Anchovy and Broccoli Pasta

I started this blog to get a bit of myself back while I was on maternity leave but one thing I didn't expect was how it would push me to be more creative with my son's food.  One thing I'm very bad at though is cooking just for myself.

If there are other people around I'll go to huge amounts of effort and, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy cooking but I also have 30 hours of work to do in an average day and I kind of like to get some sleep.  The amount of times I've slung some oven chips in while cleaning up or doing an exercise video.  It's not good.

Ham, Spinach and Courgette Frittata Fingers - great for babies and children

This got a very excited greeting by my little boy.  Little does he know the hidden vegetables contained inside!

Another sneaky Mamacook recipe to hide some vegetables into your child's meal.   Keep offering them alongside too though, just think of them as your insurance policy!  My son devoured this with some broad beans from the freezer and some cooked carrot sticks.   Clean plates all round!  I'd be tempted to say that leftovers would be great in packed lunches but there weren't any!

Cheap eats; thrifty recipes for end of the month

I've been thinking a lot about Jamie Oliver's approach to cheap meals recently and I think he has a good point.  A roast can yield a lot of meals, cheap cuts can be really tasty.  What disappointed me though was when I saw his interpretation of 'cheap'.  Many of his recipes are aimed at £2 a head.  Yeah, cheap if you buy ready meals but not cheap if you're on jobseekers allowance, what's more when MSN tested it, they couldn't make them as cheaply.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a religiously cheap cook but I do believe in thrift.  My parents brought me up this way, not to be wasteful.  They grew all their own fruit and vegetables and when you've invested that much time, it's worth respecting them.  As I said in my post about Jamie Oliver's approach it's not just about overall cost, sometimes when you pay less for something you respect it less.

It doesn't have to be this way though.  I would say that one of the cheapest, most filling ingredients there is, lentils, is impossible to cook without respecting it.  They take 20-45 minutes to cook.  Ok, not quick but sometimes slow is good, slow makes you think about what you're eating and, let's face it, it's not that slow, it's not necessarily food you have to be stood over poking and prodding for the whole time!

So in answer to the £2 a head meal, I've costed out some recipes for you for the price of an adult portion.  Remember even if my recipe says "serves 2" and you're cooking for one it might be worth making the full amount (or even doubling it) to have some left over for lunchtime, freezing can give you some variety so you grab something from the freezer and head out.  It's so easy to spend £3 on lunch in even a subsidised canteen in the workplace or more in a coffee shop.  Over a year if you reduced that cost to £1, you could save £500 a year!

Slow Cooked Mexican Style Beef - Makes two meals

After my thrifty food posts and the weather becoming cooler, I thought I'd look at beef brisket again.  I mean I do love a good pot roast and love leftover cottage pie even more but woman cannot live by pot roast alone!

So I thought I'd mix up the flavours a bit and see if I could make a dish with a super easy leftover idea.

The BRAT diet for dodgy tummies

When I was little, I thought my Mum made me banana on toast as a treat when I was feeling poorly.  I was wrong.  She was being sneaky but with my best intentions in mind.

The idea is that BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast) is meant to stop the swirly tummy in it's tracks.

Well it wasn't my son, it was me.  And isn't it always the way that when you feel ill, the first thing you reach for is the food from your childhood?

So not so much a recipe, more a snapshot from my childhood.  My mum used to sprinkle with a little Demerara sugar on top.  I've used a touch of honey but miss out for children under 1.

No Refined Sugar Breakfast Muffins; great for adults but also for kids

I have some 'cupcake' cases in the cupboard, bought in a moment when I actually needed fairy cake cases but picked up the wrong thing.  They were somewhere between a cupcake and a muffin in size, nearer a muffin so I decided to cook something more substantial to fill them.

Ok, they may look 'parent sized' but my son has a large appetite so he still ate two.  No refined sugar though which can't be bad.  Sorry, just for over 1 year olds though as under 1's can't eat honey.

Ooh, I've just realised while I was writing this up, this is dairy free!  Purely accidental!

Vegetarian Cottage Pie for all of the family

Sometimes you just need vegetables.  My son loved this!  He'd had a week of nothing really home made and was a touch bunged up if you don't mind me being crude so I was determined to get him a full on meal of delicious vegetables without either of us noticing we had no meat.

Quick Ginger Biscuits

My son had a hankering for some biscuits after nursery.  I must be mad because what do I do after a hard day at work?  I only go and make some!

Not masses of sugar here but certainly just treat food.  When they cool, they make a pretty crunchy biscuit but my son loves biscuits like that.  While still warm they're a bit softer so don't be surprised if they're still soft when you take them out of the oven.  This was a recipe from my mum but originally from my aunt.  The recipe was originally to use 1lb of flour!  That must have made 40 odd biscuits!  I know my son eats a lot but...

Cheese and Onion Stuffed Jackets for the Whole Family

This was an improvised dish after I'd got some potatoes in the oven and I was determined to squeeze a small amount of vegetable into my son's diet (it had been 'one of those' days food wise) and I was a bit lacking in things 'suitable' for filling a jacket spud.

What is it as well that salad feels right with a regular jacket spud but if you then stuff it, boiled or steamed veg suddenly seems ok?  Not sure but I wanted to go down the boiled vegetables accompanying route so this is what I came out with.

Normally I make more 'interesting' food for my son but this was pure comfort food which somehow feels right for the autumn which seems to have come in with a bang rather than a whimper this year!

Porridge for Babies, Toddlers and Grown Ups

Why don't more people eat porridge?  I think part of the reason is people think it's difficult.  It's not at all but if you make it on the hob it makes no sense to cook it for 1 and the pan ends up pretty mucky.  Making it in the microwave solves all of that.