Kinder Kitchen Kids recipe - Scrummy baked apples

I just popped to Aldi earlier. I recommend Aldi for their fruit and vegetables to everyone. They are not only competitively priced but fresh and delicious. I have only once ever bought something that was mouldy. I managed to buy 4 cooking apples (Bramley) for £1. My kids love apple crumble but tonight I wanted to bake something different for dessert.

So tonight I will be making my scrummy baked apples for my kids for their dessert. They are dead quick and easy to make and healthy too.

Scrummy baked apples

Ingredients:

2 large baking apples (Bramley or the like), skins on
1 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. raisins or sultanas
(double the stuffing mixture for 4 apples)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 C

1. Core the apples and score the skin five times from top to bottom all around the apple. Place them on a baking tray
2. Mix the butter, sugar and raisins together and stuff the mix into the centre of the cored apples
3. Sprinkle a little extra sugar over the apples and place in the oven
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the apples are starting to visibly soften
5. Serve warm with vanilla ice-cream, crème fraiche or Greek yoghurt.

Top Tip:

For a festive feel or to use up any left over minced meat from Christmas, try stuffing the cored apples with minced meat instead of the butter mixture.

Please let me know your great mixes for stuffing the apples if you have any.

 

Sun, alloments & potato salad

The sun shone all weekend here in North London. Yesterday was so warm I was able to wear a T-shirt all day and actually managed to get a slight tan on the tip of my nose.

It was the perfect day to visit my new allotment patch. A friend has handed me over ownership of half their allotment and I am so excited about it. I am a complete novice when it comes to growing my own. My experience stretches to herbs (which only really need a good watering now and then) strawberries and rocket salad.

My patch sits on a slight, south facing hill and gets baked in sunshone from sun-rise to sun-set. It was a perfect day to start cultivating my patch as I felt like I was in the South of France, not North London. The earth was still soft and very manageable due to the amount of rainfall we have had over the winter months. The kids loved it too and dug themselves a couple of deep holes that they filled joyously with big, fat worms and anything else interesting they found nearby or in the earth.

Within a couple of hours I had managed to unearth 2 carrier bags full of the remnants of last season's potatoes, most still intact and edible. I was also given a couple of huge parsnips that had remained growing over the winter months. The parsnip's scent was so wonderful and fresh having come straight from the ground I was intoxicated and I just can't wait to start planting for this year's crop.

This afternoon I'll be making a quick potato salad with the smaller potatoes. I'll give them a good scrub, leaving their skins on (as that's where all the goodness lies). Below is the recipe for the salad with a simple delicious mustardy dressing. Charlotte or salad potatoes are perfect for using in the recipe too.

Potato, egg & pea salad

(4-6 servings)

Salad ingredients:

300g salad potatoes, boiled
2 eggs, hard boiled
½ mug of peas, defrosted

Dressing ingredients: 

1 tsp. English mustard
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 ½ tbsp. white wine/cider vinegar
A pinch of salt and pepper

Method:

1. Begin by boiling the potatoes (10-15 minutes) until cooked through. Allow to cool whilst you hard boil the eggs (8-10 minutes)
2. Place the peas in a bowl and allow to defrost
3. To make the dressing, place the ingredients into a mug and mix together well with a fork
4. Finally slice the eggs and place in a salad bowl with the potatoes & peas and pour the dressing over.
5. Mix well and serve.

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Ciao
Natasha Walter
Kinder Kitchen Cookery Leader

Pancakes Pancakes Pancakes

I just love pancakes and so do my children. My favourite topping still remains lemon & sugar. When I'm looking for a real treat a scoop of vanilla ice-cream with freshly made hot chocolate sauce does the trick too. As a child we used to visit France a lot and up in Brittany these are the two staple sweet pancake toppings.

At Youth Club this week we made lots of delicious pancakes. The children flipped the pancakes themselves and enjoyed all the various fillings on offer. For the savoury option we made ham and cheese pancake sandwiches. To make these, we made two pancakes then placed ham and grated cheese on top of one and laid another pancake on top of that forming a pancake sandwich. The melting cheese helps to stick the sandwich together. These went down a treat and were quickly followed by banana & chocolate spread pancakes and fresh strawberries with lemon & sugar.

Below is my fail proof pancake batter recipe. Enjoy and let me know what your favourite toppings are. I'd love to know.

Pancakes with sugar and lemon (Crepes au citron et sucre)

Ingredients:

110g plain flour
200ml milk plus 75ml tap water
Pinch of salt
1 egg
1 lemon
A little butter
Sugar to sprinkle

Method: 

1. Place the flour and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the egg
2. In a jug add the milk and water and with a hand or electric whisk slowly add the milk to the other ingredients and mix together to form the batter
3. In a saucepan add a little butter and then a small ladle of batter. Fry for a minute or two until brown spots appear on the underside of the pancake and turn over. Repeat until fully cooked
4. Once cooled, add a little lemon juice and a sprinkling of sugar. Yum!

Top tip:

Make sure the hob temperature is not too high otherwise your pancakes may burn