Honey Biscuits (Medenjaki)

A friend of ours in Croatia always bakes Medenjaki biscuits for her grandchildren (and any other children that happen to be around!) and as we all really enjoy them, I keep meaning to ask her for her recipe. In the mean time, I did a bit of research on the internet and found lots of variations of these traditional honey biscuits (usually baked at Christmas, actually, and decorated appropriately, but just as nice now in summer too).

This is my version of Medenjaki, which makes no claims as to authenticity, but is rather delicious anyway!

Ingredients

• 150g butter, at room temp
• 100g icing sugar
• 2 eggs
• 500g plain white flour
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 3-5 tbsp clear honey
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 185°C and line a tray with baking paper.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add to the butter and sugar, together with the eggs and honey. The amount of honey you will need depends on how sweet it is – taste it and see if you want more!
4. Mix until it forms a stiff dough-like paste.
5. Take about a tablespoon of the dough and form quickly into a smooth ball in your hands. Flatten it between your palms and place on the baking tray.
6. Continue until you have used up all the dough – this amount makes between 25 – 30 biscuits, depending on size.
7. Bake for 7 -10 minutes until lightly coloured on the outside. They may still be a bit soft inside, but they harden up slightly as they cool.
8. These keep very well for a few days, kept in a tin.

 

 

Potato and Vegetable Frittata

I’ve been meaning to try something like this for ages, but somehow never got round to it, until tonight. I’ll definitely be doing it again, though, as it has a number of things going for it:
- it’s really tasty!
- I’ve pretty much always got the ingredients at home (you can vary any vegetables you like in it)
- I like to have at least one if not two vegetarian meals per week, and this fits the bill perfectly
- it was easy and relatively quick to do

Ingredients

• around 300 – 500g potatoes (the firm, waxy type, NOT the floury ones)
• about 6 eggs, beaten
• few spring onions or 1 small onion, sliced or diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1/2 courgette, diced
• 1/2 tsp mixed herbs
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• a few tbsp milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• a bit of butter

Method

1. First prepare the potatoes by peeling and slicing them quite thinly (not paper-thin, but shouldn’t be chunky either)
2. Boil them until they are just on the verge of being done; they should have a bit of bite left to them (if you have one of those microwave steamer bags, just pop them in there, it’s much easier!)
3. While the potatoes are cooking, fry the onion, pepper and courgette (or whatever other veg you’re using) in a little oil (I use rapeseed) in a medium-sized non-stick frying pan which has a metal handle (you will need to put it under the grill, so you don’t want anything that will melt!)
4. Add the crushed garlic and herbs and keep frying until the onion is getting slightly brown and sticky (but not burning) and the pepper is completely soft. This takes quite a while, but the taste is fantastic and much more interesting than if you just quick-fry.
5. Heat the grill up to medium high.
6. Drain the potatoes and add them to the frying pan. Mix them all up together (the potato slices will break up), and add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Mix in the milk with the beaten eggs and then pour that into the frying pan.
8. Give everything a good stir and make sure it’s all covered in the egg mixture. Then cook on a medium heat until the underside is getting light brown (the sides should be cooked enough by this point so you can peek underneath). The top will still be runny.
9. Pop the whole pan under the grill for 5 minutes or so until the top is golden brown and all the egg is cooked.
10. Allow to cool slighty before slicing and serving with a nice crisp green salad.

Variations

• any in season vegetables can be used with the basic potato, egg and onion mixture
• grated cheese in with the egg or on top
• apparantly, it’s also very nice cold, but we didn’t have any left over to try!

 

 

Pasta Salad

I’ve tried various versions of pasta salads over the years, but I don’t think any one has ever gone down as well as this. My ds had it for lunch two days in a row and ate more than I did!

Ingredients

• 500g dried pasta shapes (I used fusilli, the twisty one)
• about 1 large tbsp mayonnaise
• about 5 – 8 large tbsp natural jogurt (the creamier the better)
• about 1 tbsp apple balsamic vinegar (use whatever vinegar you like)
• about 2 tbsp rape seed oil (use any veg. oil except olive, which I think would give it a wierd flavour)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 small can sweetcorn, drained
• same amount ie small can of frozen peas, blanched
• some chopped cucumber

Method

1. Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the pack, then rinse in cold water and drain well.
2. In the mean time, mix up the dressing, adding a few tablespoons of cold water at the end. It should be fairly runny. Taste and add salt/pepper/vinegar etc as necessary
3. Mix into the pasta with the sweetcorn, peas and cucmber.
4. If you are making this a while before you need it, you may need to add a bit more jogurt and water before serving as the pasta tends to soak up the dressing and get a bit sticking.
5. Voila!

 

Brownies – 2 Variations

Or, as they’re called in our house: Pupischnutzis (no idea why!).

This recipe is the result of many, many, many trial-and-error-bakes. There was one 2-week period where we were eating fresh brownies pretty much every day. Of course, after that we couldn’t face another one for months. Anyway the first recipe below is the successful winning recipe which we liked best. It gives a firm, sticky but not too gooey brownie.

The second variation is what I came up with last night when I suddenly really fancied brownies but didn’t have quite all the ingredients necessary at home. So I improvised, and the result was rather good. I’d need to try both brownies at the same time to directly compare and see if I preferred one to the other, but the new, improved recipe from last night really was rather excellent!

Brownies - Recipe #2

Recipe #1
Ingredients

• 250g plain flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1  egg, beaten
• 100g sugar
• 50g cocoa
• 100ml oil
• 200ml milk
• 100g chocolate (half melted, half chopped OR all melted)

Method

1. Mix together and bake in a lined tin at 180°C for 15 – 20 mins.
2. Cut into squares when cool.
3. Keep in an airtight container – they get better and stickier after a day or so!!

 

Recipe #2
Ingredients

• 250g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg, beaten
• 100g sugar
• 50g cocoa
• 100ml oil
• 100ml milk
• 100 – 200ml natural jogurt
• 1 large heaped tbsp chocolate nut spread eg Nutella

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients together to a thick, smooth batter. If it seems a bit dry, add more jogurt.
2. Bake in a lined tin at 180°C for 15 – 20 mins until the top is dry and a wooden skewer poked in comes out clean (or cleanish, but def. not covered in sticky batter!)
3. Cut into squres when cool.

I’m sure if you keep these in an covered container they would also get better, but we polished the lot off last night, so I can’t confirm this.
As to the flavour, I felt the jogurt added a rather pleasant slight tang, but no-one else seemed to notice it, so it could just be that I tasted it because I knew the jogurt was there. Using chocolate spread meant I didn’t have to faff around melting chocolate, which is a bonus as far as I’m concerned, so I will be using that again. I didn’t factor in that there is already quite a bit of oil in there though, so next time I would reduce the oil that goes into the recipe by about 20ml or so.

 

Really Fast Pasta or Gnocchi “Sauce”

This is for those nights when my son is so tired I know he isn’t going to make it until I’ve cooked dinner for all of us, so I have to give him something beforehand. It’s very, very quick, super easy and actually very tasty (I end up picking at it quite a bit!).

Ingredients

• any filled fresh pasta eg tortellini / or / fresh gnocchi
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp mixed herbs

Method

1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions (I usually just boil the kettle and let the pasta sit in the hot water while I’m preparing the sauce). If using gnocchi, I would really recommend frying it rather than boiling it – it gets a nice crispy outside and doesn’t go so mushy (fry it in a little of the butter).
2. Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the herbs.
3. Mix in the cream cheese.
4. Throw in the pasta / gnocchi and stir until they are well covered with the sauce.
5. That’s it!

Believe it or not, it’s very tasty (sort of reminiscent of that Italian classic of butter and sage). The sauce just covers the pasta, clinging it to it, so it’s actually good to eat even with fingers!

 

Tortilla Wraps

This turned out to be a huge hit, and as there are so many variations possible, I think we’ll be having it quite often.

Base Ingredients

6 soft tortillas / wraps
1 ball fresh mozarella, drained and sliced

Filling Ideas

• tuna (well drained) and sweetcorn
• mashed avocado and shredded cooked chicken
• mashed avocado and bacon bits
• tuna (well drained) and chopped, deseeded tomato
• crushed beans (eg kidney) and chopped, deseeded tomato
• equal amounts grated cheese and carrot (this was a HUGE hit!)

Method

1. Heat a large non-stick frying pan (no oil!)
2. Prepare your filling ingredients, making sure they aren’t wet ie drain stuff.
3. Warm a couple of tortillas slightly (I did it in the microwave for a nanosecond) to make them more pliable.
4. Put a large tbsp of filling in the middle.
5. Artfully drape some strips of mozarella over the filling.
6. Fold two sides of the tortilla over the filling, then the two open ends, to form a parcel.
7. Dry-fry it in the pan over a medium heat, seam-side down, for a couple of mins until light golden.
8. Turn and fry the other side. The filling should be warmed through and the cheese just melting.
9. Enjoy!

 

Muesli & Fruit Bars

These make an excellent snack and are not messy or sticky so can be eaten anywhere!

Ingredients

• 100g plain muesli (ie no added fruit or chocolate, and as little sugar as possible)
• 100g plain flour
• 50 – 100g sugar (depending on how sweet you want the bars to be)
• 150g chopped dried fruit eg raisins, dates, bananas, apples, cranberries…
• 75ml milk
• 75ml apple juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line or grease a small, square baking tin.
2. Mix together the muesli, chopped fruit, sugar and flour.
3. Add the milk and apple juice, and mix to a thick batter.
4. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 20 mins.
5. Allow to cool before cutting into squares or bars.

 

 

Carrot Cake

This is a very easy to make cake, really tasty and moist so it keeps well for a few days, wrapped in foil.

Ingredients

• 350g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 180g brown sugar and/or honey or maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 350g carrots (about 4 large ones), grated
• 3 eggs
• 75ml milk
• 200ml sunflower oil
• handful of chopped walnuts (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Mix everything together in a bowl. You can vary the amount of sugar, depending on the sweetness of the carrots, or replace some of it with either honey or maple syrup.
3. Pour into a greased and lined cake (loose-bottomed if round) or loaf tin.
4. Bake for about 45 – 55mins until dark brown on top.
5. Cool before slicing.

 

Pizza

I have been making my own pizza for a number of years now, and it’s now got to the stage where it’s actually an easy evening meal to for me to do! I would highly recommend buying a pizza stone to bake the pizza on – I’ve found it really does make a huge difference to the crust, and the stone just gets better and better the more you use it.
The fact that I make the pizza myself means I can completely control what goes in and on to it; my ds gets his own little pizza with all his favourite toppings. It’s actually not unhealthy when you think about it!

Ingredients

Base Dough

• 600g plain white flour
• 1 sachet dried yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 4-5 tablespoons olive oil
• approx. 300ml warm water

Tomato Sauce

• 1 carton passata (or finely chopped tomatoes)
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely grated
• salt (optional – I leave this out for ds’s pizza)
• 1 teaspoon mixed herbs

Method

Before starting, put the grid in the lowest position in the oven with the pizza stone on it. Turn the oven onto its highest setting.

Making the pizza base:

1. Put flour, salt, sugar and yeast in mixer and mix using dough hook.
2. While it is mixing, add the oil and slowly add the water until it forms a firm but soft dough. It should NOT be sticky. You might not need all the water.
3. When the dough comes away from the side of the bowl, take it out and knead it by hand until smooth and elastic.
4. Sprinkle a little bit of flour in a bowl, put in the dough and cover with clingfilm. Leave in a warm place until the oven and pizza stone are hot.

Making the tomato base:

1. Pour the passata into a bowl and mix well with all the other ingredients.
2. Leave for the flavours to blend for at least 20mins before tasting and adjusting seasoning if needed.

Prepare your pizza toppings, for example:

- thinly sliced red or green peppers
- thinly sliced mushrooms
- sliced onion rings
- salami, ham, etc
- olives
- tuna
- sweetcorn
- grated cheese and/or fresh mozzarella

1. When the oven is hot, divide the dough into 2 equal-sized pieces, and then take about a quarter off each one again (this will make 2 large pizzas and 2 small ones)
2. Roll one piece out so it is slightly larger than 1 paddle (this is if using a pizza stone – if not, just roll the dough out so that it fits onto an oiled baking tray). 
3. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on the paddle, and on the pizza base. It should be quite floury and dry. Place the dough on the paddle with the flour side down.
4. Fold in about an inch of the edge of the pizza. I would HIGHLY recommend that you also put a little bit of cheese in here, this gives you the most heavenly stuffed crust and stops the topping from sliding off.
5. Spread the tomato sauce thinly over the base, add the toppings you want (remember, less is more) and sprinkle cheese on top.
6. Place onto the pizza stone very carefully!
7. While this pizza is baking, prepare the second one on a paddle.
8. After about 7 or 8 minutes, see if the pizza is ready (the edges should have risen and the cheese should be golden).
9. Carefully take it out with the empty paddle and place the prepared second pizza in to bake.
10. If you can, leave it stand for a couple of minutes before cutting into it.

 

I tend to make my ds’s pizzas first and let them cool while I’m doing the rest.

 

Dried Fruit

This isn’t a recipe, it’s just an idea for dessert or snacking (and, incidentally, explains how this website got its name):

Almost every day, my ds gets a “dessert” after either lunch or dinner, and this usually consists of a selection of dried fruit. I started doing this after reading that babies often get constipated when they start on solids for the first time, and you can avoid this by giving them a dried apricot every day. I did exactly this, and can report that we’ve never had any problems at all in the nappy department!

Anyway, the daily apricot eventually expanded to include all of the following:

• raisins
• cranberries
• mangoes
• apple rings
• pineapple
• banana pieces
• pears
• figs

You can basically offer any dried fruit that the baby can pick up and eat by itself. I buy organic, unsweetened dried fruit and it has proved to be an excellent “dessert” in the winter months when fresh fruit is hard to come by (I refuse to buy expensive and, usually, flavourless imported stuff out of season).