Home-made nut & seed bars June 21 2016, 0 Comments

My husband and I love nut bars but they are expensive and full of sugars so we've been experimenting with this recipe for a while now. This usually makes enough for a weeks worth of nut & seed bars for the both of us....feel free to mix up the ingredients and experiment for yourself!

30g Butter / margarine / coconut oil (whatever you prefer - we use flora)

60g peanut butter

100g honey

75g Pumpkin seeds

50g Sunflower seeds

20g linseed seeds

10g sesame seeds

10g chia seeds

50g chopped almonds (or chopped mixed nuts)

30g Rolled oats

30g Rice crispies / puffs

15g Amarynth Puffs (optional - found in Whole Foods)

Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees

Gently heat the Butter, peanut butter and around 3/4's of the honey in a pan until it's liquid. Turn off the heat.

Add the other ingredients bit by bit and mix in until they are all coated.

Add the rest of the honey as needed. 

Line a mini loaf tin with grease proof paper (see photo above - I usually cut the paper into long strips to use for multiple bars and then cut in between after cooking). Fill each hole with the mixture. Press down with the back of a spoon so the mixture is tightly packed and even.

Place the loaf tin in the oven and cook for 10-12 minutes. You don't really want them to brown - just heat enough to hold the bar together.

Allow to cool before lifting each loaf out of the tin using the paper. Keep in an air tight tin and try not to eat them all at once!

We find that these really help to keep us from snacking.

Enjoy!

Salmon Fish Cakes May 12 2016, 0 Comments

My kids adore these fish cakes and I love the fact that they are eating so much salmon. The great thing with tinned salmon is that it's currently reasonably priced and it still contains all of it's goodness and Omega-3 fats.  I try to make something with potato the day before I make these so I can use leftover mash for them.

1 tin salmon (pink or red) (I usually remove the harder bones and dark skin)

1 small potato peeled, cooked and mashed

1 tblsp Philadelphia or other soft cheese (I like to add a little finely grated cheddar cheese too)

2 eggs beaten

breadcrumbs (1-2 slices of bread)

2-3 tblsp plain flour

black pepper and parsley is optional

In a bowl mash the salmon and potato together and add the Philedelphia and half of the beaten eggs (i.e. 1 egg). Also add any of the seasonings at this point. Once well combined, take a spoonfuls of mixture and roll into balls. flatten each ball to half an inch 

To make the breadcrumbs you can add slices of bread into a warm oven for 10-15 minutes, wait to cool and then add to a blender for a few short blasts.

To add the breadcrumbs first coat each fish cake patty in flour, then dip into the beaten egg and then dip into the breadcrumbs.

Shallow fry in a light olive oil until golden brown.

serve with salad or veg. We like them with pea and soya bean puree, the kids version of mushy peas!

super red smoothie May 05 2016, 0 Comments

I love using beetroot in smoothies. The colour is just amazing and it's so healthy and full antioxidants. You can taste it's earthy flavour in this smoothie but it's not overpowering so it's great for kids. This recipe is also low in sugars and could also handle a few spinach leaves thrown in if you fancy!

Ingredients:
1 small cooked beetroot (I use the ready cooked ones NOT in vinegar)
5 strawberries
1 apple peeled and cored
half a small avocado
squeeze of lime + 40-60ml liquid (water, coconut water or apple juice)

optional extras:
1 tsp chia seeds

Place all the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth.

The above ingredients will make approximately 3 servings in our 140ml pouches or 2 servings in our 200ml pouches.

Great for adults and kids!!

Back to recipe list

Mango, Strawberry and Carrot Smoothie April 19 2016, 0 Comments

This is now my new favourite smoothie. It's delicious and I love the colour! I use a nutribullet to blend my smoothies now but if you are using a less powerful blender it may be wise to grate the carrot first.

Ingredients:
90g frozen Mango chunks (fresh is also good)
90g strawberries
1 medium carrot  washed and roughly chopped
40-60ml clear liquid (water, coconut water or apple juice)

optional extras:
quarter of an avocado
1/2 tsp chia seeds

Place all the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth.

The above ingredients will make approximately 3 servings in our 140ml pouches or 2 servings in our 200ml pouches.

Great for adults and kids!!

Sweetcorn, Broccoli stem and carrot puree April 12 2016, 0 Comments

This puree is really simple and came about when I needed a quick meal for my kids and a 7 month old baby. The puree doubles up as a simple weaning recipe as well as a hidden veg sauce in a pesto pasta dish for toddlers and older kids.  

The great thing about this recipe is that I always have sweetcorn in the freezer, carrots in the fridge and I always seem to end up with a huge broccoli stem after we've eaten all the florets. This recipe puts it to good use and I will now always have a pouch of it in the freezer for quick dinners!

Ingredients for the puree:

80g sweetcorn

80g broccoli stems chopped

80g carrot chopped

add the carrots to a steamer and steam for 5 minutes. Add the broccoli stems and steam for a further 8-10 minutes until tender. Add the sweetcorn and steam for a further 1-2 minutes. Check that the carrot and broccoli stems are cooked through.

Blend with around 50-70ml of the steamer water to a smooth puree. The sweetcorn is very fibrous so extra blending is requiored to achieve a really smooth puree.

serve as a puree for babies.

To use the puree as a hidden veg pasta sauce mix into red or green pesto pasta dishes and add grated cheese on top. My kids love this with red pesto and they ate it up double quick making lots of nom nom noises the first time I hid this in the pesto pasta!

The above recipe makes approx 2 Animal pouches. Alter the volumes to suit.

Enjoy!

Kiwi, Apple, spinach and cucumber smoothie February 26 2016, 0 Comments

This delicious smoothie is a great source of Vitamin C, antioxidants and enzymes and is apparently great for respiratory tract health! this smoothies tastes delicious! A very tasty smoothie with great health benefits.

Ingredients:
2 ripe Kiwi’s peeled
1 large apple peeled and cored (or 2 small apples)
1 handful spinach
5-6 cm chunk cucumber (peeled or half peeled)
40-60ml liquid (water, coconut water or apple juice)

optional extras:
quarter to a half of an avocado
1 tsp chia seeds

Place all the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth.

The above ingredients will make approximately 3 servings in our 140ml pouches or 2 servings in our 200ml pouches.

Great for adults and kids!!

Back to recipe list

Kiwi, Banana and Vanilla Yogurt Smoothie January 15 2016, 0 Comments

This delicious smoothie is a great source of Vitamin C as well as probiotics, pre-biotics, Vitamin A, potassium and antioxidants. It's a lovely pale green colour thanks to the kiwi and the spinach (which can't be tasted at all).  A very tasty smoothie with great health benefits.

2 Ripe kiwi's pealed 

1 Ripe medium banana peeled 

1 handful spinach

5 Tblsp vanilla yogurt

1 tablespoon apple juice or other liquid (water, coconut water, milk)

Place all the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth. 

The finished consistency should be just perfect for the pouches but add a little apple juice if you feel that it's too thick.

The above ingredients will make approximately 3 servings.

You can make this with plain yogurt also but we love the flavour of the vanilla in this smoothie. 

Super Healthy Chicken Curry December 21 2015, 0 Comments

My kids love this curry! I make a double batch of this every 6 weeks or so as it's a super healthy easy meal to pull out the freezer. My son first had this at his first nursery (when he was dairy intolerant) and when he left I requested the recipe and have added extra vegetables to make it as healthy as possible over time....please forgive the vague recipe as I make this up pretty much as I go along normally!

2 medium sweet potato cut into approx. 2cm chunks

A bit less by weight of butternut squash cut into approx. 2cm chunks

1 medium onion finely chopped

2 large carrots chopped into small pieces

Around 200ml Coconut milk

1 level tsp mild curry powder, 1 level tsp Garam Masala, ½ level tsp ground cumin

200-250g Cooked Chicken, chopped into small pieces*

150-200ml Chicken stock

1 tbsp olive oil

In a large non-stick pan fry off the onion and carrots in olive oil until soft, add the spices and stir in. heat for a couple of minutes. Add most of the coconut milk and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

In a separate pan steam the Sweet potato and butternut squash until soft and then mash them together. Keep the liquid from the steamer for later.

Add the mash to the other pan and mix together.

Add the chicken stock to the pan to loosen the mixture and mix in (if using a stock cube use the steamer water to make up the stock). If using fresh chicken juices, add these whilst it’s still hot to avoid any multiple re-heating issues. This is a good point to taste the curry and decide if you would like to add more spices. Simmer for a further 15-20 minutes or until the carrot pieces are soft. if the mixture needs to thicken, keep the lid off.

Cool the curry as quickly as you can by sitting the pan in cold water. Once cooled enough divide into portions in freezer bags or Tupperware style containers. Once room temperature, add the chopped pre-cooked chicken to each portion and mix in.

*you can of course cook the chicken with the curry rather than using separately cooked chicken but I love how tender chicken is when roasted. Fry the raw chicken off at the start and then continue with the below instructions.

If I don't have much leftover chicken I will often add some lentils to the curry to add extra protein.Ensure that these are cooked well in the mixture.

Kale, Bean and Sweet Potato Puree November 25 2015, 0 Comments

This super healthy puree is suitable for 7 months+ and is packed with Vitamin A and C, antioxidants and pre-biotics. It's a fantastic recipe to help keep colds at bay and boost your little one's immune system.

50g kale (remove any large stalks)

1/2 onion chopped

2 garlic cloves (peeled)

50g yellow or orange pepper 

125g (small tin) of canellini or butter beans

100g or 1/2 sweet potato peeled and cut into small chunks

Start by steaming the sweet potato for around 5 minutes then add the kale and steam for another 3 minutes. Add the pepper onion and garlic and steam for another 5 minutes.

Add the beans to the blender and then add all of the steamed ingredients. Add approx 80ml of the water from the steaming process to the blender and blend until smooth or slightly textured for older babies. Add more water if needed to reach your desired consistency.

The above ingredients will make around 4 pouches