by Jackie Brooks | Oct 19, 2018 | Featured, GloKitchen
It was a real wakeup call when I was told several years ago that some kids don’t know where potatoes come from, because in my day it was babies – as I was convinced they were left behind a bush by the Stork!!
Seriously though, Jamie Oliver has improved children’s awareness of fresh food by his campaigns in schools, but there are still families who rely so heavily on frozen fries and convenience food through necessity, that they have missed a major trick which is less expensive, far more nutritious and psychologically sound – cooking together as a family.
We all know that time is not always on our side when both parents are working, or if you are a grandparent only seeing the family at weekends, but any time put aside to get everyone involved from the ages of five to ninety-five, will be incredibly beneficial.
I did it recently with my young grandkids – yes still can’t believe I am a grandmother – far too young, but here I am and making the most of it!
I hatched a plan with my daughter, who struggles to cook an array of meals with her three young children all under 8 with different tastes and demands, and her husband who is also quite particular about his food.
We decided to consult each member of the family and find out what they would like for a special lunch at Nanna’s. The youngest said chocolate and the older twins wanted pizza and my son-in-law a vegetarian dish.
So we set out to incorporate all of the ‘tastes’ and opted for a vegetarian pizza full of health giving fresh vegetables followed by a fabulous dessert of fresh fruit and meringue with a chocolate topping.
I set up the kitchen with music themed to please everybody, from Thunderbirds to Peppa Pig & Taylor Swift to Michael Buble and then set out the vegetables and home grown tomatoes and herbs, the latter still in pots for the kids to see.
There was a good selection of salad and fruit to be chopped up, and the little one was given the task of setting out the table and folding up the napkins, as well as stirring the chocolate topping, under the watchful eye of Dad in case of too much ‘secret tasting’.
Once the vegetables had been chopped and whilst waiting for the meal to cook, the twins entertained us with their wooden spoon air guitars as we bopped around the kitchen.
The event went off without a hitch and I threw in some subliminal information about where and how long the ingredients had taken to grow, some of them in my own garden, and everyone was happy. Plus it had given my daughter ‘food for thought’ of how to tackle meals times in future – with a bit of planning and lots of imagination.
FOR THE PIZZA
Ingredients
- 6 small mushrooms, halved
- 1 small courgette, sliced
- 1 small yellow pepper, sliced
- 1 small red pepper, sliced
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 ready made 12″ pizza crust
- 1 can pizza sauce
- mozzarella cheese
Directions
- In a large bowl, combine the mushrooms, courgette, peppers, onion, vinegar, water, 3 teaspoons oil and salt & pepper. Transfer to an oiled backing tin and grill on a medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until tender, turning once halfway through.
- Brush crust with remaining oil, spread with pizza sauce. add the grilled vegetables and cheese. place in oven for 8-12 minutes at 180c or until edges are browned and cheese is melted.
FOR THE FRUIT & CHOCOLATE TOPPED MERINGUE
INGREDIENTS
MERINGUES
- 4 large egg whites
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 12 oz choc chips
CHOCOLATE SAUCE:
- 1 can Evaporated Milk
- 6 oz choc chips
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- Fresh fruit or berries (blackberries, raspberries, peaches or strawberries etc)
FOR MERINGUES:
Pre-heat oven to 150º c. Lightly grease a baking sheet.Beat egg whites, salt and cream of tartar in large mixer bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar; beat until sugar is dissolved. Gently fold in morsels. Spread meringue into ten 3-inch nests with deep wells about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until meringues are dry and crisp. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
FOR CHOCOLATE SAUCE:
Heat evaporated milk and bring to boiling in a thick bottomed saucepan.
Stir in choc chips,
Stir constantly, until mixture is slightly thickened and smooth.
Remove from heat; stir in sugar, vanilla extract and salt.
Drizzle meringues with Chocolate Sauce and fill with the fruit & serve.
Enjoy
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by Olivia | Sep 21, 2018 | Featured, GloKitchen
BEEF OLIVES are a real comfort food according to Jamie Oliver. They were also a favourite decades ago with Sylvia Anderson, creator of Lady Penelope and Thunderbirds, according to her daughter Dee.
Sylvia was a dab hand in the kitchen when she was not creating her latest storyline or character, and Beef Olives was one of her specialities.
‘In those days’ Dee recalls, ‘it was quite unique as lamb chops or roasts were more standard in home cooking, but Sylvia, always the innovator, even pushed the boundaries of cooking and creativity. It sounds tame these days as the entire Nation is au fait with international cuisine, but back then it was quite a rarity’, and to Dee’s school friends it was deemed as quite ‘out there’.
BEEF OLIVES
Ingredients
400g of lean finely cut beef
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1 medium onion
220g celery
150g carrot
250ml red wine
600ml beef stock
1 Leek
For the Stuffing
1 small onion
3 rashers of smoked bacon
4 mushrooms
A pinch of thyme
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Fry the onions, garlic, mushrooms until soft. Add to the raw bacon and set aside.
Place the beef on a flat surface and beat with a rolling pin or food hammer until very thin (approx. 1cm thick). Spread each beef slice with the mustard. Fill with the prepared stuffing.
Cut the leek in half and blanche for 30 seconds in boiling water place into cold water so that the leek is stringy. Cut the leek in thin strips long ways.
Roll the beef slices over the stuffing and use the leek strings to secure the beef. Fry the beef on all sides until brown and place in an oven proof dish.
Fry the remaining onion, carrot and celery in a pan for 5 minutes. Add red wine and beef stock and stir. Pour over the beef olives and cook in the oven with a lid on for 3 hours.
Remove the beef olives from the dish and keep warm. Blend the remaining sauce until no lumps remain. Serve with root vegetables and mashed potatoes.
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by Jackie Brooks | Sep 13, 2018 | Featured, GloKitchen
Your offspring or grandchild is off to University? Surely not. When did that happen? They have only just started school! But it is true, and they are leaving home – well at least for the time being, they are going to be independent, and feeding themselves.
Your greatest fear is that they will spend all of their precious student loan on takeaways, or not eat at all. But the truth is you should give them more credit, and back it up with some really useful tips on food and cooking.
You could help by advising them to stock up with with the basics like pasta, rice, potatoes, vegetables and dried quinoa and plenty of tins of baked beans and tins of tuna. Also a good idea to fill their freezer with vegetables, oven fries and pitta bread.
A quick lesson in the life span of meats and the ‘how to, or not’ of reheating food, without sounding too patronizing. I remember my first student shared accommodation where we almost got food poisoning when one of the students reheated chicken from the day before. I don’t mean to scare you, but it has to be said.
Encourage them to enjoy cooking meals to share with other students, as this will also earn them brownie points and help them to integrate.
Explain how easy it is to freeze food and give them some containers or freezer bags to make sure they have the option.
Theming the meals is also good and this can easily be done with the help of some tasty spice ingredients eg https://www.spicentice.com/ meal kits, which are both cost effective and healthy. Incidentally, this family run company started when their son was at University and they would send him home made spices to ensure he ate at all. It worked, as he is now married with kids of his own. See some of their quick and easy recipes, which could get your young adult through their entire time at University or College.
This will also encourage the ‘bonding’ experience of cultures and experimentation with food, as well as good old fashioned nutrition.
Try this new Spicentice Firecracker curry kit with recipe, and you can buy via the link below and get a discount with the discount code .
Guaranteed to awaken your senses, this dish is infused with spicy, zesty flavours that’ll transport you to the Far East and beyond!
Ingredients: Chilli, Coriander, Cumin, Onion, Fenugreek, Garlic, Ginger, Paprika, Turmeric, Cinnamon, Salt, Black Pepper, Cloves, Bay, Cardamom, Star Anise, Cinnamon, Fennel.
Did you know their Firecracker Curry kit is:
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check out the full range at https://www.spicentice.com/
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