LEMON CURD MUFFINS

Delicious for breakfast or tea. The lemon curd bubbles a bit out of the muffins and gives them a nice twist.
You need:
- 75 gr butter
- 250 gr self raising flour
- 60 gr sugar
- 25 gr ground almonds (if you do not have this at hand  replace it with 30 more gr of self raising flour)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 egg
- juice and grated zest  of a lemon
- 100 ml milk
- lemon curd

Mix the flour, ground almonds, bicarb, baking soda, lemon zest and sugar. Separately mix: the butter melted, the lemon juice, beatten egg and milk. Mix both mixtures and strt them lightly (ideally just with a fork). Spoon the mixture on muffin paper cases (you will get 11-12 out of these quantities) filling them to 1/3 of the case. Add a teaspoon of good ( shop bought) lemon curd on each of them. Then spoon the remainign mixture over the curd so that you (almost) fill the cases. Bake in a preheated 200 degrees oven for 15-20 minutes.
Like with any baking the kids love helping with these... and eating them afterwards.

JAM BISCUITS

Not very healthy, I know - but I had to redeem myself after the mushrooms fiasco...
This recipe comes from Usborne's Beginners Cookbook. One of my kids received this as a present once from one of my friends. The biscuits look and taste messy and homemade. And there is something really satisfactory about the jam bubbling  all over the biscuits while they are in the oven.

You need:
225gr self raising flour
100 butter
100 sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
Jam (peach, plum or strawberry)

Preheat the over at 200 degrees. Mix the flour and cold butter (cut into small cubes) and rub them with your fingers until they become like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar. Then add the beaten egg with the milk and stir until it becomes a ball of dough.  Make small balls with your hand (you will get 16 more or less) and put them over a floured baking sheet pressing them down so that they become like little burgers. Make an indentation with your fingers in ehe middle of each biscuit and put a little bit of jam on top. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. You need to let them rest on a wire rack for 5 minutes after your take them out of the oven so that they get hard and the jam sets.

The kids do most of this on their own but unless you supervise how they put the jam on the biscuits they will make a huge mess, so beware!

MUSHROOMS

Encouraged by the kids's determination so far to eat all they had cooked, I had a go at mushrooms. It was a failure all over: they hardly touched the mushrooms when they were raw; they thought they became even worse once they were hot and developed a darker colour; one of my sons tried just one tiny piece; the other said he wanted to vomit just by looking at them... I definitely need to do something sugary next...

Regardless  of my kids' taste these are really nice either on a piece of toast, or with a french omelet.

you need:
- 250 gr mushrooms  (sliced but not too thinly)
- 1 clove of garlic (crushed)
- 1 teaspoon of finelly chopped parsley
- 50 gr bacon ( cut in little cubes)
- 1 tbsp red vinegar
- olive oil (2 tbsp)
- salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil (medium heat). When the oil is hot, add the bacon, reduce the heat and wait until the bacon is golden ( 3-4 minutes). Increase the heat and immediately add the mushrooms, the crussed garlic, parsley and red vinegar. Wait for 5-7 minutes until the mushrooms are darker but develop a nice gloss,  add the salt and pepper (if you add the salt any earlier they will get too watery) and serve. You may want to add a little bit more olive oil on top (just a few drops) to make them even glossier.

FRUIT GUMS

Kids love these and it is fun for them to make them. They take no time at all and look great too. They have tonnes of sugar though, so do not let the kids make them too often.
You need:
23 gr flavoured jelly (we used raspberry)
 25 gr neutral jelly
150 ml fruit juice (we used apple juice)
75 gr sugar
Put all the ingredients in a small pan and heat the mixture for 10 minutes, removing it from time to time with a spoon. Do not let it boil. While the mixture is getting hot, oil well silicon moulds with sunflower oil (we used moulds to make ice cubes). You really need to oil the moulds well or the gums will not come out smooth. Pour the mixture over the oiled moulds, wait for 3-4 hours ( no need to put this in the fridge) and unmould. You can roll the gums in caster sugar but they are very nice on their own too.

TOMATO SAUCE

There should be no kitchen (or freezer) without this. We have been discussing how many dishes we could prepare with this sauce and have counted no less than 15 from pasta with tomato and chorizo to cod with tomato and peppers, meatballs, lasagna or peas with tomato. You can prepare 3 or 4 kilos of tomatoes at the same time and freeze most of the sauce. It lasts a couple of months in the freezer and around a week and a half in the fridge.

You need
2 kg of tomatoes (either fresh or canned - in winter it is better with canned tomatoes anyway)
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
3 medium onions
3 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
olive oil
you also need a hand food mill (this is very useful also for vegetable pures, mash potatoes and baby food). You can buy them for £18 at John Lewis or for £13.27 in Amazon.

Coat generously the base of a large pan. While the oil is heating cut all the vegetables into large chunks. Once the oil is hot add all the other ingredients. Let it fry for 10 to 15 minutes and then reduce the heat to its lowest setting and let it bubble for 1 to 1.15 hours. If you are using a pressure cooker you only need 25 minutes. Blend all the mixture with the hand food mill. Taste it and adjust the seasoning. If you let it bubble for the indicated time the sauce should not be acidic. However, if you think it is not sweet enough you may add a teaspoon of sugar (or even better, add a carrot next time you prepare it)

The children love getting the sauce through the mill - but beware of this because your kitchen may end up looking like a battlefield!

MEDITERRANEAN SALAD

This is a really simple salad to make and a good way for kids to start getting used to dressing as the bread will cut the acidity of the vinegar. You need:
2 tomatoes (cut in cubes)
1 cucumber (cut in cubes)
1 pitta bread (put it in a toaster so that it becomes crunchy and then tear it into small bits)
2 table spoons of olive oil,
1 table spoon of vinegar
salt
All you need to do is to m ix all the ingredients and serve.
For some weird reason my children only eat salad if they prepare it so I always ask them to mix the ingredients and add the dressing. They can almost do this on their own... but remind them to wash the vegetables first!

GREEN PESTO

You can eat this sauce with pretty much anything: all types of pasta, rice, grilled chicken, roast fish, as a dip with raw vegetables... or simply over a piece of crusty bread.
You need:
50 gr basil ( if you want to make it cheaper use 50 gr basil and 25 gr spinach instead)
a handful of grated cheese (ideally parmesan, but for a cheaper version use strong cheddar)
a handful of pine nuts
half a clove of garlic
olive oil ( 1 glass and a bit more to cover the sauce after it is ready)
Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend them well. That is all.
You can store this for a week and a half in the fridge covering the top of the sauce with some olive oil (around 1 cm) to prevent discolouring.
The children can do this on their own except that you need to supervise them while they use the blender.