Banana Oaty Buttermilk Muffins

I had a couple of bananas going black as usual, as it has been half term and so Tiny isn't having them routinely in the morning before the dog walk.  I also had a litre of Polish buttermilk in the fridge, which I love to buy as it is only £1 and lasts well and is great for waffles, scones, American "biscuits", lassi, and muffins.  Since we were doing a half term playgroup, I decided to throw together a nice healthy and filling muffin recipe to help blood sugar levels stay, well, um, level... So I found a recipe online, and tweaked it to fit my wishes and had these ready in no time! In fact, because I made mini muffins, the thing that took the longest was the spooning of a teaspoon of mixture at a time into tiny muffin tins, the making of the batter took no more than 10 minutes, including finding and measuring all the ingredients.

1 cup plain flour

1 cup wholemeal flour

1/2 cup caster sugar (I used a bit less and it was fine)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarb of soda

1/3 cup normal porridge oats (we use Flahavans Organic, but bog standard Basics etc would be absolutely fine.)

2 tbs oat bran (optional)

The above are the dry ingredients.

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup well mashed banana. (I had 2 medium bananas, and I also mushed up a peeled pear which was likely to be ignored as it was bruised, but was perfect for smoothie-fying or similar)

2 tbs veg oil

1 egg

These are the wet ingredients.

First, heat the oven to 190 degrees C. Prepare the muffin tin/silicon either with a cooking spray or with muffin papers.

Stir  all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

In a separate jug or bowl, whisk the wet ingredients well together.

Pour the wet over the dry, and stir quickly just until the mix is blended.  Do not overmix, do not beat or cream or whip like you would a cake mix; be gentle, and be very lax.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups, about 3/4 full.  With mini muffins this can be slow, about a teaspoon at a time, and you will need 2 trays.

Bake 10-15 mins for mini muffins and 15-20 for normal muffins, until a cocktail stick comes out clean when stabbed into the centre.

Cool in tins for 15 mins, then remove and cool completely on a rack.

Needless to say these are best within 24 hours.

Bento

So now Tiny has been at Nursery School for a few months, he has started doing one full day a week. At first I was very worried about this, as he has been used to a hot meal at lunchtime and he has never been a fan of any sandwiches, and also because this issue has never come up for me before.  Big'Un never went to nursery, she went straight in at Reception and had school dinners and that was that.  Littl'Un did go to the Nursery but the rules and hours were different and so she only did 5 three-hour sessions a week. In other words, she did mornings in nursery and came home for lunch. She also has school dinners, and both girls love their hot school meals at lunch time. So I realised that to make this work, I was going to use my imagination and think laterally.
It dawned on me that if I don't have a hot meal to give him at lunchtime, I usually give him a what we call a "monkey plate" of bits and pieces of food from the various food groups, colourfully arranged on a plate with different sections. If I could translate this to a lunchbox, I was sure he would enjoy it. 
Then I discovered the amazing world of bento boxes. Bento is a very ancient Japanese type of snack box, with partitions to keep the various foods separate.  In modern day Japanese culture, there are thousands of websites and photosites of "kyaraben" - and although I find these cute, I honestly don't have the time or energy to prepare those, and also the ingredients and tools needed are impractical for our purpose.
So after a lot of research, and a few false starts, I found this amazing lunchbox, the Yumbox, which is perfect for Tiny. The latch is easy to open, it is leakproof, has separate sections with guidelines/reminders of the food groups to try to include and the lid stays open when you want it to.  
My lunch packing has evolved and I've learned to think outside the box (sorry, pun not intended!) and find small, packable, interesting, and most importantly, colourful foods to tempt him each week.  I post the pics on Instagram - #yumbox - every week, and on my Facebook and Twitter accounts and I shall try and blog them here too.  
Here is a selection of the few I've done so far.  I will admit that buying the silly food picks was a brilliant investment, as well as being a practical way for him to eat prepared foods.
Many of the foods are shop-bought and involve no effort at all. Each box took about 5 -10 minutes to assemble. 

Mini pork pies, mini picnic eggs, mini Goodies organix cake bars, Polish "Junior Safari" animal shaped crackers, slices of brioche, strawberries/raspberries/grapes mix, cucumber wedges and sweet radish halves. Yoghurt coated raisins and fruit hearts in the "treat pot".

"satay" chicken mini skewers (no peanut), flower shaped cheese sandwiches - half of which are threaded onto a pretzel stick skewer, animal crackers and the in-between pieces of sandwich stabbed onto the tops of more pretzel sticks. Cucumber/peppers/mushrooms. Strawberries and grapes. Iced gems and white choc buttons in the "treat pot"

Organic sausages (left over from supper, yes, I put a pig pick into the pork sausages. So sue me!) pieces of "dal vada" - a tasty lentil cake snack from South India; chapatti hearts; Minion biscuits; mini cucumber and carrot wheels; and strawberries and grapes. Yoghurt coated raisins in the treat pot.

I think this was the first Yumbox I made.  A mini snack roll with cheese, salami stick and a slice of salami, baby carrots, pre peeled mandarin with grapes, and iced gems in the treat pot.

In other boxes, I have also given leftover mini toads in the hole (home made); chicken goujons, hearts cut out of cheese, flowers cut from slices of carrot, baby sweetcorn circles, blueberries, oatcakes, dry cereal, mini crackers and even a bunny shaped boiled egg!

I think it is important to have fun, but not spend too much time, energy or effort. When your 3 year old only eats half of it, it is likely because you have provided too much in an effort to give enough variety, but I do find Tiny will happily finish anything that is left over once he gets home as his after-school snack, but it doesn't stop it feeling a bit deflating when you have spent ages making it to see it unravelled and half eaten, so quick and simple is less of a "set up" for that.

I'm really hoping the boxes and picks and other accessories become easier to get hold of. I firmly believe that having  variety of boxes or plates can make repetitive easy meals more interesting and fun details don't have to involve cutting facial features out of seaweed!

Inge's Banana Hazelnut Cake

My parents have a lovely German neighbour called Inge.  She is just the perfect German grandma, and she comes to my Monday morning knitting group regularly, and makes me feel homesick talking about the typically German foods she enjoys.  She spoils my kids rotten and often has little bits and bobs for them, knits them lovely warm socks when she has odds and ends of sock wool to use up, and chats to them in a way they really enjoy.  One day we popped in to my parents' flat when they weren't there and her door was ajar with an amazing scent of baking wafting out.  As we were leaving, we couldn't resist knocking to say hello, and to enjoy the smell a bit more.  She was delighted to see us, as she'd baked a bundt type cake for her family and with the little bit of cake mix that hadn't fitted in her tin, she had made 3 little cakes for us!

I have to say the 2 bites of cake I got from the 3 kids just transported me to my childhood, and I just HAD to have the recipe.

I was delighted to be presented with the recipe, scanned from Inge's recipe scrapbook, clearly clipped from a magazine and lovingly kept.  All in German, but that's not a problem for me.  Anyway, I baked this recipe in heart shapes for Valentine's Day. It was delicious, and I wanted to share as it is easy, and slightly different.  We don't tend to use a lot of hazelnuts in the UK, and they are such a Germanic flavour.  So here we are:

Inge's Banana Hazelnut Cake

180g Butter

3 eggs, beaten

220g sugar

1 packet (about 5g) vanilla sugar

3 bananas

150g ground hazelnuts

300g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

Method:

Soften the butter in a bowl and slowly add the beaten eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar.  Mash the bananas with a fork and add to the mixture along with the hazelnuts.

Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture and fold in.

Pour the batter into a greased ring tin, any excess can be made into small cakes.

Bake in a preheated oven 190 degrees  for 40 minutes for smaller cakes and an hour for the larger cake.

Butternut quinoa cashew pilaf

Very quick and easy and tasty way to use a butternut squash. 

Peel and dice a butternut squash and fry in a little olive oil with one finely chopped onion and a teaspoon of cumin seeds.

Once the onion is soft, and the squash is starting to colour and soften, add a teaspoon of Marigold powder and a pack of Pedon Bulgar and Quinoa mix or the same amount of quinoa from a packet.

Pour on about 3 mugsful of hot water and bring to the boil.  Cover and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, or follow the packet instructions.  Keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil dry though.

Add a mug of frozen peas, and half a mug of plain cashew nuts and switch off the heat but leave it to steam for 5 more minutes.  Stir well and serve.

Spiced rice pudding with banana

We occasionally have bananas that go over ripe and no one wants to eat them and they turn black. Usually I make a banana bread/loaf/cake, but today I fancied something comforting and creamy.  I recalled that my mother and grandmother used to feed me milky rice with mashed banana when I was unwell (dudu, bhathu, kola) so I thought I'd see if I could make something a bit more complex but similar. 

I got Big to mash the bananas in a bowl (very cathartic) and into a milk pan, I put put 50g flaked rice, a bit under a pint of semi skimmed milk, about 3 tbs whole milk powder, about 50g ground whole almonds and the seeds from1 or 2 cardamom pods, ground. (I buy big bags of almonds cheap in supermarkets in the Indian aisle or in Indian supermarkets, then I just grind a few in the Bamix when I need them. They are more nutritious with the skins anyway. So I added the seeds to the almonds and blitzed both together.)

I heated this to a boil, simmered (stirring lots) until thickened and then I mixed it into the mashed bananas. 

I allowed it to cool a little (while we ate supper) and then we tucked in. Unbelievably creamy, really easy, and super nutritious. 

The ground nuts aren't necessary, or desiccated coconut or ground rice could be substituted. 

This also works with soya milk, omitting the milk powder, but doesn't work with rice milk, it never thickens, unless you use cornflour or custard powder as well. Flaked rice makes it really quick and easy but pudding rice or risotto rice would also work but would need about 20 mins simmering and stirring. 

Meatball pasta bake

I often get a pack of meatballs in one of the 3for£10 deals but as the family appetites have increased, a pack of 12 really doesn't go very far! One day a week I feed only myself and the 3 kids but even then 3 meatballs per person isn't always enough!
I was looking for a way to make them go further and it occurred to me I could adapt the wonderful chicken and ham pasta bake from Gill Holcombe's excellent first book, thereby also saving me from the bit of cooking I for some reason really dislike, which is boiling and draining pasta!

So:

Fry a pack of meatballs in a wide shallow pan (if you have one which is oven-safe you can save on washing up too!)
Once they are browned on all sides, add a finely chopped onion and sliced garlic if liked.
Add a handful of sliced chestnut mushrooms if you wish also.
Now open a litre carton of tomato juice and pour out a glassful. Save this for a Bloody Mary or just a refreshing drink later. Now pour the rest of the carton into the pan and stir in about half a pack of cream cheese until it is all melted in. You may wish to add any herbs or Marigold powder or other seasoning as wished.
Now add uncooked pasta shapes, about a handful per person, or premeasured if you prefer. Mix well. Then either pour into a baking dish, or if the pan is oven safe just put it straight in the oven at 180°C for 25-30 minutes, top with grated cheese and maybe some crushed crisps. Bake for another 10-15 mins and the pasta should be perfectly cooked. Serve with a salad or a cooked green veg.

Thali meal of joy

I realise it has been a little while again, mainly because I have reached a core of good regular recipes I use, but also because I simply have less time to blog when I do do something new.
But I still add pics to my various social networking sites, and when I get lovely feedback, it impels me to update this blog. 

I had a really good time making supper yesterday, having been through a bit of a slump of lack of inspiration and tiredness, and with Godpapa's suggestion of serving the meal on thalis, the meal was just perfect and all three kids ate with much pleasure.

It was a very simple meal, really, and only took under an hour to prepare, but it was a really good compilation.  It was the pickled prawn curry which I have blogged before here, along with a very simple cauliflower and pea curry, a mix of Basmati, brown and wild rices, and some quick and easy but crunchy and tasty hake fish pakoras.

 The smaller kids have little thalis which are less intimidating.

Inside a fish pakora. Batter should be crispy and the fish should be fully cooked but still moist inside.

The cauliflower was very easy and I put that on to cook first.  

I fried some cumin seeds and turmeric powder in a little oil until the cumin started to pop.  Then I tipped in half a bag of frozen cauliflower. Obviously fresh would also work, but this had been taking up much needed space in my freezer and I wanted to use it up.  I tossed it about to coat it, and sprinkled on some garam masala.  My home made spice mix, which I make mostly according to a Vicky Bhogal "recipe". (Looks like I have never blogged it, so I will in a separate post.)
I then chopped in a few wrinkling tomatoes and a splash of water, and a little of the tinned tomatoes I was using in the prawns. (I also added some chopped wrinkly cherry tomatoes to the prawns.)  About half a teaspoon of salt sprinkled over, then lid on and left to simmer for a few minutes.
At the very end I poured in a cupful of frozen peas, and switched it off. The residual heat heats the peas and you want them fresh and vibrant green, not grey green and shrivelled.

Meanwhile I made the pakora batter in a bowl and Godpapa helped me by kindly cubing the hake fillet up.

About a cup of gram flour, also known as chickpea flour or besan, a tablespoon of sesame seeds, a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of ground cumin, and half a teaspoon of ground coriander.  Mix evenly, then slowly add about a third of a cup of cold water. I also remembered I had an open bottle of cheap value basics savers type fizzy water, so added a little splash of that as an afterthought a la Ready Steady Cook.  The batter should be thick not runny, I suppose slightly thicker than pancake batter.

I then put the fish pieces into the batter, and gently deep fried them in my karahi.  If you have a deep fat fryer, this would be much quicker. I had to do it in several batches.  I don't fry often, especially not deep fry, I'm not going to justify it, or even explain in detail how to do it, as you kind find that info anywhere online if you have never done it before.  Though I will say, if it helps, make sure the oil is hot enough by dripping a drop of batter into the pan. If it sizzles and pops straight to the surface, the oil is just right.  Don't do too many at a time, and drain on kitchen paper.

The rice cooked itself in the rice cooker, I used a Waitrose brown and wild rice mix, and cut it with basmati which I buy in big bags when it is on offer around Eid and Diwali.

To make things look nice, I spooned the rice into little ramekins and turned it onto the main thali spaces, which amused the kids as that is how Masala Zone serves their thalis.

Even Big'Un who normally won't eat prawns ate 3 helpings of the prawn curry, and Littl'Un who has only recently started eating fish again had 2 pakoras.  Tiny also ate all he was given and had more, though the rice was on the chewy side for him it seems.  Brown rice can be a bit too filling for little tummies, which can mean they don't get enough protein or veg, so I cut back their rice servings accordingly and it went better.

The pakora batter is useful for all sorts of things, incidentally! Veggies, small pieces of chicken, onions (of course!) and some people make "bread pakora" as a snack, where squares of bread are sandwiched with a thin layer of ketchup, dipped in the batter and deep fried.  It can also me made into a sort of pancake which is more reminiscent of an omelette, useful for vegans and anyone allergic to eggs, especially as it is very protein rich.

Have fun, and remember to present food beautifully when you can!