A healthy barbeque

When I hear the word barbeque I automatically think "RED FLAG DAY" (days where you have events/drinking/over-indulgence which pretty much reverses all the hard dieting and exercising you do the rest of your week), and this weekend J and I played host - Bathurst was on (which I could not care less about) so that means VB, swearing, bogans, steak and sausages. I was determined to make sure there was some healthier options (in the interests of the 12WBT and also for me to try a few new salads out), but still keep it tasty.
The guest list was mostly boys, here for the cars, but I managed to convince a couple of girlfriends to keep me company for the 6.5 hours ish of V8's. One of them even whipped up a delish Zucchini Slice, despite J's protest that it had no place at Bathurst (I had to make she put in the bacon even though she usually leaves it out, otherwise there would have been some serious protesters).

Apart from the standard barbeque fare (chips, sausages, meat patties) I managed to sneak in some more waist line friendly options. To be honest its hard to food match with VB, and to please a bunch of boys who would rather meat and three meats than meat and three veg. But it just means that I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow...

Nibbles
Sneak some rice crackers amongst the chippies, as well as some TMX homemade hummus (1 can drained chickpeas, 2 cloves garlic, 2 tbsp tahini, 2 tbsp oil, juice of 1 lemon), and some carrot and celery sticks, and no one will be any wiser (much).

Kebabs
Put pretty much any vegetable on a kebab stick(pre soaked in water for about 30 mins to avoid burning the stick), with or without meat, and you are on to a winner. Even fruit. I am one of those people who doesn't generally mix sweet and savoury but whatever floats your boat (apricot chicken is just weird...). Onion, courgette/zucchini, pineapple, beef, tofu, capsicum, cherry tomato, eggplant, pumpkin, prawns. The ones I made this time around were beef, capsicum and zucchini.

Salads
I made the standard potato salad to make sure that nobody was too surprised with the options on offer, but here are a couple of (slightly modded) 12WBT salads that are super quick, easy and tasty...
1. Cherry tomatoes (halved, half punnet), roast baby carrots (1 bunch 20 mins at 180 with a light spray of olive oil and some salt and pepper), 1 can drained chickpeas, 2 handfuls mixed salad leaves, cucumber sliced thin, 150g danish feta
2. Cherry tomatoes (halved, half punnet), 2 cans drained baby beetroot, 150g ricotta, 2 handfuls baby spinach, 1 can drained red lentils

Abbie turned up and had a wee tantrum that I hadn't baked despite my last bog's claim that Sunday is baking day, and she couldn't see any baking, so I whipped up a MasterChef Extreme Chocolate Brownie (TMX recipe) served with some raspberry sauce (200g raspberries, 2 tbsp caster sugar, 2 tbsp lemon juice, bring to boil for a couple of minutes).

One last tip - avoid drinking VB, despite the fact its a BBQ. I can recommend a nice glass of vodka and soda with a hibiscus flower...

The monster bake off

Baking is one of my favorite Sunday activities (picture me in my new pink floral apron - very stepford wife!), and what better excuse than a Bake Off. It means I get to still enjoy baking without having to scoff them all and feel guilty about it later. I also won first prize! (Well first equal with a fellow much deserving coconut cake baker).

I was given a cookie monster soft toy from J after returning from a six week trip to Europe (he is a soft toy fanatic), and since then, Cookie has become my mascot (this pic is from Canada in 2011).

One day I saw cookie monster cupcakes online, and could not turn down the challenge - they were  a hit and tasted great too! Here are a couple of snaps of the ones I made first time around, vanilla cupcake, choc chip cookies....

This time around for the bake off I was a little more pressed for time, so used Oreo's instead of homemade cookies, but here is the step by step for the baking and decorating, as well as the cookie recipe I used first time around. If you have the time to make the dough the day before its better...

Choc chip cookies (I don't use my Thermomix for cookies, the less you mix the batter the better)
(adapted from Jacques Torres recipe)

1 ¼ cups unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
1 cup raw sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 ½ cups plain flour
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
600g chocolate chips/chunks

Cream the butter, vanilla and sugars. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. Add dry ingredients and choc to the buttery-sugar mixture. Mix until just combined. Glad-wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours (24-36 hours is best). Preheat oven to 170*C. When dough has had time to chill roll into 50c piece-ish sized balls around 1cm thick and press gently with a fork or spoon. Place on baking paper and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes – until they are golden brown but still soft. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Vanilla cupcakes
(adapted from Edmonds)

125g unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup standard plain flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 cup milk

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla (TMX 1 min/Sp 5) until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and baking powder and milk, mixing until just combined (TMX 20sec ish/Sp 4 - if you over mix they will come out tough). Place cupcake cases in standard size muffin tin and spoon mixture in (should make about 18). Bake at 170*C for 15 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.


To decorate you will need...
Approx 3 cups of icing - I use Buttercream Icing (200grams unsalted butter, whipped until pale, add 2 tbsp milk and approx 3 cups icing sugar until desired consistency)
White choc buttons
Dark choc drops
Blue food coloring (around 1-2 tsp)

 Before coloring the icing, use a small drop on each white choc button to stick the dark choc button for the eyes - you will need one pair per cupcake.


Once the cookies and cupcakes are cool cut a small slice out of the cupcakes and insert one cookie into each. The slice/cookie should only go about halfway into the cupcake.



Use a large star fitting for piping the icing - if you don't have one a plastic bag will give a similar effect - you are trying to have a messy effect anyway. Place the eyes on before the icing dries.


Enjoy :)