Tomato and Feta Baked Eggs

This is like an easy, milder introduction to Shakshuka for children, fusspots or spice novices and is a wonderful breakfast or brunch recipe. 

You can play around with the sauce to get it just how you like your tomato sauce - add rosemary, balsamic vinegar, a drop of red wine, or pump up the heat with cayenne pepper, fresh chilli or flakes or even a generous helping of sriracha.

My children absolutely adore this with some toast soldiers and if you are adhering to any kind of calorie control (as I am) then a half portion of this with one slice of buttered toast will bring you in at 199 calories - not a bad start to a weekend day.

Tomato and Feta Baked Eggs

Here's how:

• 1 shallot
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• Smidge of cumin
• Smidge of dried oregano
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 15g feta cheese

Pop the oven on at 180 degrees and heat the olive oil in a pan.

Finely dice the shallot and mince the garlic and add to the pan on a low heat.

Once softened add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, paprika, cumin and oregano, stir and cook for a few minutes on a high heat. Season to your taste - go easy on the salt if preparing for the children.

Pour into a small oven-proof dish.

Now crack in two eggs spaced apart without breaking them.

Crumble the feta and scatter it all around.

Place into the oven and cook until the eggs are done to your preference - we do about 4-5 minutes until just cooked, so the centres are still soft. 

Enjoy with buttered toast. 

Smoked Salmon Carbonara

Once again, I find myself undertaking a health and fitness overhaul - and whilst I am trying to lose a little weight, it's more a case of adjusting lifestyle and nutrition for the whole family, without compromising on the delicious food that we all love.

I've made a version of this Smoked Salmon Carbonara for a few years - firstly taking inspiration from this BBC Good Food recipe. 

However, I have tinkered and tweaked, as I generally do to make it my own, and just recently have overhauled the cream element to use fat free Greek yoghurt to help with the sauce - it works marvellously. I also use dill rather than chives, as it's a beautiful complementary herb with salmon and the addition of spinach just gives it some veggie goodness.

It's a super speedy meal and can be on the table in under fifteen minutes including preparation so is perfect for midweek when time is short.

The below makes three adult portions - with each portion coming in at around 512 calories.

Smoked Salmon Carbonara

Here's how:

• 100g smoked salmon
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 eggs
• 2 heaped tbsp Fat Free Greek Yoghurt
• 200g dried spaghetti
• 100g spinach
• 50g Grana Padana or other hard cheese
• Black pepper
• Sea salt
• Handful dill leaves

Firstly fill and boil the kettle and pour the boiled water over the dried spaghetti in a large pot, season with a pinch of salt and place onto a medium heat. Use a fork to gently tease the spaghetti down into the water as it softens and cook for 9 minutes (or according to the packet instructions).

In the meantime add the olive oil to a pan or wok and place onto a low heat. 

Now mince the garlic and add to the pan to gently soften and flavour the oil. Add the spinach leaves to the pan and allow to cook gently, then carefully remove the spinach and set aside.

Slice the salmon into thin slithers and set aside. Chop the dill finely. 

Now in a jug or bowl crack in the two eggs, add the Greek yoghurt and the cheese; season generously and mix well. Now add the salmon and half of the dill.

Once the pasta has cooked through, use tongs to remove it and place directly into the pan with the oil and garlic, still on a low heat. 

Toss the past using the tongs, to ensure it all gets a slight coat of the garlicy oil, and then add the yoghurt and egg mixture over the pasta and mix well to ensure all of the pasta becomes coated with the creamy sauce. 

Return the spinach to the pan and mix through and then remove from the heat and dish up, sprinkling over the remaining dill leaves onto each portion to serve.

For more family pasta recipe inspiration I've included a few of our favourites below:

• Super Green Pasta Sauce
• Squash Mac and Cheese
• Seafood Spaghetti with Saffron and Chilli
• Bridget's Easy Peasy Cheesy Pasta Bake
• Pastitsio - The Greek Lasagna

Moroccan Fish Stew

As part of my 2019 resolve, I'm trying to step away from the same old meals and recipes that I cook time after time and instead focus on building up a more varied repertoire to stop us from feeling we are stuck in a food rut. 

I cooked this Moroccan inspired Fish Stew as a New Year's Day dinner for the four of us and just had to share. Whilst I leant on my Mum Vicky's Special Seafood Stew for technique in terms of the almonds and brandy which we know work so well together, this is a far more modest dish making the most of cod and flavoured quite heavily with saffron - a favourite for us. It's a really lovely, fragrant but light dish - perfect for January. You could also make with vegetable stock and a few veggies in place of the fish for a vegetarian or vegan meal if you're doing Veganuary. 

I served with toasted pitta, lemony couscous dotted with pomegranate seeds and a little garlic yoghurt dip - simple but tasty.

The below serves a family of 4-5. 

Moroccan Fish Stew

Here's how:

• Four fillets of cod or about 650g in smaller pieces
• Drizzle olive oil
• 1 white onion
• 1 green chilli
• 1 large clove garlic
• Thumb sized piece of ginger
• Generous pinch of saffron
• 12-14 Cherry tomatoes, halved
• 600ml fish stock
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 3 tbsp almonds
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 2 tbsp brandy
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1 tsp dried cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp dried coriander
• 1 whole cinnamon stick
• Natural yoghurt and fresh coriander to serve

Firstly finely dice the onion, mince the garlic and finely chop or grate the ginger and slice the chilli. Add to an oven-proof and stove-proof dish to gently saute in the olive oil and once softened add the spices (cumin, coriander, paprika) and the tomato puree, stir and allow to cook for a few minutes.

In the meanwhile make up the fish stock or gently heat it then add the saffron to the warm stock and allow to stand.

Now to the pot of onions, garlic, chilli and ginger add the tomatoes, ground almond, brandy, honey, cinnamon stick, orange juice, the cooked chickpeas and finally the stock - give a good stir and allow to gently cook for ten minutes or until the liquid has started to slowly thicken up a little.

Now add the cod fillets in all around the dish, pres down so they are immersed in the stew and cook for three to four minutes. Now very gently turn over each piece of cod, and cook for a further three minutes or until the cod is cooked through. 

Serve at the table with a few blobs of natural yoghurt and handfuls of coriander leaves alongside your choice of accompaniments. Enjoy!

Greek Chicken Traybake

This traybake is simple, fragrant and delicious and aside from chopping up a few vegetables, it can be prepared in minutes and just thrown in the oven all in one which is ideal for a midweek dinner when time is precious and short.

It's good to marinate the chicken for a couple of hours, or overnight for a really lovely flavour, but I've made it straight away too when this (or a version of this dinner) has been thrown together in no time at all. 

If you fancy something different you could drizzle over pesto instead of the marinade or even harissa but the Greek flavours work really well and are my favourite.

If you're trying to cut down on carbs, as so many people tend to be at this time of year, then replace the potatoes with an extra couple of peppers or a large courgette.

The below serves a family of 4.

Greek Chicken Traybake

Here's how:

Chicken marinade:

1. 6-8 chicken thighs, skin on
2. 2 tbsp olive oil
3. 1 tbsp dried oregano
4. 1 tsp dried cinnamon
5. 1/2 tsp smoky paprika
6. 1/2 tsp rosemary
7. 1 clove garlic
8. Juice of 1 lemon

Traybake:

• 2-3 large potatoes
• 12 cherry tomatoes
• 1 yellow pepper
• 3 shallots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 lemon quartered
• Handful green olives
• 60g feta
• Sea salt and black pepper

Firstly throw the chicken thighs into a food bag and add all of the marinade ingredients - seal and place into the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight if you have time.

When ready to cook, pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and get out a good sized tray for everything to be assembled into.

Now roughly chop the potatoes into small cubes of approximately 1cm - no need to peel, and then throw into the tray all around.

Now peel and roughly chop the shallots and garlic and do the same. Halve the cherry tomatoes and roughly chop the pepper and add to the tray bake along with the olives and the lemon pieces.

Finally place each chicken thigh or piece on top of the tray bake ingredients, skin side up and once all on, drizzle over any remaining oil over the rest of the ingredients, season generously and place into the oven for 30 minutes. 

Greek Chicken Traybake

Roughly chop the feta or crumble it over the traybake, not on the chicken but on the other bits so it's evenly distributed and return to the oven for a further fifteen minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and golden brown. 

If the potatoes are not cooked enough for your liking, remove the chicken and place on a plate, skin side down, to rest and allow the juices to distribute in the chicken, and return the tray to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes.

Serve with a greed salad, tzatziki and pitta bread for a really delicious midweek meal.

Easy Sausage Rolls

I have been making these for a few years - I think the original recipe was a BBC Good Food one with a few little tinkles and tweaks over that time. Sausage rolls are a great party food bite or for any packed lunches or picnics.

They have been popular with whoever has been the recipient but never more so than by my daughter's dance school - I made them for an all day competition recently and then they were in heavy demand for the end of year presentation and over 50 of them went almost immediately! But then you just can't beat a fresh sausage roll straight from the oven can you?

I use mustard in these but you can vary these according to your personal taste - I have used red onion chutney and pickles before now too.

For the sausage meat, I would say try to get the best quality you can afford, as it will impact the flavour; and if you can't find the blocks or sausage meat that have been adorning the supermarket lately for festive reasons, then feel free to buy good sausages and just squeeze out the meat from their skins.

Easy Sausage Rolls

Here's how:

• 350g Sausage meat 
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 2 tbsp English Mustard
• 1 sheet ready roll puff pastry
• 1 egg

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and line a couple of baking sheets with grease proof paper.

Now prepare the sausage meat in a bowl, break it up a bit and season generously with the black pepper, and more modestly with the sea salt as sausages tend to be quite salty anyway. Add the garlic salt and mix well - you may need to use your hands!

Now wash and dry your hands, then roll out the pastry which will be in a rectangular shape - cut length-ways straight down the middle so you have two sections, and pull apart slightly. 

Take a pastry brush, and brush a generous amount of English Mustard all the way along the centre of both pieces of pastry.

Now get half of the sausage meat and roll out or pull into small balls and put along the centre of one of the pastry sections all the way along, using the mustard as a guide.

After repeating the process, wash and dry your hands again, and then beat the egg in a small bowl, ready to egg wash the sausage rolls.

Now brush the egg wash along the side of one of the sides of each pastry section and carefully fold the other half over the sausage meat, and press the dry side down onto the egg-washed side and hold down to secure along the length of the sausage roll. 

Now use a sharp knife to cut into smaller sausage rolls - about 3cm long, or just use your eye to cut them into the size you'd prefer. 

Once cut, use the knife to make gentle incisions or little cuts along the top of each individual sausage roll. 

Now use a fork to crimp the edge of each sausage roll, just press down with the ends, where the two pastry sections (dry and egg washed) have met and been pressed together.

Finally lay onto the two baking trays and brush with the remaining beaten egg generously and then place into the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

For more party food inspiration there are a few ideas below:

Spiced Chicken Goujons
Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Blinis
Children's Vegetable Train
Children's Caterpillar Sandwiches 
Skinny Spicy Breaded Prawns
Prawn Summer Rolls

Healthy Cheese and Veggie Omelette Muffins

These healthy little breakfast bites are great for the January diet or generally for a quick, healthy and nutritious breakfast on the run. They're fab for little ones, my girls are big fans, and they're also good as a weaning finger food for tots.

The recipe below is only for four muffins, but if you're into food prep, you could bulk cook and re-heat when you want - each eggy muffin is approximately 83 calories (MyFitnessPal). 

They're so easy that aside from putting into the oven - my two girls prepared them themselves this morning (they're four and almost two) so if you are challenged in the kitchen, these are a great starting point.

You can also add whichever vegetables you either have to hand or are your kids' preference - mine love broccoli, peppers and sweetcorn, but you could use any type of vegetable leaf here too, peas or anything you like.

Healthy Cheese and Veggie Omelette Muffins

Here's how: 

• x2 large eggs
• Splash of milk (about 50ml)
• 25g Cheddar
• !/2 red pepper
• Handful cooked broccoli florrets
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees and line a muffin or cake tin with x4 muffin cases.

If you need to cook the broccoli, do so, and rough chop into small, bite-sized pieces and set aside. Chop the pepper into small pieces too and set aside.

Now in a jug, crack the two eggs, add the splash of milk and season to taste, then mix well and add the grated cheese, cooked broccoli and the pepper pieces. 

Healthy Cheese and Veggie Omelette Muffins

Pour into the four muffin cases and place into the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes or until firm and muffin-like. Enjoy! 

Chessington World of Adventures for Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers

Bridget and Beatrice at Chessington World of Adventures

For Bridget's fourth birthday in September the four of us enjoyed one of Chessington World of Adventure's short breaks with two days in the park and an overnight stay in the Safari Hotel.

It was the girls' first time and a trip down memory lane back to our respective teenage years for Glen and I; and despite the first day coinciding with the wettest day of the year so far, we had a great time in both the park and the hotel. 

Chessington Safari Hotel 

We stayed in one of Wayanama Rooms and I urge you to take the many negative reviews of these rooms with a pinch of salt; ours was fab. It was spacious, comfortable, immaculately clean and the reason we particularly chose this room, for the views over the Wayanama Nature Reserve was absolutely wonderful. We were delighted to spot the zebras and ostrich roaming around from the comfort of our rooms, especially first thing in the morning. There were also other unidentified animals, which we later found out were ankole and sitatungas, during our night-time wander around the edge of the reserve, something exclusive to hotel guests.

The Safari Hotel for me was an absolute triumph, I was charmed on arrival by the animal print decor, but the little touches for children throughout were what really won us over. 
They had a children's film area complete with chairs and bean bags, an armadillo enclosure, an in-hotel swimming pool and a range of payable amusements too; plenty to keep the children entertained, as well as a lovely zebra themed bar area for the grown ups.

Bridget & Beatrice at the Wayanama seating area overlooking the nature reserve

Impressive welcoming giraffe at the Safari Hotel, Chessington World of Adventures

Wayanama Room at the Safari Hotel, Chessington World of Adventures

Bridget and Beatrice loving their animal themed bunk beds at Safari Hotel, Chessington World of Adventures

The hotel restaurant offers a variety of food; it didn't really appeal to us, so we took a short drive down the road and enjoyed a low key Sunday dinner at The Star; but if you didn't want to venture out once checked in, I'm sure you could find something on the menu.

The only downside for me with the hotel was the breakfast, which was included with the deal. On this particular morning, for some reason they combined the two hotels, and bunged us all into the same restaurant in the Azteca Hotel, which would be find except it was unorganised chaos. You have to book a time slot in advance for breakfast, but we still queued for quite some time, and once in it was a bit of a free for all. Dirty plates were left laying around and packed high on neighbouring tables and it was just a bit shambolic to be honest. The selection of breakfast, particularly the continental was good, branded cereals, pastries, muffins, yoghurts, granola as well as hams, cheeses and bread with preserves. Again for the cooked breakfast option, the variety was huge, but it was not laid out appealingly, the scrambled egg literally looked like a mountain of rubber and it was just a bit poor in terms of presentation. That being said, there was a huge variety, including a vegetarian station, and we all managed to eat something. A shame really as it was the only negative to our stay.

Chessington World of Adventures - Rides

We arrived on the Sunday which was Bridget's actual birthday, and as I mentioned it was the first day for months of real heavy rain; we were prepared though and had waterproofs at the ready, and didn't let it dampen (see what I did there) our visit at all. It stopped around 2pm too and the Monday was dry and warm.

I was nineteen the last time I visited Chessington, back in 2003 and I have to say it hasn’t changed as much as you might think. The park is still split out into 'lands' such as 'Wild Woods' and 'The Pirates Cove' and some of the old favourites are still around; such as The Vampire Ride. 

Bridget enjoying one of the rides at Chessington with Glen

Tiny Truckers ride at Chessington

One of my old childhood favourites, the Bubbleworks has been re-dressed as The Gruffalo River Ride and is just as magical now as when I was a child, especially as we love the Gruffalo. There are plenty of more tame rides for children and toddlers which was perfect for Beatrice who was only 19 months at the time. The Adventure Tree, a merry-go-round with animal theme, Tiny Truckers,Flying Jumbo's and Toddler's Crazy Cars plus several more that we could all go on as a family; great fun. 

Bridget enjoyed some of the bigger rides such as the Treetop Hoppers, Jungle Bus and Sea Dragons and was eyeing some of the rides aimed at taller, and older children, and angling for us to come back soon.

Chessington World of Adventures - The Zoo 

Combining the fairground rides with the fantasically varied zoo makes Chessington such a winner for families as there is something for everyone, regardless of age.

Bridget really loved coming on the Zufari off-road bus ride through the nature reserve seeing some of the bigger animals, such as the giraffes, elephants, rhinos, and zebras up close. 

Everything you would expect in a zoo such as lions, tigers, monkeys and gorillas are there as well a plenty of more unusual wildlife. Binturong, otters and meerkats as well as a penguin and sea lion area made the zoo a never-ending joy for the children. As with many zoos, there was invites for guests to come along at designated times to watch feeding times and see shows with various animals which was fun too. 

Bridget at the penguin enclosure at Chessington World of Adventures

Whilst watching the lions pacing, we saw one jump up and roar at a shocked guest gawping at one of the viewing points who promptly jumped out of his skin - it may be my sense of humour but it tickled me and I bet that man won't forget it in a hurry.

Chessington World of Adventures - Children's Petting Zoo

In addition to the bigger zoo animals, the park has the children;s zoo and a chance for the kids to go into a petting zoo, and walk around with the likes of sheep and goats as well as stroking them etc. Bridget and Beatrice were elated and it was actually a struggle to entice them away. There were also rabbits, pigs and guinea pigs in this area.

In the children's petting zoo at Chessington World of Adventures

Chessington World of Adventures - Sealife Centre

There is also a fairly large Sealife Centre inside of Chessington, which was a great place for us to start during the heavier rain on the Sunday. They had a little treasure hunt for children, an excellent way of engaging the children, Bridget certainly enjoyed it.

Fun in the Sealife Centre at Chessington World of Adventures

Chessington World of Adventures - Shows

The other must-do activity at Chessington if you're there with under 10's, is a visit to The Gruffalo Arena for the show; it's fun, cheesy, interactive with the chance for the children to clap and dance along and shout out etc. I have to say my girls absolutely loved it and Bridget was even more thrilled to do the meet and greet with the Gruffalo. There are other shows on throughout the day which we sadly missed, but these are a real draw, especially with toddlers and pre-schoolers.

At the Gruffalo Arena, Chessington World of Adventures

Bridget delighted to meet the Gruffalo at Chessington World of Adventures

Food wise there are a few options dotted around such as a pizza/pasta buffet restaurant, fried chicken and a burger joint with various food carts throughout and Costa outlets (but only the ones with a machines, no barrstas sadly) with pre-made sandwiches. We took our own picnic for the Sunday and headed off at lunchtime on the Monday so avoided the food outlets; I did venture into one to grab some drinks, and as always with these types of places, they are quite over-priced for what they are, so I'd consider a picnic, especially if you have a few children in tow as it can become expensive.

We paid just under £200 for the four of us for this break at Chessington, which included x2 days in the park for the four of us, including early access on the second day and an overnight's stay at the Safari Hotel with breakfast. 

The website is packed with various themed events and stays so I will be keeping my eye out for any great offers.

We had an utterly brilliant family adventure at Chessington, and will be sure to return again once Beatrice is old enough to enjoy a few more rides.