Saturday 17 August 2013
Friday 3 May 2013
Cauliflower Spinach Pizza Crust
Trying to cut down on carbs and up the bambino's vegetables I made this pizza which has a Cauliflower and Spinach crust and is delicious:
1 whole Cauliflower (chop it all up and boil/steam)
1 big handful of grated Cheddar type Cheese
1 bag Spinach (put into a colander wash and then pour boiling water over it, squeeze out excess water and chop)
1 large egg
Do the above and then mash everything together in a bowl with a fork.
Spoon onto a square/rectangle medium size baking tray and level out with a spoon/spatula.
Bake in the oven at Gas Mark 6 for about 10 mins.
Then you need to add toppings so the tomato base (I used half a tin of chopped tomatoes) more grated cheese, sliced onion, sweetcorn, sweet pepper, carrot and courgette.
Bake in the oven until it looks lovely and crispy and eat!!
1 whole Cauliflower (chop it all up and boil/steam)
1 big handful of grated Cheddar type Cheese
1 bag Spinach (put into a colander wash and then pour boiling water over it, squeeze out excess water and chop)
1 large egg
Do the above and then mash everything together in a bowl with a fork.
Spoon onto a square/rectangle medium size baking tray and level out with a spoon/spatula.
Bake in the oven at Gas Mark 6 for about 10 mins.
Then you need to add toppings so the tomato base (I used half a tin of chopped tomatoes) more grated cheese, sliced onion, sweetcorn, sweet pepper, carrot and courgette.
Bake in the oven until it looks lovely and crispy and eat!!
Thursday 6 September 2012
Apple Boreks
When we lived in Greece we used to head to our secret hideaway beach in Lhourdata at about four in the afternoon to escape the heat. After a tough day of snorkelling and chasing fish we would eat spinach and feta boreks for our lunch.
I used to look at all the many many tourists on the bigger beach further up to us and think aren't we lucky we know how to get here and that they don't!
So I decided to make the apple version and think about secret greek beaches. This one above is ours!
Ingredients:
Cooking Apples - I used about 6 and freezed some of the leftovers
Caster Sugar - roughly 1 oz per apple
Any mixed spices such as cinammon, nutmegMelted butter
Filo pastry (you get 6 sheets in the ones I found in the supermarket)
Warm water and sugar mixed together (this is your glaze)
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 or 180. Peel and chop the apples and put in a big pan with the sugar, spices and a few tablespoons of water.Stir until it looks like a chunky puree sort of thing.
Take your filo pastry and you have to handle this really carefully or it disintegrates I found out. Take one piece and lay it flat on your board/worktop then fold it in half (so you start with a square and you are folding this in half) so it's doubled up. Brush with melted butter.
Take a tablespoon (or little more than that if you feel greedy) of apple and put it in the left hand bottom corner of the pastry and start to fold in triangles like this...
Keep going until you get to the end and place the pastry on a baking sheet lined with greased greaseproof.
Sprinkle with your sugar water glaze and repeat x 6.
Bake in the oven for about 35ish minutes or until golden brown.
Serve with ice cream!
I used to look at all the many many tourists on the bigger beach further up to us and think aren't we lucky we know how to get here and that they don't!
Ingredients:
Cooking Apples - I used about 6 and freezed some of the leftovers
Caster Sugar - roughly 1 oz per apple
Any mixed spices such as cinammon, nutmegMelted butter
Filo pastry (you get 6 sheets in the ones I found in the supermarket)
Warm water and sugar mixed together (this is your glaze)
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 or 180. Peel and chop the apples and put in a big pan with the sugar, spices and a few tablespoons of water.Stir until it looks like a chunky puree sort of thing.
Keep going until you get to the end and place the pastry on a baking sheet lined with greased greaseproof.
Sprinkle with your sugar water glaze and repeat x 6.
Serve with ice cream!
Friday 31 August 2012
Princess Diana memorial playground
Possibly the best park we have ever been to which is free.The Princess Diana memorial park is in Kensington Gardens a short walk from Kensington Palace and I think the most wonderful tribute to Princess Diana. Inspired by Peter Pan there are so many different areas to discover and explore. Little pathways lead you to water, wood, grass and sand play areas.
The Wooden playground has miniature houses for different ages, rocking horses and cars. The indian Garden holds lots of teepees for grown ups to collapse in with coffees and totem poles for the littlies to run around. Grass Land has life sized wooden sheep and tunnels through the ground which Oliver took over as his own fort. There is also a second wood land adventure playground which has children charging over raised wobbly bridges and throwing themselves down slides.
The main features are a water world rock land with fountains for splashing and a huge pirate ship sunk into a beach/sandpit where children swing from ropes and climb the mast.
The sensory garden has a tuning fork, musical instruments for little hands and piano steps in the floor. Oliver was really taken with a throne which had "Once Upon a Time..." carved into it and sat for ages just looking at the other children running about. There are beautiful trees and plants everywhere and you can see that every little bit of the garden has been thoughtfully planned out. The stonehenge pillars, pretty little wooden benches with ladybirds and beetles carved into them, scented plants, willows and bamboo make for an amazing discovery land.
Wednesday 29 August 2012
My week in Instagrams x
Saturday 18 August 2012
Special fried rice (for mrs ally x)
This one is for mrs ally - a lovely lunch or dinner for all the family it makes 2 big!! portions.
Ingredients:
115g Basmati rice
2 carrots
50g frozen peas
1 pepper - I used orange
Sesame oil
Vegetable oil
2 eggs
Garlic
2 small red onions
1 Spring onion
Soy sauce
Wash the rice and cook according to packet.
Meanwhile chop the carrots and pepper add the peas and steam along with the rice.
If you don't have a steamer pan then fry all the veg start with onion and crushed garlic in a mix of vegetable and sesame oil then add the rest of the veg (not the spring onion) until soft.
Beat the eggs and add seasoning then heat a frying pan with a mix of oils and pour the egg in it should be a thin layer. Give it a few mins and then start mixing it with a wooden spoon so you get a sort of scrambled egg.
If you steamed you now need to fry the onion and garlic in a mix of the oils. Add the steamed veggies, rice, finely chopped spring onion and cook for a few mins then add the rice and egg pour in some soy sauce and keep mixing till it looks yummy.
Eat it all up x
Tip for the person cooking - if you have a bored toddler whilst you are cooking put a towel down in the kitchen give them a plastic mixing bowl and spoons and pour some flour into the bowl. They will take over from here!
Ingredients:
115g Basmati rice
2 carrots
50g frozen peas
1 pepper - I used orange
Sesame oil
Vegetable oil
2 eggs
Garlic
2 small red onions
1 Spring onion
Soy sauce
Wash the rice and cook according to packet.
Meanwhile chop the carrots and pepper add the peas and steam along with the rice.
If you don't have a steamer pan then fry all the veg start with onion and crushed garlic in a mix of vegetable and sesame oil then add the rest of the veg (not the spring onion) until soft.
Beat the eggs and add seasoning then heat a frying pan with a mix of oils and pour the egg in it should be a thin layer. Give it a few mins and then start mixing it with a wooden spoon so you get a sort of scrambled egg.
If you steamed you now need to fry the onion and garlic in a mix of the oils. Add the steamed veggies, rice, finely chopped spring onion and cook for a few mins then add the rice and egg pour in some soy sauce and keep mixing till it looks yummy.
Eat it all up x
Tip for the person cooking - if you have a bored toddler whilst you are cooking put a towel down in the kitchen give them a plastic mixing bowl and spoons and pour some flour into the bowl. They will take over from here!
Friday 17 August 2012
Mini Muffin Pizzas
My first cooking blog is ridiculously easy but something I wouldn't have thought of without the help of Annabel Karmel. It might be too simple to post but someone somewhere might use it.
When you are pushed for time this is a real life saver.
You will need:
1 english muffin (white or wholemeal)
ketchup or tomato puree
handful of sweetcorn
1 tin of tuna
few spoons of mayo
some grated cheese
Mix together in a bowl the drained tuna, sweetcorn, mayo and cheese. Cut the muffin in half and grill until the tops go a golden brown, cover the tops in a little ketchup/tomato puree or a combination of the two. Then add your sweetcorn, tuna, mayo and cheese mix and place back under the grill for a couple of minutes until the cheese looks melted.
Cut into 4 and serve to the little monkey!
When you are pushed for time this is a real life saver.
You will need:
1 english muffin (white or wholemeal)
ketchup or tomato puree
handful of sweetcorn
1 tin of tuna
few spoons of mayo
some grated cheese
Mix together in a bowl the drained tuna, sweetcorn, mayo and cheese. Cut the muffin in half and grill until the tops go a golden brown, cover the tops in a little ketchup/tomato puree or a combination of the two. Then add your sweetcorn, tuna, mayo and cheese mix and place back under the grill for a couple of minutes until the cheese looks melted.
Cut into 4 and serve to the little monkey!
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