Cooking Eating Storytelling
Sardine Dip with Christmas Bread Dippers is a tasty alternative to the creamy dips that often accompany the chips at party tables. There is the deliciously fishy hit of the sardines with bursts of capers and pickles to cut through it. Serve with some Christmas star dippers (or any other shape that takes your fancy) and you have a ridiculously quick entertainer.
Dip away! Blondie
Hot Smoked Salmon & Dill Tartlets – It’s party time! Birthday parties, Christmas parties, end of work parties… parties everywhere!
So, what do you make to feed to the masses? These Hot Smoked Salmon & Dill Tartlets are a must for six very good reasons…
Happy party season! Blondie & Bella
Healthy Coco Pops, Yes, believe it! A healthy version of your favourite sneaky snack. It’s crunchy and chocolatey and oh so good.
I came across this recipe yesterday from Whole foods Simply (so many wonderful recipes) and was intrigued by the simplicity of it.
The thought of making Coco Pops had never entered my mind so I was really excited by it. This recipe opens up a pandoras box of ideas to use this with; mix with crushed nuts and flattened rice for a light snack, use it as a crunchy topping for cakes and ice creams, add some coconut and dried fruit for a tropical hit or just straight up in a bowl with cold milk … so many delicious ideas.
Snap, crackle and pop to your hearts content – Blondie 🙂
Nut Free Chia & Sunflower Seed Bliss Balls … Naturally sweet with a gorgeous ‘pop’ from the chia seeds, these are a great snack to have on hand for a quick boost of energy or naughty indulgence without too much of the guilt.
Diary of today… so far: Get out of bed, with my cold, lovingly given to me by my darling husband. Make lunches. Throw on jeans (leave pyjama top on as will hide under a jacket). Drop Master S off at school. Come back home to get cleaned up as just been reminded by Master S that I need to actually GO INTO the school for some event. Go to event. Come home and wait for hard drive delivery (long story). Receive delivery and take to data recovery place. Get nails done … 11:00am Coffee time!
… and here we are, it’s always amazing how time flies by, and it’s exactly this type of day where extra energy is desperately needed. These are super fast to make as it’s just a matter of throwing everything into the food processor then rolling into balls.
This volume makes about 16 20g Bliss Balls and can easily be doubled or tripled as they freeze really well. To freeze them, place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and leave overnight. Once completely frozen you can place them in a ziplock bag. This technique works well for school or office lunches as they will remain firm without the need of a ice-pac in the lunch bag … they will naturally defrost by lunchtime.
Power up!… Blondie 🙂
Good coma! That is the only way that I can describe how I felt last night so making nutella puff pastry rolls was the last thing on my mind.
My day started yesterday with a lovely cup of my favourite Roobios and Vanilla bean tea which was enjoyed with a chocolate croissant. I really should have stopped there but three hours later it was out for lunch with work for our annual team birthday lunch at Jagos on Miller. Instead of celebrating a birthday a month, or in some cases a few birthdays in a week we take ourselves out once a year and celebrate everyone’s birthdays at the same time.
Jagos on Miller is a lovely little cafe/restaurant which does good basic meals. Their menu doesn’t really change much but why fix something when it’s not broken right? The service is quick and friendly, perfect for a work lunch, especially when you have to go back to the office. I had fish cakes with asian herb salad and sweet chilli sauce. A very substantial dish composed of two fish patties. I was adamant that it would end there but nope, the whole team was having desserts and as much as my tummy was saying no the left side of the brain took over. As soon as the waitress asked me to take my order I blurted out…yes please I will have the chocolate mousse tart which I have to say was pretty ahhhmazing!
I don’t have a photo to show you because it literally lasted only a few seconds on my plate!
Walking home at aerobic pace so that I could work off the brick in my tummy I promised myself that I would stay away from all food until the morning. I found myself however making these nutella puff pastry rolls for the teams morning tea! Sugar over load right!
I love nutella. We always keep a jar of it in the cupboard however as silly as it sounds it never occurred to me to make a dessert with nutella until a few months back when I came across these very delish but very filling nutella scrolls at our local coffee shop, Cafe Andiamo in North Sydney. They are so filling that when we get one at work, we share it amongst 4 staff members and two of them are blokes!
My nutella puff pastry rolls are what I call the lighter alternative, if there is such a thing with puff pastry and nutella! Quick and easy to make with literally only two ingredients needed. Three if you decide to count the icing sugar!
So as you can see, it definitely was a chocolate/sugar indulgent day, but as Blondie said to whilst I sipped my glass of wine…we are allowed to splurge now and again.
Bella 🙂
Zucchini, Spinach & Dill Fritters are a delicious pancake style dish that perfectly compliments a light salad or as a side dish to a curry buffet.
My family is still on our alternative day meat free lifestyle, which is going really well. Maybe more so for me as it now gives me a guideline to work with. There really is something to be said about having restrictions to help motivate and encourage new ideas and strategies; whether it be needing to include an ingredient for your diet or remove an ingredient due to allergies, or perhaps it’s even a budget necessity but each one means putting more thought into what you actually eat and stock your fridge and cupboards with.
I was thinking about this recently, as I was going through my ever growing cookbook library, about how, in our mother’s time they would have had two maybe three cookbooks. Cookbooks that would have been worked through thoroughly, family discussions about what was liked and what didn’t really work. Favourite family meals would have be discovered and made often – Sausage Casserole Tuesdays for instance. If you wanted to change it up you would open one of your favourite cookbooks (out of the three) and pick a recipe to make, it was certainly an easier time.
Now, everyone has so many books, so many recipes in printed form, most books of which would be lucky to get one recipe made from it … Perhaps I’m feeling the loss of the simplicity and romance of times gone by… perhaps I need to do a cookbook cull?
This recipe has probably been around in some form or another for many decades. It is full of flavour, especially with one of my most favourite herbs, dill, and can easily accommodate more herbs and spices depending on the style of meal you are serving.
Enjoy, Blondie 🙂
PS: I would never/ could never get rid of my cookbook babies… I think I just need a coffee!
Wild Mushroom Mini Arancini or mini deep fried mushroom rice balls for the uninitiated are such a great food to have on hand in the freezer.
Not only are they a great ‘fast food’ to pad out a salad but they are also fantastic to have for emergency nibbles when friends or family pop around.
This volume makes about 60 arancini but this will depend on how big or small you make each ball. To freeze the remaining arancini you simply take the recipe up to the breadcrumb coating stage and then place them on a lined baking tray so they aren’t touching each other and freeze overnight. You then place them into a ziplock bag till required. Cook them from frozen, do not defrost.
Serve them with a garlic aioli and a harissa paste or similar spicy, hot sauce.
… would love to be serving these out of a food truck. You know what they say, put the wish out there, the dream may come true – Blondie 🙂
