Banana and Honey Ice Lollies

I've never bought an ice lolly for my son which has led to full on, lying back, kicking, screaming because he wanted more.  Apart from my son's behaviour (and not wanting to reward it), it's not going to make you feel too bad giving him two.

It's also a great way to use up and store bananas which are past their best as you do want them slightly over-ripe.

Cauliflower Pakoras; great finger food for kids

Cauliflower pakoras are something I'd never made before until recently, but as part of my 7 a day challenge I made some vegetable pakoras using peas and loved them.  When I moved house a few days back and restocked my cupboards (including buying some gram flour), the helpful assistant in the shop suggested cauliflower was pretty good and, in fact her favourite.  She also said that fresh spinach was, in her opinion much better in Indian food than frozen.

I always like a bit of advice when it comes to cooking so I gave it a go.  The jury is out in the spinach.  In my opinion frozen is just as good but the great thing about baby spinach is you can use it as a salad vegetable or cook with it and it just so happened I had some in my fridge so I went with it.

Goats cheese frittata, great for kids

My son eats pretty well, I know what you're thinking, "My kid won't eat goats' cheese and they're certainly not fans of broccoli!".  They can and they might just surprise you.  My 3 year old is a bit of a cheese fan (as am I) and I do love quiches.  The thing is, calorie wise and salt wise the pastry adds loads and, although I'm a fan of crisp, buttery pastry, the filling is where it's at with a quiche anyway and you know what?  I can be bothered to make a quiche about once in a blue moon.  By making it as a frittata, it's mega quick, easy and tasty and the result looks like you've spent ages over something dead simple.  I'd happily serve this to adults and it would make a pretty nice starter with a spinach salad dressed with walnuts and vinaigrette.  Also, cunningly, by excluding the crust, this recipe is now also wheat free as well as being vegetarian.

As a result of this love of the frittata's taste, ease and convenience you might notice I've been messing around with frittatas made like crustless quiches (i.e. in the oven) a lot recently.  I've always been a fan of goats cheese quiches so tried making a frittata along similar lines. It was meant to be beautifully arranged circles of a small goats cheese log, but that didn't turn up on my food order (the perils of ordering food online) so the presentation isn't quite as pretty as I hoped it would be but it was really tasty.  I mean REALLY tasty.  I'm definitely making this again!

Simple Baked Southern Fried Chicken

Ok, sorry to remind you but we're approaching New Year and the time for those resolutions.  What will yours be this year?  Lose weight?  Stop smoking?

Have you ever noticed how resolutions are always about what we don't want rather than what we do want?  That's a bad thing because we're not wired that way.  Don't think about a pink elephant.  Go on, think about ANYTHING else apart from pink elephants.  Don't think about it.  You're thinking about it aren't you?  You can't help yourself!

Anyway, in general, I'm always of the opinion that a bit of what you actually fancy is better than 101 diet products.  Let's face it, if you buy diet biscuits, you eat more biscuits don't you?  Go on, we all know the truth...  So although I'm not a huge fan of dieting per se, I also managed to lose quite a lot of weight in the last two years.  You didn't know that about me did you?  I am now a shadow of my former UK size 16/18 self and am now a comfortable size 12, size 10 in Fat Face or White Stuff on a good day with a fair wind behind me (and size 8-10 in US terms which is even better!)

I can't pretend that I'm healthy all of the time either.  It's not true.  I do exercise but I also occasionally eat chips and, very occasionally, fried chicken.  But that said, I can't bring myself to actually fry chicken at home, I can feel my arteries hardening at the thought and there is something a bit gross about the extreme fattiness of it.  If I ever do buy fried chicken (from a certain well known High Street chain), I always drain it on the paper towels to make it a bit less greasy before eating.

So this recipe is good all round.  Lower in fat but also much less greasy which is a good thing and makes it tastier.  No frying smells to stink out the house and you can feel slightly more virtuous for having your cake (or chicken) and eating it!  Just don't eat 10 pieces because it's 'healthier'!

How I decorated my Christmas cake (and I'm rubbish at this kind of stuff)

I'm no sugar crafter.  You will see this from my results but although an amateur, I am quite pleased with how my cake turned out this year and the big secret was, it was so easy.

There is no hard stuff here but I'll give it to you with all the short cuts...  You don't even need an icing bag!

Turkey Sliders for all ages

A slider, so I'm told is a small burger.  I've mixed these up by making them with turkey (seasonal) but also sneaking in some hidden vegetables (why not) and a bit of spice!  These are super easy and healthy because they're made with white meat and baked not fried.

I do have a bit of love for sweet chilli sauce.  Although when my son was under 1 I diligently avoided giving him sugar as much as possible, I eased up as he got older.  Sweet chilli as an ingredient is a great way to introduce some gentle spicing in a way that is more predictable than using a small amount of chilli.

He tried some of my sliders with sweet chilli sauce but on balance preferred his served with ketchup.  Had I got any in the house, I would have served these with baked sweet potato wedges but I didn't so I served with cooked carrot sticks instead.  Might seem a bit strange but he loved it!

Low Sugar Mini Cherry Tarts - Great for kids or grown ups

I'm showing my age now, the urge to type "damn fine cherry pies" was very strong.

As I said in my last post, I promised to write up a recipe for the pastry leftovers.  Because I don't know how much pastry you might have, the quantities are per tart.  Please adjust for the number you have!

This isn't sugar free.  Jam is laden with sugar but there is around 1-1.5 tsp jam per tart and only half of that is sugar, not massive amounts of sugar at all, much less than a commercial tart.

Gingerbread men

...or considering the time of year... Gingerbread Mummies!!!

I posted a recipe for Gingerbread men a while back (or ninja bread men, I do like a play on words!)  This though is adapted to give a lighter result which is less dominated by anything other than the ginger flavour.  I found the treacle in the old recipe tended to drown out the spicy warmth.

Hidden Vegetable Sausage Rolls for the Whole Family

I've often said it's great to have a hidden vegetable recipe up your sleeve to ensure your kids are getting enough of their 5 a day.  All kids go through their fussy stages and vegetables are often the victim of it.

Watermelon Ice Lollies Great for Toddlers

If I can encourage you to do one thing this summer, which is setting out to be a scorcher, is buy an ice lolly mould.  Ice lollies are so expensive to buy and often full of sugar, artificial food colourings and other stuff which isn't all that great for kids.

Much better is to make your own lollies out of fruit or fruit juice with a little added sugar if needed.  Even if you do add something to make it sweeter, it's still far more natural, lower in added sugar and can count towards their 5 a day!  In fact, one of these ice lollies contains 60g of fruit and only around half a teaspoon of added sugar.

So here is my latest ice lolly recipe.  My 3 year old said "I like pink lollies best" when he had one of these and was upset when I wouldn't give him one at 6:30pm because it was bath time!

Ninja bread men for kids (or Gingerbread men)

My mother is my inspiration in life in general.  Incredibly intelligent she didn’t have the breaks in life nor the education.  At the time giving a woman an education was seen as a waste of time and money.  How much we have moved on.  I was lucky enough to have all the opportunities she didn’t and she encouraged and supported me through everything in life, every bump, every triumph, every disaster and here I am with two degrees a Dr of Chemistry and she still is far my superior.

It’s funny how we learn how to love and be loved first from our parents.  My Mum shows people she loves them through food and I have inherited this from her.  This was the first ever recipe I made with my son and I remember making it with my Mum when I was little.  I also handily got some cool “Ninja” bread man cutters from an online shop which I loved and so did my son but he made some hearts for me too.

This does make a very traditional, crisp gingerbread man with a strong ginger flavour which is how I had them when I was little.  If you prefer them a little softer, take them out a little earlier or it might be an idea to substitute the flour for self raising (they will spread though).  If you like a milder flavour, cut down on the ginger a little.

Vegetarian "Sausage" Rolls for the Whole Family

I'm not vegetarian but I do like my vegetables and I see no need to have meat in every meal.  There's something great about normal sausage rolls but there's also something a fatty about them too.  So why not do something vegetarian?

Well I gave it a go.  I loved them but the toddler was slightly less impressed (there was a pate sandwich in his eye line which was drawing his attention).  But I liked and will definitely make again.

Low Sugar Trifle for Babies and Toddlers

This has been something in the ideas bank for a while.  I did originally want to make it no added sugar but it was a tricky task.  I also found by using traditional custard powder, the amount of sugar I was adding was pretty low and I'm not as strict as I used to be!

Broccoli and Cheddar Mini Quiches for the Whole Family

This is a variation on the mini quiche recipe I posted back in May.  Driven mainly because I didn't have all of the ingredients in!  That said, it was interesting and successful to switch some of the ingredients, you'd be far more likely to have them all in the house without popping to the shops, the pastry is a little easier to handle and the end result was none the worse for it.

Baked prawns for babies, toddlers and adults

My son loves prawns.  This is a simple mixture of hot baked prawns which is popular with adults and kids alike.  I remember having something very similar in a tapas bar in Madrid before I became Mrs Mamacook.  The terracotta dishes were put onto a griddle and cooked over hot coals.  It's not quite replicating the gorgeous garlicky smokiness of those prawns but it's not bad.  I do love that attitude in Spain though.  This particular tapas bar only served four different things; prawns with garlic, deep fried prawns, grilled prawns and grilled langoustine (alongside wine of course).  There is something to be admired at finding what you're good at in life and sticking to it.

I buy prawns frozen and defrost them.  A lot of seafood is previously frozen even if it's sold as chilled, particularly if it's something from far afield.  Also having been kept frozen means it's been kept at a temperature bacteria can't grow at.  Another bonus when feeding kids.  It's worth stocking up when they are on offer as raw prawns can be pretty pricey.

Sugar Free Very Berry Tarts for Toddlers and the Whole Family

Regular readers will know that I have been nominated for a Britmums Brilliance in Blogging award and I have made the final.  Yesterday a local paper contacted me to do a story about it.  It feels strange and humbling to think how far my blog has come.  A friend of mine said to me once that you should do what you're passionate about with passion and it will be successful.  This is just my hobby, I do it for the love of it and the love of cooking.  It feels amazing to be recognised in this way so thank you everyone who reads and I hope I continue to come up with ideas you like to make and thank you Britmums.

I came up with the idea for these tarts while trying to think of something visually impressive but not loaded with sugar.  Although I am a little more lenient than I used to be, there's no need to fill up kids with sugar and artificial colourings, they don't need it and if proper food looks good, why would they want it?

These tarts are easy to make, no added refined sugars and would be great as part of a party menu.

Spanakopita (spinach and feta pies) for the whole family

Spanakopita is one of my favourite foods in the world.  Love it, love it, love it.  I'd never considered feeding it to my son though until recently.  I mean, why not?  Surely it's the ideal finger food / hidden vegetable dish.

This recipe is my own take on spanakopita, purists will notice some inaccuracies but it contains the key elements of spinach and feta cheese which is vital.

A Party Food Menu

Well  the Diamond Jubilee is soon and the London Olympics are round the corner.  Time to get planning some party food menus!

As you will have seen from my recent posts, there has been a lot of parties recently in the Mamacook household and I have to say my first party (Mamacook junior's second birthday) had me very stressed out.  By the second, I'd calmed down and got a bit of a system.

Sugar free ice lollies for kids and adults

What a surprise this weather has been.  Can you believe a few days ago we were barely in double figures and now the temperature gauge is hitting 25oC with ease?

Well because of the heat and generally being busy, I have to apologise for the lapse in posts but I think you'll agree although this recipe is simple, it's the ideal one for these sticky days.

People always think of juice as a healthy option and, in some ways it is but it's also worth remembering that it's quite high in natural sugar so it's not something you'd want to serve all of the time as a drink.  Juice made into a dessert though, like in my sugar free jelly recipe or as a lolly it means it takes longer for your kids (or you) to consume and feels more like you've had something more than just a drink.

Patriotic Pavlova!

Well it's coming up to the Diamond Jubilee and it certainly feels like we've been having a lot of celebrations recently in the Mamacook household.

Pavlova is one of the easiest desserts to make; it's an absolute doddle, not expensive either (depending on your choice of fruit) and an impressive dessert centrepiece.  I've not gone for the meticulous decoration with fruit to show a Union Jack, frankly even though I'm feeling the patriotic fever this year, that seems a bit too twee but I have gone for a mixture of red and blue fruits; with the white cream and a recipe from a Commonwealth country, what could be more appropriate?

I'll tell you a secret...  Not only is this so easy to make, the hardest bits can all be made the night before leaving you with some minor assembly work when your guests are around (which can even be achieved with glass of champagne in hand.  I'm such a Slummy Mummy at the moment!)