Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but – life with 3 kids can mean that Mummy’s a wee bit too tired for blogging after a long day! Sorry for the break in transmission, but here are a few things that have been happening in the Fresh Fast & Frugal kitchen in the last week or so…

Pumpkin Baby Pancakes

Little Miss Independent 8 month old is still flatly refusing to take any food from a spoon, so I’m having to get creative with finger foods. I did some batch cooking from the wonderful One Handed Cooks book (highly recommended, mums!) – Sweet Potato and Tuna Cakes (I used red salmon instead), Spiced Pumpkin Quinoa Balls, and Eat-your-Greens Frittata. Thankfully, baby girl loved them all.

But, as always, I had some leftover roasted pumpkin in the fridge, and thought I would put it to good use as breakfast for her, so I whipped up some pancakes, adding in some of the unused baby rice cereal in the cupboard. They turned out super tasty!

To make them, I simply blended the following:

2/3 cup (approx) roasted pumpkin cubes

1/2 banana

2 eggs

1 tbsp organic brown rice baby cereal – you could easily sub oats or nut/seed meal for this if you live in a baby-free house!

Then I dolloped spoonfuls into a pan with coconut oil and cooked until brown on each side. I served them spread with a little ricotta.  A great way to add a little extra veg in – this would work great with sweet potato too.

Hummus Crusted Chicken

This is a quick and easy weeknight favourite around here. All you need to do is spread some of your favourite hummus over some chicken breast, sprinkle with paprika and bake in a hot oven until golden brown and cooked through. The hummus turns into a delicious crust, and with some roasted lemon wedges to drizzle over the top, it is a taste sensation! This keeps everyone in our family happy when served up with a salad and some steamed baby potatoes.

BBQ Season is here!

We managed to get my husband home early enough one night last week to fire up the barbecue and ate outside for the first time since the weather started to warm up. I found some scotch fillet from our bulk beef order in the bottom of the freezer, and while hubby cooked the steak to perfection on the barbie, I roasted some potato and sweet potato wedges and dressed some kale slaw to have with alongside. It was so nice to eat outside – and the kids loved the change of scenery! I’m looking forward to more BBQ meals soon.

What’s been happening in your kitchen lately?