Baking with my little girl is such fun. Its all in the getting ready -aprons on (she has a cute chef hat) every bowl and utensil gets taken out of the cupboard. This is one of those times in my day where i let it all go. Both kitchen and us full of flour, jam, sugar or whatever other ingredient we are using. We pull the adult kitchen chair over to the work top and we add ingredients together, stir the mixture and have a sneaky taste. Its such fun.
Check out the muffins we made recently.

Heres the recipe we used from the wonderful Nutrtionist Jane Clarke from the UK. I tweaked it a little.

Makes 18 muffins

30g very soft unsalted butter
4 tablespoons honey
3 eggs
40ml sunflower oil
1 tablespoon Good Oil (optional)
50ml milk
480g wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
large handful of crunched cornflakes
2 teaspoons ground mixed spice
1 apple, grated
zest of ½ lemon
100g blueberries
100g raspberries
2 ripe bananas, squashed

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/Gas Mark 4.

In a large bowl mix together the butter and honey. Add the eggs and beat until smooth, then add the oils.
Put all the remaining ingredients apart from the fruit in another bowl in the order in which they are listed, mixing a little in between additions.

Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet, combining all the time but lightly as possible. The less you beat the flour, the fluffier your muffins will be! Finally, add the fruit and stir through.
Spoon the mixture into paper cups in a muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

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.

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.