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.
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.
Avocado is absolutely chock-ful of goodness, and this is a great way to get it into your Picky Pickers who’ll have a great time mashing up the ‘green slimy stuff’! Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado
a small clove of garlic
Juice of 1/2 a lime
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon natural yogurt Method:
1: Peel the avocado, remove the stone, and cut the flesh into small pieces.
2: Mash the avocado flesh with a fork until smooth.
3: Crush the garlic and add it, along with all the other ingredients. Mix well.
4: Serve with tortilla chips or strips of brightly coloured vegetables such as carrots, mange tout and yellow pepper.
I think this photo shows my youngest’s feelings towards aubergine perfectly! He didn’t approve the first couple of times he had this dish, but he’s gradually getting used to it! The rest of us love it.
When serving this it’s perhaps worth reminding Picky Pickers that the sauce is the same as for pizza and so is the cheese, the only real difference is the aubergine.
1 mozzarella ball – full NOT reduced fat, reduced fat really spoils the flavour.
fresh basil
parmesan cheese
olive oil for drizzling
Method:
1: Preheat the oven to 200 degress celsius.
2: Cut the aubergine into thin slices. Arrange in a single layer on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 10 mins.
3: In a pie dish, spoon in some of the tomato sauce to make a thin layer at the bottom.
4: On top of this put a single layer of the aubergines, then another layer of tomato sauce, and then about a quarter of the mozzarella torn into small pieces.
5: Do another set of layers of aubergine, then sauce, then cheese.
6: If you have aubergine and sauce left do another layer of each before using up the rest of the cheese as the top layer.
7: Add a good grating of parmesan and some torn up fresh basil leaves.
8: Turn the oven down to 180 degrees celsius, cover the melazane with foil and put it in the oven for 20 minutes.
9: Remove the foil, turn the oven back up to 200 degrees celsius, and cook for a further 10-15 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown.
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
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.
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.
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.
picky pickers 