Cooking with Children - Lamb Stir-Fry

 We were given a some welsh lamb and the ingredients to make a welsh lamb stir fry from the Cool2Cook2 book which has been produced by Meat Promotion Wales (Hybu Cig Cymru) to help get kids cooking.

I love getting the boys in the kitchen, so we set about following the recipe on Saturday evening.  The boys chopped all the vegetables, whilst I did the ginger and MadDad prepared the lamb, which was welsh and organic.

I have to say that the recipe was really easy to follow and the boys did the majority of the work, with me and MadDad supervising.

We really enjoyed it and there was 4 empty bowls at the end of the evening.  In fact the boys enjoyed it so much that we made Lamb Kofta Kebabs out of the book for Sunday dinner.

They went down a treat.  If you can get hold of this cook book then I would, it has some very easy, well balanced recipes in it and the MiniMads want to try them all and I can see it being used time and time again, especially when they are a little older and I can get them to cook dinner for us all!

Tiffin/Rocky Road

In an homage to my fellow MAD finalist Nick at My Daddy Cooks, Mini and I made a twist on his and Archies Tiffin 

We followed Nick's basic recipe, but made a few tweaks as we went along.

125g butter
250g digestive biscuits
4 tbsp golden syrup
3 tbsp high quality cocoa powder
75g raisins
250g plain/dark chocolate

Instead of using the microwave we melted our butter, golden syrup and chocolate over the stove, for me I love the way it all melts together, so smooth and silk like.

We then added it to our biscuit mix and added in raisins and mini marshmallows.

What is truly great about this recipe is that mini did most of the work, but adding golden syrup, you make the chocolate more pliable and it takes longer to set.  I always add golden syrup to the chocolate when making crispy cakes or our Jelly Baby Jesus Cakes

We placed the mix in to a silicon tray and pushed in some more marshmallows on top and I left it in the fridge for an hour or so, whilst mini set to on the spatula and bowl.

Once it was set, I cut it in to very small squares.  We have been enjoying this as a treat once the boys are home from school with a nice cup of tea.

If you would like to vote for me in The Mads (Mummy and Daddy Blogger Awards) then please follow this link.  I really appreciate your vote.

The Best Ever Oat and Raisin Cookies in the world

I dont say it lightly, but these cookies are amazing and never last in our house.  They truly are the best.  This is an American Recipe (it came on the back of some sunmaid raisins from the US), but that said is super easy for the boys, as I have some plastic cup measures that they use.

So here goes

Ingredients

3/4 cup softened butter or margarine
1 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 cup Raisins

 

Method

Heat oven to 180. 
Beat butter, brown sugar, caster sugar, milk, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
Add to butter mixture and mix well.
Stir in oats, raisins and nuts, if using. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets.
Cool on wire racks.

Then get the children to clean up after themselves!

If you like them, then I am sure you will love the best carrot cake in the world ever too, dont take my word for it, have a look at some of the comments.

Kitchen Chalk Board Wall

I am a great fan of affirmations and inspiration quotes and sayings and have been looking for a way to display some of these in my home.

I spend a lot of my time in the kitchen, cooking, eating breakfast, washing the pots, putting the washer on, sitting and chatting to friends. So was ideally looking for something to use in the kitchen. I also wanted to be able to update the words as and when I needed to. MadDad came up with the idea of a chalkboard after me and MaxiMad painted the playhouse.

Never one to sit on my laurels I set too yesterday. We marked out the area with masking tape and then I applied the first coat. Second coat when on yesterday evening and the final coat of paint at 6am this morning.

I have wrote two of my favorite and most appropriate quotes on to it and I love it. It fits the space perfectly.

And better still, so do the boys. I was busy preparing the curry this evening and turned round to see MiniMad chalking away.