Lunchbox week: Pizza

Pizza is another thing you can depend on most kids eating. It is really easy to chuck some basic toppings on a pizza base and cook it in the oven. The main issue with making pizza is finding a good base recipe. The bought bases are a waste of money and don't taste that great. I have experimented with making bases in the bread maker, they taste really authentic, but rolling them out thin can be really difficult as the gluten in the bread dough is really springey and just keeps jumping back into a ball!

This base recipe has been around in my family since my childhood. I have no idea where it came from but it is a happy medium as it is very quick to make and easy to roll, but contains yeast so tastes like a proper pizza.

Pizza base recipe (makes an oven tray size pizza):

1 1/4c warm water
3 T sugar
1 T dried yeast granules
1 T oil
3 c flour
1/2 t baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C fanbake (220 bake).
2. Grease an oven tray.
3. Dissolve the sugar in the water. Sprinkle over the yeast and mix in the oil and leave covered in a warm place for 10 mins for yeast to go bubbly.
4. Mix in flour and baking powder.
5. Turn onto a well floured surface and knead until dough is soft but no sticky.
6. Roll out to fit your oven tray on a floured surface and place on top of the oven tray.
7. Prepare your toppings and place on top of the pizza. (See below for ideas)
8. Bake for 10 - 12 mins until  golden but not burnt around edges.

Topping ideas:

• For this pizza we did a very basic one with tomato paste, chopped onion and capsicum, ham and grated cheese with herbs on top. You can add other veges or use bacon or chicken instead.
• Sliced cooked potato, chopped bacon and onion and cheese and rosemary
• Cranberry jelly, cooked chicken, red onion, pinenuts and cheese
• Pesto instead of tomato paste

Lunchbox week: Pasta salad

Pasta is a great lunch for kids. Lots of carbohydrates for energy, and if you can throw in some veges and protein even better. Obviously if you are sending your child off to school or daycare it can be difficult to give them pasta that needs heating. I have made many variations of this pasta salad, and Mia loves most forms of pasta, so it is a great lunch for her. It is also the perfect quick salad to throw together for a BBQ.

500g packet of pasta, cooked (I used orzo here, but any short pasta will work e.g: penne, spirals)

Dressing:
1/2 c canola or grapeseed oil
2 T white vinegar
1/4 c grated parmesan
2 T pesto
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 t dijon mustard

2 stalks celery, chopped
1 red capsicum, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes, chopped in half
12 sundried tomatoes, cut in half
(You can also add feta instead of the parmesan in the dressing, chicken, bacon, pretty much any veges, toasted pinenuts and olives to make your own version - although maybe all at once might be a bit too much!)

1. Cook the pasta to packet directions. Drain.
2. Mix the dressing ingredients together and toss through the hot pasta. Leave to cool.
3. Toss through the rest of the salad ingredients you have selected once the pasta is cool.
4. Serve in a bowl for dinner, or a small container for lunch.

FILL YOUR LUNCHBOX WEEK: Bacon and Egg savouries

 I have had a few requests for lunchbox ideas. My eldest is back at preschool this week so it is timely for me as well, and a good challenge to try and serve up something other than sandwiches! So this week I am going to challenge myself (and you) to serve your kids up something a bit different for lunch.

Bacon and Egg Savouries

If I serve up my usual bacon and egg quiche for dinner or lunch my girls turn up their noses at it, or pick off the pastry and leave the filling. I decided I would see what they did if I served up little savoury sized pies, and it was a resounding success. I made them in mince pie trays which have holes that are a bit shallower than muffin trays, although muffin trays will work fine, you just may need to put a bit more filling in and cook them a big longer. The recipe made 18 savouries, heaps left for lunches, and also a small pie for Nathan and I to have for our dinner.

4 sheets ready rolled pastry (you could make your own or use unrolled)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 capsicum, finely chopped (optional)
6 thin rashers of bacon (use less if they are big)
3 eggs
3/4 c milk or cream
Handful chopped parsely
Grated cheese to top.

1. Preheat oven to 200 C fanbake
2. Line muffin or mince pie tins with circles of pastry. I also used one sheet of pastry to line a small square baking tin to make Nathan and I a pie.

3. Fry the onion, capsicum and bacon in a little bit of oil in a frying pan until onion and capsicum are soft.
4. Put teaspoonfulls of bacon mix in the bottom of the pastry cups. I put the leftovers in the pie for Nathan and I.
5. Whisk up the eggs with the milk/cream and parsley.
6. Use a ladle or a small jug to pour the egg mix over top of the bacon mix. Don't fill too full as it will puff up. Top with a little grated cheese. I did the same with the little pie for Nathan and I.
7. Bake for about 12 mins until puffed, cooked through and edges of pastry golden but not over-cooked. If you make a bigger pie it may take longer.
8. Serve warm or cold. They freeze well for lunches. Just put in lunchbox to defrost during the day.

Pinwheel scones and dining alfresco

On Monday it was our 7th Wedding Anniversary. Two kids later there wasn't much chance of a romantic dinner, but I decided to surprise Nathan with an early dinner picnic in the park. I wish I had remembered to take some photos of the picnic as we all had a lot of fun, we have a park 5 minutes drive from our house that has an amazing playground and water park (for free) and the girls love going there. Nathan finishes work early a couple of times a week for me to work during term time, but no swimming lessons to teach at the moment so we headed straight for the park at 3pm!

Kids love having picnics. Mia is always asking to have a picnic, even in the dead of winter. The one downside is that the rules of sitting down until you've finished seem to vanish (in kids heads anyway) and bites of food are interspersed with running off to have a swing or just to hide behind a tree!

I tried to pack stuff that was easily transportable and could be eaten easily with our hands. Our menu included:

- Vegetable crudities, bagel chips and hummus
- Soda water and juice
- Pinwheel savoury scones (recipe below)
- Chocolate brownies (recipe from Annabel Langbein's best of cookbook)
- Strawberries

We really do need to dine alfresco a bit more and take advantage of the balmy summer evenings, it reminded me how easy it is to chuck some food and some kids in the car and take off somewhere different for a couple of hours.

Savoury pinwheel scones

I remember my Mum making these to take to the beach for childhood picnics. The filling with bacon and creamed corn is very kiwi, but I have made variations of this if you want to be a bit posher or want something sweet.

You will need:

3 c flour
6 t baking powder
100g butter
1 c milk

3 rashers bacon, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tin creamed corn
1 zucchini, grated
1 c grated cheese

Basic scone dough

1. Process flour and baking powder together in the food processor to mix.
2. Cut butter into squares and process into the flour until combined.
3. Slowly add milk and pulse to make a soft dough, you may need slightly more or less milk. Don't overmix it.

This is a basic scone dough. You can make heaps of variations on this to make basic scones:

- Add 2 T sugar, 1 c chopped dates, grated rind of 1 orange and replace half the milk with orange juice to make date and orange scones
- Add 1 c cheese and 2 T chopped parsley with butter, and sprinkle cheese on top for basic cheese scones
- Add 2 T sugar for basic scones to serve with cream and jam

If you want to make basic scones cook at 200 C on fan bake for about 10 mins.

Pinwheel scones

1.Gently fry the bacon and onion until the onion is soft. Add the grated zucchini and cook for a further couple of minutes, drain off any excess water.
2. Roll dough out on a floured surface into a rectangle approx. 30 x 20 cms and about a cm thick.
3. Spread creamed corn on top, leaving a space of a couple of cms around each edge, especially the end you are going to roll towards. Be careful not to put too much filling on (like I did here!) otherwise it will spill out the end. If this does happen just keep rolling and discard any filling that spills out, or use it to make a toasted sandwich!

4. Sprinkle over the bacon mix
5. Sprinkle over the cheese. You could also add a little bit of chopped parsley if you wanted.
6. Roll the dough up like a sponge roll. Use a little bit of milk or water to dampen the edges and secure them down.
7. Cut the roll into 2cm slices and lay on a greased tray. You will probably find that the middle slices look really good and the end ones look less than perfect, still cook them as they taste just as good!
8. Cook at 200 C fanbake for 10 mins.

Variations:
Posh: Spread with pesto and top with chopped sundried tomatoes and cheese
Sweet: Add 2 T sugar to scone dough and top with cooked apple, walnuts and cinnamon sugar
Vegetarian: Top with chutney, mashed pumpkin and feta or grated cheese