Jam and Apple Tarts

Pastry! Love it. So do they and so many different cutters out there although I favour the traditional granny round curly edge ones.

Ingredients
4oz plain flour
2oz butter
a splash or two of cold water
Any kind of jam, but if you are using the apples then a purple berry jam is best

Method
when the butter is cold, throw it in a bowl with the flour. Get little man to rub it altogether. Best to have a cloth standing by so they can wipe their hands every two seconds before going in again. When the butter and flour looks a big like lumpy clumpy breadcrumbs, add some water a little bit at a time and make a dough. Roll it out and get little man to cut out round shapes. He can put the shapes into a greased tin. (I never grease anything, i use a pastry brush to get him to paint the tray with oil. Seems to work.) Add some small pieces of apple with each one and a dollop of jam. Put in the oven at about 200 for about twelve minutes.

Space Cookies

What do you mean that's an inappropriate name for a children's recipe? Prude. Introducing our new chef "mini man"...

Ingredients
2oz softened butter
black food colouring
1oz icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3oz plain flour
star cookie cutters
silver decorative balls and silver sparkle dust (available from cake decorating stores)

Method
Mix the butter, icing sugar and dye and vanilla in a bowl. Grimace at the weird black sludge and remember when you used to delight in making recipes that involved delicate herbs, spices and "drizzling". If using a small baby in this recipe, remove bowl from mini man's head and wipe clean with a damp cloth. Explain to little one that mini man does not go in the bowl.

Having scraped the black sludge off them both, put it into the flour and mix again. It should form a dough. If it doesn't then add more flour or water depending. Roll out the dough on a board and then cut out stars. Put on a greased baking tray and press on some silver balls. Bake at about 180 for about ten mins. When done, dust them with the sparkly dust. You will have a black star cookie with silver sparkles and balls. And that's what makes it spacey....

Blackberry and Sultana Muffins

Having done cakes so many times little one really gets the process now. He puts the cases in the trays and can even crack the eggs themselves. Of course it's still a challenge to stop him grabbing fists full of butter and shoving them in his mouth but that's kids for you. I like to make cakes using fruit which happens to be in season. This time the blackberries are out. Beware that a little one can manage to eat at least three cheeks full of blackberries before you wrestle them away from him/her and this can lead to an emergency nappy change soon after. This recipe will make about twelve muffins or can be halved to make smaller cakes if desired.

Ingredients
200g Self Raising Flour
200g Caster Sugar
4 eggs
200g Butter or margarine
Approx 30 blackberries (use more or less as you see fit and depending on how have escaped the clutches of your little one)
Approx 1 handful sultanas
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method
Mix the butter and the sugar together until it forms a paste. Throw in the eggs and mix. (Delia and my granny would probably spit in my face for not saying "cream the butter and sugar together" and "gently beat the eggs separately in a bowl and then mix into the mixture." Ah well, I won't tell them if you don't.) Tip in the essence. Chuck in the flour. (Yes, sorry "sift" I know. Complete nonsense. My sieve broke ages ago and everyone still loved these cakes.) Finally add the fruit and divide the mixture into the muffin cases. Cook at about 190 degrees for about 12-15 minutes until the top is golden brown and the "skewer comes out clean." (Stab it with a knife. Any knife. Or a fork or any other metal kitchen stuff to hand. Is it clean? Yes? Cooked then. Is it covered in cake mixture? Yes? Bung them back in the oven for five minutes or so and check again.)

Apricot Balls

Now I can't claim this one as my own, it was given to us by my mother in law, it's very tangy and tasty. As you can see from the picture, they can get their hands right in there. Or they can simply put their head in a box of icing sugar. You know. Whatever.

Ingredients
250g dried apricots, finely chopped
2 cups dessicated coconut
1 cup icing sugar
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
Extra dessicated coconut to roll the balls in

Method
Mix all the ingredients up and form into small balls. Toss each one in the additional coconut and put in the fridge to set for an hour or so.

Dragon Fruit and Pineapple Cous-Cous

I love wandering around the supermarket and coming across an interesting ingredient little one hasn't tried before. Dragon fruits are brilliant because they are bright pink and look like a kids toy on the outside, with a white seeded almost watermelon texture. You could also add dried apricots to this recipe.

Ingredients
250g cooked cous-cous
2 slices fresh pineapple, chopped
1 half dragon fruit, chopped
About 3 tablespoons sweet chilli dipping sauce

Method
This is another one of those fabulous throw it all in, mix it together and eat it for lunch recipes!

Marshmallow Stuffed Gherkins with Marmite Gravy

Ha! Fooled you. Of course even I am not that crazy. Cannelloni will be the next post xxx

Cannelloni

Cannelloni is one of those brilliant recipes that can be adapted very easily according to what you have lying about. I got a box of dried cannelloni shells for about a pound. Once we'd made the mixture we had fun squashing it all into the tubes. Now don't listen to this nonsense about piping bags, get your fingers in there! Messy, but fun.

Ingredients
Approx 8 cannelloni shells
250g marscapone Cheese
2 hand fulls of spinach (already boiled for a few minutes and chopped)
1 tablespoon cream
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 jar of pasta sauce/homemade pasta sauce/1 can of chopped tomatoes (Whatever you have is fine)
Some grated cheese

Method
Mix the spinach, spice, cream and cheese in a bowl. Put one cannelloni shell on each of your own and little one's fingers and play witches/pasta fingers for a bit. Shove mixture into the tubes and lay them in a dish. Pour over the pasta sauce and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake at 200C for about 30 minutes. Yum!

Marrow Madness

Marrows were in the grocer shop this morning and little one didn't know what it was, although it was apparently the perfect shape to hug. I therefore decided it was time for some stuffed marrow which was delicious in the end and myself and hubby also had it for dinner. It makes a good accompanying vegetable dish, although for adult taste you may need to season it later on.

Ingredients
1 marrow
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 potato, peeled and sliced
1 can chopped tomatoes
Olive Oil
6 cloves garlic

Method
Slice the marrow in half lengthways. Show little one how to scoop out the middle seeded bit. Make sure this section is put in a bowl out of site. Mine tried to grab the mush we removed and add it back in later! You can't fault his enthusiasm. Lay one half of the marrow in an oven proof dish. Paint the marrow with olive oil.

In a bowl, put the other vegetables in and mix them in with the chopped tomatoes. Put this vegetable mixture all over the marrow in the dish and strategically place the garlic cloves across the top. You could add grated cheese if you want, I didn't this time as we had cheese for lunch.

Cook in the over for about 1 hour at 180C

Chinese Noodles with Pineapple

When I was digging around in a charity shop I found this fabulous Chinese hat. We therefore had a Chinese day, where we looked at the flag and pictures of Chinese things. Of course, then came dinner and what better way to celebrate Chinese food than with some noodles. Keeping it simple so little one could join in meant avoiding stir fries and sweet sauces though and using noodles I already cooked.

Ingredients
1 pack noodles, cooked
Several slices of fresh pineapple, chopped
About 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 pinches Chinese 5 spice

Method
This is really as simple as it gets. Get little one to throw it all in together and then play with the noodles as he/she eats.

Allotment Cakes

I've had carrot cake before - it's my husbands favourite. He also loves beetroot. Since I've started this cooking blog, little one has started happily munching raw carrot, but beetroot is spat out all over my favourite jeans. Not one to shy away from a challenge though, I've created this lovely vegetable cake recipe. Surprisingly it is still sweet and doesnt simply taste or look like beetroot. Ha! Mummy wins another round of vegetable tennis. Enjoy!

Ingredients
300g self raising flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
250ml oil
2 large raw carrots, grated
2 cooked beetroots, grated
1 raw potato, grated
2 teaspoons cocoa powder (optional)

Method
Put the potato, carrot and beetroot in a bowl and let little one have a look. Mine liked to get in there and mess about with it. Next crack the eggs in the bowl and mix them in. Little one is 2 and he's seen me do this so many times that he grabbed an egg, smacked it on the bowl and cracked it in himself. I was impressed to say the least! Throw in the oil and mix everything to a splodgy yet colourful mess.

Sieve in the flour and cocoa powder if you are using it. Add the cinnamon and mix together. You should have what looks like salmon pink goo! Put in about 25-30 small cake cases and cook in the oven at about 180 for approx 20 mins for this many cakes. Smaller numbers of cakes will take less time to cook.

Egg Fried Rice With Fresh Garden Peas and Smoked River Cobbler

Ever given a toddler some peas still in the pods to play with? I tried this with little one and spent the next hour watching his fascination as he removed all the peas from the pods. He even tried some of them.

I like this because it's good to give children an idea of where their food comes from. When he'd finished he said "pack awaaaay!" and tried to put the peas back inside the pods. How cute. This is the main part of the recipe that little one can help with as it does involve more cooking although he/she can mix it all together at the end.

This recipe is a good way to get and egg in the diet if they won't eat the and also reduces the radius of mess for when they eat rice since it all sticks together.

Ingredients
1 cup rice
Approx 8 pea pods
1 egg
1 fillet of smoked river cobbler (note that this can be replaced with a different fish they prefer such as cod or trout.)

Method
Show little one how to shell the peas. Boil the rice and peas together in a saucepan until cooked. Drain and put back in the saucepan. Crack an egg into this mixture and mix up until the egg is cooked and the rice and peas are covered. Fry the fish in a little olive oil. Before serving, break it up and make sure there are no bones. Ensure that if you are using a smoke fish that you serve dinner with a cup of water since it tends to be fairly salty.

Pomegranite and kiwi cheesecake

Now at this point I should mention that the recipe list is designed to give my little one an introduction into a range of different foods/fruits/vegetables. You could therefore argue that this recipe would be much nicer with raspberries instead of pomegranate, but he's already tried raspberries. It's not about us, it's about them! Sometimes I find that even if I'm not that fond of something, he likes it and will happily eat it.

Ingredients
1 pomegranate
3 desert spoons sour cream
About 1 cup of icing sugar
4 kiwi fruit
100g melted butter
8 digestive biscuits
approx 400g mascarpone cheese


Method
Retrieve pomegranate from the other side of the room and explain that it is not in fact a ball. Put all the biscuits in a freezer bag or a bowl and give little one a rolling pin to smash them up. Then mix in the melted butter. Put this finished biscuitee goodness into the bottom of 6-8 ramekins depending on how much you have left.

Blend the kiwi fruit and the sour cream together. Mix in the sugar and the mascarpone cheese. Half the pomegranate and give little one half to play with and lick. Show him/her how to pick out the seeds. Take the seeds out of the other half and mix in. Fill the remaining space in the dishes with this interesting concoction and put them in the fridge to set.

I don't normally like pomegranate, having only previously tried the juice, but I loved the finished result. I'd probably make this one again.

Chick Pea Dip

Chick peas and beans are always a challenge. Little one hates them as a general rule unless I can squash them into something else so they don't show.

Ingredients
1 can cooked chick peas, drained
3-4 heaped desert spoons natural yoghurt
4 teaspoons paprika

Method
Begin with the chick peas and encourage little one to play and taste. Add the yoghurt and let him/her squash the peas into the yoghurt manually and then introduce a masher. This will be quite tough, but it gives them an idea. Chuck in the paprika and use any kind of blender until its nice and smooth. Good with some brown bread or as a side dish to a meal.

Coconut Ice

This one was brilliant because of the different textures in the ingredients. He can really get in and make a mess and it doesn't matter too much about the proportions. You can divide up the mixture and add a variety of different colours rather than the more traditional pink and white which can be fun.

Ingredients
50g sweetened condensed milk
250g icing sugar
200g dessicated coconut
food colouring as required

Mix the milk and icing sugar, then add the coconut. Split and add food dye if required. Flatten out on a dish or baking tray and put in the fridge until set. You can then chop up or cut into shapes.

Simple Cakes

The marvellous thing about cakes is that you can cook them in the morning and then have a decorating session in the afternoon. The difficulty lies in preventing little one from grabbing a fist full of sugar or margarine and stuffing it in his face before I can grab him, but it's all part of the learning experience. It is a useful way to get him to learn how to taste using one finger only!

Recipe
100g margarine at room temperature. Yes you can soften it for a few second in the microwave, but beware of making it warm or it will cook the eggs as you mix them in. Yes I learned that by experience. The recipe for a lovely scrambled egg cake will be posted later on.
100g self raising flour
100g caster sugar
About a teaspoon of vanilla essence
Some dried currents/sultanas
2 eggs
Icing sugar and colouring along with any kind of decorations for later from shop bought ones, to Smarties.

Method
Get some paper cake cases and place them in the cake tins. Eventually my little one realised that this was the first step and began doing it himself. He particularly likes a choice of cases so he can pick which ones to use.

Add the flour and the sugar to a large bowl and mix (technically called creaming) together until they form a paste. Remove large chunks of mixture from little one's hands and place back in the bowl. Soothe screaming little one. Add the eggs and mix. Ensure that little one his/her own spoon to mix with.

Add the vanilla and then the flour. Mix well and then add the dried fruit if you are using it. Spoon the mixture into the cake cases. Little one always tries to grab them at this point so to have any hope of having anything left to decorate, you may need to grab some away and just give him/her one of their own to do with a teaspoon.

Put in the oven on about 180C/Gas Mark 4 for about 12 minutes. Get them out and stab them with a knife. If it come out clean its done. If it comes out covered in cake mix, throw them back in for about five minutes. If the knife breaks and the surface is black, throw them away. Allow them to cool fully then decorate them however little one sees fit. I like the boxes of hundreds and thousands as he can shake them all over everything which he loves.

Vegetable Pizza

Hayden eats broccoli and potato, but apart from that refuses all vegetables. Since I started letting him cook them, he has started eating raw carrot sticks so that's a start anyway. The good thing about a pizza recipe is that you can use a whole range of vegetables. I lay them all out and encourage him to smell, lick, taste and play. He then makes the pizza and gets to try the finished result for lunch. I would say, depending on the amount of different vegetables, this all took about an hour all in, but we weren't doing it for speed obviously!

Recipe
Half teaspoon of yeast
300g white flour
Olive oil
160-180 mls of water (this will depend on how much flour little one grabs out of the mix!)
A variety of vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes, legumes, mushrooms and anything you happen to have that can be tasted raw
Some cheese, grated, about 30g
Some tomato ketchup or tinned chopped tomatoes

Method
Throw everything except the vegetables in a bowl. Mix, splodge, squidge, kneed and splat until it resembles a dough. Leave for about ten minutes in a warm place. Meanwhile explore all the vegetables. Talk about the textures and colour. Encourage little one to taste them and smell them. Use plenty of encouragement and praise to get them interested.

Spread the pizza dough on a greased baking tray. Spread the sauce or chopped tomatoes on the pizza base. Add the vegetables and finally the cheese.

Cook in the oven at around 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7 for about 15 mins.

The Rules For Cooking With A Toddler

Note: Do not clear everything away and forget the flour. Little one will take advantage as the picture shows.

Here are the guidelines I go by when attempting to get my little one interested in cooking:

1. Get some flour and throw it all over your clean carpet. Tread it in and spread it about. That's what Hayden does. I have an old couple of yards of fabric and I spread it over the floor and we do all the cooking on that. But seriously, don't bother if mess worries you because he/she will be gifted at getting it all over themselves, you and everything else regardless of all aprons and coverings. It's worth it when I look at his happy icing covered face!

2. They eat raw stuff. Often more than the cooked result. You can try and stop them, but you wont. Especially a dedicated eater like mine. I therefore try and cook a variety of things, but making sure that its safe to eat. Obviously raw chicken is out! Hayden will wolf down a slab of margarine and raw flour accompanied with a glue stick, but will refuse many a nutritious meal placed in front of him in the shape of a smiley face.

3. I try and make a variety of things, not just cakes and use the experience to teach him about different tastes, textures and vegetables.

4. Don't be surprised if the end result comes out a bit strange. Little one will eat half the ingredients before you can put them in and spread the rest over a carpet. If you are planning an important dinner party then this is not the way forward.

5. If possible, include little one in cleaning up afterwards. Give him/her a bowl to wash up some plastic bowls and wooden spoons or stand him/her on a chair with you at the sink.