Easy apple roses
Serves:
Makes 6
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- 1 red apple (thinly sliced, medium)
- 3 tbs vanilla custard
- 1/2 lemon (juiced)
- 1/2 cup water
- icing sugar (for dusting)
Method
Preheat oven to 190_C and have a six cup muffin pan handy.
Slice the apply thinly into crescents, then place it in a microwave-proof bowl with the water and lemon juice. (There should be enough water to cover the apples while cooking, so add more if ½ cup is not enough.)
Microwave the apples on high for three minutes. When they’re done, drain them and set them aside.
Sprinkle the bench with flour and roll out the sheet of pastry with a rolling pin, stretching it out to be about 30cm in width.
Use a pizza cutter or pastry cutter to slice the pastry sheet into 6 strips, 5cm wide each.
Lay a strip horizontally in front of you. Spread a teaspoon of custard along the middle of the strip, then place apple slices overlapping the top edge of the pastry and coming down to halfway. Fold the pastry strip in half upwards, over the bottom of the apple slices, the whole way along. The apple crescents should poke out from the top of the fold.
Now roll it up into a tight scroll. Pop it into one of the muffin cups in your tin to hold its shape. Make five more, then put them in the oven for 40 – 45 mins.
When they’re done, sprinkle them with icing sugar and serve.
Find more dessert recipes
Serving Suggestions
Note
- You could use apricot jam instead of custard on the inside of these roses.
- You can sprinkle the apple slices with cinnamon sugar before you roll it if you want a hint of spice.
- Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or some custard for a yummy dessert.
- These make a delicious lunch box or after school snack. So fancy!
Express french onion scalloped potatoes
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg desiree or pontiac potatoes, peeled and sliced in 1.5cm thickness
- 50g butter
- 3 tblsp plain flour
- 500ml milk
- 2 tblsp French onion soup mix
- 1 and a half cups grated tasty cheese
- 3 pieces shortcut bacon, diced
- half a leek, diced (approximately 1/4 cup)
Method
Preheat oven to 200c.
Steam potatoes either in the microwave until cooked, but not mushy. (i.e. you should just be able to pierce with a fork – microwave approx 10 minutes, steam approx 15 minutes). Set aside.
Grease a small baking dish or loaf pan.
Place a medium sized saucepan on the stove and melt butter over a moderate heat setting. Add flour and mix in the butter, stir constantly as it will thicken to an almost dough (roux) immediately and keep milk on standby.
Add milk gradually and allow to thicken before adding more milk.
Continue to add milk, stir and thicken, until all milk is added.
Stir the french onion soup mix into the thickened sauce mix, take off the heat and stir through 1/2 of your grated cheese. Set aside.
Layer half the potatoes on the bottom of baking dish, then add leek, another 1/4 of the cheese, and half the bacon with half the sauce.
Layer the remaining potatoes, sauce and sprinkle with remaining cheese on top and then the remaining bacon.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
Notes:
- You can make this up to 2 days ahead, bake initially covered with aluminium foil. Refrigerate or freeze and then reheat after removing foil.
- Don’t waste! Leftovers can be consumed cold as a yummy potato salad.
- This recipe is freezer friendly and can be frozen for up to 1 month
- This recipe was created by Melissa Klemke for Kidspot, New Zealands best recipe finder.
Serving Suggestions
Note
Zucchini slice
Serves:
Ingredients
- 375g zucchini
- 1 onion
- 1 cup of self-raising flour
- 5 eggs
- 3 rashes bacon
- 1 cup grated chedder
- 1/2 cup oil
- salt and pepper
Method
Grate zucchini coarsely.
Finely chop onion and bacon.
Combine zuccini, onion, bacon, cheese, sifted flour, oil & lighly beaten eggs.
Season with salt and pepper and poor into well greased lamington tin.
Bake in moderate oven for 30 to 40 min or until browned.
Fennel and thyme gratin
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup (150ml) chicken stock
- 1/4 cup (50g) butter
- 2 large fennel bulbs, trimmed and halved
- 1 brown onion, finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tsp lemon thyme leaves
Gratin
- 1 1/2 cups sourdough breadcrumbs
- 1/2 bunch parsley
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- grated zest of one lemon
- 1/4 cup (70mls) milk
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C conventional (180°C fan-forced).
Bring the stock and butter to a gentle simmer in a saucepan and add the fennel. Cook in this liquid for about 10 minutes then transfer the fennel and juices to a baking dish.
Wipe the saucepan clean, add a splash of olive oil and cook the onion and garlic for a few minutes or until soft.
Add the thyme leaves and some freshly ground black pepper.
Meanwhile, mix the gratin ingredients together, stir through the onion and garlic and then sprinkle over the fennel.
Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the top is golden and crunchy.
Find more vegetarian recipes:
Serving Suggestions
Note
- You could also add some roughly cubed pancetta to this recipe; add it with the onion and garlic and then mix into the gratin mixture.
- If you can't find pancetta, you can use bacon in its place.
- This recipe was created by Sophie Hansen for Kidspot, New Zealand's best recipe finder: You can follow Sophie on Local is Lovely, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.
Apple and raspberry porridge
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1 cup of water
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup raspberries
- 1/4 cup apple puree
Method
Bring the water to the boil, add the oats and turn the heat down, stirring frequently to avoid sticking. Cook oats for around 10 minutes.
Remove from heat, place in blender with raspberries and apple and blend until smooth.
Combine the oats and water in a microwave-safe container and cook on high for 1 minute. Stir and cook for another minute.
Add oats, raspberries and apple puree to a blender and blend until smooth.
Find related baby recipes
Serving Suggestions
Note
- If you’d rather the seeds of the raspberries removed, puree the raspberries before combining with the oats and push the puree through a fine sieve to remove the pips. Then simply stir into the porridge.
- Can be frozen for up to four weeks. Do not freeze if you used frozen raspberries or frozen puree.
- This recipe was created by Belinda Graham for Kidspot.
Gingerbread
Serves:
Ingredients
- 125g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup treacle
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups plain flour
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 8 small lumps crystallised ginger, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Icing sugar, to dust
Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
Grease two loaf tins (about 10 x 20 cm) or a 20cm square cake tin and line with baking paper.
Cream butter and sugar with an electric beater until fluffy. Pour in treacle and beat until well combined.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg.
Sift flour, bicarb soda and spices into butter mixture, add chopped ginger and beat to combine.
Pour in milk and vanilla extract and mix until just combined.
Pour mix into tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Cool in tins, then turn onto wire racks to cool completely.
When cold, dust with icing sugar.
Notes:
- This is a spicy gingerbread, the kids may not like it (all the more for the adults!).
- Lovely served spread with butter and a nice cup of tea.
- On holiday we had toasted gingerbread for breakfast, served with sweet pineapple and creme fraiche – what a breakfast!
- Make this gluten-free using gluten-free plain flour
- Recipe created by Melissa Hughes for Kidspot.
Serving Suggestions
Note
Caramel and pear self-saucing pudding
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2 Beurre Bosc pears, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- 1 cup (150g) flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup (100g) dark brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup (75g) butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 1 cup (250ml) milk
Topping:
- 3/4 cup (165g) dark brown sugar
- 1 cup (250ml) boiling water
- 1/4 cup (50g) hazelnuts, roughly chopped
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced) and line the base of a 24cm cake tin with the pears. In one bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, brown sugar and ginger together and in another, whisk together the remaining ingredients.
Gently stir to combine and pour batter over the pears.
Sprinkle this with the brown sugar, carefully pour over the boiling water and scatter with hazelnuts.
Place in the oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until the top is firm to touch. Serve with custard or ice cream.
Find more delicious hot dessert recipes:
Serving Suggestions
Note
- This pudding does absorb its sauce if let to sit (cooked) for too long so try and enjoy it fairly soon after baking.
- The batter can be made well in advance, so you can prepare the recipe right up to the point of sprinkling with sugar, etc., and have it ready to pop in the oven as you sit down to dinner.
- You can replace the Beurre Bosc pears with apples if you prefer.
- You might also serve this with a dollop of thick Greek yoghurt – it offers a nice balance with all that sweetness.
- This recipe was created by Sophie Hansen for Kidspot, New Zealand's best recipe finder. You can follow Sophie on Local is Lovely, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.
Nutritious teething biscuits
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
- 3 tbsp golden syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 tbsp rolled oats
- 1 cup flour
- 2 tbsp bran
- 1 tbsp powdered milk
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
Mix all wet ingredients together in a jug.
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and combine.
Dough will be firm. Roll out thinly on a floured surface. Cut into sticks and bake for 15 minutes.
Find related baby recipes
Serving Suggestions
Note
- The longer you cook these the harder they are.
- You can swap the bran for wheatgerm.
- This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.
Birds nests
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2 pkts two-minute noodles, uncooked
- 250g chocolate chips or block chocolate
- jelly beans
- chocolate eggs
- marshmallows
- peanut butter
- baking paper
- paper plates
Method
Line paper plates with baking paper.
Melt chocolate chips/brick chocolate in microwaveåÊand pour into bowl of uncooked, broken 2 minute noodles. Mix well to coat.
Place spoonfuls of noodle mixture onto platesåÊand mould into nest shapes. Make sure the chocolate has cooled but not so much that the mixture hardens.
Using peanut butter as glue, stick down jelly beans, marshmallow and eggs inside the nest cavity.
Serving Suggestions
Note
Lemon slice
Serves:
Ingredients
- 200g Marie or Arrowroot biscuits
- 1 cup desiccated coconut
- 3/4 cup condensed milk
- 100g butter melted
- rind of one lemon, finely grated
Icing
- 2 cups icing sugar, sifted
- juice of one lemon
- 40g butter softened
Method
Line a 21cm x 16 cm slice tin with baking paper and set aside.
Place biscuits, coconut, condensed milk, butter and lemon rind in a food processor. Pulse until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Press the mixture into the slice tin.
To make the icing, using a mixer, beat the butter and add the lemon juice. Gradually add icing sugar. Spread over slice, sprinkle with coconut and refrigerate for 1 hour before cutting into squares.
Related slice recipes:
Serving Suggestions
Note
- If you use the back of a metal spoon to press the base into the tin you will get a nice even surface.
- You could swap the lemon for orange in this recipe if you prefer oranges.
- This recipe was created by Kris Henderson for the Kidspot, New Zealand's best recipe finder.
Silver beet and bacon tart recipe
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2 sheets frozen shortcrust pastry, thawed
- 1 bunch silver beet
- 20ml (1tbsp) olive oil
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, finely diced
- 3 rashers bacon, finely sliced
- 3/4 cup tasty cheese, grated
- 5 eggs
- 250ml (1 cup) fresh cream
- 2 tbsp parmesan, grated
Method
Preheat oven to 200°C conventional or 180°C fan-forced.
Line a 28cm flan tin with pastry, sealing joins between the sheets and trimming to fit.
To blind-bake, place a sheet of foil over the pastry and fill with dry beans, lentils or baking weights. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove beans and foil, then return to oven for a further five to 10 minutes until lightly brown.
Reduce oven to 180°C conventional or 160°C fan-forced.
Wash silver beet well. Finely slice stalks and set aside. Roughly chop leaves. Place cup of water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add leaves and cover with a lid. Cook for two minutes until wilted. Drain and allow to cool. Squeeze water out of leaves then chop finely.
Heat oil in a frypan, then saute onions over very gentle heat for five minutes. Add garlic and silver beet stalks and cook for a further five minutes. Increase heat slightly, add bacon and cook for a further two minutes. Finally, add chopped leaves and stir to combine. Season well with salt and pepper, and set aside to cool.
Distribute silver beet mixture into the blind-baked pastry case and top with tasty cheese. Beat eggs and cream together and pour over the silver beet. Sprinkle with grated parmesan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until set and lightly brown. Serve with a large green salad.
Find more dinner recipes
Serving Suggestions
Note
- You could replace silver beet with English spinach, but it won't require blanching. Just chop finely and add to the bacon and onion mixture.
- For a vegetarian version, simply omit the bacon.
- Recipe by Greer Worsley, a working mum whose desire to make and bake things has grown in inverse proportion to the amount of spare time she has since her three gorgeous girls came along. Her blog is typically red.
Easy lasagne recipe
Serves:
Ingredients
Bolognese sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large brown onion, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1kg beef mince
- 125ml red wine
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 x 400g tins Italian diced tomatoes
- 1 tbsp dried Italian herb mix
- 12 (375g) fresh lasagne sheets
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
Cheese sauce
- 1.5L milk
- 1 brown onion, roughly chopped
- 6 parsely stalks
- 8 whole black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 90 g butter
- 1/2 cup plain flour
- 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese, finely grated
- pinch ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
Method
In a frying pan, heat the olive oil over a medium heat and add the brown onion and garlic. Fry until translucent and then add the mince.
Use a wooden spoon to break up the mince and when the meat is browned, add the tomato paste and red wine. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the tomatoes and Italian herb mix. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the milk, onion, parsley stalks, peppercorns and bay leaves. Bring to the boil and remove from heat. Set aside for 15 minutes and then drain and discard solids.
Heat the oven to 190°C or 170C fan-forced. Set aside a 3L rectangular casserole dish.
In a saucepan, over a medium heat, melt the butter and then add the flour. Stir until the mixture begins to boil and then cook without browning for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and gradually whisk in the milk until you have a smooth sauce. Simmer, stirring constantly for 4-5 minutes until the mixture thickens and then whisk in the parmesan cheese until well combined. Whisk in the nutmeg and salt and pepper and remove from heat.
To assemble, ladle 1 cup of meat sauce into the casserole dish and and then layer lasagne sheets to cover the base. Using one third of the remaining meat sauce, cover the lasagne sheets and then pour over one third of the cheese sauce, spreading evenly with the back of a spoon. Repeat this layering process until both meat and cheese sauces are used up. Finish with a layer of cheese sauce. Sprinkle over the mozzarella and bake for 40-45 minutes until brown on top and bubbling at the sides.
Leave to sit for 10 minutes after removing from oven before cutting and serving with a green salad.
More pasta recipes:
Serving Suggestions
Note
- I like to make a double batch of this recipe and freeze the second tray after baking.
- You really need to whisk that cheese sauce well so you don’t get any lumps.
- This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.
Chicken breast with creamy cauliflower bake
Serves:
Ingredients
Creamy sauce
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1½ tbsp butter or margarine
- 1 cup (250ml) low-fat milk
- 1 cup (250ml) chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 1-2 tbsp chopped chives
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- 1 small (about 500g) cauliflower, sliced
- 2 leeks, sliced
- ½ cup low-fat cheddar cheese (find a good sharp one like Vintage)
- 6 x 120g chicken fillets
- Oil spray
- Watercress or rocket or a green salad
Method
Heat oven to 200°C or 180°C fan-forced and spray a shallow baking dish with oil.
In a small saucepan, melt butter/margarine.
Add flour, constantly stirring until mixture browns slightly.
Remove from heat and slowly add milk and stock, whisking constantly to avoid any lumps (if you get some, don’t panic just keep whisking).
Return to the heat and add mustard. Bring back to a simmer and stir constantly until sauce thickens. Stir through chives and lemon zest.
Place cauliflower and leeks into a microwave-safe dish, cover and microwave on high for 6-8 minutes, until just tender.
Discard any liquid and transfer vegetables to baking dish. Pour over creamy sauce and top with cheese. Bake for 25 minutes until golden and creamy.
While cauliflower is baking (about 6-8 minutes before the end of cooking time), slice each chicken breast lengthways through the middle to make two thin breasts.
Heat a frying pan to medium-high, spray lightly with oil spray and cook fillets for 2-3 minutes per side.
Remove chicken fillets and allow to rest on a board for a couple of minutes before serving with cauliflower bake and greens.
Notes
- I try to reduce calories and fat where I can in my recipes by using lighter options. You can reduce the calorie and fat content even further by using a low-fat margarine or butter in the sauce. Just make sure it’s no lower than 60% fat, otherwise you’ll have problems with lumps and consistency.
- Recipe written by Jay Rogers
Serving Suggestions
Note
Stained glass window sandwiches
Serves:
Ingredients
- 12 slices of fresh bread
- apricot, raspberry, blackberry or blueberry jam
- peanut butter
- butter or margarine
- sprinkles
- shape cutters (e.g. circles, stars, hearts, people)
Method
Shape cutters (e.g. circles, stars, hearts, people)
Remove crusts from bread.
Spread six slices of the bread with spreads of choice.
Use butter or margarine to make sure the sprinkles stick.
Cut shapes from the centre of remaining six slices of bread and place on top.
Match up cut out shapes to make little sandwiches.
Serve on a large tray for maximum impact!
Notes:
- Couldn’t be simpler and look fantastic.
- Also a great idea to make boring lunchbox sandwiches a bit more interesting!
- My son was “huge bored” this week, priceless, but these sandwiches received a “WOW”.
- Recipe created by Melissa Hughes for Kidspot.
Serving Suggestions
Note
Honey yoghurt cupcakes recipe
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup raw caster sugar
- 2 oranges, zested
- 175g butter, softened
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups wholemeal self-raising flour
- 250ml (1 cup) natural, Greek yoghurt
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 cup mixed blueberries and sliced strawberries
Method
Line a 12-hole cupcake tin with paper cases and preheat the oven to 180°C or 160°C fan-forced.
Rub sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until it is a fragrant, orange powder.
Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next.
Fold through flour and then, using an ice cream scoop (if you have one, if not a teaspoon will do) fill each case.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden on top.
Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Meanwhile mix honey and yoghurt together.
Slice tops off each cupcake and spoon out a little from centre before filling holes with yoghurt and making faces with berries and/or little butterfly-style strawberry wings.
Find more muffin recipes:
Serving Suggestions
Note
- If the cupcake mixture curdles when you add the eggs, sprinkle over 1 tbsp of the flour and mix in to rectify.
- The honey yoghurt mixture is lovely with a little cinnamon sprinkled on top.
- This recipe was created by Sophie Hansen for Kidspot, New Zealand's best recipe finder
Salmon and cucumber sandwich sushi
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 3 slices bread
- 4 slices of wafer-thin smoked salmon
- 3 thin slices of cucumber, same length as a bread slice
- low-fat cream cheese to spread
Method
Lightly toast the sesame seeds in the frying pan over low heat. Remove from heat when they are slightly golden, spread them out on a plate and set aside to cool completely.
Roll each slice of bread flat with the rolling pin and remove the crusts. Lay the cling film down on top of the sushi mat.
Spread a very light layer of cream cheese over each slice of bread. Turn the slices over and lay on top of cling film.
Spread the other side of each slice with a thicker layer of cream cheese. Place the salmon on top of each slice, filling as much of the bread as you can.
Put a cucumber slice on the very edge of the each slice. Roll the bread over the cucumber slice and all the way along until the bread is fully rolled.
Add a little more cream cheese if the end does not stick firmly. Roll each sushi roll in the cooled toasted sesame seeds.
The seeds will stick to the thin layer of cream cheese. Cut each bread roll in half and then half again.
Find related sushi recipes
Serving Suggestions
Note
- You will need to keep a very close eye on the sesame seeds when toasting. They can burn very quickly.
- If you buy your bread from a bakery, you can get them to put your bread through the slicer from end to end and this will give you huge bread slices that are easy to use for this recipe.
- This recipe was created by Maxabella of Maxabella loves. Follow Maxabella on Facebook or Pinterest.
Nan’s zucchini loaf
Serves:
Ingredients
Nut-free, lactose-free
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 1/4 cups caster sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 cups grated zucchini (2 small zucchinis)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Butter the base of a deep loaf pan or two small loaf pans. Beat the eggs using an electric mixer, add the oil and beat until combined. Beat in sugar one cup at a time and then add vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder, soda and cinnamon together into a bowl.
Add to egg mixture and beat until just combined. Stir in zucchini. Pour the mixture into prepared pans and bake for 30 minutes if using small pans or 50 minutes to 1 hour is using large pans, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 15 minutes and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes:
- This is a beautifully moist loaf that tastes of vanilla and cinnamon, not zucchini! Nan tells me it will keep in the fridge for a month (not in our house)
- I used a large loaf pan, but had some overflow. Better to use two loaf pans or a square cake tin.
- If you don’t have vanilla extract, use 3 teaspoons vanilla essence.
- Nan’s original instructions were, ‘Beat eggs, add oil, then all other ingredients. Cook’. I hope my extra instructions are helpful!
.
Serving Suggestions
Note
Chicken wraps with mango and avocado salsa
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 chicken breast fillets
- 4 lavash breads
- 4 handfuls lettuce leaves
- 1 avocado, peeled, seeded and diced
- 1 mango, peeled, seeded and diced
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 large red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
Method
Heat oil in a large non-stick frypan over medium-high heat. Cut chicken breasts into 1cm square dice. Fry chicken until golden brown on all sides and cooked through, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine avocado, mango, lemon juice and chilli (if using). Place a lavash bread on each plate, top with lettuce, chicken and avocado and mango salsa.
Notes:
- An easy way to attack mangoes is to slice down either side of the pip, then score across the flesh, push the mango squares out and slice from the skin. Cooks treat is to suck all the yummy bits off the pip.
- Adjust the salsa to suit your familys likes and dislikes we usually have 4 different versions: one with no avocado, one with no mango, one with no avocado and chilli and one with added diced red onion!
- Make this recipe gluten-free using gluten-free wraps.
Serving Suggestions
Note
Tomato soup with love heart toast
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2kg ripe tomatoes, sliced in half and cores cut out
- 1 head garlic, unpeeled
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons extra
- 2 x 400gm can diced tomatoes
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- sour cream
- salt and pepper to taste
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Drizzle garlic in oil then wrap in foil. Place tomatoes on a large baking sheet, drizzle with 3 tablespoons oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes with the garlic.
When the tomatoes are cooked, bring a large, heavy-based saucepan to medium heat and then add two tablespoons oil and onions. Sauté until soft, then add roasted tomatoes, cans of tomatoes, roasted garlic removed from skins, stock, and pepper to taste.
Bring to a boil and allow to simmer uncovered, for twenty minutes or until it thickens.
Blend in a food processor or using a bar mix, and return to saucepan to simmer for another ten minutes.
Just before you serve soup, make toast and cut out hearts using a cookie-cutter. Serve soup immediately with a dollop of sour cream, and buttered hearts.
Note
- I like to indulge and use vine-ripened tomatoes. The smell reminds me of when I was little and used to pick the tomatoes from my mother’s garden (sometimes too early!)
- While the soup simmers, you could place ½ cup basil in a mortar and pestle, sprinkle with salt, pour in 1/3 cup olive oil and bash together. Drizzling this over the soup adds a lovely flavour and is a little more grown-up.
- You can also add a teaspoon of crushed chili from the jar as you are cooking the onions if you want a spicy version for adults.
- Try poaching a few eggs, and drop them in to warmed leftover soup to serve over toast for breakfast the next day.
- This recipe was created by Kristine Duran-Thiessen for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder
Serving Suggestions
Note
Pumpkin feta and chickpea salad
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1kg butternut pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut into 2cm cubes
- Olive oil spray
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 4 cups (about 100g) baby spinach leaves
- 180g feta
- half a cup fresh orange juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons Moroccan seasoning
- 1 loaf Turkish bread
- half a cup dukka
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C.
- Line a tray with baking paper.
- Lay pumpkin on tray and spray with olive oil spray.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until tender.
- Prepare dressing by whisking orange juice, olive oil and Moroccan seasoning together in a small bowl.
- Prepare Turkish bread by cutting in half lengthways, then cut crossways into 2cm wide strips.
- Spray with olive oil spray, sprinkle with dukkah and bake for 5 minutes until golden.
- Heat a non-stick frypan to medium heat, add oil and cook onion for 2-3 minutes or until soft.
- Add chickpeas and cook for 2 minutes until heated through.
- Transfer to a large bowl and add roast pumpkin, feta, spinach and dressing.
- Toss well to combine and serve immediately with Turkish bread.
Notes:
- Yum, yum, yum. Taste sensations: crunch of the spinach, chewy chickpeas, salty feta, smooth sweet pumpkin and zesty dressing!
- Dukkah is a spice mix usually consisting of sesame seeds, ground almonds, cumin and other spices.
- It is now readily available in supermarkets and delis.
- If you prefer not to buy yet another jar of specialty spice, substitute a teaspoon of cumin for the Moroccan spice.
Recipe created by Melissa Hughes for Kidspot.
Serving Suggestions
Note
Tomato and chilli mussels with sourdough garlic bread
Serves:
Ingredients
Garlic bread:
- 1 sourdough baguette
- 75g butter, softened
- 3 cloves garlic
Mussels:
- 1x 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 150ml passata
- 2 tsp horseradish cream
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- juice of one lemon
- 1 tsp dried chilli flakes, or to taste
- 1 kg mussels, ready to cook from the bag
- 1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C or 160°C fan forced.
Slice the baguette into 3 cm slices but not all the way through to the other side, so the baguette stays joined together.
Mix the butter and garlic together and spread the mixture evenly on both sides of each bread slice. Wrap tightly in foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the tomatoes, passata, horseradish cream, Worcestershire sauce, celery, garlic, lemon and chilli together in a bowl.
When the garlic bread is almost done, tip the mussels into a large saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Set the heat to medium/high and pour in the tomato mixture. Cover and cook for five minutes or until bubbling and all of the mussels have opened. Discard any that have not opened. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with the warm garlic bread.
Notes:
- This meal is fun as everyone can help themselves and linger over their plates. If you’d like to bulk the meal out a little then toss through some cooked linguine.
- It is most important that you discard all of the unopened mussels as these will potentially give you food poisoning.
- This recipe was created by Sophie Hansen for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.
Find related seafood recipes
Serving Suggestions
Note
Friday takeaway hamburgers
Serves:
Ingredients
Rissoles/Patties:
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 1 medium carrot, grated
- 1 medium zucchini grated
- 1 clove garlic, minced or finely diced
- 500g lean beef mince
- 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
- 1 tbsp tomato sauce
- 1 tbsp BBQ sauce
- 1 egg
- Small handful fresh parsley, finely chopped
- lashings of pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Hamburger
- 6 soft bread rolls, toasted
- butter
- 4 large leaves lettuce, cut into ribbons
- 2 large tomatoes, sliced
- fresh sliced cheddar cheese
Onions
- Red or brown onions
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Method
Preheat oven to 150C.
In a frying pan, heat a tbsp olive oil, and fry onion, carrot and zucchini.
Cook until soft to eliminate the moistness of the zucchini, add garlic and stir through. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine mince, breadcrumbs, sauces, egg, pepper and parsley, combine well and then add the carrot/onion/zucchini mix.
Roll into patties, and fry in batches in a frying pan with the remainder of the olive oil. Transfer patties when cooked to baking tray and warm in oven whilst continuing to cook the rest of the patties.
Set up your ‘making station’ with butter, sauces, pickles, cheese, tomato and lettuce.
Chop onions and when last patties have gone into the oven, start toasting the hamburger buns.
Put the onions on the frying pan, with olive oil. When softened, add balsamic vinegar and toss regularly. When caramellised, turn off heat.
If you like bacon or egg or pineapple with your hamburger, fry them now.
Assemble hamburgers, and serve.
Serving Suggestions
Note
- I’ve been lucky that I’ve never really had to hide vegetables into my kids’ food but this being a hamburger, I like to inject some extra healthiness into them, whilst making it taste absolutely delicious.
- The hamburger patties are also good if you have some leftover, on their own cold or even with some tomato onion gravy as rissoles.
- If you have little ones who don’t like veggies, this hamburger recipe could be your ticket to get some into them.
- This recipe was created by Melissa Klemke for Kidspot, New Zealands best recipe finder.
Banana choc-chip cookies
Serves:
Ingredients
- 50g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) brown sugar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups (300g) plain flour
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (190g) chocolate chips
Method
Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced). Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat to combine.
In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda, set aside for two minutes.
Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture with a wooden spoon. Mix together the flour and cinnamon and stir into the butter and banana mixture with a wooden spoon until just combined.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Drop dollops of the mixture on a tray. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Place on wire racks to cool.
Find more delicious biscuit and cookie recipes:
Serving Suggestions
Note
- You can freeze bananas when ripe and defrost to use for this recipe.
- You can make a different version of these by using dark chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips.
- This recipe was created by Alana House for Kidspot, New Zealand's best recipe finder.
Savoury mince
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 500g beef mince
- salt
- 1 sweet potato, diced
- 1 cup frozen peas and corn
- garlic salt (optional)
- pepper
- 2 cups beef stock
Method
Heat oil in a large pan. Add finely chopped onion and cook until transparent.
Add mince and generous sprinkle of salt.
When mince is browned, add diced sweet potatoes. Stir for a few minutes. Add peas and corn and season with garlic salt and pepper.
Add the beef stock to the pan – this should cover everything.
Cook on low heat with lid on, stirring periodically.
Once the sweet potato is soft, taste and season accordingly.
Notes:
- This is a crowd pleaser for kids, and I even discovered hubby squeezing the leftovers onto a piece of toast for a snack.
- Without any strong flavours to put them off, this is a great meal for the fussy eaters in the house.
- Super-quick, you can have this dinner on the table in no time at all.
Serving Suggestions
Note
Sausage and mushroom pasta
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 brown onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 sprigs rosemary, leaves only, chopped
- 1 tbsp dried chilli flakes (can be omitted if the kids don’t like chilli)
- 800g pork and fennel sausages, casings removed (available at delis or quality butchers)
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1 x 800g tin crushed tomatoes
- 400g Swiss Brown mushrooms, thickly sliced
- ½ cup parsley, chopped
- 500g spiral pasta
- parmesan cheese, grated
Method
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes until the onion is starting to soften. Add the garlic, rosemary and chilli and stir until fragrant.
Add the sausage and stir until cooked through, breaking any clumps as you go. Add the red wine and lower heat to simmer, until reduced. Add the tinned tomatoes and mushrooms, bring to the boil and reduce heat to simmer for 20 minutes. Add the parsley and stir through.
Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add a teaspoon of salt and cook pasta according to directions on the packet.
Divide the pasta between the serving bowls, top with pasta sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Notes:
- Pork and fennel sausages are packed full of flavour and a great secret weapon when you need to get dinner on the table fast. You can also use them as mini meatballs for parties.
- I used organic spelt pasta for this recipe, but there are many pasta varieties that will go well with this dish.
- This recipe was created by Charlie Louie for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder. .
More pasta recipes:
Serving Suggestions
Note
Easy scones
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups self raising flour
- 2 heaped tsp baking powder
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 – 1 & 1/2 cups milk
- 1 tbsp icing sugar
- 50g butter, melted
Method
Preheat oven to 210C.
Sift flour, baking powder and icing sugar together.
Stir in egg, milk and butter.
Turn out onto a floured board and leave to rest for 20 mins.
Roll to 2cm thickness.
Cut out circles with a glass, dipping it in flour between cuts.
Place scones close together on baking paper covered baking sheet and rest for a further 10 mins.
Bake for 10 mins.
Notes
- These easy scones rise beautifully with no kneading required.
- Add milk slowly and make sure mixture isn’t too sticky.
- The resting time enables them to puff up nicely.
- They tasted delicious served with jam and cream.
- They are also a great lunch box item.
- This Easy scone recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.
Serving Suggestions
Note
