Sunburned and happy (+ a quick recipe for kids' tea!)

So, nominate me for the anti-mum of the year awards, both of my children have rosy cheeks now.  As do I.  We spent the entire bank holiday weekend in the sun.  We soaked up every iota, in the lido, in the sandpit in the garden, and at Knole Park.  Unless we had to be inside (sleeping - the kids aren't quite old enough to camp in the back garden), we weren't.

It was a seriously magical long weekend.

C had today off too, but the weather, sensing the end of the weekend for the general public, shifted back to the standard English, and it rained all day.  Luckily after all that outside time, the kids were really pleased with a trip to the library.

Cooking can be a challenge when it's hot and you're busy doing fun things like finding slugs (so mum can kill them - don't tell the kids).  I whipped out one of my old favourites, that has been in development since I was at university and ate a lot of rice.  This is my cheat's fried rice - a great quick tea for kids that's good enough to serve to grownups too.  I made it this weekend with peppers, mushrooms and prawns, but really, this is a great way to use up things that are hanging around in the kitchen.  Grated carrots and courgettes also work particularly well, as does ham - though with ham, I normally leave the soy sauce out, as ham is salty enough on its own.

Ingredients:

Tbs vegetable oil
2 eggs
soy sauce
4 spring onions, sliced
1/2 red pepper, sliced
garlic, sliced
handful of mushrooms, sliced
packet of raw prawns (try to make sure they're sustainably sourced!)
250g packet pre-cooked rice (I used Tilda basmati)
handful of frozen peas
handful of coriander, chopped

Instructions:
Heat a tsp of vegetable oil over a medium heat in a non-stick frying pan while you beat the eggs with a dash of soy sauce (you can omit the soy sauce for very small children, but it gives a nice flavour to the omelette).  Pour into a thin layer in the bottom of the pan and cook until set.  Flip to brown on the top and then set aside.

Heat 2 more tsp vegetable oil and toss in the spring onions, the peppers and the mushrooms.  Stir fry until the peppers are starting to soften (5 - 10 mins).  While they are cooking, roll up the omelette and cut into strips around 2cm wide.  Throw in garlic and stir for another couple of minutes until fragrant.  Add the prawns and stir fry until the prawns are pink and opaque - just a couple of minutes again.

Once the prawns are cooked, add in the rice, peas, and omelette strips and heat through.  Serve with coriander as a garnish.