Cooking with Kids

Name: Easy Peasy Home Made Pizza
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 225g plain flour (I used Italian '00' Flour); 1 teaspoon salt; 1 1/2 teaspoons caster sugar; 1/2 teaspoon fast action dried yeast; 150 ml warm water; 2 tablespoons rapeseed or light olive oil; Extra flour for dusting/rolling; Tomato passata for the base; Your favourite toppings for the top

December 8, 2014

Make-Ahead Leek and Poppy Seed Sausage Rolls

We’ve only recently started making our own sausage rolls at home, but now that we’ve tried them, there’s no going back to the shop-bought variety. The homemade version is altogether a different thing – flaky pastry, good quality sausage meat of your choice (I get mine from Hedges Farm in St Albans) and a few optional extras, like some softly cooked leeks (there was a lone leek in my veg box), or caramelised onions, and a sparkling of poppy seeds, or even sesame seeds. We look forward to having these as an after-school snack (they are super-quick to whisk out of the freezer) or as party food and they’d certainly be great for serving up as a homemade canapé to Christmas visitors. Here’s my recipe, hope you get to try them….

June 4, 2014

Press Images for The After School Cookbook

I’m very much looking forward to the publication of The After School Cookbook by friend and author Nick Coffer this Thursday 5th June 2014. Firstly, because this is Nick’s second book, following on from the huge success of his first book My Daddy Cooks, which means I have a brand new stash of family-friendly, super easy recipes to try. Secondly, because I was asked by Nick’s publishers Hodder and Stoughton to take some press and publicity images for the book which are now finding themselves across the media. Yesterday began with a front page spread in EAT (Metro supplement) with a double page feature (pages 34 & 35) of a couple of recipes from the book, with some of my photos to illustrate – a very proud moment for me! It was a great project to work on and from the minute I received my copy of the book I was eager to get stuck into cooking some of the recipes and to start photographing them.

After School Cookbook Press Images by Ren Behan for Hodder & Stoughton — The After School Cook Book Press Images by Ren Behan for Hodder & Stoughton

The recipes from the book that I cooked and photographed (above) were –

Italian Eggy Bread Croque-Monsieur
Cheddar, Parma Ham and Courgette Scones
Pork Chilli Con Carne (pages splashed already!)
Tuna, Carrot and Courgette Salad (MY new favourite lunch, never mind the kids!)
Salmon Courgette and Tomato Linguine
Chicken and Olive Pasta Bake
Cheese and Sweetcorn Pudding
Absolutely Instant Chocolate Mousse

There are a stack more that I can’t wait to cook and so far, every single recipe I’ve made worked first time and has been woolfed down by my family.

Nick first came to the public’s attention through his video blog called MyDaddyCooks.com in 2009, which led him to his first cookbook deal. Since then, he’s been busy on BBC Three Counties Radio, presenting his Saturday Weekend Kitchen show as well as his five-day-a-week afternoon slot. There’s also recently been a brand new addition to the family, another baby boy, which means that mealtimes really do need to be made as easy as possible to pull off for Nick and his wife, Jo.

The After School Cookbook is really a handy manual for parents, not only of school-aged kids, but of toddlers and older children, too. All of the recipes are suitable for the whole family and there are some very clever recipes and chapters including Mind the Gap – to bridge the gap between home time and dinner time, Inspired Lunch Boxes, Genius Treats and Saving Your Bacon – frugal recipes packed with flavour. Nick shares his tips for cooking with children, with symbols by each recipe to indicate whether the recipe is ‘Very Very Easy,’ – ‘Very Easy,’ or ‘Easy’ and in terms of timing, ‘Really Really Quick,’ ‘Really Quick,’ ‘Quick’ or ‘Slow’.

The book itself is text only – meaning that it is practical enough for the kitchen with inevitable splashes and stains. Nick’s trademark ‘quick-to-throw-together’ style means that you can make many of the recipes with ease when you are short of time. Nick’s six-year-old son Archie and three-year-old daughter Matlida can very often be found getting stuck in with the cooking. As many of us know only too well, after school patience levels and concentration levels can be a challenge, so the food that makes it to the table needs to be quick and easy yet nutritious, too.

For more updates on the book, you can follow Nick on Twitter @NickCoffer and don’t forget to look out for more press features and recipes to try!

The After School Cookbook By Nick Coffer
120 quick, easy and affordable recipes for your hungry kids
Published: Thursday 5 June 2014
Hodder & Stoughton Trade Paperback & eBook £16.99

Disclosure:

Press & publicity recipe photographs taken by Ren Behan commissioned by Hodder & Stoughton.

Amazon affiliate link included.

With thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for the commission and to Nick Coffer for writing such a lovely book!

Giveaway

Hodder and Stoughton have also kindly provided three copies of the book to giveaway to my readers –

ENTER THE AFTER SCHOOL COOKBOOK GIVEAWAY HERE

May 14, 2014

Food Revolution Day 2014 – Join In With Your Kids!

Cooking with kids is something I feel really passionately about and raising awareness of good food is something I’m always happy to do and get behind. This year, Food Revolution Day – a global day of action – falls on Friday 16th May 2014. It’s a day entirely dedicated to raising food awareness and education on cooking supported by the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation. Beyond the day itself, the charity aims to deliver food education programmes though teaching kitchen skills, as well as educating kids on where their food comes from and inspiring kids and adults alike to enjoy cooking from scratch. It’s the ethos that pretty much fuels Jamie Oliver in most of what he does. The money raised by the foundation (and on Food Revolution Day itself) is also used toward helping disengaged teenagers to train to work in the food industry through the Fifteen Apprentice Programme, which I mentioned last week after a charity supper at Fifteen. You can support the cause here, whilst entering to win a cooking lesson with Jamie Oliver and a stay in London with dinner and spending money thrown in, too. Or, you can visit the official Food Revolution Day website for lots more ideas on how to join in and get involved on the day and beyond.

There’s generally a theme to Food Revolution Day and this year, the big emphasis is on getting kids excited about food by encouraging them to help out with food preparation and by helping them to learn how to make good food choices as early on as possible. We’re all very quick to blame the food industry and schools (although our school meals are amazing and are cooked from scratch every day even at state level) but we also have to acknowledge that teaching kids the very basics can begin at home. We live in a world now where even a baby’s first spoonful of food may come from a jar or a packet. There are so many food choices to navigate and so much of our food is now processed and stripped of it’s true nutritional value. Some of our food is so far removed from it’s natural state that at times, we can barely even recognise the basic ingredients. This makes me sad and it’s something I’d love to see changed and improved upon. I’m excited to see that food is coming back to the revised National Curriculum in 2014 at primary level and secondary level and I really hope it stays there and makes a big come back throughout school life through Home Economics/Design & Technology lessons. But I also really believe that despite the fact that our lives are so incredibly busy, there are lots of things that we can do ourselves and at home to help us all become more aware of cooking with real ingredients and making sensible choices.

To mark Food Revolution Day this year, I was asked to share some of my childhood cooking memories over on the JamieOliver.com site, which I did, along with an exclusive recipe for a tasty fresh plum cake, served with plenty of yogurt and fruit. A plum cake was the first recipe that I learned how to bake with my mum and it’s a recipe that my kids love to help me with in the kitchen now, too. There are plenty of ways for little hands to help and get involved along the way. My seven and four year old children were practically able to do much of the preparation for this cake between them, needing my help only with the electric whisk and with putting the cake into the oven and with taking it out once cooked.

There are some more child-friendly recipes and activity sheets to explore over on the Food Revolution Day website and it’s not too late to sign up and get involved. Simply fill in the form to say how many of you are going to be marking Food Revolution Day – whether by joining in with a live cooking lesson with Jamie, trying a new recipe or ingredient out for yourselves or perhaps even planting some potatoes or other vegetables in the garden with the kids. You can also share your ideas, activities or results via social media using the hashtag #FRD2014.

{Find my recipe for the plum cake here!}

Every year, awareness of how making better food choices and of cooking real food from scratch grows and grows with the help of Jamie’s Food Revolution Day campaign with over 74 countries taking part globally. I hope you can set aside a little time to join in this year in creating some little waves which may spark more action in the months and years to come.

Keep an eye out for my tweets @RenBehan to see what we’re getting up to on Food Revolution Day – we’ll be taking part in the live cookery lesson at 2pm at home (making a nutritious rainbow salad wrap) and planting some veggies shortly after that, too. I’m looking forward to sharing our mini kitchen garden progress with you as things start to grow over the summer. There are also many other food bloggers helping to spread the work about the day and campaign itself – take a look at some more posts here –

Mabintu at Recipes from a Pantry on Yogurt Dip

Louisa’s post over on Eat Your Veg, including a recipe for Easy Cheesy Muffins

The Jamie Oliver Food Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1094536. All links editorially given and I have chosen to make a donation to the campaign as well as to raise awareness of Food Revolution Day through this post.

Other recipes to try with kids –

Pear and Plum Banana Bread

Turkey and Leek Meatballs with Tomato Tagliatelle

Swiss Scrambled Eggs with Croissants and Shakes

Are you joining in with Food Revolution Day this year? If so, let me know what you are doing and have fun!

February 7, 2014

Vegan Chocolate Cake – Affinities Cake from Rococo

It’s chocolate cake time, although this one counts as semi-healthy owing to the fact that it is a vegan chocolate cake and it contains prunes – so a slice of this definitely counts as one of your five a day in my view. Given my addiction and adoration of chocolate in any form I was amazed to learn (prompted by Dom’s Random Recipes challenge) that there are only two books dedicated entirely to chocolate on my bookshelf. I was so surprised by this, that I felt the need to pop into my local book store to peruse the chocolate section to see exactly how many chocolate books I’m missing out on. There were, as you can imagine, many wonderful chocolate books that I could very easily have immediately added to my collection. Melt: A book of Chocolate by Louise Nason and and Chika Watanabe stood out, as did Eric Lanlard’s Chocolat. Of the two I found at home, the first – ‘Zlota Ksiega Czekolady’ was written entirely in Polish and the second was a fairly recent addition; Rococo Mastering the Art of Chocolate by Chantal Coady of Rococo Chocolates.

Out of the two books, my son picked Rococo as the book to cook from. He also happened to bring home a chocolate book from the school library this week, so we explored the process of making chocolate through both books. In another coincidence, we also caught Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on television on Sunday. So all in all, it’s been quite a chocolate-filled week.

Having selected the Rococo book, the page we opened (174) depicted a chocolate cake adorned with rose petals (perfect for Valentine’s Day, too) and referred to as being so here on The Telegraph’s website. The cake is called Affinities Cake – possibly due to the affinity between the ingredients – balsamic, vanilla, salt, soda, olive oil and prune juice?

I had to flip back a page to find the recipe and found that I had most of the ingredients to hand, apart from the prune juice. I did have a large bag of dried prunes in the cupboard though, so I whizzed them up with some water to make 400ml of prune liquid. I also used Ndali vanilla powder and a gluten free flour blend, so in fact, my version of this cake ended up being gluten free and vegan. Double brownie points…

Chocolate is a deeply emotional subject. I am obsessed, and I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by several tons of the best chocolate in the world – Chantal Coady

On a more serious note, the introduction to the recipe saddened me a little. The first time Chantal Coady came across this cake was in Grenada, when it had been made for Mott Green, co-founder of the Grenada Chocolate Company. I remember vividly the day that my friend Vanessa Kimbell wrote of Mott’s untimely death – in a tragic accident. Vanessa had spent the week with Mott in Grenada and he profoundly influenced her; so much so, that Vanessa’s personal blog is now dedicated to Mott Green’s memory. By all accounts, he was a truly great man and is missed by all who knew him and worked for him in the business of producing chocolate.

So this post is, like dark chocolate, bitter sweet. It is a deeply seductive cake, though the headnote in the book is now tinged with loss. I hope that Mott’s legacy lives on in Grenada and around the world.

…his greatest legacy will be the super-ethical model of organic chocolate production where the growers and producers are equally paid and where the normal terms of trade are reversed ensuring that it is possible to add all the value at source and bring maximum benefit to the local economy, in this case to the people of Grenada who Mott loved – Chantal Coady

Recipe

Click here for the ‘Affinities Cake’ recipe

Changes I made –

I made my own prune juice by whizzing up 100g of prunes with 400ml water
I used soft light brown sugar
I used a gluten free flour blend instead of plain flour
I topped my cake with melted organic dark chocolate and some caramel – the caramel I used is non-vegan but you could leave it out or use a vegan version!!

You can find more chocolate recipes by searching under the category of chocolate on my recipe index.

This post is being linked to Dom’s Random Recipes event, which this month challenged us to select any chocolate-themed recipe book and to make a randomly selected recipe from that book. This month, Dom at Belleau Kitchen has also joined forces with Chocolette, who runs the equally glorious We Should Cocoa event over on her Chocolate Log Blog.

Have you come across any ‘virtuous’ chocolate cake recipes on your travels?

September 19, 2013

National Cupcake Week – Three Favourite Recipes

It’s National Cupcake Week which means you have the perfect excuse to pre-heat the oven, whip out the butter and icing sugar and get baking and frosting. Every now and again, a new craze or trend, such as cake pops or ‘cronuts’ threaten to knock the cupcake off the sweet treat top spot, but we all know that the gourmet cupcake will prevail. Here are three of my favourite cupcake recipes to keep you going throughout the week. If you’re going along to a charity coffee morning or school bake sale anytime soon, don’t forget to take a batch along and show off your cupcake prowess, too.

1. Caramel and Cocoa Cupcakes

In this recipe, I recommend using 60g of caramel of toffee sauce in the frosting. There’s only one way forward when it comes to caramel in a jar, and it’s Bonne Maman Confiture de Caramel, which I have spotted in a few UK supermarkets now. If you really can’t find it, an alternative is Dulce de Leche. You can also hollow out a little bit of your cupcake once its baked (with a teaspoon) and add some the caramel to the cake before frosting. I made these for Valentine’s Day – but who says you need to wait till then to treat yourself to one of these? Warning – you will eat the remainder of the jar of caramel with a spoon. If you really have any caramel left, make these Salted Caramel Chocolate Oatmeal Bars for your next hit.

2. Raspberry Ripple and Basil Cupcakes

When the dark nights start to set in, these cupcakes remind me of summertime at the seaside, with white butter-cream or frosting drizzled with a little raspberry ripple sauce. The basil gives a very subtle flavour and also adds an extra little bit of colour. You can also add one or two leaves into your cake mix if you fancy trying something different.

3. Diddy Philly Cupcakes with cinnamon sugar

Finally, let’s not forget the kids. Cupcakes are a great way to get the little ones into the kitchen and you can let them get creative with sprinkles or even little sweeties to decorate the top. You can make a really simple cream cheese topping for your cupcakes with Philadelphia cheese. If you don’t have a mini cupcake tin, just make 12 regular sized fairy cakes.

I hope you find the time to bake up a little treat or two!

Don’t forget to search #NationalCupcakeWeek on Twitter for more ideas.

June 26, 2013

Salted Caramel Chocolate Oatmeal Bars and Bake Sale Ideas

The sun is shining! I’ve been busy developing and photographing lots of exciting recipes for a new platform (more news to come) as well as writing and baking and making these (slightly addictive) Salted Caramel Chocolate Oatmeal Bars.

Recently, a recipe from one of my favourite blogs, Pinch of Yum, popped into my inbox and I knew instantly that I had to make it. The recipe was for Chocolate Caramel Oatmeal Bars. Since I had half a jar of Bonne Maman Confiture de Caramel left over, having made The ‘Big Daddy’ Salted Caramel Fudge Cake last weekend, I knew this would be the perfect recipe to make for a girls night in. I had actually been instructed to come with salad, but these were too good not to bring instead! Mine turned out a little more crumbly than on Pinch of Yum, as I had to convert measurements, plus I had an extra little pair of helping hands (which meant half the flour was all over the floor!) but they were equally tasty. Having made them once, I made them again to take to our summer fair, along with a big batch of cupcakes and as I type, I’m seriously craving them again…

[kitchenbug-your-recipe-appears-here-10627]

Find the original Pinch of Yum recipe adapted by Lindsay here – with US measurements.

More Bake Sale Ideas

We’ve had our school summer fair, but if yours is still to come pop over and read my latest piece for JamieOliver.com on Bake Sale Ideas, too.

Happy Baking!

March 29, 2013

Fish is the Dish – Smoked Mackerel Omelette

The Easter weekend is upon us and I am reminded of how, growing up, we would always eat fish on a Friday, not just on Good Friday. And before the chocolate frenzy begins, there is still time to eat simply. We’re starting our day with a Hot Smoked Mackerel Omelette, for a quick and easy omega-3 boost.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been roughly following a plan and a challenge called Healthy Happy Hearts, encouraging us to eat two portions of fish a week. It isn’t a big change for us, as we already try and eat fish once a week, but upping our intake to two portions means that I’ve enjoyed experimenting a little more with fish at different mealtimes. I’ve written about the Fish is the Dish campaign before and was lucky to have had one of my recipes featured in their free family cookbook along with lots of other bloggers.

Dowload the cookbook in the Fish is the Dish site

This time, Fish is the Dish have been working with one family specifically to help them to eat two portions of fish a week, encouraging us all along with extra hints, tips, menus and recipes. There is research to show that eating fish twice a week will help to raise levels of omega-3 in the body. As a ‘good’ fat that is essential to our diets, Omega-3 helps with brain development, joint function, healthy skin and eyes as well as better mental health.

The hardest part of any cooking-based challenge is to find ways of getting the children to eat more healthily, so I came up with this quick and easy recipe, which the kids, to my surprise, devoured. I did think that smoked mackerel would be too strong a flavour for them, but then, they do like smoked salmon and actually tolerate ‘big’ flavours, such as fresh olives, better than I do. So sometimes, kids will surprise us. Mine were even picking the mackerel out of the bowl before we got it in the pan!

Getting them involved in the cooking or preparation process also helps, too and I find that my kids are more likely to try something new if they’ve helped to make it. I came across this infographic this week whilst writing about Cooking with Kids for Great British Chefs, backing up my theory. A survey showed that 84% of parents said that cooking with their children made them more likely to try new food types. Since the Easter holidays are now upon us, we’ll definitely be spending plenty of time cooking together in the kitchen – we’ll have lots of chocolate Easter eggs to use up (great for crispy cakes or fridge cakes) but we’ll also be making some healthy fishy dishes together, too!

Cooking with Kids – find the full infographic here

How to make a Smoked Mackerel Omelette

Making this omelette is quick and simple. We used some ‘responsibly sourced’ Smoked Mackerel fillets, on offer at the supermarket, too. They were in a vacuum sealed packet. Start with one, or even half a fillet if mackerel is a new flavour for your family. Using your fingers, pull the mackerel away from the skin (it will flake up) and put it in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk up two eggs, add an (optional) little swirl of fresh double cream for a little extra decadence. Next, grate up some cheese, Parmesan or Gruyere work well. Switch on the grill and leave it to heat up. Add a small drizzle of olive oil or rapseed oil (extra omega-3) into a small frying pan, pour in the eggs and put the pan on a medium heat on the hob. The egg will start to set, you can give it a little stir at the beginning, then leave it to start setting on a low heat. After a minute or two, add the flakes of mackerel to the pan and sprinkle over some of the cheese. Cook for one minute and then put the frying pan under the hot grill so that the top of the omelette cooks and puffs up a bit. Once it looks golden on the top, take it out and add an extra sprinkle of cheese. Serve and eat straight away.

I hope you have time to try this over the long and lazy Easter weekend. I’ll be back tomorrow with an Easter sweet treat!

With many thanks to Fish is the Dish for sending my family some fish to try as part of the Healthy Happy Hearts challenge. No additional payment was received.

Follow @FishistheDish on Twitter for extra hints and tips or search for the #HealthyHappyHearts challenge.

September 28, 2011

Review: I Love to Bake by Tana Ramsay

It seems that everyone has the baking bug at the moment. It might be something to do with lots of baking programmes on the television but for me, it’s the start of a new term and there have already been a couple of school events requiring the production of a home-baked goodie.

It’s always good to have a few fail-safe baking recipes to rely on. The night before a bake sale is not the time to be experimenting. You need a recipe you can trust and that isn’t going to depend on too many Mary Berry-standard skills.

Tana Ramsay is a mum, who I’m sure knows this feeling only too well. Her latest book is called ‘I Love to Bake’ and is published by the Octopus Publishing Group. Yes, she happens to be married to Gordon Ramsay, but I’m quite certain that he isn’t the one up until midnight icing cakes for school fêtes. I’m sure that Tana’s experience of combining motherhood with writing cookery books (this is her fourth book in her own name) and a TV career means that she’s well versed in testing and trying recipes that work and that are quick and easy to make (perhaps with a little help with the washing up along the way..)

So, what’s in Tana’s latest book? Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find that ‘baking’ includes a whole array of sweet and savoury family friendly dishes.

There are ten chapters in total –

Cakes & Cupcakes, Biscuits & Traybakes, Puddings, Chocolate, Sweet Pies & Tarts, Savoury Pies & Tarts, Meat Bakes, Fish & Vegetable Bakes, Bread and a final chapter on Easter, Hallowe’en and Christmas.

‘I Love to Bake’ is a bit of a baking ‘catch-all’ with recipes pitched a varying levels – some of them I’d say are very easily achievable, such as the Baked Tomatoes, Almond Jam Cookies (great to make wth kids) Blueberry Flapjacks (five ingredients to throw in a pan) and the Mackerel Fishcakes (using cooked mackerel fillets and left-over mash). Whereas some of the recipes are slightly more technical – such as the Sun-blushed Tomato & Pancetta Bread, Fish Lasagne (assembly and making a roux is required) or the Tapenade-coated Rack of Lamb with Mediterranean Canellini Beans (two separate recipes involved).

However, in general, they are certainly all achievable though my bread-making skills may need a little work before I reach the Bread chapter.

So far, some of the recipes that have made my family hit-list have included –

Lamb & Lentil Casserole – the recipe calls for swede and carrots but I made this with autumnal butternut squash and lentils and it was yummy

Sesame Coated Drumsticks – tahini, Chinese five-spice powder and runny honny make for a lovely tasty glaze

Easy Quesadillas – we swapped the salami for Polish garlicky sausage, delicious

Spiced Carrot & Raisin Cupcakes – a great after-school snack and they stayed very moist too for a good couple of days

My less successful baking adventures have included the Banana & Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. I’m not sure what happened, it definitely had something to do with my dodgy oven. Tana does say that the cake remains very moist so you have to keep an eye on the timings and watch when it shrinks away from the tin. I did, but the cake was still very soggy in the middle making it very difficult to slice it evenly into three slices. To make matters worse, when layered up with the frosting the whole cake slipped as I tried to get it into the tin – not my finest baking hour, but it won’t put me off making it again as it tasted really delicious!

Other sweet-treats on my ‘must-try’ list are Tana’s Orange and Poppy Seed Cake and her Orange Polenta Cake with Golden Syrup (I’ve made a similar Orange, Polenta and Amarretto cake before to a Nigella recipe but I love the idea of pouring golden syrup over the top reminiscent of the sponge and golden syrup of school dinners. I also love the look of Tana’s Home-Made Custard Creams and her Chocolate Truffle Hearts.

Most of all, I really like the seasonal slant to Tana’s book and I think there are many recipes where you could easily substitute seasonal fruit or vegetables depending on the time of year. For example, the Cherry, Almond and Buttermilk Muffins would be wonderful during British cherry season as fresh cherries are required, but I would probably try these with small cubes of soft pears during the autumn. Similarly, fresh cherries are required to make the Bakewell Tart with Homemade Cherry Jam, but for a twist I might give this a go using fresh, seasonal plum jam instead.

Tana’s Baked Cheesecake with Rhubarb Compote is a lovely way to use garden rhubarb (and I love the fact that she suggests putting a layer of crème fraîche over the top of the cheesecake once baked – handy to cover any cracks!) I also can’t wait to try Tana’s Salmon En Croûte with Minted Pea and Bean Purée (the peas and broad beans are both frozen and the pasty is shop-bough and ready-rolled – I like the thinking!)

There are photographs by Chris Terry accompanying almost all of the recipes, but not every single recipe and some of the recipes include extra photos of some of the steps (the Lemon Tart with Blackcurrants shows a couple of the stages) but that isn’t carried throughout the whole book.

The final chapter, Easter, Hallowe’en and Christmas, is a tiny bit disappointing. A basic hot-cross bun recipe covers Easter and there is just one recipe for basic cookies to cover Hallow’een, so there could have been a little more content in that chapter although the Christmas recipes, such as the Spiced Orange and Cranberry Mince Pies and Whole Baked Camembert sound good.

All in all, I have really enjoyed baking from this book so far. I might challenge myself to try one of Tana’s bread recipes and for a party next week I’m making Tana’s Lamb shanks with White Beans which sounds like something that can just bubble away for a few hours in the oven.

I am a little bit chocolate-caked-out after my daughter’s second birthday with more celebrations to come this weekend, but there is always room for a good chocolate cake and Tana’s Chocolate Fudge Cake claims to combine a ‘light sponge with a light filling’ so it might have to get made for the next school cake bake sale!

With many thanks to Fiona at Octopus Press for sending me a review copy of this book. RRP £14.99 (Around £7.50 on Amazon)

Photography Credit: Chris Terry

Look out tomorrow for Tana’s Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe and for your chance to win a copy of this book.

August 19, 2011

Review: Tum Tum Tots Tableware

The school holidays are flying by so quickly. Most days we’ve been out and about, visiting some great (though usually packed) local places and keeping as active as possible. It’s back to school in less than three weeks and the big question is – ‘school dinners or packed lunches?’

We may have been a little swayed this week by a parcel that arrived from Tum Tum Tots which included a very sweet little lunch bag and a few other bits which we’ve been sent to sample.

We didn’t receive the whole range (below) just a few bits to try!

The range, shown in full above, includes some really beautiful tableware for kids, cleverly designed by product designer parent-team Suzanne and Andrew Stokes for their two children aged three and one. As they watched their own kids battling with the classic ‘peas rolling off the spoon’ or ‘food falling off the plate and onto the floor’ dilemmas they decided to design their own tools for the job and came up with this new range specifically created for little fingers.

I was immediately impressed with the packaging as all of it was entirely recyclable with the added bonus of having pictures outlined for the children to colour in before recycling it or using the packaging for another purpose. For example, the triangular box that the cutlery set comes in could be coloured in and then used as a box for crayons or the dining box packaging could be used as a little carry case in itself.

Product features include:

· turned up sides on the plates so the food doesn’t fall off the side

· a scooping corner at the bottom of the plates and bowls

· non-slip bases on all the tableware

· dishwasher-safe

· BPA, phthalate and PVC free

· recyclable packaging (as mentioned)

· bright, colourful and engaging images

As a parent, all the items in the range tick all the boxes for me.

I particularly liked the lunch bag and the snack pots from the ‘out and about’ range as they are a little less generic than most of the things we find in the supermarkets these days…these might sway us towards packed lunches!

We also tried the Tum Tum Tiny Dining Set which my children loved, especially the hedgehog plate with turned up sides and a scooping corner. The illustrations/images were fun and the plate was not too big – my four-year-old does tend to get a little overwhelmed by large portion sizes so it was the perfect size for him. My two-year-old liked the bowl and managed really well with the cutlery set too.

The table mats were engaging enough to get them happily to the table and stayed in place well – there’s nothing worse than a mat that slides around in my view!

Availability

You can buy Tum Tum products both on-line and in many John Lewis stores – check out the Tum Tum Tots stockists page for more information.

Price

Prices range from £4.00 for an individual place mat and £14.00 for a two-piece dining set. The products do seem to be made of excellent quality material and they are strong and sturdy with the added benefit of thoughtful design and product features. I’m quite certain they will last well. We’ve washed them in the dishwasher a couple of times already and there were no problems at all.

Gift Idea

Some of the sets, such as the Tum Tum Trainee Egg Set with integrated egg cup, room for toast soldiers and special egg spoon at £12.00 would make an ideal gift too.

Thank you to Tum Tum Tots for introducing me to their range and for sending me the well-received product samples.

Photos courtesy of Tum Tum Tots, too.

July 18, 2011

Review: Usborne Children’s World Cookbook

A little while ago, my friend Lisa from The Book Mums spotted a cookery book that she thought would be right up my street – and she was right. It’s the Usborne Children’s World Cookbook which is filled with recipes from 25 different countries. If you have a long summer holdiay ahead of you to fill with children this book would be a very handy addition to your activity list.

The great thing about the Usborne Children’s World Cookbook is that it has a firm outer cover and inside it is spiral bound, making a great lie-flat book for the kitchen counter. The pages are thick and whilst they are probably not indestructible, they wipe clean very well if there are any minor splashes or spillages.

When I was little, I remember that my sister and I had a cookbook, with step by step pictures and instructions and two characters messing around – I wish I could remember the name of that book as it was the very first book I ever cooked from as a child. One of the characters was a cat, a bit like Henry’s Cat, but he wore a chef’s hat. Anyway, I digress. This book reminded me of that book in the way that the pictures breakdown each recipe in a simple-to-follow format.

Children of any age could easily follow the recipes in this book – if they are younger, of course, they would need lots of help and supervision. Older children (8-11) would enjoy picking out recipes to try too. You also get little snippets of information about each country throughout and its food or traditions.

There are some basic hints and tips to start with, such as how to chop an onion, how to grease a tin, whisk and beat. The first double-page spread features The United States of America, mentioning New York delis, pretzels and giving a recipe for a baked New York Cheesecake. Flip over and you’ll find a second recipe for Chocolate Brownies and a picture and explanation of the tradition of eating Pumpkin Pie. Well, we didn’t expect healthy recipes to start with, did we?!

England features Cream Teas with an easy recipe for Scones (which kids always love making and eating) and mentions seasonal fruits, berries and our love of jam making.

The Latin America pages are cool, showing you how to make Tacos, Guacamole, Salsa and Re-fried Beans. This would be a great project for older kids or adventurous families who could easily put together a theme night (based on any of the countries, in fact).

There are also pages showing all kinds of bright and colourful fruit and vegetables. I liked the way that unusual fruits were highlighted, such as Guava, Star Fruit, Lychees and Sharon Fruit and in the case of vegetables, Plantain, Okra and Yams. We took our book out shopping with us to see whether we could spot anything unusual – we found a few and came back with kiwi fruit and asparagus which my little boy was then keen to try.

There are also pages on Fish and Seafood, Cheese and Bread as well as photos of lots of Cakes and Pastries from around the world. My favourite sweet recipes were the Austrian Sachertorte and the German Lebkuchen (spiced biscuits) which we’ll definitely be making and decorating at Christmas.

It was great to see savoury food from The Caribbean, Norway, Russia and The Middle East highlighted and there were some real treats from Denmark – my son loved making ‘Smorrebrod‘ or open sandwiches and we enjoyed getting to know other Mediterranean ingredients, particularly as he adores olives!

Towards the back, the last few pages feature the flavours and spices of India, Thailand, China and Japan. We made the Fried Rice with Vegetables from China easily enough and the kids had fun practicing with chopsticks. In hindsight, I didn’t chose the easiest food for them to pick up, did I?!

All in all, I was very impressed with this book both for its educational though fun style, a very clean layout and simple to follow instructions. We’ll definitely be busy over the long Summer holidays experimenting and trying new recipes from around the world.

The Usborne Children’s World Cook Book is available through Usborne Children’s Books and is priced at £12.99. Check out Lisa at The Book Mums who will easily point you in the direction of a local consultant or will mail it out to you.

Other Usborne cookbooks include The Children’s Book of Baking, The Usborne Healthy Cookbook and 30 Things to Cook and Eat.

For downloadable versions of recipes in the book go to the Usborne Quicklinks Worldwide and enter the keywords “world cookbook“.

Thank you for my review copy. The book is written by Angela Wilkes and Sarah Khan with food photography by Howard Allman.

June 24, 2011

Review: ‘Food is Fun’ Kids Cookbook by Anorak Magazine

If you have kids, you may be familiar with Anorak Magazine – the happy magazine for kids which is available both in the UK and now in the US. A little while ago (actually quite a while ago, I got a little snowed-under) I was sent a copy of the new cookbook published by Anorak Press called ‘Food is Fun – Foodie Fun for Kids’ which takes a really ‘fun’ look at food with the aim of trying to get kids excited about ingredients and to encourage them to help out in the kitchen.

‘Food is Fun’ is written and put together in much the same style as Anorak Magazine. It is full of activities and food facts for children, for example, a message from Professor Clever Cloggs encourages kids to “Eat something different every day” and “Make your meals colourful” whilst Larry Lemon shares a recipe for ‘Zingy Lemonade’ and Olaf Orange tells you how to make a ‘Deliciously Fluffy Orange Cake’ using just a few ingredients and with simple steps. There are also plenty of other recipes for kids to try (under supervision).

The book also introduces kids to vegetables in a fun way – Greedy Greg talks about white food – Cauliflower, Garlic, Turnip and Jerusalem Artichoke with a question at the end “Can you think of any other white food?” as well as orange food – Saffron, Carrot, Starfruit, Sweet Potato and green food – Artichoke, Asparagus, Mint, Cucumber. I like the fact that less obvious vegetables are highlighted throughout the book in a way that really gets kids thinking.

My overall impression of ‘Food is Fun’ is that it is informative and educational as well as being fun to read and look at. There are magazine-style activities, such as a word search, a dot to dot game leading into a lentil salad and recipes to try. My favourite recipe is the “Super Easy Cake a Monkey Could Make” – for the title alone!

I would say the book is most suited for the seven + age group and would make a great gift, although my four year old enjoyed looking at the pictures and tried some of the activities and in my view, it’s never too early to start getting kids interested in food!

‘Food is Fun’ is available for £15 through the Anorak Magazine Shop shop with free postage and package in the UK. Anorak Magazine also has a Facebook Page and the team can be followed on Twitter

If you have kids who like to draw, check out Anorak’s competition for kids to draw a ‘happy cover’ for the magazine’s 5th anniversary edition – Happy Cover Competition

‘Food is Fun’ is made by Cathy Olmedillas and Rob Lowe at The Anorak Press.

Thank You to Cathy for sending me a review copy.

May 23, 2011

Road-Testing the ‘My Daddy Cooks’ Recipe Book

Hot off the press, the latest cookbook to hit my shelf is Nick Coffer’s ‘My Daddy Cooks’. Things are very exciting in the world of cookery books at the moment as more and more non-TV/non-celebrity cooks and food writers are making themselves heard. This is partly due to the growing popularity and phenomenon of Internet blogging, which is literally thrusting ‘up and coming’ foodies straight into the hands of publishers who seem to be keen on bringing the very best of such ‘new voices’ forward. It seems there is room for new talent and I believe there should be. Whilst they may not soar quite as quickly as books written by or endorsed by the ‘big guns’ of the food world overnight, I say, look out -there is some real talent emerging.

Enter Nick and Archie. I first met Nick when I was asked to appear as a guest on his BBC radio show (I have the very lovely English Mum to thank for our introduction.) Nick was in the process of writing his first cookery book (though he has always kept the show and his blog/book quite separate). It was clear to me that his love of food was all-encompassing and that his enthusiasm would propel him forward at great speed.

Nick had drawn a great deal of attention by way of his My Daddy Cooks Video Blog, filmed in a small kitchen in Watford with his one-year old son, Archie, as his helper. Having watched his drinks business fold under the strain of the recession in 2009, Nick had found himself a stay-at-home dad. As anyone who spends the majority of their day at home with a child may know, oddly, there is a lot of time to fill – so they filled it by cooking together in their kitchen. Within a matter of weeks of their first ‘video-blog’ hitting the Internet, Nick and Archie had gained a huge following. They found themselves on the front page on the London Evening Standard, signed a cook book deal and Nick was given the chance to host his own food and drink based radio show through the BBC. And so now to the book…

My Daddy Cooks: 100 Fresh New Recipes for the Whole Family

I won’t call this a ‘review’ since it is obviously quite difficult to be impartial when you know the person who wrote the book. What I will say is that this is a ‘cookbook I like’ and the best way, I think, of working out whether a book is any good or not is to cook from it (you’d be surprised how many people miss out this stage). So, I’ve cooked and I’ve tested and I’ve picked out my favourites. I’ve also entered into something of a ‘tweet-cook’ with a fellow foodie who is also cooking her way through the recipes…and so far, so good!

My Daddy Cooks (the book) is not a children’s cookbook nor is it a book just for dads. It’s a recipe book filled with ideas for family meals, which have been tested by Nick and Archie in their kitchen – meaning that many of the recipes include activities that little people could help you with, under supervision. This is a book offering proper rather than fancy food, which is easy to put together for anyone, whether they have a toddler ‘assistant’ or not.

I am very pleased to report that there are no jacket potatoes that have been made to look like mice, nor are there any individually ramekinned shepherd’s pies, hidden vegetable sauces or gimmicky foods. Phew. I think there are quite enough of those type of books out there already.

There are ideas for breakfast in the first chapter named Beyond Toast (including Oven-baked french toast and Baked eggs in ham cups) as well as ideas for Lighter Bites, plenty of one-pot dishes (such as Oven-baked risotto, Sausage jambalaya, Quick sesame beef chow mein) along with chapters named My Daddy Cooks the Classics, Foolproof Grills and Bakes, Puds, Sweets and Treats (the Baked cinnamon apples and Muddy flourless chocolate cake are post-it noted). All the ingredients required to cook the recipes are readily-available in the shops and there are no store-bought sauces or artificial ingredients in any of the recipes.

Nick has come up with some very clever short-cuts to make food fun and easy to make (he calls it “giving it the My Daddy Cooks treatment”) and other than a few pots and pans and a set of scales, no fancy equipment is needed. A fair amount of recipes are cooked in the oven, though this is because it is often easier to stick something in an oven out of a toddler’s reach. Some of the recipes can be cooked on the stove, such as the recipes in the chapter called ‘Wok on the Wild Side,’ and there are even recipes for microwavable cakes for those moments when you only have enough time to “ping and ding”.

First up, Nick and Archie’s Mexican Lasagna. It first came to my attention when I caught Nick and Archie cooking it live on stage at The Real Food Festival a couple of weeks ago. It must have been pretty stressful to cook it in front of a live audience with a toddler who may or may not have co-operated on the day, but Archie was hilarious and it was clear to see that he’s a complete natural when it comes to cooking and that he enjoys it hugely. Archie’s version of the Mexican Lasagne included a load of red wine vinegar and whatever else he could find to throw into his bowl. Nick’s version was a little closer to the recipe in his book, though I think the best thing about all of the recipes is that real parents sometimes do have to improvise in the kitchen. As Nick says in his intro, “All the recipes in this book have been devised to survive even the most catastrophic interventions” which is handy, whether you have a toddler ‘assistant’ or not.

The notion of layering flour tortillas up with chilli shouldn’t work (I’m not a fan of sogginess) but my goodness, it does. The tortillas actually don’t go soggy, they stay remarkably intact and just end up being like chewable pasta – which the kids loved. Keen to re-create the yummy dish I had tasted at The Real Food Festival, I attempted the Mexican Lasagne on the afternoon of a toddler tea party in my garden. I had made the sauce a few hours before just to let the flavours develop and then my kids helped me ‘build’ the lasagna a bit later on. Four ‘under fives’ wolfed it down and asked for more. We re-heated the rest later in the evening and it was still as good, if not better, despite Nick saying in the book that it should be eaten straight away. Just to check it really was as good as I thought it was, I made it for the second time this week, re-naming it ‘The Mex’. I also tweeted Nick to ask him to dedicate a Facebook page entirely to this one recipe. Enough said about this one (my photos below).

Next I was drawn to the Sticky baked salmon with sesame noodles (it looks so good in the photo in the book) and with a quick substitution of asparagus for the red peppers owning to my silly allergy, I re-created the dish with no hassle at all and it was super-tasty.

Intrigued by two recipes for microwaveable cakes, I tossed a coin and went for the Microwave chocolate steamed pudding (with its own chocolate sauce) over the Microwave lemon treacle pudding (though that will be next). It took a matter of minutes to put together, there are no eggs in the recipes though somehow, in just seven minutes I had a perfectly cooked, soft, squidgy, chocolaty pudding ready to serve. As my fellow tweeter Laura also said of the recipe, this is a dangerous one to have in your repertoire on the basis that chocolate cake fixes, reminiscent of comforting childhood or school puds, really shouldn’t be so easy to come by.

Next on my list of recipes to try will be: the second aforementioned microwave cake, the Muddy flourless chocolate cake, Miso-glazed grilled fish (on the table in less than 30 minutes) Baked penne with courgette and home-made Italian sausage (another front runner in the ‘favourites’ category) Minced lamb and pea curry (I may never have to call for a takeaway again) and Turbo-quick shepherd’s pie (I like the name and it’s nice to see a twist on the classics with sliced potatoes cutting down the preparation time). All the recipes we’ve tried so far have gone down a treat!

As well as fun family mealtimes, I think you would even be able to turn to this cookbook to entertain friends. For a vegetarian dish I’d go for the Thai vegetable green curry or the Baked aubergines (Iman Bayaldi – a dish I love but have never tried to make myself before), Crispy Duck Pancakes (we could all now be just one hour in the oven away from re-creating this Chinese classic whenever we fancy) and for pasta in a matter of minutes, I would go for the No-cook lemon, cream cheese and smoked salmon sauce.

Not even the publishers could keep this one back, up against some of the most well known names in the cookery world it is holding its own already in the Top Ten of Amazon’s ‘Hot New Releases’ and I hear that Amazon have even been sending out copies ahead of its official publication date. At £8.83 on Amazon (the RRP in shops is £16.99) I think its a bargain and well worth the spend – not least for the fact that there are some great ideas in here (with a good proportion of photos) AND the recipes actually work as my own photos hopefully show (I own many books where they don’t!) If you’d like a little taster of Nick and Archie’s recipes you could always check out their Video Blog, or look out for their feature in The Times this coming Saturday.

Good luck to Nick and Archie on their continuing culinary adventure!

My Daddy Cooks – published by Hodder & Staughton

March 17, 2011

Easy Peasy Home Made Pizza

I’m going to make you very hungry… This week has been another busy week. Inspired by my recent pasta making course, I turned my hand to the art of making home made pizza. Just like the pasta, now that I have made my own from scratch, I feel very reluctant to buy it from the shop since home made is so much better, a little bit of time permitting!

My friend Chris, who once made us a really delicious pizza for the kids’ tea (with ham and grated carrot on top!) kindly gave me her recipe file. Unfortunately, since the file is a sort of scrapbook with recipes collected from magazines or recipe cards over many years, I couldn’t find any other source to credit nor can I find the same recipe online, so I have adapted it before sharing it with you below. I’m sure that there are many other variations and more authentic recipes, but this one works and the dough should be lovely, light and crispy.

Chris assured me that it wasn’t so hard to make and it’s also a lovely activity for the kids to get involved with, particularly helping to knead the dough and preparing the toppings while the pizza dough is resting. My little boy enjoys tearing the ham (or even better a Polish garlic sausage called Kielbasa) as well as chopping the mushrooms with a safety knife. My little girls loves the texture of buffalo mozarella and enjoys pulling it apart and eating it along the way. We also like tuna and mushrooms and now, inspired by Chris, almost always add grated carrot on top for a bit of extra goodness.

I’m not saying it isn’t messy, but since there are plenty of jobs that little ones can help with, which makes it a perfect rainy day activity. Although actually, since we love pizza, really any day will do, even a sunny one!

Making the dough is actually fairly straightforward. An ‘Italian Mama’ would bring it all together on a wooden table but we made ours in a bowl to contain some of the mess! Using a mixer with a dough hook attachment would work well too. You probably need to knead the dough for around ten minutes.

Kneading the dough will warm and strentch the gluten strands, the longer you knead the lighter your dough will be. You can knead by hand or use a dough attachment on a mixer. As you knead the dough, push it with the palm of your hand and then bring it back again and keep repeating. This bit is quite hard for kids, but my little boy enjoyed having a go towards the end.

It needs a warm place to rest, and in the absence of a huge log fire, I leave mine next to the oven as it is preheating with the door slightly ajar. An airing cupboard would work very well, but we don’t seem to have one. Once the dough has rested, whack up the heat on the oven and roll out the dough onto a floured surface before getting creative with your favourite toppings!

This one has tuna fish, mushrooms, grated carrot, mozarella and basil. I always make sure that the tuna and mozarella are very well drained because otherwise you will end up with a soggy pizza.

My little boy enjoyed spreading the tomato passata on the base and then chose Polish sausage, a bit of basil and a load of cheese all in one big blob – a little adjustment was needed before it went into the oven!

After fifteen minutes, out comes your pizza in true restaurant style!

It makes a really great kids tea, or you could make up a few batches of dough and host a pizza party. I can promise you empty plates!

Easy Peasy Home Made Pizza

Prep 60 mins

Cook 10 mins

Total 1 hour, 10 mins

Author Ren Behan

Yield 2

An easy pizza dough recipe to make with your kids. Makes two pizzas.

Ingredients

225g plain flour (I used Italian '00' Flour)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon fast action dried yeast
150 ml warm water
2 tablespoons rapeseed or light olive oil
Extra flour for dusting/rolling
Tomato passata for the base
Your favourite toppings for the top

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7
Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl and then stir in the fast-action yeast.
Add the oil to the warm water. Make a well in the middle and gradually add the warm water and oil, mixing with your hands as you go along. The mixture will feel quite lumpy, so keep bringing it together with your hands. Eventually, you should have a ball of soft dough, add a little extra sprinkle of flour if it is too sticky.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured board or wooden table for around ten minutes.
After around ten minutes, place your ball of dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Place it somewhere warm for an hour. This is a good time to prepare your toppings.
After an hour, take it out of the bowl and again, on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough again for a further few minutes to deflate it/knock it back.
Roll out, spread with tomato sauce and your favourite toppings.
Place your pizza in the centre of a hot oven (on a pizza stone or a baking tray) for around fifteen minutes, or until the base is crispy and your cheese has melted.

February 12, 2011

Top Books for Budding Little Cooks!

If you have little people at home, there are some top tips for happy mealtimes over on my page called Little Appetites (see above).

Feeding a family can be stressful and for me, the trick is to stay calm and make the kitchen a fun place to be, rather than a battleground!

In the meantime, here are some of my favourite cookbooks for family mealtimes or ideas to get kids cooking –

For easy food you can make together I like The Silver Spoon for Children – Favourite Italian Recipes. I had a cook book just like this when I was little, with hand-drawn pictures for each stage and easy-to-make recipes. If children are going to have a go on their own (chopping, assembling etc) I would say it is suitable for kids ages 8+ but most of the recipes are simple and adaptable for kids of any age with help. It is a great book if you are not a confident cook yourself but want some tasty Italian recipes. You can even have a go at making your own pizza dough (as we did this week, I’ll be posting about that separately!) foccacia bread and if you are very brave, pasta! Aside from this, there are simple snacks that your kids can make, such as tomato and mozarella salad, sausage crostini and mini pizzaiolo toasts. Yum yum!

Our favourite cookbook for eating as a family is Fay’s Family Food. Fay gives tips on how to adapt the same meal for everyone in the family, babies and weaning stages included. See my review here – Ren’s Review Lots of the recipes are ‘bung in the oven’ style. We love her One Pot Chicken with Lemon and Thyme and Orange and Ginger Chicken Casserole.

I Can Cook is a great one for young kids. If you go over to the CBeebies website you can download pictures for the children to colour as well as activities and recipes. The accompanying book, whilst a bit cheesy (excuse the pun) is great for simple recipes.

If you haven’t cooked with your children before and are a bit nervous, you could also try looking for a local child/parent cookery class, some Children’s Centres offer Healthy Eating short courses and there are classes/franchises where kids get to make something simple with your help.

Please let me know if you have any tops tips or books you love in the comment box below!!

Cooking with Kids

Giveaway

Recipe

I hope you find the time to bake up a little treat or two!

More Bake Sale Ideas

How to make a Smoked Mackerel Omelette

Easy Peasy Home Made Pizza

Ingredients

Instructions

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