Ice-creams ready to go......

Well, task for the day done, the cupcakes are ready for tomorrow, hoping the well packed tin will do the trick of holding them upright.....

PS - the tin held the cones upright, beautifully, even with my twisty turny driving! And the cones went down a storm with the pre-schoolers at our little club, the mums were very nice about them too - which is always a bonus. Good times.

'Mr Whippy' for winter

When it's too cold for real ice-cream but the wee ones want a cone , we will be turning to our 'Mr Whippy' style cupcakes.

Mr Whippy is a long held treasure in NZ.

I made a simple sponge cake batter and buttercream from scratch but you can just buy a packet of your favourite cake mix and use that instead, you also buy the buttercream icing premade and make it really easy on yourself.

I am keeping things simple and all vanilla as these are intended for mostly under two's at an activity club. So hopefully it'll just be sugar rush and no other side effects!

A huge hit in this house :)

To make about 15 cones

15 flat bottomed wafer ice-cream cones
3 oz butter
4 oz caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5 oz self-raising flour
2 tbsp milk (full fat)

Cream the butter and sugar together until it is fluffy and pale coloured, get as much air in as you can. Beat in one egg well, make sure it is incorporated well before adding the next egg. Beat well again.
Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
Add the flour and milk in batches, not all at once, beating all together so that you end up with a nice smooth batter.
Spoon the mixture into the cones so that the mixture falls all the way to the bottom of the cone and you fill it up to just over half way.
Bake the cones spaced out on a baking tray at 180 degrees celsius for around 15-20 minutes until they have risen well and you can test with a skewer to see it comes out cleanly.

Allow the cakes to cool on a rack before piping on a swirl of buttercream icing.

Buttercream icing - I used
3 1/2 oz softened unsalted butter
Approx 65 ml milk (you might need more if the icing is too dry and difficult to pipe)
1 tsp vanilla extract
12 oz icing sugar

Cream the butter. Do this for a few minutes so that it really fluffs up, air incorporation is the key here. Beat in the milk, the vanilla extract and half of the icing sugar (sifted in). It should be a fairly loose icing now. Continue by adding the rest of the sugar and beating well, you should have a spreadable/pipable consistency now. If it's too thick use a little more milk, if it's still too loose add more sugar, carefully (I often need differing amounts with different batches of icing). It's best just to have extra milk and extra icing sugar on hand to keep tinkering until you are happy.

You can add colours and flavours (omit vanilla and replace) if you like

Pooh Bear must have loved this too......

I am talking lemon curd. And no, I don't mean lemon jam or that mass produced pale yellow gloop often called curd.

I mean, honest-to-goodness, homemade, fresh eggs, fresh lemons kind of curd.

I use lemons from our trees (Yen Ben) and they are LARGE when ripe - we are talking an average length of 10cm and circumference at centre of 27cm. The skins are not perfect - we don't spray at all, nature takes it's course, skins are marked, nobbly and not very attractive at times, but oh so free of added 'nasties'.

What I absolutely love about this product is that no two batches will be spot on identical, there will be subtle differences in the lemons from the dates they were picked, the rainfall they had, sunlight etc etc that lead to differences in the acidity and taste of the juice. But that, for me, is the joy of growing your own food; being able to taste those subtle changes and to know that your food is real and not conforming to some production line statistic.

Another reality of this product is that it is highly perishable, in that I mean use within 4 weeks of making and keep in the fridge for the whole period. I do not sterilise (in the strict sense) the jar of lemon curd that is made for the eating or use now, and to be honest I only make lemon curd when I want to eat it as it doesn't last that long. The reason those identical jars on the supermarket shelf last so long....well look at the ingredient list.

The reason for this batch?

Well my wee cherub is one year old next week and she is getting a lovely birthday cake made by momma with our own lemons. So the curd was the first step ticked off the recipe list. All mommas out there know that you must tease out steps to a task into smaller managable chunks so that if it all goes pear shaped with the wee ones, you can fall back to the previous step at the next 'pick up' opportunity.

So, out came the old recipe, adapted from a Marguerite Patten book passed on to me from my (now deceased) mother-in-law. It was very hard to stop myself from constantly dipping into the jar with a spoon all afternoon!

In the region of half an hour to make

8 oz caster sugar
4 oz unsalted butter
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
grated rind of 2 large lemons
juice from 2 large lemons

As our lemons are very large you may want to double up on your lemons if they are very small :)

When grating the rind from the lemons try to avoid the white pith just underneath the yellow layer as this will impart a bitter tast to your curd.

Place all the ingredient except the eggs into a heatproof bowl and place this over a pan of simmering water (if you have a bain marie - great)

Stir from time to time as the butter melts and sugar dissolves.

Whisk all the egg and yolks together well.

Once completely melted, take the bowl from the pan and place on a wooden board. Whilst constantly stirring with a fork or whisk, slowly but steadily drizzle the egg mixture into the melted butter and sugar mix, incorporate into a smooth liquid. The key here is not having the egg going into a really hot mixture as it will immediately cook them into scrambled eggs. If you can see that happening (cooked egg white might start to float about), stop and leave the mixture to cool a little more. If you notice them once all the egg is already in (and it is more than just a couple of bits you can lift out with a spoon) you can always sieve the whole mixture now before thickening.

Once all the egg has been added, place back on the hot water pan and continue to cook, stirring from time to time until is thickens up. It should get to a thickness that will coat the back of a clean wooden spoon.

Pour into your jars and seal down.

If you do this in small jars you can sterilise the jars before hand and so the lemon curd will store out of the fridge. I always do it in one big jar as I intend consuming from then on and before it expires in four weeks time !

Biscuit bliss

We don't buy factory made biscuits any more, not since the littlies were born. I started taking more interest in what was in the ingredients list and was surprised to see so much more listed than one would have expected; preservatives, flavour enhancers, stabilisers.......so, we make our own and if we don't, well then there aren't any biscuits in the house to eat that day!

The first and everyday go to biscuit is the shortbread.  The recipe I use is so very simple and so very, very, tastey. I came across the recipe in the September 2007 edition of North & South Magazine, it was titled Shonagh's Shortbread.

Easy, delicious and moreish. My toddler often makes them with me and cuts weird and wonderful shapes. Anyone can make these and will love them.

250g butter
3/4 Cup castor sugar
1/2 Cup cornflour, sifted
2 cups flour, sifted

Cream the butter and sugar well, add the cornflour and flour. Knead well. At this stage you can either roll out the shortbread fairly thick and cut into pieces, or make long sausage shapes of the shortbread about the diameter of a sausage roll and cut slices from them. The second is quicker. Bake for about 35 minutes at 150 degrees celsius.

Porridge permutations and baby led weaning .....

How many ways can you make porridge exciting to a wee one? Well I have tried quite a few, the classic chunks of fresh fruit in it, dried fruit additions, natural rainbow sprinkles, honey, yoghurt, cream, chocolate sprinkles, crushed nuts, mini marshmallows, making faces in the porridge with said additions, getting the wee ones to 'throw on' their own (dangerous), making the porridge slightly thicker so it can be cut and held (this works especially well for cleaner baby led weaning, although baby actually prefers the sloppier version....I wonder why.......)

On to the flapjack/oat crunchies and smoothie presentation next me thinks.............

I am a huge fan of baby led weaning (technically we are emerging from that phase). Admittedly it was and still is messy in our house but the dogs help with the clear up......I just continue to try to 'let go' at meal times and relinquish my desire for control. I say continue to try as I fall back into old habits from time to time and the girls (well now it's the wee, wee one) remind me by throwing a tantrum and their food at me or the walls. Both wee ones didn't like being 'spoon fed' much, I admit I did a little of it with both, more to satisfy my need to know they were getting something down their necks, especially as the nurses kept telling me to get weight on number two wee one, but also because my babies didn't read the baby led weaning books and were demanding real food from around 4 and a half months so I had to play safe and do some mashing/puree-ing (they wanted calories in and were not capable of manipulating chunks of food). It didn't take long for their strength to grow and their dissatisfaction with spoon feeding to show more overtly!
They were/are happiest when digging in themselves. They LOVE food, they love lots of different foods, they will try lots of new things and have a wide palate compared to many other littlies. I loved the fact I didn't have to haul around huge quantities of prepared foods and the babies simply sat on my knees in cafes and restaurants and we ate from the same plate, I still love it. Don't get me wrong, we still have days when it all goes 'pear shaped' and I am sure I have thrown more food to the piggies in the pen than has entered the wee one's stomach but they never starve and of course this was all done in conjunction with breast feeding, so they often just felt like more breast milk and less joined up food and I was/am perfectly happy with that.

Silly Billyz sleeved bibs are a must in our house and save excessive staining on clothes, I really don't know what I would have done without them.....oh yes I do, when it's been warm enough the bubs have eaten naked............soooooo easy to clean them up then!

This is wee, wee one - 11 months and in total control of feeding herself, using cutlery and hands, managing all sorts of shapes, eating what we all eat. She thoroughly enjoys a good steak, in large strips to chew and suck on (she only has three little lower teeth so mostly gum chewing). A very happy eater :)

Another lunch time option for both 1 and 3 year olds:

The wee ones love just having picnic style lunches that they can eat with their fingers (steamed veggies like pumpkin, carrot, baby beetroot, orange wedges, sliced banana and avocado cubes)

Bread for the ankle biters......

So I made some bread today. Actually I didn't have enough plain flour for the standard white loaf so I 'adapted'. This can be a very foolish thing for the novice baker, but hey, you only live once I say, and what can it do? Kill me?.....Well I guess ultimately, if I am really, really bad at my choices........hmm.....

Heck no, Go for it! my inner self shouted out, you can always feed it to the chickens (like my first foray into the world of Sourdough.......but that's for another time).

So back to this loaf. Well actually I tend to bake two small loaves - using 1L loaf pans, partly because that's all I've got (I could buy a bigger pan, I know) but at the moment, it's mostly because the cherubs can handle the bread much more easily if it's their size (I can feel Maria Montessori on my shoulder nodding in support).

So these loaves, well I simply mixed in some fairly coarse organic Polenta/Maize Meal and a sprinkle of Artisan Admixture for fun.......and what came out? I hear you ask........

A pretty nice bread with 'teeth'. It had a denser, I hesitate saying slightly gritty texture (as I can see you pulling a face now....stop it!) but it was lovely. Not quite like the chewy pumpernickel but just a little, enough to give the bread some body - it held together for the cherubs as they ate it, it tasted great with just salted butter on it and they came back for more during the day - score!!!!

So I shall be making this again and it will also go on the 'school menu' as it made lovely sandwiches too.

 



I used two 1L small loaf pans

1/2 tbsp dried yeast
1/2 tsp organic sugar
450 ml warm water
1/2 oz lard
1lb organic stoneground white flour
1/2 lb organic polenta (plus a little artisan admixture)
1 tbsp iodised bread salt

Dissolve the sugar in the warm water then stir in the yeast.
Leave in a warm place for 10-15 minutes until foamy.
Rub the lard into the flour and salt, then stir in the yeast mixture.
Work together to form a firm dough, it should leave the sides of the bowl cleanly.
Place on a lightly floured surface and knead until no longer sticky and texture becomes more elastic and smooth.
Place the dough in a oiled clean bowl, cover and leave to rise - double in size, and springy to the touch.
Knead the dough again until firm and divide into 2 , shape and place in the loaf tins (oiled/greased).
Cover and leave for about 1 and a half hours or so until the dough reaches the top of the tins.
Bake at 220 degrees celsius (pre-warmed oven), for about 25 minutes - loaf should sound hollow what the base is tapped.






Mini meals

As the eldest wee one is starting pre-school in a few weeks I have begun the countdown by practising 'mini' recipes on my two cherubs. What I mean by 'mini' is that they are scaled down versions of normal recipes both in quantity and in presentation. It's important that the cherubs get real food, but it is also important to make it easy to fit in a lunch box and be handled with equal ease such that I can reduce the potential for full scale war on the school carpet or walls!

The first, and most exciting (according to eldest cherub) task was to purchase the lunch box, or munchbox as it is becoming known. We opted for the naked lunch route and bought a medium sized box that could hold a sufficient amount yet not be too load bearing on the cherubs shoulders as she carried it into the school in her back pack. Eldest cherub LOVES her nude lunch box and it has become a regular at home during mealtimes as we build up to the big day.

So today's menu included mini salmon quiche. They turned out 'just tasty momma' and that was a big tick for them!

They were cherub hand size, moist and so didn't crumble all over the table and there was not a scrap left from either cherub. These are on the 'school menu' now.

Shortcut Pastry (for 12 mini quiches)
1 cup of organic stoneground plain flour (I actually added a little organic wholemeal to the plain)
1/8 tsp salt
65g butter chilled (if you can get organic - great!)

Sift the flour and the salt together into a bowl. Cut/rub in the chilled butter until you get it looking a little like breadcrumbs. Mix it up into a stiff dough by adding a little water. Roll out thinly but without working it too much if you can help it.

Using a round cookie cutter that is just bigger than your mould circles cut out the quiche bases and lay in your mould. I used a silicone medium muffin mould. Spray the inside of the mould with oil before laying in your pastry. Place a piece of parchment over the pastry and weight down with pie beads. Blind bake at 200 degrees celsius for approx 8 minutes.

Remove from the oven and take off the parchment and beads before spooning in your salmon filling.

Return to the oven for a further 12-15 minutes.


Salmon Filling
a knob of butter
3/4 cup of cooked organic mixed beans (e.g. chickpea, kidney etc)
1/2 cup of flaked steamed (cooked) salmon
1/2 organic onion chopped
1/2 cup of organic milk
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped parsley
grated cheese

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and fry until soft, add the flaked salmon, parsley and the beans and toss gently. Stir in the flour and cooked until you see it just foaming. Add the milk slowly and stir constantly to avoid lumps, allowing it to thicken. Take the pan from the heat. Add the lighty beaten egg. It is you choice whether you combine the cheese into this mixture or add it to the top for a cheesey layer (this is what I did). Season with salt and pepper.

Further experiments include:

• Salmon and potato sticks covered in crushed weet-bix and then oven baked
• Black Quinoa, carrot and brussel sprout mini quiche
• Mini chicken and vegetable pies