cooking with kids

easy kale crisps

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Kale crisps are really  crunchy and really tasty. My friend Amanda has been making these for years and I said I would do a version for her. Everyone is mad about Kale. I love peas, but kale is a another delicious  superfood that’s incredibly popular. I bake mine in coconut oil because coconut oil doesn’t become toxic when heated, unlike other oils. These kale chips are delicious as a low carb, high fibre snack that’s packed with vitamins and minerals. They are also perfect sprinkled on salads and other savoury dishes as a healthy garnish. I added truffle salt to mine to give them a bit more va va voom. Garlic salt will add a stronger flavour too as would a grating of Parmesan.

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creamy bean hummus

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Beans make a smoother paler paste than chick peas, and I sometimes like that. I know versions of humus are everywhere. And bean humus can be served as an alternative to hummus and is a great healthy store cupboard standby. It’s also perfect if you are dairy free and want an alternative to butter that is healthy. They are now saying that margarines and damaged fats are really bad for you, so things like hummus are a much better and tasty alternative. I like to serve it with bread drizzled in a little olive oil, see my scorched bread recipe in the index, and dry fried in a frying pan till it’s got a slightly overdone crunchy chargrilled flavour with a nice thick layer of the bean humus and with salad and pine nuts on top. Its great with roast veg on it too or its fab with crudités or tortilla chips as a dip.

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italian beans on toast with poached eggs

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Beans on toast with a fried or poached egg is up there as a great tasting breakfast or light meal. I have taken a traditional Italian recipe that ramps up the taste and textures and added my own tweaks, but mainly a poached egg, which you can leave out if you want the vegan version it’s still delicious.

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guacamole

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Guac is the perfect tasty health food and this recipe is bursting with vitamins. Everyone  has their version of it and this is my version , it is silky smooth, except for the chopped red onion and tomatoes on top. It’s got all the authentic Mexican flavours of lime, chilli, oregano and cumin and it has a bit of a kick. You can put in half the chilli if you prefer it milder. I have eaten this ever since I went on the Fit for Life diet years ago. I’d have it on toasted rye bread with butter, but now I’d just make it with bread brushed with olive oil, roasted and sprinkled with a pinch of salt. It’s a lovely combo of crunchy, creamy and spicy and it’s super delicious. Perfect for lunch as it takes minutes to make.

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chewy vegan florentines

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I took a Mary Berry recipe for Florentines and converted it to a vegan recipe, so they are dairy free. What is missing in some vegan baking is the luxurious taste of fine ingredients and interesting textures. These Florentines are chewy, tasty and very lux, perfect for a special occasion or just with coffee as a treat.
I’m testing them out later on friends, and I won’t tell them they are vegan then I’ll get back to you…..yay! They loved them and couldn’t tell they were vegan.

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chewy pavlova meringue

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This nude pavlova is perfect at Easter and can be made in advance and frozen unfilled. It’s also great served at a dinner party or instead of a birthday cake. It’s gluten and dairy free. That said, a good meringue is crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle, and made with great ingredients. I got this recipe from the BBC good food website and its easy and delicious and works perfectly. You can layer whatever fillings you want on top and I can guarantee it will be popular when you serve it. It looks and tastes magnificent. Just don’t fill it too far ahead of time as it might get soggy.

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the perfect roasted fries

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It’s the simple things that are the best and I love fries as much as the next person. No carb free living for me, and I don’t care if I have a muffin top, life’s too short to be eating just ‘clean food’. Food should be delicious, beautiful and sensual and a bit of what you fancy. I eat mostly healthy food which is unprocessed with lots of vegetables, fish and of course cake. I don’t have a microwave and am still mistaken for someone at least fifteen years younger so I must be doing something right.

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sticky jamaica ginger cake

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Jamaica ginger cake is very nostalgic for me as it was a very occasional treat when I was growing up and I loved everything about it. I loved that it was a dark, dense, slightly sticky on the outside sponge cake made with lots of black treacle and fragrant with spices. They still make it today but I wanted to do a dairy free version that could also be vegan so I have created this recipe around the original recipe but omitted the butter and milk. It has a great texture as well as a great taste, and you don’t miss the dairy at all. The cake gets nicer over the next few days after baking and gets slightly sticky on the outside as the flavours mature. I tested it out on my friend’s teenage kids and they really loved it even though they had never had Jamaican ginger cake before. It’s dairy free heaven… but shhh, you don’t have to tell anyone it is because they won’t notice!

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pink date night pasta

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What to serve at Valentine’s dinner for your darling that is homemade and original… Pale pink pasta, made with beetroot juice for the colour and with fresh eggs for the taste. Team this up with any of my crab linguine, truffle carbonara, midnight spaghetti recipes and you have the perfect romantic dinner. The pasta, when cooked, goes the most beautiful shade of pale rose pink and looks pretty and tastes sublime with a fab texture. This recipe is perfect if you want to spoil your squeeze…or guests. Buon appetito.

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pear cake

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This pear cake has a lot of pear in it, so it’s healthier and moist. If you read this blog you will already know I love pears, I love both the taste and the texture and this cake is made with whole meal spelt flour and olive oil so it’s dairy free.
I think the thing about most cakes, is they can be lacking in the flavour department but this one is spicy and has the subtle fragrance that comes from the pears. It’s perfect as a birthday cake or as a tea time treat or simply just because you fancy some cake.

Recipe

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients:
2 ripe pears
1/4 cup of golden caster sugar
1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
3/4 cup of mild olive oil
1/3 cup of runny honey or maple syrup
1 egg and one egg yolk (or if you want to make it egg free, use egg replacer for 1 1/2 eggs (from health food store))
1 1/2 cups of whole meal spelt flour or plain flour
A pinch of allspice
A pinch of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
Plus icing sugar for dusting
And a lemon if making icing
A deep 7 inch cake tin sprayed with cake release spray or lightly greased with cooking oil

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