Cinco de Mayo is a festival (on the 5th May) that I had been unaware of until this year.  I love a good Mexican meal and the odd shot of tequila (drunk in moderation, naturally!).  Discovery were kind enough to send me the ingredients for the perfect Mexican, so I will share with you my perfect wrap recipe.

Basically: get a Mexican discovery kit

Open a tin of chickpeas

Bung them in the slow cooker along with a handful of frozen peppers, sweetcorn, a tin of chopped tomatoes and the seasoning contained within ‘the perfect fajita kit’.

Leave to cook for an afternoon, stirring occasionally.

Serve in a wrap with grated cheese and a side salad along with salsa, soured cream and jalapeno relish.

Who said perfect had to be hard?

Have a happy Cinco de Mayo with a big thanks to Discovery’s inspirational products.

Campbell’s Condensed Soup has a competition to invent a delicious recipe using the store cupboard essentials below:

• Pasta
• Rice
• Potatoes
• Onions
• Peppers
• Kidney beans
• Sweetcorn
• Broccoli
• Tuna
• Chicken
• Sausages
• Cheese

And one of the Campbells Condensed soup range (Cream of Tomato, Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Chicken, Cream of Celery, Vegetable, Low Fat Chicken  or Low Fat Mushroom).

I do like inventing recipes, mostly because I’m rubbish at following instructions, so I thought I’d invent a nice risotto recipe using the ingredients below:

Ingredients (serves two or three):

Campbells condensed Cream of Mushroom soup (diluted in a jug with boiling water)

Frozen Sweetcorn (handful)

Frozen peppers (handful)

1 tin of tuna

Half an onion (I had red in the fridge so I used that)

Loads of garlic (as much as you’d like)

Coconut oil (it’s better for you than frying in regular oil. Google it)

Gouda (grated, a small handful each)

Risotto rice (half a cup)

Paprika (a few dashes for taste & colour)

I also added some fresh chopped coriander at the last minute.

Method:

Fry the onions and paprika in a dollop of coconut oil.

When they are looking a bit translucent, add the sweetcorn and peppers until they melt and then add the tuna, then bit by bit add the condensed soup and water.  Well, I started off adding it bit by bit then just chucked the rest in because I got bored.  When this is all bubbling nicely, bang the garlic in. Some people like to fry the garlic at the beginning but I think you get a better flavour if you add it near the end.  I like garlic lots.  This is why I have no friends. But no vampires will ever get me either. It’s a small price to pay.

Keep stirring it. This is the part I don’t like because I am easily distracted and can’t stand still.  You can always watch something on your phones iplayer or something to pass the time.  After an indeterminate period of time you will notice it is less watery and more gloopy.  You may also notice, in a panic, that the rice is still a bit hard. Don’t panic, just find something to cover it with to trap the steam, switch the ring off and go and watch something on cbeebies for ten minutes or so and when you come back it will be perfect (phew!).

Sprinkle some chopped coriander on and pop your cheese on top, which will melt nicely by the time you have rounded your child up and got him to sit at the table.

Genius!  I was actually nicely surprised by this, though the Cub refused his. (grrrrr. He has been poorly though).

I like to encourage my son to help me in the kitchen.  when he was a baby i used to sit him atop of the work surface in his bumbo (closely supervised of course) but when he outgrew that he still wanted to see what I was doing so I let him stand on a small stepladder to have a look.  He can see and feel and taste bits of the ingredients and he knows now not to touch sharp or hot things (though i still put knives out of reach just in case).  Lasagne is a nice easy recipe that we can prepare together ‘anya’ he calls it.  We start with the ingredients below – we don’t really weigh out the ingredients, just go with what looks right.

Lasagne

I used campbells packet soup but the tinned condensed mushroom soup gives a richer taste.

Mushrooms

Frozen spinach (or fresh, but I usually keep frozen spinach in because its so easy that way)

Grlic

Philly

Cheese

How to:

Soak about 6 sheets of lasagne in hot water to soften them (I dont know if this is compulsory but I like to do it).  Crush as many garlic cloves as you like and stir into the soup.  Put some of the soup in the bottom of the dish then get your toddler to break up some mushrooms and put them on top, then break some frozen spinach off and add that too (this is where it gets messy). I’ll blob a few bits of philly, then put two sheets of lasagne on top of this, I’m not sure if this is the best way – comments welcome!.  Then I pour some more soup mix on top of that and we layer the ingredients till it reaches the top of the dish.  Cover it and microwave it for eight minutes.  Remove from the microwave and add some slices of cheese to the top.  Put it in the halogen oven until the cheese melts and bubbles.  Remove it and let it sit for 15 minutes (I read this somewhere).

Serve with a bit of salad. Ta-da!

My entry to Appliances Online Messy Kids Cooking competition http://babybudgeting.co.uk/are-you-a-blogger-who-wants-to-win-100-amazon-voucher/comment-page-1/#comment-16966 

and also to the Appliances online and RedTedArt family recipe competition http://www.redtedart.com/2012/01/13/competition-cooking-with-kids-100-amazon-voucher/

I’m terrible at getting the recipe book out and as a result I often find myself inventing new recipes based on what I think should go together.  Most of the time it is just about edible but that is probably the most complimentary thing you could say about them.  So when yesterday I happened across a most excellent combination of ingredients, I thought I should give it a name and add it to my blog.

Ingredients (serves two):

• A handful of goats cheese, chopped into squares
• A small handful of raspberries
• Half a tin of sweetcorn
• Garlic to taste (i used three big cloves, i like garlic).
• Two large spoonfuls of philadelphia or other creamy soft cheese
• 3/4 of a red onion
• Honey
• Olive oil
• Pasta (however much you feel is enough)

Pop the pasta in the microwave for 8 minutes (covered in boiling water & cling film it)

In the meantime, fry the onion on a low heat in a little olive oil until soft.

Add a good dollop of honey and stir.

Add the sweetcorn and garlic and fry gently until the microwave pings.

Drain the past and add the contents of the frying pan as well as the goats cheese, raspberries and philly.

Give it a stir and pop it back in the microwave for two minutes.

Stir and serve.

Easy peasy and it tastes dead posh.  You can add a sprinkle of sea salt when it’s on your plate but not too much.

Ta-da!

I got this recipe from my good twitter friend Talon, it’s really delicious and can be eaten as a topping for fish, meat, vegetables, pasta, anything really.  Not a very good diet food but oh, your tastebuds will thank you.

“1/4 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1/4 cup chopped FRESH parsley. Important that it’s fresh.

First, melt the butter over medium heat. When the butter’s melted, add the cream. Simmer for 5 minutes. You can stir if you’d like. Then add the cheese and garlic, stir it in. Parmesan cheese doesn’t melt well so it’ll be stringy but, I like it that way and if you don’t you can try to substitute it for gruyere or something but, I haven’t tried that. My sauce every one likes uses parmesan.
Remove it from heat then stir in the parsley (which is optional) and you’re done.”