KUMARA AND CHERRY TOMATO SALAD with CREAMY NUTTY DRESSING

Tahini used to scare me a little, unless it was in the context of hommus. But lately I've discovered it's a fine partner to various condiments and can be the back-bone of many tasty salad dressings.

Don't worry about the 'creamy' - it's an extremely healthy dressing. One I encouraged Billie to repeatedly dip her sweet potato into.

This was the first dinner in a week that Billie left not a scrap. It might have had something to do with the fact I starved her all day - well, she had a small lunch and only blueberries for afternoon tea - but I think it's safe to say this was a Winner with a capital W.

It's also one of those Under-30-Minute-Meals - a crucial selling point.

ROAST SWEET POTATO SALAD WITH CHERRY TOMATOES AND CREAMY NUTTY DRESSING

Serves three




Two large kumara or sweet potatoes
olive oil
handful cherry tomatoes
handful fresh mint (optional)




Dressing:
1/2 lemon
1 Tablespoon honey (leave out if child under one year)
3 T yoghurt
3 T Tahini
1 T tamari (or soy sauce)
3 T peanut butter (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cumin






Preheat oven to medium hot - about 220 c. Cut up kumera - no need to peel -  into large bite sized chunks (mine were a little over-sized tonight so ignore pictures). Spread out on oven tray and rub generously with olive oil. Roast until browned and crispy - they don't take long at all. 


Meanwhile, combine dressing ingredients in jar and shake well, or mix in small bowl.


Chop mint and add to kumera and tomatoes in a platter dish or bowl. Stir dressing through and serve warm. 


FOR BABIES 6 MONTHS AND OLDER: Reserve a little sweet potato and puree/mash
BABIES 8 MONTHS AND OLDER: Mash some sweet potato with the dressing (leave out peanut butter if you're unsure, but current recommendations say it's fine) but please do omit the honey
BABIES/TODDLERS 10 MONTHS AND OLDER: Serve salad as is (without honey)
TODDLERS ONE YEAR AND OLDER: Serve salad as is (honey okay after one year)

SALAD FOR ALL with PUY LENTILS, PUMPKIN AND RICOTTA

When a Melbourne friend announced she was in town and popping in for lunch with her 7.5 month-old baby, I knew it was time to really test out the Billie Bites philosophy.

Could I come up with a dish that would inspire and nourish two adults, a toddler and a baby newish to solids?

BINGO. Mission accomplished. And while this is similar to other salads listed here, it's different enough to warrant fulfilling my guest's request for the recipe.

Oscar hadn't had lentils or ricotta before, but he happily consumed a fair serving of the two, mashed with some roasted pumpkin. I chose ricotta because it doesn't have any added salt - good for babies under one year.

Billie chose on this occasion to pick out the lumps of fresh ricotta. But we know she normally devours anything from the pulse/bean family. Pumpkin these days goes down if it's mixed in with other stuff, or is the only thing on offer.

And Emily and I devoured my cherry tomatoes freshly picked from the back-yard.

Here we have a meal for all. Family friendly, vegetarian and gluten-free.

SALAD FOR ALL with PUY LENTILS, PUMPKIN AND RICOTTA

1 cup French puy lentils, rinsed
1/4 pumpkin, skinned and chopped into bite-sized chunks
olive oil
large handful French green beans, topped and tailed and cut in half
handful cherry tomatoes
few slabs of fresh, firm ricotta (avoid the runny stuff in the tub)
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper


Preheat oven to hot. Place lentils in small pot with 3./4 cup water and bring to boil. Turn to low and simmer with lid until water absorbed or just soft - about 20-30 minutes. Place pumpkin on oven roasting tray and rub with olive oil. Roast until soft and crispy around edges. 


Steam beans until just soft. Mix lime, balsamic, olive oil and salt and pepper and stir through drained lentils, beans and tomatoes in a large serving platter dish. Top with pumpkin and slabs of ricotta.


FOR BABIES 6 MONTHS AND UP: Reserve some pumpkin and puree
BABIES 7 MONTHS AND UP: Reserve some lentils and pumpkin and mash or puree with ricotta
BABIES/TODDLERS 1 YEAR AND UP: Serve salad as is - let them pick what they like. It's all good

PIZZA WITH BROCCOLI SAUCE, FETA, SPINACH AND GARLIC

Pizzas ready to go in the oven - although Billie couldn't wait

Showing you how to make pizza could be like telling you how to suck eggs. But there are some superb tricks here. And today when my friend Anna (who's a very good cook) was impressed and inspired sampling a cold left-over piece, I decided it was a valid exercise. Oh, and I have to credit Miles here as I was inspired by his innovation.

The two main tricks here are: 

*For the base, use thin round flat 'Lebanese bread' - they are cheap, cook very quickly and retain a nice texture

* Instead of straight tomato, pack some super foods into the base sauce. It tastes nice, but most importantly toddlers can't avoid the vegetables

Pizza post-oven

Now, I'm not normally a fan of pumpkin on pizza. However, Miles created a delicious pumpkin-based vegetable blend to spread over our vegetarian pizzas this week. HIs motivation was a lack of tomato stuff in the cupboards, but also to get some more veggies into young Billie.

Last night I followed up with a full head of fairly well-steamed broccoli, blended in with a few dollops of tomato paste. Billie scoffed back most of her large pizza before it even went near the oven.

(And yes, those are cherry tomatoes from our garden. Grown from seed. Very proud of myself.)

Obviously you can follow the vegetable paste with any topping you fancy, but here's what worked very well last night:

PIZZA WITH BROCCOLI SAUCE, FETA, SPINACH AND GARLIC

Makes three pizzas, feeds about four

Large, flat, round and preferably wholemeal Lebanese breads

Head of broccoli, cut into large chunks and steamed until softish

4 tablespoons tomato paste

Small bunch English spinach, washed and chopped

5 spring onions, top and tailed and finely sliced

4-5 cloves garlic

1/2 block feta

several big handfuls grated cheddar cheese

handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in thirds

capers

Fresh basil and oregano - lots

black pepper

Olive oil

Preheat oven to medium hot.

Lightly saute spring onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add spinach and remove from heat after 30 seconds - you just want to shrink it down a little, but it will get plenty of cooking in the oven. Blend broccoli and tomato paste. Spread generously on bases. Sprinkle a little cheddar on each. 

Spread the spinach mixture over the three pizzas, followed by a sprinkling of capers on each and some chopped fresh herbs. Crumble the feta over each, a good grind of pepper (no salt needed with feta), the rest of the cheddar, and distribute the cherry tomato slices. 

Place on oven trays and cook until cheese well melted and bases crispy around the edges - they will blacken a little. Slice and serve immediately. 

Pizza pre-oven

MUFFIN MANIA

Muffin mania began in our household when I was pregnant with Billie. Something about nesting brought out the baking urge in me. We're talking sweet, savory and everything in between.

Billie is nearly 18 months and I haven't kicked the habit. Much to Miles' pleasure, as his regular cafe order is a muffin with his soy honey latte (uggh - not my cup of tea). But we're both regularly disappointed with cafe muffins - too dry, lacking in the key ingredient as advertised, and generally just large and floury. So one of the reasons for muffin mania is to fill a necessary gap in the market.

But the main motivation has become the creative challenge. I just use what's around to flavour them, backed up with an easy and relatively healthy muffin base. I do fiddle with the base a little too - sometimes one egg, sometimes two, and sometimes less oil or milk. But the main creative challenge offered by muffin mania is balancing the chosen extra ingredients so that you wind up with a muffin that isn't too dry, moist, sweet or bland.

Happily I can report no complete failures, but I will note polenta is a challenging ingredient.

A few muffin varieties can be found in these pages but often I don't bother to log them. However, due to popular request, today Billie Bites starts a special Muffin Mania page. which I will add to irregularly. It's useful for me too as I often think, hmmm, what were those muffins I took to so-and-so's?

To kick start, today we have these healthy savory numbers - another way to get vegetables into toddlers.

I served them yesterday to Billie and her friend Marilla (born only one day later). Both toddlers devoured two and a half muffins. Now that's a fair bit of carrot.

Billie and Marilla eagerly await their carrot and corn muffins

CORN, CARROT AND CHEDDAR MUFFINS

1 large carrot or 2 small, grated

1 cup grated tasty cheddar cheese

1 corn cob, raw

1 handful fresh herbs, chopped - I used basil, oregano, thyme

220g self-raising wholemeal flour, or use plain and add 2 teaspoons baking soda/powder

3/4 cup milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup oil - I use rice bran

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to medium - about 190 c or 380 f. Prepare 12 muffin tins - depending on what sort you use. I have recently started using those silicon ones so only a very light smear of oil is needed. 

Sift flour and baking powder/soda if using into large bowl. Add cheese and herbs and salt and pepper.

In a small bowl mix eggs, oil and milk together. Slice raw corn kernals off by placing cob horizontally on chopping board and add to wet ingredients with carrot. 

When you are ready to bake, gently combine wet and dry - only swiftly stirring until just mixed through. Then quickly and gently spoon into tins. Bake in middle of oven for about 15-20 minutes or until browned on top.

Leave for 5 minutes in tins before removing to cool on wire rack. Eat fresh. They don't even need butter.

Marilla wonders why her lunch is being photographed

RICOTTA, CORN AND COURGETTE FRITTERS

TRICK: Fritters re-heat very well in the oven ready to be served as tasty party finger food.
TRICK 2: Fritters offer a great place to hide greens from toddlers who deem them uncool.


Fritters have made appearances in various guises on these pages, even corn fritters. When Billie was a baby I made lots of simple vegetarian fritters. But each time I get in a fritter mood I experiment with texture and substance - to flour or not to flour, to baking powder or not, and so on.

This particular model was a roaring success with Billie but also was very well received at a work do last night to farewell our colleague Ronan. I had pre-party jitters about how the  re-heating would go. But no fear - ten minutes in the oven on a tray left them perfectly light and crispy.

RICOTTA, CORN AND COURGETTE FRITTERS

4 corn cobs, lightly steamed

4 spring onions, finely chopped

3 courgettes/zucchini, grated

1/4 cup fresh coriander/cilantro chopped (optional)

4 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups fresh ricotta (preferably the solid, firm kind - but if it's runny just cut back on the milk)

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cup plain flour

generous grindings of salt and black pepper

oil

Allow cobs to cool for a few minutes before removing corn - lay cobs down horizontally on chopping board and use large knife to slice off. This prevents the corn covering your kitchen floor.

Combine corn with spring onions, coriander, courgettes and flour and baking powder. In a smaller bowl combine milk and ricotta with beaten eggs, then pour into the large bowl with rest of fritter ingredients.

Heat about one tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. I used rice bran oil as it heats to high temperatures and doesn't have any flavour, but olive oil works too. Once pan is hot, drop tablespoon lots of batter into pan (don't crowd in pan and keep them small - they cook quicker and look more appetising).

Cook until lightly browned on both sides, flipping once. Keep heat to medium so they cook through without burning. Remove first batch onto plate lined with paper towel, and repeat until mixture used up.

While these re-heat in the oven very well, you can keep the mixture in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days and impress your friends and family with fritters and eggs for brunch, fritters on the side of their chili beans, fritter sandwiches, etc.

And a very Happy Birthday to my father...

DESERT INSPIRATIONS: SANTA FE BLACK BEAN SALAD

Santa Fe farmers' markets

Get ready for some superb Southwestern-inspired food. But first, Santa Fe is kind of the Disney Land of New Mexico. You wouldn't know this if you didn't venture further into the desert, to the mountain town of Taos say. Or even better - little Las Vegas - a town frequented by Billie the Kid and now a popular film set for Western-tinged films by the Coen Bros etc.

Santa Fe's New Mexico Museum of Art uses the faux-dobe made popular by the town's planning laws

But for wide-eyed tourists such as myself fresh off the train, it's hard not to fall for Santa Fe. Town planning laws dictate that all buildings must pay some homage to the traditional Adobe, invented by the Pueblo people - the traditional land owners. So you play the guessing game of which is the faux-dobe and which is the real mud brick. At least it all looks nice. Even the petrol stations.

Real adobe or faux-dobe?

Shell gets into the dobe-mode

It's not just the mud bricks that tourists flock to Santa Fe for. The town has become an eating destination, with it's own cuisine reproduced in many cookbooks and famous restaurants. Unfortunately I cannot report that our dining experience was anything to write home about  - probably because all the good ones were booked out or had queues longer than Billie could possibly stand. 

The best food we ate in Santa Fe was found right here on the plaza

However, we ate well throughout the rest of New Mexico and the US South West. It's a blend of Mexican, Native American - such as fry bread, corn and beans - and some other stuff tossed in.

Getting hungry? This fabulous salsa salad is easy to make and will impress most palettes. Last night I took it to Skye's birthday beach picnic, and there were enough recipe requests to pass the test.

And yes, Billie loves it. Nine-month-old Fig enjoyed a few mouthfuls last night too - although she preferred the beans to the corn.

I pinched this from my current favorite, Feeding the Whole Family, by Cynthia Lair. I've only made a couple of small adaptations. She suggests serving with tortillas or polenta but I have always used corn chips.

This recipe brings together some of my favorite ingredients: black beans, lime, corn, fresh coriander/cilantro and red pepper/capsicum. Served with a bowl of corn chips, it makes a fantastic dish to share. It can be prepared a few hours ahead of time, so good for outings.

SANTA FE BLACK BEAN SALAD

2 cups cooked black beans  (1 1/2 cups dried or one 400g tin = 1 1/2 cups)

1 red pepper

1 corn cob, steamed (or 1/2 cup frozen/tinned corn but use fresh if you can)

1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander/cilantro

plain corn chips, to serve

Dressing:

3 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 Tablespoons lime juice = one lime

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use 1/4 if not serving to any kids)

Soak and boil/pressure cook the black beans. They only take 15-20 minutes in pressure cooker if been soaked a few hours. About three times as long if you regular boil in a pot, after soaking. Or open a can or two.

Next, roast red pepper/capsicum to char the skin for easy removal. You can do it under a grill or directly over the low flame of a gas burner. Turn until skin charred on all sides. Place inside paper bag and close to allow pepper to sweat - this will make skin easier to remove. After about ten minutes - or longer if you can wait - the skin should slip off. Slice pepper into thin strips and then chop strips in half.

Meanwhile, steam whole corn cob - again only takes 5 mins in pressure cooker, 10-15 mins probably in regular pot. Let cool then place sideways on board and slice kernels off in strips. Place strips in large bowl with beans, coriander and pepper. Mix gently.

To make dressing: Mince garlic and salt to a paste, either in pestle and mortar or on bread board with a knife. Place in small bowl and whisk in oil, lime juice and cayenne pepper. Pour over salad and toss gently.

Serve with corn chips. If you go for the more spicy option, a bit of yoghurt on the side works well. And if you are feeling energetic, or you want to make the meal go further, the salad partners very well with guacamole. 

My suggestions for making this work for all ages:

BABIES AGED SIX MONTHS AND OLDER: Make a little extra corn and puree

BABIES/TODDLERS AGED NINE MONTHS AND OLDER: Set aside a little beans and corn

TODDLERS AGED ONE YEAR AND OLDER: Serve as is - check seasoning

 

And now, I can't resist a little garden update. 

Just two weeks on, and we have several small green tomatoes and one little courgette. 

The tomato plants are topping their stakes, and the aubergine plants are getting huge too. The poor lettuce, spinach and basil are getting a bit overwhelmed by the growth of their neighbors, losing a fair bit of their sun. Next time I would put tomatoes in their own patch I think.

SPINACH AND CHEESE STUFFED POTATOES and A SPECIAL REQUEST

One of my fondest memories of intermediate school (junior high, year 6) is learning to make stuffed potatoes. I then made them for my family a few times as I progressed from baking to cooking actual meals.

But stuffed potatoes have been left behind in my culinary adventures of late. Until last week when I was a little, ahem, in need of stodge after too much fun at the work Christmas party.

And actually, with the addition of plenty of spinach, these potatoes are not just tasty but nutritionally sound.

I can't report back on how Billie fared as Miles and I didn't manage to save her any. But I'm sure she would approve.

 

CHEESY SPINACH STUFFED POTATOES

1 spring onion, finely chopped

1/2 bunch spinach

1 cup grated cheddar

butter

5 medium potatoes

salt and black pepper

Bake potatoes in a preheated moderate to hot oven until done - about 30 minutes for medium potatoes  or 1 hour for large potatoes. Pierce skin with fork or knife before placing in oven.

Meanwhile, wash and drain spinach and place in large pot with a knob of butter on medium heat. Shake or stir every minute for five minutes, or until just wilted. Place on board to cool and then chop.

 

Carefully slice tops off potatoes and scoop flesh out into a large mixing bowl. Take care not to pierce skins - better to leave a bit of potato in bottom to be safe. 

Mix potato flesh with grated cheese, a few knobs of butter, spring onions, spinach and pepper. Add a little more salt if necessary. 

 

Spoon mixture into potato skins, packing it in and over filling a little until all mixture used up. If you have any leftovers, spoon onto the little potato lids and place on tray next to stuffed potatoes.

Bake in oven until browned on top - about 10 minutes. Check heated through before removing and serving.

FOR BABIES 6 MONTHS AND OLDER: Mash up some potato and pureed cooked spinach

FOR BABIES 9 MONTHS AND OLDER: Reserve some of the stuffing before butter and salt added

FOR TODDLERS 12 MONTHS AND OLDER: Serve whole stuffed potato

 

 

And now for something completely different...

I do love a request. So despite there being no photographic evidence, and despite this being similar to other dishes I have presented on these pages, I can't resist. I took this salad to a lovely lazy Sunday BBQ at Cath's place the other week. I didn't record the measurements so I hope I get this right. Here you go Cath:

BEETROOT AND LENTIL SALAD WITH GOATS CHEESE

 Bunch baby beet root, or couple of large ones

1 cup French Puy lentils (those small black ones), or regular brown ones

Handful of spinach leaves, washed and drained and torn if large

Dressing:

3 T olive oil

1 T balsamic vinegar

Juice of a lime

salt and black pepper

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

First cook the beets. Steam or roast whole. DON'T remove the skins or tails, just chop off the stalks, but leave a bit on as you will remove them later with the skins. This stops the beets bleeding. If you have a pressure cooker, cover about half the beets with water and cook once at pressure for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the lentils. Rinse first then place in small pot with a cup of cold water. Bring to gentle simmer with lid on, and cook gently until just soft. Check during cooking and add more water if needed. Particularly if using the Puy lentils, be careful not to overcook until mushy. The beauty of these lentils is their texture.

Prepare dressing. When lentils are cooked place in large bowl and gently stir dressing through.

Cool cooked beets and remove skins and tails etc. Chop into large chunks and add to lentils. Add walnuts.

When ready to serve, add spinach and then gently combine sliced goats cheese.

 

DILLED DOUBLE PEA SOUP

I had a strange experience on Saturday night. We were sitting around the table with some dinner guests and I noticed something odd.

While we shared funny stories of fussy family members that only ate chicken nuggets , one of our guests appeared to not have touched her meal. Or rather, her soup. She was chomping back on sour dough toast okay.

A shiver ran down my spine. I had cooked a bad meal for our guests.

Now if the conversation had been hovering around a topic unrelated to food and eating and fussiness, I may have sat there uncomfortably all night wondering whether I had over-dilled the pea soup.

"Um, you having trouble with that soup there?!" I chimed in. Thankfully, plenty of laughs. "Oh yeah I just don't do soup. I don't like liquid food".

Now this is a particularly chunky soup. It ain't the blended type. Vegetables bob about quite obviously. Then came the confessions of 'oh well I actually mainly eat burgers and pizza and all that'.

But here's the twist: I can comprehend a non-cook person with no interest or knowledge of food taking such an attitude to my soup. But she went on to explain she normally cooks southern-style fish and seafood dishes, and a great vegetarian lasagna I must drop by for...

Well, despite this soup being rejected, I can heartily recommend it. The DILL IS ESSENTIAL, so don't be tempted to omit it. No pictures sorry, but it's a lovely light green base with flashes of orange, white and green from the chunky vegetables.

I slightly adapted this from Cynthia Lair's Feeding the Whole Family.

DILLED DOUBLE PEA SOUP

 Serves 6-8.

2 cups green split peas

2 T olive oil

2 onions, chopped

2 t salt

2 large carrots, chopped

3 potatoes, diced

2 t ground cumin

black pepper

8 cups water

1 vegetable stock cube

2 large bay leaf

1 cup frozen peas

2 T snipped fresh dill

Soak split peas for about five hours in eight cups of water. Discard soaking water.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker or large pot. Add onion and salt and saute until golden. Add carrot, potatoes, cumin and pepper and saute few more minutes. Boil water and add a small amount to chopped stock cube and mix to dissolve. Add to pot with rest of water, split peas and bay leaves.

If pressure cooking: Bring up to pressure on high heat then lower and cook for 40 minutes.

If using a regular pot: Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer 60-90 minutes. (Yes, it's worth finding that pressure cooker down the op shop).

Once split peas have softened and the soup has become creamy, add dill and frozen peas. Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if needed. Cook a few more minutes (don't over-do as peas will go mushy).

FOR BABIES 6 MONTHS AND OLDER: Reserve some frozen peas/carrot/potato and steam until soft. Blend/mash and serve with no salt.

FOR BABIES 9 MONTHS AND OLDER: Serve soup as is, but cut back on salt.

FOR BABIES/TODDLERS ONE YEAR AND OLDER: Serve soup just the way it comes.

SLURPING NOODLE SALAD WITH SESAME DRESSING

It may be bad manners to suck and slurp on spaghetti, but with noodles it's the only way.

And Billie has become a pro noodle-sucker. At times tonight she seemed to be competing with me for how fast she could slurp them back. While she managed to dodge any actual vegetables, she at least sucked back a fair few sesame seeds and bits of fresh coriander.

This is a delicious meal that's quick and easy to prepare, and is designed to be eaten cold (perfect for feeding the whole family).

Note that I've used honey - so best avoided if you're feeding an under-one-year-old. Substitute with maple syrup, which is what the original recipe calls for (yes, it's American).

You may have already guessed where this salad came from - Cynthia Lair's Feeding the Whole Family. I've just made a couple of changes.

 Lair suggests serving this tasty vegetarian dish with salmon. However, it's served us well twice this week as a main - just add a vegetable or two.

Feeding the family

NOODLE SALAD WITH SESAME DRESSING

Salad: 

1 pack of soba noodles (225g/8oz)

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/4 cup chopped coriander/cilantro leaves

Dressing:

2 T sesame oil (Lair suggests toasted, but I just used plain)

3 T tamari or shoyu

3 T balsamic vinegar

1 T honey/maple syrup

1 T olive oil

fresh cracked pepper

Optional extras:

I used broccoli florets on Saturday and both broccoli and thinly sliced carrots tonight.

Lair suggests chives, red cabbage, radishes and scallions.

Toast sesame seeds in dry cast iron fry-pan/skillet on medium heat for about five minutes.  Stir frequently and remove when browning and crackling. Don't over-do them.

Cook soba noodles in medium-sized pot of boiling water for a few minutes (check package). Drain and rinse under cold tap immediately. 

Steam any vegetables, such as broccoli and carrot.

Whisk together dressing ingredients. Combine with noodles, coriander and sesame seeds. Gently stir through any vegetables.

Billie masters the art of noodle-eating

FOOD THAT MAKES YOU HUM

I warned you a few posts ago that I was busy stocking the kitchen with Japanese ingredients.

Triple A Salad - Arame, Almond and Avocado Green Salad

So here comes the Japanese-inspired dishes, or at least Japanese ingredient-inspired. I strongly recommend you make a note to grab the bits and pieces for this delicious salad next time you're wandering the aisles of a well-stocked supermarket or little Japanese/Asian grocer.

This is food that makes you hum. Tonight after Miles and I devoured the whole salad bowl we almost bounded around the house, both eager and energetic to take on the Billie-bath-bed routine - rather than sluggish and impatient to crash on the couch.

Okay, I admit Billie didn't eat this one, but then she wasn't actually offered it. Instead I was very happy she chowed down the spinach dahl left-overs, mixed with brown rice, yoghurt and mango chutney. Very happy, because lately vegetables have not been winning the popularity contest at Billie's end of the table. Here's the dahl - I just swapped the red lentils for brown this time: billie bites lentil dahl recipe

This is a superb salad. Extremely tasty and satisfying. It does need to be served with some protein and carbohydrates - we just had a small amount of dahl and brown rice, which obviously isn't the best team mate, but it worked as two courses. Tofu, tempeh, fish, soba noodles, potato...any of these would work well. But you don't need anything with much flavor.

This is just slightly adapted from a Mary Shaw recipe. Mary taught at Bastyr University and ran a cooking program for the Ashland Food Co-Op in Oregon. Another credit goes here to my recent wonderful kitchen companion, Cynthia Lair's Feeding the Whole Family, which published the recipe.


TRIPLE A SALAD - ARAME, ALMOND AND AVOCADO

Arame, Almond and Avocado Green Salad

Salad:

1/4 cup raw almonds

4 cups salad greens - try spinach, rocket/arugular, and lettuce

1/8-1/4 cup arame, soaked in 1 cup cold water

1 ripe avocado, sliced into long strips

Dressing:

3 Tablespoons sesame oil

3 Tablespoons brown rice vinegar

2 tablespoons runny honey

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Heat oven to 180C/350F. Roast almonds on dry, flat tray for about 7 minutes or until giving off that nice almond smell. Set aside to cool and then coarsely chop. 

Wash the salad greens and spin or pat dry with tea towel.

Combine all dressing ingredients in large deep salad bowl and whisk. Drain arame (don't need the water) and add to dressing with salad greens. Toss well, gently fold through avocado, and sprinkle cooled almonds on top. 

FOR BABIES 6 MONTHS AND OLDER: Mash avocado or offer slices. 

FOR BABIES 9 MONTHS AND OLDER: Offer salad, minus the almonds (for choking purposes)

FOR BABIES/TODDLERS 12 MONTHS AND OLDER: Offer the whole salad (good luck)

SAUCE-LESS CHUNKY PASTA

Black bean pasta with pumpkin, mushrooms and feta

 Saucy pasta can be a bit messy with toddlers and babies. Especially while they insist on eating with their hands.

An Auckland restaurant I worked in when I was 17 made these chunky-style sauce-less pasta dishes. Sometimes the chefs at Sour Dough used to whip up some for the kitchen-hands, and I'm still trying to mimic those tasty lunches.

The great thing about this way of serving pasta is that anything goes. Almost.
Here's the version I made the other night, but I've also added a list of good vegetarian alternatives at the bottom.

SPAGHETTI WITH ROAST PUMPKIN, FETA, BROCCOLI, MUSHROOMS AND PESTO

I used a black bean spaghetti for a healthier, more interesting dish but any will do. The black noodles didn't score so well in the office lunch-envy stakes. But Billie sucked them up with gusto.

Packet of spaghetti or other pasta

1/4 pumpkin, skinned and chopped into bite sized chunks

1 broccoli head, washed and chopped into chunks

3-4 spring onions

garlic

handful of mushrooms - large brown ones better but button will do

half block feta, chopped/crumbled

fresh pesto

Roast pumpkin in olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Before adding pasta, get broccoli and mushrooms cooking. Saute mushrooms in hot cast-iron pan with a little olive oil and butter. You'll need to cook in several lots in a single layer. Cook on medium-high until just browned. Cook broccoli in little bit of water or in steamer until tender. Fry up spring onions and a couple of cloves of chopped garlic in some oil, or add to mushrooms.

While all this is going on, cook pasta. Drain and stir few generous tablespoons of pesto through. Pour into large serving bowl and gently stir through cooked vegetables and feta.

Chunky pasta dishes also work well: cherry tomatoes, red onions, olives, artichokes, capers, ricotta, courgette/zucchini, red pepper/capsicum, aubergine/eggplant, walnuts, English spinach, asparagus, rocket, fresh herbs, blue cheese, peas, sun-dried tomatoes etc etc.

If you've been missing your billie bites of culinary inspiration the past few weeks, I do have a good explanation for my absence. The first program I was assigned upon my return to the office was food-related...'Organic Food'. Check out the link below:
  
http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/index/id/322

PARTY FOOD - PUMPKIN AND BANANA LOAF

Billie tries her cake and eyes up a second helping

I used to be suspicious of cakes boasting of their low-sugar low-fat credentials. What's the point?

Well, this pumpkin and banana loaf passed the first test immediately - it tasted GOOD.

And when you're trying to keep your baby/toddler/child/self away from sugar, suddenly recipes like these are winners.

If you're hosting a one-year-old's birthday, this cake has the added bonus of being the right shape. No need for fancy sculpting with lots of sweet sticky icing.

And the babies, toddlers and kids all came back for more. Especially Billie.

I have only slightly adapted this from a recipe courtesy of Cherie at our ante-natal mother's group.

Billie's First Birthday Cake

PUMPKIN AND BANANA LOAF

1 cup self raising flour

1/2 cup wholemeal self raising flour

1/4 t baking soda

1 t ground ginger

1 t cinnamon

1 t nutmeg

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups grated pumpkin

1 large banana, mashed

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup sultanas

 2 eggs

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup plain, unsweetened yoghurt

Preheat oven to 180c. Oil a loaf tin and dust with flour or else line with paper. Sift dry ingredients into large bowl and stir through sugar. In a separate small bowl mix walnuts, sultanas, pumpkin and banana together. In another bowl whisk eggs, oil and yoghurt together. Add wet to dry and blend well with electric mixer, or else use wooden spoon. Stir through pumpkin mixture and pour into tin. Place on low-middle shelf of oven and cook for about an hour or when skewer comes out clean. Check after 50 minutes. I had to cover with foil towards the end as browned quickly on top and still wet at bottom, but will depend on your oven.

Leave for ten minutes in tin before turning out on wire rack to cool. Dust lightly with icing sugar before serving.

Training back from Melbourne