Sweet potato and chickpea burgers with halloumi

This is an incredibly cheap, quick, healthy and satisfying meal (don’t scrimp on the cheese). In these hastily executed dinner photos I decided to add the halloumi to the side salad – this was a mistake. It’s much better in the burger. The burgers would also be a great kid’s or weaning meal, and freeze…

Huevos Rancheros

Huevos rancheros, or ‘rancher’s eggs’, is the original Mexican brunch: a big mid-morning meal designed to keep farm workers going. Nowadays brunch more likely means a late night requires a spicy, filling hangover cure, but don’t feel bad about it: this is still better for you than a fry up, just as satisfying and as easy to make. Equally splendid as…

Haemul pajeon – Korean seafood pancake

This rainy-day Korean snack is a favourite dinner of ours – we call it ‘humpty pigeon’, after my husband mis-read the meals blackboard. Healthy comfort food, it’s an omelette pancake based on spring onions and seafood: ‘pa’ means spring onion, ‘jeon’ pancake, and ‘haemul’ seafood. It’s usually made with shrimp or prawns among the seafood,…

Sugar-free carrot and date loaf cake

If you’re planning to freeze any of the loaf, you can spread the ‘icing’ on your slice like jam. As this isn’t super-sweet, it makes an excellent breakfast or afternoon tea with a cuppa. Ingredients 200g carrots, grated (about 2 medium carrots) 1 apple 150g dates 75g raisins 75g walnuts, chopped small (optional, only for babies over 1)…

Sue Quinn’s no-bake low-sugar cheesecake

A quick post, mostly to remind myself that this cheesecake by Sue Quinn is an extremely useful, quick and delicious pudding (that link takes you to the Sunday Times paywall, but you can read the recipe). I used around 170g of (shop-bought) low-sugar raspberry jam instead of her home-made blueberry jam, beating most of it into…

Caponata (Sicilian sweet and sour aubergine)

One of our favourite week-night recipes, this is somehow so much more than the sum of its parts. Though it sounds a bit fancy, ‘caponata’ basically just means ‘stuff’ in Italian – this is a Sicilian dish that’s excellent for using up leftovers and relies on store-cupboard basics for a great depth of flavour. Finely…

Sugar-free chocolate covered flapjacks

  The ultimate combination of the fabulous sugar-free mousse and ‘baby crackjacks‘! Though free from refined sugar, these should still be seen as a treat – particularly for young children – as they have a lot of dried fruit in, which is high in sugar (but also high in fibre, vitamins, minerals etc), as well…

Sugar-free banana bread

  Makes one very large or two medium sized loaves. Ingredients 4 large, very ripe bananas 180g dried apricots or dates 120g butter 2 eggs 250g self-raising flour 50g wholemeal flour 1 medium apple or 80g apple compote 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Method Preheat oven to 180C…

Baby’s first sugar-free flapjacks

This is based on a recipe that went viral among my group of ‘mum-friends’ – for a while, at any playdate, someone would pull out a tupperware of these flapjacks. They were so popular with all the children we called them baby crackjacks…They work with any dried fruit you have around, and freeze well. You can…

Sweet potato falafels

These freeze well, and are as good for babies (leave out the chilli!) as they are for party snacks, picnics or lunch boxes. Ingredients About 450g sweet potato 200g gram or plain flour 1 tin chickpeas, drained 1 small onion 4 cloves garlic A small bunch each of fresh coriander, parsley and mint 1/2 teaspoon…

Pork and ginger wontons

Steam them soft, bake them crispy, pop them in a soup or the freezer: wontons take a bit of repetitive work to make, but are easy, versatile, healthy and fun. Just think of the time spent filling them as a mindfulness exercise! A great party appetiser alongside a dipping sauce, or a comforting addition to…