Wet day cooking with children

{{Photograph}} © Emily Kerrigan/Modern Household Meals

Easy cheese straws
Each recipes make about 20 and take 20 minutes

Modern Household Meals has nonetheless to meet a toddler, teenager or grown-up that does not like cheese straws. The sesame and poppy seed variations are a cinch and apply children to separate eggs and rub butter into flour to make a simple dough. The tomato twists are even easier on account of they use ready-made puff pastry. Each freeze efficiently and will probably be warmed by all through the oven for finger meals, birthday events or after the children’ bedtime with a G&T. For the seeded ones, make sure that you might have the butter at room temperature earlier than you begin.

Sesame or poppy seed straws

125g cheddar
50g plain flour
50g wholemeal flour
100g butter
1 egg
a handful of sesame seeds
a handful of poppy seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gasoline mark 6. Evenly grease an unlimited baking sheet and canopy it with baking parchment. Grate the cheddar – children uncover this best to do in a space grater.

2. Combine the cheese collectively in a big bowl with each sorts of flour. Cut back the butter into cubes and present them uncover methods to rub it into the flour combine with their fingertips till it appears to be like like breadcrumbs (in case you wish to velocity factors up, you’ll do this with a pulse in a processor).

3. Present the children uncover methods to separate an egg. Reserve the egg white for glazing then add merely the yolk and blend (nonetheless all through the processor, if utilizing) till it varieties a dough. Flour a floor and roll the dough with a rolling pin till it is about 5mm thick. Cut back into straws with a pointy knife (adults solely) and use a slice to alter to your baking sheet.

4. Brush with a bit of little bit of of the egg white and sprinkle with sesame seeds, poppy seeds or a few of each. Press them down a bit of little bit of with the as soon as extra of a teaspoon in order that they do not fall off and bake for about 10 minutes till golden. Cool on a wire rack then retailer in an hermetic tin for 3-4 days or freeze and reheat from frozen.

Tomato twist straws

30g Parmesan or cheddar
250g sheet of ready-made puff pastry
1 tbsp tomato purée

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gasoline mark 4. Evenly grease an unlimited baking sheet and canopy it with baking parchment. Grate the cheese – children uncover this best to do in a space grater.

2. Flour a bit floor then roll out the puff pastry till it is roughly 5mm thick and 25cm extended. Unfold with the tomato purée (or use our superfood pesto if in case you might have some at hand).

3. Cut back into straws with a pointy knife (adults solely) and sprinkle with the cheese.

4. Preserve at every finish and twist into spirals (little children may uncover this a bit fiddly) then pop in your baking sheet. Press the ends down a bit in order that they do not untwirl and bake for 10 minutes till golden. Cool on a wire rack then retailer in an hermetic tin for 3-4 days or freeze and reheat from frozen.

{{Photograph}} © Emily Kerrigan/Modern Household Meals

Roasted tomato purée
Takes 50 minutes Makes a 750ml jar

It solely takes a minute to whack a tray of tomatoes all through the oven earlier than blitzing in a processor – nonetheless a batch of that is earlier helpful. At its most simple, it is a pasta sauce that you just merely want in no way as quickly as further purchase in a bit of little bit of tub. Swap up a degree and you have got a pizza (or muffin pizza) sauce, the premise for a ragu or lasagne or a sauce for meatballs. And you will not take into consideration how a lot tastier your model is than one factor shop-bought. The chilli would not make it too scorching for youngsters, it merely provides it a bit of little bit of twang.

1kg ripe tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp oregano
½ tsp dried crushed chillies
½ tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/Gasoline mark 6. Assist your children roughly chop the tomatoes and pop in a roasting tray. Crush in 2 cloves of garlic and add the oregano, chillies and sugar.

2. Give all of it a superb combine then drizzle over the olive oil. It won’t should be the great points – save that for salad dressings.

3. Roast for 45 minutes then blitz in a meals processor. Preserve for as quite a bit as 3 days all through the fridge in a jar with a lid or freeze batches in ziplock baggage to defrost when wished.

{{Photograph}} © Emily Kerrigan/Modern Household Meals

Straightforward no-knead loaf
Makes 1 loaf Takes 1 hour 45 minutes

This simple dough is made in a single bowl (and even with the dough hook of your meals processor) and requires no kneading. It is not for bread-baking purists nonetheless it nonetheless makes a cracking loaf – the cooked bread is springy on the within with a crispy prime, lending itself efficiently to incessantly sarnies, toast or dipping-in-soup duties. As rapidly as you might have tried it, you’ll begin to combine up the flour (strive a seed and grain bread flour or a malted one), throw in some walnuts or raisins, or sprinkle with poppy or sunflower seeds. No matter you fancy. Welcome to Modern Household Meals’s hassle-free residence bakery.

butter for greasing
300g of sturdy white bread flour
150g granary or wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp caster sugar
1 sachet of instantaneous dried yeast
about 325ml of heat water

1. Fill and boil the kettle earlier than you begin getting the remaining out. Use kitchen paper and a knob of butter to grease a 900g loaf tin. Be certain you grease the corners and rim.

2. Put each flours, the salt and sugar and the yeast in a big bowl and blend with a picket spoon. Measure out your water (it ought to be heat nonetheless not nonetheless boiling) and pour it all through the flour combine. Flip your spoon the fallacious methodology up and blend all of it collectively to type a ball. Children uncover this best to do if you happen to put a folded tea towel beneath the bowl to cease it spinning. If the combo seems very dry, add a splash extra water; whether or not or not it is too sloppy, add a sprinkle extra flour. You can do all of this second stage in a mixer with a dough/bread hook if in case you might have one.

3. Now tip the dough into your ready loaf tin and push it into the corners. Depart it beneath a clear tea towel someplace heat for an hour till it has doubled in dimension.

4. Preheat your oven to 190°C/375°F/Gasoline mark 5. Pop the tin all through the oven and bake for about half-hour till golden brown. Tip onto a wire rack and faucet the underside – does it sound hole? If that’s the case, it is executed; if not, give it one totally different 10 minutes.

{{Photograph}} © Emily Kerrigan/Modern Household Meals

Quick sorbet with selfmade ice magic
Makes 1 small tub Takes 5 minutes

Contained in the time it takes considered thought-about one among you to rearrange the Scrabble board, the remainder of you most likely can have made a selfmade fruit sorbet, with no added sugar and next-to-no washing up. Inside the event you might have been a toddler all through the Eighties you could take into account Ice Magic – chocolate sauce in a squeezy bottle that instantly turned regular on hitting chilly ice cream. Disclaimer: if you are going to make this in 5 minutes it is doable you may might want to have prepped your fruit upfront and bought it frozen, prepared and ready all through the freezer.

Mango model
400g mango, cubed and already frozen in a freezer bag
1 lime

Strawberries and cream model
400g strawberries, hulled and already frozen in a freezer bag
100g mascarpone

Ice magic
100g darkish chocolate chips

1. Boil the kettle. Get the children to decant the chocolate chips correct proper right into a mug. Pour a bit of little bit of scorching water correct proper right into a plastic measuring jug and put the mug contained inside the jug in order that the chocolate begins to soften.

2. Get your chosen fruit out of the freezer and whizz briefly in a meals processor till it turns into sorbet. Zest in a bit of little bit of lime for the mango model and add the mascarpone for the strawberry model. Pulse as quickly as further to mix and shortly scoop into cones or bowls.

3. Get a teaspoon and stir the chocolate which could now have melted. Take away from the jug by the mug deal with (concepts the model new water and little fingers) and drizzle over all folks’s sorbet; it should crisp up and go regular, identical to the distinctive Ice Magic. Any leftover sorbet might probably be frozen for an additional day (get it out of the freezer some time earlier than it is worthwhile to serve it in order that it is tender sufficient to scoop).

Granola
Makes 1 jar Takes 45 minutes

Many granola mixes (and most breakfast cereals) that you just merely purchase on the grocery retailer are loaded with sugar. It is simple to make your specific individual granola, sweetened solely with naturally candy maple syrup. It ought to preserve for a fortnight in a kilner jar or tin – plus this vogue you and the children get to tailor which nuts, seeds or fruit go in it. You can do all of the measuring for this in a mug which makes it good for little children – it won’t matter if you happen to’re a bit inexact with parts – merely administration it all through the oven and be sure you keep in mind about it and burn it. An superior one to make on a Sunday morning in your pyjamas.

3½ mugs rolled oats
½ mug sunflower seeds
½ mug flaked almonds
120ml maple syrup
80ml olive oil
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp floor cinnamon
a pinch of salt
½ mug of raisins

1. Warmth your oven to 150°/300°F/Gasoline mark 2 and spray a rimmed baking tray frivolously with oil or line with baking parchment. Take your favorite mug and measure out about 3½ mugs rolled oats then throw them in an unlimited mixing bowl with ½ mug sunflower seeds and ½ mug flaked almonds.

2. Now stir collectively 120ml maple syrup with 80ml olive oil and ½ tsp vanilla extract in a plastic measuring jug then pour over your oats combination. Add ½ tsp floor cinnamon plus a pinch of salt and stir.

3. Pour the combo onto the tray and unfold out in layer earlier than baking for about 40 minutes. Check out on it on and off to substantiate it’s not burning and stir with a picket spoon. When it is cooked it should look good and toasted – take away from the oven and stir in ½ mug of raisins. Depart it to loosen up earlier than packaging it up.

Should fluctuate it? Let the children choose their favorite dried fruit add-ins from chopped dried apricots, dried cherries or bashed up banana chips, or change the flaked almonds for pecans or walnuts, or the sunflower seeds for pumpkin seeds.

All recipes and {{photograph}} © Emily Kerrigan/Modern Household Meals