Tag Archives: Cheddar Cheese

January 31, 2013

Cheese and Tuna Veggie Bombs!

One for the littlies in your life today. After the popularity of my Sunday Dinner Leftover Cakes, my kids are equally as crazy about these little shallow-fried patties (AKA bombs!) of Leftover Mashed Potato and Veggies, Tuna and Cheese. It’s a flavour combination that works for most little people and happens to be a fine way of sneaking into their tummies a multitude of Hidden Veggies. If your little people are particularly veggie adverse then I advise chopping the veggies very finely, but because the overall flavour is such a pleasing one I doubt they’ll even notice the sneaky good stuff.

Whenever I make any dinners involving mash and veggies, which happens to be pretty often in our house, I always cook a little extra so I can make these tasty little bombs the next day. It’s then a matter of simply mixing the cold mash with any cooked veggies, a little cheddar and a can of tuna. Shaping into patties and coating in breadcrumbs, polenta or panko (or a mixture of any of these) and shallow frying in a little sunflower oil. They can then be served with yet more veggies or baked beans. And there you have it, a generally pretty wholesome dinner easily made in minutes.

And they taste really really good. I really should admit I do make the odd extra for us big people too!

I’m entering my frugal dinner time treat to a couple of challenges. Firstly to the first ever Credit Crunch Munch, a new event co-hosted by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla at Fab Food 4 All.

And secondly for my first ever time to the No Waste Food Challenge held by Kate from Turquoise Lemons, and this month hosted by Elizabeth’s Kitchen. The theme this month handily happens to be Mashed Potatoes!.

And so on to this cinch of a recipe:

Cheese & Tuna Veggie Bombs

Perfect for Toddlers and Young Children, Bigger Kids, Family Dinners, Mid-Week Suppers, The Veggie Adverse. And the leftover ‘leftovers’ can be frozen for a later, even quicker, dinner.

Makes 8 to 10 small patties:

300g of cold Mashed Potato

200g of cold cooked Veggies (if you don’t have enough leftover veggies then you can always top up with defrosted frozen peas or sweetcorn), finely diced

185g tin of Tuna, drained

75g of Cheddar Cheese or similar, grated

3 heaped tablespoons of dry Breadcrumbs, Polenta or Panko (or a mix of any of these)

Sunflower Oil

Simply combine all the ingredients bar the breadcrumbs in a large bowl. Shape into even patties. Place the breadcrumbs/polenta/panko in a flat bottomed bowl.

Now coat the patties in a fine layer of the crumbs and set aside on a plate until you’re ready to fry.

Take a frying pan and pour in enough sunflower oil to make a very fine layer on the bottom. Heat on a low to medium heat. When the oil is hot carefully place your bombs in the oil. You’ll probably have to fry them in a couple of batches.

Fry on both sides until golden brown all over. Drain on kitchen roll and serve.

You might also like:

Chicken Goujons: Kids Fish Pie:

11 Comments | tags: Breadcrumbs, Cheddar Cheese, Hidden Veggies, Leftovers, Oogaa, Panko, Polenta, Potato, Tuna, Veggies | posted in Bigger Kids, Family Dinners, Mid-Week Suppers, Toddlers & Pre-schoolers

November 22, 2012

Pumpkin, Cheese & Red Onion Muffins

By Eat Your Veg

I’m baking more and more with my littlies these days which is wonderful. At the ages of 2 and 4 they really enjoy getting involved at all stages. Every wednesday, as there’s no school on Wednesdays here in France, we bake at least one thing together, usually some sort of muffin, cake or biscuit. They love doing all the stirring, whisking, dolloping, sprinkling, decorating. Then obviously the scoffing.

We’ve made these muffins many a Wednesday baking session lately and I’ve only just realised they’ve yet to be blogged. So easy peasy to make, especially for little hands that like to do stirring, and pretty healthy to boot with all that deliciously sweet roasted pumpkin and red onion. I’m sure they must count as at least one of your five a day? If you or your kids are cheese fiends (like all of us!) then savoury muffins are the way to go, great for snacks, lunches and lunch boxes, picnics and even tea time treats. Fresh out of the oven is best, but they still hold their own cold.

Unusually for me I made large muffins this time round, I usually prefer to make smaller mini sized ones in fairy cake cases. It’s up to you. As for the cheese, I used about half Cheddar and half Parmesan in this batch but you could use all Cheddar or all Parmesan equally as successfully. You can happily substitute the pumpkin for butternut.

Cheesy Grins for Cheesy Muffins!

Pumpkin, Cheese & Red Onion Muffins

Makes 12 large muffins or 24 small mini-muffins

500g of pumpkin or butternut squash, skin and seeds removed

a large red onion

a tablespoon of sunflower oil

275g of plain flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder

½ a teaspoon of English mustard powder

salt & pepper

85g butter

2 free range medium sized eggs

200ml of milk

100g of grated Mature Cheddar or Parmesan or a mixture of the two

Special Equipment: Cake or Muffin Trays, Cake or Muffin Cases

Preheat your oven to 200ºC/Gas Mark 6.

Start with roasting off your pumpkin. Cut into large chunks and place on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes until pretty soft and cooked through, turning once or twice during the cooking time. Once roasted place in a bowl and mash with a potato masher. Set aside cool a little. This part could always been done before when you happen to be using the oven for something else. Over the pumpkin season I tend to always have some pre-roasted pumpkin in the fridge to be used in cakes, muffins, pasta dishes or soups.

While the pumpkin’s roasting, finely slice the red onion. Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently fry the onion for 10 to 15 minutes until softened.

Sift the flour, baking powder and mustard powder into a large bowl. Stir in a pinch of salt and pepper.

Melt the butter and allow to cool a little. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, then whisk or stir in the milk. Once the butter’s cooled a little whisk into the eggs and milk.

Attention littlies, lots of stirring action now required!. Throw the wet mixture into the dry and stir, stir, stir. Once combined chuck in the roasted and mashed pumpkin, red onion and ⅔ of the cheese.

Dollop the mixture into cake or muffin cases in cake or muffin trays. It’s about a dessertspoon of the raw mixture for a fairy cake sized mini-muffin or a heaped tablespoon for a large muffin. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the tops.

Bake in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes for mini-muffins or 40 to 50 minutes for normal full sized. They’re ready when they’re golden on the top, firm to touch and an inserted cake skewer or fork comes out crumb free.

Remove from the trays and cool on a cooling rack. Particularly lovely eaten warm, and if you want to be exceptionally naughty, ahem, break in half and smear in butter.

You might also like:

Super-Fruity Banana Mini Muffins

Pumpkin Carbonara

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

Cheese, Ham & Sweetcorn Muffins

16 Comments | tags: Cheddar Cheese, Cheese, Muffins, Parmesan, Pumpkin, Red Onions | posted in Baking with Kids, Bigger Kids, Cakes & Biscuits, Finger Foods, Toddlers & Pre-schoolers, Vegetarian

September 12, 2012

Back from our Holidays, and a Cheese, Courgette & Cherry Tomato Bread & Butter Pudding

By Eat Your Veg

Well we’re back from our jolidays in the UK, back home to a gloriously hot and sunny September here in France. It’s been a fab time away though and even the weather managed to hold out at it’s best for us. We primarily went for my Big Brother Si’s wedding to Meilee up in Peebles, Scotland (which admittedly was wet and a little on the cold side!) and a fab time was had by all. An amazing hotel (The Cringletie House) and totally stunning food.

Not the most pro or conventional of wedding photies but a fun one of all my family at my Big Bro Si’s wedding, that’s him on the left then my Mum, the bride Meilee, myself (in the flowery dress), Mr F at the back with Master Jacques, my Dad with Miss Frannie, Sis in Law Shelly, and my other brothers Ben and Julian

We also managed to catch up with lots of friends around England that we don’t get to see too often, and had a good few days of chill out time at my Mum and Dads in Herefordshire. Even Mr F came along for the trip, and he really doesn’t ‘do’ holidays or anything that involves leaving Chez Foti really. The doggies and chickens were left in the good hands of my brother-in-law for the first week then our friend Debbie. A huge thank you to you both for housesitting and leaving us with an impeccably clean and tidy house and happy animals, and to Debbie for the lovely fishcakes and a greengage & blackberry crumble (picked from the garden) to come home to. We really should go away more often!

I hate to say it but the tomatoes are still rather prolific at Chez Foti. Several kilos each and every day. My Tomato Veg of the Month is very much continuing into September, and I’ll be doing a huge round-up at the end of the month…..so there’s still time to forward me your favourite tomatoey recipes to try out. And as for the courgettes/marrows, I thought they were on their way out before we left but clearly not:

Some of my post-holiday Veggie Haul!

Not only has Mr F been warned of our impending vegetarian status for the next few weeks, but I feel it’s only fair the kids do their bit too. My Cheese, Courgette & Cherry Tomato Bread & Butter Pudding happens to be one of their favourite veggie dinners, and one that they can be expecting to be eat on a pretty regular basis over the next few weeks!. The savory bread and butter pudding is actually an idea I’ve adapted from Annabel Karmel, and seems to be pretty pleasing to most littlies as well as grown up folk. Perfect for a quick to assemble mid-week family supper, or for just the kids.

Cheese, Courgette & Cherry Tomato Bread & Butter Pudding

Toddlers & Y oung Children, Bigger Kids, Family Dinners, Grown Ups

Enough for a family of four:

a tablespoon of butter

3 thick large slices of white or wholemeal bread

½ a small red onion

a small courgette

15 cherry tomatoes

90g of mature cheddar cheese, grated

3 eggs, free range

260ml of milk

a heaped teaspoon of dijon mustard

a pinch of black pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 180°C.

Start with buttering a small ovenproof dish. Then butter the slices of bread. Cut each of the slices into six to nine pieces.

Prepare the veggies. Finely slice the onion. Cut the courgette into four quarters lengthways, then finely slice. Quarter the cherry tomatoes.

Line the bottom of the buttered dish with half the bread pieces. Follow with a scattering of half the onion, half the courgette slices, half the tomatoes and half the grated cheese. Then repeat with the remainder of the ingredients but not the cheese.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, mustard and pepper. Pour evenly over the pudding. Top with the remaining cheese.

Place in the pre-heated oven for 30 to 40 minutes until puffed up and golden on the top.