Pina Colada Moist Vegan Cake Dairy Free and Egg Free

Ok, let's get one thing straight. I am not a Vegan, though I do embrace certain aspects of veganism. My body no longer deals well with Dairy. It has taken me a while to come to this conclusion, but I have finally accepted that Dairy is now my frenemy. I say frenemy, because I really wish it could be my bestie. I love ice cream, cheese, chocolate, and all that dairy goodness. I wish I could enjoy it without the consequences! So I have decided to lower my dairy intake. I suppose I should cut it out altogether, but realistically, I can't. I drink almond or coconut milk and only drink dairy if its unavoidable. I cut out cheese whenever possible. I don't consume camembert or brie or any other specialty lovely or artisan cheese that I once enjoyed. I limit my chocolate intake and I am proud to say I am good at this. I avoid butter where ever possible. I am not allergic thank goodness, though I haven't had this tested by a medical professional. I just know from my own experience and experiments that dairy no longer has a good influence on me and I have to limit my contact to benefit both of us. It was a hard break up, but I am surviving!

There are some great benefits to the Vegan diet, but I still enjoy my eggs, and I can't exist without meat, though I do limit my intake, much more than I used to. I also try to include more fish into my diet, which again is a no no for Vegans.  So while I can't be a fully fledged Vegan, I still enjoy the vegan recipes I come across. This cake I made the other night came about because a Vegan friend of mine, shared her discovery of whipping chickpea brine, with some sugar to replace eggs. The guy behind this all is Goose Wohlt, who now has a blog. This was insane! How could chickpea brine with sugar be whipped to look just like whipped egg white? But I do not lie. Check the links for yourself and see the Facebook group for more experiences. This concept is so revolutionary because cans of chickpeas or any beans apparently, replacing eggs or egg whites for baking is simply genius! Its so easy to store cans of beans in your cupboard and have them on hand. There are countless ways to use chickpeas and beans for your cooking and now, you can reserve your brine for cooking too! I know some of you are saying, "Grosse me out" and my kids would too, had I told them I used cannellini (white beans) brine to make the cake, but I didn't, and they liked it!!! I found the cake had good texture and was pleasantly moist. While I used pineapple, I think canned apricots, pears, peaches, mangoes etc could be used. Just as long as the syrup/juice is pleasant.  This is a great food storage recipe to keep on hand.

Piña Colada Cake 

 2 cups SRF 

1/4 cup caster sugar 

1 1/4 cup full fat coconut cream (no need to refrigerate)

1 can canallenni bean brine (or chickpea)

 1 Tbsp icing mixture 

400g pineapple pieces or crushed with juice

 2 Tsp vanilla extract 

1.Oven to 180C, line cake tin with baking paper. 

2. Whip brine and icing mixture and 1 tsp of vanilla until soft peaks form 

3. Mix SRF into whipped brine. Stir in coconut cream, caster sugar, tin of pineapple pieces and juice, and 1tsp vanilla until smooth.  

4. Pour into tin and place in oven for 30-35mins. Test with skewer if centre is cooked through. Allow to cool a little before serving. 

Ritz Carlton 5 star cookies, The Best Cookies!

These are by far the best cookies I have made. Once upon a time I would have argued until I fainted that the Neiman Marcus cookies I use to make all the time were THE best. These NEW best cookies are much easier and less fiddley to make and you can yield 50+ cookies (depending on your size) very easily. I made about 40 large cookies and the rest were smaller ones. Enjoy:)


Ritz Carlton Cookies
50+

565g (5 sticks) butter softened to room temp
5 eggs (room temp)
2 cups brown sugar packed
2 cups caster sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
6 cups plain flour
1tsp salt
4 cups choc chips/bits




1. Cream butter and two sugars until smooth and creamy on medium speed

2. Add eggs one at a time

3. Add vanilla and beat in on high speed until all combined and smooth

4. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda, and salt.

5. Add flour mixture to wet mixture 2 cups at a time.

6. Fold choc chips through.


Place cookie dough in fridge for about an hour.

Pre heat oven to 180C. Place large dessert spoonfuls of mixture on cookie sheet / baking tray spaced evenly apart. Place in fridge or freezer for a further couple of minutes before baking. While one sheet is baking set up the next sheet and leave in fridge or freezer until ready to be baked. Bake 10-12mins or until browning on top.

Take out and allow to stand a minute or two then cool on a wire rack. Repeat until all cookies are deliciously baked and you feel like you want to camp out in your kitchen until the smell subsides!

NB. I didn't actually remember to count all the cookies but there were at least 50, very likely to be close to 60 or more cookies. At least a dozen of them were small sized about the size of your hand when you make a circle with the first finger and your thumb, but count from the edge of your finger and thumb, not the inside circle.  I do recommend you refrigerate your cookie dough, unless its a cold winters day and your heater isn't working.

** I also froze a portion of the cookies and hid them at the back of my freezer so my kids  wouldn't find them....they did though!! ***

HotMix Pro Recipe: Healthy Chocolate Energy Bites

Can chocolate really be healthy? Of course it can and I am not just saying to eat in moderation! What makes these energy bites with chocolate just amazing is the chocolate goodness of Crio Bru. You can find out all you need to know about what Crio Bru is here.

I came across energy bites first on Pinterest. I made some up and I liked them but found them a little bland. So I made some more with Crio Bru and dates and found that they were much better. The HotMix Pro makes these in a breeze, but of course if you don't have a HMP, you can use a blender, food processor, or if you have a thermal cooking machine, like a TM 31 or Thermo Chef that works well too.

Energy Bites

250g rolled oats
50g coconut flakes
50 g Crio Bru
5 dates - seeds removed and roughly chopped
20g LSA

Add ingredients to HMP bowl and blend on speed 6 for 20 seconds.

Then add:
10g Chia seeds - I used black and white mix
150g peanut butter

Blend again on speed 5, adding runny honey or maple syrup until it clumps together, about 15-20 seconds.

You will know when it is ready you have added enough honey or syrup, when you can make a ball that stays together. Roll mixture into balls until all mixture is used and refrigerate.

 

 

 I have kept mine in an air tight container for up to a month in the fridge. I eat two or three of these for breakfast when I am in a hurry - which means most mornings!! I also like them when I am feeling pekish and would like to eat something sweet - these are a much better choice and can fill you up. Just make sure you drink plenty of fluids after you eat them. 

** I want to add that I pre-blended the Crio Bru in my HMP on speed 10, so that it would be finer than its usually consistency, so keep this in mind if you add it to the mix, that you should pre-blend it, then have it blended down again in the mixture...if that makes sense!!**

Home Renovations 101 and Pantry Moths

 I have not blogged for a while. I have had a lot of things happen over the last 10 weeks or so and I needed a break! I even stopped working for a while because I really just wanted to sit back, chill and regroup my thoughts and goals. What I got most out of it, was that I really wanted to be more available to my kids. For the last 3.5 years I have been working part time 3 days a week teaching. I really love teaching, but I was finding I was becoming overwhelmed with a lot of things that were happening at school and then coming home to family life and not being able to balance it out. So an opportunity came up for my husband, he took it, and it allowed me to stop working. Well, I kind didn't stop working altogether. I worked on and off one day a week when I was needed, but that was a major change going from a committed 3 days a week. It did allow me to spend a lot more time with the kids and be available for helping and school and being involved in that part of their life and I have really enjoyed it. I also took my youngest out of day care completely and we spend everyday together, which was great at first, but after a while, I was thinking I got ahead of myself and really should have left in day care at least 1 day a week. But I have held off and I will most likely get him in preschool next year as he will start school the following year.

So how does all this relate to home renovations? Well, during all of this, we have decided to do some renovations and get our house on the market. Yeah, a bit crazy in some ways, but because I had some time on my side, this is where it took me! We live in a fairly small home for our family. I really love our house, but for 4 growing kids, 3 small bedrooms is not enough. We currently have 3 boys sharing one room! So we would like to be able to have at least one more bedroom to break that up a bit.  So far, we have spent a lot of time cleaning up our front yard and I really wish I took before and after photos because it would show how much work has been done, and how much gorgeous sunshine we now get into our house. I tend to think of photos after I have done things, which I really shouldn't since I am a blogger!! Bloggers are always thinking of taking photos aren't they??!! Anyway, I have a picture of the beginnings of our painting of the entrance of our house. We are using double concrete by Resene paints (just FYI, I don't get anything to say this!) and we will use this for the whole house. Its a soft grey with purple/blue undertones. This is the entrance and I will add photos along the way of the other rooms.

Sorry, I know this needs be rotated. I did, but it didn't work? I will get it sorted out! Anyway, the wall to the left has the new paint, and the other walls have the original colour which is a nice light caramel/oatmeal brown - I can't remember the name of it!

I also wanted to share with you some advice I got from my dad when I was explaining our renovation ideas with him. He looked at the cornices of our kitchen and pointed these out,

I had these scattered mainly around the kitchen ceiling cornices but discovered some in the hallway cornices too. They are moth eggs. If you have ever wondered where your pantry moths keep coming from, its here! I never really noticed them before. So I got them down and put them in boiling water and disposed of them. Now I hope that my pantry won't be affected anymore, I have thrown away much to much food that has been affected by these insects, and its been frustrating. I will still use my pantry moth traps as well.

Mastering Caramel in the HotMix Pro

One of the main differences between a HMP and TM 31, Kenwood Cooking Chef, a ThermoChef, and other thermal cooking machines, is that the HMP can reach 130C for the Easy model and 190C for the Gastro model. The others just can't do this. Its as simple as that.  I know some comments have been made that the TM 31 can make nougat for example, but the whole recipe from start to end, can't be made in the TM 31, you have to transfer ingredients to a saucepan. With an HMP from beginning to end its in the one machine. If you have ever made caramel on the stove top then you will know what it takes. It's not a simple task and there is more than 1 piece of cooking equipment required. With the HMP, all you need is the machine and the paddle attachment, it is that simple and once the ingredients are in, you simply walk away! It's just so good, its hard to believe. Well, you have to believe it people, because I have done it!  I have to admit, it took two attempts to get this recipe right. With my first attempt I used honey as my sweetener and my critics family were not impressed with the honey flavour, they wanted the real stuff!! That being said, if you like honey I recommend you try making caramel with honey its a healthier option than the one I went with.

So this evening, I took on my challenge of making better caramel that would make my critics family happy. I used this recipe,  at AmberLee's blog, giverslog. The only thing I replaced was glucose syrup for the light corn syrup and as this is a really hard substance I didn't really measure exactly 1 cup, it could have been a little less. If the glucose syrup has been sitting in your cupboard for a while and its winter (as it is for me) you will need to sit it in some very hot or boiled water to make it runny. I find measuring it and then pouring the measured amount a waste of time, so I just estimate it as I pour it from the container. Its up to you how you want to do it, but if you do measure it sit the measuring cup in the same water for a little bit before adding to the HMP so it comes out easily.  I also used 300g of butter.

This is what I did.

Add chopped butter to HMP and set on speed 1 and temp to 130C and allow the butter to melt, which should only take a minute or so, but the machine won't reach 130C.

When butter is melted, press stop and lift whole lid to add the sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar and glucose syrup, and attach paddle. Close lid and allow to continue to cook on speed 1 until it reaches 130C, this can take 15-20 minutes, but it doesn't matter too much what the time is the HMP will stop when it reaches 130C. Make sure the lid stopper is in place during the whole process. Once it reaches 130C and beeps, add the vanilla extract and let cook for a further 1 minute. The caramel will look like this:

Actually, I overcooked this just a little, so yours might be a little lighter perhaps or at least not as thick as mine ended up. I cooked it until 134C, but I think stopping at 130C is the best temp, as this is what I did on my previous attempt.

Pour this onto a baking tray that has been lined with baking paper and allow to cool before you pre-cut or put into fridge. Or, you can mix things up a little and do what I did. I know its very fashionable to add salt to your caramel. Personally, I have never consider this an attractive option, but today, I thought I would take the idea on but in my own way.

While the caramel was cooking I broke up some pretzels with my hands and scattered them over the bottom of the lined baking tray. I also broke up some milk chocolate Cadbury melts, and I also had some Nestle Caramel chips so I spread some of those in as well. I poured the caramel on top of this layer and while the caramel was still hot I scattered more milk choc melts on top. The heat of the caramel melts the chocolate.

After about 1/2-1 hour, the chocolate is nicely melted and you can start to cut the caramel up into small pieces, but still be careful as it is still quite hot, particularly in the middle. Allow the caramel to continue to cool completely preferably outside of the fridge. Store in an airtight container in your cupboard or fridge.

My critics family have praised me on this latest effort and because I have my HMP doing all the hard work for me, I know I can only get better from here.  I also can't wait to use this recipe for caramel apples. Rest assured, as soon as I do this, a post will soon follow, because come Halloween and Christmas, I will be doing this in a big way! I haven't been able to master the art, but now I know I can make it work!

**This does make a slightly harder caramel. A change of temp for example, 125C or so could create a slightly softer caramel. A few more attempts and I am sure I have it down pat!!**

All the indgredients used in this recipe can be stored easily in your pantry, making it a perfect food storage recipe. The butter can be fresh and stored in your fridge or you can also use canned butter.

HotMix Pro Recipes: PB n Caramel Choc Cream Pie

One thing that I particularly like about this recipe is that I didn't clean out the bowl once after each step. Each layer of this pie has flavours that marry well, so I didn't feel the need to concern myself with cleaning the bowl. Its up to you, but try it out if you like.

Ever since watching "The Help" I have been a little obsessed with searching for pie recipes and making pies. If you have seen the movie or read the book, you can smile with me as you remember the classic line of Minnie's, "Eat, my, Sh*$!!". I crack up each time I picture it in my head. I suppose you could say I was inspired by the chocolate pie fiasco a little with this recipe I concocted. I actually mixed up a lot of things that I have discovered along the way of my pie searching. Of course you can make this recipe without a HMP, but the HMP just makes it that much easier and quicker. You also get an amazing consistency with the HMP. So here is what I did.

Base Ingredients
1 packet digestive biscuits
1 cup pretzels
130g butter melted
1 tbsp peanut butter

Filling
1 can caramel top and fill
100g cream cheese
1-2 tbsp peanut butter ( peanut butter is optional but is a great flavour)
1 tbsp gelatin or 1 packet
400ml hot water to dissolve gelatin

Topping
200ml cream
1tbsp quality cocoa
1 tbsp icing sugar

Method

1. Biscuits and pretzels on speed 5 for 20 secs
2. Add melted butter and peanut butter and mix on speed 2 for 30 secs
3. Press into pie dish and refrigerate.
4. Mix can caramel, cream cheese with paddle attachment on speed 2 for 20 secs. Scrape sides and remove paddle attachment. Add peanut butter and mix on speed 3 for 30 seconds
5. Mix gelatin in hot water with a fork and mix well.
6. Add gelatin to caramel mix and mix on speed 1 for 20 secs
7. Pour caramel mixture into pie dish and put back in fridge for at least 2 hours.
8. When caramel layer is set mix cream, cocoa, and icing sugar using paddle attachment on speed 3 for  around 1 minute or until it has stiff peaks.
9. Spread over pie.

The pretzels and peanut butter add the right amount of salt to balance out the sweetness of the other ingredients. Its a really great dessert that can be made in the morning or afternoon and be ready for the evening. All ingredients can be stored in your pantry, even the cream! Yes you can get UHT cream, but make sure you refrigerate the cream for at least 1 hour before you whip it or it won't whip.

Costco Recipe Files: Cookie Bakes with Ice-cream

Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookies are, to my knowledge, only available here in Australia, at Costco. If you know otherwise, please let me know.Anyway, I had not heard of them being here in Australia until I saw them at Costco. The box is in the frozen dessert section and you got a box of 72 portions, which is 72 cookies for around $16.56 which is about 23cents/cookie. The cookies are delicious and I created a new dessert which I think you will like. This dessert can easily be created with Aunty May's cookie dough logs but you would have to experiement with how much to use. Also, if you make your own cookie dough, again, no reason why you can't use your own. I would suggest freezing portions to make it easier to bake in the cupcake pan/tray.

Cookie Bakes with Ice-cream

12 capacity cupcake/muffin tray - spray with oil spray or lightly butter each cupcake hole.
12 portions of Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough
1 scoop of vanilla ice-cream per cookie bake.

1.Oven to 180C
2. Place cookie portion in each greased cupcake part.
3. Cook for about 10-15mins, or until very lightly browned on top - if you like a chewier cookie, don't let it brown much at all. Allow to cool for 10mins. The cookie bakes will dip in the middle, but this is what you want it to do.
4. Take out the cookie bake from tray and add scoop of vanilla ice-cream - or ice cream of choice and serve immediately.

Bon Appetit!

Pina Colada Mountains

I had a hard time working out what kind of name I should give this recipe, but I decided on the above name, purely because of how the dessert looked. If you can think of a better name, I would love to hear it!
I thought of this recipe because my kids love an ice block called SMOOZE, have you heard of it? Its fairly popular here in Australia, although I wouldn't say everyone household has them in their freezers. Basically its an ice block that looks like a mini sunny boy and is primarily made of coconut milk. No artificial flavourts, colours or preservatives. They are a good snack to have. Anyway, my kiddies were asking for them and I didn't have any on hand, so I figured I would make some of my own. So I went to my trusty food storage pantry and got me some coconut cream and canned pineapple and this is what I did.

Ingredients
1 tin of coconut cream - full or light its up to you
1 tin of pineapple - can be rings, chunks or crushed in natural juice

Method

Pour tin of cream into ice cube trays and freeze
Pour pineapple into a zip lock bag with some of juice and freeze.
Put rest of juic in fridge.

Once items in freezer are frozen take out and allow to thaw for about 10-15mins.
Add to blender or food processor with rest of juice and blend until smooth. Scoop out into bowls and enjoy! ( you can also add a scoop or two of ice-cream)

Best thing about this dessert is you can add any kind of fresh or canned fruit that marrys well with coconut. If you don't want to wait for items to freeze you can easily add ice to your blender so you can a better texture, but I think it works better for the items to be frozen.

Pantry items
Tin coconut cream
Tin pineapple

Food and Wine Show Sydney 2011

What a show! Wow, this year was so amazing and I would have to say at least 10 times better than last year! Last year I had my baby son with me, which was a bit of a challenge, mainly because I found it had to manoevure his pram in and out the crowds and unfortunately some people weren't willing to giveway to parents with prams which was sad. This year, I came with my 10 year old daughter who is developing a foodie persona like her mum!! There was no prams required, so hitting the crowds to just a matter of waddling like a duck or penguin and getting through at a slow and steady pace!!

So what did I buy? Well I did only take a certain amount of money which I didn't want to go over, even though I did :P! Hey we are talking about food here. For some women its beauty products, for others its designer brands. For me, my weakness is food and finding great products to share with others. Before I start, I do want to appologise for not taking pictures. I was so excited when I arrived and how many exhitors there were and once I started talking to people I didn't think about getting my camera out.
[Note to self, arrive at show with camera in hand so I don't forget to take pictures!]

I have taken pictures of the products that I purchased, so you know what they look like. For products that I highly recommend, but didn't purchase I will provide a link for you to check them out.

One of the first companies I was so happy to see was a company that I discovered for the first time at the Melbourne Food and Wine show. Careme Fine Pastry, I am so in love!! I have never heard of pastry in different flavours and readily available. The owner, Claire Wood was there to talk about her wonderful product. Visually you want to envelop your best tasty fillings as soon as possible, but to then have a taste, you 'know' you have to use this pastry! I really wanted to purchase the pastry then and there, but unfortunately I wasn't going home straight after the show, and was concerned about how it would last until I got home. However, I do know where I can get the pastry from now and if you want to know too, here is the website link, CAREME PASTRY.  My two favourite products were sour cream puff pastry and vanilla bean shortcrust pastry. I can't wait to make my favourite, custard tart with the vanilla bean shortcrust. If you are entertaining and want your guests to have a lasting impression of your pie, sweet or savory, then Careme pastry is your best choice.

Sour cream puff pastry

Vanilla Bean shortcrust pastry

I then discovered a company by the name of Lakelands Olives. They are a biodynmaic organic olive oil business.  I was most impressed with their Lemon oil and Mandarin oil. This oil was amazing and the flavour of Mandarin so strong that I felt like I had eaten one! 
I was told that the flavour is so impressive becasue they use the whole fruit, skin and all also also because they use the cold press method. I am not 100% sure but I think they maybe at the Organic Expo in Sydney held in 6th and 7th August. Otherwise, check out their website, LAKELANDS

Sharing the same store with Lakelands, I learned about PUKARA ESTATE. They also had olive oils, but the most impressive products for me, were their vingears. Have you ever heard of Guava Vinegar?? I had never thought that a product like this would be possible, and taste so good!! The flavour is so amazing and as soon as my tastebuds got excited, my mind was considering all the ways I could use the vinegar in my cooking.  They also have fig vinegar, blackcurrant, and vanilla cinnamon to name but a few. But my heart was with the Guava vinegar and this was what I purchase.

If you are tempted to try this vinegar, here is their website, PUKARA.

My favourite purchase of the day was one I had waited 1 year for! I discovered these knives at last year's show and my mum ended up purchasing one and has sung its praises all year. These knives are at a bargain price of 50% off the normal retail price, so worth the wait!. I purchased the Titan 21 which is a titanium knive that needs sharpening at least once every 18months or so. Its is light weight which is such a welcome change to what I have been using. The knive that I currently use is good, but I need to sharpen it at least every second day in the week. So I am so happy I have a sharp knife that I don't have to worry about sharpening as often anymore.  For more details here is the website, FOREVERKNIVES.

This next product, was a real no brainer for me. If you have been following my blog for a while now, you know that I am passionate about food storage. You may also know that I am trying to update or modernise the concept of some foods that can be stored in your food storage long or short term. I am always looking at great products that can deliver a taste sensation but also be stored well. I am also becoming a bit braver in making Indian cuisine. I really like indian food but the books I have read and the shows I have watched have intimidated me a little. It looked like a lot of processes, and having the right ingredients to make sure your food tasted its best. So I figured I would only enjoy Indian when I was eating out. Since then, I have befriended some work colleagues who are from India or regions of India and have worked hard to convince me not to be scared of Indian cooking. When I found the stall, Mudgeeraba Spices and Curry Blends, I knew it was meant to be!! I was even more excited when I was handed a sample of their butter chicken made from their butter chicken spice blend. It was so delicious and I never knew there was a spice blend for butter chicken. I have only ever used a sauce mix from the supermarkets. I enquired about a good curry mix that was not too hot, so my kids could enjoy it. The vegtable curry blend was the answer and the smell was sensational. No artifical colours, flavours or preservatives and with a shelf life of at least 12 months and each jar that I purchased would make up to 30kg plus of meat curries, I was sold!! Teh two jars I purchased caressed 300g of spice blends and cost $35 for the two jars. Check out their website for more info, MUDGEERABA SPICES

 I found the show was embrassing a mulitcultral flavour and this made me happy, because I think there are some amazing products out there that we can embrace in flavour and technique. I love researching different cultural cusines and adapting these to my everday cooking.  I discovered a new brand I had not seen before. Kuhne, with two dots above the u!! Kuhne have quality german products like mustards and a beautiful savoury cream for potato salads( the name has stepped out of my memory for the moment!) but they are just gorgeous and worth a try when you see them in your IGA supermarket.

When my mum returned from a trip to Indonesia some 15 or so years ago, she bought back something with her that I will be forever greatful for, Kecap Manis! What an amazing sauce! Kecap Manis is a sweet soy, so its thicker than normal soya sauce and has a sweet flavour. Its perfect for marinades, sauces, fried rice, to add to omelettes, to stirfries, there is many applications and I can guarantee, once you buy one bottle, you will keep buying. It will become a staple for your asian cooking. I purchased this bottle, as I know the brand and at $2.50, it was a bargain. I also like that the bottle was plastic and squeezeable. I have had bottles in the past that are glass, and you stand for ages waiting for the sauce to come out.



I chatted for a long time with Craig Lyon's wife Karen from Passion of Tahiti. The Bora Bora vanilla pods are to die for! If you like vanilla then you have to swing by their website and check out the beans they have on offer. The Bora Bora beans have a nice length but they are so plump and juicy and have an amazing width that I have not seen with a vanilla bean before. The aroma is mesmerizing. I have been told that some well known chefs are super excited about Craig's vanilla beans, so be sure to check them out. Be sure to take a look at the vanilla bean powder which is 100% vanilla seeds with no additivies or anything added like a paste has. The, product, however,  that has captured me more than anything else, even though I rave about the other ones, this particular product, really has captured me. It's the cold pressed vanilla extract that is not made with any alcohol at all! Never heard of such a thing until now! If you have ever purchased a good quality extract, when you smell it, it has a nice vanilla smell, but the alcohol does cut through and distrupts the vanilla note. Also if you ever accidently add too much extract to a frosting or cream, you will get a taste of the alcohol, which I really don't like. With cold pressed vanilla, there is no chance of this! Its all vanilla!  I can rave on about it all day, but I won't!! Pop on over to the website and see for yourself. The site is under a little bit of construction but I was told that purchasing would be ready as soon as possible, but you can contact Craig vie the e-mail address on the site with any queries.

Well as you can tell I had a great time. I enjoyed talking to people and learning more about their products and business and I am so happy to pass this onto you guys. Can't wait to see what is install for next year. I also hope I can work a bit with some of these businesses to bring some more amazing products to your kitchens.

I need your vote please!

I am not one for asking for votes for things, but I entered my first recipe competition and I would really like to win. So if you don't mind spending a moment or two, click on the link and vote for my recipe. I have added a picture of what I made, its a basic white sauce mix that you make from scratch and you can store it in a zip lock back or an air tight container in your fridge for up to 12 months. Its super quick and easy and great staple to have stored in your fridge. 
 I have made this mixture before, but I have to admit, it has a better texture, cooks better and definately tastes better with Lurpak butter. White sauce mix is good for making bechamel sauce, using for a creamy sauce for pasta dishes - especially tuna pasta bake, great for creamy chicken pies, can be used to make chocolate pudding dessert, and heaps more!  Will share some more ideas soon:)

 Thanks in advance for voting for me:)


http://www.lurpak.com.au/lurpakchallenge/recipe/the-best-white-sauce-mix

Succulent Moroccan baked chicken breast with vegetable rice

Sorry if the title sounds a little boring, I'm not feeling creative tonight with titles and names:( As for the dish, well the picture speaks for itself!! This was a 'del-ish-us' meal and  everyone in my family, including the fussy eater, ate every last mouthful, veges and all!! Yes, I too could not believe it! So what did I do?

1 large chicken (skin on )Breast
Tbsp of light olive oil
10 green beans - each bean chopped into 3 pieces
1 red capsicum (any colour can be used) - diced
1 large carrot - diced
2 1/2 cups cooked rice
2-3 ablespoons of Morrocan Spice mix ( spice mix of choice)

Method
1. Mix the teaspoon of oil and 1-2 tablespoons of spice mix depending on size of the chicken breast or how many you want to use. Spread mixture over chicken breast liberally and allow to stand for at least 15 minutes or if you have time for about an hour or so.

2. Put oven on 180C and line small baking tray with foil.

3. Place chicken breast in baking tray and bake for  15-20mins - when chicken is burnt a little on top of skin and crispy. Keep an eye on the chicken as over cooking will cause the chicken to dry out.

*** Please remember that chicken is opaque white when it is cooked. If its is still pink put it back in the oven. Eating pink chicken can cause terrible food poisoning.*******

4. While chicken is cooking, add a little bit of oil in a frying pan. Add carrots first, cook for about 2 minutes until getting almost soft. Then add capsicum and beans.

5. Add cooked rice and then add 2-3 tablespoons of spice mix until combined through and fragrant.

6. When chicken is cooked, allow to stand for up to 5mins.

7. Slice chicken on an angle.

8. Spoon a generous amount of rice on the plate and then top with slices of chicken.

Depending on spice mix used you can add a dollop of youghurt if you wish.

Apologies for small picture, I had to take it on my iphone!


Pantry Ingredients
Rice
Spice mix
Olive oil

chicken breast  - from freezer

Dodged Another McDonalds bullet tonight with this....

So I was seriously thinking an easy meal was install for tonight. I had work today, went to gym and had to get kids off to Achievement Night at 6:45pm, so something had to give. I really didn't want to get McDonalds, if I did it would just be for the kids anyway. I think I have grown out of McDonalds, I felt sick the last couple of times I have eaten it, so I try to steer clear of it, which is a food thing of course. Anyway, I had made the decision and as I was finishing at the gym, I felt like Mexican. I love Mexican!! The first thought was to make nachos but by the time I got home I realised I had my trusty food storage ingredients and could whip up something even better, quesadillas!

I used a breast of chicken in the fridge,a tin of corn, a tin of red kidney beans, salsa, and burrito bread. I have to say here, that burrito bread is very versatile and can live in your pantry for up to 12months and still taste good. I purchased mine about 3months ago on special, so it was now coming in handy!

What do you do?

1. Diced the chicken into small pieces. Heated a frying pan over medium heat and added some oil.

2. To the oil I added a ground cumin and ground paprika and stirred that through the oil for about a minute then added the chicken.

3. Rinse the kidney beans and corn in a colander or sieve under cold running water until bubble disappear and water runs clear.

4. As the chicken is cooking, if some pieces can be broken down further, do so.

5. Add the kidney beans and corn and stir through and lower heat.

6. Take off heat and allow to cool slightly.

7. Put burrito bread in microwave as per instructions on packet or oven, whichever you prefer.

8. Using a foccacia or flat sandwich press, place one piece of bread down and top with chicken mixture.

Add grated cheese if you like and put another piece of burrito bread on top and lower sandwich/foccacia  press.

9. Cook until golden brown and cheese melted.

10. Serve with sour cream, salsa or my mexican aioli dip.

The story behind the Aioli.

I made some homemade Aioli on Sunday as I had some left over egg yolks. It is the first time I have ever done it and I was so proud of my creation, its tastes do yum!  For this meal, I didn't feel like sour cream but I did want to have something with the Quesadilla. I saw the aioli in the fridge and wanted to use it some how. By itself, it wasn't too bad, but it needed to be Mexicanised!!

When I was last in Melbourne, I finally went to a grocery store my sister-in-law had been telling me about for a while. Leo's Fine Food and Wine store in Kew. Its like a regular supermarket, but with a twist! It has an array of foods one would only find at range of delicatessens or speciality food stores. Its a amazing, to me, better than Costco - Woh! That's saying something!!! Amongst other amazing items, I came across a brand I have not seen much at mainstream supermarkets for a while, and I have missed. Byron Bay Chilli Co. I purchased a bottle of the green jalapeno sauce with coriander.

It sounded delish and too good to refuse. As we were flying home, I was limited to how much I could take home with me, so this made the cut and we also bought some exquisite nougat that was so smooth, not chewy or crunchy, just right. Unfortunately after about 10 minutes of leaving the store the nougat was devoured!! It was that good!!

 Back to the the recipe. I just added the Green Jalapeno sauce to the aioli and I made an amazing dipping sauce that was just what the quesadilla needed. I am a genius!!!


Pantry Ingredients

Kidney beans
Corn
Burrito bread
Salsa
ground cumin
ground paprika
Byron Bay Chilli sauce (optional!!)

Slow Cooker: Moroccan Curry - tastes better than it looks!

Yes, I know what it looks like! I'm not going to be offended because I too think it looks like a cow pattie! Even my daughter said it looked like one, but if you can get past that, the taste is absolutely out of this world sensational.  I love, love, love my slow cooker! Its the best thing I have in my kitchen at the moment and all I want to make every day is something in my beloved slow cooker. A perfect piece of advise I want to share to those getting married, ask for a slower cooker! If you are trying to cut down on your food bills, but still want to make great food, buy a slow cooker! If you want to make yummy food, and freeze left overs, buy a slow cooker!! Truly, I believe so deeply in the wealth of a slow cooker, it is amazing. The bestest part is putting all the ingredients in and then walking away. Its that awesome! I have heaps of recipes that I have made in my slow cooker, so stay tuned! Anyway, before you think I am totally off the planet, I will explain my latest creation.

This Moroccan curry is by know means authentic. I haven't eaten lots of traditional Moroccan foods, but what I have tasted I have loved. A couple of months back when I was shopping at Parklea Markets, I happened across a spice stall. Its smelt divine, so much so I wished I could capture the aroma and take it home! I enquired about a few spice blends and what would be good on a roast chicken. I purchased the chicken blend, but I was recommended the Moroccan blend and after smelling and tasting I was hooked! I have made a baked chicken and rice dish, that my kids loved and I will post soon. Actually that was such a hit I made it a couple of times. I have also rubbed it on a roasting chicken and slow cooked the chicken. I also used the juices for a traditional gravy that tasted so delish with the Moroccan flavours, very different. The recipe I will share this time is the curry.

 My son loves butter chicken and he kept asking me to make some or a curry. I was a little shocked at the curry request because he is such a fussy eater and to hear him ask for curry was a request too good to refuse. At the time I wasn't sure what I should put in it because I didn't want anything spicy or even medium heat and my curry powder is too spicy. So I decided to use the Moroccan spice( at least 3 heaped tablespoons),  a can of coconut milk, a can of coconut cream, and some split peas. The split peas had been in my cupboard for a while as part of my food storage and I wanted to see what they would be like, so in they went. I had some gravy beef, so in that went into the slow cooker with about a cup of water. By evening I had a house full of Moroccan aromas and a very hungry family. The curry went down a treat. The split peas bulked up the dish but didn't offend anyone. Add some rice and you are the best mum in the world!!

Pantry Ingredients
Split peas - 1 packet
Coconut Milk Light - a tin
coconut cream Light - a tin
Moroccan Spice - I will have to find out the name of the company where I got mine, but I would say any brand would be fine.
Basmati rice
Gravy beef - can be kept in the freezer

Also note that the meal was good for 2 adults and 4 kids.

The kids ate Vegetables and they didn't know it!

I like different ingredients. What I mean by this, is that I like trying something new or something that is not a mainstream groccery for food item. I find a lot of these types of products, but have not mentioned them here as yet, well not as often as I would like to anyway. So, I thought I would introduce a product that I discovered a couple of weeks ago at my local Woolworths/Safeway.  I found it in the isle with the pickles and chutneys. I am partial to a good tomato relish and while I much prefer a handmade one, I don't mind Masterfoods take on a tomato relish. So I was here checking them out and found this little jar:

It's actually not super small but the colour of the relish is what caught my eye. When I looked at the ingredients of capsicum, tomato, and eggplant. I thought this would be good to add to a lasagne or pasta dish, or even a paragania. So I took the plunge and gave it a try. As its in a jar, its a great food storage product.

What did I make?
I decided to make a big dish of my pasta bake with homemade bachemel sauce. The kids love this, but this time they didn't know they were eating capsicum and eggplant!!  When you open the jar, there is a strong smell of vinegar, as it is a relish. To combat this, I added a jar of our favourite pasta sauce, also to mask the fact that I had something 'else' in it.

The portions are for my family of 6 so adjust to your own portions or at least you can freeze for future meals.

Ingredients.
1 jar of Ajvar Vegetable relish
1 jar of pasta sauce
500g mince meat (chicken, pork, veal, beef)
500g of dried pasta cooked and cooled.
1-2 cups of grated cheese

Bachemal Sauce
100g butter
2 table spoons of flour
1-2 cups of milk

Tuscany herb sprinkle (Masterfoods)

Method

1. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and put aside to cool.
2. Cook mince meat until brown and drain excess juices.
3. Add Ajvar Vegetable relish and pasta sauce and stir and cook through. Lower heat and allow to simmer.

4. Put cooled pasta into a baking dish and add meat sauce.
5. In seperate saucepan melt butter on medium heat.
6. Add flour and stir until becomes a paste and quickly add 1/2 cup of milk and stir until thickens.
7. Continue to add 1/2 cup at a time and stir until thickens.
8. Once all milk used and desired amount of sauce made add a good sprinkle of Tuscany herbs and put aside.
** Be careful with the bechamel. It can thicken quickly. If this happens adding a little milk will thin it down. Once you get the desired thickness, its best to take off heat immediately and add to dish*****
9. Pour on top of meat sauce and spread across bake. Add grated cheese and sprinkle with more tuscany herb sprinkle.

10. Bake in oven at 180C for 15mins or until cheese is melted and browned or to your liking.

Pantry items
Ajvar relish
pasta sauce
dried pasta
flour
butter (can be kept in fridge or get canned butter)
Milk (tetra or can use powdered if necessary)
herbs

Back up Meals: Dr Oetker Mozzarella Pizza

I first purchased this pizza when it was on special at COLES last year. It was reduced to $4 from $6.79. Being the bargain queen I am, I thought I would give it a go. I tried the mozzarella, funghi(mushroom) and spinach ones.

The Funghi pizza was a little too moist/juicy and didn't have a lot of taste. The spinach one wasn't too bad, but only I liked it. The big winner with the kids was the mozzarella one.  The second time they were on special, they were about the same price and I tried the 4 cheese one. This wasn't too bad. It was a little weird to see little dollops of what I can only describe as looking like cheese spread with maybe herbs in it. But its more like the processed cheese spread than something like Philly spread. We decided the best variety is mozzarella. There are large mozzarella circles with grated cheese, pieces of tomato and dollops of herb pesto. There is also a distinct flavour of garlic, but its not overpowering.  What you see on the packaging/box is what it looks like. It only takes about 10 mins max in my fan forced gas oven. Don't get me wrong here, its not the best pizza on earth but I much prefer it to the other frozen pizzas at the supermarket and with no greasy proccessed meat, its a much healthier option.  I purchased the pizzas again last week on special at COLES for $3.49.  To my knowledge they are only available at COLES supermarkets. I am yet to see them at Woolworths. My recommendation is to keep an eye out for them but try them when they go on special, which seems to be fairly often. They make a great back up meal. Dr Oetker pizzas are a product of Germany.

Back up Meals: Campbells Country Ladle, I love you!

We all need some back up meals. Back up meals are the types of meals that can be thrown together rather quickly when you don't feel like cooking or are short on time. Some people have frozen home made meals on hand, that's a good way to go about it. But realistically, that doesn't always happen for me. Mum to 4 and working part time, I do what I can, when I can. So when I go shopping, I plan for the week or fortnight and I always add a couple of back up meals. I try to choose something that has a long shelf life so if I don't use it that week, it goes into my food storage pantry for a time when I really need.

My kids for some reason, I can't put my finger on, absolutely love canned soup. I'm not complaining because they will eat the ones with heaps of veges in them. If I put those kinds of veges steamed on their plates they will switch off and refuse to eat and then its a battle to get them to eat up. Every one of my children will down Campbells Country Ladle Minestone soup, its their absolute favourite and I know I've picked a winner when I ask my kids if they want McDonalds or minestrone canned soup and they opt for the canned soup!!! Can't say that always happens but it does sometimes! I also find on the odd occasion when ALL my kids are with me shopping(this rarely happens for sanity reasons!), to keep them happy I will say, " If your good you can go pick your very own can of soup" and it usually works! They put their name on it when they get home and they can choose it eat it whenever they want to.

We have given all the soups ago, since my kids love them, and they always request Campbells Country Ladle. They do have the best flavour and a good variety of vegtables. Heinz has a few good varieties too. We have also tried the minestrone at Aldi, but my kids gave it the big thumbs down. I personally didn't like the taste of it either. It think the pumpkin soup at Aldi is ok, but much prefer the Campbells varieties.

Deep Filled Apple Pie and Melting Middle Cookies - Coles brand

At coles last week there was a 1/2 price sale on their new dessert lines. So I thought I would give the Melting Middle cookies and Apple and Caramel deep dish pie a go.  The cookies were down to $3 for the two and the pie was too.

The cookies were delishus!! Very rich and I would say you could easily share 1 between 2 or if you are having them for a family dessert give your kids half . The varieties are  chocolate chip with a chocolate melting centre and my favourite, chocolate mud cookie with a vanilla cream centre. The centre tastes more like a marshmallow cream than anything else and is sweet!

The Deep Filled Apple and Caramel Lattice pie looks great out of the box, so was very promising. The box says serves 4 but these would be rather small serves, which may not bother some. I would say serves 3 would be better and between 2 would be large serves. The pie was also priced at $3.

There are lovely big chunks of apple and it definately tastes caramelly, perhaps a little sweet, but not too offensive. I still wanted to eat up my portion! Great with ice cream and I would say cream or custard would work well too!

I would recommend you give them a try especially since its winter! The 1/2 price made it easier for me to make the choice to give them a go and, of course, I purchased a couple of each for my food storage. I would purchase them at full price if I had a special occasion to take them to.

Disclaimer: I purchased these products with my own money and therefore have done this review with an unbiased opinion.

Freeze dried fruit anyone? Costco has it covered!!

I am totally in love with the concept of freeze dried fruit! Its such an awesome phenomanon. Its a process by which the fruit has all its moisture freeze dried out of it so all that is left is a crunchy whole fruit that tastes the same and has all nutrients intact. I would love to purchase this in bulk, but I am yet to find the best way to do it. If you live in Australia and are interested, let me know and maybe as a larger group we can purchase in bulk. Anyway, in smaller quanities you can purchase freeze dried fruit. Some of you may have seen it in cole or Woolies in the dried fruit isle. The packets look like this:

Individual packets I believe retailed for about $1.75 each or so. The last time I checked for these they were clearing them out at Woolies, so its possible they are not on the shelves anymore. However, the last time I was at Costco in Melbourne I purchased a box of 24. The box contained 12 of each of the above varieties. I can't remember unfortunately the price, but I think they worked out to be about $20 or so for the box. Its a great snack for school lunches. Its real fruit, nothing added and can be kept in the cupboard long term. If you end up crushing the fruit, you get a great powder that can be added to smoothies or custard.

What to expect at COSTCO

I have have recently checked the Costco website for an update when the store will be opening. The scheduled opening is for JULY this year!! So excited, its finally happening. It is going to make my life a lot easier and I can't wait to stock up when it comes. For those of you who are completely new to COSTCO or at least aren't sure what kind of good you can get there, I have taken a couple of pictures of items that I purchase when I visit the Melbourne store when I am there. When I am there, I usually only choose items that I can take home easily with me. So I can't choose the enormous pizzas, or gorgeous dips, or deliciously deli style yoghurt that actally comes in 1kg tubs!! Yes you heard me right, 1Kg not 720g or or 800g, its actually by the kilo! There is also a colourful array of ice creams - tubs, bars, on stick etc etc. I could go on and on, and in fact I will, but I will show and share a little bit each week of what I like about Costco.

I like to bake a treat for my kids to eat for little lunch, or recess(whatever you want to call it!) but its not always easy for me to do that. So I don't mind giving them some kind of packaged treat or food if the price is right. Usually I will purchase something on special or if I get an opportunity to buy something decent in bulk I will. So naturally, when I am at Costco I go bananas for Fruit Nuggets! In the supermarkets, ie Coles or Woolies they cost $3.99 for a box of 7 packets ( 57c/packet). I don't pay this for them, I usually wait till they go on special for $2.99( 42c/packet) and get a couple of boxes, but this doesn't happen very often. However, I discovered them at Costco for a box of 48 packets, it only cost $9.99( 20c/packet). My last purchase I got them on special for $7.99(17c/packet) and I think I got about 3 boxes of them. What are they you are asking? They are little pieces of chewy candy like pips - thats the best description I can come up with! They are hard to describe, but the kids love them and they are fruit based (predominantly pear). They are small packets, kinda like IXL Naughts and Crosses. As I said, you can find them in Coles or Woolies where the museli bars and Roll-ups are, check them out next time you shop and see what you think and keep them in mind when you shop at Costco.

The box at costco contains all of the above flavours. At the supermarkets you can only purchase one flavour in a box.

HOW CAN YOU BE PREPARED FOR DISASTERS OR TIMES OF NEED? Join the Be Prepared Challenge

The main reason for starting my blog was to teach others about being prepared in times of need. My main focus is food and having a food store in case of emergency weather it be a natural disaster or financial crisis or anything that will effect you and your family in a big way. You might want to go through some of my older posts to see what I have written or you can use the link to Provident Living, which is a site that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints runs. I am a Mormon, which is why I know about it. I also suggest you take a look at Gavin's blog and Bec's blog. They are running a 4 week challenge at the moment to help and encourage people to organise themselves so that if something does happen, you can be prepared. I strongly recommend everyone consider the challenge, as you never know what is going to happen and if the floods have done anything to us, it should make us think about what we are doing for ourselves and our families should something like this happen to us.

Below is the anacronym that Gavin and Bec are using for their challenge.

I also would be more than happy to answer any questions and be as helpful as I can be to you, should you like to know more on how to prepare yourself. Just leave a comment/question and I will be in touch .