Tomato Soup

I think Heinz Tomato Soup is just about every child’s favourite soup. Every child except me! I still don’t like the stuff, but I do love this homemade version with plenty of garlic and basil. It must be very well blitzed though… I don’t do lumpy tomato soup!

Feeds 4 Picky Pickers or 2 adults

1 very finely chopped small onion

1 crushed garlic clove

a drizzle of olive oil

1 400g tin of tomatoes

600ml vegetable stock – I usually use Marigold bouillon.

1 tablespoon tomato puree

fresh basil

a pinch of salt

 

Ingredients:

1: Gently fry the onion and garlic in the oil until soft.

2: Add the remaining ingredients and bring to the boil.

3: Turn down the heat and allow to simmer gently for 20 minutes.

4: Blend the soup until smooth and then reheat to serve with lots of bread and butter.

Eating Out

A while ago I read an article about a family who try to fit as many activities in after the children finish school and before they go to bed. They call it the ‘5 to 9’ (5pm to 9pm).
Having a look at the blog they write, they’re very keen on eating outside. They pack up a camping stove, a saucepan and some ingredients, and cook their meal in the fresh air in all sorts of different locations. Their exploits can be followed on: http://www.dotrythisathome.com/
I thought this all sounded like great fun, so we’ve been ‘eating out’ about once a week since the summer. I must admit it takes us a while to get everything together, and then to put it all away again afterwards, but we’re getting better at it! Sometimes we take a little gas camping stove, other times we cook on an open fire.

 

We’ve tried lots of different settings for our meals: the seaside (sand EVERYWHERE!), woods and hills… Our favourites usually contain lots of interesting climby things for the boys to explore and are very peaceful and quiet. An added bonus is if you can park the car close to where you’re going to cook so you don’t have to lug everything for miles!
The food can be as simple as hotdogs or pasta with pesto, but we usually try to make something a little more complicated, like a goulash or a chilli con carne. The different setting might be a good chance to try your Picky Picker on something new, but make sure you take plenty of bread, apples and biscuits to fill them up if they’re still a little unsure of what you create!
Whatever you choose to make, the whole process of cooking and eating outside is great fun, and the fresh air really seems to increase little appetites!

Home-made Granola

Why pay a fortune at the supermarket when you can make granola so easily yourself and customise it for your Picky Picker?

Ingredients:

500g porridge oats

4 heaped tablespoons of runny honey

4 heaped tablespoons of golden syrup

2 tablespoons of sunflower or vegetable oil

Method:

1: Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius.

2: Gently melt the honey, golden syrup and oil in a pan.

3: Pour the oats into a large bowl and add the honey and oil mixture. Stir well.

4: Spread your mixture evenly onto a large baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes. Keep checking to ensure none of the mixture burns.

5: When the oats are golden brown, remove from the oven and leave to dry on the tray.

6: Add any extras you like. Some of our favourites are banana chips, raisins, cranberries, dried apricots, desiccated coconut and pumpkin or sesame seeds.

7: The granola should keep for about a month in a airtight jar. Serve with milk or yogurt or sprinkle some over ice cream for some extra crunch!

Fruit loaf

This is lovely toasted for breakfast, or great just sliced and buttered for an afternoon snack. It’s so simple, remembering to put the fruit to soak is probably the hardest bit!

For Picky Pickers who are a bit funny about dried fruit, make it plain first, then perhaps with just raisins and gradually introduce the mixed fruit.

Ingredients:

225g dried mixed fruit

225g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon mixed spice

120g caster sugar

250ml cold black tea

2 tablespoons orange marmalade

1 egg

Method:

1: Measure the dried fruit into a bowl, pour in the tea and leave to soak for at least a couple of hours. I tend to leave it in the fridge overnight.

2: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease a loaf tin.

3: Measure all the other ingredients into a large bowl, add the soaked fruit and remaining liquid and stir gently until combined.

4: Pop in the oven for about an hour until the top has browned and a skewer comes out clean when you stick it in the cake.

5: Leave to stand for 15 mins and then turn out of the tin and onto a wire rack to cool.

Houmous

Oh boy, do we get through A LOT of houmous in our house! Generally with pitta bread and veggies, but also in wraps, the kids adore it.

Ingredients:

1 400g tin of chickpeas

1 or 2 crushed cloves of garlic

Juice from 1 lemon

1 tablespoon tahini

a pinch of salt

2-3 tablespoons of water

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Paprika to sprinkle on top (optional)

 

Method:

1; Drain the chickpeas into a bowl.

2: Add the garlic, lemon juice, tahini and salt.

3: Add the water and either blitz in a blender or mash with the back of a fork.

4: Put in a serving bowl, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika is using.

Honey Roasted Parsnips

Sticky and sweet, these make a lovely accompaniment to roast lamb.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

6 medium sized parsnips

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of runny honey

a sprinkling of sea salt

sesame seeds (optional)

Method:

1: Preheat the oven to 230 degrees celsius.

2: Peel and cut the parsnips into quarters. Remove any tough stuff from the middle. Slice the parsnips into roughtly even sized pieces of about 6cm by 1cm.

3: Place the parsnip pieces in a bowl with the sea salt, honey and olive oil until all the parsnip is well coated in the mixture.

4: Put in a roasting tin and roast for about 20 minutes until soft and golden brown.

5: If using sesame seeds,  fry them in a dry pan for 1 minute until light brown and sprinkle on the parsnips before serving.