Quick, easy, family friendly, nutritious recipe...

Following on from my post about supplementation here I thought it might be useful to do the the odd post about healthy eating and in particular healthy recipes that are also suitable for babies/toddlers.

I am not one for spending hours in the kitchen unneccesarily.  And by that I mean cooking mutiple meals for different family members.  From about 9 months Star has been eating with us, and I always overcater to ensure that I can feeze a few portions – there are occasions when The Daddy and I want to eat something that Star wouldn’t appreciate.

So, before we get into the detail, some general principles…

• Buy the best quality ingredients you can afford, or better still, grow your own.  This doesn't mean shopping in M&S, but choosing free range, or organic if possible.  If you can't just make sure you wash all fruit and veg thoroughly (and peel if you can) to remove surface pesticides and limit the amount of meat and dairy you eat to minimise your exposure to the livestocks antibiotics and artificial hormones.

• Buy and use produce at it’s freshest.  If this is not possible/available buy frozen.  The nutrient content of food diminishes in parallel with the time it takes to get from harvest to plate.

So, the recipe.  This is one of Star’s favourites, and mine too.  It is meat free but provides all the required amino acids to make a compete protein meal.  It is also high in fibre and therefore very filling – perfect for the last meal of the day to fill up little tummies to last through the night.

You will need:-

1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

1 x 400g tin of chickpeas (or dried and soaked equivalent)

0.5 x 400g tin of coconut milk

200ml of water

1 tsp fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic

1 red or green chilli

1.5 tsp korma curry powder (or make your own if you can find a recipe – and please share it !)

2 good handfuls of spinach

1. Finely chop (or quickly whizz in a mini processor) the garlic, chilli, ginger and onion.  Transfer to a pan      and soften in some oil.
2. Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, curry powder and water and leave to simmer for 5 mins, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the cocnut milk and simmer for a further 2 mins, stirring occasionally
4. Add the spinach a couple of mintues before serving.

Serve with boiled brown rice.  This is important as it provides the amino acids missing from the chickpeas to complete the protein.  As previous white rice eaters we like the brown basmati best.  I mash Stars before feeding him as the chickpeas are too big for him and despite his mouth full of teeth he tries to swallow them whole !

I hope you like this as much as we all do.  I have found it hard to find family friendly nutirious recipes so if you have one I’d love to hear about it !

Quick, easy, family friendly, nutritious recipe...