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

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.

Chicken and Potato Bake

After I had my second daughter my dear friend Amy turned up with this for our dinner (despite having a 2 year old and 3 month old twin girls herself!). It is delicious and real comfort food, I had to have the recipe. The cream makes the healthiness of it somewhat questionable. I have made it with evaporated milk before, it tasted fine, although the sauce was much runnier than with cream. You can also substitute some of the potato for kumara, which my girls love.

Chicken and potato Bake

8 large potatoes, peeled and sliced thickly
2 chicken breasts, chopped into 1cm squares
1 onion, chopped
200ml cream
1 T dijon mustard
Cheese and chopped parsley to top

1. Preheat oven to 200 C
2. Cover the potatoes with water, bring to the boil and boil for 5 mins to parboil. Drain and put aside.
3. Heat a small amount of oil in a pan and fry the onion until softening over gentle heat.
4. Turn up the heat to medium and add the chicken to cook through.
5. Take off the heat and add the mustard and cream, mix to combine.
6. Take a flatish baking dish (I use a ceramic one that I make lasagne in). Layer 1/2 the potato, 1/2 the chicken mix and repeat, ending with chicken mix.
7. Top with grated cheese and chopped parsely and bake for 20 mins.
8. Serve with salad or veges, we had corn on the cob with ours - yum!!!

Burgers

 Burgers are always popular with kids and they are easy to adapt to littlies. My 4 year old has half a burger with half a pattie, cheese and lettuce. My almost 2 year old has a deconstructed burger - all the bits just chopped up as finger food. I like to make mine in the food processor, and add just enough ingredients to the burger that they are tasty, but not so much they are a massive tower that you cannot pick up without dropping bits all over the place!

Hamburgers

Patties
500g mince
2 pieces bread
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 T chutney
A handful of chopped herbs e.g: thyme, rosemary, parsley, oregano, mint

Burger buns
Salad greens
Sliced cheese
Beetroot
Mayonnaise
Tomato sauce or chutney


1. Place the 2 pieces of bread in the food processor and pulse to make breadcrumbs.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse to combine.
3. Shape into burger patties and cook in a lightly oiled frying pan. Turn once one side is browned.

4. Lightly toast the outside of the sliced in half burger buns under the grill.
5. To assemble, place a pattie on the bottom of the burger bun. Add cheese, beetroot and lettuce. If you don't like any of these fillings, leave them out, or replace with others that you prefer e.g: tomato, gherkin, hash brown, bacon.
6. Spread the underside of the top section of the bun with mayonnaise and sauce or chutney/relish.

7. Serve with oven baked potato chips/wedges (I will have a recipe for these at some stage!) and coleslaw (packet all the way!!!!!)

Take a tray of roast veges and you have ... 2 quick dinners!

 I love it when you can cook something one day that can then be used for future dinners. I have gone through many stages where I have tried to cook double quantities of dinners, and then frozen them for future nights. I also like it when you can prepare something basic and then alter it to make 2 entirely different dishes.

Yesterday I chopped up some chunky seasonal veges and roasted them in the oven at about 180 C for 35 mins. I stirred them at halfway.

This mix contained mushrooms, zucchini, kumara, red capsicum and red onion (from my garden - very easy to grow!). You could use whatever you had lying around.

I used half of these to create last nights dinner, and half tonight. Both were very quick dinners that can be easily put together in about 20 minutes.

Pesto and Roast Vege Pasta

This is one of my go to dinners. Homemade or fresh pesto is best, but if you have to use a cheepo one I rate Countdown's select pesto WAY above Dolmio's!

3/4 packet pasta (e.g: penne, spirals, shells)
Half an oven tray of roast veges
3 big T pesto
Parmesan (and fresh basil and toasted pinenuts if you have them) to garnish

1. Cook the pasta to packets instructions.
2. Drain and toss through veges and pesto
3. Serve in bowls with grated parmesan and torn basil and/or toasted pinenuts if you have them.

I have several variations of this dish that I make when pressed for ingredients and time. Just take out the veges and add meat and veges that you have lying round at home. My versions include:

- Torn cooked chicken and asparagus (roasted in the oven for about 10 mins)
- 3 good quality sausages fried and grated and fried (until soft) grated pumpkin
- Grated zucchini (no need to cook first it will cook enough when tossed through pasta) and cooked frozen peas

Quesadillas

These are basically a flash toasted sandwich using tortillas. Again you can change the fillings to suit what you have in the fridge and what you like. Tonight I used:

Tortillas for my family (my girls eat a half each at a push, I eat one, Nathan eats 2)
Half a tray of roasted veges
Hummus
Tomato relish
Grated cheese
Torn basil leaves

1. Spread hummus and relish thinly over the whole tortilla, leaving a 1 - 2 cm gap around the edges.
2. Spread the veges over half of the tortilla and top with cheese and basil.
3. Fold in half and toast in sandwich press.
4. Serve with salad.


Some other filling ideas:
- Refried beans spread over bottom, shredded chicken, sour cream and cheese
- Cream cheese, cranberry jelly and shredded chicken (smoked chicken is yummy)
- Baby spinach leaves, feta, chopped olives and toasted pinenuts

Thai Chicken Salad

In the post Xmas/New Year days I always feel like light, tasty, healthy food that is going to hopefully cancel out some of the gluttony of the holiday period. We have just got back from a weeks holiday with my family in the Wairarapa in which I lounged around all day reading books and ate and drank far too much! I wanted something light and healthy that I could wip up in a few minutes, and this is what I came up with. It was really tasty and just what I needed:

Thai Chicken Salad

300g cold shredded chicken
125g packet or rice vermicelli noodles
2 spring onions, chopped finely
1/2 c roasted peanuts, chopped
2 carrots, grated

Dressing:
3 T coriander in a tube (see picture)
2 T fish sauce
2 T lemon or lime juice
1 t sugar
1/4 c sweet thai chilli sauce

1. Soak the noodles in warm water for about 20 mins until soft. Drain.

2. Mix all the dressing ingredients together.

3. Toss everything together and serve topped with extra chopped peanuts and some chopped mint or coriander.

Note: I served the same ingredients up to my pre-school daughters - I just served the chicken, noodles and veges separated on a plate with no dressing.