Perfect Pizza

Perfect Pizza

 

 

 

It is not as hard as it sounds to make your own pizza, in fact the hardest part is leaving the dough to rise and then the frustration gets to me. I hate waiting (even if it is only 30 minutes) but it is healthier than shop bought or takeaway pizza, and costs a fraction of the price. This recipe cost a mere £3 to put into the oven, I also saved a huge amount of money that would have been spent on therapy, but instead I kneaded the dough for 10 minutes and got a lot of frustration and niggles out!

 

10 - 25 minutes Cooking time, up to 1 hour Prep time.

 

 

Meat Feast Version

 

Ingredients for Dough

 

• 300g Strong White Bread Flour
• 1 Sachet (7g) Fast Action Dried Yeast
• 1 tsp Table Salt
• 200ml Warm Water
• Oil for brushing the pizza tray

 

 

Ingredients For Toppings

 

 

Meat Feast:

• 50g Cooked Chicken in Strips
• 50g Cooked Bacon Chopped
• 2 Sausages Cut into 6 and then Halved
• 200g Mature Cheese
• 2 tbsp. Tomato Puree

 

 

Tuna & Sweetcorn:

 

• 60g of Drained Tuna Flakes
• 30g of Boiled Sweetcorn
• 200g Mature Cheese
• 2 tbsp. Tomato Puree

 

 

Four Cheese:

 

• 2 tbsp. Tomato Puree
• 50g Mature Cheese
• 50g Mild Cheese
• 50g Red Leicester Cheese
• 50g Edam Cheese (minus the rind of course)

 

 

Veggie Friendly:

 

• 2 tbsp., Tomato Puree
• 200g Mature Cheese
• 30g Sweetcorn
• 25g Red Pepper
• 25g Green Pepper
• 25g Chopped Mushrooms

 

The Not-So Nitty Gritty

 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 240 degrees. Sieve and mix the flour, salt and yeast into a large bowl.
2. Make a well in the centre and pour in the warm water. Stir well until you have a slightly wet dough.
3. Lightly flour a work surface, turn out the dough onto the surface and knead well for 10 - 15 minutes. Once kneaded, replace in the mixing bowl and cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise for 30 minutes.
4. After your 30 minutes has ticked by, knead the dough on a floured surface again for 5 minutes. Leave in the mixing bowl covered with cling film again, for a further 5 minutes.
5. Roll out the dough (with a rolling pin) until it fits your pizza tray, no matter how big or small it is, it will stretch. Before placing the dough in the tray, lightly brush with a small amount of oil.
6. Once you have fitted the dough to the tray, smooth on your tomato puree with the back of a metal spoon until evenly coating the dough.
7. Then apply your grated cheese, or cheeses! Then apply the rest of your toppings.
8. Place in the oven at 240 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. The dough may rise further. To check the dough in cooked properly, prod a knife into the crust nearest to you and see if it comes out clear, if it does, you are good to eat, if not, leave it in for another few minutes and test again.

 

 

 

Meat Feast Pre-Oven

 

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A Poor Girl's Eaton Mess

A Poor Girl's Eaton Mess

 

Raspberries, biscuits and instant whip. Mmmm, lovely! And it is a lovely fun messy pudding for baby led weaning and it gets an extra bit of calcium into the little ones! Oh, and fruit with the raspberries that I picked up from Lidl last week for £1 a pack! This recipe makes 3 servings and costs around £2.

Raspberries

Raspberries are fantastic BLW finger food for summer and autumn. They contain loads of fibre, vitamin C, vitamin K and magnesium. They are a refreshing change to the usual strawberries and are often slightly cheaper! And at only 63 calories per 100g, they are perfect for mummy and daddy snacks too!

Ingredients

• 100g Raspberries
• 1 packet of light instant whip
• half a pint of whole milk
• 6 rich tea biscuits (2 for crushing, 4 for breaking)

The Not-So Nitty Gritty

1. Break up four biscuits and put them in the bottom of the bowls.
2. Wash the raspberries and place them on top of the biscuits.
3. Make up the instant whip with the milk in a separate bowl then pour evenly over the other bowls.
4. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes to set.
5. Put the remaining biscuits in a food bag and seal. First smash with a rolling pin then continue to roll over with the rolling pin and leave to one side.
6. Remove the bowls from the fridge and sprinkle the crushed biscuits over the top.

 

What Little Monster Thought...

 



At first he used his fingers and got in a right mess, despite liking it, he preferred to be spoon fed towards the end. Daddy wasn't keen but mummy and Tyler thought it was brilliant!

 

 

Links:

• www.facebook.com/feedingforthefuture
• www.lidl.co.uk

 

Black Peppered Chicken

 Black Peppered Chicken

 

with sweet corn and sweet potato wedges

 

 

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts
• freshly ground black pepper
• 9 tbsp. sweetcorn
• 1 large sweet potato
• drizzle of lemon juice

The Not-So Nitty Gritty

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the chicken breasts in the roasting tin, drizzle lemon juice over the chicken breasts and season with black pepper. Cover over with foil and place in the oven for around 40 - 50 minutes depending on weight (see packaging for details).
2. Peel the sweet potato and cut in half, half again and into 3's. Put in boiling water for 15 minutes.
3. Remove the sweet potato from the pot and drain. Place into a pan with hot oil and cook at 180 degrees for 15 minutes.
4. Boil the sweet corn for 3 minutes. Then serve all together.

What Little Monster Thought....


 Loved it very much! He did pull his face a bit at the chicken but he soon changed his mind and ate all of the chicken breast before the wedges and sweet corn! Mummy and Daddy loved it too! A sweet winter warmer. Relatively cheap to produce, around £5 with a left over chicken breast and the majority of a bag of sweet corn. The best Place I have found for frozen chicken is Aldi!  The sweet corn was £1 for a medium sized bag at Iceland and the sweet potato I picked up from Lidl for around 70p for a massive one. We didn't even eat all the wedges!

 

 

Next Time: A Poor Girl's Eaton Mess

 

Links:

• www.facebook.com/feedingforthefuture
• www.aldi.co.uk
• www.lidl.co.uk
• www.iceland.co.uk



Apple Burgers

Homemade Apple Burgers

 

I added cheese to Tyler's burgers!

 

This recipe came from Tyler being a little bit constipated so I needed to get some more fruit and vegetables into his system. And this is one of the many weird and wonderful recipes I came up with. Very simple too, and mum, dad and the rest of the family can enjoy them too. By the way, this makes 8 mini burgers, adjust the quantities as required.

 

 

Ingredients

 

• Half a medium size cox apple
• 200g Mince Beef
• A few slices of bread
• A few slices of dairylea plastic cheese

 

 

The Not-so Nitty Gritty Bit

 

1. Grate the apple into a bowl using the smallest ridges of the grater.
2. Squish the mince beef into the apple until mixed well.
3. Form patties using a 3 inch pastry cutter.
4. Add oil to a frying pan and heat.
5. Add the patties to the pan once heated thoroughly.
6. Cook each side of the patties for 5 - 7 minutes each.
7. Using the same pastry cutter, cut out mini burger buns from the bread.
8. Serve burgers and add cheese.

 

 

 

 

What Little Monter Made of it....

 

 

Tyler loves beef at the minute, so it went down a treat. As you can see from the photo above he likes to separate things and investigate thoroughly before eating. Most was eaten but I might leave out the cheese next time as he didn't like the combination of texture, but I assume the cheese would still work well for older children as I loved it. A bit sweet but a perfect quick lunch from scratch that I know exactly what is in it!

 

 

 

We will just leave you to it then Ty?



Wrap it up Pizzas

This week, after almost a full two weeks of barely any appetite, my little one is finally eating, and boy has he made a come back with his appetite! This recipe started off his eating again and as it was the first time I had ever done it, I was rather nervous.
Mind you, what is not to love about a cheap, fun, creative, alternative, quick meal that provides protein, a little vitamin c, vitamin d, calcium, fibre and carbohydrate?

Wrap it up Wraps

 

I used turkey and green beans.

 

Prep time: 10 minutes for washing and chopping veg.

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

 

• 1 white wrap, if your child is over 1 year of age, you can use wholemeal wraps
• 1 or 2 tbsp. of tomato puree
• 3oz mild grated cheese
• Whatever, meat and vegetables you want

 

The approximate cost of this should be around £1. Cheap ingredients and easy to make, perfect.

 

 

 

The Not-so Nitty Gritty

 

 

1. Prepare what ever meat or veg you are using, I used some chopped green beans and strips of Bernard Matthews Turkey.
2. Lay your wrap flat on a baking tray while pre-heating the oven to 180 degrees.
3. Smooth the tomato puree over the wrap with the back of a metal spoon leaving an inch clear around the edges. This is so it is easier to pick up after cooking and while eating.
4. Scatter the grated cheese over the pureed area.
5. Add the meat or vegetables. If using both add the meat first and they will more than likely take up a larger surface area.
6. Put in the oven for 10 minutes.
7. Take out and slice into triangles like an actual pizza!

 

 

Mummy and Tyler portions.

 

What The Little Monster Made of It

 

 

 

Well, he was not that interested at first but once I got him to taste it, he loved it and gobbled the first slice straight up, the second however, he threw at me and it landed cheese side down on my jeans, lovely. Grease stain was epic.

 

 

Mummy liked hers but a bit sweet for my liking, will be trying with pitta breads at some point next week to appeal to my more savoury tastes. The green beans added a nice crunch though.

 

 

I made Tyler's daddy a meat feast one and he gobbled it up too, these boys and cheese, I tell you, makes any meal easy. Daddy required a full wrap to himself though.

 

 

Coming up soon: banana custard, top tiny hand snacks, toad in the hole.





 





Sweet Chicken, Rice & Peas

Sweet Chicken, Rice & Peas

 

A twist on a traditional Caribbean recipe going back generations of families. This version is not spicy in the slightest and it is very, very tasty! It is also low in fat so perfect for mummy getting that pre-baby figure back, in a filling and tasty way!

 

You Will Need

• 3 tbsp Tinned pineapple inc. 3 tbsp. juice (79p, Lidl)
• 3 heaped tbsp. of white rice (£1, Iceland)
• 3 tbsp. frozen petit pois (£1.50, Iceland)
• Chicken Breast (£3.99, Lidl)

For mummy and daddy portions increase the pineapple to half a can, white rice to two and a half handfuls, 3 chicken breasts and 10 tbsp. of petit pois. Brilliant family meal.

The Not-so Nitty Gritty Bit

1. I used frozen chicken so put the chicken in a roasting tin and cover with foil and put in the oven at 180 degrees for 40-50 minutes.
2. In the mean time, boil a pan of water and add the rice and peas. Simmer for 5 - 9 minutes.
3. When the chicken is cooked, uncover and add the pineapple and juice. Slice the chicken and stir the pineapple in, make sure the juice covers the chicken and leave for five minutes.
4. Drain the rice and peas. Stir in to the chicken and pineapple.
5. Serve and enjoy.

Little Monster's Opinion

 

Who needs a fork?

 

As you can guess from the caption, Tyler found it easier to use his hands not his fork which isn't really a bad thing at his age. My sons loves pineapple so this went down quicker than air! The pineapple makes the chicken really sweet and with the different textures, little ones won't get bored. Mummy and daddy love this one two and we have always eaten this pre-baby so it was an absolute joy to be able to include Tyler in yet another one of our favourites.

 

Also, try adding sweet corn or peppers for even more texture.

 

Happy eating :)