Ingredients-

125g butter chopped at room temp
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 tp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1/4 cup self raising flour
1/2 tp bicarb soda
100g packet of choc chips/ smarties or M&Ms’s

You also need a packet of Milkyway, Malteser or kinder eggs.
Method-

Cream butter and sugars together in an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
Sift in flour and bicarb soda and fold to combine add your chocolate chips and combine.
Then you need to roll into a ball and stick your easter egg into the centre- cover the egg with the cookie dough and form a round ball.

Teaspoon mixture onto a baking tray and bake for 12 minutes in a moderate oven.
They are suer yummy warm straight out of the oven as the egg is lovely and gooey.

They went super quick in our house : )

Isn’t this little plate sweet : ) They were an Easter gift for our little boys and I know they will be cherished for years and years to come. They are a custom silhouette Easter plates. You can find them at Le Papier Studio HERE.

Cute : )

So with my little helper we baked-

Ingredients-
125 butter softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup self raising flour
1/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup apple juice
1 small red apple

1 1/2 Tbs caster sugar
1/4 Tp cinnamon

*Beat butter, extract and sugar in a bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy

*Add eggs one at a time until just combined.

*Fold in sifted flours and juice

*Now spoon out your mixture into pans. (Bee and butterfly cups are optional but extra cuteness is added)

*Thinly slice the apple and add to the top.

*Then combine the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle half over the apple slices.

*Bake for 25 minutes in a 180 degree oven.

*Once you remove from the oven add the remaining sugar and then enjoy.

Stocklists-
Silicone cupcake wrappers- House (packets of 6)
White cupcake stands- Hello Hanna

A struggle for me for awhile now as I collect them from all over the place. Then I saw this cute recipe binder at Typo and I knew this is exactly what I needed.

Firstly a word on my old system as organisation is constantly evolving around here, what worked for me and the family 12 months ago just might not be valid now and so things are every changing.

The old system was for me to store my loose recipe in my Errands station-

I had a folder labelled just for them. And I would drop them here once I printed the and put them back when I was finished.

One of the problems with this system for me was spillages see below evidence of some damage on my favourite pie recipe.

SO I needed something where the recipes were well protected inside a sleeve and it also needed to look super cute so I could have it out in my kitchen. The Typo recipe folder delivers all of this. And as a bonus I just LOVE the colour.

There are lots of dividers in the folder which is great and covers all of what I need to be able to store in here. Note the little mumma’s boy in the back, he never like to be more than a metre away from me at the moment : ) Bless his heart.

So once lunch time while the boys were busy with crackers and such I got to work. Firstly I collected all of the papers and recipes in the kitchen and also in the recipe folder. Then I started simply slotting them into the folder in the correct section.

I love this folder because it can also fit in the Tupperware recipe cards which is handy.

There is also this great pocket at the back for smaller recipes as well or ones yet to be hole punched.

It was so great to hear from so very many of you on Facebook as to how you store, organise and collect your recipes. Hearing how others organise is a fabulous way to learn. So if you have an idea or system please feel free to share today as well : ).

I wanted to share with you another hidden vegetable recipe today disguised as an unsuspecting Mac and cheese with a side of rissoles.

Firstly I used a basic cheese sauce recipe-

15g Butter
15g Plain flour
150ml Milk
40g Grated Cheese (or more if you want)

1. Melted the butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour to make a smooth paste and cook for 1 minute
2. Gradually stir in the milk, bring to the boil and cook for several minutes- keep stirring.
3. Take off the heat and add in the cheese, stir in until melted.

Then comes the vegetable part.

Take a 3/4 cup of pumpkin and broccoli puree and stir through. Yes simple I know – but effective. The lovely cheesy sauce masks the pumpkin and broccoli taste just enough to still be super yummy.

I am still all for having a side of steamed vegetables or a salad as well, this is just a little extra for my growing babies I like to pop in.

This was also Oliver’s very first taste of rissoles and he LOVED them. No surprise there though as he is such a little champion with his food and will happily anything which is great.

In fact they both loved this little creation- even super fussy Flynn ate it= success.

I know I am a little easter crazy with the dinnerware. But it is fun and we love it ; ) See below random lunch from last week as evidence

Today I am going to share with you a gem of a dinner recipe I tried the other night that both of my little ones absolutely loved and ate no questions asked. I will definitely be using this one again and it really came about my accident.

Ingredients

500g chicken mince

100g bacon pieces

One packet Rissoni

2 carrots

1/2 leek

1/2 butternut pumpkin

So I chopped, steamed and pureed the vegetables first in preparation for Olivers dinner for the week. The the next day I thought I should mix it up a little so whilst getting my weekly shop I grabbed the above extra ingredients.

I lightly browned the mince and added the bacon pieces stirring frequently to make sure all the mince was in really little pieces. Once the pasta was cooked I just added them all together simmered on low heat on the stove for another 5 minutes and it was ready to serve.

I think he liked it? Well there was nothing left from both the boys and coming from  toddler who until now has flat out refused to eat all of the above 3 vegetables I was super happy. Also this Rissoni is just the perfect size and shape for little people, it doesn’t make a mess and is super easy for them to eat.

Try it out for your toddlers you might just be surprised : ) When cooked these vegetables are so sweet they create a fantastic sauce.

Ingredients-

250mls cream

2 eggs

Puff pastry if going to be eaten straight away- shortcrust if for later, picnic eaten cold etc.

That is my base- I use the same every time. See below for some examples of what I add depending on what we have in the fridge.

Spring onion

Chives

Ham

Corn

Cherry Tomatoes

Red onion

Cheese

The possibilities are endless really limited by your fridge stock and your imagination. I just whisk everything together an bake for 25-30 minutes in a 180 degree oven.

And yes I used a heart plate and red ingredients for February- I’m dorky like that ; )

Doesn’t it just look delicious, super light and fluffy. This recipe makes a LOT as well two slice containers worth so split it up and share the love with a friend or  your family.

Ingredients-

• 200g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 215g (1 cup) caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 225g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 250ml (1 cup) Greek-style natural yoghurt
• 2 (about 250g) peaches, halved, stones removed, thinly sliced
• Icing sugar, to dust

Method-

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line the base and 2 long sides of a 20 x 30cm slice pan with non-stick baking paper, allowing the sides to overhang.
2. Use an electric beater to beat the butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl. Fold the flour mixture, alternately with the yoghurt, into the egg mixture until combined. Stir in two-thirds of the peach.
4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Arrange the remaining peach on top and press down slightly. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until light golden and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
5. Set aside in pan for 5 minutes to cool then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar. Cut into pieces.Recipe found at Taste.comEnjoy : )

So this is what I use, in the bowls on the left.

500g beef mince

2 carrots

1 zuchini

1 packet baby corn I also added some frozen corn

1 brocolli

1/2 cup peas

1/2 packet cherry tomatoes

one tin of tomatoes

I put all of this in my fabulous Avent steamer/blender. 20 mins and then you flip and whiz to your required consistency. I then added some very small pasta stars  and I was done. 12 meals and 2 very happy babies and one super happy mummy. The babies are full of goodness and are eating the same thing- winner!!

Our menu-

Vegemite and cheese scrolls (5)

Ham and cheese wraps (8)

Turkey and cheese wraps (5)

Hawaiian scrolls (ham, cheese and tomato paste) (10)

Chicken and cheese wraps (5)

You could do up more this was just enough for one child attending Kindy 2/3 days per week, I would do double for a full timer etc.

Recipe for Vegemite and cheese scrolls-

(You can just modify the filling for this any way you like eg for the Hawaiian scrolls I just added tomato paste, ham and cheese etc)

Ingredients -

• 2 cups (300g) self-raising flour + extra for dusting
• 1 tsp salt
• 50g butter, coarsely grated
• 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
• Vegemite
• 3/4 cup (90g) grated cheddar

Method-

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Rub butter in using fingertips. Add milk and mix to a soft dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth. Roll into a 25 x 30cm rectangle.This is what your dough will look like with the topping on-
2. Spread vegemite over dough and sprinkle with cheese. Roll up starting from a long edge. Use a sharp serrated knife to cut roll into 10 even slices. Place scrolls on trays and bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees.Easy peasy right? I like to keep it that way which is why none of my recipes are ever super complicated- you need to consider repeating this process several times a term or a year so it needs to be simple right? Well that my philosophy and how I plan to send Flynn to school with a home made lunch every day.Onto packaging.

   Again similar to snacks I use glad bags to individually store my lunches. This makes the defrosting process in the fridge the night before easy. You can re use these bags over and over and they are even good in the dishwasher which makes this recipe super environmentally friendly as the packaging is minimal. I transfer these wraps and scrolls into the Tupperware sandwich keeper to take to school- then wash out the bags when you are done and use again.

   Why do I do it this way instead of just putting things in Tupperware and freezing? Well from past experience it just takes one person ahem husband to not close the container properly and you have freezer burn- and everything is ruined. This is an extra safe guard in case this happens : )

   Below wraps, scrolls are not pictured.

   

   

   I hope this storage process makes sense. I would prefer to just use Tupperware but through previous experience I have just not found this enough to last several weeks without getting ruined.

   And one last tip for making lunches easily at home in bulk. Have everything ready to go. I did my shopping the day before and made sure that I had everything I needed for my lunch choices this made for quick assembly-

   

   I hope this helps some mums get organised for school. Please feel free to share any of your tried and true recipes suggestions in the comments we can all learn from each other- especially the rookie school mums like me : )

I am sure many mums use this great dinner but for those that don’t I thought I woud share this new discovery of mine. This is my make your own chicken caesar salad night. Why make your own? Well everyone in our family likes things just a little bit differently, Simon loves everything dressing, cheese etc, I am Miss super fussy and Flynn has a tasting plate.

The other great thing about doing it this way is all the leftovers can go straight back into the fridge for the next day or lunches- once you start adding everything you have to eat it that very day.

I LOVE this dinner for the summer hot summer nights as there is NO cooking involved- and don’t we all love that! The other great thing about keeping this all separate is that you can use the other items like chicken and bacon for other dishes like a fried rice the next day.

So although not traditional this is what I include in our salad-

2x baby cos lettuce

1 red capsicum

1 green capsicum

2 carrots

1 cucumber

1 red onion

1 container of cherry tomatoes

This makes a super large salad that we use for the rest of the week.

Extras-

100g diced bacon

1 BBQ chicken

Croutons

Grated cheese

Give it a try : ) It is worth a night off cooking.