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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
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
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 ar
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 h
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 sw
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
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
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 wou
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 b
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 twis
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 recip
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 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 th
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 C
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 woul
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 f
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 n
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 eleme
I feel like 2012 has been a year of changes for us, both personally and in terms of the types of food we have been eating. Not sure if this has really been reflected on the blog but I have big plans for 2013 in that regard so stay tuned!The end of a year is always a time for reflection though so I have been trawling through the archives to choose my favourite recipes of the year. Perhaps they were
I know I said I wasn't going to post any of my Christmas recipes but I made an exception for this salad. Because it is exceptional!The original version was supposed to be made with quinoa rather than rice. We had the quinoa cooked on Christmas day but with all the other food we had, we totally forgot about it sitting there in the pot and ended up having to throw it away. So a couple of days after
Well another Christmas over. It seems like the build-up to Christmas is getting longer but then the actual day is over so quickly!We had a really lovely day at home. We all slept in until 7 (amazing) and then came downstairs together for the kids to find their stockings full of lovely things. My dad arrived before the kids were up which meant he got to see them open their presents and have breakfa
SourceI though today I would share our Christmas menu seeing as we are now only hours from the big day!We are having Christmas at home for the first time since having the boys and it is going to be wonderful for all of us not having to pack up and leave for the day. Much less disruptive for the kids. We will have my dad and N's mum with us so it will be a lovely family day. As there will only be 6
These cookies just shout Christmas to me! They're red, white and green and packed with Christmassy flavours. I always make cookies to give as Christmas gifts because they are so transportable and always so well received. Every year I say I should make more cookies and fewer chocolate-y things because of the heat but it never happens!These are the sort of cookies with so many mix-ins you wond
I love all the free Christmas magazines put out by supermarkets at this time of year. I mean I love food magazines any time but you gotta love free stuff! While there is a lot of advertising you can find little recipe gems and some great ideas for menu plans, table settings and gifts.This recipe came from a freebie booklet from Coles called Recipes for Christmas Baking. I've no idea whether it is
It seems I have been missing out because I hadn't even heard of these little beauties until last week!Apparently they are the most popular recipe on the Stay At Home Mum blog and I can see why. I mean everyone loves tim tams and having them in ball form makes them even more appealing. But be warned, you won't be able to stop at one!These are just one of the tasty little homemade morsels our family
I feel like I have lost my baking mojo these last few weeks. Which is scary to admit considering how close to Christmas we are and just how many things I am yet to bake!Today's Finnish Pulla takes the cake for disasters. It just didn't work. I'm partly blaming the weather (very hot) and my being distracted and leaving it too long in the second rise (because of a screaming 2 year old refusing to na
So I didn't get around to making the Gingerbread Baby Cakes for Baking with Julia. I was kind of leaving them until the last minute but it was a scorching 38 degrees here in Brisbane today and the oven is staying off!If it's cooler where you live and you love gingerbread check out our host Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories for the recipe and some gorgeous photos.
It's no secret I fell in love with brownies through baking with Tuesdays with Dorie. Before that I thought they were chocolatey but kind of blah. So I was really keen to see how a recipe called 'Best-Ever Brownies' would compare with what I had made previously!Whether they were amazing or not we definitely didn't need a whole batch sitting around, especially so close to Christmas, so I made 1/4 of
Hard to believe but my baby turned 2 last week! Quite honestly it has been the fastest 2 years of my life and my boys are growing up so very quickly.To celebrate we had a party on Sunday for friends and family. It was supposed to be at the park but rain the day before (the first real rain in months) put an end to that. I had visions of muddy toddlers sliding all over the place! So Plan B was at ou
Recently I received a lovely gift bag of nuts from Lucky courtesy of Product Talk by Nuffnang. Just look at that haul! As a baker it made me very, very happy especially in the lead-up to Christmas which is the time of year when I cook with nuts.I grew up watching my mum use Lucky nuts in her Christmas baking and they are what I turn to for special occasion baking too. I didn't actually realise it
A homemade muffin, warm from the oven and fragrant with cinnamon and nutmeg. Is there anything better on a blah Monday morning?I made quite a few substitutions with these and will do a full post on why and what I used instead, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime make sure you visit our host Lisa of Easier Than Pie for the recipe!
A homemade muffin, warm from the oven and fragrant with cinnamon and nutmeg. Is there anything better on a blah Monday morning?I made quite a few substitutions with these and will do a full post on why and what I used instead, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime make sure you visit our host Alisa of Easier Than Pie for the recipe!
Fellow Aussies will remember the Great Banana Shortage of 2010 when Cyclone Larry destroyed up to 90% of Australia's banana crops. I think I actually got hubby a banana for his birthday that year!What a difference a few years makes, because I recently bought a ton of them at 99c/kilo and we've been eating bananas every way you can think of since then. Which brings me to banana bread ...Nothing bea
I've been on a real pumpkin kick lately, it's just such a versatile ingredient. Coming into summer here I foresee lots of roast pumpkin and feta salads, while from the northern hemisphere there is sure to be an abundance of pumpkin pie and cake recipes. Bring it on!Ever on the hunt for healthy lunchbox ideas for hubby and the boys, I came across these muffins in a healthy lunchbox post on Fig &
Another trip down memory lane with these! I can vividly recall being in a particular bakery as a child - rows and rows of sweet treats, the smell of sugar mixing with fresh bread and piping hot sausage rolls. What always caught my eye though were the finger buns with their vivid pink icing and sprinkles. What could be more attractive to a little girl?Although I have boys I knew these would go down
