Two versions that put a quick, healthy, cheaper spin on the usual basil & pine nuts variety – this makes an ideal week-night dinner, and spare pesto will keep well in the freezer. It’s a good way to get healthy nuts into babies and young children, but don’t serve it to babies under six months…
Category: Savoury
Quinoa and celeriac fritters (better than they sound)
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….
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……
First foods: mackerel pate
It’s worth the mess: this pate can be served up from six months, and will hopefully surprise you with its popularity. It’s a great way to tick off their weekly portion of oily fish, makes a good finger food when spread on toast or scooped onto cucumber, and as ever is flavoursome enough to share…
Easiest-Ever Soda Bread: How to eat organic bread every day for less than £1
..without having to buy a bread-maker, or spend time each morning and evening kneading dough. Read more about why you should care about real bread here, but in summary: mass-produced bread is nutritionally limited; the white stuff is made of refined white flour which causes unhealthy blood sugar spikes; and evidence suggests that long-fermented sourdough is easier to…
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…
Chickpea and broad bean falafel
Falafel is a star food: cheap, healthy, easy to make and good for snacks, a starter, finger food for babies, a quick lunch or as part of a salad for dinner. Goes excellently with tzatziki of course: de-seed and grate cucumber, squeeze out the water, then mix with plain yoghurt, a little crushed garlic, a squeeze…
Time to Cook 