Surprisingly delicious for a recipe that sounds off-puttingly healthy, these are great hot and fresh, and work really well for baby-led weaning. They freeze well: make up a batch, then open-freeze the ones you don’t eat before popping them into a freezer bag. The fritters defrost quickly, then crisp back up in a dry frying pan….
Category: 30 minutes or quicker
Easy cheesy pasta
An incredibly quick version of macaroni cheese that owes something to the Greek dip tzatziki. It might seem a bit odd to have warm cucumber, but it works somehow. For babies this can be spoon-fed or just plopped onto the highchair tray for grabbing. Freezer friendly Ingredients 3 tablespoons full fat creme fraiche Leaves from…
Beetroot hummus
Babies love this beautifully coloured dip spread on fingers of toast, or eaten off a spoon. It’s flavoursome enough for grown ups though: if you’re making it just for adults add a pinch of salt. As ‘hummus’ is the Arabic word for ‘chickpeas’ this is not technically hummus, but we all know what we mean……
Fabulous free-from, no-refined-sugar chocolate mousse
There are a two different versions of this recipe, though both use the same method: one makes a creamy mousse like your regular chocolate/cream/eggs/sugar recipe, and one sets harder and can be cut up to make ‘truffles’. This mousse is rich – you don’t need a lot of it, and considering it contains no refined sugar…
Sugar-free peanut butter & banana blender mini muffins
Sugar-free, flour-free, gluten-free (if you use GF oats), dairy-free, practically effort-free to make…yet somehow still tasty enough to eat yourself as well as handy for small people snacks (and relatively mess-free too). Add whatever you like to this basic recipe – 1/2 tsp vanilla extract; chocolate chips; whole raisins or chopped nuts for bigger children;…
Learn to Cook: how to scramble, boil and poach an egg
There’s something poetic about an egg. One of the cheapest, most nutritious and easily cooked of foodstuffs, they are nevertheless taken for granted, have been libelled with health misinformation and tainted with fears about animal welfare, salmonella and allergens. But eggs are not so easily broken: in 2015 we still ate 12.2 billion of them – averaging 189 each…
Learn to Cook: how to make soup
Soup is an essential dish to become confident with for a number of reasons: It is quick and very easy to make; It is usually healthy; It is one of the cheapest possible meals; It is a great way of using up all sorts of leftovers, from vegetables to meat to pasta; It can be adapted…
Simple snacks: Oat and fruit balls
This is a good very first recipe for young kids to ‘help’ with, getting involved in the stirring, mixing and trying to roll the balls up. It’s about as simple as baking gets. These oat balls can be taken anywhere you like from their most basic form: 200g porridge oats 100g dried fruit (a mix of raisins…
Smoked mackerel pate
This is always a popular starter or light lunch. Pate is something that most people don’t think of making themselves, but as you can see it’s insanely easy. Don’t let it intimidate you: start with these measurements, then taste it – if you want more capers in there, put them in. More of a horseradish kick?…
Cheese scones
Fool-proof and crowd pleasing, everyone needs a good scone recipe up their sleeve. Keep some of these in the freezer to quickly defrost when soup’s on the menu for lunch (try spreading them with Marmite). Ingredients 220g plain flour 2 level teaspoons baking powder 130g grated cheese (cheddar, gouda, whatever you have in the fridge…
Flawless Flour Tortillas and Tortilla Pizza
Tortillas (makes 8) • 200g plain white or wholemeal flour • ½ teaspoon salt • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder • 2 tbsp butter, melted (or ideally lard) • 100ml hot water Note before we start: if you’re going to use all the tortillas as pizza bases, you don’t need to be as precious about kneading or resting the…
Time to Cook 