When I became a parent, I became a lazy cook. I used to love experimenting with new recipes and spending ages in the kitchen chopping and preparing ingredients, adjusting seasonings, and balancing flavours. But then kids came along, and I barely had the energy to cook at all. Cooking dinner was a necessity, rather than […]
Christmas Tree Scones
Last week was my daughter’s class Christmas party, and this week is my son’s. Boys had to bring in something savoury, but I still wanted it to have a Christmas-y touch. Christmas tree scones were perfect! I mixed up a buttermilk scone dough with parmesan for a cheesy taste. The scones were cut out with […]
Christmas Rocky Road
It’s Christmas and sometimes you need something loaded with sugar to get you through the days. This Christmas Rocky Road will definitely give you (or the kids) a sugary buzz! For my daughter’s kindy class party, the girls had to bring something sweet and the boys something savoury. Woohoo! Just the excuse I need to […]
Simple Apricot Walnut Slice to Share
It’s heading towards the end of the year, and reasons to get backing are coming in thick and fast. School Christmas parties, gifts for friends and neighbours, and just having to feed the kids each day. But energy levels are dropping, as we head into the festive season. I don’t have the time and energy […]
Sweet Potato and Capsicum Hash
It’s Day 30 of my Whole30 challenge (yay!), and it’s time to share my favourite recipes from the month. I’ve mostly stuck with foods I typically eat, but put my creative hat on to add a bit more flavour. I’ve enjoyed the extra challenge to make sure I didn’t feel deprived. For breakfast most days, […]
My Whole Thirty: the beginning
Today, I started a Whole30 challenge. If you’re not familiar, it’s a 30 day challenge to eat whole foods – meat, fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds. That means no grains, dairy, added sugar or alcohol. Thankfully, coffee’s allowed, so I don’t have to worry about kicking that at the same time as sugar! Why am […]
Space-Themed Birthday Party Food
Last week, I shared the games we played for my son’s space-themed birthday party. Today, I’m going to share the space-themed birthday party food. Planets and Space Sugar Cookies I’m always looking for an excuse to make sugar cookies and practice my cookie decorating techniques (which still needs a LOT of practice!). When I started […]
Teaching kids to cook the right way!
Before I had kids, I had visions of us in the kitchen, preparing meals together. Quality family time while the kids learnt the skills to last a lifetime. It’s so important for everyone to know how to prepare healthy, tasty meals. When my son was born, I used to put him in the high chair […]
Pretty Packaging for Christmas Foodie Gifts
Christmas is a great time of year to bake up a storm (thankfully there hasn’t been any pre-Christmas heatwaves here!). You’ve made mountains of cookies and other sweet treats, and it’s time to give them out to friends, teachers, neighbours or customers. You could throw them in a plastic bag and call it done, but […]
Fruit Smoothie for Beginners
My health kick continues in fits and starts. I still lapse into old habits just a little too easily. One way I kick-start my healthy eating (and keep going back to when I get off track) is smoothies. I’m not big breakfast eater and a smoothie for breakfast is a nice way to start the […]
Tomato and Basil Quiche
I recently bought a box of saucing tomatoes from a fruit and veg co-op, but the tomatoes were much better quality than I expected. I still filled all the empty bottles in the house with tomato and barbecue sauce (recipes coming soon…), but I had lots of perfect tomatoes leftover. Tomato and basil quiche was […]
Spelt Buttermilk Bread {recipe}
Way back at the start of 2012, I set myself the goal to go a month with no store-bought bread products. Well, it’s taken me a while, but I’ve now got into the routine of making almost all of our bread. (The only exception is my hubby likes to wrap sausages in cheapo white bread […]
Sweet Potato Pasta with Salami and Kale
After attending a raw foods workshop last year, I bought a vegetable spiralizer (similar to this one – affiliate link), keen to make my own zucchini noodles. The only problem is, I’m not a big fan of zucchini. So I haven’t used it very much. When Spiral Foods sent me a selection of organic pasta […]
Chicken, Pesto and Corn Scrolls Recipe
Last week, I started making another batch of pizza scrolls for my son’s lunch box. When I went to the fridge for the fillings, I spotted some leftover chicken meat (from making broth) and corn kernels (can’t remember what they were from!). So I decided to change tack and make something a little fancier. I used […]
Nut bars {recipe}
I’m not a fan of muesli bars. The oats feel heavy in my stomach. I’m also a bit fussy and don’t like dried fruit with nuts. So it’s hard to find the perfect snack bar for me – lots of nuts, a little sweet and with a good crunch. When I finally find one that […]
Sundried Tomato & Feta Quiche {Recipe}
I’ve seriously got to get better at menu planning. Most days, I get to late afternoon and then scrounge around for something to cook for dinner. At least I’m building a repertoire of “pantry and fridge” recipes – meals made from items I usually on hand. So today, it’s sun-dried tomato and feta quiche. They […]
Super-Quick Couscous Salad Recipe
Last Thursday evening, I had a headache, was tired from a week of sick kids and just didn’t feel like cooking. About the time I should have been cooking, I rang my hubby to see if he was on his way home (with the hope that maybe he’d left the office on time and could […]
Vanilla Marshmallow Stars Recipe
There’s always someone on your Christmas list who’s difficult to shop for. They have everything they need and don’t give any hints about what to give them (hmmm, that sounds a bit like me!). If they’re are a bit of a foodie or love baking, the RedBalloon MarketPlace has gourmet gift box subscriptions (they’re not […]
Popcorn Christmas Tree Tutorial
While thinking about what food to make for my son’s Kindy Christmas party next week, Popcorn Christmas Trees popped into my head and I just had to make them straight away. My first thought was to use green candy melts, but I didn’t have any (and I’ve just about hit that point where I don’t […]
Baby Steps to a Healthier Family
Things have been quiet on the blog lately. Energy and self-discipline are areas of my life that I’ve struggled with in the last few years, and it’s time for change. This winter has been non-stop colds in this house, passing between my two kids and me (and occasionally my husband, but not quite so often). […]
Incaberry and White Chocolate Cookies
Have you tried Incaberries? They are the latest superfood – high in fibre and anti-oxidants and packed with nutritional goodness. But do they taste any good? I was sent a sample of incaberries to try, and was pleasantly surprised. (Image source: Incaberry.com.au) I’m hit and miss when it comes to eating dried fruit. I like […]
Chicken Fajitas Recipe
We’ve recently become a camping family – I haven’t done a lot of camping so it’s a big learning curve. Luckily, we’ve got a camper trailer, so it’s not too rough! For all three of our camping expeditions, we’ve wanted an easy meal for the first night, after setting up camp. Chicken Fajitas has become […]
Cupcake Roses
My husband turned one of those milestones that end with a zero last month. We had a casual afternoon/evening barbecue party, with friends coming and going as they pleased – definitely easier for families with kids. I made most of the food for the party (and cursed myself for giving myself the stress in the […]
Vegetarian “Sausage” Rolls
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to feed my kids (and myself) less processed foods (or at least, process the foods myself, so I know what’s going in them). My kids love sausage rolls, but they contain “mystery meat”. Buying sausage meat to make your own is not much better, so I tried this […]