Choc chip cookie dough protein balls

This is a S3 post - I received a Cuisine Companion for review purposes

For full details please see my disclosure policy

I've been playing with some recipes for protein balls lately. Bliss Balls. Amaze Balls. Whatever you want to call them, it's just fun to be able to say balls a lot, right? Balls.

Most of my recipe creations invovle me throwing random seeds and nuts in, whizzing it up and hoping for the best. This has resulted in me having some very sad balls. Over processed balls. Powdery balls. Even cardboard tasting balls. When you're including these in your diet to replace delicious Mars bars then cardboard balls just ain't gonna cut it.

I've been working on this one for a while now. I could have googled someone else's recipe but I really wanted to see if I could translate what was in my head (and what my taste buds were calling out for) in to a recipe. I think I've done it. Because these Amaze Balls really are amazeballs.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almonds
• 1/3 cup cashews (I use roasted unsalted)
• 16 dried dates
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
• 1 tablespoon protein powder (vanilla flavour preferably)
• 1/3 cup choc chips

Method:

•  Soak your dates in the boiling water for a few minutes
• While they're soaking, place almonds, cashews, vanilla and protein in the Cuisine Companion and blitz on speed 12 for 10 seconds. If you're using a different food processor, you want it to be small chunks after this stage
• When your dates are a bit soft, add them to the bowl and blitz again on speed 12 for 10 seconds. Don't discard the water just yet
• If the mix is not coming together, add a few teaspoons of the date water to help it combine
• When it's at your desired consistency (don't over process, it will be like nut butter and won't form) take a teaspoon of the mixture out, add two or three choc chips to it and roll it in to a small ball. It's easier if your hands are slightly damp but not wet
• Repeat until you've done it all, I usually get about 25 from this recipe
• Refrigerate until set, try not to eat them all at once!

These are a great little hit of sweetness to help with cravings and they're not terrible for you. You can use cacao nibs or sugar free choc chips if you'd like to make them healthier, and if you're using fresh dates, start with half the amount and add more if necessary.

Enjoy your balls!

Five reasons I love my Cuisine Companion - plus healthy brownies recipe!

This is a S3 post - I received a Cuisine Companion for review purposes

For full details please see my disclosure policy

I've been playing with Tefal's new Cuisine Companion non stop since I got my paws on one last month. It's been an interesting ride, seeing what it can do, checking out new recipes and adapting old ones. Mostly I've made one meal at a time, but I did do a bit of bulk cooking, whipping up some freezer meals for a friend who is about to welcome twins in to her family, and some yummy "I can't believe they're healthy" brownies for her older kids lunchboxes.

I've been trying to think of the five things I love about it the most, and narrowing it down to five is actually bloody hard. Akin to choosing your favourite child, if your child was a kitchen wonder machine. But I'm being ruthless and capping it, otherwise I'd be here all weekend, sounding like I was writing a brochure.

1. Clear Lid
You know how little kids sit and stare at the washing machine? Well, I stand and stare at Cosette. Oh, you don't name your appliances? This is awkward. French machine, French name, a nod to Les Mis, it had to be. But I digress. The clear lid is just so freakin' handy! If you're cooking and the condensation stops you seeing in, the centre does pop out so you can have a peek through. The lid comes apart for easy cleaning if needed - but I've only needed to do that if I've been milling my own flour or crushing up nuts and the teeny particles get everywhere.

2. Big Bowl
A whopping 2.5L capacity bowl means making large batches a breeze. But it's not just big, the mouth and base are wide enough to get in to with your spatula without turning yourself in to a contortionist.

3. Easy Blade Swap
Slide blade in. Mix things. Slide blade out. Pick up new blade, slide in. Repeat. There is no locking and mucking about, it goes in and stays in. When it's time to pour out the mixture, slide out the blade and away you go. It makes it sooooo easy to get every last drop of soup or sorbet out when you don't have to be dodging blades. Although you may want to leave a few traces of cake batter for bowl licking purposes. Let's not ruin childhoods, OK?

4. High Display
My eyes are not the best, even with contacts, so I have been known to bend down close to appliances to find out what the remaining time is, what setting I've got it set to, or even if it's turned on. Not any more. Hurrah! It seems so simple to have the display higher and angled up. Clever.

5. One Touch
A heap of the recipes in the Million Meals book are one touch recipes. Chuck in the ingredients and select the pre-set function and off you go. So say you're cooking a soup, it goes slowly at first, stirring it all together, then when it's all cooked through, it changes speed and temperature by itself to whizz it all up in to a creamy deliciousness. It even changes temperature again to keep it warm when it's finished, so you don't have to worry about it either burning or going cold.

Grating cheese, finely dicing garlic, blending chickpeas to hummus,
cooking bolognaise, perfecting "cauli rice", and mixing cakes and loafs

I could have mentioned so many other things (it's quiet, the temperature increments are great, the adjustable steam vent, the stay cool handle on the steam basket, and heaps more), but I'm trying to restrain myself.

I've had a few questions thrown my way from readers about what I don't like about it, and so far I can't find anything - I was originally saying I didn't like that the lid didn't come apart for cleaning, but then I realized it does and I was just a bit daft. Others have asked if the fact that it doesn't have in built scales is annoying, and for me, it isn't an issue - I rarely used the inbuilt scale in my competitor product because my pouring skills suck. Instead of gradually adding 30g of flour I would add 5g, 10g, 15g, 20g, 80g. SHIT. Then the next five minutes are spent trying to fish out excess flour or whatever or adding more liquid and OMG TOO HARD!

So let's get to the best bit:

Healthy Chocolate Brownies Recipe

Because I can never just leave something be, this recipe has come about from experiments with a few different recipes and is most heavily influenced by a Get Commando Fit brownie that has been all over the internet for a while now. I have to play  with recipes until it suits me, my budget and my taste buds! And duuuuuude, these are gooooood.

You'll need:
250g sweet potato, peeled & roughly cut in to large cubes
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup of evoo
1/2 cup of rice malt syrup (use honey if you want it to be sweeter and don't mind adding sugar)
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb
2 tablespoons of protein powder (if you don't have this, you can use flour but it won't be as high in protein obviously)
1 cup of cocoa
2 tablespoons of plain flour

Grab Cosette, or your own Cuisine Companion then:

• Preheat your oven to 180C
• Place sweet potato in to Cuisine Companion bowl, using the Ultrablade*, set to pulse for 30 seconds (the machine automatically selects speed 12 for pulse)
• Add in your eggs, vanilla, evoo and rice malt syrup** and mix on speed 6 for 10 seconds then scrape down the sides
• Add protein powder if using, cocoa and flour and mix on speed 6 for 20 seconds, scrape down the sides and mix again for 10 seconds if necessary
• Pour in to a lined lamington tray and bake for 20-22 minutes DO NOT OVER COOK!
• Allow to cool slightly before cutting - I usually get 20 brownies from this

These are so rich, moist and utterly delish! You won't feel bad for eating one (two? three?) because they're full of the good stuff.

To serve in lunchboxes, cut them in to your desired size and freeze in an airtight container with a layer of baking paper or similar between so they don't stick together. Grab one out, wrap it in an eco wrapper and put it straight in to the lunchbox frozen and they'll thaw by recess.

*HOT TIP: If your sweet potato is super hard, maybe use the Crushing blade for the first step.

**HOT TIP: Measure your evoo first, pour it in, then use the same measuring cup without washing it to measure the rice malt syrup - the oil coating will mean the syrup comes out easily and you don't waste any.

If you have any specific questions about the Cuisine Companion or a recipe you'd like me to make in it, please let me know in a comment below as I'll be doing a full twelve month review.

Three ingredient Choc Mint Truffles

High off the success of the amazing three ingredient choc orange truffles/balls, I have been tinkering.

I thought I'd try a new flavour and also an easier way to decorate them - because it's the decorating that turns them from balls to truffles, ya know!

So here it is, complete with craft Santa that Bobbin and MapGuy made together.

Pin me, I'm delicious

You'll need:
2x packets of Choc Ripple biscuits
250g of Cream Cheese, cubed
Candy Canes to taste
Chocolate for decorating (optional)

I say to taste because some are big, some are small, some are particularly minty and some are just meh. So you'll have to experiment a little yourself. I used three full sized candy canes and it was perfect for me - just enough mint to cut through the chocolate, but not so much that it feels like you're eating toothpaste.

To make:
Blitz candy canes in a food processor until they're smashed up (Thermomix speed 5 for 10 seconds)
Add in the bikkies and process again until it looks like ground up coffee (Thermomix speed 5 for 10 seconds)
Place the cream cheese in and blitz again (Thermomix speed 5 for 10 seconds) until a crumbly dough forms
Take spoonfuls of the mixture, squeeze it in your hands to compact it, roll it in a ball and place on a baking sheet
When you've done a whole tray put it in the fridge to firm them up before decorating

L to R: uncoated with white choc stripes, coated with smashed candy canes, coated with white choc stripes

I love to dip these in chocolate, but it can be a little time consuming and fiddly, so this time I experimented with just putting white chocolate stripes on them and I think it looks just as nice as the chocolate coated ones (see above on the left) - they just look a tad smaller.

Remember they have cream cheese in them so it is best to keep them in the fridge until a few minutes before serving, particularly if it is a stinking hot day (it was 38C here today!).

These are morish. You've been warned. 

Three ingredient choc orange balls (or truffles if you feel like being fancy)

Pin me. You know you want to.

I never know whether to call these things balls or truffles. I figure any opportunity to say balls just cannot be ignored, so we'll go with that for now. Plus when I hear truffles I think of involved recipes, double boilers, leaving it to cool and that's just not my scene because effort.

So I cheat. Yes, you read that right. I cheat and make DELICIOUS three ingredient choc orange truffley balls that, so far, everyone who has tried them has loved. Even the people who wouldn't call themselves jaffa aficionados have loved them. They have a beautiful, creamy texture and the orange cuts through the chocolate juuuust enough.

I make mine in a Thermomix but you can use any food processor. This recipe makes approximately 50 balls because I've been making them as gifts, but you can halve the recipe if you wanted to make less. Though I have NO IDEA why you'd want to do that.

You'll need:
Two packets of Choc Ripple biscuits
250g of cream cheese, cubed
The finely grated zest of one orange
Dark chocolate for dipping (optional)

Blitz the biscuits to fine crumbs in your food processor (10 seconds on speed 5 in Thermo)
Add the orange zest and the cream cheese in to the bowl
Mix together until a crumbly looking dough forms (10 seconds on speed 5 in Thermo)
Grab spoonfuls of the mixture and squeeze it in your fist to compact it then roll in to a ball
Place on a baking sheet and put it in the fridge until firm (20 minutes or put them in the freezer for 10)

If you want them to look fancy and be called truffles, melt some dark chocolate and dip them in, then add a few orange sprinkles. The dipping process can be a bit time consuming so feel free to skip it and serve them as is.

It's best to keep these in the fridge and take them out a few minutes before serving - though I eat them straight from the fridge sometimes!

Will you make some?

Call me the Bag Lady

#Sponsored A
for full details see my disclosure statement

In November I put the call out for sponsorship to DPCON13, touting myself as a fabulous Madonna photoshopper, Glowdonna. Sadly, and if I'm honest, quite surprisingly, no companies saw that as a real, bankable talent and no emails offering a partnership were forthcoming.

With the proverbial cabbage moths flying from my inbox (and my bank account), I stepped things up a notch in the form of a fancy pants info-graphic sponsorship proposal. If I can't be Madonna, then at least my proposal could be, cone bra, oversized radio mic and all.

 

And whaddya know, a fabulous company, who I enjoyed working with once before, said they'd sponsor me... on the proviso that I put away my Madonna photoshopping once and for all. It was a tough call, but, sometimes you have to make sacrifices in life.

So you can call me the Bag Lady. Or to be more specific, The McCormick Marinade in a Bag Lady! Hurrah!

I tried the Marinade in a Bag when it first came out and loved it. I was excited to introduce it to my friends on the weekend at a big Australia Day pool party BBQ (at which I would of course have passed off as something I'd whipped up myself) but unfortunately feral toddler Tricky has a contagious condition and we are in isolation. Oh well, more chicken for me!! Silver lining FTW!

There are four great flavours: Honey & Soy, Red Wine & Garlic, Teriyaki and Sticky BBQ and they're available from Coles for just $2.99 each.

My favourite is the Teriyaki and Map Guy loves the Sticky BBQ. Tricky devours them all equally because MEAT, so I really have no clue if my little carnivore has a preference. I love that it's a marinade without the mess and that I don't have to dirty a separate tray to use it (hello, less dishes!), you just open it, chuck in up to 1kg of meat, seal shut and leave it to work it's marinadey magic. Even those allergic to cooking could do it.

McCormick aren't only sharing the lovin' with me, they want you to be involved too, so keep an eye out in the coming months because I'm going to have a fabulous giveaway of lots of yummies!

So a major thank you to McCormick, and I promise from here on out, Glowdonna is no more.

Have you tried Marinade in a Bag? Did you pass it off as your own, too?

Cheesy Christmas Stars

I've been cooking up a storm this month. Every second or third day Tricky's advent calendar activity is baking because he absolutely loves it - he even has his own apron now which serves the dual purpose of keeping his clothes clean and looking super adorable at the same time.

I've made cheesy biscuits about five times because they don't last long. And no, I don't mean they don't keep well, I mean they're eaten by the end of the day. Can you say moreish? They're based on a recipe I found recently that I've played with a bit (read: MOAR CHEESE, less salt). 

They do keep in an airtight container for a day or two, but are best eaten straight away. When slightly warm. Oooh yeah.

Cheesy Christmas Stars

Ingredients (makes 50 stars... well depending on how big your star cutter is obviously)

• 150g self-raising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 75g room temperature butter
• 80g grated cheese (the finer, the better - use pizza cheese for extra flavour)
• Additional grated cheese for the top
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon milk

Apron FTW!

Method

• Sift the flour, whack in the salt, give it a bit of a stir
• Rub in the butter until it looks like breadcrumbs (or cheat and melt the butter - you might have to add a bit more flour but who cares when it's easier, right?)
• Add in the grated cheese and stir it in (it's a bit thick, it's OK)
• Crack the egg in a glass, add the milk and whisk it together with a fork
• Tip almost all of the eggy milk in to the mix and stir, again, to form a dough. All this stirring burns calories, right?
• Need the dough a tad on a floured board, then roll it out about 1cm thick
• Cut out shapes. Stars taste better. I tried trees and gingerbread (or cheesebread) men and it just wasn't right.
• Place the stars on a baking sheet, put a quick flick of eggy milk on the top with a pastry brush and cover them with a bit more cheese. Go the parmesan, you know you want to.
• Bake them at 200C for ten minutes or until golden. Or, if your oven has a cold stop like mine *grumble*, turn then around half way through. GAH!
• EAT THEM ALL!    

Cheesy trees... not as good

The Unsolicited Lick (and other icecream crimes)

This post is sponsored by Nuffnang

There are a few sadly under-reported crimes that are threatening the moral fibre of our nation this summer. Ice cream related crimes are on the increase now that Australians collectively spend more than $12.5million on ice cream each week during the warmer months.

According to research commissioned by ice cream connoisseurs Baskin-Robbins, and wholeheartedly supported by yours truly, the biggest ice cream crime is the Unsolicited Lick. Dun dun duuuun!

I'm of the belief that sharing an icecream is akin to full on tongue pashing and therefore should only be attempted on the icecreams of people you're willing to share a toothbrush with and only with express permission. For the record, I'm unwilling to share a toothbrush or icecream with anyone. Not Map Guy, not Tricky, no one. This household is a strictly one person per icecream venue, thankyouverymuch.

If you'd like to be escorted off the premises at Casa de Glow, ask for a lick of my choc chip cookie dough in a waffle cone. Go the Unsolicited Lick and you'll also score yourself a lifetime ban.

Apparently I'm not alone in my deep no-icecream-sharing beliefs; one third of men and one in five women agree with me. To the two thirds of men and four fifths of women who don't... EWWWWWWWW!

Recently Map Guy, The Engineer, The Events Coordinator (aka my brother in law and his new fiancee) and I took Tricky to Baskin-Robbins in Fremantle. After surveying the store and declaring he wanted the "pink favour" we all sat down on the wharf and enjoyed our icecreams in the sunshine. AND DID NOT SHARE. Bliss.

For your chance to win one of 5 Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Birthday Packs consisting of an ice cream cake (in voucher form so it doesn’t melt!), balloons and candles tell me in 25 words or less what is your ultimate ice cream eating faux pas or if there is one celebrity you wouldn't mind a cheeky unsolicited lick from. Enter through the Facebook app here or leave a comment below.

If you miss out on the main prize don’t worry, an additional 15 lucky winners will receive $20 vouchers each for their family. 

What is your favourite Baskin-Robbins ice cream flavour?  

Healthy Dairy Free Toddler Snacks

So we all know I'm kinda a bit of a food nazi when it comes to Tricky, right?

I figure that I have a really limited amount of time to set him up with good eating habits so I'm doing everything I can. He doesn't get junk food, he gets very little processed food, instead, I make most of his meals from scratch.

For a snack, I sometimes make pikelets - they're quick, easy, have very little sugar and best of all they don't drop crumbs bloody everywhere! One of the munchkins in my mothers' group has an allergy to dairy, so, in order to make some food that all the kids could enjoy I started experimenting and came up with these babies.

Dairy Free Fruit Pikelets

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour 
• 1 egg 
• 1/2 cup poached and pureed fruit - or, cheat a little bit and put in a pouch of baby food!
• 1/2 cup water

Method:

• Sift flour in to a medium sized mixing bowl
• Add egg, fruit puree and water
• Whisk until well combined
• Place a spoonfulls of mixture in to a hot pan (greased lightly if you wish)
• Flip over when small bubbles form or the top loses it's shine
• Cook on the other side until golden brown

I serve these without any toppings because the mild fruit flavour is enough. We've experiemented with a lot of the baby food pouches because I got tired cooking up all the fruit. My favourite would have to be apple, pear and cinnamon!

They store really well in an airtight container for a few days, but I tend to make a huge batch and freeze some for the days I'm not in a cooking mood.

Homemade Nut Free Muesli Bars

I've jumped on the nut free wagon since Tricky's anaphylaxis reaction. Whilst he can handle peanuts I wanted to try my hand at some nut free muesli bars for two reasons:

Firstly to see if they tasted as awful and bland as they looked... they did.

And secondly so I could give them to him to take to his little nut allergy parties where all the anaphylaxis kids get together and compare EpiPen carriers or some shit.

So, as always, I threw out the different recipes I'd seen and decided to take what I'd learned to create my own... and they're pretty damn tasty if I do say so myself. The Wonder Couple have declared them "better than the shop bought muesli bars". High praise indeed!

Nut Free Muesli Bars

Ingredients

• 120g of margarine
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 cups of oats
• 1 cup of crushed cornflakes 
• 1 1/2 cups of mixed dried fruit* - this is the important bit so make sure you have a variety, I use a combination of currants, sultanas, cranberries, blueberries, cherries, apricots and even a little peel. This is where the total nom factor comes from! If you just use sultanas it is BOR-ING!
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds

Method

• In a big bowl combine all your dry ingredients and the super awesome selection of dried fruit
• Combine margarine, honey and sugar in a saucepan and melt together, bring to the boil for 3-4 minutes stirring continuously - it will froth and thicken slightly
• Pour the contents of the saucepan in to the bowl and stir until the whole mix is wet and sticky
• Dump the mix in to a lined slice tray, push down as firmly as you can and bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool (whack it in the fridge to speed it up) then cut to size - bars or squares, I ain't fussy

It is slightly crumbly so make sure you wait until it's completely firmed in the fridge before cutting - if you get impatient because it looks so amazing then you'll end up with crumbs everywhere. If it happens though, scrape them all together form little balls - the honey means they'll still stick together. Muesli balls FTW!

Happy baking!

*I go to the local bulk food store and get a little scoop of all the dried fruits I want so I don't have to pay for giant packets of dried fruit that will take forever to get eaten

The best damn banana bread you'll ever taste

So is it banana bread or banana cake? It's a little trickier than the cake or death question.

It's most definitely not like any bread I've ever tried. But it's not quite cake either.

The important thing is that it tastes so damn good. The bad thing is that it's completely moorish and you will inhale it within an hour a day if you're not careful.

This has been adapted from about four others that I tried and didn't like - after some experimenting I've come up with this gorgeous recipe with just the right amount of spice (not too much) and a perfect amount of sweetness!

The Best Damn Banana Bread Ever

Ingredients

• 125g margarine
• 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 over ripe bananas (When the choice is between bin and cake, cake always wins!)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp bi carb
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/16 tsp allspice
• 1/2 cup milk

My 20 year old mixer still going strong

Method

• Cream margarine and sugar
• Add in eggs, vanilla and the mushed up bananas
• Sift in all the dry ingredients
• Stir gently, gradually adding the milk until all combined - if you spill the milk, make sure to make a lame joke to your partner about not crying
• Bake at 180C for 55-60 minutes (do the skewer trick to make sure)

The result is a super moist, dense cake. Or bread. Whatever.

Blueberry and macadamia strudels

You know when you throw a bunch of stuff in to a pot and it turns out amazeballs and you wish you'd measured out all the ingredients? Yeah that.

In my continuing efforts to increase my waist line be a Domestic Goddess, I decided to make strudels. I'm not entirely sure why, perhaps because The Sound of Music had been on the day before and I was going around singing about my favourite things;

"Cream coloured ponies and crisp apple blueberry strudels, door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles".

So what follows is how I think my strudels were made.

Blueberry and Macadamia Strudels

Ingredients (makes 4 really huge strudels)

• 4 sheets of filo pastry
• 500g blueberries
• 100g berries that you've mushed the crap out of (I used a bag of mixed berries)
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 1/2 cups of caster sugar
• 4 tablespoons of cornflower
• 50g macadamia nuts chopped finely (save time, use a food processor)
• 10g melted butter
• 50g melted chocolate

Method

• Cut the filo pastry in half, set aside covered with a damp teatowel so that it doesn't dry out
• Combine the whole berries and the mushed berries in a saucepan with the sugar and lemon juice and stir over a medium heat for five minutes until all the berries are soft but still retaining their shape
• Turn down the heat and add the cornflower and stir until the sauce thickens
• Divide the mixture evenly over half of the filo pastry pieces, leaving a margin around the edges. Brush the margin with melted butter and place a half sheet of filo over the top to create a long blueberry pocket. Press the sides down with your fingers and/or a fork
• Brush the entire top surface with a little melted butter and scatter the chopped macadamias over the top
• Bake in the oven at 175C for 20-25 minutes or until puffy and golden (careful the nuts don't burn!)
• Allow to cool for a few minutes then drizzle with melted chocolate (I had milk chocolate but white chocolate would have been heaven!) and if you like serve with a dusting of icing sugar (slightly wanky) or a scoop of vanilla icecream

So so so delicious that I heated one up for breakfast the next morning!

Fabulous Focaccia

I've definitely been bitten by the baking bug... sadly I haven't been bitten by the 'clean up as you go bug' or the 'don't eat everything you cook' bug. But hey, I'm working on it.

I tend to only bake sweet things so figured it was about time I gave something savoury a whirl, and I was so happy with the result that I think this will become a standard brunch around these parts - well, if I ever had people over for brunch that is.

I raided the cupboard and used what I already had on hand and threw it all in to see what would happen - which for a control freak like me is really strange, but seems to be working well so far!

Tomato, Red Onion & Thyme Focaccia

Olive, Fetta & Cumin Focaccia

Focaccia Ingredients (makes 2 focaccia)

• 2 tsp dried yeast
• 1 tsp raw sugar
• 1 3/4 cups warm water
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 3/4 cups bakers flour (or plain flour)
• 1/4 cup gluten flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp dried aniseed (optional)
• 1/2 cup of Kellogg's All Bran Fibre Toppers (1/2 cup contains 25% of your daily iron and folate, and 33% of your daily fibre requirement)

 Toppings

• 1/2 tomato, sliced
• 1/4 red onion, sliced
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme (1 tsp if fresh)
• 4 kalamatta olives, sliced
• 25g fetta (I prefer to crumble it, but only had the harder stuff to slice)
• 1/4 tsp dried cumin

Method

• Combine yeast, sugar and 1/2 cup of warm water and allow it to bubble up before adding the oil and remaining water, set aside
• Sift both flours in to a large mixing bowl, add in aniseed and Fibre Toppers and make sure it's well combined

• Add the yeast mix to the flour mix and stir with a wooden spoon until you get a dough - it will be really sticky
• Cover with a damp teatowel and allow to rest for an hour in a warm place (I always use the back seat of my car!)
• Dough should double in size and will still be extremely sticky so use well floured hands (or a bit of melted copha) to halve the mixture and place on to lined baking trays, shaping as you go, but not too much - keep it rustic
• Brush with a little extra virgin olive oil and place sliced tomato, onion and thyme on one, and fetta, olives and cumin on the other
• Allow to sit for a further 15 minutes (which I *ahem* kinda forgot to do but they still worked out, phew!)
• Bake at 220C for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown
• When cooked, allow to cool for a few minutes on a wire rack to prevent the bottom going soggy and voila!

 

  The Fibre Toppers and aniseed can be seen scattered throughout the dough

I served thin slices of both of these before a pasta dish (come back tomorrow for that one) in place of garlic bread as a healthier option. You could serve it with dip for a brunch, but there is enough flavour packed in to these that you really don't need anything else with them!

So I guess I should have a brunch now, yes? Who's coming?

Click here to see a nutritional panel I created for the base focaccia minus toppings - see that? I can make nutritional panels now!!!

This is NOT a sponsored post, but it is a competition entry for Kellogg's to win
sponsorship to BlogHer - I'll tell you about it tomorrow!

Cranberry and Macadamia Balls

My tastebuds have staged a revolution.

Food that I previously avoided are fast becoming staples in my pantry; olives, soft cheeses, chilli and more. Before you ask, no, I'm not pregnant, it's just that my palate is 'maturing' (just my palate, not my sense of humour).

Since my introduction to cheese not long ago, I've loved to have a little Camembert cheese as a snack, but find having it with just crackers a little bit boring. So I decided I'd try my hand at some gourmet treats to accompany the soft, gooey goodness.

Cranberry and Macadamia Balls

Ingredients (makes 30/serves 10)

• 200g dried cranberries
• 85g of unsalted macadamia nuts
• 1/2 cup of shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup of Kellogg's All Bran Fibre Toppers (which is 10g of dietary fibre, right there!)
• 3/4 cup of 99% fat free condensed milk
• extra coconut for rolling

Method

• In a food processor (or with a knife and a lot of elbow grease) blitz the cranberries until they are finely diced, remove and put in a large mixing bowl with half of the Fibre Toppers
• Then blitz the macadamia nuts and the remaining half of the Fibre Toppers in the food processor, and add to the mix - don't do it too much or you'll end up with macadamia butter!
• Add in the shredded coconut and combine until you have a gorgeous, multi coloured mix
• Pour in the condensed milk and stir until evenly distributed

Condensed milk - try not to dip your finger in!

• Using a teaspoon, scoop out the mixture and roll in to small balls, dredge in coconut and place in the refrigerator to firm for 10 minutes

 

These can also be made with any dried fruit you like - I've made them with apricot and they were a massive hit! Because they're quite sweet, you only need serve two or three to each person along with cheese, crackers and nice glass of wine for a perfect snack adult snack.

Who's joining me? It's BYOW. 

Click here to see the nutritional panel I created for these - they're not as bad as you think

This is NOT a sponsored post, but it is a competition entry for Kellogg's to win sponsorship to BlogHer

Butterscotch Self-Saucing Puddings

For some reason I get the urge to bake when my cupboards are bare and it's after hours so I can't run out to the shops to buy sugar/milk/eggs. It's also the reason why I tend to make up my own recipes and substitute ingredients because sometimes, well, you just need dessert.

This is what happened last night when I had a sudden urge for pudding. I didn't have any golden syrup left having used it all making three tonnes of gingerbread at Christmas... so I substituted honey and just hoped that it wouldn't taste awful.

The result? Divine! I don't think I'm even going to bother making this the 'real' way because these were soooo good.

Butterscotch Self-Saucing Puddings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 65g margarine or butter, melted
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp honey or golden syrup
• 1 1/4 cup boiling water

Method:

• Combine flour and 1 tbsp of the sugar in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk melted margarine, egg and milk until combined then pour in to flour and stir til mixed
• Divide mixture in to four greased ramekins and sprinkle remaining brown sugar evenly over the top of each one
• Combine boiling water with honey and gently pour over each of the puddings - if you pour over a spoon it will prevent the sugar being displaced and the batter rising up in globs
• Place on a tray (lined in case they bubble over) and put in the oven at 180C (160C fan forced) for 25 minutes

Like magic, the liquid goes to the bottom and the pudding rises to the top - It's quite possibly voodoo so be careful. I take no responsibility if your pudding decides to poke pins in a doll version of you.

I know it will be hard, but let the puddings sit for a few minutes for the sauce to thicken up - this is also a handy tip should you wish for the skin on the inside of your mouth to stay there.

They'd taste really good with vanilla icecream... but I didn't have any of that either. I'll never be a bloody food blogger without staples like these in my house!