Are you looking for a dinner time hack this weekend? If so, you’re in the right place!
These Tortilla mini Pizzas are yummy and perfect as a quick meal time solution – for both kids and adults.
Ingredients:
Pack of mini Tortillas
Tin of tomatoes – blitzed in the mixture
Cheese
Toppings of choice (I used Spinach, chorizo and Parma ham)
Dried mixed herbs
Pepper
Olive oil or low fat cooking spray
Method:
Quite simple grill one side of the tortillas and spread over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with cheese, add your topping of choice. Season well and add the herbs. Drizzle over some oil and grill for a couple of minutes! Serve with a side salad and enjoy X
So, during these worrying of times, we’re back with a lip-smacking bang to keep the kids thirst kept at bay. This really is a treat in our house, not for the every day but a recipe the children love to make on sunny days.
Inspired by Allegra McEvedy who has written a cookbook inspired by the stories of Enid Blyton, why not give the kids a lesson on the art of making Lemonade? It really is so simple and I can promise the results are totally worth it! My kids delight in reading out and copying down the ingredients and method, the measuring and weighing and the jolly good shaking!!! Most of all, they love the outcome and it certainly quenched our thirst during these warm days in the Uk. Let’s get going!
Ingredients;
3 lemons
2 limes
100g caster sugar
Method;
Start off by quartering the fruits and then let the kids squeeze out the juices into a jug. You should end up with about 150-200ml of juice. Place the skins to one side.
Next up, place the juice into a jar, add the sugar and 250ml water. Place the lid on top and get the kids to give it all a good old shake until the sugar dissolves.
Add 1 litre of cold water and the squeezed out lemon and lime skins. Give it all a jolly good stir!! Add ice and Enjoy!!!
It’s that time of year when everywhere you look, pumpkins and squashes adorned the shelves in shops.
If you’re looking for something to do with them other than carving out ghoulish faces or pumpkin pie, look no further!
This delicious soup is hands down the tastiest thing I make at this time of year, and to make matters even better, my kids eat it! Surely that’s worthy of a parent point?!
Ingredients (serves 4 with plenty for seconds);
1kg Squash or pumpkin
2 carrots, cubed
2 large potatoes, skin on cubed
2 small onions, sliced
2 cloves of Garlic (or more, depending on taste buds)
2 pints of Vegetable stock
Sprigs of Rosemary & Sage
Seasoning
3 slices of brown bread
1tbsp olive oil
Method;
Start off by quartering the squash and carefully cut off the skin. Cut into large chunks, deseed and chuck them into a large saucepan.
Next, add the remaining vegetables and crushed garlic. Remove the herb leaves from the stalks and roughly tear up and pop on top of the vegetables.
Cover the ingredients with 2 pints of vegetable stock and bring up to boil on a medium heat.
Reduce the heat to a simmer and leave to cook for about 35/40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
The next part is up to you and depends on your preference. You can eat the soup nice and Chunky as it is, or you can pulse it with a handheld blender for a few seconds. I chose the latter as my kids like their soups nice and smooth.
While the soup is cooling down, roughly chop up 3 slices of bread (crusts off) to make some croutons and place a large frying pan onto a low heat to warm up. Add a splash of olive oil and add the cubed bread.
Gently fry until the croutons are nice and crisp on each side, it should only take a couple of minutes.
Now serve up the soup and pop some crispy croutons on top.
This earthy Peruvian inspired soup is my own interpretation of a Jamie Oliver recipe. I’m a bit of a maverick when it comes to following recipes, often straying heavily. However, the core herbs and spices are the same, I just adapted some of the vegetables with what I had to hand. I must say, this is a very tasty soup indeed!
Ingredients;
1 large red onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed and finely chopped
2 mixed colour peppers
3 potatoes
2 small sweet potatoes
1kg chicken thighs, skin off
Olive oil
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp coriander leaves
Pinch of ground cloves
1.5l of Vegetable stock
2 limes, halved
100g Couscous
1 bunch of fresh coriander
Method;
Prep all of the veg and once done, place a large casserole pan on a medium – high heat to warm up. Put the chicken and 1tbsp of olive oil in the pan and stir well. Brown off the chicken.
Next up, tip in the herbs and spices stirring regularly. Stir in all of the prepped veg and cook for 15 minutes. Pour in the stock and bring the mixture up to boiling point. Reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.
Put the limes in and pour in the couscous. Cook for a final 15 minutes until the couscous is cooked through. Remove from the heat. Season well and stir in the chopped fresh coriander.
If you are looking for something a little bit different for the kids, look no further than this Jamie Oliver recipe. My children love these lollipops and the little dip that went with it. What’s more, it was super easy, quick and hassle free.
Ingredients;
2 skinless chicken fillets
Olive oil
Seasoning
4 tbsp natural yogurt
2 tsps tomatoes paste
4 Lollipop sticks, soaked in water
Method;
Start off by cutting the chicken fillets into chunks and use a sharp knife to make a deep slit into the bottom of each piece of chicken.
Rub oil into each chunk and season well. Insert a lollipop stick into each slit and gently warm up a frying pan on a low – medium heat.
Place the chicken lollipops into the frying pan for 7 minutes on each side, until golden.
Whilst the chicken is cooking, mix the yogurt and tomato paste together in a bowl, seasoning to taste.
When everything is ready, plate up with your sides of choice and enjoy!
The theme this week is packed lunches. What do you put in your kids lunch box? We’ve always stuck to sandwiches, day in and day out for oh, about 7 years now. I’ve decided to change all of that and be a bit more experimental.
These gorgeous little pizzas/patties/pastries with toppings (not quite sure what to call them, if I’m honest) have gone done a storm at lunch time.
They are so easy to make – the kids got stuck in with their favourite toppings – and they cost pennies.
This time around I totally cheated and bought some ready made pastry (it was on offer for 90p – bargain!). We heated and thickened up a tin of chopped tomatoes, adding in some mixed herbs. Once the sauce had thickened, I took it off the heat and placed to one side to cool down.
Once all of the ingredients had been chopped and sliced, we set about spooning a blob of the tomato sauce on top of the pastry bases. We then sprinkled over the ingredients, made them look pretty and popped them into a preheated oven at 180•C for about 12 minutes.
As you can see, they look dreamy. Leave to cool down on a wire rack and enjoy! Bon appetite.
Here at Mums In Real Life we’re always looking for tips and hints. Please do share any favourite Packed lunch ideas with us. Thank you x
The summer holidays have come to an end and it’s back to making packed lunches for the little ones. It can often be challenging to think of different healthy foods to pack in their lunch boxes, this is therefore a great choice and it certainly ticks the boxes in terms of taste.
I hadn’t heard of Scuffins before, until I picked up a recipe book from a trendy young lady called Izy Hossack. They are the shape of a scone but with the texture of a muffin. They also taste pretty damn good and got a massive thumbs up from my kids, which is always a bonus.
I used Izy’s recipe as a guide, but made quite a few adaptations based on the quantity I needed and the fruit I had to hand. Let’s go!
Ingredients(makes 6);
30g Red Lentils
1 Egg
3tbsp Milk
40ml Olive Oil
1/2tsp Nutmeg
80g Plain Flour
30g Oats
1tsp Baking powder
150g Pears (Cooked) & Strawberries – cubed
30g Demerara Sugar
Method;
Kick off by preheating the oven to 180•C fan. Line a baking tray with baking paper, or use fairy cake cases.
Next up, put the lentils into a saucepan and cover with water. Boil for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and place back into the saucepan.
Stir in the egg, oil, milk, nutmeg and sugar and stir well. Add the remaining ingredientscombine everything together.
Using a tablespoon, scoop out about 2tbsp worth onto either baking paper or into the cases (I tried both) until the mixture has been shared out evenly.
Bake in the oven for 17 – 20 minutes, until spring and golden. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!
If like me, mealtimes at the moment are a bit of a rush, why not give this green pesto a try? Knocked up in less than 5 minutes, it’s the perfect solution for a quick tea time meal. Stir into some pasta or spread on top of chicken fillets, voila!!
Ingredients;
50g Fresh basil leaves
30g Parmesan (more or less, as required)
60g Pine nuts
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
Method;
Put everything (except for the Parmesan) into the blender and blitz for a few seconds.
Add the finely grated Parmesan, season to taste and add more olive oil or lemon juice to loosen, if required.
Life gets busy, right? Here at MIRL we love these scrummy yummy breakfast pots. Made up the night before, they are the perfect ‘grab & go’ in the mornings.
Not only are they tasty, this breakfast pot is unbelievably healthy and very filling too.
Do you want to know more about the health benefits of berries? Check out this insightful link:
Simply place your Muesli into an airtight pot, top with berries and then add the yogurt on top! Close the lid and pop into the fridge ready to grab in the morning!
This gorgeous red pesto sauce will have your family begging for more! Not only is it very easy to make, it tastes delicious and is perfect for a quick mid week meal.
Ingredients:
200g Sundried Tomatoes
20g Fresh Basil
1 Clove of Garlic (more I’d preferred)
60g Pine Nuts
50g Parmesan, grated
50ml Olive Oil (may need a glug more at the end to loosen up)
Method:
Quite simply tip everything into a mixture and blitz. Serve with pasta (or topped on Chicken fillets) and enjoy X
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