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Dinner With Crayons

Colourful Family Food

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Archives for October 2013

Fish Finger Sandwich with Mushy Pea Pesto

October 31, 2013

Fish Finger Sandwich with Mushy Pea Pesto by DinnerWithCrayons.com #familyfood #sandwiches #fishfingers

Fish fingers are usually such cliched kids’ food. Some fish fingers are truly suspect with mushy white stuff that bears more resemblance to mashed potato than fish.

Recently though I had opportunity to try these monster fish fingers from the newly revamped Tesco Finest range.

“You’re feeding them those on a play date?” said my husband, “Bit glam aren’t they?”

Larger than your average fish finger and visibly made from whole strips of fish, I don’t think I’ll look at fish fingers in the same way again.

Also in the range were petit pois which I whizzed up into glam mushy peas with the addition of some home made pesto lurking in the freezer.

Put it altogether with a couple of slices of home baked white bread and the humble fish finger is turned into a mighty feast worthy of any gastro pub lunch menu.

When did you last eat fish fingers? Are you fish finger phobic?!

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With thanks to Tesco for sample Finest products. Say hi to them on Twitter @Tescofood or hashtag #LoveEveryMouthful
With thanks also to Buy It Direct for their hand blender which I’m still yet to test the whisk or mini chopper functions.

Filed Under: Eating In

Spicy Lentils a la Mighty Spice Express

October 29, 2013

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Beans and pulses are the foundation of low cost healthy food but try as I might, I can’t get my six year old to eat them.

He does however have a penchant for curried stuff therefore I thought I might be in with a chance with this Mighty Spice Express Moroccan lentils recipe.

I’d been psyched up to soak and boil lentils but this being Mighty Spice Express, canned ones are prescribed. We didn’t have all of the ingredients and I had to tone it down slightly for someone’s tiny tummy.

If you wanted to cut costs further you could soak dried lentils… I must make a point of doing this and filling my freezer with batches of this made in bulk.

This would make a great side dish or main course. And it’s vegetarian! I’ve already stocked up on two more cans of the lentils and intend to make it regularly.

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Spicy lentils
Adapted from Heather’s Moroccan Paprika and Garlic Lentils
from Mighty Spice Express by John Gregory Smith

Ingredients
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil (plus a drizzle over the top on serving)
1 x 400g can brown lentils, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
small handful of chopped parsley
1 tsp lemon juice
salt to season

Directions:
1. Fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil in a medium size saucepan until softened.
2. Add the tomato puree, smoked paprika, cumin seeds, pepper, sugar and lentils together with 150mls hot water and stir.
3. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes until the sauce is thickened.
4. Finally add the chopped parsley, lemon juice and a drizzle of extra olive oil.

Mighty Spice Express

With thanks for review copy of Might Spice Express. Say hi to writer John Gregory-Smith on Twitter @mightyspice

Filed Under: Eating In

Fridge Bottom Soup using up left overs #NoCroutonsRequired #CreditCrunchMunch #ShopLocal

October 20, 2013

Fridge Bottom Soup using up leftovers at DinnerWithCrayons.com #soup #recipes #thrifty #mealplans

Saturday lunch so often means soup in our house. Prior to every supermarket trip I’ll do a sweep of the fridge bottom drawers and see what can be used up in a soup for lunch or maybe a curry that night.

Leaving a nice clear space for the fresh new ingredients I’m about to stock up with.

Anything that might be too lacklustre to eat raw or you’re just generally sick of the sight of can be simmered and blitzed in a low cost lunch dish of soup.

With soup a healthy eating, thrifty, convenient option, there’s very little excuse for wasting vegetables. You don’t even have to be eating it that day, I often freeze soups in flat single portion pouches by laying bags in a larger box. This way you can stack them up in same size piles when frozen.

It goes without saying that you might chuck anything into a fridge bottom soup but here’s what was in ours today:

 

Fridge Bottom Soup

Serves 3-4

 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

3 small onions, finely chopped (1 big one is fine)

2 big cloves of garlic, finely chopped

4 rather soft tomatoes chopped into chunks (stalky bits removed)

4 floppy carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks

1 vegetable stock cube or pot dissolved in 1 litre boiling water from kettle.

A few stalks of wilted basil (use any fresher ones as garnish)

You will need a blender.

 

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, when hot fry the chopped onion until soft. Add the garlic and continue to fry until golden brown.

2. Add the carrots and the stock. Bring up to the boil and simmer for ten minutes until the carrots are cooked.

3. Add the tomatoes, heat through. Turn off the heat and blend thoroughly either with a stick blender

4. Serve with good bread and butter. Serve immediately or freeze for later.

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This soup is being submitted to the following blog events:

No Croutons Required hosted alternately by Lisa and this month Jac at Tinned Tomatoes with the theme “blended soup”.

Credit Crunch Munch organised by Helen and Camilla and this month hosted by Michelle at Utterly Scrummy.

Shop Local hosted by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary – this soup was using locally bought organic carrots from Second Nature in Walthamstow.

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With thanks to Buy It Direct for the blender and Lurpak for the sourdough and sample of their new slow churned butter.

Filed Under: Eating In Tagged With: carrot, No Croutons Required, onions, tomatoes

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