BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND SWEET POTATO SOUP

This is a Thai flavoured soup. You need:
- 350 gr butternut squash and sweet potatoes (diced - some supermarkets sell this already diced)
- 1 onion (diced)
- half a teaspoon grated garlic
- a teaspoon grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- juice of half a lime
- salt
- 1 tin of coconut milk
- water
- coriander

Heat the oil, add the garlic and ginger and let it fry for a minute. Then add the onion (medium heat) and wait for 3-4 minutes until it gets soft. Add the butternut squash and sweet potatoes and let it fry for 3 minutes. Add the salt and then the coconut milk. Fill in the tin with water and add it to the pan. Let it all simmer for 15-17 minutes until it gets soft. Blend it all with a hand-held blender. Add the lime juice and the coriander just before you are going to serve it.

My children prefer this without the ginger.

CHICKPEAS WITH TOMATO

This is a really good dish for a really cold day. You need:

- 100 g of chorizo (cubed)
- 60 g of serrano ham or bacon (cubed) - this is better with ham
- a tin of chickpeas (400 gr)  - you can also boil the chickpeas yourself, but this naturally adds time.
- a glass of water
- an onion (sliced thinly)
- a garlic clove (minced)
- half a glass of tomato sauce (see our recipe - you can also do this with chopped tomatoes from a tin)
- a teaspoon of parsley (chopped thinly)
- 5 piquillo peppers (cut them in thin stripes)

Heat the chorizo and ham/bacon in a pan under low heat (do not add any oil as they will release a lot of fat - if you are on a January diet then get rid of a bit of the fat they release with a spoon). After three minutes add the onion and let it fry gently for 5-6 minutes until it gets golden. Then add the tomato and minced garlic (if you are using tinned tomatoes let it bubble for 5 minutes, but if you are using sauce there is no need to wait). Add the chickpeas (do not add the brine - I actually wash the chickpeas to get rid of the brine salt, but you may not feel this is necessary). Then add the water and peppers and let it all simmer for 15-20 minutes so that you send end up with a gooey stew. Since the bacon and chorizo are salty I do not think this needs any salt, but if you wish then add some. Sprinkle with the parsley just as you are going to serve it.

You can prepare the day before you are going to eat it. Children find it very easy to help with this dish, as indeed it is a simple dish.

WAFFLES

This is one of my bribing foods of choice - as easy to make as pancakes, but they look like if you have made much more effort to the kids. Add whipping cream on top and you will get them to do anything.

You need:

- a mug of  plain flour

- three quarters of a mug of milk

- two eggs

- a pinch of salt

- two teaspoons of baking powder

- two teaspoons of sugar

- a quarter of a teaspoon of vanilla essence

- 100 gr of melted butter

- a waffle pan or waffle maker ( we have an electrical one from Robert Dyas that costs around £20 and you can use to make panninis as well)  

- icing sugar

Mix all the ingredient expect for the butter (we blend them with a hand held mixer). Brush the waffle maker with the butter (on both sides). Add the mixture and cook for 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle the waffle with lots of icing sugar. 

LEGO CANDY

I am trying to encourage the kids to stop watching random youtube (though I have little credibility on this as I could not stop watching the 'what are those?!' vines a few months ago). In my search for  science experiment sites, I have become hooked onto the Crazy Russian Hacker and The King of Random. Absolutely addictive stuff: experiments with  liquid nitrogen, melting cans and making green slime, and also plenty of plainly weird but compelling-watching videos about domestic tricks, from how to cut a watermelon to opening packs of crisps. Who would have thought I would end up discussing with a teenager whether it is better making candles with butter or with mandarine peels. Live to believe…

King of Random has this recipe for Lego candy that in a moment of weakness I agreed to try on.
You need:
- 250 ml water
- 125 ml corn syrup
- two packets of unflavoured powdered gelatine (or 10 leaves that you should pre-soak )
- a packet of Jell-o (they sell it in many supermarkets and in Amazon)
You also need lego silicon moulds that you can also buy in Amazon.

Mix the water, corn syrup, gelatine and Jell-o. Heat the mixture in a pan over medium heat for 8 minutes. Put in into a tall heat-proof container. Let it rest for 3 minutes. with a spoon, take the top crust that would form on the top and discard it. Pour the remaining clear liquid into the moulds and let them rest for 5 hours. You should be able to de-mould them easily by then.

SNACK NUTS

I am a bit of a nuts addict. If you put a bowl of nuts any closer than two meters from me the chances are that I will eat them all. It tested all my will power when I was working as a Middle East adviser, as at every single official meeting in any country from Morocco to Iran,  there were endless bowls of delicious pistachios and nuts. I can assure you that trying to take notes while picking at the nuts is not an easy task!

This is a great way to make any type of nut a little bit posher as a nibble for any drinks. You need:

-for three handfuls of nuts (any type)
- half a tablespoon of oil
- a pinch of sea salt (you can also do it with normal salt, but sea salt is nicer)
- a quarter of a teaspoon of rosemary leaves (chopped thinly)
- a quarter of a teaspoon of thyme leaves (chopped thinly)

You can alter all these quantities as much as you like. My middle son likes to add a pinch of paprika, which works well. And if you have a sweet tooth you can add a quarter of a teaspoon of brown sugar.

Warm the oil in a frying pan. Add the nuts and then the salt and herbs. Wait for a couple of minutes (stirring the nuts gently with a spoon so that they do not burn) until they start to get brown. Serve immediately, so that they are eaten warm.

It is just impossible to resist them…

BACON AND GOAT's CHEESE CAKE

This is great for lunch with a soup or a salad.

You need:

- 250 gr plain flour

- 150 ml sunflower oil

- 100 ml milk

- 50 ml of yogurt

- 4 eggs

- a teaspoon of baking powder

- 200 gr cubed bacon or pancetta

- 250 gr of goat's cheese (cubed)

- 6 basil leaves

- 2 handfuls of (raw) spinach

Preheat the oven at 185 degrees. Mix the oil, eggs, milk and yogurt. Then add the flour and baking powder. Fry the bacon lightly until it gets golden - get rid of the fat and add it to the mixture. Finally add the cheese, basil (cut it into stripes) and spinach ( also cut into stripes). Put it into a greased and lined loaf cake and bake for 45-50 minutes. let it cool down in the tin for 10 munites before you unmould it. 

THANK YOU AND HAKE 'A LA GALLEGA'

This is a gorgeous Spanish celebratory dish that I am sharing with you to thank all the women (and also a few men!) who have joined and enquired about Inspiring Women on the back of guest editing the Today programme. An interesting experience - and I managed to upset a junior minister and the conservative media, which only made it all that 'tiny little bit more fun' ;-)
 To top this up, another country interested in mirroring the campaign has been in touch: that makes 11 now. This will definitely be the year of the internationalisation of the campaign, isn't that great?

(If you are reading this and do not know what I am talking about, just click on http://www.inspiringthefuture.org/inspiring-women/ and register   It is only one hour per year, so everybody can do it)

Back to the dish. You need really fresh hake for this- if you cannot get it, then don't even try. It is also really important to do this with slices as opposed to steaks, don't ask me why. You need:
- a slice of hake per person
- a big potato per person (peeled)
- 4 bay leaves
- an onion
- 2 tablespoons of paprika (pimenton)
- 5 tablespoons of (good) olive oil
- water
- salt

Bring to the boil two litters of water, the bay leaves, salt and the onion (cut in half) in a big pan. Put in the potatoes (I also cut them in half) and boil them for 10-15 minutes until almost tender. Salt the fish stakes on both sides, put fthe ish in the pan, lower the heat and leave it in for 5 minutes ensuring the water does not boil (i.e. if you see any bubbles in the water take the pan off the heat - I know this sounds petty, but if the water boils the fish will get dry and you would have wasted your time and money…) After 5 minutes, get the pan off the heat and wait for another 5 minutes. Get the fish and potatoes off the water with a slotted spoon and put them on a plate. Mix the oil and paprika and one table spoon of the boiling liquid and pour it over the fish and potatoes. It is one of the best ways to eat hake.

Children can help with it all (and like to pour the pimenton oil over the fish) but be careful if they help to take the fish out of the pan as it can easily break.