I love food. If I am not cooking, I spend much of my time thinking about what I am going to cook and eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I try and eat as healthily as possible. Making vegetables tasty is a passion of mine and these days I try to eat more fish than meat.I live in North London and have 2 children aged 4 and 6. Shortly after weaning my first child, I was standing in my kitchen one evening, exhausted and not in the mood for anything other than lying on the sofa. I wanted my daughter to eat a nutritious meal that was quick and easy to prepare. It got me thinking about how many other parents were standing in their kitchen thinking the same thing. I started writing down the recipes I was cooking, thinking how to make nutritious meals as easy and quick as possible. Both my kids are fussy eaters for different reasons and it has been a constant challenge to get them to eat healthy meals and with this blog I hope to help you with this process.
I write all my own recipes and my three key words I use to describe them are healthy, easy and tasty.
By healthy I mean home cooked food using as many fresh ingredients as possible. The odd biscuit, scoop of ice-cream, packet of crisps does not count, it's all about a balance. The key is that you are cooking at home more often than not and that you and your family are eating a variety of carbohydrates (potatoes/pasta/rice) fruit, vegetables, meat/fish (pulses and other foods high in protein for vegetarians) over a the course of a week.
By easy I mean that the recipes contain only a handful of ingredients that are readily available with a couple of steps that children of all ages can follow with you.
By tasty I mean just because the recipes are healthy and easy it does not impact taste. I look to Italy, France and Spain for inspiration as I love the flavours of the Mediterranean. The food in Italy is especially full of flavour using only a couple of ingredients. A little pinch of salt or sugar added to a sauce is not classed as unhealthy, as many foods need them to bring out their full flavours. For example, our tomatoes in England are not the same as those from Italy as Italian tomatoes are sun drenched making them sweeter in flavour. In addition, eating seasonal produce is key to tasty meals as is adding a squeeze of lemon and certain herbs and spices. Finally, it is important that food is cooked properly and overcooking cooking something can ruin it's flavour & texture.
So by following my recipes, I can hopefully not only get your children interested in food but give you inspiration in the kitchen preparing healthy, easy and tasty meals without too much hard work.
Happy cooking!
Natasha
