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.

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!

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.

 

 

Roasted Butternut Squash

This makes a nice side dish to go with roast chicken or fish and should appeal to children who like carrots, parsnips and sweet potato. Just make sure you roast it for long enough, otherwise the pieces can be a little tough!
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
2 crushed cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
A pinch of salt
Method:
1: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius
2: Peel the squash, remove the seeds, and cut into roughly equal sizes. This does take a while and is definitely a labour of love!
3: Put the oil in a large roasting tray and add the other ingredients.
4: Mix everything together well so that the squash pieces are nicely coated with oil, salt and garlic.
5: Pop in the oven and roast for 25-30 minutes until the pieces are soft and lightly browned.
Tip: Leave out the salt, and mash up the squash when cooked for easy baby puree

Tomato Salsa

This is really yummy with tortilla chips. I don’t tend to make it spicy for my lot, but add a little chilli if your gang like things hot!

Ingredients:

3 ripe tomatoes

1/4 of a red onion

Juice from 1/2 a lime

A little parsley

Method:

1: Chop the tomatoes into small pieces and add the very finely chopped red onion.

2: Tear up the parsley leaves and add those to the mixture.

3: Add the lime juice and stir to combine.

4: Pop in the fridge for at least an hour to let the flavours develop.

5: Serve with tortilla chips, pitta bread, or with griddled chicken.

Basic White Bread

I think a lot of people are put off making their own bread because they’re worried it’s really tricky and time-consuming, when in actual fact it’s pretty easy, and the results are seriously yummy!

With 4 growing boys, we get through an awful lot of bread in our house! I typically make bread in my breadmaker (up to twice a day!), but I also love to make it by hand. This recipe makes one medium sized loaf, or 12 rolls.

Ingredients:

500g strong white bread flour (substitute 100g of the flour for the same weight of brown flour if you fancy a ‘Best of Both’ loaf!)

300ml hand warm water

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 sachet dried yeast

1 teaspoon salt

Method:

1: Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix together until combined.

2: Leave the bowl in a warm place, with a damp teatowel over it if you like, for about 45 minutes until it’s doubled in size.

3: Turn dough out onto a floured board and give it a good pummeling for 5 minutes. Go on, take out all those frustrations!!!

4: For a loaf, put the dough into a greased bread tin or onto a greased baking tray. For rolls, divide mixture into 12 pieces and place on 2 greased baking trays making sure each piece has plenty of room to grow!

5: Leave the dough for about another 45 minutes until it’s doubled in size again.

6: Preheat oven to 220 degrees celsius and put the bread in. The loaf will take about 30 minutes, the rolls about 15. When cooked, the bread will be risen, golden brown,and sound hollow when tapped from the underneath.

7: Take out of the oven and leave for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

8: Resist for as long as you can before smothering with butter and devouring!

Spinach and Carrot Risotto with Basil (baby puree, 4 months +)

I have a particular fondness for this recipe. I created it for my eldest son when he was about 5 months old and entered it into a competition run by Cow and Gate. It ended up winning my husband and my a lovely honeymoon!

If the basil taste is a little much for your baby, just leave it out!

Ingredients:

75g frozen spinach

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

50g baby rice

2 tsp apple juice

4-6 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

Method:

1: Mix the baby rice and the apple juice.

2: Boil the carrots in a pan of water for 10 minutes until soft.

3: Turn the heat off the carrots and add the frozen spinach.

4: Leave for a couple of minutes and then strain the vegetables (you could add some of this liquid to the mixture at the end if it’s a little thick).

5: Whizz the carrots and spinach up in a food processor and then add the baby rice mixture and the basil.

6: Blend until smooth, add some extra liquid if necessary before serving.

Pop leftovers in an ice cube tray and freeze for easy-peasy meals.

 

Super Speedy Tomato Sauce

This is really garlicky and perfect for when you need to get tea together in a rush! It tastes amazing with meatballs and homemade tagliatelle. I often make it when I’ve been writing and discover I only have half an hour before we need to leave for Judo!

Serves 4 little ones

Ingredients

1 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 large garlic clove

pinch of salt

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp tomato puree

1 tsp olive oil

3-4 fresh basil leaves torn into little pieces

Method

1: Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the garlic. Let the garlic sizzle gently for a moment, making sure it doesn’t burn.

2: Add the tomatoes, salt, sugar, and tomato puree.

3: Let the sauce simmer gently for 10 minutes, adding the basil for the last couple of minutes.

4: Serve onto pasta or rice.

Tomato Pasta and Pizza Sauce

This is the sauce I use on pizza, for melanzane and sometimes on pasta. It takes a little while to reduce, but is well worth the wait! Make loads and freeze so you’ve got some handy whenever you need it!

Serves 4 children for pasta or coveres 2 large pizzas.

Ingredients:

1 400g can of chopped tin tomatoes (Napolina work well)

1/2 medium onion

1 large garlic clove

pinch of salt

1 tsp sugar

1 teaspoon tomato puree

pinch of oregano (fresh or dried)

fresh basil

olive oil

boiling water

Method

1: Finely chop the onion and garlic. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and add the onion and garlic. Saute gently until the onion is soft. Make sure nothing burns!

2: Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, salt, oregano and sugar.

3: Add a little boiling water and let it bubble away gently to reduce for about half an hour.

4: Add some fresh basil leaves torn into little bits and stir through.

5: Serve or allow to cool and freeze until needed.