Cheesy carrots and Lentils (for babies!)

This is an Annabel Karmel recipe except it's not because I never have all the things she lists in the cupboard at the same time. Not to worry, it's yummy my way too.

1/4 onion (optional)
1/2 cup red lentils
2 carrots, sliced thinly
water or stock (salt free if you're using stock)

grated cheese

Saute the onion in a saucepan with some oil or butter till clear. Add the lentils and carrots and then cover with water or stock. You need about a centimetre of liquid a the top of the veges but you can just add more as it evaporates if needed. Let everything simmer for about 20 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid. Use a stick blender to blend carrots & lentils with some of the cooking liquid. If you're doing this when it's still warm add grated cheese now and stir through.

Suitable for 6 months + and will freeze well!

In the original recipe, AK uses leek and tomatoes (deseeded tomatoes) so it makes more than this recipe. The amounts aren't that important, I usually use as many carrots as I have in the fridge and add more lentils if I have lots of carrots

Peanut Butter Icecream

I thought I got this idea from Nigella (and I still might have) except when I tried to find the recipe, it turns out hers involves adding peanut butter to the chocolate sauce rather than the icecream. Never mind my version was delish ;)

Tub of good quality Vanilla icecream (we had Green & Blacks but it doesn't need to be QUITE that good)
2-3 T crunchy peanut butter

Take icecream out of freezer and allow to soften.
Spoon into a mixing bowl, add peanut butter and stir. Not too vigourously, it's nice to leave a bit of a swirl ;)
Once you've mixed in the PB, return icecream mix to the tub, replace the lid and put it back in the freezer for 30 mins or so. I left it as long as it took me to make chocolate sauce, which wasn't QUITE long enough but it was still yummy.

chocolate sauce

1/2 block of 70% bittersweet chocolate
big glug of cream

Melt chocolate in the microwave, stir cream through. Pour over icecream and feel your ar$e getting bigger as soon as it touches your lips!

Carrot & Coriander Soup

I had the girls round for lunch this afternoon and served this soup as a starter. It's pretty good as a light meal with some crusty bread too.

1/2 onion, chopped
2-3 shallots, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic
1T olive oil
ground coriander seeds (optional)
approx 500gm peeled, sliced carrots
1L stock (I used vege stock today, but chicken stock is yummy too if you're not catering for vegetarians)
bunch of fresh coriander
greek or natural yoghurt for serving

Chop onion, shallots and garlic in a food processor or chop finely with a knife.

Prepare carrots and set aside.

Heat oil in a big saucepan over med heat. Add onion, shallots and garlic and fry until they soften and the onion looks clear before adding dry coriander. Add carrots, fry for a few minutes and then pour stock over veges. Add hot water to cover if stock isn't enough. Stir and allow stock to simmer for 10 - 15 minutes. Cover with lid (or not, if you don't have one) and lower heat. Leave for another 15 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Turn off heat and allow to cool for about 20 mins before ladling into blender to puree. Add a handful of fresh coriander to blender jug before blending. Pulse until soup is pureed but still textured - it's not baby food!

Pour soup into a fresh saucepan to reheat to serving temperature. Serve with a dollop of greek or natural yoghurt and some chopped fresh coriander. Yum!

Crunch crunch

So the Oh Baby girls were talking about ginger crunch the other day. Last time I made some here in Singapore I didn't use the best recipe but today I managed to find the Edmonds recipe on Recipezaar. It's perfect. Yum yum yum. I feel like eating the whole lot but I would probably be sick. And sadly I don't have the excuse of "eating for two" any more!

Rebranding

Well, now that Callum has made an early appearance he has graduated being the star of his very own blog and I've decided to go back to talking FOOD here instead of babies. I was never all that good at keeping this up to date anyways so I'm sure you won't miss much. Not that there's anything left to talk about. I would have been 37 weeks pregnant on Tuesday but instead I have a 5 week old baby who seems to be going through one constant growth spurt! Well, anyways, I'll go find some recipes to follow and leave the baby talk to the new page.

Later slaters!