Gluten-free Cooking for Kids

These cupcakes started appearing at birthday  parties just before Christmas and they are now legendary .  With a subtle hint of peppermint in the buttercream icing and a crunchie peppermint topping, they are seriously good. How good is good? Well parents are now requesting them and I've almost been run down in the school corridor by one parent who wanted the recipe. 

I found this recipe in Anjum's New Indian - a cookbook recommended by my lovely Waitrose delivery man.  Anjum (the beautiful lady on the cover and gracing many of the inside pages too) is an Indian version of Nigella. She's a dark haired beauty who can smile and cook at the same time.  Now back to the bread recipe....these are indiviual breads, very similar to parathas, only much quicker and easier to make.  I've had to adjust the recipe slightly ( sorry Anjum, not enough water stated in your recipe honey) but I think it works very well.  I also took the liberty of using my tortilla press and it works a treat.  I've checked the Cool Chile Company website and they are in stock at the moment.  If you've not got a tortilla press, then a plain old rolling pin will work too, but it takes a lot longer.  Serve these with curries, kebabs or anything else you can think of.

Here's a simple recipe for rice pudding which is wonderfully comforting.  With our current wave of cold weather, what could be nicer than  to come home to a warm bowl of rice pudding, with a dollop of jam and maybe a little spritz of whipped cream.  I've experimented with lots of different recipes, but this is my daughter's all time favourite and comes courtesy of the catering ladies at The Manor School.

With the Chinese New Year celebrations just around the corner, I thought this recipe might come in handy.

The inspiration came from a cookbook called Chinese Food Made Easy by Ching- He Huang .  The original recipe was for sweet and sour pork using tinned pineapple.  I realised that I had none of the required ingredients with the exception of the pork loin but decided to go for it anyway and improvised as best I could with what was available in the pantry.   What I discovered is that this is a great way to cook pork loin steaks and I suspect you could also use chicken or fish fillets. The coating is crisp and very flavourful.  The sauce is yummy and even Lucia who loves to torment me by saying "No like dat!" licked her plate clean.  Now that really is an endorsement.