Lemon and Chia Seed Muffins

Lemon and Chia Seed Muffins these are so delish you wont want to share!

Ingredients:

½ Cup Castor Sugar

¾ Cup Desiccated Coconut

2 Cups Self Raising flour

½ teaspoon Baking Powder

100g melted Butter

1 1/3 cup Milk

1 egg

1 Zest of 1 lemon

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

2 Teaspoon Chia Seeds

Method:

Start with a large bowl and mix together Sugar, Coconut, Flour and Baking Powder.

In a small bowl (I use a jug) mix together your milk and egg then add your butter.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Fold in the Vanilla, Lemon Zest and Chia Seeds.

Spoon into a greased or sprayed Mini Muffin tin about ¾ full in each one. I use patty papers so they are easily removed and a bit stronger for the lunch boxes.

175 degrees Celsius fan forced for approx. 15 -20 mins or just until the start changing colour on edges.

Tuna and Cauliflower Burgers

Tuna & Cauliflower Burgers

Really tasty lighter style burger pattie which is also awesome on its own.  

INGREDIENTS

300g Cauliflower
100g Broccoli
425g Tin of Tuna
1Tblsp Mint
1 Tblsp Chives
1 Tblsp Chia seeds
2 Eggs
2 Tblsp Wholemeal Flour


METHOD

Open and Drain your Tuna then leave to drain out some more.

Grate your Cauliflower and Broccoli (i grate in the stems if they go through easy if too hard just discard)

Roughly chop your Mint and Chives (i just use scissors)

In a large bowl lightly whisk up your eggs.

Mix in your Cauliflower, Broccoli, Chives & Mint.

Flake in your Tuna and then add your Flour and Chia seeds.

Now use your hands and give it a good mix and then leave to rest whilst you set up you plate or pan.

I usually fry these in some Sunflower oil in the fry pan or just with an oil spray on the BBQ plate.

Serve them as burger patties on a Bun with Salad or they also make a great lunchtime snack.

I've drowned mine here in Chilli Sauce you dont need to do that but its good :)

Cauliflower Patties - Yummy , Easy and Full of Goodness

Cauliflower Patties

 INGREDIENTS

200g Cauliflower
1 Egg
50g grated cheese
1 Tbls Wholemeal Flour
1 Tbls Chia Seeds
1 Tbls Tarragon


METHOD

Grate your Cauliflower. (I use as much stalk as will easily be grated if it gets woody just discard)

Roughly chop the Tarragon.

In a large bowl lightly whisk your egg.

Add your Cauliflower, grated Cheese and Chia seeds.

Stir in the Wholemeal Flour and Tarragon.

Leave your mixture to rest whilst you prepare your pan.
I lightly fry these in Sunflower oil over medium high heat. leave on one side for few minutes before turning. If its sticking just leave another twenty seconds and try again.

Rest on paper towel and season before serving.

These are really tasty served as a side or as a main with vegetables and salad

You may also like to see our Tuna & Cauliflower Burgers

Little Bellies Review and Giveaway

I don’t think I’m an overly strict mumma who only lets their children eat particular foods and I’m not a nutritionist or expert on snack foods but I do more than often by pass the snack and lunch box foods in the supermarkets for my own home made options or good ol’ fruit.  I have however found a brand I am loving and i'm so excited to tell you about them and even better we're lucky enough to have a giveaway on them! 

"little bellies" is an Australian Family Owned company who are trying to keep their kids and ours in  Organically certified healthier snack food options. 

I had the privilege of spending the morning with some of the"little bellies" family recently and trying their great range of healthier food options aimed at younger Children. 

 My little Miss also loved trying all the products and checking its throwing and eating off the floor suitability. Honestly I was surprised of how many products she actually enjoyed and the foods I thought she’d avoid are now on my permanent shopping list.

We love the Little Gingerbread Men made with whole-grains and sweetened only with grape juice, there are no added preservatives and no artificial colours or flavours. They are a little bigger than some smallish teddy bears you can buy which i find great because the little ones can hold them better and they tend to eat less of them as they bite them rather than guzzle them whole.

I've also used these recently as cake toppers and served them at parties as an alternative to chips.

All of my kids to my surprise are loving the cereal. I’m not sure whether its just because they are numbers or what but the Peach flavour seems to be a winner. I love the fact it is a cereal low in sodium and sugar and made only with organic ingredients.  We use this as a snack food, I take little containers of numbers with me for baby to snack on.  I have also used it as a number teaching exercise!

My favourite is the cheesy Fiddlesticks.  These a great we can demolish these so fast.  Serve with some dip or yoghurt and some vegies and you have a quick lunch done.   Great to pack in lunch boxes or if you're peckish in the middle of the night to dunk into some hommous.

 

If you’d like to know more about cooking, recipes and food info for babies and children you can visit Mandy over at  Little People Nutrition. Great website with lots of ideas. You can follow Mandy's facebook page too 

You can check out all the products on the "little bellies" website or on their facebook page. 

They are found in most the major supermarkets. Ours are in the baby food aisle. 

Insert drum roll here …

The fabulous Little Bellies family are generously giving one of our followers a gift pack of their goodies to try!   

Yay thank you.

All you have to do is enter via the Rafflecopter entry below.   Australian residents only.

Winners will be drawn Saturday 13^th July 2013.   

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted by Three Lil Princesses

REVIEW - My Lil Pouches

I have found these pouches to be really quite useful in my house. I originally heard about them through word-of-mouth and didn't know a product like this existed on the market, “What a great idea” I thought. So when we were asked to review them I jumped at the opportunity!

What I have loved about these pouches is being able to take Mister 7 months lunch or dinner out and about with us. I pop 2/3 cubes of frozen food in a pouch and by the time it’s his meal time the food has defrosted enough for him to enjoy. Easy As! Then when I get home I rinse it out and pop the pouch in the dishwasher with the days load.

Mister 7 months is now eating 3 solid (mushy) meals a day so I have to be prepared and these pouches are very handy for that. My usual meals consist of some sort of steamed veggie mix with meat and carbs. So I always slightly over steam some veggies, mash them and freeze it for Mister 7months for lunch the next day.

When Miss 2 doesn't eat all her Weetabix in the morning I simply pop the left overs in a pouch with a little honey or Milo and extra milk and she thinks it’s a special milk drink and finishes it off in minutes! If I can, I will make her a banana smoothie to have after breakfast or lunch. She loves it and is a big fan of the pouches.

So my review is as follows:

I like this product because;

• They take up hardly any space in our overcrowded cupboard.
• The press lock seal makes it easy to fill and close.
• It can be used for babies (all foods), toddlers & children (yogurts, jellies, smoothies, juices)
• They are really tough and feel like they will last forever.
• The bright colour packaging make it fascinating for babies and toddlers & it’s easy to find them when digging through the Tupperware cupboard.
• They’re recyclable!
• It’s simple to purchase them online and you can by more lids if you lose them (this is a big plus for me, if something it too hard, I don’t bother with it)
• They are lightweight so easy to carry around on out and about days
•  I can pop them in the dishwasher and that is always a big positive for me!

     The negatives;

• They can be a bit of a struggle to wash and dry if you’re doing it by hand. When you have a young baby you need anything to be super clean and hygienic so you really have to get into the corners of the inside of the pouch. They take a while to drip dry completely. I had to shake the water out of them to help speed it along.
• They aren't for everyone. If your kids like to suck or drink from those types of squeezy yogurts/pre-made fruit mixes/jelly mixes then they will like these but if not they might not be a fan.
• They don’t fit a whole heap in there (200ml). Bigger kids might not be as satisfied with the one pouch.

Overall, I LOVE this design and product and I will recommend them to others. 

Favourite recipe for Miss 2: banana, honey and Greek yogurt OR Weetabix, honey and milk.

Favourite recipe for Mister 7 months: Plain old steamed pumpkin or carrot (he seems to likes the orange stuff!)

We've found lots of other great other uses for them: 

Storing dry baby formula and protein powder for outings.

Storing leftover cake icing for later use. Can be squeezed out like a piping bag onto cupcakes.

Carrying Milk when going on a picnic for coffees.

Storing and Freezing Pestos and Curd's.

Making and mixing salad dressing.

You can visit and contact My Lil Pouch below

We'd love for you to pop over to their Facebook page and "like". Tell them we sent you.

http://www.mylilpouch.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/MyLilPouch

Email: iwant@mylilpouch.com.au

We did receive some "My Lil Pouches" to review these products.  

All opinions and words are our own (or our kids) 

Christmas Vegetable Cakes

written by: bel

Testing out the Christmas recipes before Christmas is always a good idea however who has the time, desire or kilos to spare ?!  So I'm flicking through a few and reporting back to try and help us all find some some good ones for the festive season.  

We've done Mini Fruit Mince Cakes from the Nov/Dec of the good ole Woman's Weekly  

Here is one from Delicious December/January 2012 Its from the Guest Chef Trine Hahnemann who has a new book Scandinavian Christmas.

Mini Root Vegetable Cake with Horseradish Cream.

We were mixed about this one, two saying they liked the texture but not so much the taste and two saying they liked the taste but not so much the texture  but all agreed they were nice and are a good 'base' for something like the Horseradish cream. It really does need that one more thing. 

We had them in tuna and salad rolls the next day for lunch and they were beautiful.

I liked them but of course being root vegetables and from a book called Scandinavian Christmas they are a winter food not a summer one so if you're doing a traditional roast they'll be fine. If you're doing the light meal maybe seafood then skip this and safe it for your next Christmas in July.

The combination of Beetroot, Parsnip, Almonds and Oats were just too intriguing and they look really pretty in the magazine.   I found them to be pretty easy to make and i had all ingredients but the beetroot on hand.

250g of each grated Beetroot and Parsnip
1/3 cup blanched Almonds finely chopped ( i used flaked)
2 tbs chopped Thyme
1 tsp ground Ginger
1 cup Rolled Oats
3 Eggs lightly beaten ( i used four)
1/4 cup Olive oil
parsley to serve

You just grate up all the vegetables. Stir in the oats, almonds, egg and oil and leave for an hour. It does say to use blanched almonds finely chopped, i didn't have time for that so i just crushed by hand some flaked almonds and they were fine.

 Squeeze them into little balls it says 16 and i think i got 14 so close enough but that was because I did find when cooking them that they did fall apart a little so i threw them all back in added another egg and made them slightly bigger than it looks in the picture. They were then fine. 

 You cook them either side in pan and then put on baking tray and bake for another twenty minutes.  

You can make them ahead and just warm them in the oven before serving so that part i was keen on. 

Don't forget to put the Horseradish cream on when you take the photo.  (ah bugger) 

The Full Recipe and method can be found in the Dec/Jan Delicious Magazine.

I served these with couple of roast potatoes and another recipe from the December/January Delicious

 Turkey Roulade with Sage Stuffing.

Linking up for Open Slather at :

Mini Fruit Mince Cakes

http://mumstakefive.blogspot.com.au/

written by: Bel


Who doesn't love a good Woman's Weekly Recipe :)

I tried to find the recipe on the AWW website but couldn't find it you can try to find it here :)
or it is in the November 2012  Issue "Christmas Countdown" section

This was really easy, only needed a few ingredients all of which most would have except maybe the fruit mince but it is Christmas.

You need 440g of fruit mince I only had a jar of 410g and didn’t want to open another jar for such a small amount.  1 jar was fine.   

Also on page 191 of this mag you can make the Maggie Beer Fruit Mince recipe. 

 Ingredients:

11/3 cups SR Flour

1/3 cup Brown Sugar

11/2 cups (440g) Fruit Mince

1/2 cup Olive Oil

1/3 cup Milk

1 egg

(250g ready made icing and 1/4 cup cachous. To cut stars and decorate as in the picture above. I didn't do this. mine are in the freezer and I'll just make some stars with fondant or something later on)

 The Method is easy. 

Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl.

Whisk the Fruit mince,oil,milk and egg together and then stir into the flour.

Put into mini muffin tin with little patty cases.  

 Bake about 15 mins at 180C fan forced.

It says it makes 40 you could stretch it to 40 I guess, but I don’t think I over filled them and I only got 32.  The ones in the mag are pretty level with the cases mine did go above.

Do we like them ?   

well yes but they are soooo sweet.  really really. 

If i make them again i will probably quarter the brown sugar if i add it at all.  

Bonus of these you can store in freezer uniced. 

I do need something for a morning tea in a couple of weeks so might use these as not even I could eat two with my cup of tea. 

Wheat,Yeast,Dairy & Egg Free Muffins & Product Review

FOOD FOR HEALTH PRODUCT REVIEW

Super healthy muffins http://mumstakefive.blogspot.com.au/

written by: bel

Last week i was lucky enough to receive some of the great products from Food For Health.


All of their products use the highest quality ingredients including sulphur-free fruit and are free of wheat, sulphur, dairy, yeast and cane sugar. The benefits and dietary requirements are clearly stated on the boxes which i found great when selecting a product.

 Narelle Plapp a Naturopath, was a Health Food Retailer and originally developed two homemade allergy-friendly muesli's to satisfy her patients’ digestive need. Mixing and packing her home-recipe muesli s on her kitchen table her feedback positive and demand grew. From there her Brand Food for Health has become one of Australia’s most trusted allergy-friendly health brands.

The range is pretty thorough - Muesli's, Clusters, Health bars, Kids snack bars and "bites". There is also two new ranges Berries and Dark Chocolate Antioxidant health bar and Ancient Grains health bar with Chia seeds and Yoghurt. Sounds good huh.


Banana Custard Filled Snack Bars

I really didn't think my kids would go for these bars.  They don't usually like this filled style of bar.  Well i was completely wrong on this. even the little seeds on top of the bars didn't deter them.  I admit i have been using them as bribery and i was the best mum when i pulled one out for the after swimming lessons I'm starving snack.   Master four really loved them and now asks for the Monkey bars.  I'm loving the fact they are amongst other goodness, gluten and sulphur free.

The Fibre Cleanse Muesli


"It’s time to get serious and ensure your
insides get the nutrients and digestive
support they need.
Food For Health’s Fibre Cleanse Muesli
aims to help you maintain regular bowel
functioning and digestive support with a
mix of psyllium, oat bran, rice bran,
lecithin, magnesium and slippery elm
topped off with a delicious cinnamon  taste"

The ingredient list itself is pretty impressive : Organic rolled oats, oat bran, psyllium, linseeds, almonds, rice bran, linseed meal, sunflower seeds, lecithin, cinnamon, magnesium chelate & slippery elm. 

I had it on its own - Its pretty tasty and has a real Cinnamon taste - which is good for adults which i do understand the product is aimed at but there is no way MY kids would eat it.

So me being me i got creative :)

Fruit Salad and Fibre Cleanse Muesli layers with homemade apple custard 

This was so nice one of the best breakies I've had in a while (until you see the recipes below). I just layered apple, pear, blueberries and banana with muesli in between and topped it off with some homemade apple custard which i had made for the baby but that's ok she won't know :)

I went further and made some muffins which were great though they do contain Flour and Dairy.  You can find that recipe here: Banana and Blueberry Muffins .

A friend mentioned to me shes looking for wheat free, yeast free, dairy and egg free recipes and i thought i would take the challenge with this already fantastically healthy muesli and i made my muffins catering to all her requests.   I was surprised how good these actually tasted, they're pretty good even if i do say so myself.



Wheat free, Yeast Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free
 - Banana and Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients
3 medium Bananas mashed
1 cup Almond Meal
1 cup Coconut Milk
1 1/2 cups of Food for Health's Fibre Cleanse Muesli
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup frozen Blueberries
2 tbls spoon Olive Oil (you can use another oil)
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Cooking spray for your tin.

Method
Mash up your Bananas in a large bowl.
Add Sugar, Olive Oil and Vanilla stir it all in.
Then mix in the Almond Meal and Coconut Milk.
Fold in the Food for Health Fibre Cleanse Muesli and your Blueberries

Spoon evenly into a well greased muffin tin. I used Olive oil spray. I also sprinkled a little brown sugar and muesli on the tops before baking for no other reason other than to make them look pretty :)

Bake approx 1hr  at 160 degrees Celsius fan forced. I did give  little spray on top of the muffins about half way through, i thought the tops were getting a little dry.

12 yummy moist muffins that a great for breaky and snacks.

Thank you to Food for Health for sending me some products to try and create with.

Food for health have a website and a Facebook page Facebook page for creative ideas, product info, competitions and where you can find their products and when they're on special :)

Very Vegetarian Snack Plate

Written by: Bel

A couple of times a year we have friends come for a Pictionary war. Totally geeky i know but is such a laugh (and i think its only ended in a couple having a domestic once).

What to cook for entertaining is always fun for me and for this night i wanted something fast and easy to eat, dishes i hadn't done with them before, finger food and  it had to be Vegetarian.

http://mumstakefive.blogspot.com.au/

Kale & Parsnip Chips.
We've had this a couple of times now and its really good.

http://mumstakefive.blogspot.com.au/

Kale - wash well and then break up the leaves leaving them fairly big as they do shrink up when baked.   Spray with Olive Oil, season with salt & pepper and you're done.
Parsnip - I just peel it and then using the peeler make long strips (you can also use a mandolin). when buying the parsnip try and get one that is short and fat rather than long and skinny it makes the chips more evenly sized so they cook evenly.

http://mumstakefive.blogspot.com.au/

Vegie Pikelets

http://mumstakefive.blogspot.com.au/

I took the original idea from Salz Digital Cookbook  Blog.  Salawa made and listed Chick Pea Fritters which she said seemed to be missing something.  I also didn't use the Besan Flour from her recipe but took her advice and added some more things and i ended up with these little Vegie Pikelets which were beaut.  They'd be great as a base to some smoked salmon and horseradish cream . I did have them with some Pastrami, tomato and chutney for lunch next day, yummo.

RECIPE is HERE:Vegie Pikelets







Zucchini and Halloumi Croquettes

http://mumstakefive.blogspot.com.au/

I love making these as little patties but wanted something different so made them into croquettes.  I loved them.  Although Master four who is my official taste tester and  biggest fan said he didn't like them and they even smelt dig-ustering  (he still ate one so they couldn't have been too bad)

RECIPE is HERE: Zucchini & Halloumi Croquettes







Baby Bite Pizzas
Too Easy.  Using store bought Puff Pastry i just used a cookie cutter to cut little bases. Put them on a Baking Paper lined tray and topped with tomato pizza base and about three little piece of grated cheese.




I topped some with a tiny square of tasty cheese and a piece of mushroom a little pesto and the other was a little slice of tomato, a square of Halloumi and when they were nearly done a little fresh mint.

http://mumstakefive.blogspot.com.au/

Apparently these were a winner and the whole lot got eaten so that's always a good sign.

Recipes for the Croquette and Pikelets can be found following the links above.

Linking up with One Mother Hen   for Open Slather