recipes for the sweet tooth!

soI never used to be much of a sweet tooth, always opting for a second helping of dinner over dessert; then about a year ago something changed and I fell in love with eating desserts as well as just making them! cheesecakes, black forest, mousse, custards, mudcake, ganache, choc chip cookies, muffins, macaroons... SO YUMMY!!
As time goes on, I am getting much better at baking and today I would like to share two yummy sweet recipes with you- the yummiest choc chip cookies I've ever made and some delicious and easy vanilla bean custard!

so without further ado:

PUFFY CHOC CHIP COOKIES!
these cookies are crunchy on the edges and chewy in the middle like a subway cookie! so good!
makes about 40
approx 73calories per cookie.

Ingredients:
130g salted butter
1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup SR flour
1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of choc chips (I used cadbury dream and milk chocolate melts- chopped)

How to:
1. line 2 (or 4) trays with baking paper. preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcuis. (200 degrees if not fan forced)
2. Beat butter, vanilla and sugars together until creamy, add the egg and beat for about one minute on high until well incorporated- scraping the sides down as you go.
3. add the flours together and mix in well with a spatula until there are no flour lumps.
4. add the choc chips and mix well.
5. roll into teaspoon sized balls and place on baking paper trays about 5 cms apart to avoid them joining while baking.
6. bake for about 10-13 minutes or until they are puffy and lightly golden around the outside but still very soft. the longer you leave them in the crunchier they will be.
7. ENJOY!

Making time for the important things...

It's really hard some days to prioritise the things I have on my plate, and when a moment to rest comes along I can never decide if I should take it, or if I should push on and hope another oportunity shows itself soon!
For the last few weeks ive been crazy busy with school routine, baking, cake decorating, trying to sort out some business things, maintain friendships, get in an hour of gym a day, maintain my relationship.... and so the list goes on! I have been doing heaps of cooking lately but havent had much time for recipe writting, which unbalances me as I really love the escape that writting brings me! I guess this is just one of those times in my life where things just need to keep running and I just need to keep up!! Sink or swim, as they say.

While this year promises many big things for me and my little family, I must remember that the real joy to be found isnt in far off plans or ideas for tomorrow... it is about RIGHT NOW!! choosing all the small moments to really embrace exactly who I am, who I want to be and appreciate every second that I have with the people I love!!

I'm just about to run off to snuggle my babies to sleep and clean the kitchen after a big day of baking so im going to promise to be back in the next few days with some fresh new recipes, but until then, here is my Favourite breakfast recipe, this one is quickly becoming my go-to breakfast and I just throw on a whole heap of salad ingredients I have in my fridge. Very, very yummy and not too bad for you either! I team this wrap with a banana and a glass of water and it keeps me going all morning! no need for morning tea, which is helpful if you're watching your calories! You can replace the bacon with some low fat ham or just omit it all together.

MUSHROOM AND BACON BREAKFAST WRAPS:

youll need -
2 rashers of bacon
4 large button mushrooms
1 egg
cucumber (1/2 cup grated)
carrot (1/3 cup grated)
handful of rocket
low fat mayo (1 tsp)
grated cheese (optional)

how to-
1. In a frypan, fry the bacon and mushrooms together until the bacon is crispy and the mushrooms are nicely browned. remove them from the frypan and quickly fry the egg, scrambling it as it cooks.
2. lay out a fresh lebanese bread (or wrap, mountain bread etc) and spread on the mayo. Put the cucumber, carrot and rocket on the wrap and add the cheese if you'd like.
3. Add the bacon, mushrooms and egg to the wrap and fold it however youd like.
4. ENJOY!!

Huge garden chilli harvest = Chilli con carne!

My vegetable garden has been quite successful over the last 8 months or so, bringing in a pretty constant stream of herbs, silverbeet, rocket, cherry tomatoes and CHILLI! My chilli bush has been thriving in the last few weeks and I like to wait until I have six or more huge red ones to go with all the small ones before I bust out this recipe.
My favourite spicy, hot, comfort food is chilli con carne! I dont think I've ever met a recipe for this that I dont like! Served with spring onion, sour cream and corn chips and you cant go wrong!! I'm still working on my recipe... I dont think I will ever have a final version, so for now, here is my Chilli con carne recipe.

Chilli con carne

you'll need:

600grams beef mince or diced beef.
1 small brown onion
4 tbsp ground cumin
1tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp hot paprika
1 tbsp minced garlic
8-12 small green or red chillis (I used a combination of both)
2 spring onions sliced (1 to serve)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 jar of passata
fresh corriander
2 tins of bertolli beans (or any beans you like)
1 beef stock cube
1.5 litres of water
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

The how to:

1. Slice up the spring onions and put half in a big stock pot and put the other half to the side for garnish. slice the brown onion and all your chillies, add them to the pot with the olive oil, salt and pepper and garlic and let that fry off for a minute or two. try not to breathe the smoke in because it will BURN your eyes and throat.

2. After a few minutes of browing the onion and chillies you can throw in the mince (or meat) and the oregano, cummin and paprika and brown that really well. If it starts to stick to the pan feel free to add some more olive oil.

3. After the meat is browned add your tomato paste to the meat and chillies and fry that off for a couple of seconds before adding in the stock cube, 2 tins of beans (juice included) and the water. stir until well combined.

4. Throw in the fresh corriander (as much as you'd like) and the jar of passata. Boil and reduce this for 45-60 minutes, adding more water if you need it along the way.

5. Serve on rice, as tacos/tortilla wraps or with sour cream, shallots and corn chips!  ENJOY!

perfect pikelets...

I love pikelets... pancakes are ok but I much prefer the smaller, bite-sized version! Before I first started baking I used to google pancake recipes and never really liked any of the ones that I tried; they were either too soggy or too sticky or they would burn before they cooked, so I gave up for a long time.
It wasnt until recently that I thought about it and decided that the key would be using a combination of flours and keep it simple! After months of making this recipe im yet to screw it up and it makes the perfect afternoon snack, lunchbox treat and it is so versatile! hence the name 'perfect pikelets'. You can add fruit or sugar or syrups to sweeten them or you can top them with ham/tuna/salmon and cream cheese or a delicious chutney! The options are endless.

This afternoon I made my favourite- blueberry pikelets and drowned them in maple syrup!

For the pikelets you'll need:
(makes 12 small pikelets)

1 egg
1/3 cup plain flour
1/3 cup of self raising flour
1/2 cup milk.
* I also added 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries.
 (you can get these from coles or woolies in the frozen section, a 1KG bag for $8.99!)

How to:
whisk together your ingredients and use a dessert/soup spoon to measure out each pancake into a pan on a loww, even heat. cook for about 40 seconds each side or until little bubbles form. they should be a light golden colour on both sides when cooked. I make them in batches of three so they are easy to flip.

serve with your desired toppings.

*these are great to make in big batches and freeze for school lunches. spread with butter and honey before freezing and by lunchtime they are defrosted and ready to go!

oh great, a new addiction is not what I need right now!

I want to start off by saying... Telstra pretty much sucks!! I havent been able to get on the internet to do these recipes for over a week because telstra barred my internet because my account had an overdue amount on it that wasnt even mine and it took them a week to fix their own mistake!!! So I've been a little missing in action and now I have three very yummy recipes for you! Starting off with a Chicken, chickpea and beetroot salad, then some chilli con carne and I'll follow that up with some blueberry perfect pikelets. I will do the recipes in seperate posts with photos so you can find them easily again.


My first recipe came about because I discovered ROASTED CHICKPEAS! who knew these crunchy little devils could be so delicious?? well apparently quite a few of you did and I've been living under a rock! They have instantly become my new addiction and I skipped dinner last night so I could eat these instead!!

To me, these roasted chickpeas scream salad!! I started dreaming about what would be in this salad of awesomeness... at the markets last week I went in search of some deliciously fresh ingredients; my list included fresh basil, parsley, corriander, fresh beetroot and rocket. Next was a trip to woolworths to fetch my delicious roasted chickpeas and some other fresh ingredients.

Grilled chicken, chickpea and beetroot salad.

For the salad you'll need:
(to feed 4 people)
2 chicken breasts (diced)
1 tbsp turmuric
Olive oil
1tsp minced garlic
fresh basil
fresh corriander
fresh parsley
packet of rocket
cucumber (diced)
2x tomatoes (diced)
fresh beetroot (sliced)
1/4 pumpkin (sliced)
1/2 packet of chic nuts

for the dressing:
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup dijon mustard
1/3 good quality ceasar dressing
- dash of tabasco or chilli sauce if you like it spicy.
whisk together until well combined.

Heres how to assemble the salad:

1. rub the diced chicken breasts with turmuric, garlic, some of the fresh herbs and olive oil and throw into a frypan and cook until browned. put aside.

2. put the raw beetroot and pumpkin slices on an oven tray with some olive oil and salt and pepper for about  30 minutes at 200 degrees.

3. divide and tear up the (washed) basil, parsley and corriander leaves into four seperate bowls and throw in the rocket, diced cucumber and tomato.

4. add 1/4 of the grilled chicken to each salad and top with roasted beetroot and pumpkin. throw in a hand full of chic nuts and drizzle with the dressing.

5. ENJOY!

Note: This salad would work really well with pretty much any variation! I added some bean sprouts and grated carrot the second time I made this salad and my partner added crispy bacon bits!
* for a lighter dressing balsalmic vinegar would go great!

In full swing...

I certainly feel alive these days!! so much going on, so many cake bookings and everything is just crazy!
My big girl is settled in nicely at school and eagerly anticipating her first full week of school. Business is coming along nicely with lots of cake bookings for the coming months, so life is looking quite exciting really!
The rain has been crazy on the gold coast in the last week... dirty clothes are piling high, kids are feeling very restless being stuck indoors and we are quickly running out of wet weather activities to keep them happy! "movie day" just doesnt sound as exciting for the 8th day running!!

Waking up to yet another rainy day I decided that it was a french toast and Nespresso kind of morning, i meandered around the kitchen cooking my breakfast when I was presented with  a rare oportunity to sneak out of the house without a baby or two in tow!! My sister and I headed to the local farmers markets to grab a weeks supply of fresh fruit and veges... half of the stall holders were missing and the lack of crowds meant that we could grab ourselves a bargain without fighting through the crowds! We scored a heap of yummy fruit and veges for less than $20 and finished off our trip at the french bakery stall...$6 and two delicious loaves of super fresh bread later we made our way home.

I didnt have to think long about what I was going to do with these:

Basil, beef and Vegetable soup!!

Wet weather makes me a bit soup crazy... well to be honest, any excuse is a good excuse for soup! there is something very homey and calming about cooking and eating soup... any kind will do! But today with a huge bunch of basil and some fresh silverbeet growing in my garden there was no other option for me.

For the soup you'll need:

1 large carrot
2 medium zuchinnis
2 spring onions
1/4 cauliflower
2 tsbp olive oil
1tbsp minced garlic
200gms diced rump steak
1 tbsp turmeric
1tbsp cummin
can of chickpeas (juice as well)
2L of water or vegetable stock
1 cup of passata.
large handful of fresh basil leaves (plus some to garnish)
3 leaves of silverbeet
parsley and chives (optional)
fresh crusty bread to serve.

Here's how to do it:

1. Slice and dice your zuchinnis, carrots, spring onions, cauliflower and throw into a stock pot with the olive oil and minced garlic, brown well.
2. sprinkle in the turmuric and cummin and add the diced rump steak, brown well.
3. pour in the stock and chickpeas and bring to the boil.
4. add the cup of passata, sliced silverbeet and rip up the basil leaves and add to the pot. boil for 20-40 minutes.
5. just before you serve throw in some more basil and the finely sliced parsley and chives, serve with fresh crusty bread and ENJOY!

HAVE A FABULOUS WEEK!!

My new kind of normal...

Reality has finally hit me and it feels like this whole "school mum" thing could definitely be my new kind of normal! We had our first day today and, surprisingly, there were no tears from either of us!

Packing her lunch and doing her hair I felt so incredibly proud to be her mumma! I knew when we arrived and she jumped straight into playing and drawing without any backwards glances that we had done our job right! We nurtured her and encouraged her every step of the way and now we just need to sit back and watch her do her own thing. It is beautiful to watch!

And as the school year starts and my cake making calender is filling up fast it is time to share some food love!
here is my first lunchbox recipe for 2012!

Bacon, Zucchini and cheese muffins:
(makes 18)

You'll need:


3 rashers of bacon
1 small onion
1 cup of self raising flour
2/3 cup of olive oil
2 small grated zucchinis
4 eggs
1 cup of grated cheese


How to:


1. grease or line two muffin trays and preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
2. dice your bacon and onion finely and brown in a frypan with a tbsp of olive oil until tender and the bacon is cooked.
3. in a bowl sift your flour and add your grated zucchini.
4. in a seperate bowl add the eggs, bacon and onion together and whisk well.
5. add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until well combined but be careful not to over stir or your muffins will be tough.
6. spoon mixture into the muffin trays and top with grated cheese.
they should look like this;

7. cook in the oven for 18-22 minutes or until they look like this:

These muffins freeze perfectly and are great for lunchboxes!!
I serve them cut in half and spread with low fat cream cheese and serve with salad so they are great for Mum's and Dad's too!