Our Recipes
Here are some of our yummy recipes that we enjoy in the forest so you can make them at home with your little ones too!
Soup recipes…
We receive lots of requests for recipes for our soups as your children love them, so we thought that we would share our three most requested soup recipes!
Tomato and courgette soup
ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 chopped onions
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 litre tomato juice
4 large chopped courgettes
400g tinned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
5 teaspoons marigold vegetable bouillon
1 tablespoon tomato puree
500ml tomato passata
Method
Heat the oil on a medium heat and add the chopped onions. Soften in the oil for at least 5 minutes and then add the garlic and cook that for another 5 minutes.
Add the courgette and let it soften in the oil, onions and garlic.
Pour in the tomato juice, add the stock powder, puree and the passata. Let it all simmer until all the courgettes are fully cooked, translucent and soft.
Use a stick blender to blitz the soup. Now taste and season if needed. If the soup is too thick then add a little water mixed with some stock.
The soup should be a bright red colour, flecked with green from the courgettes.
Sweet potato and lentil soup
ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 chopped onions
4 large sweet potatoes peeled and chopped
400g red lentils – you can add more or less depending on how thick you like your soup. I usually make it very thick and adjust at the end with extra water and stock if needed.
5 teaspoons marigold vegetable bouillon
1 litre water
Method
Heat the oil on a medium heat and add the chopped onions. Soften in the oil for at least 5 minutes.
Add the sweet potatoes and let them cook with the onions for a few minutes. Add the lentils, water and stock powder.
Let the soup simmer until all the sweet potato and lentils are soft and cooked through.
Use a stick blender to blitz the soup. Now taste and season if needed. If the soup is too thick then add a little water mixed with some stock.
Butternut squash and coconut cream soup
ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 chopped onions
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 large butternut squash peeled and chopped
400g tinned butter beans, drained and rinsed
3 heaped tablespoons coconut cream powder
5 teaspoons marigold vegetable bouillon
1 litre water
Method
Heat the oil on a medium heat and add the chopped onions. Soften in the oil for at least 5 minutes and then add the garlic and cook that for another 5 minutes.
Add the butternut squash and let it cook with the onions and garlic for a few minutes.
Pour in the water, add the coconut cream powder and stock. Let the soup simmer until all the butternut squash is soft and cooked through.
Use a stick blender to blitz the soup. Now taste and season if needed. If the soup is too thick then add a little water mixed with some stock.
With all these soups, spend time thoroughly cooking the onions in the olive oil on a medium/low flame it adds flavour to the finished soup.
In the catering kitchen our chef Becky uses dried pulses and these all (apart from the red lentils) require soaking for 12hrs and pre-boiling for an hour before adding to the soup.
Treats and Snacks…
ingredients
250g wholemeal flour
250g butter
250g oatmeal (I make my own by blitzing oats in the food processor)
75g soft brown sugar
2 tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp baking powder
About 1tbsp mil
Method
Pulse the flour and butter together in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Do this by hand by rubbing together in a big bowl if you are making this with children.
Put the mixture into a bowl and add the oatmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix together with your hands, adding a drop or two of milk as needed until everything comes together into a sticky dough.
Press the dough together, wrap with clingfilm and chill for at least 30 mins.
Dust the dough with flour and roll out carefully, dusting with flour often to stop it sticking to the work surface. Don't forget to dust your rolling pin with flour too!
Roll out the dough until it is 3 or 4mm thick. It is not the easiest dough to work with, quite brittle but if you keep everything well dusted with flour and don't handle it to much you'll have better results.
Cut the biscuits with a 6/7cm (ish) cutter and put them onto baking sheets. Using a spatula to transfer them is helpful.
Put the baking sheets into a preheated oven at 180C for 10mins. They should be golden brown at the edges and lightly coloured on top.
Remove them from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes before putting them on a wire rack to cool completely.
INGREDIENTS
2 eggs
1 cup beetroot puree
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
1.5 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups plain flour
1/3 cup chocolate chips & more for topping
METHOD
Roast peeled and diced beetroot for 45 mins then puree with water.
Line a 12 hole muffin tin with cases.
Whisk eggs in a bowl.
Add beet puree, melted oil, honey, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and whisk for 45 seconds.
Stir in the almond milk and whisk once more.
Add cocoa powder and flours and stir with a spoon or spatula until just combined, being careful not to over-mix. If the batter appears too thick, add a touch more almond milk. But it should be quite thick and NOT pourable – rather, scoop able.
Lastly, stir in chocolate chips. Then divide batter evenly between muffin tins and sprinkle with a few more chocolate chips.
Bake for 17-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes in the pan, remove from tins and let cool on a cooling rack.