Easy meals for toddlers – all done in 15 minutes

Often you need a meal for gourmet mini when you will not be cooking for everyone else and the left-over stock is empty. Rather than resorting to the ‘fish finger’ there are a few options which are

quick, easy and good for the conscience. Without scratching for further ideas I came up with five basics – use whatever vegetables and extras you have at the time. All done in under 15 minutes.

Five quick meals for toddlers:

• Scrambled egg with baby spinach. Roughly shred washed spinach and stir through toward the end of cooking. If you are cooking the egg in the microwave do this when you stir part-waythrough. Serve with Turkish bread. If you any left-over roasted vegetables you’ll have a frittata.
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  Mini-pizza. Use pita bread or a halved English muffin. If you’re using a muffin toast it lightly on one side. Smear with prepared tomato pasta sauce, add sliced tomato, grated cheese and afew snips of bacon if you like. Grill, or bake in a hot oven. A few leaves of fresh basil are good if it is at arm’s length.

• Pasta with vegetables. While the pasta cooks (or the left-over reheats) lightly cook some broccoli florets, sliced zucchini, shredded brussel sprout. Stir through the pasta with a spoonful ofprepared tomato-based sauce or passata. Good if sprinkled with cheese and baked. You could add half a very small can of tuna.
• Fried rice – using a tub of purchased pre-cooked rice. Make a skinny omelet in the pan first. Then stir fry a spring onion, some chopped cooked chicken or some bacon, and then the ricewith some frozen peas. When hot toss through a little soy sauce (low salt if you’re fussed about salt). Top with shredded omelet.
• Jacket potato – a toddler-size potato cooks in a few minutes in the micro-wave (make sure you cut a cross in the top first to avoid a big clean-up). Open up the cross and top withbaked beans, or other drained and rinsed beans and some passata.