Category: Dinner

My kids all seem to have decided that mashed potato is good. This is a far cry from where we were only a year ago, when we would have to embark upon massive negotiations to get our middle child to even consider having potato on his plate. This polar change has opened up many more recipes that are now deemed acceptable as the humble potato is no longer considered food enemy number one! Unfortunately, tomatoes and courgettes remain exiled from two of the kids’ plates, but we are celebrating small victories.

There is now generally a mini stampede when I mention making mashed potatoes. This is because they all enjoy mashing potatoes and making ‘worms’ appear through the masher. The act of mashing is always accompanied by shrieks of delight!

This meal is lots of fun to put together. My kids loved scooping out the inside of the cooked potato, spooning in the mince, mashing the potato, sprinkling in cheese and then transporting the potato back on top of the mince-filled potatoes. It is true that it requires a fair amount of parent preparation; cooking the potatoes and making the mince filling. Despite this it is definitely worth the effort. It is also an incredibly versatile recipe which can be made vegetarian by using a Quorn or a lentil filling instead of the mince.

To make 4 jacket potatoes you will need:

• 4 jacket potatoes
• 50g grated mozzarella
• 2-3tbsp milk
• 500g beef mince
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion
• 500 ml beef stock
• 3tbsp tomato paste
• Seasoning; dried herbs and garlic, salt and pepper

Parent prep

• Cook and cool jacket potatoes and slice the tops off.
• Make the beef filling by frying the onions and carrot with the seasoning. Brown the meat and then add the stock and tomato paste and allow to simmer for 30 minutes until it has reduced and cool.

Kiddie jobs

1. Scoop out the inside of the potatoes being careful not to break the potato skin and put into a large bowl.
2. Mash the potato and add the cheese and milk.
3. Spoon the meat filling into the potato shells.
4. Cover with mashed potato.
5. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 160°c fan until warm through.

Are your children superhero obsessed? Mine certainly are and I am not ashamed to admit that I use this to my advantage somewhat when they are confronted with a vegetable they don’t want to try. We talk about vegetables helping them to be strong like superheroes and helping them to build up their vitamin stores for strength. In particular, the green ones which generally have a slightly more bitter taste. And as the hulk is green in colour, we make that connection too. My parents used to tell me to eat my vegetables so I would be strong like Popeye (even though it felt like a dated cartoon when I was small) so maybe this is just the modern version! So this is the reason for the name of the dish. It isn’t an original recipe of mine, but an adaptation of a recipe from one of my favourite cookery authors, Rukmini Iyer in her book the Green Roasting Tin. As a family we love Rukmini’s recipes and they frequently make an appearance on our dinner table or get sent into school with the kids on their birthdays.

The first time we made it I loved it, but my family didn’t appreciate all the Brussel Sprouts, so we adapted it to include some other green vegetables too. We make it with frozen vegetables as that is the most economical way to ensure we all get enough fruit and vegetables in our diet here in the Falklands. It also means that you can buy the ingredients for this dish and it doesn’t matter if it takes you a while to get around to making it as the vegetables won’t spoil and halloumi generally has a long shelf life when in a sealed packet.

This dish was our activity when Sebastian had Ronan, the take home knitted Beaver, for the week. Ronan sat on the counter and ‘helped’ us make this dish. We didn’t have any disasters – no falling in or unwelcome splatters and Seb happily spouting the importance of vegetables in a healthy diet the whole way through our endeavours. Ronan returned to Beavers the following week safe and sound after his Hulk Halloumi Bake! It has to be said our entry was one of the more boring ones, but it was second nature to me as the kids cook with me on a weekly basis. No extra planning required! I reckon that makes me a superhero in my own right!!!

Ingredients

• 1 block of halloumi
• 400g broccoli
• 75g Brussel sprouts
• 200g green beans
• 2tbsp olive oil
• 3tsp garlic
• 2tsp nigella seeds
• 2tsp garam masala
• 3tbsp lemon juice
• Seasoning
• 350g cooked rice (warm)

Method

1. If you are using frozen vegetables like we did, remove from the freezer and allow to defrost for half hour or so.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°c fan.
3. Chop the halloumi into small squares with a child safe knife. Chop any large piece of broccoli into smaller pieces.
4. Add the halloumi, broccoli, Brussel sprouts and green beans to a roasting dish.
5. Drizzle with the oil, add the garlic, nigella seeds, garam masala and seasoning.
6. Gently agitate the tray so that the vegetables and halloumi are covered with spices and oil. Be careful not to shake up and down!
7. Put in the oven for 20 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and mix the cooked rice and lemon juice through with the halloumi and vegetables.
9. Distribute between bowls and enjoy warm.

I love this dish and it is one meal that my family can all eat together as it is vegetarian. I hope it goes down as well with your family as it does with mine.

I am not sure if your kids have a favourite dinner. For ours it has to be pesto pasta. This is completely fine by me as it is a quick fix, perfect for evening when they have after school activities and we are pressed for time. Now the kids don’t seem particularly fussed whether it contains chicken, bacon or even tuna, but it always gets gobbled up without any questions or complaints.

Now you might question; ‘if they have their favourite pasta dish, why mess with a good thing?!’ Well I am always on the look out for new pasta recipes which are just as simple to make and are as well received as pesto pasta. I dislike getting stuck in a rut with meal times and resorting to the same weekly meal plan.

The recipe below is easy to make and received the thumbs up from all the kids and their dad. As the resident vegetarian, I would have eaten it had it not contained the pancetta! Maybe next time we shall make a vegetarian one and have one of the rare evenings when we all eat the same meal!

Ingredients

• 350g of spaghetti, broken into half – this makes it easier for little people to manage.
• 100g chopped pancetta
• 100g grated parmesan
• 3 eggs
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1tbsp butter
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Cook the spaghetti according to the packet’s instructions.
2. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a jug and beat with some pepper.
3. Add the parmesan to the beaten eggs and mix and put to one side.
4. Gently bash the garlic cloves with a rolling pin and peel them.
5. Put the butter in a small frying pan and add the garlic and pancetta. Fry together stirring often. Remove the garlic cloves with a tongs once the pancetta is cooked.
6. Drain the pasta reserving a small amount of the cooking water.
7. Take the pan of the heat and place on a heat proof mat.
8. Pour the egg and cheese mixture and the pancetta into the cooked spaghetti.
9. Mix together while still in the saucepan and ensure that the spaghetti is fully coated.
10. Add some of the spaghetti water to the sauce to loosen it if required. We needed to add 1tbsp.
11. Serve immediately.

I am sure I have already said so before, but if there is a request to help in the kitchen, it is always granted no matter how inconvenient it may be at the time. This does mean that some evenings dinner is ready a lot later than originally planned or even the latter – too early as they didn’t want to help! It has to be said though, sometimes asking them for help can lead to them not wanting to. I have learnt that if I start making the food using their colourful knives and doing things they like such as chopping vegetables, cracking eggs, whisking and mixing they become eager to help and argue over whose turn it is next!

We didn’t have any such scenario for this time around. This is because Seb has recently been invested into our local Beaver colony. He will tell anyone who will listen (including complete strangers) that he is a Beaver with a necker and woggle. This statement is sometimes met with looks of confusion, but most people who have had some contact with the Scouting or Guiding movement will show what he deems to be an appropriate response. I quickly realised that there is a cooks badge and I asked him if he wanted to make some items towards it. He was even more eager than I could have anticipated!

This meal was eaten by the whole family and was entirely put together by Seb. There is a small amount of adult preparation. You could use tinned potatoes if you want to reduce the amount of adult preparation. We used tinned salmon, but you could cook some pieces of salmon instead. We also were able to use this activity to reinforce Seb’s understanding of whole, half and quarter as he quartered the boiled eggs. I completely love it when cooking can help with multiple areas of the curriculum!

Ingredients

• 500g new potatoes (or other small potatoes)
• 4 medium eggs
• 2 tins of skinless and boneless salmon (170g each) or 4 salmon fillets
• 150g sugar snap peas
• 150g sweetcorn (tinned or frozen)
• 2 salad tomatoes
• 8tbsp reduced salt soy sauce
• 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Seasoning

Adult preparation

1. Boil the new potatoes for 15-20 minutes, drain and leave cool.
2. Gentle lower the eggs into boiling water and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Run under cold water and remove shells.
3. Grate the ginger

Older children could do all of the above, but as Seb was making this after school I did the three above steps for him.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°c and spray a large oven proof (we used Pyrex) dish with Frylight.
2. Cut the potatoes, sugar snap peas and tomatoes into small pieces and add the large oven proof dish.
3. Cut the eggs into quarters and add to the dish.
4. Add the sweetcorn.
5. Remove the salmon from the tins and gently squish with a fork to separate and add to the dish.
6. In a small bowl, measure out the 8tbsp of soy sauce.
7. Add the grated ginger.
8. Gently bash the garlic cloves with a rolling pin and remove the skin and then crush with a garlic press. Add to the soy sauce.
9. Mix the ginger and garlic into the soy sauce and pour over the dish with the rest of the ingredients and gently mix.
10. Place in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Simon and I really enjoyed this dish. Seb wasn’t keen on the tomatoes, but in fairness he never is. Our little potato-hater managed to eat at least one new potato, but was adamant that he would not eat any more. As usual Ophelia managed to eat pretty much her whole portion. It was a nice family meal and one I am eager to repeat. Do get in contact if you make this as we would love to hear from you!

We are only a week into the new term and I am already having to coax the kids out of bed in the mornings all the while trying to convince them that it is morning despite the darkness. It seems to be one of my eternal frustrations in my parenting expedition. I use the word expedition as I most certainly do want to conjure up the image of the sheer volume of allegedly necessary paraphernalia that the kids, and therefore me by default, accumulate and need to have on hand at any given time.

Having just read the above, I think it is abundantly clear why parents tend to favour quick and easy evening meals. I know for me that by Friday all my intentions of well balanced, homemade and nutritious meals is abandoned and the kids eat ready made pizza and garlic bread and I heave a sigh of relief while they happily chatter and gobble it up. Fish and chips always used to be my go to meal for Friday evenings. However, this started becoming an issue when Seb started school and it turns out they serve a fish meal on a Friday at lunch. This made him reluctant to have fish and chips for a second time in the day so Friday food then became pizza and we now rarely buy fish fingers.

Lucky for me, my kids seem to like fish. I know for some parents the only way that their children will even contemplate eating fish is if it comes breaded and served with chips. But not all fish fingers are created equal. We like the ones made out of 100% fish fillet, they just taste nicer. And if that makes me a fish finger snob, so be it… Anyway back to our recipe. We decided to use crushed cornflakes (so much more than a breakfast cereal!) instead of breadcrumbs, some dried mixed herbs and garlic granules for added flavour and the result was really yummy fish fingers!

Ingredients

For the three children, we used 2 fillets of cod. I sliced them into ‘finger-sized’ pieces before starting cooking with the kids.

• 2 fillets of cod
• 75g cornflakes
• 1tsp dried mixed herbs
• 1/2tsp garlic granules
• 1 egg
• 1tbsp milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°c and put a silicone baking mat on a baking tray.
2. Put the cornflakes, mixed herbs and garlic granules into the food processor and blitz until fine and place on a plate.
3. Crack the egg and gently whisk in a small bowl. Add the tablespoon of milk and mix.
4. Dip the fish fingers in the egg and ensure all sides have been coated.
5. Roll the fish fingers in the blitzed cornflakes to ensure that all sides are covered.
6. Place on the baking tray and put in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and fully cooked. We turned ours half way through cooking time.

My kids had a lot of fun making these and there were no leftovers. If I am honest, I should have made more as I would have liked to have some too! I should also say that, my kids are generally quite messy in the kitchen, but this last photo shows the extent of the damage and this time around it was limited. I can’t express my surprise that they had managed to keep most of the crushed cornflakes on the plate! Maybe this is the start of less messy cooking sessions? Nope, who I am kidding there is no chance that this was anything more than a fluke! Do let me know if you make this recipe.