LivingwithKids

Hi there. I'm Tara and I usually blog at Sticky Fingers but today dear internet I have been given free rein to take over Liz's cosy pad. It's all part of Guest Post Day to get loads of bloggers to switcheroo with a partner and give readers the chance to discover new writers. Great idea eh?  So if you came here expecting to find Liz you can find her at mine talking about the dreaded 'A' word . . . gulp, age.

Brown Sauce Sandwiches

When I was about eight years old my snack of choice was brown sauce sandwiches. I would be off with my friends all day on my bike, only popping home for a quick bite to eat.

A brown sauce sandwich. No butter, never cut in half. Bread. Brown sauce. Fold over. No help from my mother needed.

My brother's snack of choice was ketchup sandwiches. If you think that's strange, when my mum was young she says she used to have condensed milk sandwiches . . .

Brown sauce sandwiches seemed perfectly OK to me. I mean I love brown sauce on my chips and on my bacon sandwiches, so this was just a quicker and easier option. But I was talking to my 17 year old nephew at the weekend and his choice of sandwich floored me. Jam on one side, Marmite on the other, sandwich together with onion inbetween.

What? Noooo.

Is it a youth thing eating food mixtures which us grown ups consider revolting?

Actually, when I think about it I used to adore banana on my pizza and would also eat raw spaghetti (the hard pasta variety, not the canned sort). My best friend when I was 10 used to eat Marmite from the jar . . .

And now my seven year old dips breadsticks into his yoghurt and my four year old's snack of choice is a bowl of frozen peas (which I thought was totally weird but then mentioned it on Twitter and it seems I'm in the minority!)

So is it just me that is totally weird or did you ever had a strange food fetish in your childhood?

So far I have failed to teach the offspring anything more than how to make fairy cakes and a chicken stir-fry. But some of my favourite recipes were given to me by my mum, and my grandmother, and I intend to pass them on.

There's my mum's Queen of Puddings, for example (a delicious concoction of meringue and fresh blackberries) and her Shepherd's Pie. My granny's trifle (swiss roll layered at the bottom, orange juice and sherry, jelly, custard, cream, hundreds of thousands, job done) and her potato cakes, scones and chocolate cake.

When I make these delicious recipes (from memory, not written down) I can still remember them teaching me how to make it, and it feels incredibly comforting.

What about you - which recipes have you inherited, and which recipes would you like to pass down to your kids? I'd love to know - and feel free to post the links below x

As you know I’m a HUGE fan of Annabel Karmel, MBE so I’m very excited about her brand new cookbook, Top 100 Pasta Dishes (RRP £9.99, available from Waterstones and Ebury Press). It’s packed full of healthy, yummy meals for the whole family, including mouth-watering recipes for babies and toddlers. There’s a huge variety of recipes ranging from Spicy Sausage Meatball Pasta to my personal favourite, the Japanese-inspired Stir Fried Beef with Noodles.

Here are two recipes for you to try – plus, below, win a copy of Top 100 Pasta Dishes!

Baby vegetable pasta Annabel says: ‘As your baby gets older it is important to encourage him to chew, so dice vegetables instead of pureeing them. Frozen peas and sweetcorn are good standbys to keep in your freezer.’

Ingredients
50 g (2 oz) baby shell pasta
10 g (V oz) butter
50 g (2 oz) onion, finely chopped
30 g (1 oz) carrot, finely diced
30 g (1 oz) red pepper, finely diced
30 g (1 oz) frozen sweetcorn
30 g (1 oz) frozen peas
10 g (V oz) plain flour
250 ml (9 fl oz) vegetable stock
2 tbsp basil, chopped
1 tsp lemon juice
30 g (1 oz) Parmesan cheese, grated

Method
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Drain. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the onion, carrot and pepper, cover with a lid and sauté for 10 minutes until nearly soft. Add the sweetcorn and peas and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the flour, then add the stock, stirring until thickened. Simmer for 3 minutes, then add the basil, lemon juice and Parmesan. Stir in the drained pasta. Serve.

Salami, red pepper and mozzarella pasta Annabel says: ‘Most children like salami, so here is a simple recipe that you can put together in about 15 minutes.’

Ingredients

180 g (6 oz) pasta shells
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper, finely diced
1 small garlic clove, crushed
50 g (2 oz) thinly sliced salami, roughly chopped
150 g (5V oz) cherry tomatoes, chopped into 8
75 g (3 oz) mozzarella, cubed
grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Method

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the instructions on the packet. Drain. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Fry the pepper for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and salami. Fry for another 5 minutes. Add the drained pasta, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella and season. Serve with a little Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

 

*Competition: WIN a copy of Top 100 Pasta Dishes!

There are 10 copies to be won in our fab competition. All you have to do is send an email from your KidStart registered email with ‘Annabel Karmel’ in the catchline and your full name and address, plus your answer to the question below, to competitions@kidstart.co.uk by the closing date May 28. (If you’re not a KidStart member, click here to join.)

Q: How many recipes are there in Annabel’s new cookbook?

I'm a big fan of twitter. It's not just that it's a brilliant way to communicate with other parents, or that you can get the occasional celeb tweet (I've had ones from Jonanthan Ross, and Jackie Collins.) But it's also a fantastic way to get answers on anything from health to kids to what's on TV.

On Wednesday the lovely Annabel Karmel put out a tweet asking if anyone had any particular recipe request and I replied saying I would love a cupcake recipe. (This was true. Even though I'm not eating them at the moment it seems that everyone I know has gone cupcake crazy, and they're ideal for after school treats.) Within seconds she'd replied, giving me a link to one of her recipes. So here it is - the Easy Cupcakes recipe, which appears in her book You Can Cook (£11.69, published by Dorling Kindersley), available from Waterstones). They look totally yummy.

Makes 12 cupcakes   Ingredients 110g butter at room temperature 110g caster sugar 110g plain flour 2 tsp baking powder Quarter tsp salt 2 eggs (medium) 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F / Gas 4. Line a muffin tin with paper cases.
Put the butter and sugar in a bowl; and beat until pale and fluffy
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl.
Beat the eggs and vanilla and add to the bowl. Beat until just combined.
Spoon the mixture into the paper cases.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until risen, golden and firm to the touch.
Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


Buttercream Icing
It’s the icing that makes them special. Swirl it on using a piping bag and nozzle – but  practise on a plate first
For plain buttercream, beat 110g (4 oz) butter until soft, then beat in 110g (4oz) icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time.
For vanilla buttercream, add half teaspoon vanilla extract and beat to combine.
For lemon buttercream, beat in 1 tbsp lemon juice - add 1 tsp at a  time and taste after each addition.
For chocolate buttercream,  beat in quarter tsp vanilla, 60g (2oz) melted and cooled milk chocolate and 2 tbsp cocoa powder 

*PS - if you want to tweet with me on twitter I'm here, KidStart is here and Annabel is here. Feel free to share your twitter urls below!

For those of you not on a diet, here's a gorgeous recipe perfect for Easter. I’ve always loved the look of Simnel cakes – they’re so pretty. The recipe is from the new Divine Heavenly Chocolate Recipes cookbook by Linda Collister (available from Waterstones), and it looks absolutely scrummy.

Ingredients: 230g plain flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder A good pinch of salt 175g unsalted butter, softened 175g soft light brown muscovado sugar 4 large free-range eggs, beaten to mix 50g ground almonds 350g mixed dried fruit 100g glace cherries, rinsed, dried and halved 100g bar Divine dark chocolate, roughly chopped 2 tablespoons milk 450g white marzipan A little apricot jam or sherry for brushing

To Decorate:
Divine miniature Easter eggs
A ribbon
20.5cm/8in round, deep cake tin or springform, greased and lined

Method:
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas4.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt on to a sheet of greaseproof paper and set aside until needed.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; you can use a wooden spoon or an electric whisk or mixer.  Gradually beat in the eggs, beating well after each addition and adding the ground almonds with the last egg.  Using a large metal spoon fold in the flour followed by the dried fruit, cherries, chocolate and milk.  When thoroughly combined spoon half of the mixture into the prepared tin and spread evenly.  Roll-out one third of the marzipan to a circle slightly smaller than the tin.  Set in on top of the cake the cover with the rest of the cake mixture.  Spread it evenly then make a slight hollow in the centre so the cake rises evenly.  Bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 170C/325F/ Gas3 and bake for a further 60 to 70 minutes or until a skewer inserted in to the centre of the cake, just down to the marzipan layer, comes out clean.  Leave to cool on a wire rack then remove from the tin and discard the lining paper. 

Roll out two-thirds of the remaining marzipan to a circle to fit the top of the cake.  Brush the top of the cake with a little warm apricot jam or sherry and set the marzipan disc on top.  Shape the rest of the marzipan into 11 balls and arrange around the edge.    Fill the centre with miniature Easter eggs and finish with a ribbon around the cake.

Now obviously it’s actually easier to buy Easter Eggs (and I’ll be recommending some of the best ones around on Friday). But when I discovered that Lakeland sell Easter Egg moulds (for £3.49) it seemed like too good an opportunity to resist.

So the Oompa Loompas and I set to work. What we didn’t realise before we started is that you have to melt, then layer and then refrigerate three times to get a lovely hard shell, but once you get the hang of it it’s incredibly easy. And the advantage is that you can choose which chocolate to use – so we went for the extremely good quality Green & Blacks Organic Milk (also available from Ethical Superstore) which worked perfectly. We really did feel like we were working in a chocolate factory – the smell was incredible.

Once the eggs have set (you do have to be patient), it’s time to decorate. Dr.Oetker do icing writing tubes, available from Ocado. (Dr.Oetker also have very cute chocolate bunny making kits, available from Sainsbury's). Then fill them with whatever you choose, and either sandwich together (slightly tricky) or leave as two halves. And there you have it. Homemade Easter eggs. And no you can’t eat them yet. Naughty.

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, including Global Patron Sarah Brown and WRA Ambassador Naomi Campbell, are asking people around the world to wear white and hold a dinner party in March to celebrate the 100th year of International Women’s Day, which is on the 8th.

Now as I can’t invite all of you round to my house unless you’re happy for it to be standing room only, I thought I would hold a virtual dinner party  - with a little help from some of my talented friends.  I hope it inspires you to host your own.

Here’s what’s on the menu:

Starter Carrot and Coriander soup served with crusty granary bread (created by Sandy from Baby Baby)

Main course
Pan Fried Sea Bass fillets with new potatoes crushed with spinach watercress and rocket (courtesy of Nick from My Daddy Cooks)
or

Tender Sweet Chicken Satay (from My Daddy Cooks) served with Persian Jewelled Rice (made by Carly at Wives and Daughters) or Butternut Squash Risotto from English Mum

Dessert Cheesecake courtesy of Lorraine from Ramblings of a Mum on the Run or Divine Chocolate’s Little Hot Chocolate Mousse. Served with cream.

Mmmmmm. Enjoy!

If you've watched the videos of little Archie from mydaddycooks you'll have seen that the way his dad keeps him safe is in a Little Helper FunPod®. The multi-award winning FunPod® provides a safe environment to get your toddlers up to the kitchen worktop on their own safely constructed platform to help, interact, learn and play.

Heralded as socially responsible, the FunPod® encourages children to learn all about the whole food experience and can encourage parent and child bonding with quality time spent while preparing lunch or dinner. With five awards to its name in just over 12 months, the FunPod® is available in five different colours. The FunPod® is available from retailers including Childalert's Baby Catalogue. Read our review of the FunPod® here.

But if you'd like the chance to WIN one, plus a FunPack worth £7.99 including an apron, child’s wooden whisk, spoon, rolling pin and mixing fork, just enter our fab competition!

How to enter: click here, watch the video on the home page and then send us your answer to the following question from your KidStart registered email address to competitions@kidstart.co.uk by the closing date Tuesday 9 February.

Please note: entries from non KidStart members will be disqualified. If you'd like to register with KidStart, click here - registration is free. Usual KidStart competition rules apply.

Question: What colour top is the little girl with pigtails in the video wearing?

As you know I'm a big fan of encouraging kids to start cooking at an early age, and one of my absolutely favourite recipe sites at the moment is mydaddycooks, featuring stay-at-home dad Nick Coffer and his utterly enchanting two-year-old Archie.

Together the two of them make the most amazing recipes, and Archie has already been dubbed 'the next Jamie Oliver.' Here are a couple of my favourite dishes - maybe it will inspire you to make your own parent-and-child cooking 'vlog'!:

We've got a birthday in our house next week - thankfully we're at the stage now where the party is the easiest thing in the world: a sleepover, video games and a dvd, pizza, maybe some 'midnight feast' snacks. But it wasn't so long ago that we were having to come up with inventive ways of entertaining 20 or so kids for two hours. So here are my top tips for throwing the perfect child's birthday party - please feel free to add your own!

1. Decide on a venue. House parties are easiest for little ones, but if you're worried about the mess then your local school, sports centre or church hall can probably be hired out quite cheaply.

2. Choose a theme. Not so important when the kids are nursery/reception age, but after that a really good idea. Fancy dress, wizards and witches, Ben 10, Harry Potter, Hannah Montana - whatever your little darling and their friends are into.

3. You need some sort of entertainment, but it doesn't have to cost the earth. For little ones, traditional still works - so pass the parcel, musical chairs, pin the tail on Peppa Pig, a sweet-stuffed pinata, etc. Ignore your inner Competitive Mum - just because Lucy had pony rides, a carousel and a ride in a hot air balloon doesn't mean you have to do the same. My brother-in-law has always done homemade puppet shows - he sets them to chart hits and the kids love them. A disco will also work, karaoke if your head can take it, or you can make your own football party. If you do want to spend a bit more, soft play parties are always popular with younger ones, cinema outings can be fun from about the age of 6, or when they're a bit bigger, go karting, bowling, laser quest or paintball.

4. Don't get too stressed about the food. The honest truth is that kids don't want to spend an hour sitting down to a lavishly prepared tea. They want to get up and run around and cause havoc. So a few sandwiches, grapes, carrot sticks, and cherry tomatoes (so it seems a bit healthy), crisps, some fairy cakes and of course the birthday cake (if you want a recipe for a super easy one, click here).

5. Going home presents should be cheap and cheerful (and you don't need them past the age of 10). One simple toy, some sweets, a blower/bubbles, a slice of cake.

Finally, send out the invitations 2 weeks in advance, and if you haven't had an RSVP don't be afraid to ring up and ask. Some parents are incredibly lax about replying to invites which can be incredibly annoying if you're trying to work out numbers. If you're guilty, take note!