An easy and quick playdate lunch…

Abbie had a friend to play today and they were both famished after swimming…. so ‘Flash in the Pan Bangers’ it was – always a favourite – an alternative to sausages and baked beans – the unprocessed version! I also made homemade oven chips and served some really fresh sprouting brocolli on the side – not surprisingly the whole lot was wolfed down!

Flash in the Pan Bangers – from BBC Good Food ‘101 Recipes for Kids’

1 tblspn vegetable oil

8 pork sausages – I used 12 chipolatas

1 small onion – peeled and chopped

400g cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

400g chopped tomatoes

1 tblspn maple or golden syrup

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce or dash of Tabasco, to taste

• Heat the oil in a large frying pan until hot and fry the sausages, over a medium heat for 20 mins, turning them now and then, until golden and sticky. Remove the sausages from the pan and set aside.
• Add the onion and cook for 3-4 mins until softened. Tip in the beans and tomatoes, stir thoroughly and cook for 2-3 mins, then stir in the syrup and the Worcestershire sauce or Tabasco and 150ml/ 1/4 pt hot water. Cook for a further 2 mins or until slightly thickened.
• Return the sausages to the pan and cook for a further minute or until bubbling.

Serves 4 (plentifully)

Homemade oven chips/wedges

Preheat oven to 200C.

Cut potaoes into thin wedges and toss in rapeseed oil (and garlic puree – optional).  Spread over a baking sheet and cook in the hot oven for 30-35 mins, turning half-way through cooking.  They should be crispy when cooked – cook for extra 5 minutes if not. Sprinkle over Maldon salt to taste.

Flash in the Pan Bangers, homemade chips and sprouting broc

Two happy customers!

#Healthmonth here we come! Wish me luck….. and join up too!

I got a tweet from my friend and twitter expert (would that be called a twexpert??), Andrzej, who invited me to join his team for Healthmonth – a social game which encourages you to be healthy – definitely AJs thang – 8 mile runs in the morning and so forth.  Health at the moment… not always mine and although I am currently in my skinny jeans (yay!), there are definitely areas that I could address!

You pick from diet, physical, mental and other targets and then commit to 3 ways to improve your health for a month – you then win points for your team based on how well/consistently you perform the tasks that you have set yourself.  Then you can have a reward if you reach your targets, but have to set yourself a punishment if you don’t! I have picked 1) drink more water 2) exercise twice a week for at least 30 mins and 3) wake up early – no snoozing the alarm!  The last one is going to be tough as I am on holiday for the whole of April, BUT not as tough as one of the targets for my HB Jon – he can only eat 3 portions of fried food a week. Let’s just say that yesterday he had a donut and there is a huge double decker in the fridge….  healthy! His reply to my question about the benefits of these for his health was ‘Healthmonth doesn’t start for 2 more days….’ not really sure this is the right attitude. 

In the spirit of Healthmonth, I made a quick, vitamin-filled pasta dish, with some fire to warm my tired body.

Spaghetti aglio olio con brocolli e pepperincino (doesn’t that make it sound fancy – am sure my Italian is not quite right!) – feeds one tired parent

75g spaghetti

Handful or more of brocolli florets – cut large florets into half

splash olive oil, squirt of garlic puree, pinch Maldon salt, sprinkle of dried chilli flakes and grating of pecorino

1) Cook spaghetti in large pan of salty water – add brocolli for final 5-6 mins cooking

2)Drain pasta and leave in colander for a moment…. put a splash of olive oil into the pan, back on a low heat, add garlic puree and pinch salt and stir until it sizzles.  Add back in the pasta and brocolli and stir to coat.

3) Pour it all into a wide bowl or plate and add chilli flakes to taste – grate over some pecorino.  Enjoy the warming sensation which runs to all the extremities while you bask in your healthiness!