Involving Children

I've not met a child yet that doesn't like baking and I've not met a child who is not prepared to taste their own creations. It can be a fabulous way to introduce new tastes and textures to fussy eaters. It allows them to be creative and best of all - to get messy.

Having two of my four children born with severe food intolerances brought home to me the importance of knowing where food comes from, what's in it and how it's made. At times I've bought things for the children and then searched for recipes to make my own version - more often than not the children enjoy the homemade version more. Other times the factory wins over me, but its fun messing around with the ingredients.

Children should not find baking intimidating. If you're not confident yourself, your children will pick up on that, so don't feel pressured to start teaching them anything too complicated to start with. With my children, I started with muffin mixes. They're not as precise as sponge mixes so they inevitably come out more successful than fairy cakes. Also, biscuit mixes and cookies. A plain biscuit mix can lead to all variations of creations, and all it takes to change the flavour is a little flavouring extract, or to change colour, some food colouring.

I usually double up quantities when my children want to bake. That way I can split doughs and cake mixes between them. It saves arguments over who gets most, stops them constantly elbowing or knocking each other when trying to work and also gives them the chance to make a whole batch of goodies. They love having their own working space, but if your kitchen doesn't allow for this, try to put them side by side with their own doughs or mixes. One may like to add a flavouring to theirs, another might prefer a colour or keeping it plain. You can really see a child's individuality come out when they're left to their own devices.

My younger two love making biscuits. This week they wanted to make their own jammie dodgers. They made a basic biscuit dough, rolled it out and then used different shaped cutters. With just a little supervision when rolling out pastry, as kids tend to roll it until it's like a sheet of paper, they got some really good results.  They tasted great too.  In fact they hadn't even cooled properly before they were all eaten.

 

Any flavour jam can be used to fill them. My children chose my homemade blackcurrant jam for these ones, but we've had just as good results from a jar of shop bought jam.

Leftovers

'Best before' dates?  I tend to ignore them most of the time. 'Use by' dates command my respect a bit more and I am more cautious, but if the food is not something likely to spoil within a day or two of the printed date, I still use it.  

So much food is wasted as people don't have the basic skills or confidence to know what to do with leftovers. Having to buy more than you need for a recipe will result in something festering away in the fridge, or perhaps too many roast potatoes or meat from a joint is left over, or you've had to separate an egg and have no idea what to do with the yolks or the whites that are left.

Don't be afraid to put leftovers in your fridge for use another time. Food is expensive and it's accounting for a major part of our disposable income every week - and you don't get a lot for your money.  I grew up with a mother who threw away obscene amounts because she didn't like the thought of 'second hand food'. She's come round over the years to my way of thinking and occasionally I do spot the odd cold sausage in her fridge or a few roast potatoes. I remember one Christmas she had so much veg, roast and boiled potatoes and turkey left over, I recoiled in horror when she headed towards the bin with it and managed to convince her to put it in plastic boxes for me. I made four family meals out of it. One year she had a solitary rasher of streaky bacon left after covering the turkey, so went to throw it away.  Why it couldn't have just been put on the turkey is anyone's guess, but she wouldn't fry it for breakfast the next morning as it was the 'wrong type of bacon'. 

I have a shelf in my fridge that I put all the leftovers on, so I know they have to be used quickly and they don't get forgotten. If your budget is really tight for food, it can be a real joy to know you can make a meal out of practically nothing. You don't need to invest in cook books either. Quite often I go here, type in the ingredients I have and scour through the ideas. Some recipes I follow but others prompt me to try something different and I've had good results.

Today I had half a small jug of single cream left over in my fridge and 2 egg whites. I made some meringues, using the 2 egg whites, 60g of brown cane sugar and 60g of icing sugar. I got a dozen tablespoon sized individual meringues out of the mix. In a small saucepan I melted some butter, squirted in two blobs of golden syrup, added 2 tbsp of cocoa powder to make a rich paste and then added the cream and stirred it through.  he meringues were sandwiched together with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, then the chocolate sauce was drizzled over. 

So, a delicious pudding that served four children, which, if I'd thrown away my unused egg whites and single cream, they'd never have got to enjoy. 

Meatballs and Spaghetti

As I grew up there seemed to be a pattern where a certain culinary craze would hit a height and people would aspire to be like the chefs on television.  Maybe a certain ingredient was in vogue (like rhubarb is at the moment), or a plate shape or a presentation style.  It seems now though, that anything goes and you can flit between fine presentation and rustic, depending on the season, your guests, your mood, your time allowance and your budget.  I'm no artist, but I do like messing around with ideas to present meals and treats.  I really enjoy "sharing meals", where everything is placed on the table and everyone helps themselves. 

One of my favourite rustic and easy sharing meals is spaghetti and meatballs.  My meatballs are quite basic, minced beef, egg, onions, garlic, herbs, ginger and seasoning.  I roll them into balls and place them on a patty tin greased with spray oil, then bake them in the oven for 15 minutes.  While they're baking I make a sweet herby tomato sauce in a deep frying pan, then transfer the meatballs in and finish cooking them through.  I've found baking them first helps to keep their shape as putting raw meatballs into a pan and then trying to turn them just ends up with them in a big collapsed jumble.  Today I added a few slices of frozen mozzarella cheese to the sauce and let it melt in and it added a lovely creamy taste and texture to the sauce. The meatballs and sauce simmer away happily while a big pot of spaghetti bubbles away.

 

The spaghetti is piled into a huge bowl,  meatballs on top and half the sauce drizzled over. The rest of the sauce in a jug so everyone can help themselves to more. We love sitting at the table around the big bowl and digging in. Usually we end up with bits of spaghetti on the tablecloth or the odd meatball escaping off the serving spoon as it rolls off en-route to the plate, but it's all part of the fun!

Creamy Shortcake Sandwiches

I love the days when my children have friends over.  It gives me an excuse to bake and my children always love it when I'm experimenting with new recipes.  Quite often this is around early evening, so staying up a little late in order to wait for things to cool down for the taste test is a real treat.  

I had some double cream left over in the fridge from a meal a few days back and not liking waste, it had to be used.  The result is a beautiful creamy, but slightly crumbly biscuit base, layered together with a rich sweet icing filling.

Some tips before you start: 

Be careful when you cool them.  Loosen them on the sheet with a palette knife, but don't attempt to put them on a cooling rack - they'll crumble.  Wait until they're quite cool and be careful handling them.  Of course, if you have a couple of casualties like I did, there is usually somebody not too far away hoping this will happen so they can help get rid of the evidence!

I used double the ingredients listed here for the icing as I like them to be really full for the children.  What child doesn't love it when they bite into something and the filling oozes out the side?  If I was making these for adults, I'd keep the icing amounts stated in the recipe.

Creamy Shortcake Sandwiches

Biscuit
1 cup butter (softened)
1/3 cup double cream
2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Icing
1/4 cup butter, (softened)
3/4 cup sifted icing sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1.  Biscuits: Mix flour and butter together thoroughly (do not add sugar at this point).  Stir in the cream, mix well and chill in fridge for 1 hour.  The mix will seem like a stiff cake mix at this point.  Don't worry.  It will solidify slightly when it's chilled. 

2.  Preheat oven to 375F / 190C / Gas 5.

3.  Flour the surface really well, and your hands.  The dough is extremely sticky, but will form a lovely soft ball when you bring it together.  Roll it out to about 3mm thick, then cut into 1½" rounds.  (Or you could use hearts, stars etc).

4.  Put sugar on a piece of paper, then coat both sides of the biscuit in the sugar.  I used a palette knife to lift and flip them as they're incredibly pliable.  They won't stay perfectly round, so don't worry.

5.  Lay them on an ungreased baking sheet (no need to grease it as the ratio of butter in the mix will be enough to form a non-stick layer).  Prick with a fork and then bake for 7-9 minutes (shorten or lengthen the time if you have used a different sized cutter).  Leave to cool.

6.  Filling:  Blend all ingredients together and sandwich two biscuits together.