Sugar free muffins

I made these today, based on a recipe for banana bread I found on Aitch's forums at babyledweaning.com. They taste really good and you'd never know there was no sugar used in them.

Ingredients:
6 medium bananas
150g raisins
100g butter
2 eggs
2tsp mixed spice
200g SR flour
2tsp baking powder

Method:
Turn the oven on to gas mark 5 (180 deg C)
Sieve the flour, baking powder & spice together into a big mixing bowl and add the raisins
Melt the butter and add to the dry ingredients.
Whisk the eggs, mash the bananas and mix together with everything else.
Put the mixture into a 12-hole muffin tin.
Bake for about 35-30 minutes until golden brown on top and slightly risen.

They definitely have Hannah's seal of approval, and there's only 6 left now so they clearly have parental approval too!
You can play with the ingredients as desired - try with apple puree instead of mashed bananas, use different spices, add different things to it (I hear that a grated carrot is tasty).
Have fun!

Baked tomatoes with pesto and mozzerella

I got this recipe off my mum, but I've no idea where she got it from (and mum doesn't know either, I asked!). It makes a really nice lightish lunch for the whole family, and is especially good with some foccacia or other nice fresh bread.

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Tomatoes
Pesto
Mozzerella
Olive oil

Cut the tomatoes in half across the middle (not from top to bottom) and place them in an ovenproof dish.
Spread a bit of pesto on the cut surface of each tomato half.
Place a slice of mozzerella on the top of each tomato and pesto combination.
Drizzle a bit of olive oil all over the tomatoes.
Put in the oven for about 35 minutes or so on gas 6 (200C I think).

You do have to make sure these have cooled enough before giving them to baby, they can stay hot for quite some time.
When you serve them, pour the juices from the dish they were cooked in over the top, so you've got something to mop up with the nice bread :o)

Homemade Hummus

Personally I wasn't sure about this, but Hannah's gone mad for it, so there you go...

1 tin of chickpeas
3 tbsps light tahini
a squeeze of lemon juice
a crushed clove of garlic

All you do is drain and rinse the chickpeas, put them in a mixing bowl along with all the other ingredients, then blend it all together with a stick blender. Or do it in a food processor or similar.

The resulting mixture was too thick, so I added some milk until it was the right consistency.

You could add other things - paprika, olive oil, other herbs or spices. Have fun :o)

Stuffed Mushrooms

These are lovely, easy to make and good to share with the whole family. You need about 2 mushrooms per person for a light meal.

2 large flat mushrooms
A dessert spoon of boursin
A dessert spoon of cream cheese
A few drops of milk
Oil

Heat oven to gas 6/200C
Take the stalks out of the mushrooms
Mix together the boursin, cream cheese, and enough milk to loosen the cheese so it's not too stiff a texture
Fill the inside of the mushrooms with the cheese mix
Bake in oven for around 20 minutes on a lightly oiled baking tray

Variations:

You can mix other things with the cheeses, eg fried onion, bits of pepper, or use different amounts of boursin, or use plain cream cheese with some chilli or other herbs/spices in, the possibilities are endless! :o)

Pasta, mushrooms and creamy tomato sauce

This was a bit of a store cupboard recipe, chucked together because I haven't been to the supermarket for ages. Tasted really nice though, we all had it for lunch.

The quantities here are roughly what Hannah had (I'm an "about" kind of cook, which some people find very frustrating, sorry!).

Pasta shapes (we like spirals)
3 or 4 mushrooms, sliced
Cream cheese (eg Philly)
Tomato puree
Knob of butter and a bit of oil

Put the pasta on to cook
Meanwhile fry the mushrooms in a mixture of oil and butter
Mix together about a tablespoon of cream cheese with a teaspoon of tomato puree, and add to the pan with mushrooms in
Take the mushrooms off the heat, mix the cream cheese and tomato puree with the mushrooms
Drain the pasta, and add it to the mushrooms etc, mix thoroughly and serve.

Vegetable Casserole

1 tin Campbells condensed mushroom soup
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, sliced
6-8 mushrooms, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 parsnip, chopped
1 sweet potato, chopped
2 potatoes, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Oil

Soften the onion and garlic in the oil in a large pan or a wok.
Add the mushrooms, carrot, parsnip, garlic, sweet potato and potato, cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the condensed soup plus a further can full of cold water.
Bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour or until all the veggies are soft. Stir regularly and add extra water as required.

You could add lo-salt stock rather than plain water if you like, and substitute whatever vegetables you have handy rather than use the ones I've listed. Root veg do work better than other sorts though. It makes loads, plenty for all three of us to have for dinner, not just Hannah!

Veggie Pasta Carbonara

Better write this one down before I forget it, Hannah really liked it and I quite liked it too.

Cooked pasta twists or other suitable shape
Double cream/creme fraiche/natural yogurt - couple of tbsps
Parmesan cheese - about 1 tbsp
Baco bits

Put the cream, parmesan and baco bits in a small bowl, microwave on full until warm.
Pour over the cooked pasta and stir through.
Serve.

See how simple it is?! The baco bits are vegetarian, if you're not veggie you could use actual bacon instead.