Peachy Giant Couscous Salad with Del Monte

We all love fruit. It is the one food which the children have free run of. We keep the fresh fruit in baskets in the fridge so that it is easily accessible. This is great for their health but the amount of times I have gone to the fridge for some fruit to find that the kids have eaten it all are endless. That is why we always keep some tins of fruit in the cupboard. So when Del Monte asked me if I would like to create an easy recipe using some of their fruit I could not wait to get started.

To get my ideas flowing they sent me a lovely hamper full of Del Monte goodies.  The hamper included some of their new kids Squeezie pouches. As soon as the children saw the Minnie and Mickey design they could not wait to try them. The pouches are 100% fruit based and are aimed at children aged 3 - 9 years old but even my 12 year old wanted to try them! The children got to try two of the new flavours, apple and mango and apple, strawberry and blueberry. Both flavours were a huge success and we will definitely be keeping an eye out for them on our next shopping trip. They are perfect to pop in the bag for days out or for the children's lunch box.

For today's recipe I have used some of Del Monte's tinned fruit. Did you know that tinned fruit can be more nutritious than fresh fruit? This is because the fruit is picked when it is fully ripe and is processed immediately. This locks in the goodness that can deteriorate over time. A recent study actually found that when they compared fresh, frozen and canned foods the nutrients were surprisingly similar. Plus when the fruit is kept in a can it has a longer shelf life. Inevitably this reduces food waste and saves us valuable money!

This recipe is a deliciously healthy salad recipe that contains fresh vegetables, chicken and the star of the dish, Del Monte peaches.

This is what I did..

Augbergine Ratatouille

I always love a good ratatouille as a main course, I just wish my family did! However they do like it as a side dish so next time I make it I will make extra for me and a different main meal for them. Ratatouille is a great dish that can be adapted to what vegetables you have that need using up or if you have a glut of home grown vegetables! In this recipe I used a marrow, which is just a large courgette so it will work with either.

This is what I did...

Eat Your Veg Campaign

When I received an email asking me if I would share Eat Your Veg I was amazed to read some of the statistics that they were sharing.

Healthy eating, particularly in the children, is a subject which I feel passionate about. That is why I decided that I would share Eat Your Veg with you. I am in no way being compensated for this post, I just honestly believe that after reading the statistics that I am going to share with you, you will re-evaluate how your children eat.

Eat Your Veg is a charitably funded project which is aimed to encourage UK families to add more vegetables to their daily diet.

Recently CBBC reported that more than half of children do not eat a single portion of vegetables a day.This worrying statistic shows why we need to think more about what our children eat and get more veg into their diets.

Vegetarian Cottage Pie

I am constantly trying to find ways to adapt meals to include more vegetables. In this case, I have transformed a much loved classic meat meal into a delicious vegetarian alternative.

This month celebrates National Vegetarian Week. From 19th May until 25th May 2014 there will be many events taking place all over the country. They are also setting a challenge for people to go vegetarian for the week!

This meal will get the more reluctant vegetable eaters wanting more and is a great way to start trying more vegetarian meals. It contains vegetables that we all know and combined with a tasty cheese sauce this really will be a winner in any household!

This is how I made it...

Vegetarian Cottage Pie

Ingredients

225g carrots, halved and sliced
225g swede, chopped
125g broccoli
125g cauliflower
1 medium red onion
150g mushrooms, sliced
100g leeks, sliced
1kg potatoes, peeled, washed and chopped
300mls milk
20g butter
20g plain flour1tsp wholegrain mustard
100g mature cheddar cheese
Black pepper
Fresh chives and parsley

Method

1 - Steam the carrots and swede for 10 minutes

 2 - Add the cauliflower and broccoli and continue to steam for a further 20 minutes

3 - Place the chopped potatoes into a pan of boiling water and simmer for about 20 minutes or until soft

4 - Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan

5 - Gently fry the onion, mushrooms and leeks until softened

6 - Chop up a few sprigs of fresh parsley and a handful of chives and add to the vegetables in a frying pan and cook for a further 2 minutes

6 - To make the cheese sauce melt the butter in a pan over a low heat

7 - Stir in the flour and heat for 1 minute

8 - Gradually add the milk, stirring continuously

9 - Bring to the boil, simmer and stir in three quarters of the grated cheese, wholegrain mustard and stir

10 - Once the vegetables have been steamed and are tender remove from the steamer and place in a deep heat proof dish

11 - Add the fried vegetable to the dish

12 - Pour over the cheese sauce

13 - Mash the potatoes, stir in butter and milk to taste and spoon onto the vegetables and cheese sauce

14 - Sprinkle over the remaining cheese and place under a hot grill

15 - Once the cheese has melted and browned a little remove from under the grill and serve

This meal is a delicious alternative to a meat cottage pie!

Enjoy x

Disclosure: This recipe is my entry to the Betta Living Vegetarian Competition follow the link for more information and to see some other delicious vegetarian recipes!

I am sharing this recipe with Honest Mums Tasty Tuesdays

My Day and Grumpy Twins

Today I did something, which these days is a rarity, I did what I wanted to do as opposed to what needed doing!

When the twins had their nap instead of remaking beds, ironing or polishing I saw my chance to go outside and potter about.

As house jobs jobs and climbing twins have taken over my time so far this week garden jobs have been left. I love being able to get outside and do a bit of gardening when I get chance, I find it such a satisfying and relaxing way to spend a sneaky quiet hour.

My first job was to cut the sweet peas. As they haven't been cut for a day or two they were an abundance of blooming flowers. Now all of the vases around the house have been refreshed. I have never had so many cut flowers in the house!

I then moved onto our vegetables, hubbys pride and joy (and mine if I'm honest). I trimmed the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers and inspected the courgettes. I am so excited to have a harvest as this is our first year! Then the fun of cooking and eating what we have grown comes! I have had 2 grumpy toddlers this afternoon so I was grateful for my hours time out earlier. Im putting their grumpiness down to the heat so tomorrow I need to have a good think during their nap of ways to distract them and keep them cool! Surprisingly bed time went really well. I did think that we would struggle but they were straight out like two little lights. Fingers crossed they don't give us hell tonight. A full nights sleep would be fantastic and to still be in bed come 6am would be amazing after our 5am early starts! However I could do with a 6am start as I've got ice cream cone cakes to ice for Joseph's school summer fair, pics will definitely follow!

Fresh Vegetables & Eggs

One of the things that appealed to us when we bought our house last year was the garden. We are extremely lucky to have a big, long garden. I am also extremely lucky to have a fantastic hubby who loves gardening :-)
We have always wanted to grow as many vegetables as we could and have them growing throughout the year. It would be amazing to become more self sufficient with our vegetables.
As soon as our long, terribly cold winter decided it was time to go and let spring time come hubby started making plans for the end of our garden and I started thinking about chickens.
With the continuous increase in food prices I am all for saving money in anyway that we can. I have also become a lot more aware of where our food is coming from. For me it is essential that I prepare meals using the maximum amount of fresh produce that I can. I am not a fan of processed food and am very wary as the majority of the ingredients are additives and preservatives. I want our children to grow up happy and healthy and to appreciate where their food comes from ie not from a tin!
In the end hubby gave in and let me get the chickens. He even built a big run for them. In April we got our 2 birds and from the day we got them we have enjoyed 2 eggs a day and regularly get huge double yolk eggs! Looking after the chickens has become part of our daily routine and the twins enjoy going down the garden to see the chickens, or "bock bocks" as Isabella calls them. I enjoy keeping the chickens so much more than I thought I would. They certainly are little characters.
While I am down the garden in the morning I enjoy seeing how our vegetables are getting on. Thanks to hubby's hard work we currently have potatoes, carrots, kohl rabi, broccoli, leeks, turnips, sprouts and courgettes growing. Our potatoes are just flowering so they will be ready soon. Down with the house we have a couple of greenhouses where we have got 6 different varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers growing. Hubby has also built me a couple of raised beds for my herb and salad garden.  I get great pleasure and satisfaction from being able to just pop outside and cut off whichever herbs I need to the meal I am cooking. We have recently been enjoying a good harvest of strawberries which we want to increase next year.
Not bad to say we only moved in 7 and a half months ago! I am so looking forward to seeing how our garden grows in the future :-)