Tomato Couscous Salad

I made this couscous salad a couple of days ago. It was an easy one to throw together and my wee boy seems to enjoy it. He has enjoyed it warm, but it would be good cold too. I am thinking I would like it for lunch at work. It would make a nice change from sandwiches and leafy salads.

If you are serving this to a weaned baby or young toddler, I would suggest mashing or whizzing up the kidney beans and chickpeas.

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Tomato Couscous Salad

by Jacqueline Meldrum

August 31, 2011

This is a quick and healthy salad for children and adults. It is packed with flavour and so easy to make. A good store cupboard standby.

Ingredients

• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 cup couscous
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1 x 400g tin chickpeas
• 1 x 400g tin kidney beans
• 1 x 198g tin sweetcorn
• 3 tbsp tomato puree
• 4 large basil leaves
• a grind of black pepper

Instructions

1. Heat the tomatoes in a pan and then stir in the couscous.
2. Warm through for a few minutes and then add the chickpeas, kidney beans and sweetcorn. Make sure they are well rinsed.3. Add the stock and stir. Cook for a few minutes, then add the tomato puree.
4. Set aside to cool. It is as simple as that. Divide into portions and pop in the fridge or freezer when cool.

Details

Total time: 10 mins
Yield: 10-12 toddler portions

Strawberry & Basil Ice Lolly

This is the first time I have used my Zoku Quick Pop Maker this year. The weather hasn't been great and one lovely day when I did decide to use it, I couldn't find the lolly sticks. I must have stored them somewhere extra safe. It is a complete mystery actually. I have turned the house upside down and still haven't found them. I eventually gave in and bought a spare set.

Voila, another nice day and I thought what could be nicer than a lovely fruit yogurt ice lolly? The flavour was purely determined by what I had to hand. So we ended up with strawberry yoghurt lollies scented with basil. Cooper, as you can see from the photos, loved them.

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Strawberry & Basil Ice Lollies

Written by Jacqueline Meldrum

August 25, 2011

Strawberry & yoghurt ice lollies scented with basil. Just wonderful for children and adults. Summer is here.

Ingredients

• 4 large strawberries
• 2 fresh basil leaves
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1⁄3 cup/80ml greek yoghurt
• 1⁄3 cup/80ml milk

Instructions

1. Whizz up all the ingredients. 2. Taste the mixture. If the strawberries are a little tart you could add a touch of honey, although never give honey to babies under one. Alternatively you could add a smidgen of maple syrup. I don't think you will need any sweetener, the balsamic vinegar has a sweetness to it and the yoghurt will dampen any tartness from the fruit.3. Pour the mixture into ice lolly moulds and freeze until set.If you have a Zoku Quick Pop Maker, this will only take 7 minutes.4. Enjoy.notes:
I have given the prep. time as 3 minutes, this is before freezing time.

Details

Total time: 3 mins
Yield: 4 ice lollies

Lentil Bolognaise for Baby

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Lentil Bolognaise for Baby

Written by Jacqueline Meldrum

August 19, 2011

A truly delicious and satisfying bolognaise, for baby, toddler, big brother or sister and mum and dad.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 onion onion, finely chopped
• 1 courgette, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 x 400g tin green lentils
• 4 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 cup baby vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
• 1 cup baby shell pasta
• more water, if required

Instructions

1. Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft.
2. Add the carrots and courgette and cook gently until these too have started to soften.
3. Add the drained lentils, the tomatoes and tomato puree and stir well.
4. Add the vegetable stock and herbs. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook gently for 15 minutes.
5. Add the pasta and cook for another 10 minutes, adding more water if you think it needs it.
Makes 10 potions for a hungry 10-12 month old baby. (One for dinner, one for the fridge and 8 for the freezer, once cooled and labelled. A great time saver.)
Suitable from 9 months to adult.

Details

Total time: 40 mins
Yield: 10 portions for 10-12 month old

If your baby or toddler doesn't like a such a chunky sauce, puree the sauce before adding the pasta. Serve with some grated cheddar cheese or a vegan alternative.

Chedds - Cool Cheese

I'd like to introduce, Chedds, a new 100% real mild Cheddar kids snacking range from Cathedral City, which is being launched this month.

The range is perfect for lunchboxes and is available in three fun formats that kids will love to eat: Cheese and Toasties – mini slices of real Cheddar and melba toast, Nibbles – a mini bag of bite sized cubes that kids will love to share and Bricks - mini blocks of Cheddar that are perfect for kids on the go.

As well as tasting great, kids will also love the playfulness of Chedds. On each pack is the cheeky Chedds mouse and a fun fact or joke that children can impress their friends with.

A lovely healthy snack with none of the nasties.

Blueberry Muffins

These blueberry muffins are from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. A colourful and sumptious treat of a book full of cupcakes, muffins, pies, brownies, cakes, cookies and cheesecakes. I probably picked one of the plainest recipes in the book, but I was craving blueberries, so it had to be.

Here is a bit of blurb about the bakery; "The Hummingbird Bakery landed in Portobello Road in early 2004. We wanted to provide Londoners with an alternative to supermarket cakes and French patisseries.

We didn't know where we could buy real cupcakes, fluffy with buttercream icing, moist chocolate layer cakes or genuine American pies - so we decided to make and sell them ourselves! Our simple, unfussy recipes have proved very popular."

Very popular indeed, they have gone on to open two more shops in London, with another one to open by the end of the year and plans to go overseas. Their cookbook sold over 100,000 copies last year.

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Blueberry Muffins

Written by Jacqueline Meldrum with kind permission from the Hummingbird Bakery.

May 01, 2010

Blueberry muffins. Perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack. Light, fluffy and packed with squishy, sweet, blueberries.

Ingredients

• 360g plain flour
• 370g caster sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 to 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 375ml buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 70g unsalted butter, melted
• 250g blueberries

Instructions

Preheat oven to 170c/325f, gas mark 3.

Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.

Put the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl and use an electric blender or a hand whisk and beat.

Pour in the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract into a jug and mix to combine. Slowly pour into the flour mixture and beat until all the ingredients are incorporated.

Pour in the melted butter and beat until the butter is just incorporated, then beat until the batter is even and smooth.

Finally, gently fold in the blueberries with a wooden spoon until evenly dispersed.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the muffins to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Details

Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 30 mins
Yield: 12 muffins

Here are a few more muffin recipes for you to enjoy:







* Buttermilk, Beetroot & Apple Muffins
* Chocolate Maple Muffins
* Double Chocolate Muffins
* Jammie Doughnut Muffins
* Pear & Ginger Muffins

Spinach & Pea Pesto

I love pesto and I have started introducing it into Cooper's diet too. Add some spinach and peas to it and you have a powerhouse of nutrients. Just right for baby. (Only add nuts to your pesto if you know your baby or toddler does not have an allergy to nuts. I tested Cooper out by giving him a little peanut butter when he was 10 months old. We don't have any nut allergies in the family, so I felt confident enough to try it out. If you do have a history of allergies in the family, it may be better to make the pesto without the nuts)

I do make a couple of changes to his portion. I use less garlic as he can find it a bit overpowering and I add a spoonful of Philadelphia soft cheese and he loves it. A child after his mother's heart.

Of course, I have to keep checking it to make sure it is perfect. Just a spoonful and another and another....... Yum!

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Spinach & Pea Pesto

Written by Jacqueline Meldrum

December 12, 2010

The perfect pesto for you and your little ones.

Ingredients

• ¾ cup frozen peas (I prefer petit pois as they are sweeter)
• 1 cup blanched baby spinach
• 1 large handful fresh basil
• ½ cup grated parmesan
• ½ cup unsalted cashew nuts
• 1 clove garlic
• ½ cup olive oil
• a squeeze of lemon juice
• freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Simply add all your ingredients to a food processor and whizz.

Pesto is one of those things that isn't an exact science, so you can add less garlic, more olive oil, less or more cheese. Just taste it and adjust it until it has the right texture and the flavour you like.

Leave the parmesan out if you want a vegan version, which is just as delicious.

It is just gorgeous!

Details

Total time: 10 mins Yield: 2 cups of pesto

Ice Lolly for Baby

We all enjoy an ice lolly on a hot day. It seems a shame that baby would miss out on such a treat, but when you have a baby you are constantly on the alert for sugar, salt and other hidden nasties.

I make all of Cooper's food, so I can be sure that whatever he eats is pure and good for him. One of the few exceptions I make is baby yoghurt, the kind which is just sweetened with fruit puree and he loves it.

When my mother-in-law suggested making ice lollies out of baby yoghurt, I thought it was a fabulous idea. It was so simple too. No need for lolly moulds to make these lollies. All you do is slit the lid of the yoghurt pot with a lollypop stick or do what Jean did and use a baby spoon, even easier, then just pop them in the freezer until frozen.

As you will see from the photos, Cooper loved his yoghurt ice lolly.

Cooper

Cooper
Born 1.47am, 31 December 2009
7 lbs 4oz