Cooking with Ems!!

[Lizzer]

Ems, It worked, it worked! It was delicious in fact! I was a bit worried at the prospect of buying the meat as I'm a pre-packaged type of gal usually -I was like 'mmmm... some of your finest neck fillet please' I think they thought I was nuts (not far wrong then!) The rest was a doddle as you said! It was so nice! I waited til after the nice weather had gone (cos you feel more like salads and stuff on hot days don't you) which didn't take too long did it! We had it for tea last night, yummy! Still some left actually.... My daughter loved it too, she's got a nasty cold at the moment so it was lovely and warming for her. I'm so impressed, have you anymore recipes up your sleeves....??!!!!

I agree with Bloss. I know not a lot of people are in agreement with Annabel Karmel books but I think
she is quite good and you can always change the receipe slightly to suit your own childs taste.
Also dried bagel chips are quite good.

Bloss, will you post your recipes? The kinds of things you mentioned would be excellent for us.
Thanks!

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Excellent! Bloss, thank you. I'm never sure how to get veggies into the little guy and the recipes are great ideas. My one "pop 'em in the freezer for later" recipe is for fish cakes. Half fish, half mashed potatoes, a bit of dill and a little beaten egg mixed together and formed into patties then frozen. To cook, let them defrost just a bit and give them a coating of corn meal or flour or something then fry them up. Luckily my son loves fish, so we have a fish meal one night and then I make this the next day with the leftovers.

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Oh wow. I love the date slice. The boy still hasn't had any (not allowed to until he's eaten a bit of dinner), but I just had to say it's really good. Yum. Followed the recipe, except used margarine for butter. It's still rich and good, probably even better with butter. Sweet, as you said, but it'll definitely hit the spot when I get my daily sweet craving in the afternoons.

Thanks! Haven't tried the veggie recipes yet, but plan on doing so.

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robinw, I have recipes for Spicy lentil Burgers,Vegetable and lentil tagine, Bulghar shephards pie among others. Delia in her Complete Cookery Course - the one where she has a red top on on the cover - has recipes for non-meat loaf, brown rice and mushroom salad, veggie shephards pie and lentil and veg moussaka. Have loads of stuff using chick peas and other beans too. What do you fancy?! I'll type some up if you're interested.

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Here we go then
2oz Bulghar wheat
1 lb of spuds
2oz butter
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped, I clove garlic, crushed
6 oz button mushrooms
2 medium courgetted
1 large carrot
2 tbsp parsley chopped
8oz tin chopped toms
2 tbspn veg puree
6 floz veg stock
4oz mature cheese - you could leave this off of course
bulghar wheat in bowl, just cover with boiling water, leave 15 - 20 mins, until water absorbed and grain soft. Boil spuds and mash with milk and butter. heta oil, add onion and garlic, fry 2-3 mins, add mushrooms, cook for couple of mins, add courgettes carrot and parsley. stir in chopped toms, veg. puree and stock, season. Cover and cook for 10-15 mins, until veg tender. Oven gas 6, 200 c, stir bulghar wheta into veg mixtire, cook for another 5 mins. transfer to ovenproof dish, cover with mashed spuds, cheese of you like, and bake for 20-25 mins.Enjoy! I hope anyway!Also had quinoa for the first time today - apparently pronounced keenwa - v. nice too. cooked it with courgettes, red pepper, onion and cardomon pods and cinnamon stick and veg stock - nicer than it sounds!

? Not sure! Tamarillos, are oval shaped red skinned fruits, bit like plum tomatoes. Also yellow and orange variety. Tangy, dark seeds, thin edible skin.

Does a tomato sauce make sense to the recipe?

Found it; it is a a chinese sauce similar to soy sauce. So either cheat and use soy, or look in chinese/oriental section in supermarket.

Made a very yummy soup today with the assistance of 2 year old. Nigellas butternut squash and pasta soup. Sooooo easy and he ate it and asked for more!!! Dont know whether that was because it was indeed yummy, or that he was most impressed he helped make it.

For 4 people

tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped really finely
500g butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
120ml white wine
1200ml stock
2 bay leaves
120g ditalini or other soup pasta (I just threw in some baby organix pasta shapes)

Heat oil, add onions, cook 10 mins til soft.
Add cubes of butternut and stir for 2 mins.
Pour in wine, let it bubble, add stock and bay.
Bring to simmering point, simmer for 10 mins.
Take out ladleful, puree it, then put back.
Turn up heat, add pasta cook 10 mins.

I grated some cheese on the top.
It was a really mild, comforting yummy soup.

Ems, can vouch for that recipe. Its a dead cert with the 2 year old in our house. In fact all the Nigella recipes are popular. I can highly recommend the beef and bean stew if you aren't veggy.

Ems, do you think he liked it so much and asked for more because of the wine content?!

Absolutely! I'll be sticking guinness in the sausage casserole next.

I think I'll try that, ds loves pasta in soup, cheers Ems. Is there many veggie recipes in her book? Can anyone recommend a good, easy veggie book.