Carrot + apple muffins - toddler approved!

Brought to you by Heinz

#S1 For full details please see my disclosure policy

What is with kids and liking food one minute and then acting like it poisonous the next?

It can change from week to week, even hour to hour at my place, and maaan it drives me mental some days. That's why I'm always after easy toddler recipes that hit the toddler food holy grail - delicious, nutritious and toddler approved trifecta!

These muffins are on high rotation at our place and so far they've never been refused! I'm always varying the ingredients slightly. Adding a handful of chopped nuts if they're not going to school, a sprinkle of seeds, a few sultanas here and there, or even adding some honey to make it sweeter when we have some sweet-tooth visitors coming over. But the basic recipe is as follows:

Ingredients
1 medium carrot - skin on, washed
1 small apple - skin on, washed (that's where all the good stuff is!)
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil or melted butter
1 packet of Heinz apple, blueberry and strawberry puree or any flavour you like!
1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
1/4 cup honey
1/8 cup brown sugar - optional
1/8 cup oats - optional

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F
Grate your carrot and apple in to a mixing bowl, then add eggs, oil, Heinz puree and flour. If you are using honey, nuts, seeds or sultanas, add them in now. Mix until just combined.
Divide the batter evenly between 12 muffin cases
If using, combine brown sugar and oats and sprinkle over the top of each muffin.
Place in the oven for 15 minutes - have a peek at 12 minutes to make sure they're OK.

I like using the pouches of Heinz puree to add different flavours to our muffins to change it up and help prevent Bobbin becoming bored of the food I give her. I like that their apples, pears and peaches come from Goulburn Valley and are steam cooked in country Victoria.

These freeze really well and even though I say they're toddler muffins, I often put a frozen one in Tricky's school lunch box in the morning and it will be thawed by the time he eats it. MG will take one to work... if there are any left.

I like putting these in mini muffin tins sometimes so that they are nice and small for Bobbin to eat in two bites, reducing the chances of crumbs going everywhere. Also it lets her believe she is having two treats. SNEAKY!

For more easy recipes that hit the toddler trifecta, find Heinz and their quality products online and on Facebook.

Easy Chocolate Pretzel Christmas Mix

If you know me, you know I like things that are insanely easy to make but look somewhat impressive. Anything that can make people go "oooh" when you present it to them, but hasn't taken hours and hours to make is perfection in my books. I have better things to do than slave away in the kitchen. Things like watch Netflix, check my Facebook or have a nap. IMPORTANT THINGS!

I'm the master of two and three ingredient yumminess:

Fudge Christmas Trees with only two main ingredients? Check!
Three Ingredient Choc Mint Truffles? Check!
Three Ingredient Choc Orange Truffles? Check!

I could go on and on, but I won't because you'll lose interest. Oh, look, something shiny.

So last year I had some pretzels and some Christmas M&Ms hanging around and I put them in my mouth at the same time because every bloody food blogger around was going on about the taste sensation that is salty and sweet and I thought it was about time I tried it.

Oh. My. Christmas.

Yeah. So they weren't bangin' on about it for nothing.

But I wanted more sweet so I had an idea and went about making this Christmas Pretzel Mix all stuck together. I figured I'd make some for friends and family, presented in gorgeous gift boxes, then also had some on hand at home because YUM.

• Grab a baking tray and line it with baking paper
• Place a bag of mini pretzels over the top, making sure they touch and overlap slightly
• Rain down the Christmas M&Ms 
• Drizzle melted white chocolate over the whole lot
• Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until set
• Break in to clumps and pop in a gift box, cellophane, or serving bowl

The clumps of pretzels and M&Ms with the white chocolate "glue" holding it all together create that amazing collision of saltiness and sweetness. So Christmassy and delicious, but you've barely done anything! 

Gotta love the good stuff

Brought to you by Heinz
#S1 For full details please see my disclosure policy

Growing up, my sister and I were Heinz kids. I have the best memories of eating Heinz pureed apples… wait, what? How can I remember shovelling the good stuff in to my gob, you ask? Well, because we ate what we called “baby apples” well in to our teen years.

Mostly we’d eat it if we had a sore throat or had just had our braces tightened and couldn't stand even the thought of chewing, though there were definitely a few times it ended up in our cupboards just because it was delicious. We’d eat it straight out of the tin with a teaspoon, scraping away to make sure we got every last morsel. There were no fancy pouches back then!

Bobbin is past the baby food stage, but we usually grab some pouches to keep for emergency snacks. I'm one of those mums that scans through the empty pouches because my kid has already eaten it while we've done the rest of the shopping. Here’s a tip: don’t go through self-serve checkouts if you do this - it plays havoc with the scales! I may or may not choose the flavours based on the hope that she might not eat it all and I’ll get her leftovers. C'mon, apple, strawberry and passionfruit? You’d do it, too.

I like to incorporate a pouch of the fruit puree in to pikelets to make an easy, take anywhere snack that Bobbin and I can cook together. Measuring, pouring and stirring not only help kids get interested in the food they are about to eat (making them more likely to eat it), but it’s also a bit of a maths lesson. But mainly, it’s FUN! Making memories, and a little bit of mess, well, that’s the good stuff.

1 cup of SR flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 pouch of Heinz fruit puree in one of their delicious flavours
1 egg – alternatively, you can use Heinz apple puree! Roughly 85g of puree is equivalent to one egg.
Water

Pin me!

Combine the flour, baking powder, Heinz baby food and egg. Stir! If the mixture is a bit thick, add some water a little at a time – the amount will vary depending on which product you use and which age range it is aimed at.

Place heaped teaspoons of batter in to a hot frypan and cook for around 30 seconds each side. You’ll know when it’s time to flip them when the pikelet loses its shine – don’t wait for a million bubbles to form and pop, that’s letting the air out! Fluffy pikelets

Allow them to cool before serving, because duh.

These apparently keep well in an airtight container for a few days, but I wouldn't know because ours are usually eaten within a few minutes, especially when we visit our dairy-free friends.

Being completely honest, I've only tried these with the fruit purees, but a savoury version would probably be yummy, too!

I actually didn't know until recently that most of the ingredients are sourced in Australia – the apples, pears and peaches are from Goulburn Valley, the pumpkins from Victoria, and all the meat is all sourced from Aussie farms. Then it’s turned in to the good stuff in Echuca in Victoria where it’s taste tested daily - *ahem* I'm available for this job, if you’re hiring, Heinz.

For more details, recipes and competitions you can check out Heinz for Baby on Facebook.

Five Minute Fudge

Just when you didn't think fudge could get any easier than taking five minutes to make, I'm going to tell you it is two ingredient fudge. Commence drooling now.

This fudge comes firmly under the "I was being really healthy and then all of a sudden OMG GIVE ME FUDGE I'M PREGNANT" category. It is in no way healthy and should not be consumed in a single sitting (as I would quite like to do right now) lest you lapse in to a diabetic coma.

I don't eat too much sugar these days so any more than one piece of this gives me a major headache. But when you're the size of a house, ready to pop and so over being pregnant, well, part of me thinks that headache is worth it. I know, a health advocate I will never be.

Ingredients:

• 1 x 395g can of condensed milk
• 2 x blocks of chocolate (between 180-200g per block is fine)
• Anything you want to add to it to make it pretty or yummy

Method:

• Grease and line a lamington tray - you absolutely have to do this first
• Break up the chocolate and melt it using a double boiler - or a microwave if you just can't be bothered
• Add the condensed milk and stir quickly until well combined - it will be thick and start setting immediately so use a strong spoon 
• If you're adding any extras, do it now, lickety split
• Quickly pour the fudge in to your tray and spread it out evenly - if you've been quick enough the clock should be ticking over to five minutes right now
• Chuck it in the fridge for about two hours
• Do something to take your mind off the delicious melty fudge that is teasing you
• When chilled, cut in to squares and try not to eat it all

I used white chocolate this time but it works just as well with milk or dark. Mini M&Ms make awesome extras but so do any small candy type things and nuts, especially macadamias. If you're feeling fancy reserve a small bit of the fudge, tint it another colour and swirl it over the top - if you want supermum status then tint some white fudge green and add some peppermint essence and drizzle it over milk/dark chocolate fudge. Mmmmmmmm choc minty fabulousness!

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

Ahhh, nuts!! {plus giveaway}

Alternatively titled: I was RIGHT, bitches!!

Every time I write about Tricky's anaphylaxis to cashews I feel like the biggest bloody drama queen and I'm practically incapable of using my go-to coping method to deal with it: making a joke out of it. Because it's not funny. Not at all. Whilst it might have seemed overly dramatized to those of you with no experience with anaphylaxis, everything I wrote here about it was and remains true for allergy parents. The fear, the uncertainty, the endless anxiety. The constant vigilance leaves you weary and feeling like the biggest helicopter parent in the world the minute food is around.

If life occurred in the safe little bubble of your own home then you could avoid allergens quite easily, but we all need to go out. To the shops, day care, school, friends' houses, events, on holiday. The moment you leave your house (or someone visits) the chopper blades start spinning.

Tricky's allergy testing was inconclusive - he presented twice to emergency with 'atypical anaphylaxis' then had a negative skin prick test and positive RAST test. I had four emergency doctors and three immunologists tell me that if he had even minute traces of cashews that it would be life threatening.

The results didn't add up for me. I had a mama gut feeling that my little man was in fact not allergic but perhaps just sensitive to cashews (or something else entirely, like sulphur), and that both episodes had been severe, no warning asthma attacks just like the one he had a week later that required an ambulance. One immunologist agreed with me and said we could go straight to an oral challenge and not wait until he was five.

I figured knowing either way has to be better than this limbo. Two and half years of anxiety when it might all have been a mistake? No thanks. I wasn't at all nervous in the lead up to it, in fact I was quite giddy with excitement so sure was I that everything would be fine. But then when I woke up yesterday morning to the sad news that a 16 year old boy had died at a Sydney school after a cooking class used nuts in a cookie recipe, and it filled me with dread. Was I really about to take my kid to the hospital to possibly induce the same anaphylaxis based on a hunch? I was ready to hand myself in to authorities as the worst mother ever.

We headed to Princess Margaret Hospital and "checked in". It's just like checking in at a hotel except that you get tagged with bright red arm bands and there is sadly no swim up bar. Base line obs were taken and all seemed well so we moved on to a new skin prick test. As I watched, an angry red welt appeared on his arm and I thought it was all over. What the fuck!? Dude, your one previously negative test came back positive before we even started the challenge?! I don't even know how it is possible but the result put him firmly in to the allergic basket. Shit.

After a consult with the registrar and the fellow (jolly good fellow?) it was decided that we'd persevere to the next stage - rubbing a cashew on his gums and see what happened with epi pen at the ready. I didn't breathe for the next fifteen minutes but Tricky did. With ease. So we continued.

Each time he was given more and more cashew nut and observed. He absolutely loved them and would ask "more p'ease" without fail... then the alarm went off to signal his blood pressure was dropping. He was otherwise fine - smiling, playing with the iPad, telling me about all the cars in his game - and he quickly picked back up again. Again the word atypical was thrown around. I kinda like my kid to be typical.

Yet another consult with the big wigs and they gave another dose but watched him much more closely. After his second last dose two welts developed on his chin and he started to cough. If I'd been wearing the heart monitor, it would have been beeping like mad right about then. The doctors came, much more quickly this time, but his lungs sounded good and all his vital signs were fine. Atypical. Sigh.

His final dose was given and he drifted off to sleep safe in my arms for the mandatory two hour wait. While he slept they continued to monitor him. I could tell you now about how when he woke up he started coughing and scratching and everyone freaked out, but really, it's more of the same atypical stuff and this post is already way too long.

The final all clear won't be given until later today because you can have a delayed anaphylaxis reaction, but right now it is looking absolutely bloody brilliant. He has a mild allergy to cashews but it's something he is likely to outgrow with continued exposure. I have a RSI from constant jazz hands and feel like bursting in to tears I'm so happy.

Chicken cashew nut is now back on the menu and I can now actually buy foods without checking the packet to see if they are manufactured on the same lines as tree nuts. Hooray! Last week Kellogg's and Be Natural asked if I'd like to do a giveaway and were very understanding when I replied "Maybe. I'll let you know on Tuesday". To help me celebrate this momentous occasion they have come to the party and given me some awesome prizes to give away that contain NUTS and TRACES OF NUTS! HUZZAH! To top it off they're sending Tricky some too.

To enter click here to go to the Facebook App. If you're not on Facebook, and really, I can't blame you, you can enter below by commenting (just let me know it's an entry).

I've walked the shoes of an anaphylaxis parent for six months. A blink of an eye compared to what other 'ana' parents do. As awful as it was, I'm grateful for the perspective it has given me and particularly thankful for the support of this community and the outreach of certain bloggers (Bianca from Big Words, Grace from With Some Grace), and readers who helped me navigate this path and feel less alone.

For the foreseeable future I'll be dancing in the streets and screaming to anyone who will listen that my kid doesn't have anaphylaxis and that I still can't believe my hunch was right. 

Now, who wants some nuts?
This is not a sponsored post

Philips Airfryer Review {alternatively titled Ermagherd Healthy Chips!}

Ermagherd CHIPS.

If you're not familiar with ermagherd it's the noise I make when trying to say oh my god with a mouthful of chips.

A few months ago I was sent a Philips Airfryer to review. In that time I've put that baby through it's paces. Purely for research purposes you see, it *ahem* had nothing to do with the whole I love chips thing. At all. What?! Stop looking at me like that.

I'm a chip connoisseur. A chipoisseur if you will. And I have never EVER tasted homemade chips this good. Once again, ermagherd.

I've embraced the whole cooking from scratch thing for a few years now and yes, that even includes chips. Partly because I like knowing what is in my food, partly because it's healthier and partly because, well, I just really like using those little mandolin slicy things and pretending I'm on a TV commercial. But the chips just didn't measure up to the store bought ones, no matter how much cajun seasoning I dumped on them.

But the Philips Airfryer makes them taste way better - like they've just come from a cafe. It does do more than chips (I cooked a range of homemade goodies in it including garlic bread, chicken nuggets and even beetroot chips) but it's called the chip machine in this house for good reason.

If you go a bit Cheaty McCheaterson and buy frozen chips that have been flash fried first, they taste just like you'd buy at a pub. Serve it with some dips in little bowls and a glass of wine whilst watching the footy and all of a sudden it's a Sunday Sesh. Serve them with fish and Oh. My. Cod. See what I did there? You're welcome.

But having said that, there were definitely a few down sides.

Firstly, every time I used it, without fail, it would set off my smoke detector before I'd put any food in it. The only way to combat this was to sit it directly underneath the rangehood - anywhere else and the smoke detector would start screaming after a minute or two of preheating. That was so insanely annoying because it meant we could only use the Airfryer when we weren't using the stove top. So if we wanted anything else with our chips, well tough.

Also, the bottom section really needs it's own handle. When you release the basket from the bottom there is no way to pick it up other than using just your fingertips - if I've got a chip basket in my hands that is 200C I can't exactly put it down easily to pick up the other part (which is also 200C) with two hands.

We've used this quite a bit in the last few months for different foods but even after all the drooling over how good the chips and the crumbed yummies are, and even loving the retractable power cord, I don't think I'd spend $330 on it when my oven can do a pretty good job at it. Will I sell this and go back to the oven though? No. Because ERMAGHERD CHIPS!

Are you a chipoisseur? Do you have cupboard space for a teeny oven?

This is not a sponsored post however I did receive a complimentary Airfryer. As always, all opinions are my own.

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.

Super Easy Creamy Chicken Riga-Tricky

This is the lucky last recipe of my week of scheduled Gourmet Glow posts (that were so rudely interrupted by my post on our horrid holiday home experience).

See, I was offered the chance to win sponsorship to BlogHer by whipping up some recipes using the new Kellogg's All Bran Fibre Toppers, so I've jumped at the chance. The opportunity to win a trip to New York to attend BlogHer by writing about some recipes I've created using a product that adds fibre plus vitamins and minerals to your diet? I CAN DO THAT! I'm a crunchy mama, this stuff is right up my alley and since I'm loving experimenting with cooking lately, it seems like this competition was made for me. You can check out all the recipes submitted by searching the #AllBran hashtag on twitter.

So back to my recipe - what do you serve for dinner when you want a home cooked meal but are too tired to put in much effort beyond a bit of grabbing things out the pantry and stirring? Chicken Riga-Tricky!

This is one of those great dishes that is so simple because it's based on pantry staples and whatever veggies you happen to have on hand. It's also great to make at the end of the week to get clear out all the veggies that are almost passed their prime in the fridge so that you don't throw it all out and waste it.

Tricky loves this stuff and it's on pretty high rotation at our place! Because it freezes so well, I always make a large batch and divide it up for Map Guy's lunches and last week made up a batch for my friend who has just had a new baby. Plus it only uses one pot and and one pan so it's definitely a winner!

Creamy Chicken Riga-Tricky

Can't really see the Fibre Toppers - they are in there though!

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 500g chicken, diced
• 500g rigatoni 
• 1 onion, chopped
• 150g spinach
• 5 mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 zucchini, sliced
• 1 jar of pasta sauce
• 1/2 tub of reduced fat cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of Kellogg's All Bran Fibre Toppers (which contains 33% of your daily fibre requirement!)
• 1 teaspoon of chilli (optional) 

 

Method

• Prepare pasta according to directions and set aside - don't overcook it or it will be Chicken Riga-Flatty
• Cook onion and chicken in a large fry pan until well browned
• Add mushrooms and zucchini, fry gently for two minutes
• Pour the entire jar of pasta sauce and stir until well coated
• Add handfuls of spinach allowing it to wilt - if you put it all in at once it will go every or *ahem* so I've heard
• Stir in the cream cheese allowing it to melt and turn the sauce from a bright red to a creamy orange
• If you're going to add chilli, do it now! I like mine to have a nice kick  
• Add in your Fibre Toppers now so they retain some of their crunch, if you do it too early they'll dissolve a bit and won't be visible in your photo (d'oh!) but you'll still get the nutritional value from them so don't panic
• Combine the sauce and the rigatoni, stir through and serve as is or with shaved Parmesan on top

**For a lower fat version you can just leave out the cream cheese and throw in a few olives**

Click here to see a nutritional panel I created for this meal - I should get points for the effort of making one of these panels, right??
This is NOT a sponsored post, but it is a competition entry for Kellogg's to win sponsorship to BlogHer

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

Pistachio Dukkah Chicken Schnitzel

You will not find me on any of the reality cooking shows going around at the moment - I cannot cook like that yet. The meals I cook, while delicious (if I do say so myself) are never extravagant towering masterpieces that have been "plated up".

Rather, they're simple home cooked meals placed on a plate and put in front of a hungry family after a long day of toddler wrangling and working from home, right on arsenic hour. It has to be easy, healthy(ish), something the three of us will all enjoy and preferably not use 18 different pans that I then have to wash up.

I like being a 'Crunchy Mama' and cooking from scratch because I know exactly what is going in to our bodies, but now... well after this recipe I come with added crunch!

Pistachio Dukkah Chicken Schnitzel 

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 skinless chicken breasts
• 1 piece of bread (I used a country grain mix but it doesn't matter)
• 1/2 cup of Kellogg's All Bran Fibre Toppers (which contains 33% of your daily fibre needs plus 25% of your daily iron, folate and vitamins B1 and B2!)
  
• 25g of pistachio dukkah
• 1 egg, beaten

 Method

• In a food processor (or chop by hand if you don't have one) blitz the bread and Fibre Toppers until they combine in to look like big, crunchy bread crumbs - don't over do it, you want most of the Fibre Toppers to remain whole otherwise you'll loose the crunch!
• Stir the dukkah evenly through the mix and place it all on a large plate (place a bowl of fruit in the background for the extra health benefits)

Added crunch

• Dip your chicken breasts in to the egg and then in to the mix, pressing the crumbs on firmly to coat the entire surface
• Cook for 15 minutes over medium heat in a little extra virgin olive oil, turning once, or until golden brown and crunchy (alternatively you can bake them for 30 minutes, or until golden brown, in a 200C oven).
• Serve with a side salad of mixed lettuce, red onion and beetroot strips, and sprinkle a few extra Fibre Toppers over it for some extra crunch
• Freeze any leftover crumb mixture and use within 3 months

Putting one piece of chicken on an angle is plating up, yes?

So, who's coming to dinner at my place?

Click here to see a nutritional panel I created for this

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

Chunky Chocolate Ripple Cheesecake

I'm rather new to this whole baking thing so I, err, may or may not have screwed up a recipe for chocolate snowballs the other night.

Now there are a few things I'm basing this on:

1. The first lot of dough was white... I'd forgotten to put in cocoa. Then I realized I also had a cup of sugar sitting there waiting to go in too. Oops.

2. I put the oven on fan forced instead of normal. Double oops.

3. The snowballs didn't hold their shape ended up like snowflats and by the next morning they were too crunchy (but tasted awesome). Triple oops.

What do you do when you have a batch of snowballs cookies that are a akin to rock? Smash 'em up and make a cheesecake base! Huzzah! So, here's my fabulous recipe that I created, based on a plain cheesecake recipe (I am getting good at this making recipes up thing):

Chunky Chocolate Ripple Cheesecake 

Alternatively titled "Oh-crap-I-ruined-the-biscuits Cheesecake"

Ingredients:

• A batch of failed snowballs or a packet of biscuits, whatever floats your boat, about 175g
• 75g of butter
• 85g of dark chocolate (I used Lindt because it was on special)
• 250g of cream cheese
• 250g of ricotta
• 2/3 cup castor sugar
• 250mL thickened cream

Method:   
Base:

• Smash up 150g of your failed snowballs/biccies until they look like breadcrumbs 
• Add melted butter and combine
• Press in to a greased and lined 18cm pan, cover and chill it while you make the rest

Snowflat base

 Filling:

• Melt your chocolate (microwave, double boiler, I'm not fussy) and allow to cool to room temperature
• Beat cream cheese, ricotta and sugar using an electric mixer and make sure to sing Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' while you do - it makes it turn out better
• Add the thickened cream and beat for five minutes
• Smash up the remaining 25g of your snowflats so that they're chunky and carefully fold through
• Pour the mixture in to the prepared base and smooth it out
  
  

  

  Cookie pieces mixed in
• Drizzle most of the melted and cooled chocolate over the top and mix it around, being careful not to touch the bottom so you get a top layer of chocolate flavoured cheesecake (I think the soft centre of the Lindt chocolate really helped this part because it was really runny)
• Once the top layer is chocolatey, drizzle a little bit more on and swirl it to create your ripple
• Freeze for two hours

See those layers? And the cookie chunks? AWESOME! 

Serve it with berries if you want to be all arty-farty or just inhale it like I did.

*insert rapturous applause*

Whaddya reckon? Is there a food blogger in me?