Honey and Peanut Butter ice cream

Bearing in mind that I'm engaged in Operation Fatten Up, I'm thrilled with this calorific creation. So are my little guys. 

Ingredients- 

200ml pure cream, full fat*

2 heaped tablespoons smooth organic peanut butter 

2 heaped tablespoons wild honey 

2 tablespoons full fat plain yoghurt. 

The method is a cinch- in my kitchenaid I whipped the ingredients all at once on a moderately high speed (7) for about 90 seconds. That is IT! 

I fully intended to add in some white chia seeds, LSA, for extra nutritional value, but I got so carried away with joy when I saw the awesome frothy mix that I just poured into my ice cream moulds and set it. 

This is divine. Absolute LOVE.

* a note on creams. Have you spent as much time as I have reading the ingredients of cream in the supermarket? Not just a humble dairy product, all but one product in my supermarket are laden with gelatine or vegetable gums as thickeners and I think we should, as consumers, push for it to be labelled something different altogether. Cream should be cream, full stop.

QUIT COFFEE FOR A CAUSE.

I love food.

I love to play around with it. Experiment with recipes. It's both an art form and a pleasure to me. But it is also a privilege, a fact that was uncomfortably washing over me as I watched tonight's news.

A woman was being interviewed and the first thing that caught my eye was the beautiful, hand stitched fabrics behind her as she spoke. Then it was the baby huddled earnestly in her lap. Intrigued, I turned off my hissing pot of mushrooms and stepped closer.

This mother to four children is a refugee from Syria, and she was detailing the food shortages plaguing their interim camp. Her children, she said with a stoicism that made my eyes moisten with unshed tears, are often lethargic from not having eaten enough.

As I looked at the scraps of eye fillet my own children had thrown over the side of their plates in a sort of post-dinner game, my tummy rolled with guilt. 

I think about my children's nutrition a lot. Particularly my littlest one, who is considered undersized (if she were a fish, you'd throw her back to sea). But they're both active, happy, and hitting their milestones. 

And as I turned my attention back to this woman on the tv in the middle of my chaotic and comfortably first-world lounge room, I stared into her eyes and felt our connection. Our bond. She's a mum, I'm a mum, and I could see her desperation, how she was trying to stay calm for her children despite the turmoil in her eyes. 

What can I do to help this woman, and so many like her across the world, struggling to get their children the basic nutrients they need on a daily basis?

Well, like a lot of people in our culture, I have a coffee a day habit. Woops. Let me clarify. I have a Bought Coffee per day habit. My in-home consumption doesn't bear discussion. So that's $4.50 that I spend without really thinking about it. Every day. That's $135.00 in a month. 

What if I were to give up bought coffees for a month, and instead put that money aside to donate at the end of my thirty days? I'm going to call it Quit Coffee for a Cause. You know that old expression about Misery Loving Company? That's definitely applicable here. I want you to join me. You can still cheat like me and have your home brew! Just think what this tiny period of self-deprivation could mean to someone struggling to obtain the basics in life. 

Care.org is a charity with many pledges of support and according to their website, $66 can feed a whole family for two weeks. So by simply not buying myself a coffee for the next month, I can help that woman with the tormented eyes and brave smile. Or another like her. I could feed their families for a month. Come on. Who's with me?

https://www.care.org.au/syria-donate

Cheese & Beetroot toasties

These are made on thin wholegrain bread, spread with local goats cheese, a vintage cheddar and a Beetroot jam, also crafted locally. I pressed them quickly- then had to fall on my sword and try half of one, you know, just to make sure the jammy jam didn't get too molten. It's a tough job but someone has to do it! They are seriously yum. 

Dino-Boy turns 3

          

      

My little guy turned three years old last week and we celebrated with a bang. In our house, everything is celebrated with good food, and champagne for the grown ups, and this was no different. 

On the menu for this afternoon-tea-time bash was a range of dinosaur themed snacks. "Sharp tooth" sandwiches (egg, and ham), t-Rex toenails (organic plain corn chips), home made flapjacks (gluten free), bliss balls (gluten free), my mother in law's yummy dips and vegetable crudités, and a ferocious fruit platter complete with rockmelon dinosaur head sculpture.

I made some jars with dinosaurs on top and filled them with good quality sweets. Whilst the kids at a three year old's party are old enough to know that lollies are a must-have, the jars were too small for little fingers so all junkie consumption had to be sanctioned by grown ups. I thought it was a good compromise. 

The cake was gluten free and organic, and I halved the sugar in the recipe (and used organic raw caster sugar) and 80% dark chocolate. I made a ganache with the same dark chocolate, proper cream and australian organic unsalted butter, and did ten layers in all. Phew. 

Happy birthday to my beautiful dino-boy, who brings us Tyrannosaurus Rex proportions of pleasure every day <3

Salmon crepes

On our brekkie bar today, crepes filled with soy and wasabi salmon and cream cheese. Aka- last night's dinner rehashed ;)

Thai corn cakes with Greek tzaziki

It's a multicultural delight that shouldn't  work, and yet it does. 

Deliciously piquant Thai flavoured corn cakes served with a zesty tzaziki. 

For the corn cakes, I mixed a tin of corn kernels with a handful of torn basil leaves, finely grated zucchini, diced capsicum, half a red onion sliced, a tablespoon of red curry paste, two whisked eggs and 3/4 cup whole grain spelt flour. I fried them quickly until lightly browned then finished in the oven at 200'c for 15 minutes . 

For the sauce, I mixed a clove of crushed  garlic with finely diced cucumber and organic Greek yoghurt until combined. 

This was an absolute hit. Easy dinner, and pretty nutritious and tasty.

Spelt and Coconut Bircher Muesli

This is a kick ass way to start the day. All the better because you do the prep work the night before and just spoon in the next day. I went through a phase last summer of preparing Bircher muesli in baby food jars so I had my brekkie ready to go the next day. Such a great way to make sure you get a good hit of nutrients when you are rushing around in the morning. 

This muesli recipe has the added benefit of being pretty virtuous. I mixed spelt rolled oats with about 1/4 cup organic coconut paste (amazing ingredient, especially for diabetics like me as it's lower carb than it's sweetening counterparts and is completely natural). I also added 1/2 cup mixed dried fruit and around six figs, sliced lengthways. Stir together with 1/2 cup low fat milk and 1/2 cup low fat organic yoghurt (the one I buy is lower in sugar than full fat, check the label). To serve I topped with extra yoghurt, strawberries and some whole Brazil nuts.