Recipe: Crustless Pea and Feta Quiche

These are essentially scrambled eggs baked in muffin tins, but I've made it all fancy calling it a crustless quiche for the adults.  You can put any cooked fillings you want in them really.  For the adults I sautéed some courgette in garlic and chilli flakes until super soft, and for MiniMe I just used some frozen peas. 

Pea and Feta Crustless Quiche (makes 3) 

Preheat your oven to 180C.  Place 3 silicone muffin cups on a baking tray. Sprinkle in about 5 or 6 peas and a bit of feta cheese (remember feta is salty so you don't want to use too much)into each muffin cup.  In a small measuring jug whisk 1 large egg with about 1 Tbsp of milk until the egg yolk is completely broken up. Pour the egg mixture into each muffin cup (about 1/2 way up the side).  Bake for 15-20 mins until the edges are slightly golden and the top no longer wobbles.  Let them cool completely before serving.  

Store in an air tight container in the fridge no longer than 2 days.  

** If you want to make a large crustless quiche, like I did for the adults...grease an 8 inch regular pie plate (not deep) and then lay your cooked veg, chicken, ham whatever inside.  Whisk 5 large eggs and 1/4 cup of milk in a measuring jug, season with salt and pepper if you want.  Pour over filling and top with grated cheese or crumbled feta.  bake for 25-30 mins until puffed up, golden and no longer wobbly.  

Recipe: Sweet Potato Cake

I am feeling super lazy today. We have had a couple of rough nights of sleep.  I think MiniMe is going to take her first steps very soon...part of me can't wait so that she starts sleeping better...the other part of me isn't ready to be running around after a Toddler.  Anyway, I posted this recipe on my other blog and am just being super lazy and posting the link to my write up here. 

This is a great way to get some extra vitamins and nutrients into your little one's diet.  If you are ok with a bit of sugar than this recipe will be fine.  I ended up halving the amount of sugar, 1/4 cup white and 1/4 cup brown but you could probably do all brown if you wanted to avoided more refined sugars.  The brown sugar helps to give this cake a toffee flavour so I wouldn't go with all white sugar.  It is also flavoured and sweetened with Maple Syrup so, again, it is probably sweet enough without the extra sugar...it is your call.  The cake is pretty dense so it does take a while to bake, but it is also super moist so keeps well in an air tight container.  I portioned out 5 slices and then cut them in half to make 10 servings for MiniMe, which I froze.  The rest we have been enjoying over the last couple of days.  

Here is the Original Recipe. 

Recipe: Spinach Ricotta Pasta Bake

A while ago my pal posted the cutest picture of her little dude completely covered in spinach.  She had given him pasta with spinach and he had pretty much devoured the pasta while spreading the spinach all over his face. It was so sweet.  I was reminded of her gorgeous picture when MiniMe had some Tuna Pasta Bake over the weekend and quickly planned to make her a ricotta spinach casserole during the week.

Until now MiniMe hasn't manged gumming pasta very well. She does well with ravioli and other fresh pastas, since it is so much thinner, but the dried stuff has always been too tough for her...until now.  Cooked in a casserole the pasta is very soft, and we can easily cut it into manageable sized pieces for her. 

To feed 2 greedy adults and 1 little munchkin with some leftover for an adult snack or little one's meal the next day...

Wash and wilt 200g of baby spinach (don't need oil, the spinach will wilt with the water on the leaves from being washed).  Once cooled chop finely, this way you don't need to spend time breaking off the stems from the spinach leaves.  Put the spinach in a bowl large enough to hold the cooked pasta and sauce.  Cook 500g pasta or your choice, we used shells because they are easier for MiniMe to gum.  While the pasta is cooking mix a 250g tub of ricotta into the spinach and add a good pinch of black pepper and a handful of grated parmsean cheese.  When the pasta is almost done cooking scoop out about a cup of the cooking water. Add this a couple of Tbsp at a time to the spinach mixture to loosen the sauce, to your liking. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add to spinach mix. Combine and pour pasta into an appropriately sized oven proof dish. At this point top with grated cheddar and put under a hot grill until cheese is bubbly and melted, or let pasta cool in your dish and refridgerate until dinner time (you know, if you have time to make it in the morning while your little one naps). When you are ready to heat it up, top with grated cheese and cover with foil, pop into the oven at about 180c until the casserole is warmed through, about 30 mins. Take foil off and continue to cook until the cheese is bubbling and golden.  

It seems like a lot of steps, but I was able to throw this together AND clean up in the time MiniMe napped yesterday, so it is really is a quick dish.  

Recipe: Broccoli Cheese Bites

We think MiniMe is a pretty good eater, she happily chows down on most of what we offer her and when we look back over the past 10ish weeks it is amazing to think how well she has progressed.  Those first few weeks feel like ages ago, and at that point it felt like she was never going to actually swallow anything...but now she is picking up bite sized pieces, confidently gumming them down and swallowing.  Sure there is still a good amount if gagging, but we put that down to her being the product of two very greedy parents...it was inevitable that she would want to shove whole pieces if fruit, bread, chicken in her mouth.  Since we've been cutting her food into bite sized pieces she's been gagging less.

Broccoli still gets the stink eye...even after all this time...it is not received well.  I don't get it, broccoli seems to a firm favourite of so many babes just starting weaning...so why is MiniMe avoiding it like the plague? Who knows.  I am not that concerned, really, but I can't help thinking about all those good vitamens and nutrients she's missing out on by avoiding broccoli.  Silly, I know, since she eats loads of other great veg but I just can't help myself.  

So I searched Pinterest for some broccoli inspiration and came across a huge selection of recipes for cheesy broccoli patties...problem solved. 

250g Broccoli cooked and finely chopped, 100g cheddar cheese grated, 1/2cup breadcrumbs,1 or 2 eggs ( depending on size, start with 1 and see how moist it makes the mixture) and a pinch of paprika....mix it all together, form into patties and bake on a lined baking sheet at 180C for about 25 mins or until golden.  MiniMe happily munched away on bite sized pieces of these patties at room temperature and also straight from the fridge...she didn't have ketchup...I did though! 

Recipe: Cottage Cheese Pancakes

I bought a huge container of cottage cheese last week to share with MiniMe.  She seems to really like it and I am convinced that the combination of the smooth cream with the curds is a good thing for her.  We usually spoonfeed some with lunch or dinner (also good mixed with scrambled egg or through pasta) along with finger foods but while trawling Pinterest a while back I came across some great looking pancake recipes using Cottage Cheese.  

While we were visiting The Grandparents last month I made some but they were too eggy...and weren't even given a second glance.  I enjoyed them, but when I think about it MiniMe obviously wasn't ready for something like a pancake.  A month later, however, her chewing, ripping, and tearing skills are much better, and she can grab smaller pieces and manage to get them into her mouth.  

I love this recipe for cottage cheese pancakes from babybabkas.com, it is simple and I easily adapted it for MiniMe.  

I have a really good quality non-stick frying pan so I don't bother using butter in the pan to cook pancakes.  For me, they just end up greasy.  This recipe makes about 8-10 pancakes that are the perfect size for little hands.  Once cooled layer inbetween greaseproof paper and then wrap in clingfilm to freeze.  They defrost quickly or you can always warm them in the toaster.  

In a bowl combine 1/2 cup plain flour, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and a pinch if cinnamon. In a measuring jug combine 1/2cup cottage cheese, 1/4 cup whole milk, 1 tbsp oil, and 1 egg.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix until just combined.  Heat up your frying pan (use some butter to grease it if you want) and dollop a Tbsp of the mixture onto the pan at a time.  Flip when little bubbles appear on the surface and the bottom is nicely browned.  Cook for a couple of minutes on the other side and then remove from the pan to a clean tea towel to cool.  Continue until all of the batter has been used.  

I usually cut MiniMe's pancake in quarters for her. She is able to get smaller bite sized pieces into her mouth now.  If I handed it to her whole she would most likely shove the whole thing in her mouth.  Apparently that is common so I just try to avoid it if I can remeber.