Fish, baked potato and vegetables, toddler meal - recipe

As we try to make give our son the same food as we eat, I often just give him his meals that have same ingredients as us, but try to make it in a healthier version and add less salt. Luckily he likes fish and I always try to give it to him twice a week.

Ingredients:

1 piece of white fish

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 baked potato

1/2 cup boiled vegetables

Method:

1. Fry the white fish gently in a pan with 2 tbsp of vegetable oil until lightly browned. Bake the potato in the oven until cooked through in 220 degrees for ca 45 min. Boil the frozen vegetables. Serve it together with a click of butter on the potato to make it moister and easier to eat. 

Enjoy!

Egg-free battered fish and baked potato - recipe

Now that my mum keeps saying do not eat to much red meat, we are eating more fish in this household. Which is good, as it is healthy. But sometimes I like to make the fish in an unhealthy way and deep fry it. It make is crunchy on top but soft inside and simply delicious. Specially if it is battered. I wanted to do my own batter, but unfortunately did not have any eggs so had to come up with a quickly and egg free recipe instead. It turned out good although I  was not so sure as it was egg free. That teaches me that I should improvise a lot more in the kitchen.

Ingredients:

white fish fillets

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

fish seasoning

salt and pepper

vegetable oil

baked potato

frozen vegetable to boil

butter

Method:

1. Mix flour, baking powder, fish seasoning and salt and pepper in a flat bowl. Add little oil and both sides of the fish and dip it in the dry batter. Alternatively you can add 1 cup water to the batter to make it runny and you can dip the fish in it. Fry in a shallow frying pan on medium high temperature.

2. Bake the potatoes in the oven for ca 1 hour. Poke the potatoes first before putting it in.

3. Boil frozen vegetables of your choice. Once everything is done. Serve it in a plate with a click of butter on the baked potato. I also sprinkle a bread dipping mix seasoning over the baked potato as it gives it more taste. But that is optional.

Enjoy!

Battered Fish with Wedge Potatoes and Delicious White Sauce - Recipe

Fish is something we often eat in many different ways. But sometimes I cant be bothered to cook it fresh and to be honest crave the battered fish fillets by Birds Eye. It always reminds me of the fish we used to get in school which used to be served with a white cold sauce. I always took seconds the day 

it was served.

Ingredients:

2 battered fish fillets (home made or store bought)

potato wedges for oven bake

2 dl sour cream

2 dl mayo

3 tbsp pickled cucumber relish

2 tsp dried dill

salt and pepper to taste

lime

Method:

1. Begin by put the potato wedges and the battered fish in the oven according to instructions.

2. While that is being done, prepare the lovely white sauce that goes so well with fish and is to served cold. Also called vit fiskås in Swedish. Mix all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Put it in the fridge to cool. Once everything is done, serve it one a plate with the sauce and slices of lime.

Enjoy!

Toddler Lunch and Snack Ideas

Having a toddler in the house that loves his food has made me thinking of various meals that I can offer without it getting to repetitive . I try to to make new meals almost everyday so that he can enjoy something new and tasty everyday. I feel that by giving him new flavours everyday it has made him less fuzzy and open for new ideas and tastes. So here follows different meal ideas of what I give him.

Lentil and sweet potato mash. Boil them together and season with mustard seed, ground ginger, garlic, coriander and cumin. 

Oven baked french fries and fish fingers 

Orzo pasta mixed with a pasta sauce, topped with grated cheddar cheese.  Pasta sauce is made on a mix of marinara sauce mixed with fried minced meat and vegetable. 

Mini star pasta mixed with a minced meat pasta sauce. Sauce is made by cooking a pasta sauce with carrots, onions, various vegetable and minced meat and then processed to a smooth puree. 

Lentil stew with rice. The stew is cooked by boiling the lentils until soft. Seasoned with mustard seed, paprika powder, mild curry powder, coriander, cumin and dried parsley. Salt and pepper. Process the stew until it is smooth. Add a handful of uncooked rice and a friend medium onion and let it simmer until thick. 

                           

Snack: chopped strawberries and blueberries. Try to give these before they are out of season.

Snack: boiled egg

                            

Toast sandwich with avocado spread and a chopped egg, seasoned with paprika powder

                               

Enjoy!

Potato salad served with oven-fried fish - recipe

We have been blessed with a great weather here in the UK, almost to the point that you cant handle the heat. Days like these, it is often hard to find motivation to stand by the cooker and make a hot meal. On the contrary, you want something light, quick and preferably cold, or at least not piping hot. What comes to mind is generally a nice salad. But, salad is not always enough if you are very hungry and want something more hearty and filling. Then what can be better than a cold potato salad? It is a great option to serve with meat, seafood, fish or just keeping it vegetarian. It is a must on every BBQ I would say. So how did I do it? 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayo

2 full tbs of creme fraiche

2 tbs of cucumber relish (I am using Bostongurka from Sweden)

1 tsp paprika, dried dill, granulated onion powder, chive, salt and pepper to taste

1tsp of Jacobsbaii spice mix by u-kuva i-africa (not necessary if you don't have it, but gives a zesty and tangy flavour)

2 stalks of celery

few stalks of spring onion to taste

2 hard boiled eggs

3-6 potatoes depending on how much potatoey you want it to be

Method:

1. Begin with putting the eggs in cold water and bring it to a boil for ca 10-15 minutes until hard boiled.

At the same time boil the potatoes in salted water. I did not boil the potato this time as I needed them to be done quickly. I simply peeled them and chopped them into bite size and put them in the microwave on the potato setting for 10 minutes.

2. While potatoes and eggs are being boiled you can start doing the dressing for the potato salad. In a bowl, mix the mayo and all the seasoning together. Wash and chop the celery and spring onions as well as the eggs once they are done. 

3. Once the potatoes are done as well, mix it with the dressing, celery, spring onions and eggs until everything is coated well.

 4. I served the potato salad with oven-fried breaded cod fish and it was delicious. But of course you can serve it as is, or with grilled meat. Another great idea is to mix it with a few cooked shrimps, which makes it a great salad with seafood, yum yum.

Enjoy!

Baked salmon with U-kuva i-Africa spice rub and mashed potato - Recipe

I have discovered a new brand of spices that I am interested in using more of in my cooking. U-kuva i-Africa is a fair trade brand specializing in spices and sauces inspired from all corners of the beautiful African continent. So far I have used the Jacobsbaai spice rub for fish and it was truly a special mix and very flavorful. Unfortunately I couldn't find this mix in their product section on their website so I hope they have not discontinued it as it was very good. I used the mix to rub in a baked salmon, served with veggies and mashed potato. In the mashed potato, I also used a very tasty mix to spice it up a bit: Pepper creek farm's Parmesan Garlic Bread Dipping mix. I love to find new spice mixes and introduce them to my cooking in various ways. These two spices I bought from TK Maxx, which generally have spices and sauces that are a bit hard to find elsewhere and more exclusive.

Ingredients:
3 salmon fillet
U-kuva i-Africa Jacobsbaai spice mix
10 potatoes
butter
milk
pepper creek farm parmesan garlic bread dipping mix
salt and pepper


Method: 
1. Layer the salmon fillets in a oven dish and rub them with a little oil and the U-kuva i-Africa Jacobsbaai spice mix all over, with the skin side down. Bake in the oven 185 degrees for 30 minutes.

2. Boil the potatoes and once done, mash up with a potato mash utensil. Add salt and pepper, 1 tsp of Pepper Creek Farm Parmesan garlic bread dipping mix. Also, add butter and milk to taste and mix everything well.

3. Serve The salmon with the mashed potato and dry fried veggies with a pinch of Parmesan garlic bread dipping mix.

Enjoy!

Seared Salmon with Mashed Potato and Vegetables - Recipe

Whenever I cook my seared salmon with mashed potato and vegetables, I think of the lunch meals we were given at school in Sweden. This meal used be one of the many tasty ones served at my school. I was fortunate to go to a grade/high school that made lovely food at school which was healthy and delicious. I remember when I finished 9th grade and was going to high school, one thing that worried me was the food. So I shared my thought with the food lady in the school canteen and she started to laugh. She told me that they actually cook food for that high school as well. I was so happy that the next three years' school meals would be equally good. I often find me thinking of the various meals given during that period and try to cook it. Whatever recipe I use, It always turns out as good as it used to be several years ago.

Ingredients:

2 big salmon fillet

3-5 potatoes

1 cup frozen peas and sweet corn

1-2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp corn oil

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

sesame seed

paprika powder

ca 1 cup milk

Method:

1- Start by seasoning the salmon fillet with salt, pepper, paprika powder and sesame seeds. Heat a non-stick pan on high heat with the corn oil or any other oil of your choice. Place the salmon fillet with the skin side down  and allow to cook for 5-10 minutes or until browned and cooked half way through. At this point, reduce the stove to medium heat. Don't be tempted to move it to much. Then turn the fillet and cook for another couple of minutes until cooked through.

2- Boil the potatoes according to your own special way, until tender. Then add milk, and butter and season with salt, pepper and some paprika powder. Mash it up and put aside.

3- Last step is to fry the frozen vegetables in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Serve them together with the mashed potato and seared salmon and sprinkle a few extra sesame seeds over the vegetables.

Enjoy!

Pan-fried Salmon with Couscous - Recipe

One of my favorite healthy meals are pan-fried salmon with couscous and fried vegetables. Why? Because it is so quick to do it. You might think that frying the salmon and vegetables are not particularly healthy, but it depends on what oil and what frying pan you use. I had some couscous left over from a previous dinner and decided to make a fish meal. Since salmon is one of my favorite fish it had to be my couscous and salmon dish. By adding vegetables, fried or boiled, it fills you up without adding too many calories.

Here, I used olive oil and a good non stick frying pan, for the salmon as well as the vegetables. A true 15 minute meal. Beat that Jamie Oliver :) 

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1 salmon fillet, chopped into pieces

3 tbsp  chilli olive oil

1/2 cup frozen vegetables

1/3 cup instant couscous (leftover from a previous dinner)
2 tsp lemon juice

Spices: Pinch of salt and pepper, dried dill, lemon and garlic powder, fish spice mix
Spices for vegetables: Garlic and lemon powder, salt and pepper, smoked paprika, dried dill

Method:

1- I took out the left over couscous and heat it up in the microwave. Alternatively, make a cup of couscous according to the instruction on the package. Set aside.

2- Let the salmon fillet come to room temperature. Heat up a non stick frying pan over medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Mix all the spices and the lemon juice and pour it over the fillet and make sure it is coated on both sides. Fry the fillet skin side down for about 2-3 minutes. Then turn the fillet and fry the other side for another 2-3 minutes or until you see the fillet is cooked through. With a wooden spoon cut up the fillet into bite size pieces and give the salmon cubes another minute in the frying pan. Set aside.

3- Wash the frozen vegetable mix to remove any ice lumps. Then add the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil or less if needed in same frying pan. Sprinkle over the spices for the vegetables and fry them for few minutes until they are golden brown.

4- Serve the salmon together with the vegetables and couscous. Squeeze over some lemon juice for to keep it tasty and moist.

Enjoy!