{Apple Mint Iced Tea}

In this hot Sydney summer weather it's always nice to find cool refreshing ways to take the edge off the heat. Especially when 7 months pregnant and mostly hot and uncomfortable ;) Today I made a delicious Apple and Mint Iced Tea and I used my T2 iced tea jug. This is very handy as it has a built in infuser but it's not essential. You'll Need: - 2L jug - 3 Peppermint tea bags - 2 cups boiling water - 1L Apple juice (fresh would be best but I just used my usual bottled juice to make it easier) - Sprig or two of Mint (I used the chocolate mint growing in the garden). - 1 Lime - 1 Green Apple & Ice Cubes to serve Make up the tea as you normally would in a jug and leave to steep for a moment. Chill in fridge. Add the apple juice and then add the mint, bruising the leaves a little before adding it. Juice the lime and add it along with some of the apple finely chopped and ice to serve. (I ended up grating 1/4 of the apple to add a little extra flavor). Garnish with left over off cuts if you wish. It is such a delicious way to feel refreshed in this heat for sure. This will definitely be added regularly to the fridge this summer.



Lauren x

{Count Your Many Blessings}

This year I have finally put into place something I wanted to do all last year but never got around to doing. I have a big jar that has a simple sign on it "Count your many blessings" on the front.

Quite simply this jar is in a central place of the home and every time a special moment happens or a prayer is answered, a little note with a brief description goes in the jar. This jar will fill over the next year and then on New Years Eve we will open it as a family and look back on the blessings that have been lavished on our family. It's a great way to keep a positive outlook front and centre and a tangible way to see it grow.

Even if you live by yourself or just with a couple, you could still do it with an individual sized jar next to your bed or something...it's an idea totally adaptable to your circumstance.

Why not try it? It's only half way through January and not too late. You could always add one or two notes to describe any wonderful moments that have happened so far in 2014.


Lauren x

{Surviving Christmas : Tip 1}

            

                  
It's almost that time. Christmas tree time. Whether yours is in a box in the garage or about to be chopped down and waiting to be chosen, it's coming. Everyone has there own traditions about when and how they decorate the trees. If you are like us, you wait with baited breath for the first of December and fill the house with Christmas music whilst the tree goes up. However, my social media feeds have seen some beautiful trees already go up in November. Some very keen Christmas spirit indeed!

Although my boys are 7 and 4 now, the past few years have seen little kids crawling and running around the house. I felt terrible rousing on them to not touch the ornaments in case they pulled them off and broke them. Those suckers are fragile and can shatter into shards you don't want near little children. Regardless if they are prized ornaments or cheaper ones.

When I discussed this with my very wise Mother-in-law years ago, she explained her very simple solution that has been a  lifesaver for us. Rather than try to contain the kids and make them feel like they are becoming a burden for simply being curious, contain the tree instead.
I picked up a second hand wooden playpen for $50 and assembled our tree inside. This helped keep the ornaments in one piece and the children could still enjoy the beautiful tree without me having to work overtime keeping them away from it. WIN - WIN!
                                           
This will be the first christmas in a while without the playpen, but we are obviously not throwing it out considering we will have a 8 month old princess crawling around next Christmas...(woah that's crazy to think about!)

Q: Do you already have your tree up? Are there any special traditions your family enjoys at this time?  

Lauren x

{Coffee For Summer}

If your like me and love a caffeine hit but the thought of a hot coffee in summer makes you sweat, check this out!



1. Make a black coffee as you would normally but don't add milk. If you normally add sugar, add it now. I use my Nespresso maker, but instant or other machines will do the same thing.
2. Pour into ice cube trays and stick in the freezer. Once solid, I popped them into a labelled zip lock bag and made more.
3. Then as desired, place a few cubes into a chilled glass of your choice of milk (cows, almond, oat, soy would all work). I added some vanilla extract for taste too.

It is a delicious way to have a gentle and cool caffeine hit this summer! Yum!

Lauren x

{Creamy Pumpkin Gnocchi Bake}

                  

I haven't posted a recipe in a while, just been in school holidays mode for a few weeks. 

Today I wanted to take a meal to a dear friend who just had a baby, and she is a vegetarian. Now, I love eating 'veggo' food at home, but this was SO delicious I reckon it would please any carnivore! If not, add a bit off bacon on top ;)

This dish was a surprising success as I set myself a challenge to 'shop the pantry/ fridge' and use what I had on hand. I kind of winged it and in normal fashion, I didn't really measure the ingredients. Here is my best efforts at recalling the exact measurements. In honesty though, this isn't a precision recipe like a sponge cake. This is the kind of cooking that you can be a little bit more relaxed and rustic with.  

Ingredients:

1 Whole Butternut Pumpkin

2 cloves garlic

1 pkt Gnocchi 

Rosemary Sprig (I just got a stalk from our herb garden. Could also use sage)

Pine nuts (I used about 100g, but you could use more if wanted)

Parmesan Cheese (about a handful - 3/4 or 1 cup)

1/4 cup pouring cream

Salt and Pepper to season

Dried Porcini Mushrooms (optional)

Tasty cheese to sprinkle on top

Top with some fried bacon if not a vegetarian meal.

Method:

1. Cut your pumpkin in half length ways. Spray with oil spray and season. Place on an oven tray with garlic and roast until tender. (This step can be done ahead of time and refrigerated).

2.  Once it has cooled out of the oven, scoop out the flesh and puree with garlic in the blender/ food processor. Set aside.

3. Coat a frying pan with olive oil. Toast the rosemary and pine nuts until lightly coloured. Don't walk away here, otherwise it will burn. Scoop out with slotted spoon onto paper towel and set aside. 

4. Place the Gnocchi in the saucepan as per packet instructions.

5. Place pumpkin puree in the rosemary infused oil and heat on low heat. Add the Parmesan, cream, S&P, Pine nuts and rosemary. You could also add the dried mushrooms here (just hydrate with hot water first and drain before adding).  

6. Once the Gnocchi is cooked (floats to top and looks 'fluffy' and 'plump') scoop into the pumpkin mixture and fold through to coat. 

7. Top with some tasty cheese (to taste), a sprinkle of fresh rosemary. 

(At this point I fried up a little bacon to sprinkle on one of the dishes as only one of the couple is a vegetarian).

8. Place under grill or the oven to melt cheese on top and serve with fresh steamed vegetables. 

This will be definitely featuring on our dining table soon but in one large casserole style dish I think. 

Enjoy!

Lauren x 

      

 

{An Egg-cellent Easter Dessert Idea}

I couldn't resist the joke above - lol! A few sleeps till Easter, we love celebrating in our house and here is a snippet from something I did last year.
It's perfect if your having a family dinner for Easter this year. After you've had the main course, a special occasion calls for a special 'ta-da' moment dessert.

I posted yesterday about the Easter egg hunt cake (click here). Why not make that for the kids and trying something fun yet sophisticated for the grown up's.

Easter Cheese-Cake Eggs:
This is a tricky recipe to give measurements for as it depends greatly on the size of the chocolate eggs you use.

Get Ready:
You could use fancy vintage heirloom egg cups. If you have them go for it. OR, use an egg carton and cut it up for individual serving.
Then unwrap a hollow chocolate egg and gently crack off some of the top and set aside (slash nibble on them for sustenance whilst cooking for your family - I know you want to lol).

The "egg white" filling:
Mix up done cream cheese, castor or icing sugar in an electric mixer. Add a teaspoon of vanilla, a splash of fresh lemon juice and some lemon rind. Taste test to make sure it has a good balance.
Spoon into the 'egg shells'.

Top it with the Yolk:
Strain some passion fruit pulp so you don't have the seeds left and place in the middle of the cheesecake mixture. You could also use mango pulp or lemon curd if you prefer.


I served these last Easter and they were very well received. The great thing is that they are portioned, so depending on the size of the egg, you may leave your guests wanting more! (That's not a bad thing ;)
Lauren x

{How To Make an 'Easter Egg Hunt' Surprise Cake}

Last year I made the teachers at pre-school Easter Egg Cake Pops (see here).
This year I wanted to do something fun and different.

Introducing the Easter Egg Hunt Cake! 

Start with the Cake:Basically you require a round cake with a whole in the middle. There are two main ways you could do this.
1. Use a ring tin. I didn't have a regular ring tin, so I used a bundt tin that I had on hand anyway. You also need to put some batter in a small cake tin/ ramekin to use as a topper.  
2. You could even bake a regular round cake and cut a hole in the middle afterwards with a cup or something else round. If you've cut a hole out of the middle, set aside.

Fill The Cake:
Buy a packet of candy covered Easter eggs (the ones without foil) and fill the hole with them. Place the extra cake circle on top of the Easter eggs.

Finish The Cake:
Use a vanilla butter cream (or similar - choices are endless) and frost the entire cake using a swirled kind of texture. This is so that you can't see the extra circle hiding the hole.

Serve:
As this was a gift I didn't get a photo of the finished product when cut. However, if you were serving this for a family Easter dinner, there would be such WOW factor at discovering the hidden Easter eggs inside as you cut it at the table!

How much fun is that! I hope that however you and your family celebrate, you have a great Easter!


Lauren x

{Bringing a Meal To a Friend in Need}

There are many reasons why a friend may need a meal. I am sure you have taken a meal to someone with a new baby, recovering from an illness, lost a job, a very busy week or maybe they are about to move or just moved into a new house. There are many reasons why you may take a meal to someone in your world.

No matter what the reason, there are a few things that make this gift of generosity one that will be appreciated.


1. Give warning:
If someone isn't coordinating the meals, call or message ahead to see what time is convenient for them.

2. Make it Brief:
Don't turn up with the whole family on the doorstep and make yourself at home. Organize (if possible) to have your kids minded while you drop the meal off and unless they offer, don't plan on staying or going inside. The reason your dropping a meal may mean that persons life is a little hectic and their house may be in a state of organized chaos that they may not feel like showing it off!
Also, don't stay and chat although there is likely to be a lot to share, deliver it with a smile and politely excuse yourself so the family can enjoy the meal you have made.

3. Serve it Thoughtfully:
Don't drop your meal off in your best baking dish. Often the recipient will have better things to do than coordinate the handing back of all the dishes they have received. There are plenty of disposable options which also gives them a night off washing up too. If you want to make it extra presentable, place meals in a cheap dish/ jar that you bought (ie from Kmart) and male sure you say that you don't want it back.



3. Dietary Requirements:
Know who you are making a meal for. Are they a vegetarian, gluten intolerant, do they have young kids that are unlikely to eat anything fancy or a new mum who may not want spicy curry if feeding.
Always include a list of ingredients on anything you made or you took out of the packet. This avoids any confusion.

4. Variety:
Whenever a friend has meals coming in there are often a lot of main meals. I have often been thanked for including a side salad, muffins, brownies, a loaf of bread, homemade muesli, a jug of juice or a small bag of groceries to help with the rest of the day.



5. Be Sensitive to Time:
If you are bringing a meal for that night, don't turn up at 8:00 when they may eat much earlier. If weeknights are tricky, consider offering a weekend delivery or perhaps offering to drop off one night for the previous evenings' meal.


Now there are some suggestions for the delivery and 'etiquette' of meals to those that may need it.

Q: Have you ever been the recipient of a meal? What was a favorite meal/ snack you have been given?

Lauren x

{Slow Cooker Roast & No-Potato Mash}

Tuesday afternoons now are busy afternoons due to soccer training that finishes right before dinner time. Since its Autumn, and we are heading into winter, it's the perfect time to get my slow cooker out and make my time away from the house work for me.


I bought an $8 roast beef from Aldi and put it in the slow cooker dish. Then i covered it with:
- A jar of passatta sauce (or tinned diced tomatoes if that's what's on hand)
- Splash of left over red wine (or open some vino and have a glass with dinner).
- 3 cloves of garlic chopped
- 1 an onion sliced
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 1 tin of butter beans or other white beans
- salt and pepper

{I actually then put the bowl back in the fridge and let it marinade overnight. You can prepare the meal in the morning for the same night.}

Turn on high at lunch time (or low in the morning) and hours later walk in the door to the delicious scent of a tender, juicy 'fall apart' roast. The best part is the sauce creates a delicious kind of a gravy.

I served it with green beans and a no potato mash. Simply cook some cauliflower and mash it with a tin of white beans. Then season it with a tsp of garlic powder, a TBL of margarine and salt & pepper. As I can't have potato at the moment this makes it possible for the family to eat the same meal at the same time.

This was met with rave reviews in the house, definitely doing this again!!!

Lauren x

{The Fairy Is Coming : Part 2}

I shared before {here} about how the tooth fairy is coming to our house soon. The infamous tooth is slowly getting more wobbly and so I decided to have a play at the sewing machine and with no real plan, attempt at creating a tooth fairy pillow with NO budget, using only scraps.
I have an ever growing stash of fabric, bits and bobs. So, "shopping the stash" wasn't a challenge. I even had an old pillow insert left over after a cushion cover ripped. I cut it open and used the batting to stuff the little creature. 


Its not my best sewing attempt, I didn't even change my thread over to green to match the fabric, but my 6 year old loves it and it was more just a trial run to put what was in my mind into reality.

There is a cute little mouth sewn into the cute monster that doubles as a pocket for the tooth and money.  
 

I am not 100% happy with it, and think I might try another kind of design just to mix it up. 

Q: How does your house celebrate the tooth fairy? Glass of water? Under the sleeping pillow? In a special place? 


Lauren x 

{Call me "the crazy gingerbread lady"}

Recently I made {this} batch of over 300 gingerbread cookies for a Breast Cancer Awareness evening. I received feedback from people that don't like ginger bread who even said they liked this recipe. 

However, since I am not one to shy away from a mammoth task, two friends from church and I decided to create a homemade Christmas gift for each of the young families at church (I am glad I had your help girls, team effort needed for this one and you girls rocked it!)
After sorting through different options of delicious treats, we decided to steer clear of 'perishable' treats that would make it hard to prepare ahead of time and things that would need refrigeration.
This is the thought process that led to us 'sanely' create a cookie-a-thon of 700 gingerbread stars that turned into 50 individual and delicious Christmas trees.THis takes my kitchen to a grand total of  over 1000 gingerbread cookies in the last little while....JEEPERS!

Here is the final product that was totally gorgeous and made the days of work worth it for the three of us! They looked so pretty being handed out at the BBQ we had today.

{Breast Cancer Awareness Night : Pt 2}

At the planning meeting, we tried to think of a gift to bless every woman that came. Something, cute, pink and girly. Someone showed a picture of some 'bra cookies' they had seen on the Internet. I had seen a few variations of these before and thought I'd give it a go making them. They were totally adorable and fitted the 'brief' (hahaha boom tish). These would actually be totally cute for a bridal shower also!

I have never done anything like this before (especially in such quantities) so here is how I made them:
Cookies:
*Find a cookie recipe and make dough as per instructions. I chose a gingerbread cookie recipe {loved this one}.
*Roll out dough, cut out heart shapes with your cutter. Before you slide it on to the baking tray, cut off the tip of the heart. It will help with the end design.
*Bake and cool.

{All in One Breakfast Bake}

This is the kind of cooking I like. Its a no recipe, tailor to your own taste, use what you have kinda meal.
I actually made this one night for what we call "BRINNER". Breakfast for dinner. It was a crazy day and I wasn't going to the shops with crazy children after school and issued myself a sort of 'mystery box' challenge!
I can see so many adaptations of this idea. I can imagine family all digging in to this for a late Boxing Day morning together while using some f the left overs from Christmas Day. 

I'll show you how I did this and then show you how you could change it to your tastes. 

{Dude Food for Origin}

Last night was State of Origin. I am not normally a football fan, however, I always watch origin. I love it (except when the blues go down AGAIN!). 

Hubby and I had a few of his mates over for game 1 and 3 and last night was a big match.

So, a BIG dude food menu was in order. I love brainstorming this stuff with my brother and we came up with this idea:

- Mini Cheeseburger Sliders with a Homemade Brioche Bun

I just made mini rissoles, with a 1/4 slice of colby cheese melted on each, tomato, rocket and ketchup/ mustard.

- Beer Battered Onion Rings  

First time making these and was hoping they'd turn out. BIG SUCCESS!!!

{image from recipe...seen my attempt below lol!}

- Steak Fries  

(These I just cooked and kept warm in the slow cooker as an additional side / security in case the onion rings didn't work).

Recipe for the Brioche was inspired by {this} but I found it slightly confusing so I'll have re-typed it below. 

{Mothers Day : Tea Bag Biscuits}

I have been dying to share these Mothers Day treats with you. 

{I started typing the recipe for the tart i made for dessert in this post also, but ran out of room....Pear and Ricotta Tart Recipe Coming soon}

I always love handmade gifts. They often cost a lot less and are a great way to show someone special how much they mean to you. Gifts for my mother and mother in law  this year were very simple. But it was so adorable it hit the spot perfectly!

{Soup Day Monday}

Since the weather has started cooling down, I have decided to add soup night on Monday's to our menu. Once you start looking at recipes, there is so much variation. The sky is the limit!

Last week was roasted pumpkin and that was glorious!

This week was roasted tomato soup. It actually fell on Tuesday this week cause we had leftovers to use up and that seemed wise ;) sometimes you gotta go with the flow!

{Happy Easter Cake Pops}

Well, I wanted to say thank you to some very special teachers and friends that are a blessing to my boys.

This was the kind of activity that I did most of the prep for myself. Had my kids been slightly older, they could have helped with more than pouring the sprinkles on. But I just loved these do much, and was very happy with how they turned out!

If you need more detailed steps, click here for a good tutorial.

Basically it's done in less than 10 steps:

{Free Form Pumpkin and Spinach Lasagna}

I was HANGING to make this recipe like you have no idea! Not because I just saw a recipe for it like often inspires me. But because every now and then when I cook, I have my mojo ON and I don't have a recipe, I actually have no idea what the final outcome will be or look like when I start, but it just works. This was one of those times. I made it up as went and it was tastier than I thought it was going to be! The best thing was that this ended up like a restaurant dish and I bough everything from Aldi or had it in my pantry.

The downside is I don't measure when I cook like this, but here is my attempt at documenting this delicious dish :)


Ingredients: (made 3 large portions)
1 packet fresh lasagna sheets (you'll only need 1/2 packet and if you normally buy dried, its worth splashing out for the fresh sheets)
1/2 butternut pumpkin
1 packet of baby spinach (buy 2 if you want some for a side salad/ garnish)
2 cloves garlic
about 40g butter
handful of pine-nuts
handful of walnuts
1 tub of ricotta
Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper


Method:
1. cut your butternut pumkpin into thin slices (about 2mm *ish) and pop into water and microwave for a few mins until tender.
2. Place butter, spinach, nuts & garlic in a saucepan on a medium heat and saute till spinach wilts. Season with S&P and turn off heat.
3. Once the spinach mix and pumpkin is cooked you are ready to assemble.
4. Cut each lasagna sheet into thirds (Aldi's sheets are folded into thirds, so I just followed the folds). Here are my layers in order:
-Place one sheet as the base.
-Then lay a few pieces of the cooked pumpkin on top and season here
-another sheet of lasagna
-then spoon some ricotta on top
-sprinkle some parmesan on the ricotta
-then a spoonful of the spinach mix on top
-lasagna sheet
-spoonful of ricotta
-another layer of pumpkin
-final layer of lasagna sheet
-top with more ricotta, parmesan and s&P

You don't need much of each ingredient on each layer, it's the layering itself that will make each mouthful taste so good.



It sounds like a very long process, but even with doing 3 of these, it took me longer to write this than do it. It's worth it!

{Carrot Cake}

I was craving carrot cake the other day and I have to say this was such a delicious recipe. I have doubled the spices here as I was after a 'spiced cake' type taste. I often like more ginger than recipes call for too.



Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil (or other tasteless oil i.e. not olive oil)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon ground
1 tsp ground ginger
2 1/2 cups grated carrot (I just grated 3 carrots)
1/2 chopped pecans (walnuts would also work - can be omitted for allergy purposes)
1/2 cup sultanas (I omitted these by choice)

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 180'C
2. Place sugar and oil in bowl of an electric mixer for a few minutes.
3. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well.
4. Sift the flours, powders and spices over the sugar mixture. Add the carrots and nuts and stir until just combined.
5. Pour your mixture into a greased cake tin. I used a silicon loaf 'tin'.
6. Bake for about 50 mins or until cooked when using the 'skewer test'.
7. Serve warm or cool completely before adding cream cheese icing.


I left the cake covered overnight and I had some for morning tea the next day. This was so moist, full of taste. It didn't need the cream cheese icing, it was delicious as a spiced loaf on its own.
SO good, just like my grandma used to make!

Lauren x

{Slow Cooker Lasagna}

Well, as my last post suggests, It has been a busy week with our eldest son starting school last week and our youngest son starting per-school today.

I wanted to be organized with meals. You see, when my boys get tired, they can get quite grumpy. Add settling into a new routine of full time kindy / preschool to the mix and it's a recipe for disaster and a week worth of 2 minute noodles for dinner in the making (I hope I am not the only one)!!!

Enter the slow cooker. I prepared my lasagna as per usual.
- meat sauce (with grated veggies)
- béchamel sauce (can use ricotta for lower fat option)
- and lasagna sheets (I like the fresh ones best).

Then I simply assembled in the slow cooker as if I would with a normal dish. I made it just after lunch time and put my slow cooker on the 'keep warm' setting. It didn't need cooking, as all the parts are pre-cooked, it just warming through to cook the pasta sheets.

When I arrived home after school pick up, the house smelled divine! Simply dished up with a salad and everyone emptied their plates with big grins. Happy family = happy mummy :)

Enjoy;
Lauren x