Vegtable slice

This slice can be packed with any mixture of veg you have in the fridge, so feel free to experiment. I also like to swap out onion for leek. They are really tasty, and won't last long.

Ingredients

2 cups of root veg, chopped  - such as potato, sweet potato and carrots
1/3 cup peas
2 sheets of puff pastry
1 small onion or equivalent volume of leek
light sprinkle of herbs - try parsley or thyme





Directions

Pre-heat oven 180° C and line a tray with baking paper.

Steam or boil root vegetables until soft

Saute onion or leek.

Mix vegetables together and lightly mash.

Cut each sheet of pastry in half. 

Fork mixture along the long edge of pastry and gently roll, so the pastry fully covers the mixture with a small over lap.

Brush party with milk or egg.

Place in oven 7-10 mins until  brown.


Sweet corm, parsnip, pumpkin and swede are also great fillers.

Problems getting baby to eat greens

My daughter will eat pretty much anything if its covered in cheese, butter or mashed with sweet potato. She's almost one and I'm keen to get her to start eating family food. Here are a few suggestions which I found to help:

- cook veg with a few slices of apple
- cook with unsalted chicken stock
- stir-fri veg with ginger, leek, apple
- cook broccoli and pear in the same pan

Persevere, persevere and persevere! What they don't eat one day they will love the next.

Quinoa Bites

The problem with quinoa bites is they are so yummy they don't last long. Quinoa is such a versatile grain, it goes with most vegetables.  This evening I used zucchini and parmesan, as suggested by Little Grazers. Pumpkin,  sweet potato,  mushrooms are equally tasty.

Ingredients

200g uncooked quinoa (or 250g cooked)
60g grated parmesan
1 grated zucchini
1 egg
Filtered water or unsalted stock

Directions

Cook 1 part quinoa to 2 parts liquid. Approx 3 mins, until moisture has been absorbed.

Mix quinoa,  grated parmesan, grated zucchini and egg.

Place in mini muffin trays and bake. 10mins at 160 fan. (My oven tends to run hot, 180 for 5-7 mins may work better if your oven is better behaved than mine).

They should by lightly golden on top. Leave to cool in tray.

Mini Banana Muffins – Sugar Free

I friend gave me a great sugar free muffin recipe. Her son loved them. I made them and they were  - well not the yummy bundles of scrumptious I envisaged. I forgot the baking soda and didn’t adjust the cooking time for my hotter than normal oven. I made a big pot of custard and my husband and I ate them for dinner.

A bit of experimenting and tweaking of the recipe and Eva has a one in each hand chomping on them as fast as her 2 little teeth will let her.

Ingredients:

3 large bananas – the softer the better

1 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or plain white flour)

90g. of unsalted butter – melted

Preparation:

Pre heat oven to warm (approx. 200 degrees). 

Mash bananas.

Add cinnamon and slightly beaten egg.

Melt butter (20sec in microwave) and add to mixture.

Sift dry ingredients together and mix until combined

Place in a non stick mini muffin tray (or grease your tin)

Bake for 15 minutes. DON’T open the oven door early.

  

Notes:

The softer the bananas, the better.

If your bannanas are small, use 4.

If the mixture if a little dry add a little more butter – don’t overdo it. The mixture should be sticky and not runny.

Bake for 20 mins if making normal size muffins.

You can swap out wholemeal for plain flour if you prefer.