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Carrot, spinach cakes

This one was thought of from a need for a quick lunch that packed nutrition.

1 Carrot finely grated½ tsp Garam Masala
1 small onion finely chopped½ tsp paprika
2 Hand full of washed spinach chopped upGround black pepper
1 cup of self-raising flourOlive oil
1 egg70ml whole milk
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda/ baking powderPinch of Bouillon, optional

Heat the oil in pan and add the onion brown and soften that of add the carrot and fry for a further 2 minutes until the colour lightens, this shows that it is cooking. Add your spinach and flavouring’s fry until the spinach is wilted, turn off the heat. You can use what ever you like, we always use mixed herbs they add a lovely taste but also things like paprika, Garam masala, fennel seeds, cumin, coriander seeds, onion seeds. Experiment and find what you family enjoys, for this one the Garam Masala adds a lovely savoury note.

Now shive together the flour and raising agent in a bowl and once the vegetables have cooled mix them through the mixture.   Now whisk the egg and milk together and add that to the dry ingredients and mix through I needed a splash more milk so just check your consistency. It should be able to be spooned easily into the pan, so not to stiff. A bit like American pancakes.

Add the oil to the pan and heat up on a medium heat and drop your cakes in a clockwise pattern. This helps for you to know which to turn first, I have them 2 minutes per side. I needed to remove my pan when scooping the next batch out as it got extremely hot.

Put them on some kitchen towel after removing from the pan.

Enjoy as is or spread some cream cheese on them. You can add a grating of cheese to the mix it is up to you.

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Red Pepper Pasta

Last week I read that red peppers are a great source of Vitamin C. I decided to buy a large bag for £1.45 so we had plenty in to use to prepare healty meals. You can expect to see this sweet, fresh vegetable appear in quit a few of my recipes.

Ingredients:

500g Pasta AdultsMixed Herbs
50g Pasta Babies1 Garlic Clove
½ Punnet of mushroomsPepper and salt to taste
1 Red PepperHand full of spinach ca
1 Medium OnionChorizo & Rocket to garnish
4 Spoons of Cottage cheese, great Protein 
1 Aubergine cubed and roasted 

I fried my peppers first as I like a nice char on them, you can use any oil you like but I use olive (not virgin). When they are the colour you like and a little soft place them in a bowl and set aside. Now fry your onion( add salt here if you want), I like using oil and then adding a little butter, when they are ready add you mushrooms and little nob of butter, herbs and a grind of black pepper. Optionally you can add the spinach now to wilt

Above is all the steps including the blended veg and cottage cheese.

At this point I stopped and just before the children’s dinner time I made a small portion for them, but you can do it all at the same time. Combine all the veg and cottage cheese in a blending jar, I added a splash of whole milk, so it blends easily. Reserve the pan you used to fry everything.

Boil your pasta, we used spaghetti, and drain once it is cooked. Set aside some of the cooking water. Place your drained pasta in the pan you fried everything in add 2-3 spoons of the sauce you prepared and cooking water till it combines well.

I cooked some Chorizo and it went too far and was crispy but turned out to be a great topping. We also grated some Parmesan, but it really didn’t need it as the flavours are intense enough without. Let me know if enjoy the recipe, put your own spin on it, this was only one combination.