Cooking With Daisy by Mary T
A few weeks back Laura mentioned the minefield of the end-of-year gift for the teacher. Now this is something I put a lot of thought into, I have a sister who is a teacher and each Christmas and Summer she comes home with about 10 boxes of “Celebrations”, 7 or 8 candles and 5 or 6 pictures frames so with that in mind I wanted to get something different.
Laura has a system of gingerbread cookies at Christmas and cookies and brownies for summer. (No she didn’t just give the teacher some left-over food, honest! 
I stuck to the same theme but decided to get a DIY version for the teacher - a cookbook. The teacher in question has five kids of her own so I wanted a practical, quick and easy cookbook and I found the perfect one in the bookshop in the Parkway Shopping Centre.
Cooking With Daisy (£6.59 from Amazon or €15. from the Parkway bookshop) is a beautiful book full of colourful pictures and helpful information. The book has sad origins, the inside sleeve tells us that “the inspiration for this book was a young girl called Daisy who loved her food and was a wonderful little cook. She died suddenly at the age of 18 months and this book, written by her mother, is a tribute to an incredible daughter”.
Recipes have been contributed by many well known names such as Nigella Lawson, Delia Smith and Gary Linekar to name but a few. This the perfect cookbook if you have kids that like to be included when you are cooking as it is packed with quick and healthy recipes and tells you exactly how you can get your kids involved in each recipe. It also has great suggestions for fussy eaters. Each recipe lists the preparation time, number of people it will feed, if you can freeze it after and from what age a child can eat this recipe so that you know exactly what you’re letting yourself in for before you start.
And the best part is that all author royalties go to The Isabel Medical Charity which was founded to provide funds to prevent medical error and promote patient safety.
I loved this book so much that I went straight out and bought another one for myself! Here’s one of my favourite recipes, a very healthy and tasty treat…
Smiley Oranges
1 packet orange jelly
5-6 oranges
1. Halve the oranges and squeeze out the juice very careflully, ensuring that you don’t damage the peel or the shell of the orange. Scoop out and discard the rest of the pith from the skins and put the shells to one side.
2. Make up the orange jelly according to the instructions on the packet but use the fresh orange juice and top it up with the water to the required quantity rather than just using all water. This will make the jelly wonderfully sweet and healthy. You want the jelly to be quite firm so use roughly 1 and a half tablespoons less liquid than the instructions suggested.
3. Using the orange shells as bowls, fill them with jelly, place them on a plate (I found a muffin tin works better than a plate as it holds the oranges in place) and put them in the fridge to set overnight.
When you are ready to serve, cut each half in half again (to make orange quarters)Â and arrange them as you wish. They make a healthy and tempting dessert and great party food.
If you want to vary this recipe - and get more fruit inside your children - it’s great with the addition of some pineapple chunks. Chop these up into small cubes and add them to the jelly before you put into the orange shells.