Ham & Spinach Pizza

Uhm hmm, the title came to be because I need to salvage a can of near expiry canned tomatoes /satisfied

It's super easy to make and super tasty to eat! So there's really nothing to not like about it. Here's the lowdown:

Ham & Spinach Pizza

Ingredients:

1. Store-bought pizza base (in the absence of a pizza base, you can always use wholemeal bread, pita, baguette, etc. But I'd suggest to use breads that are hard enough to hold the fillings up.)
2. Ham, diced/pulled/chopped/however you like it
3. Spinach, roughly chopped up
4. A clove of garlic, roughly smashed up
5. Canned tomatoes
6. Grated parmesan and/or mozarella (I have neither, so I used a piece of cheddar)
6. Dash of olive oil
7. Sprinkle of salt

1. Preheat oven to 230 degrees Celsius. Line the tray with baking sheet and place your pizza base on it.

2. This is the fun part, there's no right or wrong, just do it your way - scoop the tomatoes from the can and smear it thickly over the base, distribute the mashed up garlic, layer on the spinach and the ham.

3. Drizzle the olive oil, sprinkle a little salt and the cheese over the pizza.

4. Send it into the oven and baked for 12-15 minutes, until the spinach is wilted.

5. Loudly proclaim bon appetit the Julia Child way and dig in!

Yum!

Easy Recipes For Kids: Beetroot, Pumpkin, Carrot Soup

I’m so excited to share this, once again, super-simple-hardly-a-recipe beetroot recipe! Now I was never a fan of beets. I don’t like the earthly taste. So when my mom gave me one and asked me to eat it, it’s good for you, I cringed loudly inside. 

I rummaged the net for cool recipes, but they all call for spices and herbs and time and patience, which I have not. So I decided to anyhowly make a soup out of it with what little ingredients I have in the fridge – carrots and pumpkin! 

And it turned out nice! The fact that I’m feeding my family beetroot makes me feel pretty good about myself too. So I hope you’ll like it!

Beetroot, Pumpkin, Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

1 pc chicken breast, chunk-cut
1 stick carrot, cubed
1 big slice of pumpkin, cubed
1 small beetroot, cubed

1. While boiling water in a medium sized saucepan, prep and clean up the chicken breast. When the water boils, put the chicken in the saucepan and bring to boil.

2. Add in the carrot and pumpkin, bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 60 minutes. Season with a little salt for taste.

And we are done! 

Frap, Oli, and I shared a big bowl of rice flooded with the soup and it was glorious! If you do try this recipe, let me know how it turns out! 

p/s you can also add corn and/or potatoes, if that’s what rocks your socks. Happy eating!

Easy Recipes For Kids: Pasta In Potato & Carrot Soup

Whenever I’m out of idea on what to cook for the frap, carrots and potatoes are always my go-to ingredients. Always. Maybe because that's what my grandma used to cook for us as children. Ah, comfort food. 

Here’s a super simple recipe, erm, it’s hardly a recipe! But it tastes great, Frappy finished her first bowl and requested a second!

Pasta in Potato & Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

1 stick carrot, cubed
2 potatoes, cubed
1 tomato, cubed OR a spoon of tomato paste
1 piece of skinless chicken thigh, cut
1 cup of shell pasta
3/4 saucepan of water

1. While boiling water in a medium sized saucepan, prep and clean up the chicken thigh. When the water boils, put the chicken in the saucepan and bring to boil.

2. Add in the carrots and the potatoes. Reduce the heat to low, and let simmer for 60 to 90 minutes. I didn’t have tomatoes, so I added a spoonful of tomato paste. Season with a little salt.

3. Come meal time, add in the pasta and let cook until al dente. Serve. (The Chinese in me like to add a dash of soy sauce in my clear soups, it gives it a sweet boost, somehow!)

What did I say? Is it simple or simple? Haha! You can always add celery, cabbage, peas, onion, and bacon (I'd sweat the diced onion and cook the bacon for a coupla minutes before adding the chicken and other root veges, and then water/stock), or whatever ticks your interest, to make it more flavourful and wholesome. I think this soup is somewhat like minestrone? Tis a chinese version! Haha. Anyway it goes wonderful with baguette and toasts, too! Or rice!!! YUM! Bon appétit!

Easy Recipes For Kids: Pasta with Marmite

This is one of Nigella’s recipes which my bro intro-ed me to. While the combo of marmite and pasta just doesn’t sound too right, I assure you, it is really very erm, edible. No, seriously! Not to mention it’s quick to cook with almost no preparation needed; I’d say it’s a perfect go-to dish if you are too busy to prepare lunch for your kiddo (or even yourself!). 

This is the second time I’m making the dish; the first time I followed the recipe fully using spaghetti, I also added the 1 tbsp of reserved pasta water as instructed and it turned out too wet. That aside, I thought the result was a little bland, appearance-wise, so I sprinkled it generously with mozzarella and baked it for a cheesy, chewy meal. This time around, I used colourful spirally pasta and I simply omitted the pasta water and added mixed veges. It turned out much better!

Nigella posted the basic recipe on her site and here, I’m sharing my version, using hers as a base. Do try it and let me know if the recipe’s a keeper or a bummer :)

Edit: Simplified the steps! 

Pasta With Marmite

Ingredients:

Any kind of pasta
½ to 1 cup of frozen mixed veges
50g butter
1 teaspoon of marmite or more according to liking
Your choice of grated cheese (optional)

1. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water, according to instructions. 1 or 2 minutes before the pasta is done, add in the mixed veges. Once done, drain the water, set pasta aside for later. Add a small chunk of butter and a teaspoon of marmite into the pasta+vege combo, mix well and serve with grated cheese.

2. In a saucepan, melt the butter, and add in the marmite, mixing well until dissolve. Remove the sauce from heat, and stir in the pasta + mixed vege combo. Serve with grated cheese, if you like. 

Do you have an easy recipe to share? I’d love to hear from you!

Easy Recipes for Kids: Tuna Risotto

The Frap has been eating a lot of porridge since she’s started on solids. Even I got boring cooking it. So in a bid to feed something more… interesting (and definitely easy to cook!), I’ve been playing with some recipes and ingredients, hoping to get her to eat healthier, without losing the flavour.


To journal my experiments, I’ll be starting a new category here in my blog – Easy Recipes For Kids – for my own reference; I also hope it’ll be helpful for mothers or young mothers who have been experiencing severe headache from thinking of what to serve come meal time. I improvise a lot as I strive to keep the steps as minimun as possible haha, so feel free to modify to suit to your own convenience and your toddler’s liking! Happy cooking (and uh, feeding!)

Tuna Risotto

Ingredients:

Oil
Chopped onion
About a cup multigrain rice, washed
Chopped,cubed veges of different colours
A clove of crushed garlic
Tomato paste/sauce
A can of tuna fish
Salt and pepper

1. Heat the oil in a small pan and fry the onion for a few minutes, until softened.

2. Add the rice, veges, garlic, tomato paste, and 1 cup of water. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered, about 10 minutes. Then drain the tuna and add to the rice mixture, stirring. Continue cooking, making sure to stir occasionally, until the rice is tender and creamy.

4. Lunch is ready, baby!

Easy Recipes For Kids: Spirally Pasta In Béchamel Sauce

So I got tired of making porridge everyday for the Frap, so I came up with something really simple, but equally boring for her! Haha!

Spirally Pasta In Béchamel Sauce

I thought it looked pretty ok, except a bit bland, which it was la to be honest, but I am very proud of my effort ok! Recipe for the, ahem, Béchamel Sauce (which really, is actually just plain white sauce!):

Ingredients:
Butter
Plain flour
Milk
Salt and pepper to taste


Melt the butter and stir in the plain flour for about a minute, until the mixture turns golden. Then remove from heat and stir in the milk until smooth. After that, return to the heat and continue stirring until the mixture boils and thickens. Season as required.

Voilà! C’ést tout! Béchamel Sauce, how glam!