Essential recipes

superdog_3

Hello everyone.
I am trying to write each of my children a recipe book for when they spread their wings ( they are only 18months and 5 years so I have plenty of time!!!)
But what essential recipes should I put in?
So far I've put basic white sauce, victoria sponge, scones, pancakes, shortcrust and flaky pastry. I could do with some savoury recipes.
I have searched through the recipe index but could do with some really simple basics.
I am not the best cook so I find it difficult to pare down recipes or make them up.
Thanks.

laughing_cow

What a lovely idea I had a children's recipe book when I was a kid which I loved (although their cartoon of a knickerbocker glory was a lot better than mine turned out!).

For savoury dishes how about spag bol, pie/quiche, a veggie dish like a chilli, and include some basics like gravy, cheese sauce, basic tomato pasta sauce etc.

Peem

I agree with the spag bol, chilli,

how about (in no particular order) shepherds pie, curry, stir fry, fish (ie from the fishmonger and breadcrumbed and fried at home - one of the best things my mum showed me), chips, pancakes, bread (dough generally), scones, fudge/tablet, stock, soup (veg and the "add what you have"), biscuits, mashed potato..

I suppose it depends on what you eat as a family, and what your favourites are.

My dad used to make yummy burgers out of macaroni and leftover bolognese (I can taste them as I type) but he can't remember how to do it! (And I hated them at the time!! Horrible child)

This is what I was thinking about the other day -I'm saving the kids' favourites to give them in a book when they grow up, I should probably add "basics" too.

I'm just thinking of the things I seem to "know" - somehow dear old mama must have shown me these things.

Punky

Yorkshire puddings

Fruit crumble

gingin_2

Aww.... my mum did the same for me and it doesn't matter how many cookery books I buy, mum's always gets used most of the time.

Mine has, soups (mushroom and tomato), quiches and tarts!, spag bol, lasagne, chicken casserole, lamb casserole, beef bourginonne, curries, fish pie, ratatouille a few other fish dishes, scones, cakes I think there about 75 pages in total and I love it!

as759

How about how to safely roast a chicken, a joint of meat, etc.

Some OS instructions for storing and using the meat leftovers maybe.

Peem

I suppose really it's going to depend on your families likes and dislikes and will grow as your family grows (in age, not necessarily in numbers IYSWIM)

We already have DS's birthday cake and DD's mayonnaise down as family favourites. There could be something like - the risotto we had on mum's birthday in Cupar - for instance.

I bet the book just grows of its own accord over the years. That's kind of what I'm hoping will happen - with possibly a few rejected meals for us to laugh at later. I refused to eat tomatoes when I was young, now they're in everything.

superdog_3

Great ideas so far. Have taken some of the recipes off the index and will try and write down some of the recipes that float around in my head and eventually make it into the pan.

comping_cat

as759 wrote:

How about how to safely roast a chicken, a joint of meat, etc.

Some OS instructions for storing and using the meat leftovers maybe.

Something similar, but i sat down with my mum once, and asked what type of meat did i need for different things, ie best joint of meat for roasting, what to use as mince, type of lamb for a hotpot etc, and i have a little book that i write my recipes in, and now have that info in the back of it!!!!

JoeyEmma

I did something similar for a friend who is getting married in a bit. I got a load of her mum's family recipes, some current modern ones such as Nigella and wrote a note about how she could get her inlaws family recipes in it and hopefully build it up through the years so she can pass it on if she has kids.