Chocolate zuchinni muffins

The egg and zuchinni glut continue.
Today I had 27 eggs in my fridge.That is after I gave some away to my neighbour yesterday with the threat "you can only have eggs if you take some zuchinni too!"

So I made zuchinni slice. Again. Oh - and this time I took out the oil and substituted the same volume of milk. It was perfect. You didn't notice the difference. Good thing Miss E LOVES zuchinni slice. And since I often put extra veges in - I think it's a great thing for her to have at lunch! (I used wholemeal flour too)

Anyway ... I still had eggs. And zuchinni. Lots of them.

Google to the rescue ...

And enter Chocolate zuchinni muffins.

1 cup wholemeal self raising flour
1 cup white self raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
teaspoon (ish) of nutmeg and cinnamon
a half teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 cup good cocoa powder

3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1.5 teaspoons vanilla
1.5 cups grated zuchinni

How to ...

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl
Mix the wet in another + zuchinni
Mix them together





Bake in moderate oven until done.

(ours took about 20min!)



For the record ... they taste REALLY good
And not one kid refused them!



Oh - a little note - I always bake my muffins and cupcakes in a plain liner, then slip them inside the decorative one when cool ... that way the liner is clean and the colours still crisp! Oh - and the christmas papers are from woolworths ... the little santa toothpicks were 50% off at spotlight!)

Zuchinni slice

We are blessed to have excess. Our chickens are providing more eggs than we can eat. We have so many tomatoes. Zuchinnis are growing faster than we can pick them.

Which means ... tis the season for zucchini slice!




Miss E made it all by herself! She even cracked all the eggs without any shell!

This is my favourite recipe

5 eggs
150g (1 cup) self-raising flour, sifted (we used wholemeal - and lets face it - I never sift it)
375g zucchini, grated
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
60ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
We also add grated carrot if I have them ... or any other vegetable

Grating has never been so easy since I got this attachment for my kitchenaid!






Beat the eggs. Mix everything else in. Pour it in a greased pie dish and cook at 170C for 30 minutes.

Done

Reindeer dust! Or ... Mummy 1, Sugar 0

It's that time of the year.

When every second Christmas card and every well meaning shop assistant has a candy cane ready to rot the teeth of your child (and let's face it - the kids don't like them much anyway!)

The solution to all our candy cane woes is this. Magic Reindeer dust!

As the candy canes arrive we open them and crush them into little pieces. Add a sprinke of red and green glitter, and store in an airtight container.

Now we have reindeer dust ready to sprinkle on the lawn on Christmas Eve for the reindeer! Full of energy and magic to help them fly around the world!

And Miss E thinks it is SO magical! She couldn't wait to make it and there was no talk AT ALL of eating any of those canes! WIN!

Christmas snacks!

Red and green ... the colours of Christmas!

We needed to bring a plate to school break up and wanted to find a way to get away from the stodge and sugar that is overwhelming this time of year.

Some cute Christmas boxes, skewers, an orange as a base and red and green grapes and we have a fun, yummy snack!

Now I just need to see if they get eaten!

Plotting and scheming ... and wondering ... will it work?

I've just been at a friend's house. And she shared with me what works for her. And I must say I am intrigued.

You see, now that I am working a little bit more, I am trying to work out any way I can to save time, so I can be doing the things at home and with my family that I love.

Now that I am eating so well, I am trying to work out ways to make it fun and easy so we can stick to the plan and do great things for our health!

Now that I am trying to get our finances back on track and save a little bit more, I am looking at all those ways money seems to filter out of our lives and out our door, and reign it back in.

Which leads me to this idea.

I KNOW that when I plan our food for the week it saves us a bucket load of cash and we eat so well. It is when we try to go by the moment that things get out of hand.

I KNOW that when I go to the shops, whether it is for one thing or many I ALWAYS end up with something extra, something that we don't need. (and often a coffee and a magazine since I am downtown anyway!)

And I KNOW that any trip to the shops is a massive time waster. If I go to the shops I would much rather it was an occasional trip for fun than a routine trip for those "few things" we have forgotten.

So here is what I am thinking.

Menu planning ... and grocery home delivery.

Yes it costs to get the groceries home delivered. But it is $5. That's it. I'd spend that on those "extras" that end up in the trolley easily!

But what the online shopping let's me do is make and save lists to order. So I can plan four weekly menus and save each week's grocery list under a separate name. When it is time for week 1's menu I can select it, add or delete any items we may need and make sure we are home for delivery time.

I must say, I would not trust someone else to choose my fruit and vegetables. And we eat a LOT of fresh produce. But this can be solved by my weekly trip to the fruit and vege farmer's markets. One trip, and I can choose what is fresh and seasonal.

I'm still not convinced. I love the convenience factor. I love being able to see exactly how much we have spent before we get to the "checkout".

It's just the inital preparation and planning for the menus and setting up the shopping cart.

I do think I may give it a try tho.

From the depths of the pantry

3 cans of peas and carrots ... and we don't even eat them
5 cans of corn

and i think 13 cans of tuna.

We have some using up to do!

Pantry - before and after!

As part of my spring cleaning challenge ... yesterday I finally attacked our pantry...

BEFORE





And AFTER ...








Much better now - I can breathe again!

Our first planet box lunch

Strawberries (fresh from a roadside stall in Maleny of course!)
Vege sticks (with hommus in the little dipper)
Orange segments (from our tree)
and a Chicken pasta salad. Which by the way is easy. And YUM.

I think I like this new way of being accountable for what I eat. Sure beats a jam sandwich.

Things I love - the planet box!

We do our best to reduce the amount of plastic we use in our home. I know the use of plastic for food storage has a big question mark over it, and with some of the health problems I suffer I just like to reduce the amount we use, and especially for Miss E.

We also like to pack lunches without using a heap of cling wrap and plastic baggies. They cost a lot of money - they are wasteful - and contribute to our rubbish problems.

I was so excited to get to try the PLANET BOX




On their site they describe it as a "Lunch transportation system". The different sections encourage you to pack a balanced lunch (One for sandwich/pasta etc, one for fruit , one for vege, and the teeeny tiny centre one for the occasional treat)

The containers seal well, and as long as you don't pack liquid they seem to keep the food where it should be.

They also come with two sealable individual containers, for yogurt, dressing etc ...




Magnets on the front allow you to customize the planet box and are a fun gimmick for the little ones!




I love the concept so much, I am going to use it to pack my lunch for the next day, even though I stay at home most days. That way I can plan what I want to eat in advance, and it is easy to eat when I want to. Hey - now that the weather is beautiful I can even grab a book, my planet box and coffee and go outside or to the park!

So far I am thrilled with the planet box. It's a great organisational solution for lunch for us. I'll post pics how we use it as time goes on!

Getting ready for camping - Tip #7 - Packing FOOD!

Not every storage solution has to be expensive or elaborate. I pack our food that doesn't need to keep cool in these reusable grocery bags. They are structured enough in shape that I can pack them well, but small enough that they fit in the odd spaces in my car.

But the best bit is, as we eat the food, they fold up into taking practically no space at all, or can be used for other purposes.

I find this so much better than using a plastic box for food, as it gives me extra room on the trip home (and if I end up packing wet camping gear I will need every bit of that extra room!

Mexican Bean and Corn Rice Salad

Two cups 4 bean mix (we soak our own to avoid the salt and processing - you could used canned - just try to get the no added salt)
1 cup corn kernals (again we used no added salt)
1 cup chopped green capsicum
1 red onion finely sliced
2 tomatoes finely diced
2 cups cooked brown rice

Dressing
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1 cup salsa (we made our own - you could use bottled)

Combine salad ingredients
Whisk together dressing ingredients
Pour dressing over salad - mix gently
cover and chill in refridgerator at least 2 hours

ENJOY!

Organisation ... saves time, money ... and hopefully a few kilos...

This time of year I struggle with lunches.
I know I need to eat well (and lose some weight!)
BUT who can eat salads daily in slipper weather?

Yesterday I decided to get organised and take the excuses away. For my mother's day I had received this beautiful cookbook (by Julie - last year's Masterchef winner) and I am really enjoying it.




So I got busy and got cooking. One large batch of her red lentil dahl. It is SO good for you, filling, high fibre, lots of veges ... and most importantly it is WARM on these cold *almost* winter days. A batch should last Paul and I several days for lunch. And it is very inexpensive to make too.




A little organisation, a little prep time, and lunch takes only moments to prepare for the next few days. Fantastic!

I'm certainly no masterchef ...

But I am thrilled with our morning's cooking today!



Home made tortillas courtesy of my husband - and yesterday's trip to Brisbane for ingredients. (Balaclava St people - it is a must visit ... indian foods, continental foods .....)


Gluten free muffins were made ... (apple and blueberry ... and all wholegrains except the arrowroot so these are GOOD for you! With Agave syrup as the sweetener ...

I think the secret may have been beating the eggs well and getting so much AIR into them! (Did I tell you I love my kitchenaid?)





Because Gluten free muffins should not RISE that well! (well - not in this house anyway!)



But my favourite ... mexican corn, bean and rice salad. Makes my tastebuds tingle! It was SOOO good. Should be even better for the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!



(Food stylist I am NOT! The colours are even more vibrant in real life!)

Gluten free expo - INSPIRED again!!

My husband is gluten free as he was diagnosed with coeliac disease just before we were married. As a dietitian - he coped well. As a newlywed - I had to learn fast.

Yesterday we went to Brisbane to the Gluten free expo and allergy fair. It was FUN!

Every stand had something safe to eat. All those products we don't normally buy and try. None of us bought food during the day - we had enough samples for the three of us for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

It was fun. But it isn't how we eat. Too much packaged. Too much processed. My tummy is hurting today.

Where it did inspire me was getting to listen to Sue Shepherd talk. She is a dietitian who has a VERY successful business model - and writes a lot for coeliacs. And other food allergies. Watching her make tabouli (from quinoa no less!) and talk about the glory of Chia seeds has me aching to get back into cooking from real, whole ingredients for our family.

Food ? Cooking ? Organising ? Yep - totally fits on an organising blog. Food is one of those things I need to plan and fit into my day to ensure it WILL happen the way I want. The shopping, the meal planning ... and healthy food sometimes needs a bit of planning ...

The other reason I was inspired ... I got to talk to Jo of kitchenaid, and learnt a few new tricks for my beautiful girl - my kitchenaid stand mixer. Plus she has me thinking I could try to make gluten free pasta. I am SO excited by this thought!

Gluten free food is often simple and rustic in my mind, and although the pasta may not be picture perfect due to it's fragileness ... I just can't wait to try fresh pasta again. Fresh pasta. A simple sauce. Salad. Nothing better for dinner in my mind.

I'll blog about our adventures as we go. (of course). Right now, I have a sick girl who needs some loving!

There's a change in the air ...

Autumn is fighting hard ... but winter is starting to win the battle once more.

I love winter. I love the changes it brings. Nothing like snuggling under a warm blanket with a hot chocolate or a glass of port ...

This week I am starting to "wintify" my home. Starting in the kitchen. All this done before breakfast. I am learning to love my early riser ...

a change in fruit and vegetables from the farmer's markets ... goodbye stonefruit ... hello leaks and pumpkin


Pumpkin soup ready for lunches ... done in the slow cooker over night ...


Menu planning and list making


Hearty winter food for dinner tonight

Chicken, pumpkin and lentil curry .. I can't wait!

Bring on winter ... let the fog roll in! I can't wait!

Pumpkin muffins

Healthy. (sort of). Easy. Yummy. And even has vegetables.

A big bake up and a triple batch. Cooking and freezing is a great way to make packing school lunches easier!