A House Husbands' Guide Our Meal, Their Meal

The Little Ones and Grown-ups Cookbook

As a growing family, the tendency is to spend hours labouring in the kitchen trying to make several meals for both adults and children.

And as parents you might worry your picky toddler won't eat your favourite spicy curry so end up spending double the time in the kitchen and double the expense in ingredients.

But why prepare two meals, when you only need to make one?

A House Husbands' Guide Our Meal, Their Meal features simple, economic and speedy recipes with varieties that both the little ones and grown-ups can enjoy together for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The carefully designed meals will allow you to spend more time with your children and less time worrying about what they can eat.

Save time in the kitchen and expand your little one's horizons with these delectable, easy-to-cook meals that will take all the thinking out of your family meal planning.

Author Aaron Harvie says: 'I hope that the recipes in this book make it easier for you to enjoy more meals together, as you create your own family dinner traditions.'

'I have tried to keep the dishes as varied as possible, some packed with flavour, others simple and easy, not only to provide parents with a little diversity but also try and cover the spectrum of our Little Ones' fussy palettes.'

In this book, Aaron also inspires to not only make your life easier, but also create healthier eating choices for your family.

'Kids are like mimics, if you're eating good food chances are your kid will too. If they see their parents eating vegetables at dinnertime, having salads with their meals, drinking water instead of soft drink, then they're more likely to follow suit,' adds Aaron.

The perfect family cookbook, A House Husbands' Guide Our Meal, Their Meal also features tips, tricks and amusing stories that make this House Husbands' Guide series just as fun to read as it is to cook from.

Aaron Harvie is a former MasterChef contestant (Series 2 and All-Stars) and has recently completed hosting season one of the Channel 10 lifestyle program 'Love to Share'. Aaron's recipes have featured in many publications including Women's Health, Women's Fitness, FHM, Filmink, New Idea, Woman's Day, NW, OK. He also has his own monthly column in JB Hi Fi's magazine Stack as well as his own food blog Food That Rocks and is a featured contributor in Africa's largest food blog Food 24. Additionally, more of his recipes can be found in the MasterChef Australia Volume 2 Cookbook and The Diabetes Australia Cookbook.

A House Husbands' Guide Our Meal, Their Meal
New Holland Publishers
Author: Aaron Harvie
RRP: $35

Spaghetti with Broccoli Pesto

Why on Earth would you include a recipe featuring that most-hated of vegetables? Because, this ingenious dish hides our healthy friend inside a mix of cheese, basil and pine nuts. And it's so delicious that, once they taste it, they'll be shovelling it in their mouths by the fistful.

Serves: 2 Grown-Ups and 2 Little Ones plus leftover pesto to freeze
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
400 g (14 oz) spaghetti
2 teaspoons dried chilli fakes (for Grown-Ups meal, optional)
olive oil, for frying
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (optional)
sea salt and cracked black pepper, to season
Broccoli Pesto:
200 g (7 oz) broccoli, cut into forets
125 g (4 oz) pine nuts
50 g (2 oz) basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, crushed
100 g (3½ oz) Parmesan, plus more to serve
150 ml (5 f oz) olive oil
½ lemon, juiced

Method
Fill a steamer with water and place over medium heat. Fill a pot with water, add some salt and bring to a rolling boil. Add the broccoli to the steamer, cook for 8 minutes then remove and set aside to cool.

Heat a dry non-stick frying pan over medium heat and add the pine nuts, cooking until toasted. Remove from heat. Grab a food processor and add the pine nuts, broccoli, basil, garlic, Parmesan, olive oil and half the lemon juice. Blitz until it's a paste with no big chunks. Set aside in a bowl.
Add the spaghetti to the pot and cook until al dente, then drain (save a couple of tablespoons of the starchy pasta water).
Return the frying pan to the cooktop over medium heat with some olive oil and butter, if using. Add half the broccoli pesto (freeze the rest) then the pasta and toss together. Add just enough pasta water to loosen the mixture, then cook for 30 seconds and remove from heat. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Plate up the Little Ones meal and allow to cool before serving.
For the Grown-Ups, drizzle a little more olive oil over the pasta in the pan, add the remaining lemon juice and the dried chilli. Toss together then divide into bowls. Top the pasta with a generous grating of Parmesan and serve with a rocket or spinach salad.

Apple Turnover

Next time you're looking for something to do on a rainy afternoon, why not try making Apple Turnovers? This is a fun dish to make with your Little One because they can help mix the ingredients in the bowl, spoon the cooked apples into the pastry and help fold and crimp the edges. And the best bit is, when it's cooked, everyone can enjoy a hot Apple Turnover straight from the oven.

Makes: 4

Ingredients
30 g (1 oz) unsalted butter
4 granny smith apples, peeled and diced
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon caster (superfine) sugar, plus additional for topping
50 g (2 oz) almond meal
1 sheet puff pastry
1 egg
1 tablespoon water

Method

Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F). Line an oven-proof tray with baking paper.
Place a saucepan over medium heat and melt the butter. Little Ones can add the apples, honey, cinnamon and caster sugar to the saucepan, then a Grown-Up can stir the mixture so it doesn't stick or burn. Cook until apples are soft then the Little Ones can add the almond meal and stir the mixture well. Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside to cool.
Place the puf pastry onto a benchtop and cut it into four squares. The Little Ones can spoon a quarter of the mixture into the center of each pastry square. Help them fold the pastry diagonally and seal the edges by pressing down and crimping the edges with a fork. Place turnovers on the baking tray.
Crack the egg into a bowl, add water and whisk together to make an egg wash. Cut three small diagonal slices across the top of each turnover. The Little Ones can brush the top of each turnover with the egg wash then sprinkle some caster sugar over the top. Place into the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
Remove the baking tray from the oven and rest for a further 15 minutes before serving.

A House Husbands' Guide Our Meal, Their Meal
New Holland Publishers
Author: Aaron Harvie
RRP: $35