AntiOx Chocolate Giveaway winners!!!

Well the winners of the AntiOx Chocolate Giveaway have been drawn! Congratulations to:

Rockn

I am currently trying very hard to be good and healthy and lose a little weight, but I miss my chocolate!

and

sapna

because these are high in anti-oxidants and will come under healthy snack category.

Could you please email your mailing address as soon as possible to food.baby.food.baby @ gmail.com and I will arrange to have your prize packs sent to you!

 

Baked Yoghurt Tart with Cherries and an Oatmeal Crust (Baking with Julia)

I've never heard of a baked yoghurt tart before but when I read it was similar to a custard tart I got very excited! I love a classic custard tart (as I've made before here) but I'm always looking for healthier options. A tart filling based on natural yoghurt and flavoured with vanilla, fruit and almonds sounded perfect.

Fresh berries are ridiculously expensive here, even in season, so I chose to use frozen cherries instead. I thawed, drained and patted them dry before using and they worked really well. 

I also opted for a different crust. I found someone else's version of this yoghurt tart here and they had used an oatmeal crust which sounded delicious so that's what I used.  I made it fructose-free by using dextrose instead of brown sugar. It was more like a cheesecake base than a tart base and I loved it. In fact it could become by go-to cheesecake base instead of biscuit crumbs!

I'm going to blame my oven but this took more than double the stated time to cook, 1 hr 10 mins as opposed to 35-40 minutes.

The taste test ...

We loved this! Much more similar in texture to a cheesecake than a custard tart. Which makes it even more of a winner in my book because I adore cheesecake! I loved the nuttiness of the base with the almonds and cherries, and the filling was smooth and only slightly tangy. Just delightful.

The recipe is available online (just google Julia Child Baked Yoghurt Tart) but I have included the recipe for the crust here. Click on the link below for the orginal recipe made on brown sugar.

For the Oatmeal Crust
Adapted from Wellsphere

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup dextrose
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
100 grams butter, melted and cooled
1 egg yolk

Lightly grease a 9 inch springform pan and line the base with non-stick paper.

Place all the dry ingredients in a food processor and blitz until the oats are finely chopped. Add the melted butter and egg yolk and process until combined. It should resemble damp sand and stick together when pressed.

Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and press evenly over the base and halfway up the sides. Chill for 30 minutes.

Place the pan on a baking sheet and blind bake at 170 degrees C / 150 C fan-forced for about 20 minutes, then remove the pastry weights and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes. (I put foil around the edges which were starting to get a little dark.

Cool to room temperature before filling.

Roasted Pumpkin and Apple Soup

Winter has well and truly arrived this week. While we're still getting glorious sunny days, the nights and early mornings are absolutely freezing. We have so far avoided having heaters on but a few more days like this and that will change!

In our house cold weather is soup weather. I love the fact that both my boys love soup, especially my 4 year old. If you haven't tried soup with your kids yet it's really worth a go, just be prepared for some mess!

We've had pumpkin soup a few times recently and I've always stuck to my tried and true recipe which includes garlic, ginger and coriander. This time I thought I would make something a little lighter and sweeter, so decided to not only include some apple but also to roast all the ingredients first, something that really brings out the natural sweetness.

The taste test ...

Pumpkin and apple really are a match made in heaven! My kids absolutely devoured this for lunch. Both had seconds. You'll notice from the photo how thick this soup is. Not only does it make quite a hearty meal it also makes it easier for little kids to handle.This was a winner and will be added to our regular rotation.

Roasted Pumpkin and Apple Soup

1/4 large pumpkin (I like jap or kent for soup, my piece was 1.6kg)
2 small green apples
1 potato
1 large onion
1/4 ts cinnamon
1/4 ts cumin
3-4 cups stock (chicken or vege work well)
1 tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C / 170 degrees fan-forced.

Chop up the pumpkin into thick slices, removing the seeds but leaving the skin on. Wash and core the apples, leaving them whole with the skin intact. Wash the potato and chop into quarters, leaving the skin on. Top and tail the onion and remove the skin.

Place all veggies into a large baking dish. Sprinkle over the spices, drizzle on the oil and toss to combine.

Place in the oven and roast for 45 -60 minutes or until all the vegetables are soft, golden and cooked through. Keep an eye on the apples and onion as they will be done before the potatoes and take them out if they are getting too brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before scooping out the flesh of the apples and veggies into a food processor or blender. Leave any hard or overcooked edges and all the skin behind.

Blitz until well combined. Add the stock and blitz for 2 minutes or until completely smooth (if you want a thinner soup just add more stock now). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour the soup into a large saucepan and simmer gently until warmed through. Serve with hot buttered bread rolls.

Serves 4.

Snow White Popcorn Treats (Secret Recipe Club)

SRC time again! This month I was assigned Life and Kitchen by Lindsay. I love that Lindsay posts so many veggie and meatless meals but after doing something savoury for the past few months of SRC I had already decided to do something sweet this month, and was delighted that she had so many to choose from!

The instant I saw these Snow White Popcorn Treats I was sold. It actually is winter here, but this is as close as my boys will get to snow!

We make popcorn a few times a week using our air popper. I like mine with a little melted butter and sea salt but the kids are totally happy having it plain. But let me tell you they were very excited about their special sticky popcorn!

The recipe called for 1 large or 2 small bags of popcorn but I have no idea what size that would actually be. I just did the usual 1/4 cup we always do and hoped for the best. It was pretty much spot on.

So how did it taste? Totally amazing as you would expect! I did find it VERY sweet though and added extra salt to mine (love that sweet and salty contrast). This would be perfect bagged up and given as gifts at Christmas and I will be doing just that this year.

Thanks for a great recipe Lindsay!

Snow White Popcorn Treats
From Life and Kitchen

1/4 cup popping corn
20 white marshmallows
2 tbs butter
1/4 cup white chocolate
sea salt

Pop the corn and spread it out on a lightly greased baking tray, making sure to remove any unpopped kernals.

In a medium pan over lowish heat gently melt the butter and the marshmallows, stirring constantly. Once they are completely melted and liquidy, add in the white chocolate and stir until smooth.

Quickly pour the mixture over the popcorn using a silicone spatula to toss it all together, coating as much of the popcorn as you can.

Sprinkle generously with sea salt and leave to set for about 10 minutes before devouring.

Naked Chocolate Mini Cakes with AntiOx Chocolate Ganache

If you missed my review of the AntiOx Chocolate and Snack Bar range yesterday make sure you check it out. You could win a $30 chocolate gift pack!

While it has certainly been lovely having some chocolate in the pantry to nibble on, I wanted to showcase the chocolate in a recipe. Given it is a sugar-free chocolate I chose to make an equally healthy and allergy-friendly cake.

These mini cakes are gluten, dairy and sugar free but most definitely don't lack taste! They are rich and intensely chocolate-y and when paired with the chocolate ganache make a truly decadent dessert. Keep in mind they are not very sweet so you could add a little stevia into both the cake and ganache to up the sweetness or just serve with some lovely sweet strawberries. Yum!

Naked Chocolate Mini Cakes
Very slightly adapted from The Healthy Chef

Ingredients

1/4 cup raw cacao powder
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 1/2 ts baking powder
1/2 ts ground cinnamon
Pinch of sea salt
4 eggs
1/4 cup rice malt syrup
1 ts vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

Instructions

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C / 140 C fan-forced.

In a medium bowl mix together the cacao powder, coconut flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sea salt.

In a small bowl mix the eggs, syrup, vanilla and coconut oil.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until smooth and well combined. Spoon into 6 mini cake moulds (mine were 2 inch square).

Bake for approximately 20 – 25 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before covering with the ganache. Makes 6.


AntiOx Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

80 grams AntiOx Chocolate with Acai
40ml pure cream*

Instructions

Finely chop the chocolate and place in a heat-proof bowl.

In a small saucepan heat the cream until very hot but not boiling. Pour over the chopped chocolate and stir gently from the middle until the ganache is smooth and glossy.

Allow to cool slightly before smoothing over the tops of the mini cakes.

Serve immediately or store in fridge until required.

* For a dairy free topping you could use chilled coconut cream and fold through the cooled melted chocolate.
 

And don't forget you could win your own gift pack of AntiOx chocolate. 

Just click here for all the details!

BWJ - Cheese and Tomato Galette

I actually wasn't really expecting much from this one but I was so wrong. We LOVED it! It was all the best parts of a pizza encased in a buttery flaky pastry. Just divine.

I knew we didn't have any cornmeal and couldn't be bothered searching for it so I used semolina instead for the dough and it worked brilliantly. I also just used regular tasty cheese and shredded mozzarella.

Originally I intended to make a sweet one as well but it actually didn't make as much dough as I thought. I used the full batch for this galette and it was the perfect dinner for the 4 of us with just one largeish piece leftover (for my lunch, yum!).

The dough was a little sticky but I didn't have any problems with it, possibly because it is winter here and quite a cool day?

This recipe is definitely a keeper and we'll be making it again.

AntiOx Chocolate Review + Giveaway!!

**This giveaway has now ended. Congratulations to Rockn and Sapna! Click here to find out how to claim your prizes**

Recently I was sent a lovely pack of chocolates to try thanks to Product Talk by Nuffnang. And these weren't just any chocolates but the new AntiOx Chocolate and Snack Bar range from Vitality Brands.

As I've mentioned before we have been cutting out refined sugar which has meant chocolate has been mostly off-limits. So I was really interested to try the AntiOx range as not only is it 70% cocoa and packed with antioxidants, it is also naturally sweetened with stevia.

The range includes both blocks of chocolate and snack bars, all of which are made with sugar-free dark chocolate. I received 2 x 80 gram blocks of dark chocolate, one with Goji and the other with Acai. I also received 3 x snack bars - Goji, Acai and Chia & Quinoa.

Both goji and acai are considered super fruits because of their nutritional properties. Goji berries contain a very high concentration of antioxidants, vitamins and essential minerals and are also rich in vitamin C. Acai berries have a higher antioxidant capacity than any known berry, with over 16 phytonutrients and antioxidants. When combined in a bar with naturally antioxidant rich 70% cocoa, the result is a hit of antioxidants equivalent to 12 cups of green tea! Pretty impressive.

Even when I was eating sugar I've never been the person to grab a chocolate bar to eat as a snack. So I wondered how I would find a chocolate covered snack bar. When I first opened the snack bars I was hit with a gorgeous berry and chocolate aroma and a taste to match. Yes they are sweet but it's not the cloying sweetness of regular chocolate. Each bar is also packed full of wholegrains and forest fruits and is of course sugar-free, so there is nothing to feel guilty about when indulging in one of these!

I really enjoyed the blocks of chocolate, probably because it is more my style to grab a piece or 2 after dinner than sit down to eat a whole snack bar. The chocolate is smooth and intense and complemented by the tangy fruitiness of the berries. If it happens to boost my immunity and enhance wellbeing over winter than so much the better.

Want to try the AntiOx chocolate range for yourself? Here's how!

Giveaway

I have 2 amazing AntiOx prize packs valued at $30 to give away! Each pack includes:

          6 x AntiOx Snack Bars and
          4 x AntiOx Chocolates.

For a chance to win, simply leave a comment answering this question:

               Why do you want to try the new AntiOx snack bars and chocolate?

The giveaway closes on Friday 28th June and is open to Australian residents only (sorry international readers!). Click here for full terms and conditions.

If you don't happen to win, the lovely people at Vitality Brands are giving away some snack bars through their Facebook page! Just follow the link to the Winter Snack Bar Giveaway.

Check back tomorrow to see how I used some of my AntiOx chocolate in a delicious and intensely chocolatey dessert!

Pumpkin Fruit Cake

{Wheat Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free}

It isn't often I find a recipe one day, bake it the next and am already planning when to make it again! But this Pumpkin Fruit Cake from The Healthy Chef was calling my name the moment I saw it.

I was looking for something sweet but healthy to bake for after kindy, that was also nut-free to include in Oscar's lunch box the next day. This recipe was not only easy but I already had all the ingredients.

I adore pumpkin baked goods but unless I happen to have leftover steamed pumpkin already in the fridge I can never be bothered to make them. This recipe however, just calls for grated raw pumpkin. Genius! The end result was identical to cakes that use pumpkin puree. It was mixed and in the oven in about 5 minutes.

The taste test ...

YUM. Incredibly moist, subtly spiced and filled with little bursts of extra sweetness from the sultanas. We ate half the loaf warm from the oven and stashed the rest for snacks. I will be making it again next week!

Excuse the bad photo. It's a dreary grey day here, not great for photos but perfect for cake.

Pumpkin Fruit Cake
Adadpted slightly from The Healthy Chef

250 g grated raw pumpkin (2 cups)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of 1 orange
¼ cup coconut oil
¼ cup rice malt syrup
¾ teaspoon bicarb soda (baking soda)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 big handful organic natural sultanas
1 cup (150 g )wholemeal spelt flour

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C/ 150 C fan forced. Grease and line a loaf pan (mine was pyrex).

Combine the raw pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, oil, zest, rice malt syrup, bicarb, baking powder, spices and sultanas in a mixing bowl. Fold through the spelt flour.

Spoon into a prepared tin and bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, covering the top with foil if necessary (mine was done in exactly 1 hour, no covering required). The cake will spring back when pressed lightly.

Allow to cool in the tin for 30 minutes before turning out.

Oscar's 4th Birthday and a Dinosaur Cake

My big boy turned 4 last month! Such a cliche but he is growing up so quickly.

Although he had been asking for a party we decided to keep it low key and do a family outing instead, especially as his birthday fell on a Saturday this year.

Oscar has always loved animals and nature so we decided to head off to Australia Zoo for the day. This is the zoo that Steve Irwin founded on the Sunshine Coast and is a brilliant place to visit with kids. There is heaps to see so I would recommend getting there as soon as they open if you are to have any chance of seeing it all in one day!

We were a little late getting there (having a few toilet stops on the way for the kids) and I had also stupidly invited more family over for birthday cake at home at 4pm. What I hadn't figured on was getting home by 4 actually meant rounding everyone up to leave the zoo about 2.30. Not surprisingly we didn't see everything we wanted to. Oh well, live and learn.

Anyway, we all had a great time. The kids loved seeing all the animals, the giant tortoises, the bird show and of course the crocodiles were big hits. And we still had birthday cake at home to look forward to.

Oscar had been asking for a dinosaur cake for at least 6 months so I had plenty of time to research. I pretty much just googled 'dinosaur cake', looked through all the images and chose one something that looked easy (I found this one here). And it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself!

The body of the dinosaur is an 8 inch round cake split in half and sandwiched together with icing to form a semi-circle shape. As we are trying to stay sugar-free I chose to bake the vanilla cake from David Gillespie's Sweet Poison Quit Plan Cookbook, and then used a normal sugar icing.

The head, tail, legs and spots were made from ready-made fondant icing that I tinted myself using mostly Wilton gel colours. I was really happy with how the colours turned out, they were just what I was hoping for. It was a lot of fun making the shapes too, a bit like playing with play dough!

So another year, another birthday cake. Stay tuned for Charlie's birthday in November!

SRC - Chicken and Apple Rice Paper Rolls

Well it's reveal day for Group D of the Secret Recipe Club! This month I was delighted to be given Natural Noshings by Nora. I came across Nora's blog quite a few months ago and had already flagged a number of recipes to make.

We have been making a real effort over the past 6 months or so to cut out processed foods and remove refined sugar from our diet. We have a pantry full of oats, coconut oil, chia seeds, natural nut butters and raw cacao. Natural Noshings has some amazing recipes that are gluten free and use real whole ingredients with nothing artificial or processed in sight.

I have bookmarked some of the sweet treats to make like the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough Bites (which will be the perfect after kindy snack for my 4 year old) and the Healthy Nutella (which my peanut butter loving 2 year old will go nuts for - pun intended!).

Yet again though I have chosen to make a main because quite simply I couldn't go past these. Nora calls them spring rolls but in Australia spring rolls use a different wrapper and are baked or fried. We call these rice paper rolls. But really whatever you call them they are little parcels of deliciousness!

Adding the apple was a stroke of genius. The sweetness of red apple paired with the chicken and peanut sauce was fantastic. My kids adored these. Well actually Charlie my 2 year old couldn't be convinced that the rice paper wrappers were actually edible so he just ate the fillings and lots of sauce.

The original recipe had apple and cabbage but as usual I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some extra veges into the kids. All the colours of the rainbow crammed into something they can roll up and dip in a yummy sauce (my version of the sauce has a few extra flavours added). All in all a healthy and delicious dinner!

Apple and Chicken Rice Paper Rolls with Peanut Sauce 
Adapted from Spring Rolls on Natural Noshings

For the rolls:
12 rice paper wrappers
4 small chicken thighs (marinated in a little soy sauce and sesame oil then baked and cut into strips
1 medium red apple, sliced into matchsticks
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 medium avocado, sliced thinly
1 small red capsicum, thinly sliced
½ bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped

For the peanut sauce:
3 tablespoons hot water
3 tablespoons peanut butter (mine was smooth, all natural)
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice malt syrup
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
½ teaspoon sesame oil

To prepare the sauce, place all the ingredients in a small jug and whisk to combine.

To prepare the rice paper rolls, fill a large shallow bowl with just warm water. Working with one wrapper at a time, submerge it in the water and allow to soften (about 30 seconds) turning once or twice. Carefully remove from water and lay flat on a damp tea towel.

Half way between the centre of the wrapper and the edge closest to you, layer on some carrot, capsicum, avocado, chicken, apple and chopped coriander, leaving a gap of about an inch on each side.

Take the edge closest to you and fold it over the filling. Roll it once more and then fold the shorter left and right sides inward, like you would a burrito. Then continue wrapping and rolling until sealed. Place on serving platter, leaving a little room between them as they will stick together.

Repeat with remaining wrappers and serve with the peanut sauce!

BWJ - Savoury Brioche Pockets

 

I had a bit of a brain freeze and totally forgot that this was BWJ week. Luckily without a mixer I have perfected a brioche dough made in the breadmaker and whipped these beauties out in about 2.5 hours!

They are called Savoury Brioche Pockets, and just as the name suggest, they are a brioche dough wrapped around a savoury filling. As I had forgotten about the recipe I didn't have any goat's cheese or chives on hand but I did happen to have leftover steamed potato in the fridge.

To make my filling I sauteed some onion, garlic and spinach in butter until soft then added it to cold mashed potato along with a handful of grated cheddar cheese, some salt and pepper. Basically it made the yummiest mashed potato you can imagine!

The taste test ...

They didn't blow my socks off but it was pretty tasty. The filling was delicious and you can't go past brioche. I'm just not a huge pan of potatoes in bread. It just seemed a bit too heavy even though the filling was lightened up with veg. I think my brioche discs were a bit too thick so the ratio of bread to filling was a bit off. Still a success overall though.

Carrie of Loaves and Stitches will have the recipe up today and to see what the other bakers thought of this one, check out the LYL section.

BWJ - Upside Down Mini Apple Cakes

So yesterday I went to the supermarket specifically to get rhubarb. I came home with bread, lemons, broccoli and a bag of spinach ... and no rhubarb. I really hope other people do things like that! There was no way I was going back there with 2 ratty kids so I made do with what I had, and that meant apples.

I made 12 little cakes using a large hole muffin tray. I put a little blob of butter in the base of each and topped it with a slice of gala apple then spooned the batter on top.

I ate 1 (ok, 2!) warm from the oven and they were absolutely divine. The creme fraiche (or greek yoghurt in my case) made for a lovely moist and slightly tangy cake which paired beautifully with the sweet apple. They may have made out of a mistake but they were a definite winner!

To see the real recipe for Fresh Rhubarb Upside Down Baby Cakes make sure you visit out host Erin of When in Doubt.

Secret Recipe Club - Mongolian Lamb

This is now my third month with the Secret Recipe Club and I'm loving everything about it! From waiting expectantly for the email with my assigned blog inside, to spending many happy hours scouring that blog to find just the right recipe.

This month I was assigned Lynsey's blog called Lynsey Lou's. Despite living on the other side of the world I found we have lots in common from being married at around the same time in 2008 and starting to blog soon after, to just a general passion for food and cooking. I loved all of Lynsey's recipes and had a really hard time choosing just one! In the end I let my husband choose his favourite and that was Lynsey's Mongolian Beef. Not sure whether it's just in Australia but we used to get Mongolian Lamb whenever we had Chinese food so I of course adapted it to use lamb instead. 

I haven't eaten much Chinese food at all in recent years after figuring out I have a sensitivity to MSG aka Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. Hubby and I went to a Thai restaurant on our second date and I spent half the meal locked in the bathroom feeling faint with heart palpitations and a throbbing headache. Lucky for me he stuck around!

Anyway, no such problems this recipe! It was absolutely delicious, packed with flavour and probably the closest thing to takeaway Chinese food that I've ever made at home. It was the first time I've fried meat like this and it really gave the dish that authentic taste and texture. I did find it a little too sweet so next time I would reduce the brown sugar to just 1/2 cup. Otherwise this was a huge success.

Mongolian Lamb
Adapted from Lynsey Lou's Mongolian Beef

2 ts vegetable oil
1 tbs fresh minced ginger
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
Vegetable oil, for frying (about 2 cups)
500g lamb steaks
1/4 cup corn flour
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
2 green shallots, sliced finely

To make the sauce, heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the ginger and garlic to the pan, give it a quick stir then quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Add the brown sugar, stir to dissolve, and then bring the sauce to the boil until it thickens and reduces, approx 5 minutes. Remove sauce from the heat and set aside.

To prepare the lamb, slice it thinly on the diagonal into ½ cm thick pieces. Tilting the blade of your knife to about 45 degrees will give wider cuts. Dust the pieces in corn flour then leave to rest for a few minutes so it sticks to the meat.

Heat 2 cups of oil in a wok or large deep fry pan until it's hot but not smoking (a wooden spoon dipped in the oil should start to bubble straight away).Carefully add the lamb in 2 or 3 batches to the hot oil and fry for two minutes, or until it just begins to darken on the edges. It doesn’t need to be cooked through at this stage. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly then remove with a large slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Repeat with remaining batches of lamb. Tip the hot oil into a heatproof jug then return the pan to the stove over medium heat.

Add the red onion and shallots (reserving a small handful of the shallots for garnish) and sauté for a few minutes until it becomes soft and translucent. Add the beef and the sauce and cook, stirring for another few minutes until it is well combined and the sauce has thickened.

Remove the lamb and onions (leaving excess sauce behind as it is very rich) and serve with plenty of steamed rice and a sprinkle of shallots over the top. Serves 4-6.

BWJ - Rustic Potato Loaves

 aka the bread that almost wasn't.

I had it in my head that this was a typical long-rest bread. Add to that I was going to have to actually cook potatoes first AND I don't even have a mixer at the moment, I was sure this was not going to happen!

But then I realised how quick it would be, and hubby cooked the potatoes for me, and I realised I could mix the dough in the breadmaker. Voila.

I made half the recipe and got a really decent sized loaf. You will notice from the picture that I forgot to cook the bread seam side up so it doesn't have the same look as the book. Still, it was delicious and made the house smell like an intoxicating mix of fresh bread and hot chips. Doesn't get much better than that!

Make sure you visit our host Dawn of Simply Sweet for the recipe.

Lemon and Blueberry Roulade

Happy Easter!!!

We are off to my mother in law's place for lunch today and I (of course) offered to bring dessert. I figured we wouldn't need anymore chocolate and instead opted for something a little lighter. While it is more suited to a Springtime Easter, I think it works just fine here. You really can't go wrong with the combination of lemon and blueberry and it just looks so pretty with that swirl of purple.

A roulade or swiss roll is often filled with jam but here I have used a light cheesecake style filling flavoured with lemon and studded with bluberries. Just delightful.

The recipe called for a 23cm x 32cm tin but I have actually never been able to find one. This is despite that size seeming to be the most standard size. Perhaps they are just always sold out. I had to make do with a 20cm x 30cm tin so my sponge is a little thicker than it should be and I added an extra minute to the cooking time.

I hope wherever you are, that you're having a lovely Easter weekend with your families. Don't eat too much chocolate!

Lemon and Blueberry Roulade
Sponge recipe from The Australian Woman's Weekly, filling by me

For the sponge:
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 tbs hot milk
3/4 cup self-raising flour, triple sifted
1/4 cup caster sugar extra

For the filling:
125g cream cheese, at room temperature
125ml thickened cream
1 tbs sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup frozen blueberries, thawed

To make the sponge, preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius  /180 degrees fan-forced. Grease and line the base and 2 sides of a 23cm x 32cm swiss roll pan, allowing the paper to extend about 5cm over the sides.

Place the egg whites in a large bowl and beat with an electric beater until soft peaks form. Gradually add in the sugar, continuing to beat until the sugar has dissolved. (You can test this by taking a dab of the meringue and rubbing it between 2 fingers. If there is any graininess continue to beat).

With the beaters running add the egg yolks one at a time, and beat until the mixture is thick and pale, about 10 minutes (mine took far less).

Working quickly, pour the hot milk down the side of bowl, tip in the flour and gently fold them through the egg mixture. Don't over-mix, just make sure there are no pockets of flour left.

Bake the sponge for 8 minutes or until golden brown and just cooked. If the sponge is overcooked it will crack when it is rolled.

Meanwhile, place a clean tea towel on the bench and sprinkle over the extra sugar roughly the same size as the sponge. As soon as a the sponge is cooked, flip in on the the sugared towel and gently peel off the baking paper. Starting on a short edge, turn the tea towel up over the sponge and roll up the sponge and tea towel together. (There is a great post here on Joe Pastry about how to make a swiss roll which includes pictures of this step).

Leave the cake to cool like this for approx 15 minutes, or until ready to fill

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese, sugar and lemon zest until smooth then add the cream a little at a time, continuing to beat until it is all incorporated and the mixture is smooth.

To assemble, unroll the sponge and spread with the cream cheese mixture, leaving a 1-2cm border around the edges. Sprinkle with the blueberries. Carefully re-roll the sponge taking care not to squish the filling too much. Place seam side down on the serving plate. Chill before serving (I made mine a day ahead and kept in the fridge). Serves 8.

Secret Recipe Club - Chicken Cheesesteaks

Secret Recipe Club time! This month I was given So Tasty So Yummy by Katie, and let me tell you I was really spoilt for choice when it came to picking a recipe. She has some amazing things on there!

Her Sea Salt Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are on my must-bake list for another time, as is Katie's mum's Chocolate Cheesecake (swoon).

But for this month I really wanted an easy dinner to add into our rotation and her Chicken Cheesesteaks fit the bill perfectly.

I've always been intrigued by 'cheesesteaks' and used to imagine it was some sort of cheese that was crumbed and fried (how awesome would that be!). A little research showed it was actually thinly sliced steak covered with melted cheese. Katie has a chicken version on her blog which is much more us as we always have chicken in the freezer.

I made a few minor changes to the recipe, using chicken thighs instead of breast, red capsicum instead of green, red onion and mozzarella instead of provolone.

And the verdict? We LOVED this. So quick and easy and sooo tasty. Perfect for a quick dinner or weekend lunch. I topped ours with homemade dijonnaise (a mixture of mayonnaise and dijon mustard) and it was absolutely delicious! Definitely a keeper.

Chicken Cheesesteaks
Recipe from So Tasty So Yummy

1 tbs olive oil
2 large chicken thigh fillets
1/2 red onion, finely sliced
1/2 red capsicum, finely sliced
Worcestershire sauce, a few dashes to taste
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 long white bread rolls
Salt and pepper to taste

Split the rolls and place under the grill for 1-2 minutes to toast.

Thinly slice the chicken (you can freeze the pieces for about 15 minutes first to make this easier). Saute the onion and capsicum in the oil for a few minutes until starting to soften, then add the sliced chicken and cook until the chicken is starting to brown. Add the salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce and cook for another minute or so until the chicken is cooked through.

Place the chicken mixture into each roll, top with mozzarella and grill until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Baked Churros with Chili Chocolate Sauce

Recently we have had a few casual dinners with a group of friends and to make things interesting, we chose  a country's theme for each one and everyone brought their favourite meal to share.

Our Italian dinner was a huge hit with homemade pizzas cooked on the BBQ, a fabulous antipasto platter and a tiramisu cake made by moi.

Our most recent dinner was Mexican theme and it was amazing - chicken burritos, tacos, chili con carne, vegetarian fajitas, nachos. YUM. The only Mexican dessert I could think of was churros but our past adventures in deep frying have not turned out well. But then what should pop up in my google reader but some baked churros from the fabulous Sprinkle Bakes! That, my friends, is destiny.

Heather's recipe is really detailed and has some great tips so I won't post it again here. You will find the recipe on Sprinkle Bakes here.
 

My notes:

- for fellow Aussies 1/3 cup butter is 80 grams

- Heather said if using butter they would spread more but I found they didn't spread at all. After the first tray I realised that and placed them much closer together, meaning fewer batches were required.

- not sure if we were meant to cool the mixture before piping but I almost burnt my hands trying to pipe these all out

- I doubled the recipe as it had to feed a crowd.

- I couldn't find the exact size piping tip Heather recommended anywhere (mine was 11mm rather than 14mm) so I got about 50 little churros from the double batch!

- I baked them in the afternoon then took them cold to the party. They reheated well in an oven (not a grill) and we rolled them in cinnamon sugar after that.

- I had to almost double the initial baking time to get any colour and crispiness on them

Overall these were fantastic! They tasted amazing, just as good as fried ones though perhaps with slightly less crunch. It made for a pretty special dessert for not that much effort and everyone loved them.

Chili Chocolate Sauce

250grams dark chocolate (70% cocoa), finely chopped
250ml pure cream
1 tbs brown sugar
1 ts chili powder
1 red chili to decorate

Place the cream and the chilli powder in a medium saucepan and heat until just before boiling. Add the sugar and chopped chocolate and stir gently until the chocolate has melted and the sauce is smooth. Pour into a serving dish and sprinkle with chopped fresh chilli.

Serve warm with the churros and maybe some vanilla ice cream.

BWJ - Mocha Chocolate Chips

They may not be the prettiest things but they were pretty tasty!

I made just a 1/4 batch of these Mocha Chocolate Chips because I don't need 4 dozen chocolate anythings hanging around here. I also left out the apricots as that just seemed a little odd.

Most of the batch was frozen and it was great I could eat them straight from the freezer as they didn't go rock hard.

So that's about it! Probably wouldn't make them again but they did disappear pretty quickly which is always a good sign.

Our host this week is Peggy of Galettista and you will find the recipe there.

Lime Cheesecake with Gingernut Crust

Happy St Paddy's Day! While I did make this today, the fact that it is actually St Patrick's Day was just a happy coincidence. We were supposed to be having friends over for curry but a burst water pipe (at their place) and 2 screaming kids who missed their nap (at our place) put an end to our dinner plans.

Luckily there was still a cheesecake to be eaten, and cheesecake makes just about anything better!

This is a variation on Dorie Greenspan's Tall and Creamy Cheesecake from Baking: From My Home to Yours. I first made it for Tuesday's with Dorie a few years ago and it has been my go-to cheesecake ever since, with a different flavour each time.

I love the combination of lime and ginger here. While it doesn't have the same zing as my Key Lime Cheesecake which includes a layer of lime curd, when topped with a pillowy cloud of whipped cream this is creamy cheesecake heaven. Enjoy!

Lime Cheesecake with Gingernut Crust

For the cheesecake:
500g (2 boxes) cream cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup cream
2 large eggs
2/3 cup rice malt syrup (or white sugar)
Juice and zest of 2 small limes
1 ts vanilla

For the crust:
1 pack gingernut biscuits
100g melted butter

To decorate:
1 cup whipped cream
Zest of 1 lime

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius / 160 degrees fan-forced. Lightly grease a 20cm springform pan and line the base with baking paper.

To make the crust, place the biscuits in the food processor and blitz until fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse until well combined. Bake for approx 10 minutes. It should smell toasty and fragrant. Remove and allow to cool, then wrap the outside of the pan in 2 layers of alfoil.

Reduce oven temperature to 160 degrees celsius / 140 degrees fan-forced.

To make the cheesecake filling, first wipe out the bowl and blade of the food processor (no need to wash it as long as there are no crumbs left). Add the cream cheese and process until smooth. Add the rice malt syrup and process for 1 minute, add the cream and sour cream and process for 1 minute, add the eggs and process for 1 minute, then add the lime juice and zest  and vanilla and process for 3 minutes.

Pour into the prepared base. Place the springform pan into a large roasting dish. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes halfway up with sides of the springform pan. It can be safer to do this once the roasting pan is already in the oven.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the top is lightly golden brown and the cheesecake is set with just a slight wobble in the middle. Turn off the oven, prop the door open with a wooden spoon and leave for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, remove the cheesecake from its water bath and place it on a rack to cool to room temperature then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Just prior to serving, smooth the whipped cream over the top and sprinkle with lime zest.

Serves 8-10.

Oh and as we ended up having to freeze most of this, I can personally vouch for the fact that this cheesecake tastes AMAZING frozen!

Secret Recipe Club - Chicken Tikka Masala and Garlic Chive and Mozzarella Paratha

This is my first post for the Secret Recipe Club! I was given a really interesting blog called Enriching Your Kid written by mum Shirley to chronicle the recipes she makes for her family.

The recipes all have a strong Indian vibe and given we love Indian food in this house it was a really tough choice picking just one. So I went with 2 instead!

First up was a creamy Chicken Tikka Masala with a twist, that twist being that it contains cheese! A little research showed this is actually not uncommon. I love cheese but would never have thought to use it in a curry.

I did make a few changes to the recipe, firstly using chicken thighs instead of breast for extra flavour and also to ensure it stayed moist as we were cooking on the BBQ. Secondly, I used the remainder of the marinade in the sauce so as not to waste all those delicious flavours and to make the sauce really creamy. There were a few measures missing from the original recipe, for example the amount of lemon juice needed so I have just included what I used. I also doubled the recipe and that's what you will see below. You could easily halve it.

The second recipe I chose was the Garlic Chive and Mozzarella Parathas. While we do make curries pretty often I have never really made Indian breads and this one looked too good to pass up. It didn't disappoint. We all LOVED this bread!

The chicken and parathas made a fabulous dinner. The Chicken Tikka Masala has a lovely warmth from the spices (no chillies) so it is the perfect curry for kids. My 2 year wasn't keen (but he's going through a VERY picky stage) but he did love the bread. My almost 4 year old loved both and wanted seconds. So that's a pretty big tick of approval.

There were lots of other great recipes for choose from so make sure you check out Shirley's blog!

Chicken Tikka Masala
Recipe adapted from Enriching Your Kid

8 chicken thighs

1st marinade
1 tbs ginger-garlic paste (see recipe below)
Juice of 1 lemon

Cut each chicken thigh in half, add marinade ingredients and mix thoroughly. Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.

2nd marinade
200 ml Cream
2tbs ginger-garlic paste
50 grams cheddar cheese, finely grated
3 tbs almond meal
2 egg white
1 tsp cardamom powder
1 ts crushed black pepper
oil
salt to taste

In a large bowl, mix together the first 5 ingredients the cheese dissolves and becomes a fine paste. Add the cardamom and pepper and mix well. Add the marinated chicken pieces and mix until the chicken is well coated. Set aside in the fridge for 2 hours.

Remove the chicken from the marinade, scraping off any excess. Reserve the leftover marinade to use in the sauce. Drizzle oil over the pieces, sprinkle with salt to taste and cook on a hot grill, turning often until golden brown and cooked through, approx 10 minutes.

Sauce
1 tbs oil
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 large onion
2 large ripe tomatoes
½ bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped
salt to taste

Blitz the onion and tomato in a blender until smooth. Heat oil in a large frying pan, add the cumin seeds and cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the onion and tomato mixture along with the remaining marinade and mix well. Bring to the boil then cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for around 15 minutes. Season to taste. Toss through the cooked chicken pieces and coriander and serve with parathas.

Serves 6.


Ginger & Garlic Paste
Recipe from Hub UK

115g fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
115g garlic cloves

In a food processor blend the ginger and garlic to form a smooth paste, adding a little cold water or oil if necessary. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks in a glass container. Makes approximately 100ml.


Garlic Chives and Mozzarella Paratha
Recipe adapted from Enriching Your Kid

1 bunch garlic chives, finely chopped
½ cup grated mozzarella
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 cup plain flour
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp tumeric
½ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp asafoetida (I used 2 ts ginger-garlic paste instead)
1 ts salt
Approx 1/3 cup water

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and add enough water to create a dough. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and roll each portion out into a round, approx 15 cm across. Brush each side with oil and fry in a hot pan on both sides until crisp and golden brown. Serve hot.
Makes 8.

 

BWJ - Boca Negra

I'd never heard of a Boca Negra cake before so was curious to see how these would turn out. Well, let me just say that a Boca Negra cake is the most intensely chocolatey cake I have ever made. Ever.

We don't do bourbon in this house so I subbed in some coffee instead and also went for a lightly sweetened whipped cream to serve. OMG. So rich, soooo delicious.

I'm very glad I did just 1/4 of the recipe, using my little heart shaped springform pan which only sees the light of day for Valentine's Day.

So my 1/4 recipe used 100g dark chocolate (I used Lindt 85% cocoa), 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tbs strong coffee, 60g butter, 2 eggs and 2 ts plain flour. It baked for around 22 minutes and was just right. At room temperature it was silky and luscious, out of the fridge later it was like fudge.

The kids each had a bite and hubby and I polished off the rest. YUM.

To get the recipe and make your own Boca Negra visit out our host Cathy of A Frederick Food Garden.

Carrot Cake Cookies

I've had a hankering for carrot cake this week but really couldn't be bothered making a whole cake. Plus I've been meaning to make a big batch of something to stash in the freezer for after-kindy snacks and a cake doesn't really work.

I spotted some Sunflower Seed Cookies on Planning with Kids a while back and have had them bookmarked to try.

As always when I find a recipe I like I very rarely make it as written. Here I've switched around quite a few of the ingredients using wholemeal flour, carrot and pumpkin seeds which weren't in the original. I've also used dextrose instead of sugar to make them lower in sugar/fructose and added extra baking powder so they are more cakey. Think a not-too-sweet carrot cake but in cookie form.

My boys went nuts for these! They had 2 each with a glass of milk for afternoon tea desperately wanted more but mean mummy said no.

This recipe makes a huge batch so they will last for more than 5 minutes. Most of the batch is in the freezer and I'm looking forward to bringing them out for after-kindy afternoon teas. As they are nut-free they would also be suitable to pack in Oscar's lunchbox for kindy.

Carrot Cake Cookies
Inspired by Sunflower Seed Cookies on Planning with Kids
Makes 4 dozen

225 grams butter, softened
1 ½ cups dextrose (or white sugar)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup plain flour
1 cup wholemeal plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups rolled oats
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup grated carrot (about 3 carrots peeled then finely grated)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius /160 degrees fan-forced. Line 4 baking trays with non-stick paper and set aside.

Place the butter and dextrose a large bowl and beat with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla, beating well after each addition.

In another bowl add all the dry ingredients and stir to combine then pour over the butter mixture. When roughly combined add the grated carrot and enough milk to make a thick and slightly sticky batter.

Roll heaped tablespoons of dough into balls and place them onto the trays (12 per tray), leaving plenty of room for spreading.

Bake for approx 12 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through, until lightly golden brown. Leave the cookies to cool for 5 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will be soft but will firm up when cooled.

Makes approx 48. Suitable to freeze.

BWJ - Foccacia

It must be said that we love foccacia in this house so this was always going to be a winner. It didn't disappoint!

I made a mix of crushed garlic, dried Italian herbs and a good slug of olive oil and brushed most of it over the foccacia before baking. The I brushed the remainder over as soon is it was baked and wow, it smelt amazing!

We just happened to be having lasagne for dinner the day I made this and it was perfect accompaniment. Both boys kept asking for 'more bread please'. Gotta love that.

Our host this week is Sharmini of Wandering Through so make sure you visit her blog for the recipe and visit the LYL section of the Baking with Julia website to see how everyone else did.

Lamington Cupcakes for Australia Day

 Happy Australia Day! The rain has put an end to our normal Australia Day activities of bbqs and catching up with friends so we are instead we at home just hanging out, watching kids movies and of course, baking!

Last year I made real lamingtons with the kids but it was a bit fiddly for little fingers. This year I decided lamington cupcakes were the go. Much easier. We did most of this while Charlie was having his nap. We still ended up with 1 smashed plate and 3 smashed cupcakes but such is the joy of cooking with kids!

At almost 4 years old Oscar loves to help in the kitchen. He can pour in ingredients, stir and is even getting quite adept at cracking eggs! For these cupcakes he also placed the paper cases in the muffin tray, spread icing and sprinkled on coconut.

Some of my fondest memories of childhood are helping to cook and of course licking the spoon. I really hope to pass on such memories to my boys.

One of my goals for this year is to get both boys more involved with daily tasks. They both help a lot but don't really have any little jobs that are always just for them. I have already started getting them to help set the table with their own plates, bowls and cutlery. They have been their things in the sink almost since they could walk.

Anyway, back to the cupcakes. I won't bother posting a recipe here as it is a basic vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing, raspberry jam and dessicated coconut. A quick google search will give you a recipe.

These lamington cupcakes were absolutely delicious and the perfect sweet treat this Australia Day. Hope you're all having a good one!

BWJ - French Apple Tart

I'm not off to a great start with BWJ this year, seeing I completely forgot about the last one (seriously how did the 8th of January come around so quickly?!) and only just scraped in with this one!

I knew there was an apple tart coming up so I bought 2 bags of green apples assuming they would last. When I got ready to bake however, I realised there was just 1 lonely apple left and this recipe would require some major tweakage (that's totally a word).

I think the beauty of this tart lies in the swirled apple slices on top so that's what I save my apple for. Rather than trying to sub another fruit for the filling, I went with a frangipane filling as I happened to have some almond meal. Apple and almonds are a great combination so I knew whatever happened this tart would at least be edible!

The taste test ...

Flaky buttery pastry topped with smooth almondy frangipane and fragrant apples. There really is no way this could be bad. I'm really keen to try the original version with the apple filling but this was a great substitute. Seeing as this tart bears little resemblance to the original I have included my recipe below.

My apologies to Gaye of Laws of the Kitchen for not making the actual tart. It's now on my to-bake list!

Mini Apple Frangipane Tarts
Makes 2 x 4 inch tarts

Pastry
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1 pinch salt
1 ts sugar
120g cold butter, diced
1-2 tbs cold water

Filling
25g almond meal
25g sugar
25g butter, at room temperature
1 egg yolk
1/2 ts vanilla extract

Topping
1 granny smith apple
1 tbs melted butter
1 tbs honey, warmed

To make the pastry - combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingertips, being sure to leave some pea-sized bits. If the butter starts to get too soft, place the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes. Once the butter is rubbed in add 1 tbs of the cold water and start to bring the dough together. If the mixture is too dry add extra water just a few drops at a time. Shape into a ball, wrap in plastic and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough to approx 5mm thick and fit into 2 x 4 inch tart pans (there will be dough left over). Place the pans in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsisus.

To make the filling mash the butter together with the sugar and almond meal then stir in the egg yolk and vanilla. Set aside.

Bake the tart shells for 20 minutes or until dry to the touch and very lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before spooning in the filling and smoothing the tops.

Slice the apple into thin wedges. Lay the slices across the top of each tart and brush with melted butter.

Reduce the oven temperature to 170 degrees and bake the tarts for approx 25 minutes or until the pastry and frangipane are golden brown and the apples are tender. Remove from the oven and brush with warmed honey.

Serve just warm.

New Year, New Name!

I can't believe after making such a major change I then promptly forgot to tell anyone! oops.

After much deliberation food.baby finally has it's own URL and a slight name change to foodbabylife.

Over the past few years I have started to feel constrained by the old name and wanted a new name to take the blog in a slightly different direction. It will still be predominantly a food blog but with more family and lifestyle posts tossed in to the mix.

The old blogger address does redirect to the new site but please subscribe using the new URL so you don't miss anything! Thank you :-)

Sistema Quaddie Lunch Box Review

Well it's almost back to school time! I always loved this time of year when I was a kid. The holidays had dragged on long enough that I was looking for something to do and it was exciting getting new books, uniforms and stationery.

Oscar starts kindy at the end of this month (sniff) and I am just starting to get organised. Luckily he has a bag already, leftover from his daycare days, and doesn't need sheets etc now that he no longer has a daytime nap. What we really needed were labels to make sure all of his things come home and of coure, the all important lunch box.

My baby loves his food so finding something practical that he also really liked was important.

My requirements:
- BPA free
- easy for him to open and close
- big enough to hold both morning tea and lunch
- dishwasher safe

We are lucky that our kindy stores all lunchboxes in the fridge so we don't need an insulated lunch bag and special cold bricks. That narrowed our choices down to a few but the Sistema Quaddie (Itsy Bitsy Lunch range) in blue and yellow was a clear winner.

It has 3 compartments on top, one of which fits an included bottle which can be frozen to keep lunch cold. I plan on using the largest compartment for some sliced fruit, then separating out either cheese, crackers, carrot sticks or a homemade treat in the other 2.

Underneath there is plenty of space for a sandwich, muffin, tub of yoghurt or whole apple/orange. We saw lots of lunchboxes which had space for a sandwich but not much else. For the sake of variety I would like to be able to include a savoury muffin instead of a sandwich or include a proper tub of yoghurt rather than those small-but-full-of-sugar tubes of yoghurt with cartoon characters on them. Those things simply wouldn't fit or would be pretty squashed in some of the other lunchboxes.

We have had a few trial runs and Oscar found it easy to open all the individual lids and we have already made it a rule that it will be morning tea on the top and lunch in the bottom.

Not to be left out, Charlie has an identical quaddie lunchbox and I'm planning on packing his lunch up the same as Oscar's on kindy days. This should be a bit of a timesaver and also be special for Charlie who is going to miss his big brother terribly.

We bought our Sistema Quaddies at Kmart but they are pretty widely available. You can find stockists and more information here.

Note - this is not a sponsored post and no brand associations exist with Sistema or Kmart. I just wanted to share something that I like!

Meatless Monday - Potato Curry with Naan and Crunchy Fried Tofu

Happy New Year!! Hard to believe we are already 2 weeks into 2013.

In an effort to start the year off on the right foot, food wise, my first post for the year is a Meatless Monday meal. And even better it is one that is so seriously delicious that even the meat-lovers amongst us will be practically licking their plates clean!

Just don't be like me and take photos before adding one of the major elements of the dish, namely the crunchy fried tofu. Oops. While it definitely needs to be there for protein and crunch, it would have only added another layer of brown so it's no great loss.

Potato Curry with Naan and Crunchy Fried Tofu
Serves 4


For the curry:
500g sweet potato
500g potatoes
2 tbs curry paste
1 large onion, finely sliced
1 tbs coconut oil or ghee
2 cloves garlic
1 tin coconut cream
1 tin's worth of water
Salt, pepper and dextrose/sugar to taste

I cooked mine in the slow cooker but this works just as well on the stovetop. Directions for both are below.

Peel and chop the potatoes and sweet potato into 2 cm dice. Fry the onions in the coconut oil until starting to soften and go golden then add both lots of potato. Add the curry paste and extra garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes until fragrant and the paste is coating the potatoes. Add the coconut cream and water and mix well.

At this point you could pop the whole lot in the slow cooker on low and head out for the day! Or if you are cooking this at dinner, just simmer until the veges are tender and the sauce has reduced. Serve with a dollop of plain yoghurt, tofu and naan.

For the breadmaker naan:
Recipe adapted from here
185ml warm water
2 tbs coconut oil
90g greek yoghurt
1 ts salt
1 ts dextrose/sugar
1 ts onion flakes
1 clove garlic, crushed
100g wholemeal flour
350g bread flour
2 ts dried yeast

I made the dough in the breadmaker which simply involved adding all the ingredients in the order listed and using the pizza dough setting. After 50 minutes I had gorgeous soft dough ready to cut into 6 even pieces and shape into oblongs around 20cm long. Drizzle the top of each with coconut oil, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake at 250 degrees celsius for around 10 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

If you don't have a breadmaker follow the link to the original recipe above.

For the tofu:
250g firm tofu of your choice
Seasonings

I used a pack of sesame tofu nuggets which I chopped roughly then fried in coconut and sesame oils. I added a drizzle of rice malt syrup and some extra sesame seeds. Delish. Fry until nice and crispy and serve on top of your curry.

So that's my seriously delicious potato curry with tofu and naan. Enjoy!