Kids in the Kitchen - Easy Peasy Potato Cakes, Minion Cake, and Curry.

I've been feeling a little under the weather this week and have hardly turned on the computer and instead opting for early nights. But still feeling exhausted. D was off school again this week. It turns out one of the big negatives of being at school rather than home-schooling, is that the kids pick up lots of lots of bugs.

I could probably count on one hand the number of sick-days we had in our three years of homeschooling and yet in a couple of terms of being back at school and the kids have been ill on so many more days already.

But I didn't want to miss what has become our favourite linky at the moment as it really keeps us motivated to keep cooking. Thankfully I usually take the photos the week before each week's linky goes up on Raisie Bay so although we've been feeling unwell this week, this post is about some of the cooking we did last week.

I was very glad to read that the Kids in the Kitchen linky is about what we get up to in the kitchen and you don't even need a proper recipe to link up which is just as well as this week is a bit of a mish-mash of several bits and pieces of cooking.

Minion Cake
Firstly, Miss T had helped me make D's Minion Cake for his birthday. She did her usual mixing eggs and measuring out the flour, margarine and sugar.

We actually made a really simple microwave cake recipe (which cooks in only 4 minutes in the microwave!). I had kept a couple of the plastic bowls from Christmas puds which is what gave me the idea of making a minion cake as they looked roughly the right shape.

So we made the two microwave cakes. Then Mummy decorated them the next day. Although Miss T didn't help with the decorating, she still remembered making the cakes so she was quite proud of herself when she saw the end result:

 And D and J also seemed to like it:

Potato Cakes
When we found we had a few leftover boiled potatoes, D helped me turn them into very basic potato cakes. We hate letting food go to waste and as everyone was fed up of boiled potatoes and mash - So Potato cakes were the answer.

There's not really a proper recipe as such - simply mash the potatoes, mix with a couple of eggs and fry in some oil. I think we also added a little black pepper.

Home-made Katsu(-ish) curry
Whilst we are on the topic of leftovers I had some Aubergines to use up as I had bought several for when we made our Foodimal Peacock.

So I was going to make a basic aubergine curry. But as I was making it, it started to smell a little like Katsu-style Japanese curry which I love so much but can't seem to buy any kind of sauce in the supermarkets for it.

So I just wanted to note down the ingredients I used in case I ever want to try to make it again. Note it is not proper Katsu but just seemed to have the flavouring of Katsu style sauce. And it is not a proper recipe as I just tweaked the amounts as I went along to get the flavour I liked.

soy sauce (added at end)
honey (added at end)
cornflour (slake first)
garlic granules
nutmeg (small amount)
cumin
ginger powder
coriander
garam masala
tumeric
(all dried not fresh)

2 chicken stock oxo cubes
oinion, beef (tossed in plain flour first)
olive oil
aubergine
carrot
green beans

I started it off on the hob and then cooked it in the oven on a really low heat for a long time.

So a bit of a mish mash of things we did in the kitchen last week. The kids didn't even help with that last one so technically it shouldn't be on this post - but I just need to note it down to remember it for myself!