Homemade Pizza

For this weeks baking post with Aldi I thought that I would share with you a perfect recipe for easy homemade pizza dough. If you are looking for a fun meal that can be made with the kids then this is the recipe for you. Pizza dough is so quick and easy to make all you need is a good quality flour. On a recent shopping trip to Aldi I found the perfect flour on special buy. The Italian tipo '00' flour is a lovely fine flour that is ideal for pasta, pizza and grissini. As soon as I saw it, it was placed in my trolley and I went on the hunt for toppings. 

On Saturday I needed to keep the kids busy as the hubby was out so what better way to keep them busy than to bake? I prepared the dough then gave them a ball of dough each, the toppings and let them go!

This is what we did...

Mary Berry's Bakewell Tart

Last weeks Great British Bake Off was all about pastry. The technical challenge was a Bakewell tart. I love traditional Bakewell tarts so could not resist making one.

So I found Mary's recipe on BBC Good Food and got baking!

For this weeks Bake Off post I have used some great ingredients from Aldi. Like other produce from Aldi they are all at prices which you simply cannot go wrong with. There are also many baking products that are available at Aldi on their Special Buys. Their The Pantry range consists of various different flours, sugars, food colourings, nuts, dried fruit, baking chocolate and many other items to help you bake. Baking is such an enjoyable pastime and one that does not need to cost a great deal. Last week I even found some jam sugar which has come in handy as we have got a lot of raspberries to harvest!

This is how I got on making Mary Berry's Bakewell Tart...

The Cheesemakers Choice - Make Your Own Cheese!

As a family we love cheese. It is such a fantastic ingredient to add to dishes and to eat on its own. So when I was asked if I would like to try making my own cheese at home I could not wait to find out more!

Cheese is something which I have never thought of making myself so this really is a new experience. The Cheese Makers Choice supply kits that contain everything that you need to make your own cheese at home. You can choose from three kits, Mediterranean cheeses, Italian  Trio or Goats Cheese.

So, why make cheese?

Homemade cheese is naturally fresher and contains less unknown ingredients. You know that in the cheese that you have made there are no artificial flavours and no artificial preservative! But making your own cheese is also a fun and a lot easier than you would expect. You do not need any fancy equipment and it really is a simple thing to make. The kits from The Cheese Makers Choice makes this possible. The kits have been designed to give you the basic equipment and some knowledge making it easy to follow the step by step instructions and making your own delicious cheese. They are a fantastic way to get children understanding how soft cheeses are made. I love my children to understand where their foods come from and these kits are the perfect way to show them the process of transforming milk into cheese!

I decided to try the Italian Trio kit. The kit that I received contains everything I need to make 12 batches of cheese! With the Italian Trio kit you can choose whether to make Mozzarella, Ricotta or Mascarpone! Deciding which one to make first was the hard choice, I love all three cheeses and they all make delicious additions to meals.

A Delicious Meal When The Cupboards Are Bare

This evening I have had to put a bit of extra thought into our dinner.
Our weekly shopping isn't delivered until tomorrow and I am pleased to say, that for once, I have used up what I bought last week.
But that did leave me a bit stuck as to what to cook for tea. I took some mince beef out of the freezer this morning and hoped for the best!
We had no potatoes or rice. We had pasta, but I did pasta last night, so wasn't going to cook it again tonight.
After looking in the cupboard, for what seemed like an eternity, I had an idea!
I had minced beef, spices, an onion, yellow pepper, a tin of chopped tomatoes, plain flour, a little bit of rice and the end piece of a block of cheese..........
Mexican chilli beef wraps with a side portion of rice!!!
I cooked the chilli and made some tortilla dough.
Tortilla dough is so simple and quick. All I needed was:
250g of plain flour
5g salt
150ml water
I mixed it up and gave it a quick knead. Once the dough had come together I separated the dough into about 6 pieces and rolled them out. They only needed a couple of minutes on each side in a hot frying pan and they were done.
Easy and quick!
I feel so much more pride and satisfaction in a meal that I have really had to think about. This certainly was a delicious meal made from the odd bits that were left in my cupboard and fridge mixed with some of my cupboard essentials and some imagination. I am sure that this will be a meal that I will be cooking again!

Fun with Finger Food

This morning has been a kitchen morning. These have to be some of my most favourite mornings!
After yet another lie in until 6:45am, I have been on the go non stop.
I am trying to come up with new foods for the twins to try. In particular new finger foods.
Last week I let them go mad with a yogurt each. I put on their coveralls, gave them a spoon each and waited to see what they did. Taylor sat squeezing the tub and watching as it oozed out. Isabella placed the spoon in the tub, pulled it out and sat examining the yogurt on her spoon. I soon realised that it would be easier for them if I transferred the yogurt into a bowl.
This resulted in so much food fun!
They both enjoyed not just eating the yogurt but also the sensory experience! They were putting their hands in the bowl and squeezing yogurt through their fingers and using the yogurt to make patterns on the table. Isabella even decided that it would be fun to put yogurt on her face as if she was putting cream on. Yogurt was everywhere. It was all over the table, their chairs, their coveralls, faces and even in their hair! But they had so much fun and at the end of the day it is how they learn learn and it is easy to wash off.
Needless to say, once they had eventually finished, the only way to get them clean was to bath them!

Messy play is certainly going to be a lot of fun in the future!!!

Seeing how much they enjoyed feeding themselves got me thinking of ways to give them healthy, more independent foods at meal times, particularly lunch time.

Today I have made some homemade chicken nuggets by mincing up a chicken breast, adding a little paprika, making finger style shapes, rolling in egg and covering with breadcrumbs. I chose to mince the chicken instead of using chicken pieces as Taylor still has not got any molar teeth and I find that if their food takes a lot of chewing they immediately loose interest. So using mince has kept them quite moist and will be easy to hold and chew.

Lunch time savoury pancakes filled with a vegetable mash went down well. At first Taylor wasn't sure but after a few pieces he was wanting more and more! 

We just need to wait until tea time to see how my homemade chicken nuggets go down!

I feel a huge sense of pride watching how they are developing and growing but I also feel some sadness. My babies are growing too quick!

Super soup

I am constantly trying to ensure that all of my children are getting the essential vitamins and minerals from what I cook for them.

One great way of that is my Super Soup. It is fab for the kids but also good for mum and dad!

Ingredients:

4 good sized carrots
1 lg or 2 med parsnips
4 med potatoes
2 white onions
1/2 turnip
Bag of spinach (approx 120g)
400g tin chopped tomatoes
Tomato purée to taste
Handful of fresh parsley chopped
Handful of fresh chives chopped
Either a baby vegetable stock cube or a reduced salt one
Dried herbs and seasoning to taste

Method:

1 - Chop up the carrots, parsnips, potatoes, onions and turnip
2 - Boil a pan of water and when boiling add the stock cube stir until dissolved and then add the chopped vegetables, fresh parsley and fresh chives
3 - Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 30 mins until all the vegetables are soft
4 - Add the bag of spinach, chopped tomatoes and some tomato purée to taste
5 - Turn the heat up and boil. Once its reached boiling point turn down the heat and simmer for 5 mins
6 - Season to taste, I usually add some thyme and black pepper
7 - Once its cooled blend it up and you're done

For the twins I add a drop of full cream milk and add bits of freshly homemade bread. This goes down a treat with both them and me, its delicious for them and I'm happy knowing that they are having a healthy nutritious meal. This soup is also a great guilt free lunch for me!

Enjoy x