Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry

I'd recommend a slow cooker to any busy parent, I know the idea of cooking something for 4-8 hours may seem like a waste of time. But personally I find it a life saver! I put the dinner on when the little people are having their afternoon nap. Then when I've finally put them to bed, tidied up their mess, the last thing I want to do is start cooking, which is why the slow cooker works so well! It's great for meat eaters, you could put on beef casserole in the morning and it would be lovely and succulent by the evening. 

However my husband doesn't eat red meat - and I'm not keen on chicken, therefore I mostly do veggie meals, and finding veggie recipes for slow cookers isn't that easy. Check out my stuffed peppers in the slow cooker. Stuffed peppers

Here is my vegetable curry recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds (use powder if not available)
• 1 onion. sliced
• 2 curry leaves (not always so easy to find in a supermarket - I have some growing in the garden which i had found in a garden centre.
• 1 in piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and chopped
• 2 tbsp curry paste (any according to your preference, I used tikka
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1 cauliflour, cut into florets
• 3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• pinch tumeric
• 250mls hot vegetable or chicken stock
• 85g frozen peas
• 115g mangetout

My slow cooker fry's, if yours doesn't you may want to use a frying pan first. 

• Heat the oil in the slow cooker on fry setting.
• Add cumin to the pan, if using seeds, when it start popping add the curry leaves and then the onion slices. 
• Stir for a few minutes until the onion has softened.
• Add the ginger and chillies and cook stirring occasionally for a minute
• Stir in the curry paste, cook and stir for a few minutes
• Add the cauliflower and carrots, cook for 5 mins 
• Add the tomatoes, turmeric and season with salt and pepper if required
• Cook for a few minutes, then add stock and bring to the boil
• turn to slow cooker setting, low, medium or high, depending on how quick you need it. I found 2 hours on high was works, but probably best 5 hours on low for the best flavour
• I added the mange tout and peas near the end of cooking, as I found that the mange touts wilt and they both lose their colour.

Here are how I served it for my 11 month old and my 2.5 year old, went down very well.

Check out my stir fry veg rice: stir-fry-vegetable-rice-

Wholemeal blueberry pancakes - baby led weaning at it's best!

Well it's a lovely summers day today, so thought I'd make a lovely breakfast for the little ones.

Here's how to make wholemeal blueberry pancakes. Although I didn't actually measure anything, as I didn't want a large amount - I normally make a mountain and end up eating them for a week. 

Ingredients:

• Handful of wholemeal flour,
• Handful of currants 
• Handful of blueberries
• 1 egg
• And enough milk to make a thick consistency and not too runny

Method

• Mix together
• Place spoonfuls in a non stick pan.

I like small ones which are perfect finger foods for the girls, although you could do a really big one for an adult

I served this for my 2 year old with a few blueberries and some natural yoghurt.

My 8 month old is following baby led weaning (blw) and this is perfect for blw.

More on blw to follow

You can't beat homemade popcorn

Home made popcorn on a Saturday night, feet up and telly on, the joys!

I love homemade popcorn, not only is it cheap (80p a bag, which lasts ages), but I actually read in a health magazine that it is the most nutritious snack! Obviously that's without all the salt and sugar. And ever so yummy!

So thought I would look into this.........

According to the Daily Mail (not the British Medical Journal - but not bad on health info), popcorn IS good for you. Although unfortunately not the really tasty stuff you buy in a cinema!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2120346/Forget-day-Popcorn-antioxidants-fruit-vegetables.html

Plain popcorn has been hailed as a great diet food for its low calorie content, and now a group of scientists claim it may even top fruits and vegetables in antioxidant levels.

Antioxidants - known as polyphenols - have huge health benefits as they help fight harmful molecules that damage cells.

Popcorn was found to have a high level of concentrated antioxidants because it is made up of just four percent water while they are more diluted in fruits and vegetables because they are made up of up to 90 percent water.

Researchers discovered one serving of popcorn has up to 300mg of antioxidants - nearly double the 160mg for all fruits per serving.

They also found that the crunchy hulls of the popcorn have the highest concentration of antioxidants and fibre.

I often male a large bowl full (throw some in a non stick pan and cover for 5 mins) and serve with a sprinkling of sugar. I also put some in some tupperware - without the sugar, for the little people. Its also great for picnics.

What more reasons do we need ?