Britmums have launched another fun blogger challenge, this time in partnership with Richmond Mini Meatballs. The bite-sized meatballs, available in packs of 20 fresh or 40 frozen, target children aged 2-9 and are made with pork rather than the usual beef.
They taste more like sausages than normal beef meatballs and, to be perfectly honest, the Madhouse Mini Testers found them to be a little bland so I rolled them in some seasoned breadcrumbs, with some BBQ seasoning mixed in, before frying them in a little olive oil. This gave them a lovely spicy kick and a slightly crunchy texture that they loved.
The criteria for judging the entries for this blogger challenge are given as : Ease of preparation, child-friendliness, time required to make the meal and originality. I decided to move away from the classic meatballs and spaghetti combo and go for something a bit more exciting. Can you guess what the inspiration for our dish was?
Juliette had a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar in her book bag which was perfect ! After rolling the meatballs in the seasoned breadcrumbs, I popped them in a frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil and sorted out the rest of the plate. Juliette had great fun ripping a hole in a lettuce leaf while I got creative with half a tomato - a tiny piece of green pepper for the nose, two small pieces of fried mushroom for the eyes (I'd never thought about the black/white contrast looking like eyes before but I'll definitely have to use that again !) and the stalk of the green pepper sliced into his antennae.
The mini meatballs are precooked so they only take 8 minutes to cook so the whole thing is ready in 10 minutes. After I'd taken the photo, I added some rice to the plate because, unlike the Very Hungry Caterpillar, I know the Madhouse Mini-testers aren't keen on lettuce !
Disclosure : This post is an entry for BritMums’ Hungry to Happy Challenge sponsored by Richmond Mini Meatballs
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Fab caterpillar! What a great idea to roll them in seasoned crumbs, I didn't think of it. And yes, they were pretty bland, they need jazzing up.
ReplyDeleteI think it's done on purpose, if you think of how bland baby food is. They're probably lower in salt so don't appeal to older kids' palates as much.
DeleteI loved this book as a child, what a fantastic idea. Good luck with the comp.
ReplyDeleteLove the book and love how you have adapted it into a recipe. Commenting for myself and on behalf of BritMums and thanking you for taking part
ReplyDelete