One of the things I am passionate about is eating with my family. I have fond memories of eating around the table when I was growing up and so does the husbeast. Up until recently we have managed to eat together pretty much each night, but what with after school clubs, scouts, football and youth clubs some night are more of a challenge.
There is a special place in heaven for kids that can bake amazing cakes. Not only that there is something wonderful about having a child that can pull off making the perfect victoria sponge cake. The queen of all cakes, a sponge cake can seem really simple, but can be tricky to get just right. The Vitoria Sponge is the perfect tea time winner and classic cake that has been around since Queen Victoria’s times. Delicious, simple and moreish and we like ours with strawberry jam and fresh cream, although a purist might tell you it should be jam only.
I love cooking with my boys and at eleven Maxi is becoming a really proficient cook and these raspberry muffins are brilliant to cook with your kids as they need no special equipment and the ingredients are really easy to mix together even for the youngest child.
I love getting my kids in the kitchen and when we were invited by Angel Delight to design a dessert, well not a dessert exactly, but a character called delight. As a child of the 70’s I am going to admit I have a soft spot for Angel Delight and so do my boys. I had so much fun designing and putting together a kids dessert buffet.
One of my passions is teaching my boys to be confident in the kitchen and at least one night a week we cook together as a family. I love homemade soup and it is so much nicer than any soup you can buy. This spiced butternut soup is simple to make and has few ingredients but tastes amazing.
Lemonade scones – what! Scones made with lemonade, yes indeed. These scones are super simple as there is no rubbing together or flour and butter, so perfect for cooking with kids and there is no bicarb taste that you can sometimes get.
Wednesday nights are our kryptonite. Both boys have to be at after school clubs and have other commitments, so dinner needs to be fast, filling and family friendly. Plus I go food shopping on a Thursday, so by Wednesday, we tend to be eating from the freezer and when McCain challenged us to make a simple midweek meal with their frozen sweet potato fries I decided to hand it all over to the boys.
Fat Rascals are a real Yorkshire tradition and are one of the husbeasts favorite baked goods. Whenever we visit Berry’s Tearooms he always gets a Fat Rascal. Well, Maxi and I decided that we needed to perfect making our own and guess what, they are easy to make and taste delicious.
One of the things that I find hardest as a mum is the constant feeding of my family. The planning, shopping, cooking, cleaning it away on a never ending loop. It is not that it is a difficult task, just that sometimes it is a thankless, never ended one and one that I find really easy to get stuck in a rut with. This recipe for Chinese Chicken is new to me and the family, but it is one that has already made it on to our regular menu plan. It is simple to prepare, quick to cook and means four empty plates here. Oh and BIG bonus is that it […]
I am a tea monster. Anyone that knows me will acknowledge that I am rarely without a cup of tea in hand! Maxi is a massive fan of shortbread so we decided to experiment and produce a tea flavoured shortbread and wow, it was a HUGE hit and so simple. Everyone in the family prefered our tea flavored shortbread over the plain one.
One of the most monotonous and challenging parts of motherhood for me is feeding. Not the feeding per say, but thinking about meals, shopping for them, preparing them and all the rigmarole that comes with being a parent. It is the everyday NEED that can get me down, it is a thankless task, bit one that I take seriously as a Mum.
Are you in the festive mood yet? We certainly are and these delicious melting snowmen cookies are going to become a festive family favorite here in The Mad House. They were super fun to make and are great for cooking with kids.
Cooking with children need not be difficult. Sometimes you need a simple recipe that you can return to again and again and this super gingerbread recipe from Flora is perfect for kids, especially as there is no melting of butter or heat involved and it makes perfect Gingerbread Christmas Tree Cookies.
This is one of those recipes, that isnt really a recipe as much as the fact we had grown tomatoes and yellow courgettes this h=year in our garden and wanted to use them up before we went on holiday. So we experimented and it turned out amazingly well.
One of our annual traditions is making a Gingerbread House at Christmas and decorating it. It is such a fun activity and we decided that doing it only once a year was not on and a poor use of our mould, so we decided that for the next year we are going to make a seasonal house and this is our haunted gingerbread house. We had so much fun making and decorating it.
I love baking and cooking with the boys. It is something I did with my Mum and I am sure that she did with hers too. I have had them in the kitchen with me since they could sit in a high chair and we always have lots of fun baking. I especially love baking and making with them at Christmas. Just take a look at these fabulous Christmas tree cupcakes that Mini made and decorated. Another one of our annual traditions is making our not to gingery gingerbread, which we use to make Gingerbread houses and reindeer cookies.
I love introducing the boys to simple, but delicious meals that they can add to their homemade cookbooks and cod and potato hash ticks all our boxes and it is ridiculously tasty for something that only includes three main ingredients! Plus it does you that potatoes are more than a bit on the side.
We first made hairy hot dogs or scary spaghetti back in 2009 (just look at how cute and small Maxi was back in 2009) and they have become an annual Halloween tradition here in The Mad House. They are super fun to make and something that the boys can make on their own now they are older. Making these is great fine motor skills for children of all ages too.
We love baking and these vampire bite cupcakes are perfect for Halloween and super simple to decorate (I feel a little embarrassed even doing a tutorial for them), but they are perfect for baking with kids and you can let them take over.
Nasi Goreng or Indonesian fried rice as it is translated is one of our favorite ways to use up any cooked rice we have leftover. It is a great meal, that both the boys love and super simple to make. Plus you can add whatever you have in the fridge.
