Lunch box for Wednesday

So far so good, I haven't had any food rejected, fingers crossed for Wednesday, fish pate may be going too far!

Snack - Blueberry Muffin (recipe to follow) and yoghurt pot - most kids yoghurts are laden with sugar or worse sweetners more so than standard fruit yoghurts, it will save you money and be better for your kids to find a plain or fruit yoghurt in a larger tub and put some into a small tub with a lid for school.

Lunch - Smoked Mackerel Pate (recipe to follow) with Oatcakes, cubes of cheese and pot of fruit.

Blueberry Muffin
You can make these with any soft fruits, banana, strawberry, raspberry etc. They are also super easy to make so another good one to make with kids.

90g plain flour
90g wholemeal flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
80g caster sugar or (40g and 40g equivalent of Agave syrup or go the whole hog and use only Agave, you will be surprised how sweet and appealing Agave is)
1 medium egg
125ml full fat milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
45g unsalted butter melted
150g blueberries, fresh or frozen

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Butter a muffin tray or line with paper cases. Makes 12
2. Sift the flour into a bowl with the baking powder. Stir in the sugar.
3.Whisk the egg, milk, vanilla and melted butter in a separate bowl.
4. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until you have a wet lumpy batter. Add the fruit.
5.Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases and bake in the oven for 10-12 mins , until risen and golden.


Mackerel Pate
2 garlic cloves, crushed
400g/3 mackerel fillets flaked (ideally un-smoked, if you can't find this you could replace with tinned fish)
4 tbsp full fat natural yoghurt
juice of 1 lemon

1. Put all the ingredients into a bowl and puree with a hand blender, or process in a food processor until smooth.
2. Put in small tubs for taking to school. I will post a recipe for making your own oatcakes as its super easy and you can make it in your own shapes which adds to the fun. However the British Stores in Amsterdam stock good oatcakes, the best ones are Nairn's or Patterson's. This is also nice served with carrot, cucumber, celery and cauliflower sticks.