DULCE DE LECHE

It is interesting for the children to see the changes of texture in the condensed milk, but if you cook this in a express cooker be very careful with the tin, as the tin can explode if you do not handle it carefully.

You only need a tin of condensed milk and water.

Put the tin into an express cooker (or a normal pan). Cover it with water and cook for 35 minutes on really low heat (or longer if you want a thicker dulce de leche). If you cook this in a normal pan (again on very low heat) you will need to simmer it for 3 hours.

Open the tin and there is the dulce de leche.

You can it this as a spread on bread or with ice-cream.

It is seriously sweet so a small tin goes a long way...

LENTILS AND TOMATO SALAD

This is a very easy (no cook) side dish. You need:

- a tin of lentils ( you can also cook them from scratch but tinned lentils and chickpeas are really good nowadays)
- 4 tablespoons of tomato sauce
- a pinch of salt
- two tablespoons of olive oil
- one and a help tablespoons of wine vinegar

Mix all the ingredients together and serve with any pork or poultry dish.

TOMATO AND CHEESE LOAF

You can do lots of variations of the flavours for this savoury cake (and it is a good way for children to learn about pairing flavours)

You need:
3 eggs
225 gr self raising flour
100 ml white wine
100 ml olive oil
salt
3 handfuls of goats cheese (cut into little cubes)
3 handfuls of dried tomatoes (cut into small chunks)
5 basil leaves, chopped.

Preheat the oven at 170 degrees. Mix the eggs, flour, wine, oil and salt. Then add the cheese, tomatoes and basil and mix well (but carefully so that you do not break up the cheese). Put it all into a greased loaf tin and cook for 45 to 50 minutes. Let it cool down a little before you cut it.

GRATED COURGETTES

We eat this often with any meat or poultry (especially good with chicken and roast duck). It also goes well with pasta.
You need:
- 4 courgettes
- a handful of parsley
-3 table spoons of olive oil
- salt
- a quarter of a teaspoon of grated nutmeg

Grate the courgettes (thickly as in the picture). Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the courgettes and let them fry for 8 minutes (stir them a couple of times) then add the salt, the chopped parsley and the grated nutmeg and let it all fry for another 3 to 4 minutes.
You can alter all the measurements to your taste.

As you will see when you cook this the courgettes lose a lot of volume so you will end up with a relatively modest amount of veg at the very end. It is interesting for the children to see how differently the courgettes cook if you add the salt at the beginning ( they 'boil' as water is released) or at the end ( they fry)