M is for Matcha

This delicious icecream is semi guilt free, and great on its own or in smoothies!

Matcha Avocado Ice Cream

(from gastronomy)

Serves: 6 scoops

Ingredients

⅓ cup coconut cream
3 Tbsp Japanese green tea powder (matcha), sifted
1 medium-sized ripe avocado, seed removed and peeled
140g maple syrup or agave

1½ cup coconut or almond milk

In the Thermomix (Sp 8 5 sec) or similar food processor, blend the avocado and green tea powder together with the coconut cream to form a smooth, liquidy paste.
Add maple syrup or agave to the TMX bowl or processor and blend until well combined (TMX Sp 6 10 sec).
Scrape down any of the mixture and add the coconut or almond milk. Blend until well combined (TMX Sp 4 10 sec).
If using an ice cream maker, transfer ice cream mixture to a covered container and chill for at least 12 hours. The mixture improves in flavor the longer you can leave it chilled. When the mixture has been chilled enough, prepare ice cream as per your ice cream maker's instructions.
If you do not have an ice cream maker, transfer ice cream mixture to a freezer safe container and freeze for one hour or until mixture has partially frozen. Scrape out mixture and blitz for a few seconds in the TMX or food processor until smooth, then return mixture to container and freeze again for another hour. Repeat the process once more before allowing to remain in freezer to set.

J is for Jerusalem Artichoke

Well overdue blog post! So much has happened since my last post in November, I have just got back from a trip to New Zealand for Rippon (Fat Freddy's was definitely a highlight), Wellington 7's (dressed as Amy Winehouse - how appropriate), and many merry catch ups with family and friends. I got to visit some of my favorite food spots again including Kai Whaka Pai in Wanaka, Fidel's in Wellington and good old Fergburger in Queenstown. Huge thanks to Maria for putting PVC and I up in Wanaka - though I am pretty sure she wasn't complaining about the number of platters made without even having to ask!

Back here in Melbourne - the puppy is growing (and teething - I found a tooth on the bedroom floor today), work is hectic, and most importantly our touch rugby team "Can't Touch This" just took out the C grade grand final for Royal Park Touch, WOOHOO GO TEAM! I have also been thermomixing up a storm, with a variation on my Grainy Awesome Bread (check the comments section), a delicious white bean dip, and cookies that were supposed to be gluten and dairy free until I added white choc chips... ooops!


For J I have picked a Jerusalem Artichoke - these root veg are high in minerals including iron, magnesium, and potassium, and B vitamins, and they are tasty too. They look kind of like ginger or a white yam. We used them in a Spanish cooking class at Raw Materials, which I have now done twice and would highly recommend if you have a day to fill in Melbourne - great fun and value, you get an awesome feed and learn to make a paella too.

Honey Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes, Pear and Ricotta salad

(Note this recipe serves a big crowd, you may want to halve)

1kg Jerusalem artichokes
3 brown pears
2tbs Honey
300g Fresh ricotta cheese
100g Pistachio nuts (roasted)
1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley
Sea salt and cracked pepper
Olive oil


Pre-heat oven to 180 C. Wash artichokes and trim off any dark bits. Cut into wedges. Place into a bowl and drizzle a little oil, salt and pepper. Add honey and mix well. Place on an oven tray and into the oven for 35 minutes. Wash the pears and cut into wedges, removing core, leaving the skin on. Coat in olive oil, salt and pepper and place on a second oven tray and into the oven for 25 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Mix pears with artichokes. Crush pistachios and sprinkle over with roughly chopped parsley. Gently break up ricotta cheese over the mixture, add salt, pepper and a dash of honey. Drizzle with some olive oil and serve.

H is for Harissa, Halloumi, and HOMETIME

The last couple of months have been super busy, with lots of trips away, including two weeks at home in New Zealand for fun times in the snow and visiting friends. We were lucky enough to house sit for a good friend in Wanaka for the first week, which included their beautiful cat and dog Coco and Harlow, then a couple of nights staying with some more friends in Dunedin, then five nights in Queenstown with more snow and good times. We ate our way through way too much good food, platters and drank wine and cc CC and dry to wash it down. Highlights included Florence's cafe and Red Star Burgers (hands down better than Fergburger) in Wanaka, Mexican in Dunedin at Del Sol, and breakfast at Vudu in Queenstown (even if the food did take ages, it tasted pretty good). The whole trip made us think seriously about whether it might be worth investing in a holiday house back home in NZ, as the snow in particular is definitely somewhere we will keep going back to, but we will just have to wait and see how many pennies we manage to save now we are lucky enough to no longer be paying much rent (a whole other story). 

Anyway, I got back to Melbourne from New Zealand and realised I am well overdue for the letter H - this is one I had saved up for awhile, and it was well worth it - Halloumi aubergine burgers with homemade Harissa relish.

Harissa Paste
(adapted from taste.com.au)
 
6 fresh chillies
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbs olive oil

Halve the chillies, remove the seeds and discard. Chop chilli and garlic cloves. Using a mortar and pestle, crush all the ingredients together to make a smooth paste.

Halloumi Aubergine Burgers

(adapted from BBC good food)

Serves 2

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion finely sliced

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

4 round slices of fresh aubergine

4 slices halloumi cheese
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 roasted red pepper chopped
2 tsp harissa paste
2 rolls with the bread in teh middle pulled out (it's just a filler!)

4 tbsp hummus (you can use the basic TMX recipe or buy some)

Add half of the oil to a pan and cook onions until soft. Set aside. Heat remaining oil and add aubergine. Pour over soy sauce. Fry for a few mins on each side until tender. Set aside. Fry halloumi until golden. Set aside. Add the onions, pepper and harissa into the hot pan. Cook until the sugar has melted. While the relish is cooking, spread the rolls with hummus, laying halloumi and aubergine slices on top. Spread relish and serve. You should have some extra relish left over to put in your lunch the next day :)

F is for Feijoa

I love this time of year - the beginning of winter! I am the sort of person who can't stand the heat, I much prefer the colder months, plus there are so many cute scarves and jackets around to keep you cozy, and it's not quite too cold to stop biking to work yet... and its also FEIJOA season! These are one of my favorite fruit, originally from South America and also known as a pineapple guava, they are a very unique flavor. They used to be easy to get your hands on in New Zealand, but over here in Melbourne its a little more difficult, but I have managed to track down a tree on my block which i raid on a regular basis once the fruit is ready (I swear the guy who owns the tree doesn't even know it exists, I have been swiping them for the last 3 years), I have also come across them at a few fruit and vege markets a couple of times for ridiculous prices, although St Andrews market had them for $4 a kilo, and you could buy your own tree for $10.

My favorite ways of eating feijoas include smoothies with banana, on porridge with a dash of plain yogurt, or straight up. Award winning New Zealand company 42 Below vodka also has a feijoa flavored version which is delicious with Chi and apple juice. And of course, for dessert in a crumble with some apple - YUMMM! The one I made today turned out perfect, it is sitting on the bench looking at me telling me to eat more as I am writing this but I cannot fit another bite!

Feijoa and Apple Crumble

1kg feijoas
3 red apples
250ml water
50g caster sugar
25g brown sugar
25g dessicated coconut
75g rolled oats
120g flour
150g butter (room temperature)

Preheat oven to 180degs. Scoop out feijoa pulp, and peel and slice apples. Add with water to a saucepan and bring to the boil, then simmer uncovered until the fruit softens. While this is happening, add the remaining ingredients to the Thermomix and set dial to closed lid, the set on the kneading function for 1 minute. Don't overmix the topping. Pour fruit into oven dish and top with crumble. Bake for 30 mins at 180degs. Serve with vanilla ice cream or yogurt or cream on a cold winters day or night - surely its an acceptable breakfast, its oats and fruit right?!

E is for Eggs and Edamame

There seems to be massive gaps between my blog posts, I have been super slack, I actually had the photos all ready to go for this one last week but haven't been able to find the time to sit down and actually write it, so here goes...

April was my 'fly free' month for the year with no trips away planned for a change, but it was still so busy! I had my mum, sister and a friend here for a week, and we shopped and shopped and shopped, and also managed to squeeze in a show, and a winery tour out to the Yarra Valley - highlight was definitely the homestyle cooked lunch and wine at Seville Hill, followed by some grape stomping action at Whispering Hills.

I finished another round of the 12WBT last week, with minimal physical changes, but I have learnt to manage my eating better - diet coke is not the answer if I'm hungry and craving sweet! I think we all know what is good and bad for us but sometimes need to be reminded. One thing that I eat heaps of these days that tends to have some myths associated with it is eggs - while some say they are high in cholesterol and fat, and they actually do contain these things, but in the form of polyunsaturated fats. In other words, the types of fats you should be eating rather than things like butter. The whites are also the purest form of protein you can find in food, plus they have a number of other vitamins and minerals. So eat your eggs! I am a massive fan of omlettes or poached for brekky, but for something a little different this time I tried sous-vide style eggs - cooking at a lower temperature for longer which aims to keep the food more flavorsome and evenly cooked. Well worth the one hour wait, these were so creamy and delicious. I used my thermomix but theres plenty of online recipes for using your stove top, but it might be harder to regulate your temperature.

Sous-Vide Eggs

(adapted from Themomix Recipe Community)

5 eggs
2 litres water (I used 1 L boiling, 1 L warm tap water)

Boil 1 L water in your conventional jug. Add to TM bowl with 1 L warm tap water.

Place the whole eggs (in shell) on he basket basket and place into the TM full of water.
Cook at 60degs / 60min / speed 3.

Crack the eggs over your toast, pouring them out like raw ones.

I have another 'E' food that I really want to share - Edamame. So tasty! These are a really delicious and easy snack from the frozen section at the Asian grocers, you may have seen them on sushi trains, in Japanese restaurants and the like. I have a bag in the freezer so i can put a handful in the microwave with some water, then sprinkle with salt and serve. YUM!

C is for Cacao, and Cruising back home, AND D is for Date

I spent a week at home in New Zealand relaxing for a week, hanging with family. Sometimes the best holidays are the ones when you do a whole lot of not much - this was definitely one of those. J and I spent the better part of a week hanging out in Levin, which is a tiny town in the south of the North Island, population of about 20,000, and not a whole lot going on, so we just hung out with my Nana, weeded her garden, cooked and baked - including a VERY indulgent Banana Cake (from my newly inherited old school Edmonds cookbook, with the quantities in pounds and ounces <3<3<3) with Chocolate Buttercream frosting and whipped cream filling. We also a couple of day trips, as well as having a few nights in the capital city Wellington to complete our week away.

One highlight was definitely the trip over the hill to Martinborough for the day. I was in wine and cheese heaven! If I was to go back I would stay at least a night here and adventure round a little more - you can hire bikes in the town to get around the vineyards and the town centre is so cute. We had lunch at Alana Estate, visited a couple of other wineries, then had some more local wine and cheese at Village Cafe in Martinborough, before visiting my favorite winery of the day - Loop Line in Opaki, small vineyard that produces a delicious drop.

But now, back in Melbourne, reality, the 12WBT (which has been a bit of a fail this round), and this blog... I am only up to 'C' and its already April, I figured I better get cooking and writing, so have also combined 'D' in this post...

Cacao (raw chocolate - YUM) is high in antioxidants (around 4 times the amount of cocoa powder!), has many cardiovascular benefits, AND its an aphrodisiac! There are some great cacao recipes you can try here.

Fresh dates are available in most supermarkets in the produce section. Medijool dates are a good source of fiber and contain high levels of the essential minerals potassium, magnesium, copper, and manganese.

Check out the recipe below, which produces delicious little brownie bites, a combination of these 2 super foods to have with your cup of green tea.



Raw Cacao Fudge Bites
(adapted from Melissa Ambrosini)

1/2 cup walnut
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup dates
1 1/4 cups fresh dates, pitted
1/2 cup cacao powder

Whizz all the ingredients together in a food processor (Thermomix 1 minute speed 9) unitil it is in small crumbs. Press into balls or a small mould and freeze for 1 hour before serving. Store extras in the fridge to enjoy with a cup of green tea as an after dinner treat.

B is for Beetroot

In case you didn't already pick from my last blog posts I am a girl who enjoys baking, and I have my old faithful Raspberry Red Velvet cupcakes that I fall back on as a crowd pleaser. But the whole idea of making red velvet from food coloring always puzzled me - a little research had me figure out that red velvet originally came about by coloring with beetroot, which is amazing, loaded with nutrients, and can be eaten raw grated on salads, is the perfect burger filling, and the canned stuff is pretty tasty in salads too.

SO here is my attempt at making baking healthy with a REAL Red Velvet recipe - a super moist ad tasty cake, more purple than red, and I think if I was to make it again I would leave out the coffee, or use less, it was a little over powering. Official taste tester PVC says "moist and palatable, had me salivating..."and we ate it so quickly I forgot to take an after photo, but its an excuse to make it again.

Beetroot Red Velvet Cake  
Adapted from "Tender" buy Nigel Slater

2 medium sized beets, rinsed and peeled
100g dark chocolate (I used 85%)
2 tbsp espresso (next time I would use water)
100g butter (room temp)
1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
3 eggs (separated, room temperature)
1/2 cup castor sugar

Lightly grease a small cake pan and line the bottom with baking paper. Boil the beets in salted water until they’re very tender, about 1 hour. Drain then rinse the beets with cold water. Cut into chunks and thermomix until you get a puree. (If you don’t have a TMX, use a food processor or cheese grater). Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
In a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate. Once it’s nearly all melted, turn off the heat (but leave the bowl over the warm water), pour in the hot espresso and stir it once. Then add the butter and stir until melted. Remove from the heat.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder in a separate bowl.
When chocolate mix has cooled, stir the egg yolks together and mix them into the melted chocolate mixture. Fold in the beet puree.
Whip the egg whites until stiff, gradually adding the sugar. Using a spatula, fold them into the melted chocolate mixture, being careful not to overmix. Then fold in the flour and cocoa powder.

Pour into the prepared cake pan and reduce the heat of the oven to 160ºC. Bake the cake for 30 minutes, or until the sides are just set but the center is still slightly wobbly. Be careful not to overbake, the original recipe said longer but my over tends to be hot!
Let cake cool completely, then remove it from the pan.
Serve with yogurt and/or ice with cream cheese icing when cool

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

A is for Almond

After a week in Bali, drinking my weight in cocktails and gaining a few holiday kilos, I am ready to get back on the 12WBT bandwagon! The plan for this whole alphabet cooking thing I promised in my last post was to pick a new healthy food each post, cook with it, so starting with A....Almonds are a rich source of nutrients and are really good for you. I eat them as a snack, or with yogurt, in my smoothies, on my muesli, and also in baking. They are gluten free too, so bonus for people with allergies! This week I made pita bread using almond meal. Almond meal is available in the supermarket, or you can whizz up your own (TMX, 10 sec/spd 9). These are gluten free, low carb, and delicious - winning!

Pita Pockets

1 egg
1/2 cup of water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp coconut flour (I didn’t have any so I used a tbsp of dessicated coconut TMX, 15 sec/spd 9)
1 1/4 cup almond flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 170. Whisk egg, water and oil together (TMX 10 sec/spd 5). Add dry ingredients, mix well till a smooth paste forms (TMX 30 sec/spd 7). Pour into 2 equal portions onto a well greased sheet tray. Bake for 15-20mins. Cool on a wire rack and they will keep for a couple of days, or eat warm from the oven, served with some TMX homemade hummus (1 can drained chickpeas, 2 cloves garlic, 2 tbsp tahini, 2 tbsp oil, juice of 1 lemon) or tzatziki, or stuff with salad for a tasty snack or meal.

2013 and more cookies

The year has begun! I have made some resolutions and intentions for the year ahead, I have signed up for another round of the Michelle Bridges 12WBT kicking off in Feb, I am looking at doing my personal training qualification at some point during the year, and I am going to attempt my first triathlon!

But before all the crazy health stuff kicks in, here is the recipe I promised in my last post. Shortbread always reminds me of my grandparents house in Levin, New Zealand, where there always used to be a tin of this in the cupboard that Nana had baked - its deliciously creamy and so super easy to make. And only three simple ingredients you are bound to have in your cupboard.

Shortbread
(from my Nana)

250g softened butter (not melted)
125g icing sugar (raw sugar in TMX 20 seconds/Sp 10)
375g flour

Rub ingredients together in a large bowl, or for TMX, 3 mins closed lid on the knead function. Roll into a log. Slice approx 1cm thick. Place on baking tray lined with baking paper, and press down gently with a fork. Bake at 160 for 25 mins. Make sure your oven is not too hot or you will over cook the shortbread and it will go brown, the result should be a creamy colored biscuit.

20 Jan - PS I tried an AWESOME variation on these today, add 75g chopped apricots (chop in TMX for 10 secs on Sp 7) and press a square of chocolate into each before baking. Dreamy.

As for my baking and blog, I have decided on a new approach, and will cook my way through the alphabet from A - Z, starting with an ingredient that begins with A, then using a different healthy ingredient each post which starts with the next letter - so watch this space...

What's eating you?

Well, the 12WBT (for me for this round anyway) is officially over, I'm sure I will be back for another round as there is always more to learn, and I would highly recommend it. I feel like the biggest lesson I learned is that about 80% of weight-loss is what you eat - the whole "you are what you eat" thing is true! It doesn't matter how much you exercise if you still fill up on junk food. How annoying is that! Sadly it's not enough to stop my bake-fests, so never fear! And sadly I finished the 12WBT with a binge - a weekend in Adelaide visiting my friend Katy and her gorgeous little family, and drinking and eating mostly junk food for two days straight... OOPS! To be fair you can't really go to Adelaide without visiting a surrounding wine region or few - we went to just one this time around. South Australia is well known for its wine (mostly reds, but it was not a red wine kind of day),  and the hot weather took us to McLaren Vale, where we visited a really cute little brewery, Goodieson which had a delicious Pale Ale and IPA, Hugh Hamilton Wines for a tasty Rose, and Penny's Hill which had a really nice Sauvignon Blanc.

I figure since I had a binge-fest in the weekend I might as well have one more treat - the guys in the office will appreciate them tomorrow...

Raspberry Red Velvet cupcakes with Toasted Marshmallow tops

(I can't take complete credit for inventing these, I got the idea from heartbreakpies blog and have made the cupcakes a few times, and even won a bake off with them at work (yes another bake off!). I have wanted to try using a toasted marshmellow topping on something for awhile - nothing like a Tuesday night home alone to try new things...)

Use my previous Vanilla Cupcake recipe but leave out the vanilla, and when up to the stage when adding the dry ingredients, mix together 1 tablespoon red food coloring (one day I will try a proper red food cake) and 1 tablespoon cocoa in a small bowl making a smooth paste. Add with the dry ingredients. Mix in TMX until just combined (TMX 10-20sec ish/Reverse/Sp 5).

Spoon into cases, add 2 raspberries to each and push in slightly. Bake for 12-14 mins, pull the cupcakes out, put the oven on grill. Place a large marshmallow on top of each cupcake and put back in the oven until the top is just toasted and the marshmallows begin to melt. This will not take long so don't walk away from the oven! Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. The marshmallows will be a little sticky until they cool.

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 :)

The perfect steak

The first thing J asked me when I told him I wanted a Thermomix "because it does everything, cooking, mixing, steaming, slicing and dicing", he asked me if it could cook a steak (it's funny how this is so important, I'm sure if I demoted him from the BBQ it wouldn't go down so great anyway)... well no, no it doesn't, but it does do a perfect mashed potato and coleslaw to compliment a steak!

On my last trip to the markets I purchased a whole piece of eye fillet steak (an amazing $18 per kg!), and got the butcher there to slice it up into pieces about 2 cm thick. There's probably a good 5-6 meals worth in what I got (in saying that J will eat two steaks per meal), so it stocks my freezer too.

Steak is one of those things that once you stuff it up there's no going back - you have a chewy mess.... here's what I do to avoid that

Steak, Mash and Coleslaw
(Skip the mash to make it more 12WBT friendly!)

1/4 red cabbage
1/4 green cabbage
1 green apple (quartered)
250g potatoes (peeled and halved)
125ml milk
1 tblsp butter
Salt
Parmesan -grated  (optional)
Chives - chopped (optional)
Oil spray
3 x steaks (I recommend eye fillet but whatever floats your boat)

Have your steak out (on the bench, covered) a couple of hours before you intend to cook it if possible, salted and oiled. Roughly chopped cabbage (mix red and green) and put with apple in TMX, and chop 3secs/Sp 5. Put in a bowl to the side. Rinse TMX bowl, and put in potatoes milk, butter, a pinch of salt (I always use rock salt, 1 or 2 twists with the grinder) and cook at for 25 mins/100 degs/Reverse sp 1. When the timer on TMX is at about 15 minutes, heat up your oil sprayed bbq or pan till it is searing hot.When the timer is at about 8 minutes throw on the steaks and cook for 2-3 minutes each side. Remove from heat and wrap in foil and set aside to rest. Once the potatoes are done, add the Parmesan and or chives and mix 30sec/Sp 3-4. Serve! Best enjoyed with a big glass of red wine ;)

The Dinner Club

Week three of the challenge has begun, and I am looking today as a fresh start, the weekend involved a few too many bottles of wine... although one worth a mention - an amazing bottle of red from Redbox Vineyard (http://www.redboxvineyard.com.au/) out in Kangaroo Ground just out of Melbourne - they make an amazing Cabernet Sauvignon, the couple who run the place are gorgeous, they have awesome cheese platters, and have a homemade Cabernet Jelly that's delish. Well worth a visit (below pic of Abbie enjoying amazing platters/wine etc on site at Red Box Vineyard hosted by the lovely Mrs Spencer, maker of the previously mentioned delish Cabernet Jelly).

A few months ago a couple of girlfriends and I started what we call 'The Dinner Club', taking turns hosting dinner at home. It is a great concept, it gives you a chance to have a good gossip and try out new recipes (J is a meat and three veg kind of guy, so I have to save the gourmet for the girls). It was my turn to host on Sunday, and my three course extravaganza (it has become quite competitive) included Prawn, fish and macadamia cakes, Vietnamese beef salad, and Ricotta, apricot and walnut baked pears. All were massive hits!

Prawn, Fish and Macadamia Cakes with Mint Yoghurt

(adapted from Australian Macadamia Society recipe)

500g uncooked prawns (I used the bigger ones with the tails still on, less effort required to peel!)
400g boneless fish fillets (Basa is good)
100g (2/3 cup) roasted macadamias, chopped (dry roast raw ones in TMX for 20mins/Varoma/Sp1 then chop 4 sec/Sp 7)
1 tbsp green curry paste
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped (TMX 3 sec/Sp 7)
Olive oil spray
2/3 cup greek yoghurt
2 tbsp chopped mint

Combine mint and yogurt and refrigerate. Peel and devein the prawns. Place in TMX with fish, and blend 20 sec/Sp 7. Add the chopped macadamias, curry paste, lemon juice, and coriander to the TMX bowl and mix 20 sec/Sp 5. Roll into small balls (I made bite sized, they cook quicker and you can just use toothpicks to eat them). Heat a non-stick frying pan, lightly sprayed with olive oil. Add balls and cook until golden on each side or just cooked through. Serve with yoghurt and mint dipping sauce.

Vietnamese Beef Salad

1kg steak (I used eye fillet)
4 tbsp fish sauce
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
¾ cup white wine vinegar
¼ cup caster sugar
150g thin vermicelli rice noodles
1 large carrot, peeled, finely shredded
2 Lebanese cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 cup mint leaves
Fried shallots and chopped chilli to serve

Place steak into a glass bowl. Add 2 tbsp fish sauce and garlic. Toss until well combined. Cover and marinate for at least 1 hour. While this is marinating you can prepare the dressing - combine the vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to the boil. Transfer to a bow to cool then add remaining fish sauce. When you are close to ready to serve, place noodles into a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water and stand for 5 minutes or until soft and transparent. Drain. Heat a non-stick frying pan, or heat your barbecue. When hot, add steaks and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side or until medium rare. Transfer to chopping board. Cover and stand for 10 minutes. Diagonally slice. Place beef, noodles, carrot, cucumber and mint leaves on serving plates. Drizzle with dressing and serve with chilli and shallots on the side.

Ricotta, Apricot and Walnut baked pears
(adapted from Michelle Bridges recipe)

For these I just whipped up some ricotta and dried apricots in TMX (10 sec/Sp 7), spooned on to some halved pears, sprinkled with walnuts (crushed in TMX, 3 sec/Sp 7), and baked in the oven for half an hour.

The ingredients for the meal were all fresh from the markets, which is worth the trek for, they just taste so much better, especially the meat. Although it can be a pretty intense experience, and should not be tackled whilst hungover! I usually go to the Queen Vic markets in the city in Melbourne, but have been known to brave the Preston Markets on days I am feeling up to the battle of the bigger crowds there as they tend to have better prices.

Rising to the challenge

Into week two of this boot camp thingy and I am feeling good about it - it's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it! I have reset my goals too to make it a bit more of a stretch for me for my November 18 target (For 12WBT week 2 bloggerschallenge - my reward will be a new summer wardrobe if I meet my goals!). I also can't believe how much food you can actually eat on a 1200 calorie per day meal plan if you don't go out for dinner every night (this probably seems like a natural connection for most people, but even things like sushi and salads can be full of stuff that adds up really quickly). So the past week we have eaten every night at home - pretty sure this is some sort of record for me, we usually have at least 5 meals a week not homemade, there are so many fabulous eateries in Melbourne, we really are spoilt for choice. Some of my favorites for a quick bite include Huyen Linh in Pascoe Vale (super fresh and fast Vietnamese, not upper class but cheap and tasty), in the CBD there's Sushi Burger (self explanatory), +39 (pizzeria), and Manchester Press (pictures of boobs in your coffee, and best bagels EVER), Hellenic Republic in Brunswick (George Calombaris from Masterchef's joint, do the banquet if you are a first timer and you get to taste all the best bits)... I could keep listing but we will be here a long time. So eating at home has meant I have had to make time to do groceries and cooking, which I had a bit of a whinge about at first, but so far so good.
Also this week J decided we needed a Costco membership which I was a little against at first, but once he dragged me in there I was convinced - very much worth it! 850g punnet of strawberries? YES PLEASE! Plus lots of other things in bulk it will take a whole year for the two of us to get through, but so many bargains.
One thing that was still pretty expensive was bread - the price of bread these days is crazy, especially for one little loaf of '12WBT friendly' Burgen at around $5 (or two for about $8 at Costco). Since I got the Thermomix I have been trying to make my own. Back in the 90's it was all the rage to have a bread-maker, I used to love staying with my grandparents and waking up to the smell of fresh baked bread. This one is a little healthier and it a great way to get back into baking your own bread (if you don't have a Thermomix, get one, as you are missing out. Or just mix/knead like you would usually for bread)...

Grainy-Awesome Bread
(adapted from TMX basic bread recipe)

Makes 1 x 30cm(ish) loaf

30gm Be Natural 5 Whole Grains cereal
500gm boiling water
1 sachet dry yeast (about 2 tsps)
310gm bakers/unbleached flour
30gm olive oil
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
180gms whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons poppy, sesame, linseed, flax seeds, mixed
Olive oil spray

Put cereal and boiling water in TMX. Reverse/20secs/soft. Leave to cool until 37 degrees. Add yeast and leave for 5 minutes. Add 150gms bakers flour, oil, sugar, and salt, 15 secs/sp 3. Add remaining flour, knead/90secs/closed lid. Add a little more flour if needed. Cover the dough with a clean dishtowel and let it rest for 15-30 minutes somewhere warm. Knead on a lightly floured board until smooth, add more flour if it's sticky. Oil spray a large bowl and place the dough inside and cover with the dishtowel. Let the dough rise again until it's doubles in size (about 1 hour). Knead again on lightly floured board for a couple of minutes, then shape into a loaf. Sprinkle a baking sheet with half of the seed mixture and place the loaf on top of the seeds.Spray with water and sprinkle remaining seeds. Please in cold oven in the center. Bake for approx 30-35 minutes at 170 (fan forced) or until cooked through.

TIPS if you have a TMX - substitute 100gm of the bakers flour for 100gm of your own milled flour from whole wheat (mill for 1 min/sp 9).

Introducing me (and my Thermomix!)

I think I am just your average girl. I work and go to the gym (sometimes). I am blessed with beautiful friends and family. I am known to enjoy a glass of wine (or few) and be up for a night out. I never have considered myself a blogging type, but J mentioned to me a while ago that maybe I should write about one of my passions - food.... So here goes...

I have been cooking from an early age, and try to cook most nights, but Sunday is usually my day in the kitchen, I love experimenting with flavours, colours and presentation. I'm going to share with you some of my favourite recipes and secrets in the kitchen, and some of my life experiences too.

My first secret, which is not such a secret if you have had the pleasure of dinner at my place, is that I have a Thermomix. It makes my life in the kitchen so much easier. If you don't know what a Thermomix is, google it - basically a kitchen all in one (but J doesn't agree as it won't cook his steak), it chops, grinds, mills, sautees, steams, boils etc, in short the major benefit for me is it helps on two fronts - eat fresher, and cook faster. I think eating fresh is something that started from my upbringing where we ate lots of good fresh meat, eggs and vegetables straight off the farm. Fresh food just tastes better. Cooking faster is also really important as there is never enough hours in a day, and I will admit we eat takeaway far more often than we should at home (we try to pick healthier options, like our local Vietnamese noodle soup place in Glenroy), but it would be even more often if it wasn't for my Thermomix. To be honest I really should cook at home more often now, and now I have it in writing I promise I will make more of an effort - its always easier to make promises to yourself if you say it out loud (or in this case write it down)! Speaking of promises to myself, I have also signed up to Michelle Bridges 12WBT, starting in August, so there is no time like the present to get into some new habits.

My first recipe I'm sharing is  something I use in heaps of my meals - homemade vegetable stock. Making it yourself is so simple, and it doesn't have all the additives and preservatives of store bought stuff. I do mine in my Thermomix but you could cook it all up and do it in a food processor with the same result. This is a great opportunity to use up all the veges and herbs that are filling up your fridge that you use one little bit of then don't know what to do with the rest, you don't have to stick to the veges below. Also I am cooking without onion and garlic more these days as I have found they don't really agree with me, but you could add them if you prefer...


200g celery, roughly cut
2 carrots, roughly cut
2 tomatoes, halved
2 zucchinis, roughly cut
Handful of parsley
Handful of coriander
150g rock salt
1 tbsp oil

Place all vegetables into the Thermomix bowl (or chop smaller and put in a large pot large pot) and chop for 10 seconds on speed 6. Add salt and oil and then cook for 20 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1 (if using a pot, bring to boil). Pulverise by slowly turning the speed dial to speed 6 then for 1 minute on speed 9 (or blend in food processor). It will be green and very salty! This should make enough for one container for the fridge and one for the freezer (it doesn't completely freeze because of the salt), although it keeps for a couple of months in the fridge, so if you use it as often as I do you can just keep it in the fridge. 1 tablespoon concentrate it same as 1 stock cube. I use this in soups, risottos, sauces and all sorts, its a must have basic.