Tag: family friendly

Recipes

Have it your way houmous

This is tasty and easy to make, and the chickpeas can be swapped for other beans in the cupboard for more variety.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Mediterranean

Servings 3

Equipment

Hand blender

Ingredients

1 tin Chickpeas Drained – reserve the liquid
1 tbsp Olive oil
1½ tbsp Lemon juice
1 clove Garlic
½ tsp Ground cumin
1½ tbsp Tahini paste Sesame seed paste

Optional

½ whole Roast pepper
1 pinch Smoked paprika
1 tbsp Coriander Fresh, chopped

Instructions

Blend all the ingredients together with about 4 tbsp of the reserved chickpea liquid, adding more if needed to get the right consistency.

Optional

Take out ⅓ of the mixture to serve as-is, take out ⅓ of the mixture and mix in the chopped coriander. Add the roast red pepper to the remaining ⅓ and blend it in, then serve with the smoked paprika sprinkled on top.

Notes

Great with carrot and cucumber batons for an extra portion of vegetables, or small bread sticks for dippers.

Swap out the optional ingredients for tasty additions like jalapenos, capers or mini fire chillis for houmous your way.

Keyword 5-a-day, family friendly, healthy

Tags 5-a-day, family friendly, healthy

Recipes

Wibble Wobble Fruity Jelly

Post author By ScranMa
Post date July 11, 2020
No Comments on Wibble Wobble Fruity Jelly

Wibble Wobble Fruity Jelly

This uses frozen fruit to quickly set the jelly, and easily adds one of your 5-a-day to pudding.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 3

Cooling time 1

Total Time 1 3

Course Dessert, Pudding

Servings 4

Ingredients

1 packet Jelly mix
320 g Mixed berries Frozen

Instructions

Put the frozen mixed berries into a dish.
Make up the jelly mix in a jug according to the instructions and pour it over the frozen berries. Leave to chill for about an hour until it's set.

Notes

If you want it to set faster, then make up the mix with slightly less boiling water to dissolve the jelly mix, then add a couple of ice cubes, and mix until they’re melted, and top up with cold water to the level indicated on the packet. It’s easiest to make up the jelly mix in a glass or pyrex jug as you can see from the bottom if all the mix has been dissolved.

The kids can make this apart from the pouring of boiling water, as long as they stir carefully; they enjoy mixing in the ice cubes and hearing the cracking of the ice and watching it dissolve, then they’re more likely to eat the fruit.

Keyword 5-a-day, cheap, family friendly, kids cooking

Tags 5-a-day, cheap, family friendly, kids cooking

Recipes

Napoleon Slice

This is my granny's recipe, for a delicious traybake that's also gluten-free and nut-free.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 40

Course Dessert, Traybake

Servings 24

Ingredients

400 g Chocolate Milk or dark – your preference
200 g Dessicated coconut
200 g Glace cherries Check gluten free – quartered
200 g Sultanas Or mixed fruit, though check gluten free
200 g Caster sugar
4 medium Eggs Or 3 Jumbo eggs (~70g each)

Instructions

Line a large tin with tin foil, and try not to crease it other than theh 4 corners as it makes it hard to get the foil off at the end. The big roasting tin here is 21cm x 31cm across the bottom.
Break the chocolate into pieces and put into a glass jug, then put it in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir, then put back in for 45 seconds. Stir until it's all melted, putting it back in for 15 more seconds at a time if needed and stirring well so that it doesn't bubble.
Pour the melted chocolate over the foil and smooth it over (bash the whole tin on the work surface a few times so that it evens out across the bottom of the tin) and set aside to cool.
Put the oven on 160C (fan).
Break the eggs into a cup and mix with a fork.
Add the rest of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix them up. Add the egg mixture in and stir all together.
Pour the coconut mix over the top of the cooled chocolate and smooth down so that it's even. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the top is light golden brown.
Leave to cool in the tin, pulling the tin foil down after about 10 minutes when the chocolate has started to cool but isn't yet solid. Leave until fully cooled before cutting with a sharp knife.

Notes

You can switch the 200g sultanas for 200g of mixed fruit if you like a slightly more bitter and varied taste, it’s also delicious (photos are of this tweak).

Keyword 5-a-day, gluten free, kids cooking, nut free, traybake

Napoleon slice with chocolate cooled and cherry, coconut and egg mix ready — Cherry coconut Napoleon slice traybake

Tags 5-a-day, family friendly, gluten free, kids cooking, nut free, traybake

Recipes

Lasagne

Post author By ScranMa
Post date May 8, 2020
No Comments on Lasagne

Lasagne

Everyone has their own lasagne variety, this uses the Best Bolognese Ever as the meat base, plus a cheat white sauce rather than a full Bechamel, as it is quicker to put together and tastes amazing.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1

Best Bolognese Ever 40

Total Time 1 55

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Equipment

Large, deep oven-proof dish

Ingredients

Meat Base

4 portion Best Bolognese Ever About ⅓ of this big batch Best Bolognese Ever

Simple White Sauce

100 g Butter or margarine
100 g Plain flour
½ tsp Celery Salt
1 litre Milk Whole milk (with the butter option for higher fat), skimmed milk (with the margarine option for lower fat)

Layers

100 g Cheddar cheese Grated (low fat cheese for lower fat option, or only choose one of the cheeses)
100 g Mozzarella cheese Grated (low fat cheese for lower fat option, or only choose one of the cheeses)
8 sheets Lasagne Fresh is best, see notes.

Instructions

Cheat White Sauce

Melt the butter or margarine in a pan then add the plain flour a few spoonfuls at a time, stirring continuously until a paste forms, called a roux. It should be thick enough that when you draw a spoon through it a line is left, for a brief time, and then the mix gloops back over the bottom of the pan. Add more butter/flour to get to the right consistency if needed. Cook it for 2 minutes then stir in the celery salt.
Add the milk gradually, constantly stirring (or whisking if you have a balloon whisk), until you get a smooth sauce of the thickness you want (add more milk if it's too thick). Season to taste.

Layer It Up

Pre-heat the oven to 150C.
Add half of the Best Bolognese Ever to the bottom of the lasagne dish, then add a layer of lasagne, sealing around the edges of the dish if you can. Add half of the white sauce, then the remaining half of the Best Bolognese Ever, another layer of lasagne and then the remaining white sauce. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top, then put it all in the oven for an hour until it's heated through and the cheese is bubbling.
Serve with an optional crispy side-salad drizzled in balsamic vinegar, or garlic bread.

Notes

The number of lasagne sheets depends on the size of your dish, this is based on dry pasta and a large rectangle dish. Fresh lasagne is best for layering and freezing as it curves around the sides of the dish nicely, creating a good seal. Dried lasagne sheets can be used but only one layer, and you’ll likely need to snap them to fit them to the dish.

I absolutely adore my mum’s lasagne, it used to take her a whole morning to cook it as she always mega-batch cooked 3 big lasagnes for 12 people, and always boiled over the milk for the béchamel 3 times in a row and had to start again (really!). This version is a lot quicker as it’s not a full béchamel, and with the extra mozzarella tastes amazing.

Mum’s 3 big lasagnes were left to cool and then frozen, transported for holidays, then left out overnight to defrost and cooked the next evening for an extended family feast. Always amazing, still love it, thanks mum!

Keyword family friendly

Tags family friendly

Recipes

Best Bolognese Ever

We've tried many combinations of ingredients making bolognese sauce, this version oseems to hit it just right and still gets vegetables into the mix. This makes a big batch, so it's good for bolognese one night, adding chilli and kidney beans the next, and freezing some in portions or using it in a delicious lasagne.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 12

Equipment

Big pan

Ingredients

12 spray Spray oil
4 medium Onion Diced
6 cloves Garlic Chopped (or 20g straight from freezer)
750 g Lean beef mince (5% fat) Swap for quorn mince for vegetarian tweak
500 g Lean pork mince (5% fat) Swap for quorn mince for vegetarian tweak
3 tbsp Tomato puree
2 medium Courgette Grated
2 medium Carrot Grated
2 tsp Thai fish sauce (I know, smells bad, tastes delicious) Omit for vegetarian tweak
3 tsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce Omit for vegetarian tweak
2 tsp Soy sauce
4 tins Chopped tomatoes
2 tsp Italian seasoning Can swap for mixed herbs if preferred
1 whole Ham stock cube Swap for mushroom stock cube for vegetarian tweak

Instructions

Mist a really large pan with spray oil, add the onion and fry for about 5 minutes until softened. If you've got time, keep going until they're translucent and starting to caramelise (another 15 minutes, adding a touch of water if it starts to stick) as the whole dish is sweeter.
Add the garlic and stir in, then push it all to one side of the pan and add the mince. Brown the mince, breaking it up and gradually adding in the onion until the mince has just changed colour, then add the courgette and carrot and fry for another 5 minutes until it's all soft.
Add in all of the rest of the ingredients, crumbling in the stock cube rather than adding any extra water – use the best quality chopped tomatoes you can so that it's not too thin a mix. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve with wholemeal pasta and optional cheese grated on top, or side salad.

Notes

Half a portion is also good as a topper for a baked potato, especially with cheese melted on top.

It’s best to put this into portions for the freezer to allow it to cool more quickly, and then freeze more quickly. It does last in the pan until the next day (well in Scotland it does) and it tastes even better the second day after the flavours have mixed in, especially if you turn it into this quick chilli.

Keyword 5-a-day, family friendly, hidden veg, reduced fat, tweak-for-vegetarian-version

Tags 5-a-day, family friendly, hidden veg, reduced fat, tweak-for-vegetarian-version