Cooking with Kids - Lets Cookalong with Tesco

As you know, I encourage my two girls to join me in the kitchen every weekend - they absolutely love learning how to bake, slice, mix and blitz with me.  In fact, recent research by the Tesco Eat Happy Project shows that around 80% of kids say they love cooking and making food but that when asked, the numbers of children who had never turned their hands to some basic cookery skills such as chopping vegetables, making a simple salad or boiling an egg was incredibly low.

The Tesco Eat Happy project is an initiative which, through in-store, at-home, community and school activities, aims to encourage children to learn more about the provenance of their food.  If your child can learn about the origins of their food, and how it is cooked, they can build a healthy, happy relationship with food from a young age.  New to the Eat Happy Project is a brand new series of Let's Cookalong videos presented by Farah Larnauti and her young helpers.  Each video introduces a simple, but accessible recipe that either practices a new cookery skill, or introduces flavours and styles from a different country.

Lara has enjoyed watching the Let's Cookalong videos with me - flatbread pizza, morrocan falafel and lamb samosas have inspired Lara to ask for some slightly different meals recently.  The Eat Happy Project website has all of the Let's Cookalong videos in full and at present there are also lots of fun activity sheets to download, all about spices (a family favourite theme!).

To take part in a Let’s Cookalong tutorial, or for more information such as recipes, resources and activity sheets, visit the website eathappyproject.com/lets-cook.

Free Dining at Walt Disney World, Florida

We are still on a Mickey-Mouse high after our Disney experience this summer in Paris.  We made amazing memories together as a family.  While we were staying at Disney we made the most of our dining plan and the girls loved being able to choose their favourite meals in the resort restaurants.  This autumn, if you book a 2016 Walt Disney World Resort holiday, you could make the most of their 2016 Free Dine offer and, to celebrate, Walt Disney World sent the girls the wherewithall to make their most favourite meal of all - spaghetti bolognaise!

It doesn't matter where in the world we are, or how fussy the girls are feeling, both Lara and Holly will always opt for spaghetti bolognaise if it is on the menu!  Across Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, there are over 450 places to dine across a phenomenally wide range of cuisines so there is bound to be something to suit everyone's tastes.  To bring the Disney dining experience into our own home we cooked the girl's their favourite meal and served in some exclusive Disney Store cookware!

We sprinkled our spaghetti bolognaise with grated cheddar cheese.  But did you know that more than 89 varieties of cheese are used by Disney theme park and resort chefs to help serve up some of the 55 million meals that are served annually in the parks?

Our home Disney dining experience was great fun.  If you'd like to experience Walt Disney World Florida's food offering first hand then you can currently dine for free if you book before the 3rd November.  As part of the Walt Disney World Resort Free Dine Offer, a family of four people could save upto £1000 on a 7 day holiday.  Full terms and conditions are available at www.disneyworld.co.uk.

Lara does... Ocado Taste Testing

I may have come to the Ocado party a little late but this weekend we had our first Ocado grocery delivery and Lara was tasked with taste-testing a number of Ocado's products to help assess their family-friendliness as part of their taste-testing panel.

Recent research from Ocado suggests that UK parents spend up to £2000 a year buying kid-friendly meal options but Ocado believe that parents shouldn't need to buy different foods for adults and children and that, with a bit of constructive input from taste-testers like Lara, it is possible for them to stock great food options that are loved by kids and adults alike.  This is music to my ears - part of my Mellow Mummy mantra is that mealtimes should be fun, not stressful and, ever since the very first day that I started weaning Lara (almost exactly 5 years ago) I've tried to ensure that, wherever possible, my girls have eaten exactly the same meals as us.

Lara tried out a range of different Ocado products, the same set that were recently tested by other members of the Ocado kids taste testing panel.  She had great fun rating each food for look, smell, texture and taste.  It was a real challenge for her to isolate her senses and really think hard about the adjectives she could use to describe how the food made her feel.  Here are her highlights:-

thinking of the correct word to use to describe taste!

Garofalo Kids’ Organic Anistelle Pasta 

These cute star and moon shaped paste pieces are just as groovy for grown ups as for adults.  Lara enjoyed the firm, traditional italian pasta texture and taste and, after she had finishes, I cooked myself up a bowl of them - fab!  Lara rated the Garofalo pasta as "awesome" across the board.



Tideford Organic Tomato and Basil Sauce

I never expected Lara to enjoy a basil sauce because she has never enjoyed my own attempts to introduce fresh basil into homemade foods.  But Lara thought that this tomato sauce was a great accompaniment to pasta and found it to be a light and smooth sauce that tasted great.

Ocado Fresh Mashed Potato

Lara loves mash and this was smoother and thicker (and less lumpy) than anything I would normally make at home.  Lara enjoyed the mash most as a vehicle for meat!

sausage and mash testing!

Laverstoke Park Buffalo Meatballs

Surprisingly, Lara rated these cute little buffalo meatballs far higher than a pork alternative.  The buffalo meat tasted really strong and "meaty" and I think Lara enjoyed the texture and the small bite size of the meatballs which were perfectly seasoned.  We'll definitely be trying buffalo again together as a family.

Good Little Company Good Little Sausages

Lara raved most about these tasty little gluten-free pork sausages.  We all tried some of these for dinner afterwards and I think Mummy, Daddy and Holly all agreed that they were very yummy and good-looking sausages (if a little salty).

All of the products above are available for home delivery from Ocado.

Peppa Pig Ice Cream

What more could a little girl like Holly long for than a Peppa Pig Ice Cream?  These fun Peppa Pig Ice Cream lollies are sized for little hands and they are Holly's favourite summery snack right now.  They are free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives and, in the interested of research, I have tried one out myself... it was really very yummy strawberry ice cream.

Peppa Pig Ice Cream Lollies are available with 6 per pack at £1.99 from ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons and the Co-op.

Also in the range is a frozen Peppa Pig Muddy Puddles chocolate cake but despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to track one down to try out.  They are small 4-6 child serving cakes for £1.99 and would have made a perfect addition to Holly's birthday party but I think people must be snapping them up before I get to the supermarket!

Tesco Eat Happy Project

Tesco Farm to Fork Egg Trail

I have ummed and aahed about this blog post for a while. Those close to me will know that I am very passionate when it comes to teaching children about food and the origins of what we eat and I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the big supermarkets.  For this reason I was intrigued when an email landed in my inbox to tell me about the new Tesco Eat Happy Project which is a huge campaign by Tesco (on the scale of their computers for schools campaigns) designed to help educate children about food.

For me, food is a central part of my approach to parenting.  From day one I've tried to teach my girls about where their food comes from. I've invited them into the kitchen to cook with me since they were able to sit up unaided and grasp a spoon. I've helped them grow their own fruit, vegetables and herbs. I've taken them to local farms... heck, we've even holidayed on farms. And, I hope I have started to teach them (through example) how to choose a healthy, balanced diet with the occasional yummy treat.  But I do understand that not all parents have the knowledge, skills, time, money or inclination to offer the same sort of teachings themselves.  The reason why I've struggled with how to approach the news of the Tesco Eat Happy Project and their first phase - the Farm to Fork primary school trails - is that I believe that the rise of the modern supermarket is, at least in part, responsible for the decline in the knowledge and skills about how to grow, choose, cook and explore great ingredients and amazing healthy homemade food.

Despite my concerns, I think there is great value to be had in the Eat Happy Project, particularly the Farm to Fork trails.  In their first year, Tesco aim to offer a Farm to Fork tour to 1 million UK primary school pupils - these are school tours of farms, factories and supermarkets up and down the country.  In my local area these are largely supermarket tours, which was a little disappointing.  That said, I think it is just as important that our children understand the processes and demands of our modern supermarket culture so to me a Tesco store visit could be just as fascinating as a visit to a local vegetable farmer or cattle farmer.

The Farm to Fork farm visits aim to show children where their food comes from and the processes that UK farmers go through to get the food from the farm to the store. Store visits are tailored for each school and each store, depending on the age group and class size. It could involve spending time with the in store baker who will show them how simple ingredients like flour, butter, eggs, sugar and water combine to make bread and pastries. Children may spend some time with the fish monger learning about the different fish and seafood and finding out where they come from. Often, children will be able to go on a trail around the produce sections of the store. They might be asked to find 3 red vegetables, or 3 products from a particular country as a way into discovering more about these ingredients. The trail could also involve going behind the scenes to see how everything is co-ordinated around the store to help build a bigger picture of the long journey their food takes from the farm to their fork.

The second phase of the Eat Happy Project, to be launched later in the year, will involve cookery courses for kids in stores, working with the Children’s Food Trust. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Eat Happy Project unfolds and what it can offer to UK school children - even if it makes a small difference in understanding for more children it could make a long term difference to the nation's food habits. Find out more at eathappyproject.com.

#FlavourOfTogether - Kashmiri Blackened Sea Bass, Fragrant Dahl and Beetroot & Carrot Bhajis with Minted Pea Puree - Recipe!

McCormick are celebrating their 125th year in the food industry with a special anniversary Flavour Forecast. Each year their Flavour Forecast brings together the emerging trends in food and flavours for the coming year.  Schwartz, part of the McCormick group, sent us a selection of the herbs and spices from this year's predictions and I used their 2014 forecast as inspiration for tonight's dinner - Lara had great fun helping me; she is always happy to help me in the kitchen when there is curry on the menu!

I chose to explore the "Modern Masala" flavour trend which allows Indian food to break free of its traditional confines; I also used one of the year's Top 5 flavours (as highlighted by Schwartz) - a homemade Kashmiri masala.  My dish was very much an experimental one (I felt like Heston as I 'invented' the components in the kitchen with Lara) but I tried to capture a good mix of textures and flavours based on traditional Indian combinations but with a slightly modern twist.  This is my recipe for Kashmiri blackened Sea-Bass on a fragrant yellow dahl served with beetroot and carrot bhajis and a minted pea puree.

Serves 4.
Total cooking time 3 hours (approximately)

INGREDIENTS
For the puree
100g frozen peas
150ml chicken stock
1 inch fresh root ginger (peeled and chopped finely)
1/2 small onion (finely diced)
1 heaped tsp dried mint
A tiny knob of butter or drop of sunflower oil

For the dahl
100g red split lentils
100g yellow split peas
1 small onion (chopped roughly)
1 inch fresh root ginger (cut into two big chunks)
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground corriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
5 green cardamoms (bashed gently with the back of a knife to bruise them)
2 strands of saffron
A knob of butter
1 tsp sunflower oil
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
250ml chicken stock
250ml water
1 tsp black onion seed
1 tsp whole cumin seed

For the bhajis
2 carrots (peeled)
1 small onion (peeled and sliced reeeeaaallly thinly)
3 small, whole uncooked beetroot (peeled)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground corriander
150g gram flour
1 tablespoon ground rice
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 fresh green chilli (copped)
100ml tepid water
oil for deep frying

For the fish
4 sea bass fillets (skin on)
A knob of butter and a dash on sunflower oil
2 bay leaves
5cm of cinnamon stick
1 whole star anise
4 whole green cardamoms
4 whole cloves
1 heaped tsp whole cumin seed
1 heaped tsp black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon whole fenugreek seed
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chilli flakes (I would have used 2 tsp if I weren't feeding a 1 year old and a 4 year old!)
1 heaped tsp ground corriander
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic granules
The juice of one lemon

METHOD
1. Soak the lentils over night in two separate bowls of water.  Drain well before cooking.

2. Make the pea puree well in advance as this is easy to heat up when you are ready to serve.

Fry the onion and ginger in a little oil or butter until softened.  Add the dried mint.  Then add the frozen peas and the chicken stock and bring to the boil.  Reduce the temperature and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before using a hand-blender to blitz it into a smooth puree.  If the puree is too thin, you can return it to the pan and cook gently to allow some of the moisture to evaporate.

3. Make the dahl next.  It will need some time to mellow before you serve it.

Cut the onion in half.  Slice one half very finely and put to one side.  Chop the other half roughly into pieces you wouldn't mind eating whole.

4. Melt the butter and fry the chopped onion and ginger until just softened.  Add the garlic, ground ginger, corriander, turmeric, saffron strands, bruised cardamoms and chilli flakes. Pour in the yellow lentils and the chicken stock and simmer for 10 minutes.

5. Add in the red split lentils and top up with enough water to fully cover the contents of the pan.  Bring to the boil and them simmer on a gentle bubble for around 30 minutes.

6. As the dahl cooks, make some crispy fried onions.  Place the thinly sliced onion into a small frying pan with a tiny bit of sunflower oil and fry REALLY slowly for at least 20 minutes.  The slower the better as this will result in amazingly crispy caramelised onions.  Shortly before you remove them from the heat, add in the whole cumin and black onion seeds to fry for a couple of minutes.

7. Just before the dahl is fully cooked, the lentils will start to stick to the bottom of the pan.  Make sure you stir regularly to prevent sticking and burning.  When the lentils are totally softened, your dahl is ready.  Stir in the fried onion mixture and put the dahl to one side to soak up all the yummy flavours as it cools.  Once cool, you may wish to fish out the whole cardamoms and ginger chunks if you can see them (Mr. B. doesn't like finding large chunks of spices in his dinner).

8. Lara helped me make the Kashmiri masala paste which uses a classic combination of spices from the northern Indian region of Kashmir where red chillis are a particular favourite.  If had been cooking for just grown-ups, I would have used a lot more red chilli in my masala paste!

We dry-fried all of the whole spices in a hot frying pan until they made an awesome smell.  We removed the spices from the heat before they started to pop and placed them straight into a spice grinder (aka coffee grinder) to blend them down to a fine powder.  Lara mixed the blended powder with the ground ginger, corriander and garlic granules before stirring in the lemon juice to make a paste.

9. Next, we made the beetroot and carrot bhajis.  I used a food processor to grate the beetroot and carrots and mixed this with the sliced onion.

Lara sieved the gram flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground rice into a large bowl before stirring in the beetroot mixture and the chopped fresh chilli.  Add a little water at a time to make the mixture soft enough to be able to form balls (don't make it too liquid as it will be hard to make the balls keep their shape).

I cooked our bhajis in a deep fat fryer in batches of 5 at 170 degrees for around 10 minutes for each batch.  My mixture made 12 bhajis.  Make sure you cook the bhajis nice and slowly to avoid burning the outsides before the soft middles have cooked.  Look for a golden coating which is just starting to darken.

Drain the bhajis of fat by placing them onto a sheet of kitchen paper.  The bhajis can be served hot or cold and can be re-heated in a warm oven if needed.

10. About 15 minutes before serving, baste the skins of the sea-bass fillets with the Kashmiri masala paste.

11. About 10 minutes before serving, slowly reheat the dahl and pea puree.

12. The sea-bass fillets only take about 4 minutes to cook.  Heat the butter and oil together in a frying pan until it reaches a medium heat.  Place the fillets into the pan flesh side down for 2 minutes.  Turn them onto their skin side and cook for a further two minutes.  The lemon juice will cause the spices to blacken quickly but don't worry, they won't turn bitter or burned in such a short cooking period!

13. Serve the fish on a bed of the aromatic dahl.  Place the bhajis on a drizzle of the pea puree and finish off with a little freshly grated carrot and beetroot and a sprig of fresh mint.

My girls LOVED this fresh take on a fish curry and I found it to be an elegant and refreshing change.  I've never cooked with beetroot before and I think these bhajis were a triumph!  I loved the overall combination of savoury fish and dahl with sweet beetroot, carrot and peas.  Yummy!

Find out more about the Schwartz #FalvourofTogether anniversary flavour forecast on the Schwartz Facebook page.  Schwartz is looking for people to share their flavour stories on their facebook page and will donate $1 to United Way Worldwide and it's UK partner Focus on Food, for every story shared on the Schwartz website, Facebook page or other social channels

Could this be the Roast Dinner of the year?

It has become somewhat of a tradition in our house in recent months to share a big family roast dinner together and this weekend we have been joining in with the celebrations at Knorr HQ with our own 'roast dinner of the year' to celebrate Knorr's Gravy Pots having been awarded Product of the Year in the Gravy and Stock category.

Knorr sent us the starter kit for an award-winning family roast dinner along with some of their innovative Gravy Pots which come in a number of flavours such as Beef Gravy, Chicken Gravy and Onion Gravy.  I then let the girls choose all of the trimmings that they wanted - the overwhelming winner was some of my homemade oil-free Yorkshire puddings which, thanks to the joys of stoneware, I now seem to have mastered.

Our weekly gathering for a family roast is always the highlight of my week.  I will admit that I very rarely make gravy from scratch... perhaps once a year maybe.  This is mainly because I struggle to create enough cooking juices to warrant a home-made gravy.  Usually I opt for granules but Knorr's Gravy pots promised me that they would taste more like homemade gravy than instant options would.

I used my beef gravy pots in a hurry (we had a visitor arrive just as I was serving dinner!) but even so, I found them a very useful middle-ground between the efforts required for home-made gravy and the instant-gratification of granules.  You have to heat the Knorr gravy pots through in a pan of water until it comes to the boil.  I struggled to get them to fully dissolve because of the hurry I was in but I still found it about 200% easier than trying to mix flour with meat juices and trying to thicken a gravy manually (I always make lumpy gravy).

The girls loved the gravy.  Mr. B. felt it wasn't gloppy enough for him (sigh) but I certainly thought it tasted a lot closer to home-made gravy than our normal brand.

Our celebratory roast dinner was washed down with a glass of Cotes du Rhone and finished off with some homemade chocolate chunk cookies that the girls cooked with me.  I can't think of a finer way to finish off a weekend.

The Handmade Burger Company - New Family Friendly Menu

Last night, Handmade Burger Co. invited the full Mellow family down to their newer restaurants on the riverside at The Oracle in Reading to see how family friendly their new menu is.

Mr. B. and I love a good burger - I guess we consider ourselves to be burger snobs! - and Handmade Burger, having only been at the Oracle a short while, had already come recommended to us.  On arrival we were all taken in by the atmosphere; it had a sense of gastropub about it; all wooden furniture and blackboards.

The girls were happy to be offered colouring and balloons (I REALLY appreciated being asked by the staff before entertainment like this was offered - more places should think about asking before plonking crayons in front of a toddler!).

The menu was just up our street.  I can't think of a single thing on the menu that we wouldn't have tried; the same went for the junior burger menu.  New on the menu this season are two different sets of sliders - three different mini burgers served in soft, sweet brioche buns.  I went for the beef sliders and thought they were all fab; my favourite was the Beef Cheese Classic which was topped with a decadent sweet relish that left me wanting more.

The girls each chose a junior burger as part of a children's meal which included a burger, a side dish and a soft drink for less than £6.  Both of my girls were happy that the range of side dishes on offer included salad vegetables and corn on the cob (they did steal some of our chips too!).  Oh, and the chips.... the chips.  Proper chip-shop style chips served in huge bowls you just want to dive into.

Mr. B. tried out one of the brand new burgers on the menu - the peppered beef burger.  And very peppery it was too.  The Handmade Burger company make all of their burgers, rolls and sides fresh so they know exactly what goes into each dish.  The burgers aren't just limited to beef - with a choice of lamb or chicken too I was really impressed by the range of different tastes they catered for and the vegetarian options didn't feel like an afterthought, in fact, a chickpea and quinoa burger sounded very tempting!

I would agree with the friend who first recommended the Handmade Burger Co. to me that the burgers are the best I've tasted outside the US.  I think there may be a little work needed on the bread product - all of our burgers had soggy bottoms but they didn't hang around long enough for this to really be an issue as we wolfed them down!

The staff at Handmade in Reading were all really friendly without being patronising; it is nice to be asked more than once during your meal if everything is OK, it shows that it isn't just a tick in a box on a documented process.  I also appreciated the honesty of the staff at the counter who recommended money saving options to me when I placed my order.

We finished our meal off with a couple of ice cream sundaes.  The dessert menu was small and unfussy and do you know what?  they were blimming awesome!  We loved the simplicity of the menu and the honesty and passion behind the reason for the food that they serve - great ingredients don't need a lot of tarting up, do they?

The Handmade Burger Co. had a feeling very much like Nandos (not sure if they will love me or hat me for this).  They concentrate on one thing - burgers - and do it really well.  The style of ordering at the counter and the general approach to service felt similar, as did the small dessert menu.  Well, Nandos seems to have pretty much taken over the world, so why can't this homegrown burger chain do the same too?

We all enjoyed our meal at Handmade and will definitely be going back during weekend shopping trips to Reading.

 

Ella's Kitchen - Geting Creative with Veg!

Today, Holly, Lara and I made a creative crafty masterpiece using almost primarily vegetables!  We were challenged by Ella's Kitchen to use some of the vegetables that they use to make their new range of 'my little BIG meals' to create a work of art and this tree was very much a join effort between the girls.  It was messy but fun.  Holly felt really grown up (it was the first time she has ever sat up at our table in a booster seat as opposed to a high chair) and Lara demonstrated great concentration adding little details such as a tiny hand-drawn birds nest with miniature blue eggs!

My little BIG meals by Ella's Kitchen is a new range of single-serving meals designed for toddlers from 12 months upwards.  Each of the dishes in the new range is made with between 5 and 7 different vegetables so we used a few of them to make our tree.

First up, Holly pasted glue onto the trunk of the tree and both girls stuck on peelings from a sweet potato (one of the ingredients in the Creamy Coconutty Chicken Curry) to use as bark.

Then we made the branches using dried beans (from the Beefy Beef Stew and Full of Beans Pork Stew) and pasta (from the Bolognese Bake)

Next, in the absence from any fresh herbs currently worth picking from our garden, we stuck on fresh spinach leaves to finish off the tree.

The girls drew on grass, and nests and sky using markers and crayons before Holly and Lara finished off their masterpiece with some natural vegetable-based paints.

Children's App Review - Henri Le Worm : The Missing Cookbook

As you may know, this week Lara and I attended the launch of a new children's cookery and adventure app, Henri Le Worm : The Missing Cookbook.

Lara was lucky enough to get a week's preview and so she was already a big fan of the app by the time of the launch. Yesterday though Lara sat down with my iPad and played the entire game from beginning to end and was engrossed for just over an hour. When she got to the end she seemed very proud of herself and did a little dance.

Henri le Worm is an app of two parts. The first is a game which features Henri, a very stereotypical french chef (and worm) and his adventures with his insect friends. The second part is a set of child-friendly recipes provided by world-renowned chef Raymond Blanc who also happens to be the father of one of the two creators of this fab new app. The idea is that the fun of the app which features food-related games and interesting food facts is designed to encourage an interest in food and that once that little spark has ignited, there are easy-to-follow recipes to help your child then get involved in the creation of fabulous food.

The app is suitable for children from 2 years to about 6 or 7 years old. Each scene has interactive activities and games to get involved in such as cleaning up a spilled bowl of flour (Lara's most favourite part of the entire game) or preparing pancakes for breakfast. There is a map to explore and puzzles to solve such as simple hide and seek.

The app features fun sound effects and great comedy voices supplied by comedy genius Simon Pegg. The story through the scenes is narrated and also features text across the bottom of the screen for young readers. It took Lara a few tries with the game to realise that there was a story to follow, but i think her epic play session this weekend was the point when she realised that there was a goal to the game. It took me quite some time to realise that there is a tab in the top-right of the screen which allows you to navigate straight to any point in the game you wish... even so, I still think that it would be nice to have a feature that allowed your child to re-start the game directly at the point they left off.

Lara loves fruit and vegetables, she cooks a meal with me at least once a week and loves to cook and eat meals with us so I don't think she NEEDS an app like Henri Le Worm to encourage an interest in food but I think she enjoys the app even more because of this love. Lara was really eager to try out some of the recipes in the app after our visit to London this week but I feel like this part of the app was a little bit of an afterthought - the recipes could do with more photos and more of a focus on cooking with kids, rather than for kids... I'd also like to see MORE of them and to have more direct references and links from the games into the recipes.

That said, I think Henri Le Worm is a great app and i can't wait to see more Henri adventures in the future.

Henri Le Worm : The Missing Cookbook costs £2.99 in the app store. It is currently available on iPad but will be coming to iPhone soon.

My Mellow Indian Takeaway Restaurant Experience with JUST EAT

One of the ways that we stay Mellow in the Mellow household is by chilling out with an occasional takeaway. Yes, we love our food and we all love cooking (including the girls) but as a working family, evenings can be pretty hectic and I'll admit that we do indulge in a takeaway pretty often... so much so that Lara has started being our decision maker on takeaway night and we let her choose what type of food we are all going to enjoy!

This week we have been trying out a new way of ordering. JUST EAT rang me to introduce the Mellow household to the joys of online takeway ordering and asked us to review one of our local Indian restaurants. JUST EAT brings together thousands of UK takeaway restaurants in one place for you to order online for delivery or collection. For us, the service seemed ideal because it meant we could pay by credit card online so no cash had to change hands (myself and Mr. B very rarely use cash for anything these days).

We got home from work on Tuesday and logged on to the JUST EAT website from my laptop (we could have used the JUST EAT app on the ipad too). I browsed the complete menus of three different local Indian restaurants. We were particularly fascinated to see a local takeaway called Rangamati because we pass it every weekend but had never even seen the menu before; it seemed like the perfect opportunity to give them a whirl.

Browsing the menu on JUST EAT was easy. I found the fact that the entire menu was on one page to be a bit unwealdy even though there were links to help you navigate to particular areas of the menu such as breads, main dishes or chefs specials. The checkout process was incredibly simple and I was able to enter my card details and checkout within a minute. I really liked the fact that the website asked me to sit and wait until the chef at the restaurant had acknowledged and accepted my order - while it may seem a little unintuitive in a modern website to leave the user sitting waiting, I actually found it quite comforting to know that a real human being was receiving my order.

Our order arrived well within the predicted time period that JUST EAT had said when I ordered. It felt slightly weird not to be handing over any cash when the delivery driver gave us our food.

Lara, as usual, was extremely excited when the "curry man" arrived and had been rushing around setting the table for the previous 30 minutes! Lara's favourite curry dish to order is a yellow chicken (in this instance I ordered her a chicken passanda) but both girls devour poppadoms too. The curry from Rangamati was good; nothing outstanding but perfectly acceptable... though I probably wouldn't ditch my previous favourite Indian takeaway, Shapla Tandoori! Thankfully they also offer online ordering through JUST EAT. Bonus.

Every single last scrap of our meal was eaten and we all had full, happy tummies.

Disclosure: This blog post was written in collaboration with JUST EAT.

Teaching Children the Origins of Food

This year I resolved to teach Lara to cook. I'm passing on my passing for food and it is important for me that Lara understands, from an early age, where the food on her plate comes from. By that, I mean more than that learning to cook will teach Lara that food doesn't magically appear on a plate. Further to that, I want her to understand the origins of her food so that she can make informed choices about what she eats and can really learn to enjoy food and drink as she grows older.



Learning about the origins of food starts at home. Last year Lara learned how to grow potatoes with me. This year, with a new garden, we're still planting in tubs and pots but we're taking on a few more challenges. Lara helps me at every stage. From the planting of the seeds to the potting out. She especially loves the daily trip around the garden to check on all of our crops (I used to have a cat who enjoyed the same walk with me!). Lara is an expert at watering and will regularly be spotted on my Dad's gardening blog with a watering can in hand.



But gardening isn't just about the fun. It's about understanding and sharing the hard work that goes into preparing food. I know, by the way that Lara dotes on her Grandpa, that she values the passion and effort that goes into growing fruit and vegetables. I'm hoping that by spending the time and effort herself to grow tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries, lettuce, runner beans, dwarf beans, courgettes, physalis, chillis, thyme, parsely, rosemary, chives, corriander, oregano, bay and much more, that Lara will stop and think about all of the food that she eats, not just the food she grows; That she will question the origins of the fruit and vegetables she eats on a daily basis (i.e. the ones we buy from the supermarket) and will savour the flavour that little bit more. I'm also hoping that by getting involved in the growing of herbs and vegetables, that she'll be adventurous enough to try a wide range of foods, knowing that she, her mum, or her Grandpa grew them.



Beyond the vegetable patch, I want to educate Lara about meat and fish – something I can't yet do in my own back garden! We are lucky enough to live within a very short drive of two or three meat-producing farms. The meat is awesomely tasty (but at a price). I've taken Lara with me several times to the butcheries and farmyards so that she can see the animals in all of the forms. It doesn't scare me to show Lara farm animals in a setting that is so obviously geared towards their consumption. I know this will upset some strongly-willed vegetarians but on a farmyard, the animals are bred for food. Lara has seen the pigs, ducks, chickens and cows in the fields enjoying their lives. She has seen them sliced and ready to cook in the butcheries. I think she gets that now. It is OK to enjoy seeing, touching and admiring farm animals at the same time as appreciating the meat that they will eventually give us.

Image: federico stevanin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last week when we took Lara to the farm, they had just received a delivery of day-old chicks. Small, yellow, fluffy, cheepy and INCREDIBLY cute. Lara's response when she saw them was “yum, yum”. It freaked me out when she first said it (it was a little sinister, I'll admit). But, when I thought about it, her reaction made sense. Lara enjoys food. Chicken means food to her, and very little else. I think she is a little young to understand right now, but hopefully one day she will appreciate the fact that those chicks she saw were about to live a far more enjoyable life and be treated with so much more love and attention than most livestock or poultry in Britain that is bred for our dinner tables.

Image: savit keawtavee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So how about you, do your children understand where the food on their plates came from?

The Sunday Review - Quaker Paw Ridge Blueberry Porridge

Lara is a blueberry fiend.

Lara's grandparents encourage her addiction.

Lara also love porridge. Porridge is something about which I am quite passionate. In fact, one of my very early blog posts was about Plum Baby's weaning porridge. Porridge is a healthy, natural, filling way to start the day and, if you mix it with milk then it can be a good way of getting your child to meet their daily recommended calcium intake.

Over the past few months I have been feeding Lara Quaker Paw Ridge children's porridge. Their natural, non-flavoured porridge is a hit in our household as it is a little more adventurous in texture than Ready Brek but not quite as lumpy as plain old porridge oats. Even Mellow Mummy and Daddy eat it as it is quicker to prepare in the mornings before work than most porridges we have tried.

For all of these reasons, I jumped at the chance to review the new Paw Ridge blueberry porridge. Unfortunately this didn't go well. When I opened the packet, the smell of 'blueberry flavour' nearly knocked me out (actually it doesn't taste as strong as it smells). Lara wouldn't even let a single spoonful pass her lips. I tried on several different occasions and each time I ended up trying to eat it instead. In fact, most of it went in the bin as I didn't really enjoy it.

To try and understand why Lara wouldn't eat the porridge, I took a look at the packet. As with the plain Paw Ridge porridge, the box boasts that it contains "100% Natural Ingredients". So, expecting to find that the contents of a blueberry flavoured porridge were er... porridge and blueberries, I was a little taken aback to find that (a) there was no mention of blueberries and (b) there was added sugar. Argh. Why?

The Paw Ridge blueberry flavoured porridge is only 87% oats. The flavour comes from 'natural flavouring' which really could mean anything and certainly doesn't guarantee that it has ever been within touching distance of an actual blueberry. Looking closer at the nutritional information showed me that the porridge was 12.2% sugar!!! For a children's porridge, I find this unacceptable. The non-flavoured equivalent contains 100% oats and has 1.1% naturally occurring sugars. I just do not understand why it is necessary to add sugar to a children's food and it annoys me. Children are perfectly capable of enjoying food without added sugar and if I feel that my child would prefer something a little sweeter - I want to be the person who makes that decision and sweeten it myself - after all, thats what I do with my own porridge.

My final gripe with the blueberry Paw Ridge is that I have only managed to find it in my local supermarkets in the sachet form. I think that they only sell their flavoured versions of the porridge in sachets which works out at about 60p more expensive per 100 grammes than the box of loose plain Paw Ridge that we love.

All in all, we're not that impressed.

The Sunday Review – The Coolfan

Meet Izzy!

Izzy is a Coolfan, a mini fan which hygienically and efficiently cools your baby or toddler's food. It is the brainchild of Mark Mainey, a dad who got fed up of blowing on his children's food to cool it down to a safe eating temperature.

We have been using our Coolfan for nearly two months now and I can honestly say it has revolutionised our mealtimes. Granted, the Coolfan is NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, a vital piece of baby kit but if you have one it does save a lot of waiting around for food to cool down and prevents the need to blow on your child's food to cool it – this can transfer bacteria through saliva.

In my old house I didn't have a window ledge in my kitchen where I could open the window and leave Lara's food to cool down, and, for hygeine reasons, I never used to blow on her food to cool it. Instead, I always had to remember to remove a portion of food from our meal about 5-10 minutes before we all sat down to dinner to make sure it had cooled sufficiently for Lara to eat. On many occasions, the food would still be too hot and this resulted in the inevitable tears and frustration while she could see the food but not eat it, or worse, see us eating our food. Since using the Coolfan, we have not had to worry about this at all. The Coolfan is so effective that it can take just 1 minute to cool the food down – I was really astonished at how quickly it worked and as such, I now serve Lara's food at exactly the same time as ours.


The Coolfan is a simple concept. The fan is mounted on a shaped stand which sits above the bowl or plate of food. The fan is shaped like a head to make it fun for your littlies although I'm not sure that Lara really cares what it looks like – maybe she will do when she's older. The fan is made from soft foam so that there is no danger to tiny fingers if they do choose to interfere with it. The fan head removes easily from the mount when you need to clean it or replace the batteries. There are plans in the future to provide collapsible stands so that you can take your Coolfan out and about with you to restaurants, friends or relatives.

If I am honest, I feel a retail price of £9.99 the Coolfan is expensive for something which, if I really put my mind to it, I 'could' fashion out of a hand-held travel fan and a coathanger. But, the point is, I haven't done that, have I? And I probably never would – partly because I'm too lazy, and partly because it wouldn't be as safe or as well-constructed as a product designed to do the job.

Despite my reservations about the price, I would recommend Coolfans to any of my Mummy and Daddy friends (there certainly seems to be a lot of interest). My Coolfan is now indispensable but (and there is one big but) it EATS batteries. If I use the Coolfan for every evening meal and one lunchtime meal on my Lara-day each week then I can only get about 10 days usage out of one pair of AAA batteries. I don't know why it uses so much power but I do know that I've had to invest in a set of rechargeable batteries as on the days when my Coolfan was out of action due to lack of power, I really missed it.

The Gallery – From Plot To Plate

I have an admission to make. My entries into this week's Gallery are not my own photos! These pictures were in fact taken by my Dad of food he grew himself.

Tomatoes, Tomatillos and Chillis


Victoria Plum


Sorrel


Cavollo Nero

In the past few weeks my Dad has become some kind of photographic, blogging fiend. After inheriting a camera and being let loose with it in the garden he then started his own blog “Mark's Veg Plot” about a month ago. In the space of a few short weeks he has written a vast numbr of fascinating blog posts about his kitchen garden, some of which have been featured on major gardening websites and magazines. Each post is supported by some stunning photography, all of his own doing. I feel proud, yet somehow inadequate!

My parents are both passionate foodies and my Dad is a serious gardener – fruit and veg are his specialities. I've blogged before about how I plan to pass on this passion to Lara and I know it is already working. When Lara visits anyone with a garden that contains edible plants, she rushes out to explore and see what goodies she can consume. On one occasion recently, when the childminder took her to visit a friend's garden, Lara helped herself to someone else's tomatoes, chillis and sweetcorn. Ooops. Occasionally I have had to physically restrain her from eating tomatoes straight from the plant.

My Dad seems to have found his photographic inspiration. Please go visit his blog, there are some truly stunning photos there, some great recipes and some fascinating gardening tips. There are also one or two shots of Lara!