Pancake Lasagne

Makes enough for 3 adult portions and 2 baby ones

Ingredients:
For the pancake batter: 110g Plain (All Purpose) Flour, 200ml Whole (Full Fat) Milk, 80ml Water, 2 Free Range Eggs,

Cheese Sauce: 25g Unsalted Butter, 25g Plain Flour, 200ml Whole Milk, 50g Grated Cheese.

1 Carrot (75g), 75g Chard, 100g Cabbage, 100g Cauliflower, 100g Passata, Grated Cheese to top, Bunch of Fresh Basil, Vegetable oil for frying.

First mix together ingredients for pancake batter and leave to cool in fridge.
Chop carrot into thin sticks and cauliflower into trees and stir fry for a few minutes.  Shred cabbage and chard and add to pan cooking for a few more minutes until just cooked.
Grease a non stick frying pan with vegetable oil and once it is very hot add some batter.  You'll need to experiment a bit to work out the best quantity of pancake mix for the thickness of the batter, the size of the pan and the thickness of the pancake you like. Immediately tip the pan from side to side to get the pancake mix to evenly coat the base of the pan.  Keep the pan on medium heat. If the pan is hot enough, the pancake should take just 30-40 seconds to cook.  Flip the pancake (I do this with a spatula, safer and less chance of problems!) and cook the other side for around 20 seconds or so. Repeat process until you have used all the batter up.  Set pancakes aside whilst you make cheese sauce.
Place butter in a saucepan over a high heat, add flour and mix together to form a paste.  Slowly add milk stirring continuously and then add cheese.  Keep stirring until a thick sauce is formed and remove from heat. 
Add stir fried vegetables to cheese sauce. 
Put two pancakes (depending how many you have got from your batter) in bottom of lasagne or casserole dish, add a layer of cheesy vegetables, then a layer of pancakes, then some passata and torn basil leaves.  Repeat the process finishing with a sprinkling of basil and cheese on the top layer of passata.  

  

Stevo's Gorgeous Curry

Swede is a great source of vitamin C, B6, potassium, maganese, thiamin, folate, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus.

Like all curry, this tastes great on the day but ten times better the next day (as you can see from the photo of Ethan Bear literally smearing it all over himself cos of how good it tasted!).  You can get 3 to 4 adult portions and a baby portion out of this.  Serve with rice and or naan or just on its own.  I gave Ethan a few spoons to play with but he soon abandoned them for the method which is much easier for him at present of diving in with his fingers.

Ingredients: 350 grams red lentils, 175g cauliflower cut into trees or florets if you want to be posh about it, 110g dessicated coconut, One large onion diced (175g), 200g swede cubed, 3 teaspoons curry powder, 2 teaspoons ginger (fresh or ground), 2 teaspoons cumin, olive oil (or ghee or any other vegetable oil) for frying and 1750ml (7 cups) of water, 2 low salt stock cubes crumbled.

Method: Fry onion until clear in large saucepan.  Add water and all other ingredients.  Bring to the boil and then simmer, stirring regularly until fully reduced.  If you don't stir regularly, this will stick by the way!  

Macaroni Cheese

I love macaroni cheese but felt it was missing something...so I bunged a load of vegetables in there too.  Ethan loves the creamy cheese sauce and picking different coloured vegetables out.  The whole milk is a great source of calcium, Vitamin D, B12, riboflavin or B2 (which is responsible for red cell growth and promotes a healthy immune system)  and phosphorus (which helps with bone formation, digestion, energy extraction and protein formation) .  Babies need full fat milk as they need more calories for all the energy they burn off and the fat helps their brain development but it should only be used in cooking after 6 months and can be given as a drink after a year.  

Makes 3 Adult portions and a baby one.

Ingredients: 300ml of Whole (Full Fat) Milk, 100g Mature Cheddar Cheese grated, 25g butter, 25g Plain (All Purpose) Flour, 300g Macaroni (or failing that any pasta shapes you have in the house), 2 Carrots (100g), 100g Frozen Peas and 100g Cauliflower.

Method: Make pasta as per instructions on pack put peas in towards end, drain and set aside.  Steam vegetables (you can do this using a metal colinder overing a saucepan of boiling water with a lid on top or in the microwave in a container with the lid slightly open and a few drops of water).   Heat butter in a saucepan, gradually add flour, mixing together to form a paste.  Gradually add milk and keep stirring and turn up heat to high.  Add cheese and keep on stirring until a thick sauce forms.  Take off heat, stir in pasta and steamed vegetables.  If you like a crispy top you can take a portion out now for baby and cool and then put macaroni cheese in a casserole dish and place under the grill until cheese bubbles. 

Broccoli & Cauliflower Soup

Broccoli and cauliflower are both super healthy containing calcium, iron, vitamin A, C, K, B6, B9 (folate ie the naturally occuring version of folic acid which is important for mums when pregnant and nursing) and E.  When chopping up the vegetables for this soup I saved a few trees and steamed them quick in the microwave leaving them to cool whilst the soup cooks as Ethan loves eating both broccoli and cauliflower in this form.

Serves 2 adults and as many babies as are hungry!

Ingredients:
Olive oil,
150 grams broccoli,
150 grams cauliflower,
1 small onion,
400 ml stock made with low salt stock cube, black pepper to season.

Method: Dice onion and fry in a saucepan til starts to go clear. Chop broccoli and cauliflower into florets and add to saucepan.  Add just enough stock to cover.  Simmer for around 20 minutes until vegetables are tender.  Use a handblender to blend into soup or cool and set aside before blending in food processor.  I like my soup chunky and thick so it doesn't take much blending but you can make it as thick or thin as you like.  Ethan isn't really getting spoons at the moment (anything given on a loaded spoon ends up being poured straight off) so as with the other soup I dunk torn up crusty bread into it and he wolfs those down. 

Cauliflower Cheese

The cauliflower is the best source of vitamin C after citrus fruits and contains potassium and folic acid.  And the whole milk contains vitamin D, vitamin B12 and calcium  and cheese provides protein and calcium.  A very simple dish but very healthy for little tummies!

Makes Four baby portions.

Ingredients:
25 grams plain flour
25 grams butter
1/2  Pint (240ml) of Whole (full fat) Milk
50 grams of grated cheese
200 grams of cauliflower florets broken into tree like pieces.

Method:
Steam the cauliflower. You can do this by using a metal colander over a saucepan of boiling water or putting a drop of water in with half the cauliflower at a time in a microwavable pot and cooking on full power for a couple of minutes.  Then put a pan (suitable for putting under grill) on a high heat and add the butter,  Stir in the flour gradually making a paste.  You may have some flour left over.  Slowly start adding the milk and mixing in to continue paste like consistency.  Add more flour and more milk until it is all mixed in.  Reduce the heat.  Next add most of the cheese (reserving enough to top the dish later) and stir in.  Once the cheese has melted and you have a thick cheese sauce take off the heat.  Pour your steamed cauliflower into the cheese sauce and mix until cauliflower is coved in sauce before topping with remaining cheese.  Place pan under a grill to cause the cheese on top to bubble and brown.  Divide into four portions and cool before serving.  Freeze any you don't use.