers

I have to confess that baking with a very small child is not top of my list of relaxing activities for a Sunday afternoon.... however I try and bake with Idris (just coming 21 months as much as I can as he really enjoys it! I chose scones to make last week as it's a good, messy hands-on mix to make with lots of processes to try...... He enjoyed rubbing the butter into the flour......

.....stirring the sugar in.......

....cracking eggs with a little assistance......

....rolling out the dough with a lot of assistance, and the most beautifully sensorial marble rolling pin in the world!......

..... and independently cutting out scones from the dough.

Amusingly enough he wasn't very keen on them when they were cooked, even with jam on! Thanks to Eve for the brilliant photographs as photography and toddler baking at the same time really IS a step too far!

Feeding a family on a small budget!

Lentil Bolognaise, still steaming from the pan!

There comes a time when most of us have to tighten our belts and cut spending to meet a reduced income or to make increased food costs fit an existing budget. I have practised frugal shopping to one extent or another for the whole of my marriage but for the last 16 months we have had extra money due to the shifts that Dewi has been on. Without even realising it, my shopping habits have subtly shifted and our food bills crept up by about a third. From April we are losing a considerable amount per month as Dewi's shifts return to normal and that means cutbacks! This month I am focusing on our food shopping, menus and eating habits and trying some new things as well as some old tricks to bring our food costs back in line with what our income will be! I have a target in my mind of £80 a week for the shopping (both food and other essentials such as toilet paper) but I haven't set it in stone as I don't want to make us miserable sticking rigidly to it if it simply isn't enough. I will review it as I go!

The first thing I did was to think about the meals that we eat and I noticed that were eating a lot more meat than this time last year which is expensive, and we are eating some 'cheat meals' as I call them such as frozen pizzas and jars of curry sauce. After agreeing with my meat loving husband that he was happy to eat meat just twice a week, the next job was a list of meals that might fit with our plans. I got out my favourite cook books and journal of magazine clipping recipes and listed all of the meals that we have enjoyed in the past that are less expensive to make but just as yummy to eat! I was reminded as I went through them of some of the money saving tricks I have used before, such as bulking out shepherd's pie, lasagne and chilli with lentils, reducing portion sizes of meaty meals and increasing the portion of vegetables served with it.

Another expensive habit we have is unlimited fruit consumption. I love it that my children snack on fruit. We don't buy biscuits, crisps and chocolate so they have no choice really and they never waste fruit....... however it is a sad fact here in the UK that a packet of biscuits costs 30p whilst a bag of apples costs £1.19 at a minimum (I like to buy British apples with the best flavour rather than the cheapest available). I have some misgivings about limiting the fruit that they eat but I realised that often they will eat one or two pieces in the run up to a meal because they are hungry and there is no need for that. I have decided to allow them three pieces a day spread out as they choose but each piece must be different. I calculated the number of bananas, apples, clementines and 'other fruit' we needed for the shopping list and will see how it goes! I buy soft fruits for Idris such as grapes, blueberries and raspberries. I can't afford for all of us to eat them but each of the children has had this luxury as a toddler to boost the variety of fruit they eat and I won't compromise on that!

Armed with this list (and I was impressed with the variety and number of dishes on it!), I wrote a meal plan for the week and from that, a shopping list. It didn't go completely to plan as Dewi offered to shop and I gratefully accepted but inevitable his choices aren't always that same as mine and I had also neglected to add a few staples onto the list such as squash, washing up liquid and vegetable oil! I will nip back this week for those items and perhaps put together a standard shopping list for future weeks that I can tick off as I notice them. I am keeping the receipts and over a month will work out how much of each basic item we get through with a view to making a monthly shop at a cash and carry for tinned tomatoes, pasta and rice etc. The web is great for being able to compare prices to find the best deals and although I don't buy into running around to list of places for individual items as the petrol you burn negates the cost savings anyway, heading to one place for a few deals just might be.

The one thing I can say is that shopping this way is more time consuming as it requires more thought, time and effort to even put a menu plan together. I am planning to work through the receipts and cost up each meal as well so that I have a reference point for the future. I think after a month or so of poring through the receipts, doing sums, researching bulk buy options and tweaking things to work well for us, that it will be less time consuming to do! I'm hoping so anyway. All new habits take time to get used to and it is necessary that we adjust to this one. Starting early has the added bonus of freeing up some cash to stash for a rainy day (my Mum will say that I am always squirrelling money away for this and that but I like to have separate 'pots' for separate things!).

I started this post the day Dewi went shopping and we have been eating this way for five days now. The fruit plan is going well, the children are being very good about it, although Idris isn't always sticking to his options! I calculated that 16% of our shopping this week was spent on fruit, I'll keep an eye and see how this goes. Usually I return half way through the week for more fruit but won't be this week!  I have been surprised that having worked out what meals fitted to which days, it has been pleasant to look at my plan and simply cook what is on it! I have been calculating the costs of each meal and have so far worked out that:

• broccoli and bacon pasta is £3.30 for the meal,
• mini toads in the hole with potato and carrot mash and onion gravy is £3.80,
• lentil bolognaise with spaghetti is 90p for the meal!

It is interesting to see the costs and I'm thinking that keeping a list will mean that I can plan meals from a range of costs rather than unknowingly picking seven high cost meals. My next step is to start making double lots and freeze one batch to ease the pressure on another week. I didn't work it out per person as each family member eats a different amount and I usually save some for Idris's lunch the next day as well.

There is a whole lot that could be said about how your food choices impact upon the cost of your food. I know a family that will only eat organic, fair trade foods and their food bill is around £250/week, and they make other financial choices to allow this. The only staunch rule that I have is that I will only buy British meat as I know the welfare standards differ in the UK to other countries and can be more easily traced to source than 'EU meats' (note recent revelations of horse meat in value beef burgers). I take note of where vegetables come from and try to limit food miles and make the most of seasonal veg but it doesn't always happen. I have toyed with the idea of a veg box delivery but they are quite costly and might be something to consider once I have trimmed down other expenses!

I made a courgette loaf today with oil instead of butter (again, butter is really expensive and I go through two to three blocks a week with baking and cooking). It turned out rather tasty, if a little drier than I like, so I'm going to continue to experiment with oil as an alternative and add those recipes to my planner! The recipe is here if you are interested, I substituted the orange juice for lemons as I had two going begging and reduced the sugar by a third to suit our tastes.

This post has turned out much longer than I planned, I didn't realise how much there was to say about it! I'll update on our progress and hopefully settle on a figure in the next month or so. I shall create a separate page on the blog to list meals, costs and brief recipes or links to recipes for you to use!

This post is linked to Welcome Home Wednesdays on Raising Arrows.

Welcoming the Return of my Cooking Mojo!!!!

Well I am sitting in my darkened living room with the back door open and a cool breeze wafting in, swigging ahem, sipping wine, and celebrating the return of my cooking mojo! For many weeks now I have not enjoyed cooking and have relied too much upon convenience foods which are both expensive and boring! When I have attempted 'proper' cooking it has resulted in pulled faces and being pushed around before eventually being eaten due to it just not being that great! I haven't been able to organise a decent menu plan though, let alone a shopping list and a tasty result!! From past experience, I knew that it would return and so I was patient - and return it has!

I am just waiting for the oven to beep to inform me that some rather cute and hopefully tasty little blackberry bakewells are golden brown..... it has been years since I baked after the children had gone to bed, baked for the joy of it that is rather than necessity. Yesterday afternoon, whilst Idris was snoozing, the girls and I sat in the garden and pored through the Good Food magazines that come on a gift subscription from my parents. We pulled out all the yummy looking pages and added them to a clipboard that is propped up behind my battered old chopping board.

We made yummy Sausage Pot Pies for dinner - a really versatile and easy recipe that would be fabulous with red cabbage in, or pumpkin in the Autumn.... it met with ravenous approval and I wondered about baking the bakewells when the children had gone to bed. I then decided I shouldn't - it seemed rather frivolous to cook for pleasure, just me 'by my own' (family joke, sorry!). Wasn't there something serious and important to do?

Oh hang on, there's the beep - let's see now.....

Well it turned out that there wasn't anything more important and that baking by myself was really enjoyable and I almost remember doing it before I had children and felt compelled to include them in all baking activities!! As it happened, just between you and me - I couldn't resist inviting my little willow the wisp to help me put them together - she never goes to sleep until late anyway, and she dearly loves to help me cook!!

I am very relieved to be back into cooking mode again, where I find it simple and fun to prepare and cook healthy meals for my family - long may it last!!! The recipes for these aren't available yet on the Good Food website..... I'll pop back and add the links when they are up there!

An Olympic Muffin Tin Dinner!

I hadn't made the girls a muffin tin dinner for a long time and thought the closing ceremony of the Olympics was a perfect opportunity to surprise them with one! I racked my brains for what to do and decided to represent some of the sports that the girls enjoyed watching and learning about, as well as some of the classic Olympic symbols. I always balance savoury with sweet and try to include all the food groups and we always have jelly in our MTD's, it's a tradition! So we had:

• An Olympic torch made from a tortilla twisted up with yellow peppers and carrot slices as the flames
• Beach volleyball - couscous sand with a team GB flag left over from the Jubilee celebrations!
• Gold medals - cheddar discs cut with a cookie cutter and a ham number added
• Olympic ring fruit salad with black berries, blueberries,  red peach,  yellow banana and green apple
• Rythmic gymnastics ribbon baton - Strawberry fruit roll-ups coiled just so with a cocktail stick as the baton
• Diving - lemon and lime sugarfree jelly dyed blue with gel food colouring, and with a toy person (cleaned with boiling water first) embedded upside down as if they had just dived in. I managed this by putting half the jelly in and allowing it to almost set then suspending the person upside down with a pipe cleaner twisted around their legs and hooked over the edges of the cup with their head resting on the already set jelly. I finished it off with a tiny blob of plain yoghurt as a 'splash' - in a GB cup of course!

Our previouse MTD's were St Patrick's Day and St. George's Day.

We LOVE Baby Led Weaning!

We are thoroughly enjoying watching Idris get to grips with solid food. I did the puree thing with the girls but since reading about BLW I knew that was the way forward this time around! No more hours spent steaming, pureeing, portioning and freezing, no more leaving my food to go cold whilst spoon feeding my baby, no more frustration at wasted time and effort and worry about limited variety. It's great - he loves to join us at the table and I make sure we have cooked a meal with things that Idris can grab hold of. It is then a simple matter of handing over tempting morsels at regular intervals and marvelling at his rapid progress! Same as I don't worry about how mich milk he is drinking, I don't worry about how much food he is eating, he will get there and there is plenty of milk on standby until he does!

To date his current favourites are leeks, spinach and mushrooms, as well as oranges, and rice pudding was a hit too! He thinks cherry tomatoes are far too tart (cue dramatic shuddering and pursed lips!) and he's not sure about boiled eggs either (a 'yeuch' noise followed by a determined sweep of the offending egg onto the floor told us that!)! I think his alltime high was the oaty apple and peach crumble my mum made though!! Very messy but very delicious!

We started a few days after he turned six months when he started grabbing food off our plates as we sat at the table. Already he has progressed to picking up things himself from the tray of his highchair (a lovely preloved wooden one!), whereas at first he always needed it put into his hand with a bit sticking out of the top of his fist for him to chew. He is now working on his palmar grasp - it grasps and he knows there's food in it but he can't always get to it - what a tease! The funniest is him using one hand to lift the other hand with food in it to his mouth!

This book by Gill Rapley has a great potted history of weaning and why/how spoon feeding started and why it isn't necessary. It has some good recipes that I had never thought of before also, things like lentil wedges for lunch, porridge bars for breakfast and some yummy dips for salad sticks too!

Changing The Way We 'Do' Food!

I have always shopped weekly with a meal plan sketched out and a shopping list - and I shop on a fairly contained budget and we eat well! Over the years my cooking has changed and improved (I think) from mainly using processed foods when Dewi and I had our first flat, to mainly cooking from scratch now with fresh and healthy ingredients. The exception to this is when I am ill or life goes crazy and then I buy a few processed things like breaded fish, frozen pizza, pre-made fresh pasta bags etc and make use of them until I feel better again!! I have gradually evolved from eating meat every day to eating it about three days out of the week. This has happened as I have discovered delicious meals to make from lentils, beans, rice and my current favourite ingredient...... pearl barley!!

Shopping weekly has become a tiresome chore so I am attempting to change our main shop to monthly and eventually quarterly, with a weekly shop for fresh veg and fruit as well as dairy products. Pictured here is my first such order - this should be three months worth of supplies of this part of my shopping but as this is my first order I'm sure that I will tweak the quantities and types of foods as we go! This was from the company Suma Wholefoods and consisted of rice, beans, lentils, tinned tomatoes, pearl barley, pumpkin seeds, nuts, porridge oats (10kg of!!), brown rice, whole wheat pasta (fusilli, spaghetti, shells and lasagna sheets), apple juice concentrate (for the girls), ginger cordial (for me!), flour, sugar......erm, oh yes, tomato paste! Dewi's face was a picture when it arrived but he will see the sense of it I'm sure!! I also did a months shop of things like cereal, bread, the meat that we will eat, mayonnaise, and some frozen veg. I still have some work to do to find sources for the part-bake rolls that Dewi loves to take to work with him. I think that will have to wait until we can have a chest freezer though as buying in bulk requires serious storage capacity!!

Before I did any of the shopping I wrote a list of a month's meals by day, then it was easy to write a shopping list for the weekly veg and dairy shop. I simply scanned down the list and jotted the ingredients for that week or ten days. I mainly planned main meals but also thought about what yummy hearty soups I would make for lunch, and what baking we might do for snacks. I dabbled with the idea of making each night of the week a certain 'food' night such as Monday - pasta, Tuesday - sausage, Wednesday - beans etc. It helped me focus and get meals down as there were so many recipes in my head (I surprised myself with how many I knew actually - way too many for a month!!). I think that this will change over time as well as we find out what we like to eat when and what I have time to cook on which day!

Now, this is a work in progress as I have strayed from the list already - chips for tea tonight anyone??!! But I am pleased that I have just jumped in because in the past I have had a tendency to over think and over plan and then never actually get anything done! It was hard to fit in the time to plan and order and organise this but I am convinced that it will be good for us (and me as main chef and shopper!!). I am keeping receipts and lists, and keeping notes on what is working and what isn't - I will update some time with how it's going and any yummy recipes I find!



In which I resign myself to not being able to make jam!

This is Dewi and the girls harvesting the remainder of our plum crop for this year. Sadly two large branches snapped under the weight of the fruit leaving the tree not nearly as handsome as it used to look. I had already tried to make jam two weeks ago and despite following to the letter the instructions in the book, I ended up with a large quantity of plum syrup.... like the blackberry syrup I ended up with last year and the strawberry syrup the year before..... you get the picture! So last week Dewi decided to make the jam using the damsons from the little tree in our trellis hedge. Cue twelve jars of rich, densely purple damson jam two hours later!! It's like Yorkshire puddings all over again - mine flat and eggy, Dewi's light, crisp and mountainous!! I can live with that - one less thing for me to do!!! I'm taking the first jar to my friend's house tomorrow, we will make scones with the children and then test the jam together!! So if we made jam with the damsons, what of the plums you ask? Well they are fermenting away in my under stairs cupboard as part of Dewi's plum cider experiment!!!!

Rhubarb Crumble Muffins

The recipe is to be found here. I was prompted to make these after I discovered a huge pile of harvested rhubarb in my kitchen!! They got the seal of approval from my (only very slightly fussy) husband and I'll definatley be making them again!

Christmas Puddings!!

As per my October mission I have made Christmas puddings today.  I have vivid childhood memories of making puddings with my mother, with all the ingredients spread out across the dining room table, my mother measuring and us tipping and stirring!! I re-created that today for my own children and had friends come round too to share in the fun.  We did two rounds of pudding making and everyone went home happily clutching their pudding basin!! I was especially touched by one friend who had never made puddings as a child and never made them for herself as an adult.  She was so delighted to be making them, possibly more excited than the children!!

The recipe that we used is as follows:

•  225g/8oz golden caster sugar
• 225g/8oz vegetarian suet
• 340g/12oz sultanas
• 340g/12oz raisins
• 225g/8oz currants
• 110g/4oz candied peel
• 110g/4oz plain flour
• 110g/4oz fresh white breadcrumbs
• 55g/20z flaked almonds
• 1 lemon, zest only
• 5 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 150 ml/5 fl oz brandy or rum.
• I also put in a bag of pecans as I love them in my pudding!

Mix together all the dry ingredients then stir in the beaten eggs and brandy well. Grease your pudding basins and spoon in the mix. Cover with baking parchment and foil (creased in the middle to allow for steam) and tie round with string/wool firmly. Steam for 5-6 hours.  I don't have a steamer so I put an up-turned bowl in the bottom of my soup pan and sit the pudding basin on top before filling to halfway up the pudding bowl and simmering for 5-6 hours as above. Cool the puddings then cover with fresh parchment and store in a cool cupboard until Christmas day! (recipe from BBC good food site originally but I can no longer find this particular one to link to)

Each of the children took a turn at stirring the pudding mix as we all said the 'pudding poem'......

Into the basin put the plums

Stir about, stir about, stir about!

Next the good white flour comes

Stir about, stir about, stir about!

Sugar and peel and eggs and spice
Stir about, stir about, stir about!

Mix them and fix them and cook them twice

Stir about, stir about, stir about!

(traditional poem)

Then each child (and adult!!) closed their eyes and made a wish as they stirred. it was so sweet to see the little ones squeeeeezing their eyes tight shut!!

I am pleased to have this done and we enjoyed doing it together. I had to set my alarm for 2am to turn the second pudding off which wasn't so fun but he house smelled divine!!

Late Summer Goodness!

At the end of a long week of an almost (but not quite) comical number of breakdowns, difficulties and illnesses, I have found tranquility in picking and eating the bountiful plums in our garden.....

making butternut squash soup for lunch......

And adding plums to my favourite tray bake recipe (delicious).  We followed it up with a long walk down the canal with Poppy (our dog) and then I indulged in a steaming bath with candles, hair treatment and face mask and reflected on all the good things in our life (they far outweigh the breakdowns, difficulties and illnesses!!).  Not least the generosity and love shown by our family and friends in helping us out during the tough times!

Rhubarb and Ginger Jam

This came about because I mentioned to the Grandfather of one of the toddlers that I care for that I could make ginger and rhubarb jam.  The following week he sent an oh so subtle hint of an empty rhubarb and ginger jam jar!!  So today we cut the rhubarb, which provided dramatic amusement for a while......

Then we de-stringed and chopped the rhubarb..... I know that this looks like a huge knife for such little hands but I actually find that the children are more careful with a bigger knife..... supervised of course!

Then we weighed the fruit and measured out the same amount of granulated sugar.  I now make jam in the microwave courtesy of my mother-in-law's recipe (thanks Mam!) so I cooked just the rhubarb for ten minutes and then drained the excess water off.  Adding the sugar and the ginger I stirred it well and returned it to the microwave for as long as it took to become jam-like, stirring every five minutes.  I'm afraid I can't provide a more exact time as I was attending to the needs and wishes of six children at the same time!! During the cooking I filled the clean jars with boiling water up to the necks and rested the lids on before emptying them just before pouring jam into them.  By doing this the jars are sterilised and as the jam and the jars cool, the 'buttons' on the lids are sucked down, creating a good seal on the lids.

One jar was duly dispatched to little one's Grandfather this evening!!

Core Experiences

Core experiences is one of the 'buzzwords' that is popping up more and more lately.  I see it as a version of 'continuous provision' which different early years settings use for their EYFS planning.  If grey is the new black, then continuous provision is the new long term planning!  I think it is particularly suited to child minders because of the number of daily routines or activities that can be linked to all of the areas for learning and development within the EYFS.  As well as considering the core experiences in your continuous provision, you can put in mealtimes, going to the shops, walking to school etc. 

It sounds like just another load of paperwork to create but I think it needn't be like that!!  I am planning to create mine gradually as I go, I have already made a start when I considered how baking linked to all of the areas of the early years foundation stage.  Once written I am going to put them in a folder and parents can see what is on offer, as well using it to aid evaluation of observations and planning of next steps.  It provides a way of reflecting on the resources that you already have and how you might use them, as well as what you would like to add in or remove.  If you don't know the six areas of learning and development well already then you will by the end of your continuous provision planning!!

Some key points about core experiences:

• Officially there are fourteen of them but you can adapt them to your early years provision.
• The ideas is that they are areas that the children can access every day or regularly, rather than one-offs.
• It isn't about making sure that the children use all of the resources and cover all of the fourteen core experiences, but that they can follow their own individual pathway, becoming more skilled and advanced as they go.
• Children know that the resources will be there and can plan in advance what they would like to do.  This brings children into the planning.
• It is important that the children can return to their model/picture the next day if they want to, so think about some space to put things so that they can return to it; this shows that you value what they are doing and encourages concentration and perseverance.

Some core experiences to consider:

• Book area.
• Cookery.
• Role-play.
• Gardening.
• Outdoor play.
• Malleable materials (dough etc).
• Music, dance and movement.
• Emergent writing and book-making.
• Painting and colour-mixing.
• Craft.
• Sand and water.
• Construction and block play.
• Woodwork, modelling and making.
• Sewing.
• Small world play.
• Treasure baskets and heuristic play.
• Trips and educational visits.

Making Baking About Process, not Product!

Or rather.... having a deliciously slow and messy baking process that the children LOVE!  It covers soooo many areas of the EYFS, the children control their behaviour, sharing and taking turns, encouraging eachother and chatting socially, they wash their hands and help clean up afterwards(PSED), they talk about what they are doing, describing how it feels, recalling the last time they cooked, discussing favourites, likes and dislikes, sequencing the ingredients (CLL), they use number language "how many" "A bit more" "8oz" "200 grams" "That eight there" "half the butter" "a whole egg" "weigh it" "measure it" (PSRN), they explore the materials as they mix, observing how the ingredients change as they add egg, milk or butter, if you are cooking a recipe from another country then they can learn about new and unusual ingredients or other cultures and celebrations, they observe the passing of time as they wait for it to bake in the oven (KUW), they stir, mix, pour, tip, roll, knead, whisk, beat, squeeze, carry (PD) and they respond wonderfully to the experience, expressing their ideas and then using the experience later in imaginative play(CD).  I would encourage you to write these down in a spider diagram or another way, and keep in your planning...... they are evidence that you meet the learning and development requirements in the veryday life of your setting, (especially when you cook regularly!).

These pictures were taken on Wednesday when we had childminding friends round to make the welsh cakes that we didn't get round to making on Monday!  it took the children the best part of an hour to rub in the butter, measure and mix, it would have taken me five minutes but they got so much out of it! There was flour on all of us, the table, the floor and the children loved it!  Happily enough the product turned out as yummy as the process and they were devoured almost before they hit the plate!!

Welsh Cake Recipe

After putting this out to the lovely ladies on the childminding forum (see websites on the sidebar) there are some more things to add:

• Miffy suggested comparing the volumes of weighed items as they will be different, e.g 4oz butter will look different to 4oz flour etc! (PSRN)
• Christine suggested including decorating cakes and biscuits in CD and reading the recipe (CLL), listening for the timer, the smell of the cooking, comparing textures of the ingredients and taste testing (yeah!) (KUW).

Thanks everyone!!! Happy Baking!

Crazy About Parsnip Soup!

My mindees love this recipe, today one little one, who is 18 months old, ate three bowls of the stuff, along with two slices of bread..... possible growth spurt coming I think!!  It is such a simple recipe and a lovely 'winter warmer' after a frosty walk home from a morning's activities!  I am making ours with the 'Christmas' parsnips that we planted last summer, but the ground was too frozen to get them out for Christmass so we are enjoying them now!!  Homegrown the taste is something else!!

Ingredients:

• Two carrots
• One stick of celery
• One small leek
• One onion
• Four big parsnips!
• 100g red lentils (optional)

Roughly chop the carrots, celery, leek and onion and put in a pan over a medium heat with some olive oil.  When it starts to sizzle, turn the heat down and sweat the veg with a lid on the pan for 15 mins, stirring every so often.  Whilst this is happening, peel and chop the parsnips, then add to the sweaty veg along with the lentils and stir thorooughly round.  ( I usually add some black pepper here too).  Pour in enough water to cover the veg and have an extra inch.  bring to the boil, reduce to simmer and cook for half an hour with the lid on.  When parsnips are soft, remove from the heat and blend.

I prepare this in advance then reheat thoroughly before serving..... be careful reheating in the pan though as once blended the soup will puff splots of hot soup out of the top as it begins to simmer again!

Serve with yummy brown or granary bread and you have a hot meal with all the essential amino acids in, perfect for growing minds and bodies!!