Tomato and mozarella pasta bake. Basically

 Pasta bake isn't something I make that often really. Which is odd as I love the contrast of the gooey, mild mozzarella with a full flavoured sauce all hot from the oven. Recently Sainsburys asked me if I wanted to put together a recipe using some of their Basics range. I'm a big fan of Basics and economy ranges, as someone who mainly purchases unprocessed food, there is little to be lost slinging the familiar orange and white packaging in my trolley.

This pasta bake is an ideal midweek dinner, it's easy, relatively quick to cook and should you so wish you could make it more of a proper dinner with a bowl of salad and some garlicky bread on the table too. For us it was a post Brownies, off our knees meal.

Tomato and mozarella pasta bake (all the starred ingredients were Basics)

1 red onion
2 carrots
1 stick celery
2 cloves garlic*
1 tin anchovies in olive oil
1/2 punnet chestnut mushrooms
1/2 packet cherry tomatoes
1 carton chopped tomatoes*
Splodge tomato puree
2 heaped teaspoons red pesto
1 teaspoon oregano
1 ball mozzarella, sliced*
Pasta*

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees
Put a pan of water on for the pasta
Chop the onion, garlic, carrots and celery as finely as you can (I used the food processor)
Open the tin of anchovies and tip the olice oil into a big frying pan, turn the pan onto a low heat and add the anchovies and veggies
Let that cook down really slowly for about 10 minutes or so while you chop the mushrooms up and the cherry tomatoes in half
Just as your veggies start to colour, add the mushrooms and tomatoes and stir
Add the tomatoes & rinse the carton out with a little water adding this too
Splodge in some tomato puree, the red pesto and oregano
Cook down gently ish until most of the water has cooked out of the sauce - this took about 20 minutes

Meanwhile cook the pasta until it's a couple of minutes shy of being done, drain and pour into an oven proof dish
Top with the sliced mozzarella and bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes

If you're us, serve on your knees in front of The Big Bang Theory

Thanks to Sainsburys for some of the ingredients

Cake Pops: The Activity Plan

I mentioned back on Valentines Day that the cake pops would be an ideal activity for Guides or Brownies. I've since been asked if I can put it together as a proper recipe or activity plan so here is that. It would work equally well for a children's party (just ignore the repeated use of the word girls). 


Any leftover ingredients can be used to make more pops, or eaten! 

	For reference, Guides are aged 10 – 14 Break the girls up into Patrols/ groups of 6-8
EASY CAKE POPS
Equipment: 2 mixing bowls Wooden (or mixing) spoons Lolly sticks/ Coffee stirrers Egg cartons/ Florists Oasis Greaseproof paper Facilities to wash hands Aprons or uniform they don’t mind getting mucky Microwave or Hob and saucepan or Plastic beakers, roasting tin and Kettle Allow an hour for this activity, plus cooling time
Ingredients: Sponge cake – about 200g per patrol Butter icing – about 60g per patrol Chocolate for coating (I use 100g bars of Sainsbury’s Basics chocolate, milk, white and dark) Decorations, sprinkles, etc	Sainsburys Basics do a Madeira cake for 79p, 265g Tesco economy range do mini fairy cakes and a chocolate cake that would work for a similar price. Neither of these is suitable for nut, dairy or wheat allergies. I’ve attached my sponge cake recipe and buttercream recipe at the end of this plan. The sponge cake will need to be cooked the day before and allowed to dry out slightly
Instructions: Put your cake in one of the mixing bowls, and use your hands to make it into crumbs. Just crumble it up. Put this bowl to one side. Now  take your butter icing and mix a dessert spoonful at a time into the cake crumbs. You want to be able to squish the crumbs into a ball and them stay there. If you’re not sure – check it after each spoonful. You might not need all your buttercream Lay out your sheet of greaseproof paper and put your egg carton/ florists oasis in the middle of it When you can make a ball of the cake mix do that with the whole bowlful, each ball will probably use 2 teaspoons of mixture. If this doesn’t seem to be working, add some more buttercream, or try making your hands damp under clean water. You don’t want them too big or the lolly sticks wont support them Now push a lolly stick into each cake pop. You don’t want it to go all the way through. If that happens though, don’t worry. Take the stick out, remake your cake pop (dampening your hands will make this easier) and try again. Melt your chocolate. The easiest way to do this is by breaking it into squares, putting those in a microwaveable bowl and putting it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until it’s melted Take your cake pops and dip them in the chocolate so that they’re mainly covered, once done put them in an upside down egg carton so they stand up, or stick them in florists foam If you’re using sprinkles/popping candy to decorate you can dip them in that before leaving them to dry. If you’re going to drizzle with more chocolate(!) let them dry, then melt a different type of chocolate to what you used first and using a spoon, drizzle it over the top of your cake pops. Leave somewhere cool to set – it normally takes a couple of hours on a windowsill, or is quicker in the fridge. There you have it, cake pops,	Notes: Alternative ways to melt chocolate: Put a saucepan of water on the hob, rest a bowl over the saucepan (don’t let it touch the water) Break the chocolate into pieces and put these in the bowl Allow to melt This way is best for Brownies/ younger Guides Boil the kettle Stand mugs in a roasting tin Divide the chocolate between the mugs and get the girls to stand by a mug Get the girls to move away and pour boiling water into the roasting tin Get the girls to stir their chocolate in it’s mug until it melts You can stretch chocolate out further by using a spoonful of chocolate spread. Sainsburys do flavoured ones now – orange, coconut, peanut butter and popping candy
Recipes: Buttercream – it’s a good idea to make this first and then divide it between patrols. Perhaps a job for Patrol Leaders? 125g butter, softened 500-750g icing sugar 75ml milk 1 tsp vanilla extract (this recipe of mine is so old that says essence!) Put the butter in a mixing bowl, add about half the sugar and the milk and vanilla. Using an electric mixer beat until smooth and creamy (about 5 minutes) If you don't want the worktop and you to get dusty from the icing sugar then cover the bowl with a slightly damp teatowel Taste and add the remaining sugar until its of a spreadable consistency Colour if you want and substitute some of the icing sugar for cocoa or melted chocolate/ chocolate spread for chocolate buttercream. Sponge cake – if you’re making this it needs to be done a day in advance as it works slightly better if drier 225g self raising flour 2 tsps baking powder 225g butter 2 – 4 tblsps milk 4 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 225g caster sugar I beat the softened butter and sugar together until pale and creamy then add the eggs and flours, and finally the milk until I get a soft batter. I whisk using a hand blender on low and remember to scrape my bowl down on a regular basis. The cake gets baked for half an hour at 220° in two tins, or if like me you’ve lost one of your sandwich pans This recipe works with gluten free flour (Dove’s farm do one) and Pure (or similar) dairy free spreads, and soya milk. If using Pure and Soya milk I would double the vanilla.

Working on the basis of 4 Patrols of 5 girls, this works out at £12.15 for the unit (prices correct as of 15th Feb 2012 using Sainsburys online shopping tool) , which is 61pence per head. Which in my mind is pretty good value, as just going by my yield I made 12 from 1 batch of this, which would mean 2 pops each with 8 spare just in case!