Pea souper: Pea, asparagus and pesto soup

Mr LBG has given up bread for Lent. I considered joining him but couldn't quite bring myself to do so, bread-a-holic that I am. Breakfast for me is always bread-based and I must admit that lunch also tends to feature something from the bakery aisle. Mr LBG is perhaps marginally less wedded to bread but his weekday lunches do generally feature sandwiches and weekend lunches tend to be lazy soup/cheese/cold meat/lovely loaf of bread type of affairs. The upshot of his bread-less Lent so far is a very pleasing loss of weight (and guilt on my part as I tuck into toast at breakfast time).

In an effort to support him, I decided that I would give up eating sandwiches at lunch time. Not quite the same, I admit, but still a challenge as this is most often what I reach for. I love the speed and ease of a sandwich and the satisfaction that it delivers. I have been trying to find enjoyable yet equally satisfying alternatives and have been experimenting with some new soup flavours. As Mr LBG and I are both weight watching, I find that a bowl of good-for-you soup is ideal for taking the edge of lunchtime hunger whilst pondering what else to eat (I've never been a bowl-of-soup only kind of girl).

I am a huge fan of peas and a pea-based soup is always a winner for me, especially as I always have peas in the freezer. Many pea soup recipes include mint which is the only herb that I really can't abide and, as such, I am always on the look-out for other flavours to accompany my favoured peas. Whilst flicking through one of my many Weight Watchers cookbooks (surprisingly good, on the whole, if you pick and choose carefully), I was drawn to a recipe for a pea, asparagus and pesto soup.

Admittedly, asparagus is not yet in season but we are getting ever closer and the warmer weather has got me in the mood for a taste of Spring. I managed to get some fairly tasty stems (albeit from Peru) and was delighted with the resulting soup. A gorgeous colour and delicious flavour. I made a few tweaks to the original recipe and have made it twice. It is good without the pesto if you don't want to open a pot just to top your soup but it does add a nice touch and an extra burst of flavour. This was a lovely lunchtime soup but would make an elegant starter in asparagus season too.

I am entering this soup into the 'No Croutons Required'  blogging challenge which is hosted this month by Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen.

Pea, asparagus and pesto soup

Adapted from Weight Watchers 'Freezer Friendly Meals'

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil (or spray oil if wishing to cut fat as much as possible)

1 onion, chopped

1 leek, finely sliced

2 tbsp plain flour

1 litre vegetable or chicken stock

450g asparagus

300g frozen peas

6-8 tsp pesto

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and leek and cover. Cook gently for 10 minutes until softened, lifting the lid and stirring occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the asparagus. Snap the woody ends off (the asparagus will have a natural break point) and chop into 1 cm pieces. Keep the tips whole so that you can keep a few for decoration!

3. Add the flour to the onion and leek and cook for 30 seconds, stirring. Pour the stock in a little at a time, stirring well between each addition. Bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes.

4. Add the asparagus and peas and simmer for around 3 minutes, depending on the thickness of asparagus (it should be just cooked). Remove a few tips of asparagus for garnishing the soup, if you like.

5. Season the soup well with plenty of pepper and salt to taste. Whizz until smooth with a stick blender or use a liquidizer. Serve the soup with a teaspoon of pesto swirled into each bowl. Garnish with asparagus tips and plenty of black pepper.

If following the weight watchers diet, allow 2 propoints per serving (if serving 8).

Veggies in disguise: a useful sauce and speedy pizza muffins

I am in the lucky position that my son is a 'good eater'. He will try anything and everything and generally approaches most foods with great gusto. I am regularly astonished by how much he eats! He is, however, also a toddler. This means that he is prone to moments of inexplicable rage if the proposed meal isn't quite to his liking. A couple of days ago I dared to serve him yoghurt rather than fruit after his beef casserole. Big mistake (cue sudden screaming, leg kicking and general melodrama). In the end, he ate both fruit and yoghurt. Yesterday he was horrified when I suggested he might like a banana (after I had peeled it, of course) but was happy to wolf it down once I had mashed it up. One day, scrambled egg is the best food in the world; another day it is greeted with disdain. 

Vegetables are hit and miss, as with many youngsters. Carrots, peas, red cabbage and broad beans are currently in favour. Broccoli, mushrooms and parsnips are not (strange as these were all favourites when weaning). I always try to include extra vegetables in any dish that I cook for him in order to get as much goodness into him as possible. You could call it deception. I call it 'what normal mothers do'. One of the most useful things I have in my freezer at any time is a box of frozen cubes of homemade tomato and basil sauce. This sauce is packed full of 'hidden' vegetables and is handy for creating all kinds of delicious dishes. My boy will eat almost anything if accompanied by/covered in/spread with this sauce. I vary the hidden vegetables according to what I find in the veg drawer but it usually includes a carrot, celery and onion base. I usually add courgette and red, orange or yellow pepper. Sometimes a mushroom or two. After slow simmering and the addition of something creamy (mascarpone, cream cheese or crème fraîche) to temper the acidity of the tomatoes, I blitz the sauce with a hand blender and all suspicious-looking lumps disappear into a delicious and smooth sauce. 

I freeze the sauce in an ice cube tray or two before popping the cubes out into a re-sealable freezer bag. I them simply defrost the number of cubes required. Ideas for using the sauce are as follows:

- a simple pasta sauce topped with a sprinkling of grated cheese

- a healthier ketchup substitute - great for dipping strips of chicken, fish fingers etc...

- stirred into roasted vegetables with chicken and couscous

- add tinned tuna for a tuna pasta sauce

- spoon over cod and bake in the oven

- the base for hidden vegetable pizzas (as below)

Pizza with 'hidden' courgettes, red peppers, celery and carrots

Here is my recipe for this indispensable sauce, along with a simple serving idea. Mini muffin pizzas are a great speedy teatime dish for babies and children of all ages. Cut into tiny wedges, this could be a good idea for baby-led-weaners as well as a great finger food for traditionally-weaned babies. The idea came from Annabel Karmel. She goes further and decorates the pizzas with smiley faces - this would be fun for older children to try themselves. I first gave these to my son when he was approximately 9 months old. If you wanted to be super-healthy, you should choose wholemeal muffins. 

Very useful tomato and basil sauce

Makes 4 adult portions

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, diced

1 stick celery, thinly sliced

1/2 red, orange or yellow pepper, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 small courgette, grated

400g tin tomatoes (keep the tin)

1/2 low salt vegetable or chicken stock cube (optional)

handful basil, roughly torn

2 tbsp mascarpone, cream cheese or crème fraîche

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Sweat the onion, carrot, celery and pepper until starting to soften.

2. Add garlic and cook for a minute. Add the grated courgette and stir together. Add the tomatoes and fill the tin halfway with water (or stock, if you prefer). Add half the basil and season with a little pepper. Simmer gently for 20 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining basil and mascarpone/cream cheese. Leave to cool for a little while before blending to a smooth sauce using a hand-held blender or liquidiser.

Pizza muffins

Adapted from Annabel Karmel

Makes 2 mini pizzas

Ingredients:

1 split English muffin

4 tbsp useful tomato and basil sauce (see above)

Grated cheese of choice, or torn mozzarella

1. Toast the muffins.

2. Spread with a layer of the sauce and top with cheese.

3. Grill until golden and bubbling.

4. Cut into small wedges and serve.

I had been planning to enter this to this month's Family Foodies blogging challenge at Bangers and Mash. The theme was 'Hidden Goodies' but unfortunately I have been a little disorganised and missed the deadline. If you are interested in cunning ways to sneak fruit and vegetables into your little foodies, then do take a look at the brilliant collection of recipes that were submitted on time!

Pretty in pink: beetroot and watercress salad

For some time now we have subscribed to a weekly vegetable box scheme via Abel and Cole. The vegetables are almost always in peak condition, taste exactly as they should and offer excellent value for money compared with our usual supermarket. Whilst we enjoy the challenge of cooking with vegetables we might not ordinarily choose, we also appreciate the fact that vegetables of which we are least fond can be swapped for something else. 

One of the vegetables which I struggle with is beetroot. I think it harks back to school days when it used to be served cold, swimming in vinegar, alongside mashed potato. The way the potato used to go pink still sends shivers down my spine. I still find the sweet taste and slightly strange texture of boiled beetroot hard to stomach but I have recently been converted to raw beetroot. Mr Little Bit Greedy loves beetroot and gets quite excited when it turns up in the veg box as he knows that it is highly unlikely that it will make an appearance in our household any other way. He usually roasts them whole and devours them whilst I nibble politely on the smallest one I can find. On this occasion, however, I decided to take the matter into my own hands. Accompanying the beets in our box was a suggested recipe which also made use of the fabulous watercress that was party of this week's bounty and I thought that I would try it out.

The combination of the grated sweet beetroot and peppery watercress did work together extremely well. A little freshly chopped chilli and a handful of toasted pinenuts were good additions too along with a simple balsamic and olive oil dressing. Next time, a good few bits of crumbly goats cheese will make an appearance too. Crusty bread to mop up those pink juices was all but essential.

I loved this salad. Mr Little Bit Greedy was less keen. After tasting just one mouthful he looked at me in horror and asked whether there was orange in the dressing. Mr LBG has a severe hatred of orange (unless combined with chocolate and made by someone called Terry). There was no orange to be found but it was rather curious - the salad did indeed taste strongly of orange. Further investigation found the 'culprit' to be the beetroot itself which had a surprisingly orangey flavour. I know that orange is often paired with beetroot but have never eaten a beetroot that actually tasted 'orangey' before!

The recipe for the salad can be found over here and so I won't repeat it here. 

I am entering this salad into the No Croutons Required blogging challenge which this month is being hosted by Lisa over at Lisa'a Kitchen. The event requires participants to make a soup or salad which is suitable for vegetarians.

Speedy toddler lunch: roast chicken quesadillas

When we moved house a few years ago, we were delighted to be leaving behind the freezing and falling apart mess that was our rented home for the year that we spent making sure that a 'move to the country' was indeed for us. We were excited about our new home but very sad to be leaving behind the ancient, solid-fuel fired Aga that we had come to love. We were both new to Aga cooking and, after a few disasters, soon learnt to love its versatility. Our favourite Aga treat was the fabled 'Aga toastie'. For those not lucky enough to have been acquainted with the culinary sensation that is the 'Aga toastie', it is essentially a toasted cheese sandwich. It is better though. I cannot explain why really. It just is.

To make an Aga toastie, you simply make a cheese sandwich according to your tastes (Cheddar and onion marmalade for me please). Grab some of that clever silicon baking sheet stuff and pop it on the hot plate. Pop your sandwich on top and lower the lid over the whole thing. Moments later, open the lid and flip the sandwich over and repeat. In just a couple of minutes flat, you have the fluffiest, toastiest toastie you have ever eaten. No need for butter on the outside so you could almost argue it is healthy.... Well, perhaps not. Maybe just 'less bad for you'.

Anyway, no more Aga toasties for us. Instead, we have discovered the joy of the quesadilla. Almost as speedy (you have to preheat the pan rather than having the instant heat of the Aga, but needs must!), and equally versatile and tasty. We all love them and I found them to be an instant hit with my son which is handy as I am always in need of a speedy lunch that can be whipped up in moments after a hectic morning of singing, clapping and waving at Jo Jingles. Yes, my life really is that glamorous!

My son could eat little mini-wedges of these at around 10 months but they would probably suit baby-led-weaners earlier than this.

Being a creature of habit, I like the cheese and onion marmalade or chutney combination best. Sometimes I throw in a slice of two of ham for added excitement. But you can fill your quesadilla with almost anything, though cheese is a fairly essential element (queso meaning cheese, after all). For my son, I sometimes do cheese and grated apple or tuna, sweetcorn and cheese (think 'tuna melt'). Today I used shredded leftover roast chicken, chopped tomatoes and Cheddar. Mushrooms and onions work well if they are fried off a little to soften before adding to the filling. My husband likes a few jalapenos for the authentic Mexican kick. The fillings really are as diverse as your imagination. Vary the cheese according to the fillings - I once tried an Italian perversion of this Mexican snack with pesto, grated courgette, tomatoes and mozzarella. It worked a treat!

Here is how to make one...

Quesadilla

Serves 1

1 flour tortilla

Fillings of choice (e.g. shredded chicken, tuna, ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, spring onions, pesto with grated courgette and mozzarella etc...)

Handful grated cheese - Cheddar, Gruyere, Mozzarella (match the style of cheese to your filling)

1. Take a griddle pan or even a large non-stick frying pan and set it on the hob to heat up to a medium heat.

2. Lay your tortilla on a chopping board and add your fillings to one side of the tortilla only. Sprinkle with the cheese. Fold the 'empty' half of the tortilla over the fillings (don't overfill) so that you have a semi-circle.

3. Fry the filled tortilla in the dry pan on a medium heat for a minute or so on one side before flipping over and cooking the other side. You are aiming for a nice crisp tortilla and melty cheese goodness on the inside. Watch closely as they do burn easily!

A riot of colour: purple carrot and goat's cheese salad

We subscribe to a weekly organic veg box scheme from Abel and Cole and recently we have been receiving some unusually coloured produce. First came a veritable rainbow of squashes (I don't need to eat another squash for some time), then the almost neon orange cauliflower and now, these little beauties:

Purple carrots.

Apparently this is the colour that carrots used to be before orange became fashionable. Word has it that they are also even healthier than their regular orange cousins - they contain the same sort of antioxidants as blueberries and can therefore be classed in the 'superfood' category. I have to admit that I do find them rather splendid. I love the way that when you cut into them, you reveal the orange inner core.

Rather than serve them up alongside an ordinary weeknight dinner, I wanted to make them the centre of attention in a dish that was as pleasing on the eye as on the palate. Although it was chilly, the sun was streaming through the kitchen windows yesterday so I decided upon a sprightly salad to eat alongside some crusty bread and cold meat for a light lunch ahead of a hearty roast in the evening.

I cut the carrots into ribbons using a potato peeler and paired them with a sharp goats cheese (feta would work just as well), some toasted pine nuts, chopped fresh parsley and a classic vinaigrette. The colour definitely plays tricks with the mind - I kept expecting the carrots to taste of beetroot (they didn't). My husband said the multicoloured ribbons reminded him of Frazzles. I suspect he was a little disappointed that they tasted nothing like!

I loved this colourful salad and would make it again, perhaps with a mixture of different coloured carrots and vary the nuts (walnuts or cashews would work well, I think).

Purple carrot and goat's cheese salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

3 medium purple carrots

50g crumbled soft goat's cheese

small handful pine nuts

small handful flat-leaved parsley, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp runny honey

pinch sea salt

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or rapeseed oil

1. Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan until starting to brown - watch carefully as they burn very easily. Transfer to a small dish and set aside.

2. Peel the carrots into ribbons with a potato peeler and place in a bowl. Crumble over the cheese and sprinkle over the parsley. 

3. Prepare the dressing: with a fork or tiny whisk, combine the mustard and honey with a good pinch of sea salt. Add the vinegar and whisk together. Add the oil and whisk until you have a smooth dressing. Season to taste with pepper and more salt if required. Alternatively, shake ingredients together in a sealed jam jar.

4. Drizzle over as much of the dressing as you like and gently and briefly toss together. Sprinkle over the pine nuts and serve.

Vegetable fritters - speedy teatime idea for babies and toddlers

No. My son did not appreciate the parsley garnish!

Some days it feels as though all I do is prepare meals! My 15-month old son is on a slightly different mealtime schedule to us due to fitting in naps and his bedtime which often occurs before my husband gets in from work (we relish a 'grown-up' meal together in the evenings!). Much as I love to cook, preparing two different lunches and two different evening meals can leave little time for getting out and about. Where possible, I try to cook meals that are suitable for us all and just heat up a portion for my son the next day. I also like to keep the freezer full of speedy meals and snacks that are perfect for when time is short.

These very tasty fritters freeze really well and can be cooked directly from frozen in just ten minutes. They also take merely five minutes to make and are ideal for those days when you I open the fridge and realise all you I have is an egg and a couple of bendy carrots! They are a great way to disguise any vegetables that little ones usually reject and are easy for little hands to eat - they would make a great dish for younger babies following the baby led weaning approach. For my son, these are a great tea-time meal in themselves. He loves them and we have tried various vegetable combinations - sweetcorn and courgette being his favourite. The fritters also make a good light lunch or brunch for adults served with a poached egg and/or a slice of bacon.

Vegetable Fritters

Inspired by this recipe from Annabel Karmel

Makes approx. 8-10 small fritters

30g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 large egg

1-2 tbsp milk

170g mixed vegetables* (sweetcorn, peas, courgette, carrot, spring onion)

Olive oil for frying

Pinch of salt (optional and for 12 months+ only)

*Vegetables such as carrot or courgette should be grated and squeezed in a tea-towel to get rid of excess liquid. Sweetcorn is great in these, either alone or mixed with grated courgette.

1. Place the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and combine. Make a slight well and crack the egg into the well. Mix together with a touch of milk until you have a thick but smooth batter. 

2. Stir in the vegetables.

3. Heat oil in a frying pan. Take heaped teaspoons of the batter and drop into the pan, pushing down with back of the spoon to create a rough circular shape. Cook for 1-2 minutes until golden and then flip over and cook for 1-2 minutes on the other side. Once golden and slightly crisp on the outside, they are ready. Cook in batches.

4. To freeze, simple wrap the cooled fritters in foil in portion sizes (my son will eat around 4 of these but he is very greedy!). When ready to eat, place on a baking tray in oven at 180C for 8-10 minutes.

TECHNICAL QUESTION!!
If anyone reading this can help, I would be enormously helpful. The background template for my blog does not appear correctly on mobile devices such as iPads. This makes my blog look rather ugly unless viewed on a desktop/laptop. I have no idea how to fix this as I am very un-techy. Can anyone shed any light?! Please?! I would be hugely grateful for any advice.