Cooking » The Best Nest

Corned beef sandwich

I haven’t (yet!) experienced any mad pregnancy cravings, though there is still 6 weeks remaining before I am full term! There were a couple of weeks when I spent a LOT of time thinking about cream doughnuts, with real cream of course, but I can truthfully say I only indulged in approximately four. Go me.

One thing I have consistently enjoyed throughout the last 7.5 months is bread, rolls, bagels, crumpets and carbs in general. I hadn’t eaten carbs for 18 months before this pregnancy so I have really enjoyed cutting myself a bit of slack and chowing down on some good sammies.

At this late stage of pregnancy, fibre is very import {for reasons we shan’t speak of} so I was very happy to be able to enjoy a loaf of lovely, soft, white toast bread guilt free thanks to Natures Fresh Simply Fibre. White bread is a treat in our house due to it’s generally useless nutritional properties, however I will happily add this bread to our shopping cart as being able to enjoy thick white toast {smothered with Marmite and butter} without sacrificing fibre content is a definite win!

Dave disappeared for a while on Saturday and when I found him again he was in the kitchen whipping up the first batch of what I’m sure will be a regular on the baking circuit – or non-baking actually!
See that pile of packaged muesli bars in the background? We have no less than five different varieties in our pantry at any one time! Ridic. I am probably the biggest consumer of the humble muesli bar in our house, yet they are always a super quick go-to snack for any of us in a hurry.

No Bake Muesli / Granola Bars

Fun_with_food

Ingredients

1 cup honey
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups rolled oats
2 cups of extras (eg coconut, choc chips, dried fruit)

In a large saucepan bring honey and brown sugar to a boil, constantly stirring. Turn heat to low, add peanut butter, mix until smooth.
When smooth remove from heat, add dry ingredients, mix until evenly coated.
Line 9 x 13 pan with baking paper and press mixture evenly into pan.
Refrigerate until firm then cut into desired size. Store in an airtight container.

Linking up with Ange at www.tallshortandtiny.wordpress.com for Fun with Food

I have grown us a bounty of tomatoes this season, and despite our best efforts we are accumulating a bit of a back-log. Time for chutney.

Ingredients

1.25kg green or firm tomatoes chopped (I used some red ones also)
3 chopped onions
2 chopped apples
1/3 to 1/2 head of cauliflower florets broken into small pieces
2 cups of brown sugar
2 cups malt vinegar
1.5 tblsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
A good squirt of hot sauce eg Tabasco or a hot chilli chopped
2 tsp mustard powder

I took some liberties with the traditional Edmonds Tomato Chutney recipe as I love both Piccalilli and chutney, so I did what any off the cuff chef does and picked the bits I liked out of each recipe and combined the two!
Amaze.
This is one recipe I’m quite proud of and love seeing my family enjoy. It’s damn good and easy.

Method

Combine all ingredients into a preserving pan and bring to the boil stirring. Boil steadily, stirring frequently for maybe 1.5hrs until mixture is thick and jammy – until it doesn’t fall off a spoon, or a cracker!

Squeezing in 5 days in Mangawhai at the end of the holidays was a perfect summer treat for our family, finding a chocolatier in town was a sweet surprise this pregnant lady could not resist!
My Aunt, who is a local, insisted we stop by Bennett’s, unfortunately we left it to Monday and the cafe was closed, so sampling ‘the best hot chocolate ever’ would have to wait for a future visit.
The custom built building is stunning, housing the cafe, chocolate showroom and chocolate factory. You could easily lose the best part of an hour in the showroom alone, poring over the beautiful displays of perfect, glossy chocolates and trying to select which ones to take home. Luckily I spotted a sampler box so I didn’t have to make too many difficult decisions – until I got up to the register and had to decide which flavour chocolate block was coming home too ; )

Definitely schedule a visit to Bennett’s on your next trip to Magical Mangawhai or visit them online at http://www.bennettsofmangawhai.com/

Bennetts_Chocolate_sampler_box

Making my own tortillas has been on my to-do list since I moved to San Diego in 2003 and became forever addicted to Mexican food.
The gauntlet was laid on Friday night as Dave caught a shit-tonne of snapper and fish tacos were calling. There was nary a tortilla in the house.
It was time.
I did some googling, read some recipes and many reviews. The only way you can get a good feel for a recipe online is to read the reviews and take suggestions on board.
I found a good recipe and tweaked it as per reviews and my own experience with breads.
The result was authentic and amazing. These are like San Diego tortillas, not like Old El Paso. They are floury and flexible and taste like everything you want your carbs to be. We are hooked! I doubled this recipe and it worked like a charm.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup hot water
3 tablespoons olive oil (I used canola)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in hot water and oil. Turn onto a floured surface; knead 10-12 times, adding a little flour or water if needed to achieve a smooth dough. Dough should be silky. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Divide dough into eight portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 7-in. circle. Shake off excess flour before putting in the pan.
In a large non-stick pan coated with cooking spray, cook tortillas over medium heat for 1 minute on each side or until lightly browned. Keep warm. Yield: 8 tortillas.

Our family LOVES sampling and reviewing products so last week we were so excited to receive a delightful {and beautiful!} package of Popsicle Milkshake Swirls to try. We are mad ice cream fans, who sneak up to our local 4 Square far too often. I justify my our ice cream addiction in the name of calcium. I don’t like yoghurt, despise milk as a drink, don’t drink any hot drinks which I can add milk to, don’t eat cereal for breakfast and eat mainly protein. If I didn’t eat ice cream my calcium intake is almost solely dependant upon cheese. This is a serious issue; ice cream is my lifeline people – my bones depend on it. And that is how I sleep at night mmmkay.

Back to the good stuff. I wouldn’t endorse a product we didn’t genuinely love. And by god we LOVE these things. I took the 18 pack of Milkshake Minis (RRP $7.99) to share with Ethan’s touch rugby team after practice tonight and the kids were stoked! And their parents were stoked too – There were plenty to go around. All three flavours – Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla, received hearty approval just as they did at our house.

80% milk!!!! Did you hear that bones? Heart tick – check, creamy milky goodness – check.

Would you like some? I have five vouchers to give away you lucky ducks! Each voucher can be used at any supermarket or food chain and can be redeemed for one Popsicle Milkshake Multipack, this can be the Milkshake 8 pack or the Mini Milkshake Multi Pack (contains 18 minis, this is what the kids are eating – perfect treat size!).

Popsicle_Milkshake_Swirls

To enter simply like our Facebook page by visiting here and leave a comment below (pssstt, make sure you enter your email address so I can contact you if you win). Easy-peasy! Winners drawn 19/10/12, NZ residents only.

random.org *randomly* sequenced the comments and the first five numbers generated will receive a voucher in the post! Number 1 was the first comment on the post etc. Congrats to Lara, Andrea, Teresa, Kim and Carly! I will email you confirmation shortly. Thanks for participating everyone, enjoy your long weekend!