Junior's Pantry's founder - Kate Finch with a 'Handy Chicken Pasta Bake' recipe for all the family

Entrepreneur Kate Finch knows all about the challenges of cooking tasty healthy food whilst juggling parenthood and managing her own business.

Kate’s uniquely qualified to tackle these competing demands, training first as a Cordon Bleu chef, before going on to work in The City. She’s now producing her own range of nutritious ready meals for kids called Junior’s Pantry, now available through online retailer www.ocado.com .

So, if you’re short on time but have a family with empty tummies who aren’t going to wait, let Kate’s experience cut out some of the stress with this simple wholesome recipe. It’s one designed to let the kids get involved in the preparation too:

Handy Chicken Pasta Bake, with a Crunchy Cornflake topping.

“This is called ‘handy’ as you can really use anything you have to hand in the fridge”, explained Kate, “It’s also a perfect way to use up left-over roast chicken. It serves six hungry children or a family of four easily!”

What you need:
· 300g of chicken breast, or left-over’s from your roast
· A few rashers of bacon (if you have them)
· 1 onion
· 100g each of frozen peas and frozen sweet corn, or a selection of any veg you have to hand in the fridge (you can get the kids to help you with the weighing of the veggies)
· 150g of soft cheese or crème fraîche
· 200g of pasta – whatever kind your little ones prefer – macaroni in our house!
· Cornflakes or breadcrumbs and a little grated cheese – the quantities of this really don’t matter, just enough for a crispy topping
· A frying pan, a sauce pan, chopping board, knives for chopping and dicing, stirring spoons, an oven-proof dish and a vegetable strainer or colander

 What you need to do:

· Chop up the onion and pop it into a frying pan with a little olive oil. Fry the onion for a few minutes until it is soft
· Dice the chicken and add it to the onions. If you have a few rashers of bacon, cut them into small pieces and throw these in too. Fry gently for about 10 minutes
· Whilst the chicken is frying gently, cook your pasta according to instructions on the packet
· About five minutes before the pasta is ready, add a selection of vegetables to the pasta
Broccoli works well, or a couple of handfuls of frozen peas and sweet corn are our favourites
· When the pasta and vegetables are cooked, drain them and then stir through your sauce, cream cheese or crème fraîche both work well. Add the contents from the chicken pan and stir everything up
· Finally, pour into an ovenproof dish, top with crushed cornflakes or breadcrumbs and grated cheese
· Bake for about 10 minutes in a hot oven – 220c/425f/gas mark 7

“This is lovely served with a handful of pea-shoots,” concluded Kate, “the only ‘salad’ deemed edible by my children!”

To find out more about Kate and her range delicious well balanced meals designed for children, visit http://www.juniorspantry.co.uk/ .

Watch out for another quick and wholesome recipe next month!

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