Pumpkin Risotto

I generally tend to make this risotto after having roast chicken.  Generally I don't like to deal with cold chicken carcases, they gross me out. But, for the sake of being spend-thrift I do it for this meal. It also puts a little protein in a meal that otherwise would just be veg and carbs.  See? Always thinking I am.

I also add a little elaborating food color to the final product for Goose so I can just call it Orange Rice (I use just a bit of red).  It's a lot more appealing to a little one to have a color identified (one that looks more than slightly artificial) than to call it by it's vegetable name.

This makes a very generous amount. I always get at least lunch for The Dude and Green Thumbs in addition to dinner for 2 adults and 2 children.

Beef, Beer and Blue Cheese Pie

I am a little addicted to making food that I see in blogs. I'll often just Google an ingredient and scroll through the lists of blogs that have a recipe that contain that ingredient. Then I spend countless hours just flicking around the site, seeing what else I can find that looks interesting.  Yes, riveting. I know.  I do however come across some different meals, and with a little bit of creativity I can generally make em happen.

That's what dinner was today.

As I was making the pie, I thought for sure it would not be something that ended up on this blog. Blue cheese is not the sort of thing you offer to someone unless they have an ounce of gastronomic adventure in them. However, when I served the final product I realized that you could hardly tell there were vegetables in it, yet over half the pie is made of veggies. And the blue cheese wasn't overwhelming.

Score!

Unfortunately there isn't any leftover to see if Goose likes it, so I can't vouch for the discerning child appeal - but The Dude enjoyed it and ate all of his (as long as it was served like a choo-choo train).

I'd say if you are an adult who doesn't like vegetables, this is a great dish for you. Sophisticated(ish) and full of interesting flavors.  If you are making food for a picky child, have something on back up just in case the flavors are too strong.

Spinach Lasagne with Mushroom Ragu

Can you tell I like to make vegetarian food? Yeah, I do. I've made a fair few different kinds of lasagne, from traditional mince/cheese sauce to roast vegetables lasagne.  This so far has to be my favorite. Granted, when you look at the amount of cheese that goes into it, you can see why. I'm a sucker for cheese, any kind. This uses three different cheeses. mmmmmmm

This recipe made 2 baking dishes of lasagne, and each dish lasted for 1 dinner plus lunch for all of us. I'm positive that for most people each dish would serve 6-8 people. For us, it serves 2.5 for 2 meals - so 5 servings? yeah, I know. I blame the baby growing inside me. I'm glad I made 2 dishes of it though, because it did take a while to assemble. It is totally worth it though. Soooo good.

Goose noticed the mushrooms and silverbeet in this dish, and although she couldn't taste it she certainly decided that those green leafy things were not her cup of tea. Next time I'm going to chuck all the mushrooms and liquid in the food processor together before putting it in the ragu sauce (my directions will have these changes). I will also puree the silverbeet after I cook it to make it less noticeable.

Lesson learned - never underestimate to discerning eye of an almost 4 year old who doesn't like vegetables!

Dirty Rice with Pork

I like to experiment with food and recipes, and I realize that with most picky eaters they like their tried and true foods. That is the beauty of this recipe - most kids like rice, and if they haven't got an aversion to mince, they should hopefully be fairly willing to try this New Orleans homage. The Dude ate all his food, and when he had leftovers the following day he eagerly finished those too, and if you chop 'em small enough no one notices they are eating any veggies!

This is also a great dish to make ahead and refrigerate for a couple days. I didn't get a chance to take a photo since the camera went on a walkabout, but it ends up looking more like a rice risotto (the boxed stuff, for you Kiwi folks - not the classic creamy risotto).

Vegetarian couscous

Today we came home from an afternoon out with not much in the fridge. I've been meaning to make it to the supermarket for days now, and simply find myself to never really be in a position to take the time to do it.

Ah. First world problems.

On a side note, I find herbs and spices to be my best friend these days. They give flavor to the flavorless and color to the bland.

So this dish is more or less made up of things that were sitting around our house.  It is quite a light dish, and would probably be better suited for lunch, possibly served cold. Not the prettiest of meals, but The Dude hoed it down, so I'd say it was a success (granted, he isn't much of a picky eater when he's hungry, Goose is my measuring stick for picky). I found it delicious, if possibly a bit dry. Nothing a bit of hummus or natural yogurt couldn't sort out...

Macaroni and Cheese

I made this for a little girl that I look after who is a self professed vegetable hater (we'll call her Goose).  I view her profession of distain as a challenge - how can I sneak something healthy in without her noticing?  Thankfully, I had a few heads of cauliflower in the garden and a 10kg bag of carrots that had been integrated into every meal I made for weeks.

She not only ate her whole serving, but she took more home to eat again!

Granted, mac and cheese isn't the healthiest of meal time options, and I don't make any substitutes to make it any healthier, but it is tasty and has a decent amount of veggies!

Flagship Post - what I'm about!

Good day giant world of webbing!  This blog has been on my mind for a while now, as something I'd like to dabble in.  I am the mother of a beautiful, charming, sensitive, hungry toddler boy (we'll call him The Dude) and 7 months pregnant with a little girl (we'll call her Pickle). I absolutely love to cook and since trying to lose my baby weight from the first one, giving The Dude a taste for fresh veggies, and using up all the autumn veggies we had coming from the garden, I have been experimenting with trying to get more of the fruit/veg food group into our family meals.