Super-magic porridge {and other emergency meals}

It's definitely porridge time of year.  Little M will eat nothing else for breakfast right now (apart from borrowing whatever I'm having, tasting it, realising she doesn't have room for two breakfasts after all, and returning it - minus nibble marks).  And little L has recently started to join in our porridge habit. 

Porridge isn't something I ate as child.  In fact the first time I had it, I was 17 and flinging myself around the Derbyshire countryside trying to get selected for a gap year expedition.  Apparently, the organisers could tell whether we were suitable expedition fodder by seeing if we could survive the weekend by concocting something edible from a handful of root veg, a bag of oats and some sugar...cooked and eaten using an open fire and home-made utensils.  Amazingly this is where I learnt to love porridge!

Possibly because compared to root vegetables partially boiled in sugary water, the watery porridge tasted amazing!  The things you do in pursuit of life enhancing experiences! It's sometimes surprising where you develop your eating habits - I distinctly remember going home and making porridge for breakfast after this!

I make porridge much better than that now, you know, with milk and stuff! I've always found it difficult to resist adding extra stuff to porridge. Dried or fresh fruit usually. But 'super-magic' porridge - basically porridge with ground almonds and lots of fruit mixed in - was officially invented one cold, dark night when we arrived home very close to little M's bedtime having been (slightly) naughty parents rambling round London with her whilst she should have been tucking into her dinner. Snacks had, no doubt, been refused, and I've a feeling there was some sort of public transport kerfuffle.  Grumpy, tired little one = need for nutritious, quick supper that's a pretty safe bet...but just to be sure we felt it required a jazzy sales pitch too.  What child (who normally likes porridge admittedly) could resist 'super-magic' porridge.

It's a pretty flexible feast.  The best super-magic porridge was made when we had a frozen stash of blackberries from an afternoon's foraging with Martin's mum.  Grated ripe pear is pretty good second.  But the back of your cupboard or the bottom of your fruit bowl is your oyster really (aside from the bike lights that is).  There are some simple rules of thumb about when to put things into the mix for best results, but it's porridge, not rocket science.

1. Dried fruit is best put in during the cooking to get nice and soft
2. Frozen fruit, if quite small, can be put in after you've made the porridge.  It should be melted by the time the porridge is cool enough to eat and works a treat to speed up cooling time to minimise the tantrum window. Bigger frozen fruit - like supermarket blackberries - will need cooking a bit to defrost.
3. Fresh fruit can be put in whenever you like.  I like chunks of apple cooked but grated apple and pear is a speedy option if you don't want to spend time doing this.
4. The ground almonds can be stirred in at any point although I suspect they might maintain a bit more nutrition if they're not cooked. 

I'm not going to tell you how to make porridge as I'm by no means a connoisseur.  Sometimes I use a microwave, sometimes pan on the stove.  Sometimes I use all milk, sometimes part milk and part water, and sometimes I throw a bit of non-dairy milk, such as rice milk, into the mix. 

We've actually resorted to super-magic porridge for breakfast a bit recently as none of us are feeling on top form.  A few extra vitamins definitely won't go amiss.  I would never dream of calling it by its proper name though, except for in proper emergencies, otherwise the magic wears off.  I hope we'll have call to use it in proper circumstances, after an adventure that has skirted a little too close to bedtime, soon.  

Our other favourite emergency meals are meal-in-an-omelette and cheesy buns.  Both seriously in need of their own sales pitches, but tasty all the same.  

Meal-in-an-omelette is...you've guessed it!  Pretty much any left overs can be mixed with egg, and ideally a little cheese for extra flavour, and turned into a tasty meal.  This one has mostly been used when little M has ended up asleep at a meal-time and you know that there was a pretty slim chance she'd eat what you had cooked fresh, and not a chance it will get eaten as reheated left overs.  Christmas dinner when she was about 15 months was a classic example.  She missed the main event, but was very happy with her Christmas dinner omelette.  I have also discovered that, if you peel it, raw grated courgette cannot be detected in a cheese omelette by a toddler.

And cheesy buns?  Actually are vegetable and cheese muffins.  They're a great stand-by to have in, ready to take out for little one's lunches when you've got an unexpected social engagement (I wish!) or trip to the doctors (far too many of late) over lunchtime.   They're pretty nutritious and can't be smeared all over your chosen destination. Always a bonus!  You can take them straight from the freezer and they'll be defrosted by the time you get where you're going. One or two of these and a banana makes a pretty good lunch I reckon!

Here's the simple version of the recipe we use:

The dry stuff:  

•  250g self-raising flour
• 125g grated cheese (we use cheddar usually but I'm sure others would work fine)
• 140g grated veg - sweet potato and carrot is a good combo but loads of others work fine.
• Optional extras: salt, pepper and spice such as cumin (depending on what veg you're using)

The wet stuff: 

• 1 egg
• 185ml milk
• 110ml vegetable oil or 90g of melted butter

Mix all the dry stuff together.  Mix all the wet stuff together.  Mix the wet and the dry stuff together - not too much - it will be quite roughly textured.  Bake for 25 mins at 180 degrees / gas mark 4.  Makes about 16 muffins in fairy cake sized cases. Make sure you don't over cook them as they go a bit dry and crumbly.

So there you have it...what we eat when we're not sitting around pretending to be the family from the advert for a well known brand of gravy browning.

Comments

[breakfast lady]

Yum! Ground almonds in porridge - what a great idea. Will definitely have to try that one out.

[Fiona]

Hi Breakfast Lady, hope you like it! Suggestions for whizzy names for the other 'meals' welcome - any ideas?

[Siobhan @ Everyone Else is Normal]

Those cheesy buns sound great, will give them a go! And I'd never thought of grated apple or pear in porridge, fab idea for my youngest who has an aversion to apple or pear....Thx! S

[Fiona]

Hi Siobhan, hope the buns turn out well and that you conquer the apple and pear aversion! Thanks for stopping by.

[Pinkoddy]

Oh yummy. We cheat - I use ready brek. My mom always cooked it on the stove properly though.

[crafts on sea]

Love the idea of super magic porridge, will have to give it a go :) Thanks for linking up with Foodie Kids Thursday!

[Fiona]

Hi Pinkoddy, strange as it might seem I haven't actually tried ready break. We mostly microwave - less washing up! Thanks for visiting.

Hi crafts on sea, thank you! Great idea for a link up - always nice to find other people's kid friendly recipes! Enjoy the porridge - definitely the weather for it now.