I am always keen to have the children understand the basics of food and where it comes from. Living on a farm this is not too hard. All our meat is home grown and we are tending a green house together for our summer salad and vegetables. However soft fruit is something we don’t have here until the blackberry season so we took the chance to go to Pencarrow House to pick our own raspberries. More on our adventures over on Country Kids this coming Saturday but here’s what we made with the raspberries that missed our mouth and made it home!
Raspberry Muffins
Cakes and muffins were the first choice of the children so I flicked through a new step by step cookery book I had received as part of a series of three beginners step by step cook books from Parragon Books following a chat at Brit Mums Live and found the perfect recipe.
I am not usually one to follow a recipe but this one looked so easy and so well illustrated I thought it would be perfect to make with the children. It requires no fancy equipment, just a pair of scales to weigh the ingredients, mixing bowls and cup cake cases.
Ingredients
280g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
150ml milk
100ml sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Rind and juice of a small lemon
140g fresh raspberries
Icing sugar to dust
Method
Whisk together eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and lemon in a bowl.
Stir in sugar
Sift in flour and baking powder and combine to make a soft batter.
Gently add the raspberries and mix trying not to break them too much.
Spoon into cup cases
Bake at 200 degrees centigrade for approximately 15 to 20 minutes till risen and golden.
The result
They were quick and easy to make and all 12 muffins in a house of eight were gone in no time at all! I will be making double the quantity next time!
Frozen Raspberry Yogurt
Actually the kids asked for ice cream but since I didn’t have cream in the house we made frozen yoghurt instead, every bit as tasty and a little healthier!
Ingredients
1 400g ish punnet of raspberries
310g tin of carnation condensed milk
1 400g tub of Greek yoghurt
100g icing sugar
Desert spoon of vanilla flavour or good essence
Method
Place all ingredients in a blender and whiz till smooth, decant into containers and freeze overnight.
To serve
Take out of the freezer a few minutes before serving. Delicious served with the raspberry muffins, I had to hide one just to keep it long enough to try them together. Alternatively an ice cream cone is every child’s favourite.
Healthy Raspberry Lollies
Here at Coombe Mill my children will endlessly clutter up the freezer with DIY ice lollies from juice in a mug with a spoon in it! We found some purpose made ice lolly holders hiding in the cupboard and agreed to use our last punnet to make raspberry ice lollies.
Ingredients
400g of raspberries,
Approximately 150ml water
Juice of half a lemon
5 good tablespoons of icing sugar
Method
Blend all ingredients, if it is too thick add a little more water then pour into the lolly moulds and leave to set in the freezer overnight.
Serving
Loosen from the mould with a little warm water and enjoy. Any leftover juice makes the perfect summer breakfast smoothie too!
Don’t forget to pop over to Country Kids on Saturday and see all the fun and added adventures of our day out picking the raspberries.
About Parragon Step by Step Cook Books
The Muffin recipe came from the beginners step by step book from Parragon Books. I also received the Vegetarian and Tapas editions which are equally well illustrated and as the name suggests step by step yet packed with great recipe ideas. They will all be available in our reception for our holiday guests to borrow when I have finished flicking through for new inspiration myself! These books are perfect for those a little afraid of scratch cooking, new to cooking, cooking with children or on holiday when a tasty meal that is quick and easy to prepare is just what you want. There is also a fourth book in the series for cocktails which I haven’t seen but sounds perfect for parties. The books retail for £16 each and I feel are well worth it.
Win a Step By Step Cook Book with Parragon Books and Coombe Mill
If you would like to win a copy of one of the step by step cook books please leave a message on the post below saying which book you would like along with a way for me to contact you.
To increase your chance of winning:
Follow Parragon BooksandCoombemill on Twitter and leave ONE separate comment here to say you have done so with your twitter name.
For another entry like Coombemill and Parragon Books on Facebook and leave ONE extra comment here with your Facebook name.
For one final entry, please tweet the following sentence and leave another comment to say you have done so
I’ve entered to WIN a step by step @ParragonBooks cook book of my choice with @coombemill http://bit.ly/10Y1Kv5 Why don’t you? Pls RT:
The competition is open to UK residents and will close on Tuesday 30th July. The winner will be selected by RandomOrg.com and announced the following morning. Good luck to all taking part.
The Winner is Attachment Mummy . Many congratulations and I hope you make some great meals from your Vetetarian book.
Disclosure
I was sent the Parragon books to review and offer to our holiday guests. The muffin recipe is from the beginners book. The frozen yoghurt and lolly recipes are my own. All views expressed here are my own.
I am linking my raspberry recipes to these great linkys. Please do check some of the other posts there:
“Tales from the farmers wife” shares life on our lovely holiday farm with Farmer Nick and our 6 children. Step into our beautiful 30 acres and experience nature close up with farming and educational crafts in stunning North Cornwall. Family, fun and adventure start here.
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