April 2007 - Recipe of the Month

Hi Everyone,

Post your recipe here to enter into our Huggies Recipe of the Month Competition. If your recipe is selected it will feature in our Feeding Your Baby section on the Huggies website and you'll receive a prize from Huggies.

Your entry should be a family favourite, perhaps an original creation, but certainly something you have put your stamp on.

Why not take a look at our past winners recipes in our Your Recipe of the Month section of the Huggies site.

Good luck

The Huggies Team

Vegie Burgers

2 potatoes diced
1 piece of pumpkin diced
2 carrots diced
1/4 small onion diced
1c cooked rice
1 egg whisked (optional)
pepper or herbs to taste
cucumber
cheese
tomato
beetroot
chicken stock cube
mayonnaise or tomato sauce
turkish bread or small bake at hme dinner rolls
1c plain flour
1c breadcrumbs
1 extra egg whisked

Dissolve stock cube in hot water. Cook potato, carrot, pumpkin and onion in stock cube water, cook until tender. Mash until smooth (use butter or milk if you like), mix in rice and egg, add half the flour and mix well, add herbs and pepper tp taste. Roll mixture into balls and roll in flour (mixture will be sticky and wet), dip into extra egg and roll in breadcrumbs.
You can either shallow fry the patties or place them onto baking paper and spray with spray and cook which I find works well and is nicer. Cook in hot oven until golden brown.
Place onto turkish bread or rolls with salad ingredients and serve.

NOTE: you can cool the potato mix to make it easier to form into balls and cook. They are also nice with roasted capsicum and rocket and eggplant for a more adult burger. If your child doesn't like salad they are a good way to get vegies into them and burgers seem to be a fav with kids. The patties can also be seved with chicken or meats and are good.

LASAGNE WITH THE LOT!

Meat Sauce...
Mince (500g approx)
Bolagnaise mix
Onion
garlic
Mushrooms
Capcicum
Grated carrot and zuchini
peas
beans
corn
whatever vegies you have in the fridge/cupboard

Brown mince, onion and garlic. Add bolagnaise mix prepared using packet instructions. Add rest of vegies, simmer till cooked through and set aside.

Mashed Potato and Pumpkin...
Boil/steam 700g approx of potato and pumpkin

Drain and roughly mash together with butter and milk, a little salt and pepper.

White Sauce...
4 tablespoons butter
2 or 3 tablespoons plain flour
1 cup milk
Grated cheese
(these measurements are approx as I can make it by sight now)

Melt butter wisk in flour till it looks like a biscuit dough. Add milk slowly wisking quickly all the time to prevent lumps. Add desired amount of cheese and wisk till it reaches the consistancy of cream and remove from heat. (sometimes I skip the cheese and add a teaspoon of horseradish cream it just makes it tasty not hot)
If you're not keen on making your own white sauce a packet mix will work just fine.


Spread a thin layer of meat sauce on bottom of baking dish (just enough to prevent they first layer of lasagne sheets sticking).
Then layer lasagne sheets, white sauce, meat sauce and potato and pumpkin mash, do this twice. Finish with a layer of lasagne sheets topped with white sauce and grated cheese. Place in 200 degree oven till heated through and cheese is golden. (This freezes really well!)

Broccoli, Cauliflower and cheese frittata

200g broccoli
200g cauliflower
1 cup grated cheese
½ cup grated parmesan
7 eggs
1/3 cup cream

1. preheat oven to moderate. Grease 20cm x 30cm lamington pan. Line base and sides with baking paper.
2. Thinly slice broccoli and Cauliflower vertically. Place broccoli and cauliflower in a large saucepan of boiling water; return to a boil, drain. Rinse under cold water; drain. Pat dry
3. layer broccoli and cauliflower and combined cheeses in prepared pan then pour over combined eggs and cream. Cook, uncovered, in moderate oven about 25 minutes or until frittata sets. Cool 5 minutes.
4. serve frittata with salad – combine different colour teardrop and baby roma tomatoes


this is our favourite we love it because it means James is eating vegies without really knowing it the green and white trees as we call them are gobbled up in no time.

PINEAPPLE PASTA BAKE
Serves 5

200 g dry pasta
500 g extra lean beef mince
3 shallots
1 cup Mushrooms
400 g can pineapple in natural juice
50 g Frozen Corn Kernels
3/4 cup frozen green peas
2 tbs cornflour
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs soy sauce
1 1/2 tbs White Vinegar
75 g Grated Light Cheese

Cook pasta in boiling water until soft. Drain pineapple and reserve juice. Brown mince in non stick pan, add shallots and mushrooms, cook until soft. Add pineapple, peas and corn. Mix drained pineapple juice with cornflour, soy sauce, brown sugar and vinegar. Add to mince mixture and stir until thickened. Stir in pasta, transfer to casserole dish and top with cheese. Bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes until brown.

This is quite sweet so should appeal to the little ones!

We have a hard time getting our man to eat Stea but he enjoys eating it cooked this way as it’s tender and very easy to eat.

Baked Steak

Steak
French onion soup mix/Brown onion soup mix
Red and/or green capsicum
Butter/Margarine
Mushroom
Onion
Foil - torn for individual serves

Grease foil with butter/margarine.

Place each piece of trimmed steak on foil.

Cut onion, capsicum and mushroom into small pieces. Place on top of each piece of steak. Sprinkle with French Onion soup mix and dot with a small piece of butter/margarine.

Bunch foil loosely.

Place in oven (180 degrees). Time will depend on how you liked you steak cooked. I like ours well done and this usually takes about 30 minutes, after approximately 25 minutes in the oven, I open each foil parcel slightly and cook for the further 5 minutes.

Hawaiian Potatoes

4 -5 similar sized potatoes
200g piece of pumpkin (or to taste)
150g ham (small diced)
1 small tin pineapple
1 - 2c grated low fat cheese
Italian herbs, pepper, oregano or other spices

Wash potatoes and prick skins all over with a fork. Cook on HIGH in microwave approx 10mins. Spray lightly with cooking spray, bake in 180 oven for about 45minutes or until golden brown. Boil pumpkin in chicken stock until tender, drain and mash. Cut across top of potato and scoop out the centres. Mix potato with pineapple, ham, about 2/3 of the cheese, pumpkin and herbs to taste. Put the mix back into the potato shells, put potato top back on and sprinkle top with cheese. bake about 15minutes or until cheese is melted and golden. Serve with a salad or some grilled fish.

Other fillings can include left over bolognaise, nachos mix, stirfries or vegie mix (frozen vegie mixes work well and make boring vegies more interesting for children - tell them it is the vegies swimming pool).

Stir-fry of Beef, Pumpkin and Spinach

1 red capsicum
½ cup roasted cashews
½ cup parsley sprigs
Freshly ground black pepper
½ lemon, juiced
1 clove garlic, crushed
400g beef stir-fry strips
500g butternut pumpkin, peeled, cubed and cooked
4 medium potatoes, thickly sliced and cooked
1 tblspn oil, extra
1 bunch English spinach, chopped

Method:
Quarter capsicum. Microwave, covered, for 3 - 4 minutes. Keep covered until
cool enough to remove skin. Combine capsicum, cashews, parsley, pepper, lemon juice and garlic in a blender or food processor.
Heat oil in wok or deep pan. Add beef in batches. Stir-fry until beef is tender. Remove.
Add pumpkin and potatoes to wok, then capsicum mixture and spinach. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Add beef. Stir through gently.

Creamy Spinach and Cheese Fettucine

150g spinach
2 tomatoes
500g fettucine pasta
60g Butter
30g plain flour
500ml Milk
100g Shredded Cheddar Cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
60g Parmesan fresh basil leaves

Finely chop spinach and dice tomatoes. Add pasta to a large pot of salted boiling water. Boil for 10-15 minutes or until pasta is just tender. Drain. Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Whisk in milk and bring to the boil, stirring constantly until sauce has thickened. Add cheese, spinach, tomato, salt and pepper and stir until cheese has melted. Add pasta to sauce and combine until heated through. Serve garnished with Parmesan shavings and basil leaves.

Cheese and Spinach Rolls

500g frozen spinach(moisture squeezed out) or
500g fresh spinach (cooked and drained of moisture)
2c ricotta cheese
1c fetta cheese (crumbled)
6 spring onions (finely chopped)
2TBS parsley (optional)
3tsp lemon juice
2 eggs (whisked)
pepper to taste
1pkt spring roll wrappers OR
4 sheets puff pastry

Mix all ingredients. Place tablesppon fulls of mixture onto corner of spring roll wrapper and roll into centre folding over each corner to make a parcel. Wet the tip of the wrapper and press to secure. Spray with cooking spray and bake at 170 for 20 mins until crisp. For puff pastry place sausage shaped mound of mixture in centre of pastry and roll to form a sausage roll shape. Wet one edge of pastry and press to other to secure. Spray with cooking spray and bake at 180 for approx 20 mins until golden. If you like sprinkle top with grated tasty cheese before baking.

Deb's Yummy Rice and Tuna Salad

My family adores this recipe! It's something that can be made ahead of time and is actually more delicious the following day when the flavours have infused a bit more. You can play around with the quantities of salad ingredients to your family's taste (e.g. my toddler doesn't like sun-dried tomato, so we either add it once her serving has been dished up, or pick the bits of tomato out). You can eat this warm or chilled depending on your preference. It's also delicious rolled up in Lebanese bread.

Salad Ingredients:
2 cups long grain rice
1 litre vege or chicken stock
1 x 400g tin corn kernels
2-3 spring onions sliced finely
1/2 cup semi-dried tomatoes cut in half
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh basil
100g toasted pine nuts
200g tin tuna in olive oil (you can use tuna in spring-water or brine if you prefer - there is plenty of oil in the dressing - this is just our preference)

Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
1-2 garlic cloves crushed
1-2 tbsp seeded mustard (depending on your taste)
salt & black pepper to taste

Cook rice in stock (using absorption method or rice cooker) until light and fluffy when you fluff with a fork. Let rice cool down slightly. Then mix with all salad ingredients, except tuna, in a bowl. Put all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake until well mixed (Hint: this is something your preschooler will enjoy doing!) - add more lemon juice if it seems too thick. Pour dressing over salad and mix well. Drain tuna and flake it - mix into salad. Eat and enjoy!

(My secret fool-proof method of cooking rice using absorption:
Put desired amount of rice in a medium sized pot and add enough liquid (stock or water) until the water is about 3-4 cms deep over the rice. Bring uncovered rice to boil, then turn down to low and cook until all liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked (about 10-15mins or so) - if rice is still a bit crunchy, add a tiny bit more water so it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pot, and let it absorb. DO NOT STIR RICE AT ANY POINT! Once cooked, rice should be light and fluffy when you fluff it with a fork.)

Easy Pumpkin soup.

Whole pumpkin (I use jap)
Prick holes around the stalk
Bake whole pumpkin seeds n all in oven on 180.c till is soft to poke (Dents)
Allow pumpkin to cool.
Cut off top, scoop out flesh, discard skin and seeds (Seeds taste nice salted and baked on a baking dish)
Blend flesh, add seasoning if u wish. Texture may be altered with stock or milk.

Herbs and spices may be added to taste but i like the traditional pumkin soup taste. Hearty warm and healthy.

Voila - Pumpkin soup.