This recipe takes just 15 minutes to cook!  It serves four people. This could be your ‘special dish’ – the recipe you cook for family and friends and everyone thinks you are a cooking genius.

Equipment

A large pan to cook the pasta in

A colander to drain the past

A frying pan

A wooden spatula or spoon

Ingredients

350 grams of spaghetti (use fusilli or penne if you prefer)

3 tablespoons of olive oil

250 gram of mushrooms (put more in if you really like mushrooms)

2 big handfuls of frozen peas

A jar of green pesto (these are usually about 300 grams – I like sacla)

Black pepper

How to make your Pesto & Pea Pasta

1. Chop the mushrooms into slices. The slices should be about half a centimetre thick.  (Don’t worry too much about this – mushrooms taste nice thick,  thin or chunky!)

Cook the pasta

2. While the pasta is cooking, heat two tablespoons of olive oil in the frying pan. Use a medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook in the oil until they start to turn brown. This will take about five minutes.

3. When the mushrooms are cooked, add the frozen peas. You may wish to add a little more olive oil if the pan looks a bit dry. The peas are cooked when they turn darker green and are soft and tender. Try one to taste – they should be soft and slippery and really sweet. It will take about another three minutes. (Don’t forget about your pasta! As soon as it is cooked, drain it, add a little olive oil and black pepper.)

4. Add the jar of pesto to the pan and stir in with the mushrooms and peas.

5. Finally add the pasta to the sauce. If your frying pan is big enough, add the pasta to the frying pan and carefully stir it into the sauce. Or if you prefer, pour the sauce into the pan of pasta and stir through.

6. Take the pan to the table and let everyone help themselves. Molto delizioso!   (Very delicious!)

Make the recipe your own

If you don’t like mushrooms, leave them out. The peas are the star ingredients here.

Add olives when you add the peas.

Add slices of bacon when you are cooking the mushrooms. (We really like turkey bacon as it cooks really quickly and has no fatty bits).

Or add slices of courgettes to cook at the same time as the mushrooms.

If you like a really creamy sauce, add two tablespoons of greek yoghurt at the same time as you add the pesto to the pan.

Let us know how you get on – especially if you try any new ingredients!

1. Fill pan with cold water. It should be about two thirds full, well below the rim of the pan – when the water starts to boil it will bubble up. Add a pinch of salt to the water.

2. Heat the pan of water on the hob until it is boiling. You will know it is boiling when the water starts bubbling. Put the lid on the pan to make it boil quicker.

3. When the water is boiling, add the pasta to the pan. Spaghetti takes a little longer to get into the pan, you need to poke it with a wooden spoon to make sure it is all covered by the water.

The cold pasta will stop the water boiling for a minute. Watch until it starts boiling again and then turn the heat down until it is simmering – this means bubbling gently.

4. Check the packet to see how long the pasta needs to cook – its usually about 11 minutes. A minute before then, use a fork to get a piece of pasta out of the pan and try it. It is cooked when it is still a little bit firm, but not hard. The italians call this ‘al dente’.

5. When the pasta is cooked, carefully pour it into a colander and drain it. (Top tip – if your sauce looks a bit dry, add a little bit of the pasta water to it).

Then pour the pasta back into the pan, and stir in a tablespoon olive oil and some black pepper. This will make the pasta taste extra nice and the oil will stop it sticking.

Your pasta is now ready for your favourite sauce!

Ingredients

(Makes 14 medium sized cookies)

180 grams self raising flour
125 grams butter or margerine - just make sure it is soft
150 grams sugar (caster sugar is definitely best for this recipe, but use whatever you have)
1 small egg, beaten (break the small egg into a bowl, and use a fork to mix it until it turns yellow)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (teaspoon – that’s the small one!)
2 X 40g boxes Smarties

Equipment

Scales
Large bowl
Wooden spoon
A large baking tray - 2 if possible. These cookies are big!
Baking parchment or greaseproof paper. (This will stop your biscuits sticking to the tray.)

How to make your Smartie Cookies

1. Get your baking tray ready. Spread a piece of baking parchment over the top of it, so it covers the tray. If you don’t have any baking parchment, you could cover the baking tray in a very thin layer of butter or oil. This is called greasing the tin.

2. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy.

4. Add the vanilla and the egg to the butter mixture and beat them together with the wooden spoon.

5. Add the flour and stir until it forms a thick, sticky mixture.

6. Whether you enjoy this bit, depends on whether you like getting your hands sticky! Roll a bit of the mixture into small balls, about the size of a walnut. (If the mixture is just too sticky to roll, you could add a bit more flour.)

7. THIS IS THE IMPORTANT BIT! These biscuits spread out when they cook so leave lots of room between each ball of mixture. Either use two tins or cook half the biscuits on one tray and then use the same tray again for a second batch.

8. THIS IS THE FUN BIT! Stick Smarties, or whatever you have, into each ball of mixture. (Jazzy made these last night with her baby sister. Some of the Smarties went missing. Hmmm…?)

9. Put the tray of biscuits into the oven and cook for 15 minutes. The biscuits are ready when they start to turn golden brown. They will be soft when they come out of the oven. Leave them to cool on the tray for 10 minutes and they will crisp up a little bit. But remember,these are American style cookies so they will be a little bit chewy.

Make the Smartie Cookies your Own

You could use different toppings,such as peanut M&Ms, cherries, or chocolate buttons.

Or you could make one giant cookie to share with friends. Stick in some candles,and it is a perfect birthday surprise!

Ingredients

2 large eating apples
2 firm pears (use tinned pear halves if you like)
2 bananas (they should be yellow but not too ripe)
120g of cold butter
170g of plain flour
80g of golden caster sugar (demerara sugar will also do)
4 tablespoons of apple juice
1 tablespoon of runny honey

Equipment

A large bowl and spoon
A small sharp knife to peel and cut up the fruit
An ovenproof dish

How to make your Fruit Crumble

1.  Heat the oven to Gas 6,  180C.   Cut butter into small cubes and put it into the bowl.

2. Add flour and use your fingers to rub the flour into the butter.

3. When the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs, stir in the sugar.  That’s the crumble topping finished!

4. Peel the apples and cut them into thick slices. Throw the core away.

5. Do the same with the pears. Place both the apple and pear slices into the oven proof dish.

6. Splash the apple juice over the apple and pears.

7. Peel the bananas and slice into circles about half a centimetre thick. Arrange these on top of the apple and pear slices.

8. Drizzle the honey over the fruit.

9. Spoon the crumble over the fruit so it is even and no fruit is showing.

10. Cook for 35 minutes until crumble is golden brown and the fruit underneath is started to bubble up along the sides.

Serve your perfect fruit crumble with ice cream or cream while it’s still hot.  Or, when it has cooled down, serve it with hot custard!

Other Sweets To Try

• Coca Cola Cupcakes
• Chocolate Brownies
• Very Easy Chocolate Fudge Cakes

This recipe will make about 8 rock cakes.

Ingredients

200g self raising flour
80g butter
80g of caster sugar
2 drops of vanilla essence
1 egg
2 tablespoons of milk
Your favourite jam

Equipment

Some Scales
A Bowl
A Wooden spoon
A Tablespoon and a Teaspoon (the little one)
A Baking tray
A flat knife
Oven gloves

How to make your Rock Cakes

1. Heat oven to 200C,  or Gas 6.

2. In a bowl, rub the flour into the butter.

3. Add the sugar and stir it in with the wooden spoon.

4. Now add the wet ingredients. Crack in the egg and add the drops of vanilla extract and the milk. Stir it all together into a stiff, sticky dough. If it looks a bit too floury, add a little more milk.

5. Grease the baking tray by rubbing on a bit of butter.

6. Next comes the only slightly tricky part of this recipe. Using the tablespoon, drop a large blob of the mixture onto the tray. Use the teaspoon to help push it onto the tray. Flatten the top of the mixture slightly with a spoon.

7. Do the same with the rest of the mixture.  (It should make about eight rock cakes). Make sure you leave room between each blob, as the cakes will get bigger in the oven. Remember, you have used self raising flour so they are going to rise.

8. On top of each cake, add a small teaspoon of jam. Don’t add too much, no matter how much you like jam, because the jam will spread in the oven.

9. Put into the oven for about 12 to 15 minutes. They are ready when they are golden brown.

10. Carefully take out of the oven and allow them to cool on the tray.   Remember the jam will be hot! Be careful!
If you prefer currants to jam, just add about 80g of them to the mix. Chocolate chips or glace cherries taste great too!

Other Cakes to Try

Very Easy Chocolate Fudge Cakes
Homemade Shortbread
Baked Strawberry Cheesecake – if you’re feeling adventurous!

Ingredients

Potatoes – choose ones that are marked ‘good for baking’, such as Maris Piper or King Edwards
Salt – chunky sea salt is ideal

Equipment

Er … none really. But a baking tray would be handy.

How to make the Perfect Baked Potato

1. Put the oven on to 190C, or gas 6. (This is fairly hot).

2. Wash the potatoes but don’t dry them.  Rub some salt into the skins.

3. Put the salted potatoes onto a baking tray if you have one and then into the oven.

4. Medium sized potatoes will take about an hour to cook. The salt will make them crispy on the outside.  To test them, squeeze them gently – use a tea-towel to protect your fingers. They are cooked when they feel a bit squashy.

5. To serve the restaurant way, cut a big cross in the top of the potato. Then, using your tea-towel, squeeze the sides of your spud quite hard. Some of the white, fluffy middle pops up out of the potato and looks great.   Now you are ready to add your filling.

Fillings for the Perfect Jacket Potato

Butter
Homemade Coleslaw
Cheese
Beans
Sweetcorn and black pepper (Drain a can of sweetcorn and heat in a pan with a blob of butter. Add lots of freshly ground black pepper and serve on top of your potato.  Delicious!)
Chilli

Eggy Bread is great for breakfast, or straight after school. Also, check out our low-fat alternative at the end of the page.

Ingredients

One large egg
Vanilla extract
Two pieces of bread (I like white bread for this)
Some butter

Equipment

A bowl (to beat the eggs in)
A fork
A frying pan
A spatula

How to make your Eggy Bread (or your French Toast!)

1.This is so easy. Cut the crusts off the bread.

2. Beat the egg with the fork until it’s smooth and yellow.

3. Add two drops of vanilla extract. (This is delicate. First pour a little of the vanilla into the lid of the bottle. Then drip it to the eggs. That way, you can’t go too far wrong). Beat the egg a bit more to mix in the vanilla.

4. Put a knob of butter (a blob the size of a conker) into the frying pan. Put it on a low heat. Butter goes brown really quickly. You want it to melt and bubble a little, that’s all.

5. This is the fun bit. While the butter is melting, dip the bread into the egg and coat it on both sides with mixture. Then – when the butter is melted and bubbling slightly – drop the eggy bread into the hot pan. It will take about three minutes to turn golden brown underneath. Flip it over and cook it on the other side.

6. Eat your French Toast while it’s hot, with whatever you like. I like it best with marmalade, or cinnamon and sugar.

If you want an even healthier version, use spray-on oil instead of butter. The recipe instantly becomes low fat!

Other Easy Meals

Bacon & Pea Pasta
Corned Beef Hash

Ingredients

A tablespoon of olive oil
An onion
A clove of garlic -or more if you like
1 stick of celery
1 large carrot
2 medium potatoes
1 stock cube, (vegetable, chicken or beef) crumbled into 750ml of water
A tin of chopped tomatoes (425 ml)
2 or 3 florets of broccoli – if you’ve got it
Mixed herbs
Handful of spaghetti - about ten to fifteen sticks

Equipment

A knife and chopping board
Wooden spoon
A large pan

How to make your Easy Minestrone

1. First prepare the vegetables. Peel and finely chop the onion (don’t worry if its not perfect.)

2. Chop ends off the stick of celery. Just cut a couple of centimetres off the top and a couple of centimetres off the bottom. Throw these bits away so you are left with the stick in the middle. Then thinly slice the celery so you get little ‘c’ shapes.

3. Chop the carrot into small pieces – do this by chopping it in half length-ways and then chopping it up into thin semi-circles. You are aiming for the chunks of veg to be quite small and more or less the same size. That way, they will all cook at the same time.

4. Peel and chop the potato into small chunks.

5. Then peel and crush the garlic with the back of a spoon.

6. That’s all the hard work done. Now put the pan on a medium heat and add the olive oil and chopped onion. Cook it for a few minutes until it goes soft and slightly see-through. The most important thing is not to let it burn. Stir it and turn the heat down if you need to.

7. Add the celery and the carrot and allow them to cook with the onion. Add a drop more olive oil if you need to. Cook gently for another 5 minutes.

8. Add the potato and the crushed garlic. Stir them in and allow them to cook for a few more minutes.

9. Now for the liquid. Pour in the stock and the tomatoes. Stir in the mixed herbs.

10. Bring your soup to the boil by turning up the heat. Then turn it down again so it bubbles gently – “simmering”. Give the mixture an occasional stir to make sure the vegetables aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pan.

11. Meanwhile, chop the broccoli into small pieces. After the soup has been cooking for five minutes, add the broccoli to the pan.

12. Finally, break the spaghetti into little pieces – about 3cm long – and drop them in. Let the soup simmer for another 15 minutes. As it simmers, water evaporates and the minestrone will get thicker. Add a little more water if you think it needs it.

13. The minestrone soup is ready when the potatoes and carrots are soft and the pasta is cooked. Taste your minestrone – it will need pepper and maybe a little salt.

That’s it! I often add chilli, because I love it (I put it in with the garlic). A can of butter beans or cannelloni beans also make a great addition. Serve your minestrone crusty or garlic bread. If you have any parmesan cheese in the fridge, you can grate some over for the authentic italian finish.

Other Soup-er Recipes

Carrot and Coriander Soup
Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup
Potato and Leek Soup

Ingredients

1 egg
110g of Plain Flour
1/2pint (300ml) of Milk
Vegetable Oil - for the pan, not the mixture!

Equipment

A big bowl and a ladle
A whisk
A frying pan & a thin spatula
Kitchen Roll (the secret weapon!)

How to make your Pancakes

1. Crack the egg into the bowl and add the flour and milk.

2. Whisk the mixture until it’s smooth.

3. Put the frying pan on the stove on a high heat.

4. When the pan is very hot, pour in a little drop of oil – about the size of a 10p piece.

5. Smear the oil around the pan with a wad of kitchen roll. Be careful!

6. Now add some of the mixture for your first pancake. A ladle-full should be enough. Tip the pan to spread the mixture around.

7. Let it cook for a minute or so. Lift the edge with the spatula. When it looks done underneath, loosen the whole pancake from the pan and flip it over. I always use the spatula for this!

8. Another minute and the first pancake will be done. Tip it out on a plate and start on your next. You’ll probably need a drop more oil for each one. They usually get better and better, so save the last for yourself!

Best Toppings for your Pancakes

- Sugar and Lemon Juice
- Nutella
- Golden Syrup and Lime Juice (gorgeous)
- Maple Syrup
- Honey and Lemon Juice

What do you like on your pancakes?

Ingredients

8 digestive biscuits
50g butter
600g cream cheese
2 tbsp plain flour
175g caster sugar
a couple of drops of vanilla extract
2 full eggs , plus 1 extra yolk!
150ml creme fraiche
300g strawberries
1 tablespoon of icing sugar

Equipment

A 20cm circular cake tin
A medium sized pan
A mixing bowl, wooden spoon & a whisk

How to make your Strawberry Cheesecake

1. Heat the oven to 180C / gas 4.

2. Put the buscuits in a plastic bag and bash then with a rolling pin until they’re crushed!

3. Melt the butter in the pan. Mix the crushed buiscuits with the melted butter.

4. Press the biscuity mixture into the tin, making sure it’s completely level. Stick the tin in the oven for just 5 minutes. Take it out and leave it to cool.

5. Now for the topping. In the bowl, mix up the:

- cream cheese
- flour
- sugar
- vanilla extract
- 2 full eggs and a yolk (catch the yolk in your fingers over the sink!)
- creme fraiche.

Get rid of the lumps with the spoon. Then use then whisk until the mixture is smooth and light, like melted ice-cream.

6. Chop about half of the strawberries in good-sized lumps and stir them into the mixture too.

7. Pour this fruity, cheesecakey mixture into the tin. Put the tin back in the oven for another 40 minutes.

8. Check your cheesecake. It should be set but slightly wobbly in the centre. If so, take it out and leave it in the tin to cool.

9. Hold a few strawberries back, and put the rest in the pan with the icing sugar. Heat them up until they’re juicy and then squash them with a fork! Your sauce is ready.

Serve your cheesecake with some sliced strawberries on top and the strawberry sauce poured over.

Berry, berry nice.