Cooking with Kids

A tradition I'm trying to encourage at the moment is having a special family breakfast every Sunday morning. I'm not wanting to do it every weekend but I'm hoping that this time in the morning will allow me to teach the children so cooking skills. At the moment my son and two daughters aged 9, 6 and 4 really want to help me when I'm cooking. Unfortunately this is normal at night when I'm at my most busiest with the evening routine. So I decided that last weekend I'd make something yummy and talk to them about taking turns to cook with me.

On Saturday after a visit to the local library my 4 year old borrowed a cookbook and when we got home she ran through all the things she wanted to cook then and there. I promised her that she could try something out the following morning and that I'd help her make it. The recipe was something that I didn't need a cookbook for but as she's starting school next year I knew using the cookbook would be a great teaching tool. I had enough eggs to make breakfast for just the kids as I'd forgotten to buy more when I'd done the weekly grocery shop. She was more interested in making breakfast just for herself but I was able to talk her into making a bit more.

So for our first cooking experience together we made Eggs and Ham from the cookbook which is a basic scrambled eggs with ham mixed through it. Although the entire cooking experience was less than 10 minutes she was able to see results quickly and this kept her engaged in the experience. I've included the recipe and a picture of the finished product. She was really happy with the outcome and she's looking forward to cooking with me again.

Eggs and Ham (Scrambled eggs with Ham) Serves 1

Ingredients 

small knob of butter

1 large egg

1 tablespoon milk

30 grams (1 oz) chopped ham, chopped

pinch of salt and pepper

1 piece of buttered toast

Method

1. In a small bowl, using a fork whisk together the egg and milk. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Chop the ham into small pieces. If doing this with your child make sure you help them when using a knife.

3. Place the toast in the toaster and toast until brown. Once toasted spread butter over warm toast.

4. Melt butter in the pan, over medium heat. Add the egg mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir continuously until the eggs are just set and still creamy. Depending on the child's age you might need to assist with this step.

5. Mix the chopped ham through the egg. Serve on top of your buttered toast.

I'm about to start negotiations with my six year old as she's desperate to make everyone 'stripey ice lollies' (they're frozen fruit blocks) for breakfast. I'm thinking that we could make these on Saturday for Sunday's afternoon tea. I know that the kids will love to have fruit ice blocks especially after they've been running around all morning. So tell me do you make your own ice blocks or do you just buy them from the shops?

Megan

Sweet Potato Scones

Growing up I loved getting into the kitchen on the weekend and doing some cooking. When I first started on my cooking journey I didn't do so well but I slowly learnt how to make the basics. The one basic I never mastered was scones and it wasn't from lack of trying. My scones have been doughy, resembled rock cakes, crummy and not edible. So when we went out to Warwick for a Sunday drive during the school holidays I jumped at the chance to buy some lovely Pumpkin Scones for the children's morning tea.

The next day after purchasing four kilograms (81 pounds) of sweet potato I decided to make Sweet Potato Scones using the Thermomix, because there's no way the Thermomix could mess up scones. So after a little bit of research I found a light and fluffy gluten free scone on the Quirky Cooking Facebook page. I made a few changes to the original recipe because I didn't have everything on hand but overall I was really happy with the outcome of the scones. I also made them in a muffin tray instead of on a baking tray the first batch spread out.

Sweet Potato Scones

Ingredients

300 grams sweet potato

300 grams self-raising flour

60 grams butter

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 eggs

150 grams milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and spray with a little bit of cooking spray.

2. Cut the ends off each potato and place in the oven until soft and roasted through, depending on the size of the sweet potato this could take up to 30 minutes.

3. Once cooked, remove from the oven, cut open the skin and scoop out the cooked flesh. Mash with a potato masher or set aside for later.

4. Add flour, butter and salt to Thermomix on speed 6 for 5 seconds.

5. Add eggs, milk, reserved sweet potato and mix 6 seconds on speed six or until just combined.

6. If the mixture is too wet add a little bit more flour and if it's too dry add a little bit more milk.

7. Drop large tablespoons full onto your lined tray, placing them close together.

8. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly brown on top.

9. Serve with jam and whipped cream.

There are heaps of different scone recipes so tell me do you have a favourite recipe that you use or are you lucky enough to be using a recipe that your grandmother passed down to you. I've always wanted to use my grandmothers recipe but with children who don't like cooked sultanas I'd end up having to eat them all on my own. So tell me what type of scones do you love.

Megan

Donut Pudding

I love winter but this year we seem to be experiencing chilly winds and very cold nights so most nights we're enjoying so a few hot and comfy desserts after our main meal. The upside is the kids are eating their dinner most nights and we're getting to finish off dinner with a yummy warm dessert. While at the supermarket the other night I was walking through the bakery section and I noticed that they were marking down a heap of sweet treats. Walking over I was hoping to find a bargain for the kids morning tea but what I found was even better. I picked up three packets of cinnamon donuts and a a packet of date scones for $2.00 which was a fifth of the usual price. Bargain. Now for my two dollars I got 18 cinnamon donuts and 4 scones.

Straight away I knew what I was going to do with both of the sweat treats I'd purchased. Last year I shared with you my childhood favourite dessert Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding and this time I thought I'd use the donuts and scones separately to create this classic bread pudding. I decided to make a Donut Pudding using the same principle as the classic recipe.

Donut Pudding

Ingredients

18 cinnamon donuts

6 large eggs

3 tablespoons caster sugar

3 cups of milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat eggs until they're well combined. Add sugar and milk and continue mixing until well combined.

3. Pour a small amount of the egg mixture into your medium oven proof dish.

4. Cut each donut into slices and place them on top of the egg mixture. When you've used up all your donuts carefully pour the remaining egg mixture over the top of the donuts.

6. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until its firm to touch.

7. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving with ice cream.

In total this dessert end up costing me just over $5.00 and of five people I thought that wasn't two bad especially when everyone will get two serves each. Overall, I'm really happy with the way it turned out and the kids thought it was great. I decided to make another pudding using the date scones and with the same egg mixture and a little bit of butter on each piece of scone, it turned out beautifully.

I had one happy husband and four excited children after making both these desserts. I think next time I find that donuts have been reduced at the end of the day I'll grab a packet or three and make up this dessert again. Maybe next time I might even try it using jam filled donuts as that'll give it a nice gooey jam flavour to the entire pudding.

Megan

Caramel Gluten Free Cookies

My children love cookies and its been ages since I've made a batch of cookies for them. So last week I set about making these Caramel Cookies for the kids just before I left to do school pick up. The plan was to have them finish cooking just as I was about to drive away, hopefully they would still be warm by the time we got home. However, what I got out of the oven was nothing like the picture in the recipe book. They looked terrible but they did taste nice and the kids seemed happy.

I posted this picture of my FLAT COOKIES on my Facebook Page and I also shared it with a few other blogging friends. Thankfully I had a few people give me some suggests on how to selvage my cookies. The suggestions made so much more sense as did reducing the cooking time and with these few piece of helpful information I was able to make some more Caramel Cookies. So here is my version of the Caramel Cookie, I hope you have the same success as I did the second time round.

Caramel Gluten Free Cookies

Ingredients:

110 grams butter, not to soft

110 grams brown sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1 small egg

230 grams of gluten free self-raising flour

30 grams of cornflour (make sure it doesn't contain gluten)

Method:

1. Pre heat oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until the mixture has changed colour slightly.

2. Add the syrup and egg and mix until its light and fluffy.

3. Mix in the flour and cornflour until a soft dough has formed and the texture is such that you can roll into tablespoon sized balls. It your dough is to soft add about 10 grams of flour until the dough has formed.

4. Place on a lined baking tray, 2cm apart and press each gently with a fork.

5. Bake for 7 minutes or until golden.

6. Cool completely before eating and enjoy with a glass of cold milk.

I'm really happy with the how the cookies look. They kept there shape, they didn't melt all over the baking tray like the first batch and they were ready to eat five minutes quicker than the first batch. In my world that's a good thing because it means my kids are eating quicker and complaining less about been hungry. I'd love to hear about the disasters and the successes you've had when making cookies and cakes.

Megan

Banana Pancakes

In my family my sister is known for her love of sharing recipes on Facebook. My brother thinks its strange but as a male who's in his twenty's he doesn't have the desire to create quick, simple and delicious things. I'm always guaranteed that my sister will share something that the kids will want to eat of that Mr Opoes will spot and start drawling over for awhile. So when she shared these Banana Pancakes on Friday night I knew straight away we'd be having them for breakfast sometime during the long weekend. 

As Monday was a public holiday for the Queens Birthday (we changed the date so we celebrate it after her actual birthday) and I knew the kids would love having something special I wiped up these pancake in a matter of minutes thanks to my Thermomix, however you can still make them without one. I've included both the recipes because sometimes it makes for difficult reading.

Banana Pancake

Ingredients:

1 egg

1 Banana, mashed up

1 cup Milk

1 cup Self Raising Flour

Method:

1. Sift flour and add a pitch of salt. Add the egg.

2. Beat gradually while adding the milk and mix until its thick and smooth.

3. Add banana and mix through.

4. Heat non-stick frying, pour desired quantity into frying pan. Cook until bubbling on top and then flip.

5. Serve with maple syrup and sliced banana.

Banana Pancake (Thermomix)

Ingredients:

1 egg

1 Banana, mashed up

1 cup Milk

1 cup Gluten free Self Raising Flour

Method:

1. Add banana and egg speed 7 for 5 seconds or longer if you want your banana to be smoother. Scrap down the side of the bowl.

2. Add milk, salt and flour on speed 8 for 15 seconds until its smooth.

3. Heat non-stick frying, pour desired quantity into frying pan. Cook until bubbling on top and then flip.

4. Serve with maple syrup and sliced banana.

Tip: you can use any types of milk it's up to you. You can also use any type of flour be it gluten free or wholemeal but you need to remember to use 175 grams of flour whenever you make this recipe.

I really like how versatile this recipe is. As it's Winter here in Australia I really liked how basic this pancake recipe was. Next time I make this for the children I going to put warm caramelised bananas on top. If you're enjoying the lovely Summer weather at the moment you could add fresh berries or a tropical fruit salad on top to accompany your pancakes.

The kids really enjoyed these pancakes and I was able to get my four year old to eat these. She isn't a huge fan of pancakes but when she eats three of them for breakfast and asks you for more you know you're on a winner.

Megan

Rustic Ricotta, Egg and Zucchini Pizza

Just because you're egg free, gluten free or dairy free doesn't mean you have to miss out on having pizza! Last weekend I wanted to create a delicious pizza that didn't look boring, inedible or just plain weird. Since finding out that I can't tolerate gluten I've tried using a few things to create a great pizza base and none of them have wowed me. About six months after becoming gluten free I tried to make a potato pizza base, I've tried a cottage cheese and potato base, rice paper rolls and my all time favourite FLOP was the rice, egg and cheese base. So when I discovered a gluten free base that was similar to our local pizza shops 'deep pan base' at the supermarket I was in heaven.

Recently I purchased a new cookbook 'Quirky Cooking' by Jo Whitton and Thermomix. In the past I've purchased cookbooks that are specifically designed for people with a gluten intolerance and all the pictures look beautiful but the taste isn't always the best. Jo's book is completely different, the pictures look great and the food tastes good as well. So when I saw her recipe for #Egg and Zucchini Pizza I knew that I had to give it a go. Now as always I change recipes up because I need them to fit into my budget, the ingredients I have and to the likes of my children. So with Jo's help this is the recipe I came up with.

Rustic Ricotta, Egg and Zucchini Pizza

Ingredients

Pizza Sauce

2 tomatoes, cut into quarters

2 garlic cloves

2 sprigs basil, leaves only

2 sprigs oregano

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

pinch fine sea salt

80 grams tomato paste

Ricotta, Egg and Zucchini Topping

400g zucchini, cut into quarters

150g sun-dried tomatoes, cut in strips

2 eggs

100 grams soft ricotta

capsicum, cut into fine strips

3 mushrooms, thinly sliced 

1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs

pinch of salt

Method

Pizza Dough

1. Preheat oven to 210°C. Prepare your pizza dough as per recipe and place it on your pizza tray.

2. Set aside.

Pizza Sauce

3. Place all ingredients into mixing bowl and blend 4 sec/speed 5.

4. Spread over pizza base.

5. Rinse and dry your mixing bowl.

Ricotta,Egg and Zucchini topping

6. Place zucchini into mixing bowl and chop 4 sec/speed 5. Spread zucchini over pizza sauce.

7. Top with sun-dried tomatoes, capsicum and mushrooms.

8. Bake for 10 minutes.

9. Remove from oven. Place spoonfuls of ricotta around the outside of the pizza base to keep the egg in.

10. Lightly beat eggs with a fork, then drizzle over pizza and sprinkle with herbs and salt.

11. Bake for a further 8-10 minutes at 210°C or until the egg is cooked and the pizza is lightly browned on top.

12. Allow to cook slightly before slicing and serving.

Now if you don't have a Thermomix you can use a blender to mix all the ingredients together to make the Pizza Sauce and to chop up the zucchini. Just follow the instructions as above and remember to clean the blender between both step.

All in all I had this pizza all made and cooked with 40 minutes. Mr Opoes and I really enjoyed our pizza and as I made small pizza's for the children using small pita breads they had their pizza's within 20 minutes. Nearly everyone liked their pizza's but I did have to make a few changes to Quinlan's one. I ended up adding more vegetables to his pasta sauce and I making him an Egg, Ham and Cheese Pizza.

If you want to make it more of a meal I would suggest adding a garden salad to go with a pieces of pizza. This also allows you to add some more vegetables to your daily allowance, this is one reason why I enjoy making pizza for our family as I'm guaranteed that we'll all have at least 5 serves of vegetables in this one meal. What's your favourite pizza topping?

Megan

Hotcakes with berry and plum syrup

Recently I've decided that I've wanted to try a few new recipes so that we can broaden our food horizons as we seem to be eating the same old things for what seems like forever. I've told you all before how I like to mix things up sometimes and the kids seem to enjoy eating dessert for dinner so when I found this recipe I knew we just to try it. In Australia we call hotcakes pancakes, so I called these pancakes when I served them up to the children.

The other good thing about trying this recipe was that because of the dairy and sugar content Quinlan might actually gain some weight instead of losing it this month instead. We have been battling with his weight for the last few months and its getting to the point that I need him to gain weight every few weeks. So with this in mind I just knew that he would love this meal and if I added yogurt I'd be ticking all the boxes to make him happy.

The great thing about this recipe is it's adaptable and it can be eaten year round. I'm thinking I'm going to try using mixed berry and vanilla bean cream when winter comes or maybe I can make them for Mr Opoes to celebrate Valentines Day.

Hotcakes with berry and plum syrup.

Sauce Ingredients

5 plums, halved, pitted and cut into 1 cm thick slices

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 vanilla bean, split length ways

1 cup fresh blueberries

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Hotcake Ingredients

1 cup fresh ricotta cheese

3/4 cup buttermilk

4 large eggs, separated

1 cup plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup caster sugar

100 grams unsalted butter

icing sugar for dusting

Method:

1. Heat a large heavy frying pan over a medium heat. Add plums, sugar and cinnamon. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the plum mixture then add the beans too. Cook, gently stirring the fruit occasionally for 2 minutes or until the sugar melts and the plums release their juice.

2. Gently fold in the blueberries and cook for a further 2 minutes or until the blue berries begin to release their juice. Don't let the berries cook too long or they'll become mushy and lose their shape. Stir in the lemon juice. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

3. To make the hotcakes, whisk the ricotta, buttermilk and egg yolks in a large bowl to blend. Sift the flour and baking powder into the ricotta mixture, whisking until blended.

4. In another bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks form. Using a large silicone spatula, gently fold the egg whites through the batter.

5. Pre-heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-low. Melt about a teaspoon of butter in the pan or alternatively spray your pan with cooking spray. Ladle the batter into the pan and cook each hotcake for 3 minutes each side or until they puff up. Each side should be golden brown and just cooked through. Transfer the hotcakes onto plates.

6. Immediately after coming out of the pan, spoon the warm fruit and syrup over the hotcakes. Dust with icing sugar, to serve. Alternatively, place the syrup in a bowl and have your diners spoon their own topping over their hotcakes.

7. Repeat to make and serve more hotcakes, wiping the pan with paper towels before cooking each batch.

NOTE: if wanting to make these gluten free I just substituted 1 cup of plain flour for 1 cup of gluten free plain flour and I made sure that the baking powder was also gluten free.

When I served these up to the children I allowed the fruit and syrup to cool down a little so that the kids wouldn't burn their tongues. Alternatively, you could also serve these hotcakes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a bit of cream on the side. Either way, these hotcakes are now my go to recipe, especially when after a while trying my three year old is eating them with her siblings.

Megan

A Crafty Christmas - Christmas Tree

I'm participating in a fun crafty challenge with Emily from Nap-Time Creations today. She's hosting different bloggers who are sharing things that they've crafted, sewn or cooked to help celebrate the meaning of Christmas. I signed up for Decorations from the recipe category. If you've visited here before you'll know I ENJOY cooking so I thought I'd challenge myself by making a decoration.

I can't believe it'll be Christmas soon and I've still got a heap of work to get done before the big day. This year I was planning on spending the day at home celebrating with the children instead of cooking up a family treat to drive for over an hour to meet up with our extended family. Now don't get me wrong I love that the kids get to see their grandparents and cousins but with the amount of traffic and the fact I don't get time to relax. So this year when I found out my parents were travelling to visit my sister and her family I knew that staying home would work perfectly for us, that was until this morning.

My youngest sister is moving out of home just before Christmas so I invited her over for lunch, easy right. I'd planned a simple menu of fruit, turkey, salad followed by Pavlova and maybe a drink especially if it was an extremely hot day. Well I'm now having to change my plans up a bit because my sister has told me that she's asked my brother and his girlfriend to come too. Now don't get my wrong, I'm not upset I have just realised that I'm going to have to be more organised as he's having to travel back home to his girlfriends place that afternoon for her families celebration. So I'm now thinking a light lunch with cold turkey and salad followed by a Shortbread Christmas Tree which will also be a table decoration. Thank you Pinterest.

To make the shortbread biscuits I used the same recipe from here but you could also use this recipe that I made last Christmas. Now to make it a little bit more special I added about a quarter cup of crushed candy canes which were leftover from the Candy Cane Bark earlier this month. So after making the shortbread dough I rolled it out and I shaped into star's. Now because I'm creating a tree I used three different sized cookie cutters to get the three star shapes.

Construction

There are few things that you can do with your shortbread biscuits to make them stick together but I wanted the bits of candy cane to be visible so I went with a minimal approach in order for the little bits of red to stand out. you could use a simple cake icing and spread it over each biscuit, place on top of each other and press down so they glue together. The method I used was to melt a small amount of white chocolate, place a small amount on your largest star, place another large star on top and press down gently so that it sticks. Keep building with the various sized stars.

When it's the way you want it place it somewhere safe so that the chocolate can harden completely. I made this while the kids were at home and I found it somewhat difficult because they stood on top of me so close that it was squashy. When I put the tree together, I had four sets of eyes watching closely this also caused a few issues when taking photographs but I finally bribed them with leftover shortbread and I got a few good pictures.

As you can see from the looks on their faces they really like the look of the table decoration so I'm sure that when I make these again on Christmas Eve the children will probably eat these first before they eat the food from their plates. My two year old loves shortbread so much that he asks for more every time I give them some for morning tea. Now that I'm having nine people for Christmas lunch I'm thinking I'll make two tree's and make them the centre pieces on Christmas Day. So do you use food to decorate your table or do you use a beautiful tablecloth and other traditional items to decorate your table?

Megan

Edible Christmas Gifts

Over the weekend I was invited to a birthday party and I wasn't sure what to get the birthday girl so I opted for a Edible Gift. Now with it been so close to Christmas you could also use these as gifts for unexpected guests, neighbours or even as a Secret Santa gift. Now this little project only took a couple of hours to do because I had to wait for my cookies to cool down but you could make them the night before and decorate them the following morning if you wanted to.

 

The best thing about this gift is you can make your their favourite cookie because you know they'll end up eating them. I went with a Shortbread biscuit because it was simple and I always have success with Shortbread. I also used a cookie cutter to get a star shape but you can simply save yourself time by forming cookies out of your dough. This is the recipe I used for my Shortbread.

 

 

Shortbread

Ingredients:

250g butter, softened

1 cup Castor sugar

1 cup cornflour

2 cups plain flour

 

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 150°C and grease a baking tray.

2. Cream butter and sugar until its light, fluffy and it looks white.

3. Sift cornflour and flour together. Mix on a slow speed until your mixture forms a ball.

4. On a lightly floured surface knead well and roll out to a thickness of about 0.5cm.

5. Using your cookie cutter, cut out your shapes or just cut into pieces.

6. Place on your greased tray and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

7. Leave on the baking tray to harden slightly once they have come out of the oven, then place on a wire cooling rack.

 

Now with this simple recipe I was able to present three in three different ways, thus making them ideal for gift giving. I could use the as Christmas Presents, Birthday Presents or as a House warming present. You are only limited by your imagination. So with this in mind here is what I came up with.

 

 

Now because I wanted to give these as a birthday gift I decided to dress them up a little to make them prettier. If I was giving these as Christmas gifts I would have crushed a few candy cane and sprinkled them over the top of the chocolate just to add a bit of colour. Once decorated I placed each biscuit into a small clear cake bag however, next time I would put them on a pretty plate to give out. The plate would also be included in the gift.

 

 

On the day of the birthday party my father was there so I also gave him some Shortbread as a house warming present. This way he would have something sweet and nice to eat while having a cup of tea after spending hours unpacking boxes. Next time I have to find a house warming gift I'm going to package up some yummy cookies, tea and coffee so that the new home owners will have a nice treat at the end of a long day unpacking.

 

 

So what do you think are edible gifts a good idea or do you like to give personal gifts? I'm happy with these as I know that both the birthday girl and my father will enjoy eating the cookies and I've saved them from having to find a place for their gifts.

 

Megan

Mushrooms with Spinach, Ham and Cottage Cheese on Toast.

For the last two years I have been eating the same thing for breakfast day in and day out. Sometimes I add something extra like yoghurt or almonds but generally I'll have thirty-five grams of muesli and a splash of skim milk. The other day I decided that I wanted something different, something that the children wouldn't want to steal but also something that was low in Propoints. I purchased a Weight Watchers cookbook some months ago and I'm afraid to say that I looked through the book and then I hid it away on the shelf in the kitchen.

 

Most mornings I don't have much time to eat my breakfast BUT today I was going to take the time to not only eat my breakfast but enjoy it. I opened up the book to the breakfast section, found the Mushrooms with Spinach, Ham and Cottage Cheese recipe that went with a slice of toast. While I was getting organised, my eight year old asked if he could have it too because he also wanted something different. As he eats a Toasted English Muffin with nothing on it every morning I jumped at the chance to have him eat something tastier and more nutritional. I have to say that the most difficult part was getting a good photograph because it was raining outside and we both wanted to taste our breakfast BUT I made him wait and it was well worth it.

 

 

Mushrooms with Spinach, Ham and Cottage Cheese on Toast.

Serves 2

Ingredients:200g Swiss brown mushrooms, quartered

80g fat-free ham, chopped

2 cups baby spinach leaves

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

2 40g slices of soy and linseed bread, toasted

1/4 cup Weight Watchers Cottage Cheese

Method:

1. Lightly spray a large non-stick frying pan with oil and heat over a medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes or until tender. Add ham and spinach and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until the spinach has just wilted. Add vinegar and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Meanwhile, toast your bread and spread with cottage cheese. Top toast with the mushroom mixture and enjoy with a glass of juice or a hot drink.

 

Now if you're not a fan of cottage cheese you can swap the cottage cheese for the same amount of ricotta cheese. If you follow this recipe you'll only be using 4 Propoints for this tasty breakfast. I'm pleased to say that I'm going to be adding this to my breakfast menu and when the rest of the family is enjoying a breakfast of bacon and eggs I'll be having a healthier alternative.

 

So are you like me and have the same thing every morning or do you change your breakfast depending on the mood you're in?

 

Megan

Weight Watchers Mushroom Quiche

Over the weekend I cooked up a storm so I thought I'd share with you this week a few of the recipes that I tried. In January of this year I joined Weight Watchers to lose some of the baby weight that I've been charging around for the last few years. Now during the last eleven months I've struggled to lose 4 kilograms so after this weeks meeting I decided it was time to put more effort into my weight lose journey.

 

When I arrived home I grabbed one of my Weight Watchers cookbooks, after enjoying a quick coffee at our local shopping centre my weekly menu was completed. Now I alternate between meat and vegetable based meals each week, this allows me to keep the grocery bill down and have the children eat vegetable especially when they're fussy eaters. I decided to start the week off with a vegetable based meal and to make it more special for the children I made individual quiches for them. When it came time to make dinner I realised I had a piece of roast pork leftover from a previous meal so I cheated and I added it to the quiche. The beauty of this recipe is that it allows you to simply add other ingredients that you may have and then you've created a quiche that's unique and personalised to your family's likes and dislikes.

 

Mushroom Quiche

Ingredients:

2 sheet of puff pastry

200g button mushrooms, halved

200g Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

6 eggs

3/4 cup skim milk

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1/3 cup Weight Watchers cottage cheese

 

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C or 180°C for a fan forced. Lightly spray a 20cm round container.

2. Defrost your puff pastry and when it's soft cut out a circle to fit the base of your baking container. With the remaining pastry cut it into stripes and use these to form the sides of your quiche. Place tin onto a baking tray.

3. Spray frying pan with cooking spray and turn it up to medium heat. Add mushrooms, stirring, for 4 to 5 minutes or until golden brown. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Cool slightly.

4. Whisk eggs, milk, chives and Parmesan in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon cooled mushroom mixture into the pastry case. Pour egg mixture over filling and dollop with tablespoons of cottage cheese.

5. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until pastry is golden and filing is set. Remove from oven and set aside for 10 minutes before cutting into wedges. Serve with a garden salad.

 

Now when I added the pork to our quiche I cooked it with the mushrooms. If you're going to add any additional vegetables or meats I'd fry them off with the mushrooms and garlic. This will allow you time to cool the vegetables/meats so that they're ready for the egg mixture.

 

The above recipe is only 4 points on the Weight Watchers program here in Australia however with the few additional changes I made it worked out to be 6 points. So what's you're favourite quiche I'd love to here what you and your family enjoy eating.

 

I have a little bit of housekeeping for you, remember to entry the Santa Giveaway for your chance to win a $150 dollar Amazon gift card as entries close very soon. Click the on image below to be taken to the competition page and good luck.

 

Megan

Mini German Pancakes

Usually when I share a recipe with you, I label it 'Try Something New Tuesday',  I have great things to say about the recipe and I take some pretty average pictures. Unfortunately, today I have a few great pictures and a bad recipe. I first saw this recipe last week on Facebook when my sister shared it and immediately I fell in love with them, I wanted to make them for breakfast on the weekend. The picture is what sold them plus three super excited children who also wanted to try the Mini German Pancakes.

Source

Weekend sleep in's in our house are non existent. Viveca woke me at 5.30am, to inform me we hadn't given her medicine last night and she really needed it. As I was somewhat awake I thought it would be a good time to try out the Mini German Pancakes for Sunday breakfast. Viveca was also excited because it meant she could sit beside me and watch without having to compete with three other children all vying for a look see. Now, these mini pancakes looked very technical. I made sure I read the instructions a few times just to get an understanding of what I needed to do. I think the biggest mistake I made was, not reading the comment section from the original source Real Mom Kitchen.

 

At last count there were 177 comments left on her blog relating to this recipe. The majority of people who left comments weren't happy with the outcome, the number of eggs used and the taste. If I was to leave a comment I would have to agree with the people who stated that their Mini German Pancakes looked more like muffins than a pancake with a creator in it (wish I'd read this before I started, would have saved six eggs).

Mini German Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup milk
6 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon orange zest (optional)

1/4 cup butter, melted.

icing sugar

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F. (200°C oven or 180°C fan forced oven)

2. blend the first six ingredients (from milk to orange zest) in a blender. Be careful to blend any flour clumps that may form as you don't want floury pancakes.

3. Blend in the butter a little at a time in order to temper the eggs.

4. Grease your muffin tins well and distribute the batter evenly between the tins, try to have each time half or three quarters full. (use a measuring cup to fill the muffin tin may assist)

5. Bake for 15 minutes or until puffy and golden on top.

6. Once out of the oven a creator should appear, dust with icing sugar and fill with the your favourite fruit or topping.

Even though I won't make these again the children didn't seem to mind them. Viveca enjoyed the fruit more so it wasn't a total waste of time but I would call it a FAIL. I could have made the pancakes and the children could have eaten all their breakfast in the time it took me to make these fancier pancakes. I thought I'd share a picture of the finished product with you so you can see what mine looked like. Overall, the children liked these more because of the icing sugar and the fruit than they did the overall taste. I had a little taste and I found them to be tasteless which was very disappointing. I won't be making these again. So tell me, have you made something only to find it was a complete FAILURE?

Megan



Banana and Strawberry Muffins

Over the last few months I've realised that I haven't baked any special treats for the kid's lunches, so yesterday I jumped into the kitchen to make some yummy muffins for the kid's lunch boxes. I like my time in the kitchen as it's relaxing and I get to escape what's going on in the house. However, as I made the muffins before the kid's morning nap I had three eager and willing helpers standing on their chairs watching me like hawks. I allowed them to help get some of the ingredients out of the pantry, throw the egg shells and carton in the rubbish bin and lastly I let them do the hardest job lick the beaters and spoon. They licked them so clean that it didn't even look like I'd used them to do any cooking.

Banana and Strawberry Muffins

Ingredients

150g softened butter

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

¾ cup castor sugar

2 banana's peeled
100g strawberries, cut into quarters
2 eggs
1½ cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup milk

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C and prepare muffin tin with patty liners.

2. Cream butter, vanilla and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Add banana's and strawberries, mix well.

5. Sift flour and baking powder together. Fold into creamed mixture.

6. Add sufficient milk to give a soft dropping consistency (you want to be able to spoon the mixture into your pan easily).

7. Spoon enough mixture into your liners so that they are three quarters filled.

8. Bake for 20-25 minutes making sure that they are cooked in the centre. Leave in tray for 10 minutes before placing them on a wire rack.

9. When cool decorate with icing.

I iced a few of these for Mr Opoes but I left the muffins plain for the children because when packing them into lunch boxes the plastic wrap tends to remove the icing making it messy to eat. I prefer mine plain with a little butter however I don't get many opportunities to eat them because the other hungry monkey's eat them before I get a chance. The kids love these so much I might get into the kitchen over the weekend and do more baking.

Megan

Eye Ball Cupcakes

For the last few weeks some shops have had a small selection of Halloween decorations for sale and it was while I was out with one of the children that I thought I'd attempt to do something to symbolise Halloween. Ever since I can remember Halloween has never been a big thing in Australia, in my thirty plus years we've only ever had trick or treaters knock at our door three times and we've never had anything on hand to give away.

Technically this is our first Halloween in the new house so I thought I'd make a fairly simple cupcake that I'd be able to put together quickly so that if we had people knock on the door I'd be able to give them something without having to pretend we aren't home. The best thing about this recipe is that you don't have to spend a heap of money and there isn't many special items you need to buy - so its a win win for everyone.

 

When I'm backing I generally like to make my own cakes, I usually buy gluten free mixes as it allows me to make something quick, late at night when I've realised I need something the following day. For this particular recipe I used six ingredients and I had everything was done within four hours but this was because I made mine at nigh time and I didn't have any of the children needing my attention.

 

Quick Halloween Cupcakes

Ingredients:

your favourite chocolate cake mix

eggs, butter and milk according to packet

cupcake wrappers

icing sugar

food colouring

¼ cup of coconut

Nestle Areo bubbles, Maltesers or any other round chocolate ball shaped lolly

Method:

1. Follow the instructions on the back of the box.

2. Spoon the cake mixture into the cupcake wrappers and bake in the oven at the temperature on the box. Reduce the cooking to 20-25 minutes, check to make sure they are cooked in the centre.

3. Place on a wire rack and allow to cool.

4. Mix icing sugar, butter and water together to make a soft but usable icing.

5. Add a drop of green food colouring to the coconut and mix until the coconut has changed colour.

6. Once the cupcakes are cool, place a small amount of white icing on top of the cupcake. Take the Areo bubble and place it in the centre of the cupcake.

7. Take a small amount of white icing and place it on the Areo bubble and decorate using black icing to resemble an iris. If you want to make them look even scarier use red icing on the eye ball.

8. Trick or treat they are now ready to eat.

The best part of making these Eye Ball Cupcakes is that if you don't use all the chocolates then you can sit and eat them while the trick and treaters come knocking on the door. The kids got to eat some of these today and they really loved them so it looks like I'll be making these again. So do you have a special Halloween food you make or do you purchase lollies and give them out when kids coming knocking?

 

Megan

Chocolate Bread Butter Pudding

 

Have you ever done things backwards and really enjoyed it? When my eldest was about two years old I served up dessert for dinner and I can tell you the look on his face was priceless. So every now and then I like to surprise the kids and give them dessert for dinner, hubby also likes it because it means less dishes for the dishwasher and so it's a win win for everyone plus I'm guaranteed everyone will eat their dinner without telling me they don't like it. So last week we had a 'Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding' for dinner.

As a child I grew up eating this pudding however my mother generally added sultanas and serve it with cream BUT sometimes mum would add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and that made it seem so special. Since getting married I would have made this dessert maybe three times and on one occasion I managed to dry it out. So when I found this recipe in a diet inspired cook book I knew I had to give it a go and I'm glad I did. The process is quiet easy, its simply delicious and best of all you can eat it cold the following day especially if you don't want to wait for it to be re-heated.

Chocolate Bread Pudding
Serves 6
Ingredients:
6 large eggs
3 tablespoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 cups of milk
Nutella® spread
12 slices of bread, use whatever you have available

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200°C or 180°C for fan forced oven.
2. In a large mixing bowl beat eggs the eggs until they are well combined. Add sugar and vanilla essence and mix well.
3. Add milk and continue mixing for a minute.
4. Pour a small amount of the egg mixture into your medium casserole or small dish.
5. Spread some Nutella over each slice of bread and then cut into 2 or 4 triangles (leave the crusts on). Dip each piece of bread into the remaining egg mixture and then place it into your dish Nutella side up.
6. Place your casserole or dish into the centre of your preheated oven.
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until its firm to touch.
8. Allow to stand for 5 minutes and then serve. Serve with pouring cream or with a little bit of ice cream. If you're making this for someone special you could also grate a little bit of chocolate over the top of your ice cream.
Note: You could even freeze this if you are lucky to have leftovers. If you run out of egg mixture just make up some more as bread can absorb liquids differently.

I hope you enjoy eating this as much as my kids did, I'm glad that I got to share a favourite childhood food memory with you. I'd love to hear what your favourite childhood food memory was.

Megan