I’m always on the look out for healthy snacks for the kids. Since silverbeet is currently in season ($3 or less for a good bunch), it seemed like a good idea to see what I could whip up with it.
As with all my recipes, I’m keen to incorporate the vegetables with as little manipulating as possible, so rather than blanching the leaves, I chop them finely instead, give them a light saute with oil and soy sauce, then I mix through the eggs and it’s ready for a quick bake. The result is like a crustless quiche – gluten free and vegetarian.
The first time I made this recipe it seemed entirely UNLIKELY that the kids would have anything to do with this ugly, green thing. BUT I was wrong. Feeding it to them as a starter (cashing in on their pre-dinner hunger), they gave this a happy thumbs up and came back for more.
Just goes to show that it’s always worth giving things a go – you never can 100% predict what the kids will & won’t like.
1 bunch silver beet. Washed well.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a loaf tin with baking paper. Set aside.
Use a large knife to trim the silver beet leaves off the stalks. Discard the stalks, stack the leaves and start hacking away until it is all finely shredded/chopped.
Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil then carefully place in the silver beet. It will sizzle and shrink. Use tongs to gently turn it over it so that it wilts evenly for a few minutes before sprinkling over the soy sauce. Stir through for another minute then set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, whisk the mustard and eggs. Stir through the grated cheese and mix in the cooked spinach. Transfer contents into your tin. Spread evenly and push the bocconcinis into the mixture so the tops are just poking out.
Serves 2 adults & 2 kids as lunch or part of a larger meal (it’s nice with salad & bread – although that kind of kills the GF vibe, doesn’t it!).
Other ways to cook with spinach or silver beet?
Try out my vegetarian lasagne, or these cute little filo cheese & spinach sticks.
A dinner to cook when you're not cooking dinner.
A while back I surveyed a few of you to find out more about your cooking habits. Admittedly, it was probably completed by those of you who enjoy being in the kitchen (so is statistically a total sham), but I thought it was interesting to see how often each week you make dinner.
Not a single family reported that they cook every night of the week. Most reported cooking (in some semblance) 6 nights with a takeaway on the 7th (which was usually pizza).
I think this is an outstanding effort! Well done all of you who manage to put a homemade meal on the table 6 nights a week!
This fits the pattern at my place. ON THE SEVENTH DAY I have no motivation or intention to cook anything. For us, that night is Friday night. At about 4pm I come down with the most severe case of ‘I’ve-been-cooking-all-week-and-all-I-will-reach-for-from-the-fridge-now-is-wine’ and the children’s hunger becomes extremely uninteresting to me.
But the pesky little rascals still need to be fed.
Seeing as we submitted to the mega-mortgage last year, any decent takeaway is a bit too $$$ for the budget (and despite my temporarily uninspired state, I still can’t face giving them the nasty takeaway options on a regular basis) so I opt for the cheap and cheerful ‘cooking when you’re not cooking’ options which can be made in 10 minutes from start to clean up.
High on the list is toasties. Multigrain bread, cheese, avocado, a bit of whatever vaguely slimy cold meat is left from the week and I’ll even sneak in a bit of tomato.
Muffin ‘pizzas’ are popular too, and even a bowl of baked beans/spaghetti combo with toast soldiers.
But ever since our trip to the country, but kids are HUGE fans of eggs. I have embraced them like a new best friend.
Divide the ham, tomatoes and capsicum between four shallow ovenproof dishes. Crack over the egg (whisked or whole is up to you). Scatter with cheese and black pepper.
Preheat grill to medium and cook for 3–4 minutes until the egg is set. Serve with parsley and fresh bread or toast soldiers.
Right. Easter this weekend, so we need a recipe with eggs. Avoiding all the usual culprits, I thought a clafoutis would be good – a nice opportunity to get one last pleasure from plum season. They’ve been one bright spot in a pretty drab year for summer fruit.
I was photographing this for the new cookbook, but they do sink FAST, meaning that I couldn’t get a good enough shot, so let’s keep this recipe as a WEB EXCLUSIVE. Awesome.
Being lactose intolerant I rarely cook with cream. My body can handle a bit of cheese here and there and I always just substitute soy milk without any dramas, but cream is a challenge and since my last pregnancy my body has evolved and it’s now a total no-go zone. But in the supermarket I saw a lactose-free cream (in the long-life section), and thought this recipe was a good chance to give it a go… so far so good. Combined with a lacteeze and I might be back on my way to dessert heaven!
Grease an oven-proof shallow dish. Sprinkle and teaspoon of the sugar over the base. Place the plum pieces around evenly.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy (a minute or until your arm is too tired to bother any further), add the sugar and keep whisking and combine in the flour, milk and cream. Also pop in the vanilla and zest.
Pour over the plums and bake for 30 minutes or so until golden and firm. Serve with ice cream.
With the Vegie Smugglers cookbook so fresh off the presses, I’m still a bit chuffed whenever I receive positive feedback about it. Setting up as an independent publisher of quality publications has not been easy. I love it when people tell me how nice the stock is, how gorgeous the photos are etc etc. That’s all great, but what I REALLY want to know is how are the recipes working in your household?
A smattering of copies have made their way around town, and one person who instantly sprang to mind to send one to was Juanita Phillips, broadcaster and author of A Pressure Cooker Saved My Life. She seems like a nice lady. And a busy one. With small kids to boot.
The pikelet that more journalists trust.
These little miracles are delicious fresh, reheated or from the freezer. The smaller size makes them perfect for toddlers seeking a bit of feeding independence.
Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and milk and whisk out any lumps. Use your hands to crumble in the salmon (crushing up any bones), then stir through the spinach, onion, corn and herbs (if using) until evenly combined. Season with pepper.
Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add 1-2 tbsp of batter to form pikelets 5-6cm wide. Cook for 2-3 minutes then use a spatula to turn over carefully. Flatten with the spatula and cook for another couple of minutes until golden brown on both sides. Repeat in batches with remaining batter.
Serve with green beans and lemon wedges.
STORAGE Place cooked pikelets on a plate for 10 minutes to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Reheat in the frying pan, oven or microwave.
FOR THE ADULTS Serve these on a bed of rocket and smother them with sweet chilli sauce and a squeeze of lemon.