Do Your Kids Eat Too Much Crap?

I am no nutritionist, but what I do know is the following three things:
1 If you make a small or large effort to cook something fresh for your children as often as you can, and if your kids eat some fruit and vegetables every day, then you're probably doing all right. I have heard that even repeating the same few items is OK, so if your kid only likes brocolli, and not beans or peas, well you can rest assured that you can still put a tick in the "green vegetable" box. Obviously a variety of fruit and veg is better, and use the colours of food to guide you, and feed them green things, orange things, yellow things, red things - you get the picture.
2 Another thing is I never made sweets a treat in my house. Sometimes they are there and sometimes not, and I try so hard not to reward good behaviour with a sweet, as the association of "I am good" with sweets can become ingrained and last until adulthood. Do you reward yourself for "being good and going to the gym" with a treat? Do you?
3 The last thing is that no child has never been known to starve itself, so if your child doesn't want to finish what is on their plate, it's OK. We are so conditioned to finishing what is on the plate that early on in life, we lose our ability to stop eating when our brain tells us we are full, and instead we stop eating when all the food is gone. Perhaps that's one reason there is a growing epidemic in obesity? Relinquish your control here and you'll end that "just three more bites" argument that makes many a meal end in tears.

Today's recipe is another stress free dinner party in a snap:

Mediterranean Lamb Slop

This recipe has such a strange start, but stay with me.

Take a tin of anchovy fillets and spread them out across a deep baking dish, oil and all. If there is not enough oil to coat the pan then add a bit of olive oil. Place 4 lamb steaks on top of the anchovies and season them with salt and pepper. Now add a variety of vegetables, cut into 1 inch chunks to fill the dish. I use courgettes, aubergines, red peppers, carrots, squash and mushrooms but any combination should work. Sprinkle on some pine nuts, fresh thyme (stalks and all) and a sprinkling of cinammon, salt and pepper all over. Add a couple of tins of whole tomatoes with their juice (never buy chopped toms in a tin as the seeds are often sliced and they release a very bitter taste into the tomatoes). Also add 1/3 bottle red wine and scatter on some pitted black olives if you like. Cover the whole thing with tin foil and at this point you can fridge it for later, or cook straight away at 190C for about an hour. If you undercook it you'll have slightly crisper veg, and if it's overdone you'll have a stew texture. Either is great so don't stress. I serve this with rice or cous cous, and if you're feeling fancy, add a tin of drained chick peas to the cous cous.

We all know a Yummy Mummy...

Who coined the phrase "yummy mummy"? It's such an unfair label which only olympic mothers can achieve. For the rest of us mere mortals, it's simply an annoying label to aspire to. You know the type - she shows up at the school gate with hair perfectly coiffed, full make up and painted immaculate fingernails. She's super slim, makes her own jam, plays awesome tennis, runs a book club, participates every year in a major marathon (for charity of course) and wears only the latest fashion. And the worst thing is she's probably really nice. Well guess what, it's OK to hate her.

In honour of all those yummy mummies out there, I present to you my most revolting recipe - the antithesis of anything they would ever cook as it contains mayonnaise (fat! horror!) and tinned soup (yuck!). But it tastes good...

Chicken Divan

I suppose this is an old 70's recipe and I have no idea where I got it from, but I have been making it for 20 years, honestly. Cook 4 skinless chicken breasts in a pan and slice them up into bite size pieces. Scatter into a deep baking dish. Chop up a whole brocolli, also into bite size spears, and scatter those on top, raw. In a bowl, mix together 2 tins of cream of chicken soup, 1 cup of Hellman's Light Mayonnaise, the juice of one lemon, 3tsps of curry powder, a good pinch of sea salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Add in some milk (1/2 cup), to loosen the mixture a bit. Pour this over the chicken and brocolli, it should cover them well. Cover the top with breadcrumbs, more black pepper and a generous layer of grated parmesan cheese. Cook in a preheated oven 200C for 30 minutes or until it looks golden and hot. I serve this with rice, apricot chutney and a green salad.

Cooking Well IS for Wimps Like you and me

My friends think I am a great cook, which makes me chuckle. I have worked around the edges of the food industry for years now, so I do know a lot about food, but that doesn't make me a great cook. I see myself more as a competant flavour combiner. This means you won't find fancy cookery methods, or homemade pastry recipes here and no! I don't make my own jam. I think the reason friends think I am a good cook is because I just get on with it, and I have lots of ideas. You might be freaked out or relieved to know I will rarely give specific measurements in my recipes. Use your eyes, your nose and your taste buds. And don't be scared of using salt. It has yet to be proven scientifically that salt is bad for you - honestly!



I often make this for a mid week dinner party as it's easy and tasty.

Thai Prawn (Shrimp) Curry

Fry two chopped onions and an (optional) chopped red pepper for a minute or two in vegetable oil. Stir in a big spoonful (or two if you like it hot) of Thai curry paste - red or green doesn't matter but I prefer red - and lots of pepper and a generous pinch of salt. Add one tin of coconut milk and some soured cream or creme fraiche to thicken it a bit (about 3 tbsps). Let the mixture get hot, and taste it: Too spicy? Add more of the cream/creme fraiche. Too bland? Add more curry paste. Just before serving, add some cooked prawns and bring the whole mixture back up to a good simmer, then switch it off and put a lid on it. If you overcook prawns they turn into nasty little ocean bullets. I use tiger prawns as they are quite hardy and retain their firm texture and please don't use tinned prawns - yeucchh! The trick is just to warm the prawns through and not to cook them anymore. Serve with rice and a spoon as it is a bit liquid.