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Banana eggy bread

French toast to some this will always be eggy bread to me.

I used to go on Brownie camp every year, and every year we would get eggy bread one morning for breakfast. Depending on your duty that morning you sometimes got to be the lucky one dipping slice after slice of bread ready to feed a troop of hungry mouths. The only bad fate was if you were left till last with the heel of the loaf. Nothing is a bigger let down that heel of the loaf eggy bread. Back then I hadn’t even heard of maple syrup and the only choice of topping was ketchup. I grew up firmly in the eggy bread as a savory breakfast camp and despite the husband and LA’s best efforts maple syrup does not get plate space with my ‘french toast’. With the little one loving finger food, eggy bread is a great breakfast. Its easy and quick to make and is a total family pleaser. This recipe adds in banana but you can leave it out, or add in other flavors like grated carrot, grated apple or just keep it plain and simple.

This banana eggy bread is the baby’s favorite variety. The banana caramelizes and sweetens the bread meaning that you don’t need any extra sweetener or syrup. I like to serve hers on lollipop sticks, interspersed with slices of soft or cooked fruit. She loves pulling the food off and I love that there is less food flung around the kitchen.

Can we just go back to maple syrup for one second. Did it exist in Europe in the 90’s? What about hummus? Chia seeds? There are so many foods now that are a regular part of my diet. Foods that don’t seem exotic to me at all in many ways and yet if I think about them, I think I only tasted them in my twenties for the first time. Along with hummus and maple syrup I could also add sushi, dimsum, thai green curry, tofu, and so many more. What about you?

Thankfully this eggy bread is as good now as it was 25 years ago. This is a recipe that I loved growing up and that my daughter loves now. I hope you enjoy it too.

Ingredients (serves 4)
4 large slices of bread
2 eggs whisked
3 tbsp milk
2 tsp cinnamon
1 ripe banana

Method
Whisk together the eggs and the banana
Stir in the cinnamon
Whisk in the milk
Soak the bread slices in the eggy mixture
Once they are well soaked place into a hot oiled pan and cook on either side until golden brown

For little ones, cut into cubes and serve with soft fruit

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Mama on a Monday – baked courgette chips

I know that it feels like the day often revolves around making three balanced meals, but sometimes you just need a little snack. These courgette chips are exactly that. They are the most delicious, mid afternoon, makes a change from a yogurt or a box of raisins, snack. They are also a perfect side dish, a side to salmon burgers, or a late summer BBQ. They are really easy to make and follow the same system as the crispy avocado slices so whilst you are making one…you could make the other for a double snack whammy. All day long we have been nibbling these off the baking tray, warm out of the oven, dipped in homemade ketchup, Crazy delicious, crazy addictive.

Coating slippery vegetables in bread crumbs makes it much easier for small hands to pick them up. I also use a crinkle cutter for fruit like melon or mango to make it easier for the little one. This recipe would also work with pepper slices, marrow and green beans too. For older kids you can add grated parmesan into the breadcrumbs and for kids of any age you can add ground fresh or dried herbs or spices into the breadcrumbs to keep their tastebuds happy.

Ingredients
2 courgettes cut into batons

1 egg whisked

4 tbsp breadcrumbs

2 tbsp flour

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C

Lightly oil a baking tray or large dish

Place the egg into one bowl, the flour into a second and the breadcrumbs into a third

Dip each baton first into the flour, then the egg and finally the breadcrumbs

Place onto the baking tray, spray with a little oil and bake for 20mins or until golden brown and crispy

 

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Mama on a Monday – Breakfast cookies

I would like to impart on my daughter my love of breakfast. It is without a doubt my favorite meal of the day. I can easily go with dinner but breakfast makes me happy. It doesn’t have to be big, in fact a large well made coffee and a bowl of berries is perfection, but it does have to taste damn good. There are so many foods that just seem better at breakfast. Soft scrambled eggs, buckwheat pancakes, fruit. Not to mention porridge, bircher and smoothies. The mini one is coming round to the idea of eating in the morning but she is also busy right now, so very very busy. She has just started to stand up and is trying to stand without holding on right now. Every surface needs to be explored and every book shelf needs to be attempted. This means that breakfast for her needs to be quick and for my piece of mind it needs to be nutritionally dense. Every mouthful needs to count.

These breakfast cookies are delicious. I enjoyed one, warm out the oven, baby on one hip, coffee out of short arms reach. They are hearty and naturally sweet. They taste of cinnamon and raisins but with the earthiness of oats.

Oats are a great breakfast food, they are easy to digest but they don’t raise the blood sugar and provide slow release energy. Cinnamon is naturally sweet which means you can use less sweetener and it also has the added benefit of being a great antioxidant. It can be an allergen so make sure you test first. I made 12 cookies from this batch but you could make smaller ‘snack’ size version too.

Depending what your little one likes you could add in apricots or dried berries. If nuts are tolerated then you can substitute one cup of oats for 1 cup of ground almonds or fold in some chopped nuts. You could even add desiccated coconut or orange zest. Customize as you fancy but most of all enjoy.

Ingredients (makes 12 large cookies)
2.5 cups oats (plus 2 tbsp for rolling)

2 tbsp maple syrup/date syrup

1 large banana

1 tbsp apple puree

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp raisins

Method
Preheat your oven to 170C

Place the banana, olive oil, apple puree & cinnamon into your food processor and blitz till pureed

Add in the oats and raisins and blitz unit you have a thick, sticky dough

Line a baking tray with baking paper

Place 2 tbsp of oats into a shallow dish

Using your hands shape spoonfuls of the dough into balls and roll in the oats

Place onto the lined baking tray

Bake for 30 mins flipping once

Enjoy