Mini cottage pies (new recipe!)

When I first knew that Adora from The Gingerbread Mum was going to host a Breakfast for champions linky party, these mini cottage pies which I used to make for my little one came to mind! It’s been such a long time since I made them and I was really quite excited to make them once again - but this time I changed the recipe and they turned out even more delish!

My little girl loves all things mini – perhaps because she is sopetite. Hence, when I cook for her, I have to make sure that the size of the food is sorta bite-sized - to entice her to eat (she’s no foodie you see).

And breakfast is one of the hardest meals to make her eat because she is all grouchy and lazy and just, well, difficult to get her out of bed.

Mini cottage pies to the rescue!!! Who wouldn’t want to tuck into these cute little fragrant pies?

I didn't see my hubby eating these... I HEARD him. LOL. He was doing his marking like a grumpy old man before I went to do the dishes and the next thing I heard was a mmmmmmm... and I saw him happily tucking into the lil pies. :)

Smooth little pies waiting to be baked

(Confession: I had to re-use my previous photos as I couldn't get better photos this time)

I made these little pies for her when she was quite young:

These were made with purple potatoes! You won't get a golden brown!

Now that she's much older, I got her to help out:

Ahh... oops, not very dressed for photos but I'm sure you wouldn't mind, right?

This is hard work! :P

"See my sweaty head? I worked sooo hard for it!"

(Ya right, she ran around the house while waiting for her pies to be baked)

She loves this much much more than when she was younger!

(See my naughty little boy rummaging through the drawers again coz he couldn't get to take part in eating)

Cottage pies usually require the use of ground beef (and in the case of the English, they use lambor mutton). If you or your child do not consume beef for religious reasons or simply detest the taste of beef, you can always substitute the beef with chicken instead - not as authentic but nevertheless yummy! :)

Mini Cottage Pies (makes about 12-16 pies)

Ingredients:

• 3-4 egg-sized potatoes
• 3 tablespoons minced beef
• 1 tablespoon heap minced yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon heap minced carrot
• 1 tablespoon heap frozen green peas
• olive oil
• 1 bay leaf
• about 1/4 Knorr beef stock cube (dissolve in about 100ml hot water)
• 1 tablespoon tomato-based pasta sauce
• 1 tablespoon plain flour

For adding to mashed potato:

• unsalted butter
• milk
• salt to taste
• unsalted all-purpose herbs
• ground black pepper
• garlic bread powder

Marinate beef with:

• worcestershire sauce
• oyster sauce
• black pepper
• garlic powder
• sugar (optional)

Method:

1. Marinate minced beef. Set aside.

2. Peel potatoes and cube them. Set them to boil. Boil them till they are soft.

3. Heat saucepan and add oil.

4. Brown the beef. Make sure there are no large clumps. Remove from pan and set aside.

5. Add oil and fry the minced onion, peas and carrot till onion is soft.

6. Add flour and pasta sauce then return the beef to the saucepan.

7. Add the beef stock and simmer till the stock becomes a gravy. Remove the bay leaf when done.

8. Meanwhile, mash the potatoes with the ingredients stated above.

9. Fill the silicon mini muffin cups with the beef filling to about the half-waymark.

10. Add the mashed potato on top and shape them like little muffins.

11. Preheat oven to 220degC.

12. Bake mini pies for 20-25min at 220degC. (20min will do for mine) - or till the potato turns golden brown.

The wonderful thing about these mini pies is that they can be frozen and defrosted in the fridge!! So, you don’t need to wake up early to prepare these for brekkie in the morning (yes, that extra sleep is much needed, really). I cannot imagine having to wake up e.a.r.l.y to prepare these on a weekday!

Because of the mini size, you can serve these as breakfast, snack, or heck, even lunch or dinner! :) Just serve more/ less pies accordingly. Or pair them up with something else as a side dish!

Don’t you just love these versatile minis? :)

Have fun baking! I can’t wait to introduce these to my little boy when he’s older!

This is a Breakfast for Champions initiative by 14 Singapore Mom Bloggers. Click on badge above to find out what other yummy delights you can make for your family!

Review: breakfast cereal Shellinos

This breakfast cereal is in the same range as the Roundies and NTUC's cornflakes.

I would say this is largely similar to Koko crunch, just that each shell is thicker. This means that if you don't want to chew too hard on your food in the morning, soak these shells a little longer than usual in the milk before spooning them into your mouth. In terms of sweetness, I find that when soaked in the milk, they aren't too sweet and they give the milk a nice chocolate-y taste. :)

Similar to the Roundies, this cereal boasts of the same nutrients: vitamins E, B6, B12, B1, B2 and B3! :)

*Avoid this product if you or your child has a wheat allergy.*

Alicia doesn't like this cereal, as with most other chocolate-related food. I guess she hasn't developed a liking for chocolate yet. lol.

Fastfood

Two Sundays ago, we were doing our grocery shopping at NTUC and we came across two products that we thought might fascinate Alicia.

Here's the first:

It's not too expensive (I think it's about $3 for a pack) and each piece of smiling potato is honestly bigger than I thought (it's about 4-5cm in diameter). Simply place a few of these in a preheated oven (220degC) and bake for about 10min and they're nice and slightly golden brown.

These can be served as a carbo option for the tot who needs, perhaps, a change in menu once in a while. Great for an occasional breakfast or snack: just serve alongside some greens or fruits and even a pasta sauce for a dip.

My fussy tot however doesn't really fancy it. We think it's not bad though. :)

There was a promoter for this product that day and Alicia said she wanted to try it, and so we let her.

She seemed to like it and so we decided to just buy one to try.

This is a German product and costs $9.90 per box but it was on offer that day and we bought it for only $7.90.

There are other flavours available but we thought we should stick to the Hawaiian option for the fussypot: she tried both the Hawaiian and the Salami pizza and she spat out the salami, so we thought, Hawaiian should be fine since it stayed in the mouth and eventually went into the lil tummy.

A note of caution though. As with delicatessen meats, the sodium content is pretty high so don't overdose your tot with the pizza. :) 

The best part about these two products is that they are both to be baked at 220degC in a preheated oven for the same amount of time, so you can just toss them in together and wait patiently for that 10min. :) Bake for a longer time period if you are baking more pieces of course.

As with most other things, Alicia decided that she doesn't really like the pizza when she got home. Sigh. 

Waiting to be baked

Check out the thickness of the smileys :)

Review: Post's Alpha-Bits Cereal

Brand: Post

Origin: USA

Specialises in: Cereals

Where to buy: NTUC or other leading supermarkets

Link: postcereals

Product: Alpha-Bits wholesome sweetened oat and corn cereal

Weight: 11.5oz (326g)

Serving size for children below 4: 3/4cup (21g)

Vitamin D promotes healthy bones and teeth by helping the body absorb calcium and is important for a growing child's health needs. However, not many foods are rich in Vitamin D. Post's Alpha-Bits cereal claims to be an excellent source of vitamin D over and above the fact that it contains 11 essential vitamins and minerals. Also a good source of vitamins B1, B6 and B12 - to help support a child's healthy nervous system - this cereal is made with the child in mind.

This cereal contains 15g whole grain per 28g serving and is made with whole grain oat flour as its main ingredient.

The goodness of whole grains according to the Health Promotion Board:

"Eating more whole-grains has been shown to lower the risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart diseases, diabetes and certain cancers. The health benefits of whole-grains are not just contributed by fibre or any single nutrient. Instead, the different components all work together to protect your health. For example, vitamin E, selenium and phytic acid found in whole-grains have antioxidant effects which may help prevent damage to blood vessels, while soluble fibre helps reduce blood cholesterol. These play a role in lowering the risk of developing heart disease.

Whole-grains may also support weight management as they provide bulk to the diet. This promotes the feeling of fullness and helps reduce the risk of overeating."

If nutrition isn't enough to get this box of cereal into your shopping trolley, then perhaps the element of fun while eating might (read: great for fussy eaters):

On the packaging, there are two suggestions as to how to play games with the cereal:

Taste-wise, though it is sweetened, it isn't overly sweet and is suitable for children's consumption.

It's great as fingerfood or with milk but because it's sweetened, I wouldn't recommend this for children below the age of 1.

The downside of this cereal is that the alphabets aren't crafted all that beautifully as what's shown on the packaging and I believe after almost finishing the whole pack of cereal with Alicia, I haven't found the complete set of the alphabets. Many times I get Alicia asking, "this is...?" with reference to what alphabet the cereal is supposed to be. Some Ds look like Os, Fs are rare, Z is few and far between and I think I really haven't found G or K!

On top of that, there are scrape bits of cereal that don't form any alphabets and sad to say, if Alicia's looking carefully at the bowl, she would chuck those aside and go for those pieces that are recognizable as alphabets. Thus the fun part is actually diluted by the fact that the pieces aren't crafted as well as say alphabet pastas. :)

Green bean (mung beans) barley dessert

After making the green bean (mung beans) cooling drink, there is no need to discard the beans and pandan leaves. Instead, you can transfer them to another pot and cook them together with Chinese barley to make a yummy Chinese dessert. :)

Made this dessert soup because we ran out of breakfast foods on Saturday morning and it was POURING so I rummaged through the fridge and decided to work with what I had. Anyway, who says you can't eat a dessert for breakfast? :P

Here's the recipe if you're cooking the dessert without having made the cooling drink:

Green bean (mung beans) barley dessert

Ingredients:

• 1/3 bowl mung beans
• 1-2 handfuls Chinese barley (sheng shou yi mi)
• 4 pandan leaves
• rock sugar to taste
• 1.6L water

Method:

1. Wash the pandan leaves and trim off any brownish edges. Tie the pandan leaves into a knot.
2. Wash the mung beans and barley thoroughly.
3. Place the pandan leaves, mung beans and barley into a pot of water and bring it to a boil.
4. Simmer for about an hour (remove the pandan leaves after half an hour) and add rock sugar to taste at the end of the cooking process. (The green beans should have split and the barley should be soft and fluffy)
5. Dish and serve. Can be served hot or cold.

Alicia likes this dessert too! :)

Mini Cottage Pies (II)

Ooh, look at the golden brown pies! :)

This time I used red potatoes instead of purple ones so no purple pies! haha... and yes, these brown nicely as you can see from the pic. :)

Waiting to be baked...

Close-up! Look at the smooth texture of the potato prior to baking! :P

Cottage pies usually require the use of ground beef (and in the case of of the English, they use lamb or mutton). In my previous recipe, I used minced chicken because I didn't have ground beef on hand. This time, I had extra ground beef (leftover from the making of spaghetti sauce) and so I immediately thought of making some cottage pies since Alicia had finished the last lot quite a while ago.

If you or your child do not consume beef for religious reasons or simply detest the taste of beef, you can always give my previous recipe a try instead - not as authentic but nevertheless yummy! :)

Mini Cottage Pies (II)

Ingredients:

• 3 egg-sized red potatoes
• 3 tablespoons minced beef
• 1/3 yellow onion (minced) - I ran out of onion yesterday but would have added it if I had some
• 1/2 small carrot (minced)
• 2 tablespoons frozen green peas
• unsalted all-purpose herbs
• unsalted butter

Marinate beef with:

• 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1-2tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sugar (optional)
• dash of black pepper

Method:

1. Marinate minced beef.
2. Peel potatoes and cube them. Boil them till they are soft.
3. Mash the potatoes with about 1 tablespoon butter, herbs and a pinch of salt.
4. Heat wok and melt butter.
5. Fry the minced onion and carrot till onion is soft.
6. Add the minced beef. Continue frying so that the chicken doesn't clump together.
7. Add the peas when beef is almost cooked.
8. Dish up the filling.
9. Fill the silicon mini muffin cups with the filling to about the half-way mark.
10. Add the mashed potato on top and shape them like little muffins.
11. Preheat oven to 200degC.
12. Bake mini pies for 20-25min at 200degC. (Usually 20min will do for mine)

These mini pies can be frozen and defrosted in the fridge.

Because of the mini size, these can serve well as snacks or even breakfast. Just give more for lunch or dinner! :) Or pair them up with another western dish such as spaghetti - that's what I do sometimes!

Mini Cottage Pies for the tot!

How would you like some of these?

They aren't baked yet though... but don't they look nice?

I decided to bake mini cottage pies for Alicia the other day, but using minced chicken in place of minced beef since I didn't have beef on hand. And just in case you're wondering, the potato I used was a purple one hence the violet hue instead of the usual yellow. :) Hubby actually thought it was yam... lol.

Check out Alicia's response:

Hot!

Help me with it daddy!

Waiting...

Still waiting for it to cool...

hmmm... what does it taste like...

mmmm... not bad...

Fresh out from the oven!

Mini Cottage Pies for the tot

Waiting to be baked...

Makes 10 mini pies

Ingredients:

• 1 red potato
• 1 purple potato
• 3 tablespoons minced chicken fillet
• 1/3 yellow onion (minced)
• 1/2 small carrot (minced)
• 2 tablespoons frozen green peas
• unsalted all-purpose herbs
• unsalted butter

Marinate chicken with:

• 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1-2tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• dash of black pepper

Method:

1. Marinate minced chicken.
2. Peel potatoes and cube them. Boil them till they are soft.
3. Mash the potatoes with about 1 tablespoon butter and a pinch of salt.
4. Heat wok and melt butter.
5. Fry the minced onion and carrot till onion is soft.
6. Add the minced chicken. Continue frying so that the chicken doesn't clump together.
7. Add the peas when chicken is almost cooked.
8. Dish up the filling.
9. Fill the silicon mini muffin cups with the filling to about the half-way mark.
10. Add the mashed potato on top.
11. Preheat oven to 200degC.
12. Bake mini pies for 20-25min at 200degC.

These mini pies can be frozen and defrosted in the fridge.

Because of the mini size, these can serve well as snacks or even breakfast. Just give more for lunch or dinner! :)

Alicia's response in the beginning was lukewarm and almost disheartening but after serving these little pies to her a few times, she started to warm up to them and eats well now! :)

Review: FairPrice's Roundies (Corn pops with honey)

Brand: FairPrice

Origin: Germany

Where to buy: NTUC

Product: Roundies (corn pops with honey)

Weight: 250g

Allergen advice: Contains soya products (soya lecithin)

May contain traces of cereals containing gluten and milk products

Here's our latest breakfast food which we alternate with Cheerios to give ourselves and Alicia some variety for breakfast cereals.

Taste-wise, I find that it's really quite nice and you can serve it with or without milk. Personally I munch on them without milk as a snack (and so does Alicia)... haha... it's that tasty and addictive. :P

Though a sweetened cereal, it is not too sweet in my opinion though I wouldn't advise that children below 1 consume this product as they should not be introduced to salt or sugar at that age. :)

If you really find it too sweet to eat on its own, eating it together with milk definitely helps as the corn pops soak up the milk relatively quickly. Hence, if you are going to take some time to eat the cereal, make sure you don't pour all the cereal into the milk at one go or you'll have to eat soggy cereal (which is gross, in my opinion). :)

Besides the great taste, the cereal is a source of vitamins E, B6, B12, B1, B2 and B3! :)

Give it a try! Who says housebrand stuff aren't good? :)

Banana strawberry smoothie

*I forgot to charge my camera battery last night and so the photos were taken with my lousy hp camera... and I had to take the photos as quickly as possible since someone was screaming her head off shouting 'bao bao!' Sigh...

anyway, I think I need to go get a proper glass to showcase the drinks in future: this wine glass is rather inappropriate for the drink!*

My hubby reminded me to finish up the banana that was becoming too ripe last night and so this morning, instead of using the banana to make banana muffins for breakfast (which is what I'd usually do), I decided to make a banana smoothie instead since I had milk in the fridge.

Since I only had one banana, I thought it'd be nice to have a stronger fruity-tasting smoothie (not to mention a visually more appealing one too) - so I added strawberries into the blender. Anyway, the strawberries I had in the fridge weren't particularly sweet so I had no qualms about blending them in my drink - it's better to have them blended than to have to endure the sour fruits at night... :P The thought of that just made me put more strawberries than I think I would have... had the strawberries been sweet and yummy, I might have held back a little... hehe.

Anyway, so Alicia and I had banana strawberry smoothie as part of breakfast today. It's her first time having a smoothie and she drank about one baby cup - that's good enough for a start! She had a couple of mouths of cake here and there with sips of smoothie in between and then she decided she'd had enough, got out of her chair, got me to wipe her mouth and off she went to play!

That's MY breakfast... :P

Banana strawberry smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 8 small strawberries
• 1 cup of milk

Method:

1. Remove the banana from the peel, cut it into several pieces and place it into the blender.
2. Soak the strawberries for awhile. Drain and remove the leaves and place them into the blender.
3. Add the cup of milk and blend away!
4. Serve.

New snack cum breakfast food

I finally convinced hubby to buy this pack of cereal for Alicia! He refused to buy it earlier as he just felt that she wouldn't like it and since it comes in such big packaging, he didn't want to land up with another type of food she refuses which we have to eat instead. Besides, it has happened one too many times that the super healthy food that I ask hubby to buy for Alicia tastes not just bland but awful. Hehe. I guess he's very wary these days of any smart-alecky ideas of mine. :P Oh well. Anyway, we even bought milk to go along with this cereal as we decided that both of us will eat it too!

And so, this morning, Alicia and I had this yummy breakfast food together. It's her first time having cow's milk and she's willing to eat the cereal together with the milk so I think it's quite a great leap forward. My fussy one has progressed much lately and I think I might just dedicate a post to her improved eating!

Anyway, the cereal tastes much much nicer than expected, probably because it's been lightly sweetened. Cute little Os which come in different colours due to the different types of grains are visually appealing too! Thumbs up for the Cheerios! :)