Beginning the Gastric Adventure!

So, the Hungry Boy has been loving his baby rice for a few days and its time to progress to purees. I know there's a lot of trendy talk about baby led weaning and baby finger food but the Hungry Boy is starting a bit early and I think we'll wait to introduce finger foods. He's already proven to be like his parents by having a massive appetite, so I'm not worried about him not developing a healthy love of great foods in their proper form (no boy of mine will be turning his nose up at Broccoli or Cabbage! (She says optimistically!)), but just not quite yet.

Also, there's a surprising and special joy about little cubes of frozen purees, all stacked in neatly labelled bags in the freezer. Strange but true.

So far his firm favourite seems to be Pear and Parsnip for breakfast, but he has also had Carrot, Apple, Swede, Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato, all with great success.

An exciting start to a Big Foodie Adventure!

A Quick Salad Idea

Now, don't ask me how I came across this but this is one of my favourite salad combinations; Tuna and Dried Cranberries... I prefer it best with Balsamic Dressing (today I made a red wine and balsamic reduction), and Sunflower Seeds. A generous helping of Freshly Ground Pepper brings the flavours together beautifully. Yum... More filling than you might think.

Let's hear it for Sarah Nelson!

In January we had our first Hungry Family Holiday and decided to go to Grasmere.

We love the Lake District, the snow, the sun, the fells, the lakes, the ale and most of all the Gingerbread!!! Anyone who has had Grasmere Gingerbread willl appreciate that it's worth the journey alone.

The recipe is, of course, Sarah Nelson's closely guarded secret. I often mean to try to re create it but perhaps it's best left as a tasty mystery to be savoured on lakeland holidays.

Nigella and Gnocchi

Hmmm... two things I'm not too fond of. So imagine my surprise when it was Nigella who gave me the key to enjoying Gnocchi. I find gnocchi rather bland and stodgey and always a disappointment, but fried until crispy its another monster entirely. A foodie excuse to eat fast food, perhaps, not too far removed from potato waffles but in bitesize crispy nuggets.

For a Spicy Filling Lunch I started by frying discs of Chorizo, releasing all that porky paprika fat (yum!). Add a sliced red onion and as much gnocchi as you fancy. Fry until the onion is cooked and the gnocchi golden brown.

This is quite rich and oily so I just served this with a fresh crispy salad . Fast and satisfying.

The Only Way to Eat Sprouts.

I really love all cabbage and related vegetables, but I admit to not really liking sprouts until I was once served them this way. Flash fried in a lot of Butter and a really generous grind of Black Pepper. I forgot to take a picture of these once they were cooked because I was so eager to eat them! Oops!

Welcome Hungry Boy!

So, on 16th September the Hungry Boy was born and all my spare time spent thinking, planning and cooking interesting food is gone. The tone of my blog entries is much more likely to be focussed on quick lunches. All useful stuff though!

First Salad Harvest.

First humble Salad harvest of the year.

The chard is beautiful, can't wait for the big leaves for steaming and stir frying. The colours are amazing.

Hairy Bikers Beef Olives

Some beaten out steaks, stuffed. From the Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain. Yum.

Note the Curly Kale for extra iron.

Another from the series of Recipe Fridays.

The Infamous Spinach Smoothie.

Sounds like a bad idea? I haven't managed to convince everyone (anyone...), but I for one am sold on this.

There is a new arrival expected in the Hungry House; a Hungry Boy. Very exciting, but boy am I looking forward to eating brie again. (And smoked salmon, and rare steak, and soft eggs... the list goes on.)

Under instruction from my midwife I'm pushing my iron intake. And so the Spinach Smoothie was born.

Blended fresh spinach, some kind of fruit, some kind of juice.

Any fruit will do, but after many different combinations I've found something very sweet works best. Like Mango. Or peaches tinned in grape juice.
If the combination is not sweet enough it is somehow very confusing for the taste buds.

And the Vit C in the orange juice and fruits helps to absorb the iron. Winner.

Easter Eggs!

Just thought I'd share the results of the annual pantomime of me trying to make eggs for loved ones. Filled with Mini Eggs- just like the good old days.

Good for a giggle and keeps me out of mischief.