I'm sure a lot of research has taken place to find out how to get consumers to purchase as much as possible, in a supermarket. The location of the special offers and the sweets near the till, for the tired toddler who's calling the shots after an hour long shop, are all part of the plan to get us to buy more. Many I don't succumb to, however one supermarket tactic that I can't ignore, especially if hungry, is the smell of freshly baked breads and pastries. Many's the time I've been lured to the baking department and a couple of pastries will ultimately make their way into my trolley. Perfect to accompany that momentous cuppa  after returning home from a shopping trip with four children.
One part of Saturday mornings that I truly relish is having the time for a proper sit down breakfast, with all the children. It may just be cereal and juice, but everyone around the kitchen table is always a good start to the day. This weekend I decided I would make some little pastries to have with breakfast. I had some shop bought puff pastry in the fridge so whipping them up was no difficult fate. My absolute favourite pastry is the pecan and maple variety, so these are what I made. They are fairly sweet, and you certainly wouldn't eat them every morning, but as a treat they work out rather nice.

Maple & Pecan Puffs

Ingredients
1 sheet of puff pastry, if frozen thawed
100g pecans, plus a few extra for topping
60mls maple syrup
50g soft brown sugar
25g soft butter

 Method

 1. Pre heat the oven to 200 C/ 390 F.
2. Roll out the puff pastry and place on a sheet of grease proof paper.
3. Place the pecans in a food processor and blitz for a few seconds. Add the maple syrup, butter and sugar. Blitz to a smooth mixture.
4. Using a sharp knife cut the pastry into 2 inch wide strips from the outer edge of the pastry and about the quarter of the way to the middle of the pastry.
5. Spoon the mixture in the middle of the pastry.
6. Fold the strips of pastry towards the centre, over lapping each of the strips, which will form a plait effect. Brush with a little water and sprinkle over a few chopped pecans.
7. Place on a large baking tray, and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
8. While still hot, brush with a little maple syrup, which gives the pasties a nice shine.    
These days my kids, especially the boys, seem to be constantly in search of their next bite to eat. They are active lads and during school time it seems more difficult to keep them contently fed. I tend to pack quite a substantial school lunch for each, with wholesome options that are sure to fill them, yet still, they will return from a day of school famished and barely have seatbelts on before they are chanting the 'What's for dinner?' line. If dinner isn't ready I will normally have some snacks in mind for them on their return home. One of their favourites is these Packed Potato Skins and what I tend to rustle up if I happen to have the oven already on for that day's dinner. These potatoes also make a great accompaniment to a spicy chili dish or a casserole of any description. This recipe makes quite a few so wrap some in cling film and freeze for up to a week, ready for another day's snack. They are delicious and nutritious and will keep little ones going, at least until they finish their homework!

Ingredients

10 baking potatoes
150g Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
200g strong cheddar cheese
3 spring onions, chopped finely
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C(fan)/200C/gas mark 5. Scrub the potatoes well and prick them a few times with a fork. Bake for about 1½ hours, or until the skins are crisp. Once the potatoes cool slightly, cut them in half lengthways and scoop the insides into a bowl and mash well.
2. Put the skins of the potatoes on a tray ready to fill them.
3. Combine the yogurt with the mustard. Grate the cheese, and add 150g of it to the cooled potato along with the yogurt, mustard and spring onions. Season with a little freshly ground pepper.
4. Making sure that the potato skins are fitting snugly on the baking tray, spoon the potato mixture into each one. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese, and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until golden.

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In other news, I am delighted to let you know that I am a finalist in The Irish Blog Awards. Thank you to anyone who nominated me and to the judges who voted for me. I am absolutely thrilled and extremely honoured to be in a category with such talented bloggers. 

Best Food/Drink Blog – Finalists



When I was a child it was my father who would read to me each night, even though generally he would only be in the door from a hard days work, this was never made an issue of and he would  deliver each story, mostly from memory, with such dramatic expression I felt as though each night I was at the theatre. I so loved his story telling but only now as a busy parent do I truly appreciate what he gave to me. My children love books and I equally love to read to them. I adore that little magical look that comes into their eyes, when the images of the stories are being made clearer to them. Jack has always been an avid reader and for years it has not been unusual to find him under the duvet, with his flash light, frantically trying to get a few more pages read before sleep. We generally have one rather large and ambitious book to read as a family, of which I or Diarmuid will read whenever we can steal a few spare minutes. We are currently half way through reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Even though Tiarnan, Fionn and even Millie will snuggle up for the story, it is really Tiarnan who eagerly awaits the next instalment from Hogwarts. Fionn's favourite books are ones that require a little interaction from the reader, ones that ask questions at the end of each page, such as the Richard Scary books. Big favourites for Millie and actually all the children, especially when read with varied voices and lots of gusto, are Julia Donaldson's books. No matter how many times the Gruffalo is read laughter will always ensue.
A couple of months ago I was very kindly sent some books by Westmeath author Dolores Keaveney. I was already familiar with Dolores's books as we had taken them on loan, on a couple of occasions, from the library. It initially was Fionn who was attracted to the look of the books, as they are so vibrant in colour but also contain the beautiful illustrated paintings which are familiar scenes of hens, bees and gardens. Dolores is one talented lady as she not only writes the stories but also illustrates each book. She currently has written one spiritual book and four children's picture books including her latest book Beelicious -Recipes with Honey, which is a cookbook for children. The beautiful part to this cookbook is the involvement of Dolores's family, especially her young granddaughter Ellie, who helped devise the recipes. Again this book, no different from the others, is beautifully illustrated and as an added bonus, throughout the book there are interesting facts about bees and honey. A few evenings ago Tiarnan and I made Ellie's Flapjacks from Beelicious and they really worked out a treat. This little cookbook has some real gems of recipes and ones that are especially tailored for the younger cooks in the house.



 Ellie's Flapjacks

250g / 10oz butter
100g/ 4 oz soft brown sugar
30 mls honey
20mls golden syrup
350g/ 14 oz porridge oats

 Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C(fan)/390°F/gas mark 6. Grease a baking tray.
2. In a medium sized saucepan add all the ingredients, apart from the porridge oats, and slowly melt stirring regularly.
3. Take from the heat and stir in the oats.  Turn into the prepared tin and with a wooden spoon press down well.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 -25 minutes. Cool, in the tin, on a wire rack.


Below is a recent article I wrote for the Westmeath Independent, which I wanted to share with you.
For the past year, one of my young men has wanted to start every afterschool activity that has come his way. From speech & drama to badminton, there is never a note brought home without profuse pleading and stories of how he has always wanted to do whichever particular activity is being advertised. I generally have a rule that unless the children genuinely love their afterschool activities and are in some way benefiting from doing it I don't send them. After all, it costs both money and time for these activities and evenings can be much better spent when not taxiing for hours on end. Last summer this little man got the notion that he would very much like to commence horse riding. We had been to Moate Show and stood for an hour watching horses being groomed and then partake in the show. They looked so magnificent and on seeing a child, similar to his age, jumping very confidently, he decided that this could be his next afterschool endeavour. He is an avid animal lover so I wasn't surprised by this suggestion. We decided to stay local to Moate and try a few lessons at Hall Farm. Never before had we been out there and it really is a beautiful, idyllic spot. A gathering of ducks and hens met us on hopping out of the car, as we parked in front of an orchard full of heavily ladened apple trees. We were instantly impressed, even before seeing the horses. The first few visits brought some early day nerves, but confidence was soon gained and almost a year down the line my little man is still heading out to his lessons, rain or shine and after the last few weeks he is now dreaming of gold for Ireland. That’s possibly a little ambitious, but never the less he's enjoying himself while getting plenty of exercise.
Myles, who runs Hall Farm, is a true entrepreneur, when not taking care of the horses and giving lessons he's in the kitchen, using local ingredients, to create some amazing dishes for his restaurant at the farm. During one of the lessons recently he shared with me a liver dish recipe, which he makes as a starter at the restaurant. My Dad has had some difficulties with low iron levels recently, so I generally try to include iron-rich foods in his diet. He is a great fan of liver, which happens to be very rich in Iron and as I'm ever keen to find new ways of serving it, I decided to try out Myles’s recipe for Liver with Cream & Mustard and it was delicious. It's certainly no great task to bring Tiarnán to his horse riding lessons as myself and the children can wander through the orchard, admire the ducks and I even get the opportunity to do a little chatting about food!

Pan-Fried Lamb's Liver with Cream & Mustard

Ingredients

4 lambs’ livers
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Knob of butter
1 tbsp olive oil
250mls cream
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
8 baby potatoes, cooked and cut in half
1 tbsp parsley, roughly chopped

Method
1.  Heat a frying pan, add the butter and drizzle in the olive oil. Season the livers with a little salt and pepper, on both sides.
2. Add to the hot pan and fry for 3 minutes on each side.
3. Pour in the cream and let it bubble for a couple of minutes. Turn down the heat and stir in the mustard. Add the cooked, chopped potatoes and heat through for 2 minutes. Serve with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and vegetable of your choice. 


Summer Holidays - With four children it really doesn't matter what the season, as day to day life is always guaranteed to be busy. This summer was no different and even-tough I was kept on my toes I felt that it was much more relaxed than previous ones. It was the first summer in many years that I either didn't have a baby on my hip or was pregnant, so heading out to the garden, even with a flock of helpers was very refreshing. I have also been kept busy with food-related projects, lots of writing and photography, so we were all suitable busy for the summer months. On the last week of the summer holidays, we got to take in a holiday to Tuscany. Some of you may remember that I won a holiday last year with Ireland AM so we finally got to take this trip. We stayed at a very beautiful campsite -Norcenni Girasole Club - in the heart of Tuscany, which was a real treat as we had never before been on a sun holiday with the children. The boys loved the pools and all the fabulous campsite facilities, but poor Millie found the high temperatures very overwhelming. Tucking into ice-creams while dipping their toes in the pool are now just distant memories as the boys are back to school, with my little Fionn just at the very start of his academic adventures.
I hope you have all had an enjoyable summer, even if it was recorded as Ireland's wettest summer in twenty-six years!


The restaurant food at the campsite was actually very tasty. 


The mini-golf on-site was a great hit with the children.

Thank you to all who entered the give-away, for the lovely hamper from Keogh's Farm. All the names were put into a hat and the name Millie pulled out was... Emma.
Congratulations Emma and please contact me with your postal address.
I have mentioned here before that I am a great fan of the Co.Dublin based farm Keogh's, who produce the tastiest crisps. So following on from their success with last week's National Potato Day, Keogh's Farm would like to celebrate by offering me a very delicious hamper to give as a prize to one of my lovely readers. The hamper includes Easy Cook Baby & Rooster Family Meal packs, Easy Cook Pod, I Love Spuds T-shirt & Tote bag and a packet of each flavour crisp 4 x 50g. 

How To Enter: All you have to do, to be in with a chance to win this lovely prize is 
A. Be a follower of Nessa's Family Kitchen, see the sidebar on the right
B. Answer the question, using the comment box below.
The Question: In what county is Keogh's Farm located?

OPTIONAL:
* Like Nessa's Family Kitchen on Facebook.
* Follow Nessa's Family Kitchen on Twitter.


TERMS AND CONDITIONS: you must be a resident of Ireland (north or south); you must be over 18; no cash alternative is possible, the competition will close at 12m/d on Wednesday 5th September. The winner will be picked at random from the correct entries.

Best of Luck!!