My sister in law is a wonderful mum and a fantastic cook. She recently passed this recipe on to me for my little one and its yummy. So here goes. Let me know what you think. I made a big batch and put some in the freezer. enjoy.

Enough for 3 or 4 toddler portions.
VEGETABLE RISOTTO
15ml (1 tbsp) olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 red or yellow pepper, chopped
1 courgette, trimmed and finely sliced
85g risotto rice
350ml vegetable stock
handful of frozen peas

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and peppers and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
Add the courgette and continue cookin for a further 2 minutes.
Add the rice and stir over the heat for a minute or two until the grains have become translucent.
Add the stock and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add a little extra liquid if necessary.
Add the peas and simmer for a further 5 minute until the rice and vegetables are tender.

Extra notes:
add crushed garlic with the onion.
add frozen sweetcorn along with the peas.
At the end, season and add a decent knob of butter and grated parmesan cheese.

Over the next couple of posts I am going to chat about one of my true loves (other than my boyfriend or my little growing baby) but cheese.

As a cheesemonger in my fifth month of pregnancy I am quite concerned about all the different advice on what to and what not to eat. Whats good for you and baby and whats not.

Take cheese for example, most doctors and the like tell you to avoid all un-pasteurised cheese. Firstly not only is this incorrect, you are depleting your body of necessary calcium and nutrients which you and your growing baby need.

I work on a busy retail counter and the majority of pregnant women that buy cheese tell me they have decided not to eat any cheese rather than take the risk. Usually they are buying for family and friends and feeling miserable as they can’t have any.

In my view all pasteurised cheese is not safe.

Pasteurisation is when the milk used to make the cheese is heated up to 72 degrees celsius for 20 to 30 seconds killing any bacteria good or bad that may be in the milk. Then lactic bacterria (made in a labroatory) is added to the milk to help generate the correct paste for the cheese.

Traditionally cheese was made as a way of storing nutrients in milk. Evidence shows that Unpasteurised milk has a higher nutritional value , providing more vitamins and minerals than pasteurised. It also has a better flavour, with none of the deterioration in quality.

Soft Cheese’s like Brie, Camembert even while pasteurised (which doctors say is safe) can still be contaminated with Listeria. This is because these are considered as young cheese’s. Therefore pasteurised or not I would not eat them. Wheras Parmigiano Reggiano, or any aged hard cheese,  I would be happy to eat as these cheese’s are too dry and high in salt for listeria to survive. Listeria is attracted to the soft young cheese’s.

There is nothing nicer than having a piece of cheese with some delicious oatcakes, dittys (my favourite) www.dittysbakery.com

Don’t get me wrong I do love some pasteurised Farmhouse cheeses that are available especially the Irish ones.

Recently I can’t get enough of Coolea Mature. Made in West Cork with cow’s milk, this chesse has a lovely mild, creamy flavour with a long lasting after taste. They also won Gold at the British Cheese awards in 2007. www.cooleacheese.com
Another favourite is Gubbeen which is also pasteurised and comes smoked too. Delicious washed rind cheese also made in Cork by the Ferguson family. www.gubbeen.com

Bluebell Falls Goats cheese is a recent find and it’s a delicious cheese made by Paul Keane in Co. Clare. He has a soft Goats Cheese but the one I am eating these days is his mature Goats Milk Cheese. Paul uses a method called thermisiation, a form of pasteurisation. The milk is heated to 65 degrees which kills off most bacteria but not killing off certain enzymes.

While pasteurisation is a debatable subject, I do believe some advice been given is not only misleading but can also lead mum- to- be making wrong food choices.  Therefore depleting mum and baby of necessary vitamins and nutrients.

Six months and counting……..

All getting very exciting now and not only am I nesting and itchy to get little one’s room prepared. I am also planning on stocking freezer with healthy nutritious meals which can be quickly reheated during the first few weeks of baby’s arrival.

But steady on we need to eat now…
Well since we last chatted I had the dreaded head cold, very sore throat, blocked nose and generally felt yeuch.

But my lovely one took good care of me. I felt pretty miserable and really wanted a lemsip as the headache and throat felt pretty bad. Of course I didn’t take lemsip, no medicine for me. Instead lovely one made me a Lemon & Manuka honey hot drink. I really wasn’t hopeful it would work as I felt so poorly but it did. It definitely helped the throat and cleared the head some what.
Important thing to put lemon and honey in first and then add the boiled water. We sieved it through but think the lemon pulp should be fine if you like it. Sniff sniff.

Some tasty recipes to prepare in advance, freeze and then reheat in the oven. I must admit I don’t own a microwave. Not sure - long term how long this will last. What with reheating little one’s meals at six months of age. But for now we are getting by…

This is one of my favourite alternative’s to Lasagne or the baked pasta dish. It’s a Gennaro Contaldo recipe from his beautiful book Passione. Not as time consuming as it sounds, I promise its worth it, yum„,

Baked Pasta Shells filled with Cheese.
For this recipe you will need Conchiglioni Rigati (pasta shells) Cook them al dente in boiling salted water and leave to cool.

Having made a simple tomato sauce using good tinned tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and basil. Combine 150g ricotta, 1 ball of mozzarella (diced) 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan some salt & pepper and mix well. Shape the mixture into 16 balls, wrap each in a basil leaf and stuff into cooled pasta shell.
Pour a layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of an oven proof dish and place the filled shells on top. Pour over the remaining sauce, sprinkle more parmesan and top with slices mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake for 35 mins at 200 degrees celsius.

foodBump is an idea I came up with when I was six weeks pregnant. Awaiting our first scan at 12 weeks and keeping our secret, I found it hard to find real advice on what I could and couldn’t eat. I’m a very excited expecting mum along with a very excited protective Dad to be. We love food but at this point in our pregnancy everything I eat or don’t eat worries us. 

We trawled the Internet and nightly read every pregnancy book that exists. The most frustrating thing would be the amount of conflicting information out there. None of the advice we  found was from people who liked to eat good food instead it was from the medical profession giving blanket advice that air on the side of caution.

And then there was the guilt……the guilt if what I ingest will harm my baby. And for nine months (actually more like ten) you are in a worked up state of what you can and cannot eat. or then you have concerned friends/family members/colleagues or just random passer by’s telling you about something else you should not eat. I quietly struggled with all this and decided I needed to do something that I felt was not been done. I started a food diary which in turn became foodBump

(usual disclaimer I applies: I am not a doctor, and if you are pregnant you should speak with yours before following any of my advice)

My hope for foodBump is to share some of my beautiful pregnancy story with you while generating chat and making us mindful of what we eat pregnant or not.

Enjoy…..