5 Ways To Cute Up Your Lunch Box

My girls are pretty good eaters. We have our struggles, but for the most part, they’ll eat well enough, so I don’t go to much effort to make their lunch snacks ‘fun’, which makes it all the more fun when we do. I have boxes of cookie cutters and sandwich cutters and flags and all sorts of little bits to throw out those special treats from time to time.

Here are my top five gadgets for making snack time fun:

1) Sandwich cutters

Lunch Box Sandwich cutters

We have a few different sandwich cutters and while my other half moans about the wasted crusts, I am happier binning sandwich crusts before they’ve been chewed and dumped soggily back into the lunchbox to sweat and grow stale all day long. If I know they’re not going to be eaten anyway, I’d much rather bin them at the start of the day, leaving only the parts that will be eaten.

I love the variety of sandwich cutters available on the market, with dolphins, hearts, dinosaurs, puzzle pieces, butterflies and even vehicles to suit all themes and preferences.

I think it’s a fun idea to theme the sandwiches – like dinosaurs for a trip to Dinoworld, or butterflies when you’re observing caterpillars.

2) Egg and rice shapers
Egg and rice shape moulds lunch box

These are the kind of thing I’d normally roll my eyes at and say ‘Who has the time?!’ But actually, they’re super cute. When the eggs are boiled, pop them in the shapes, get the rest of the meal ready and when you’re done add the eggs.  These shape the eggs after they’re boiled, so if you put them in lunch boxes chances are they’ll re-form to their original shape again, so possibly leave them in the cases in the lunch box – but only if you have confidence that they’ll find their way home again!

These can also be used to shape rice for Bento boxes.

If you have the money and space, there’s also a chick-egg shaper* that comes with chick-feet instead of an egg cup, and a skull for halloween*!

3) Animal Impressions

Sandwich cutters lunch box

These are another simple idea for bread. You’re not wasting much, but they’re a cute way to add a bit of fun. The sandwiches are cut to size while the face impressions are superimposed onto the bread. The same happens with the sausage cutters, I think – they just cut the shapes in the ‘right’ way to make them into something cute.
Lunch Box Sausage Cutters

4) Fruit cutters

Fruit shapers

These are such a fun way to serve fruit. Perfect for a fondue, ideal for lunchboxes, you could even do vegetables for a BBQ skewer – whatever makes the kids eat their veg, I say!

5) Fairy Sticky NotesCapture2

And finally, some of my most treasured keepsakes are notes I found on my bed when I’d get home from school, written by my mother. These are even more special since her death. Who doesn’t want to hear how they are loved, appreciated and cared for? Or just to open a lunch box and find notes of encouragement for an exam, a tough job that needs doing, or any of the other obstacles life throws at us.

I have two girls, and they love all things fairy, so this combo fairy post it note set is a winner for us!

I hope these items will help you make lunch time a little more fun!

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Lunchboxes

Five South African Freedom Day Celebration Foods

freedom day foods

On the 27th of April, it’s Freedom Day in South Africa, marking the years since our country’s first democratic elections in 1994. One of the many things that make South Africa stand out from other countries, is our rich and exciting, somewhat exotic – monkey gland sauce, anyone? – cuisine.

freedom day foods

Below are five recipes perfect for this time of the year, since they’re about as comfort food as you can get!

Vetkoek

Vetkoek

Vetkoek is about as Afrikaans South African as food gets. There’s no end to options for fillings, but our favourites include jam, mince or cheese. 

Fried bread, essentially, these can be made ahead of time, then fried before eating,  but they’re delicious cold the next day too. 

Bobotie

South African Bobotie

This Bobotie recipe is quite popular among readers, and even non-South Africans will often ask for the recipe. This one is quite mild as I feed two little girls, but you can add spices to it if you like.

It’s another great make ahead recipe as you can freeze it at a point, then defrost, add the topping and bake when you’re ready.

It’s good stuff, filling and oh so comforting. It was also recently featured in The 4 Blades Magazine, where it received rave reviews.

Peppermint Crisp Tart

Peppermint Crisp Pie

Peppermint Crisp Tart is a uniquely South African dish since the only place you can buy Peppermint Crisp is in South Africa, or a South African shop or on Amazon. Since Peppermint Crisp is a Nestle product, however, we don’t buy it anymore, but there are perfectly suitable substitutions, and anyone who tastes our Peppermint Crisp tart comes back for more.

This recipe caused a bit of a fuss recently, and it turns out there are as many opinions on how it’s ‘supposed’ to be made as there are people making it. I think that’s a sign of a truly adaptable, traditional family recipe.

Anyway, take a dish of this to a Freedom Day braai (bbq) and no one’s going to be arguing semantics – they’ll be too busy licking their fingers, I promise.

Onion Soup

Onion Soup

Whether this recipe is traditionally South African, or traditionally my mothers, I can’t say. It was scribbled in her recipe book, and was always used as the base for her Vranameer Chicken (recipe below), and as such forms a part of my South African food history.

This Onion Soup  is actually called a Brown Onion Soup, but she had it written down as French Onion Soup. It’s not really a French Onion Soup though, as there’s no bread or cheese involved.

It’s just a cheap, tasty, budget soup.

Vranameer ChickenVranameer Chicken

And finally, a recipe that tweaks my heart a little, as it’s the one my mother is most known for – Vranameer Chicken. That translates to ‘ask for more’ chicken, because everyone comes back for seconds.

The recipe is still on my original blog, I haven’t put it on here yet. It’s still good though.

Restaurant Review: Pebbles Restaurant, Ladram Bay

I know you’re not accustomed to seeing restaurant reviews from me, and there’s a very good reason: I don’t really eat out much. Last week, however, I had the chance to eat at Pebbles Restaurant in Ladram Bay Holiday Park, Devon.

It’s not the kind of restaurant you’d walk past, but we enjoyed it so much we’d definitely take a bit of a detour if we happened to be driving by, to get dinner first.

First Impressions

Pebbles Restuarant has been recently refurbished and is now a cool, breezy, seaside- perfect restaurant. I don’t know what it looked like before, but if I had to draw a picture of what a restaurant in that location should look like, that’s probably what I’d have drawn. Apart from the cool, summery feel, it also has an exquisite view of the sea, and if you’re on the balcony, then of the beach and cliffs too.  Outside they have welcoming sofas that invite you to spend the afternoon sipping cocktails in the sun.

Capture

The Food

This isn’t holiday park food. It’s actually really good.  Well, the children’s menu is a little average, but I’d say it caters to what most people would order for their children. Order from the regular menu, however, and you’re in for a treat.

As we arrived they were updating the specials board and I had a Rib Eye Steak with Dauphinouis potatoes, topped with salad (£16-ish). I spent most of the meal with my eyes closed, just enjoying the handiwork of chefs Matt Wadsworth and Chris Bury. The meat is locally raised – Ben Telfer, the manager,  offered to find out the exact details of where the cow I was eating was from, but I declined. This was no supermarket own brand meat though.  The dauphinous potatoes were spectacular too – melt in the mouth, which is quite a trick for potatoes!

I had a hankering for mushrooms, so I asked for a side of garlic mushrooms, and the sauce was so good I used some of the children’s left over burger bun to sop it up with! I’m salivating just thinking about that meal.

RibEye

My husband had a Big Bay Burger (£12-ish) – that was bigger than he could manage. It had was filled with rich cheese, bacon and meat and came with loads of sides too – really a mammoth meal!

Burger

Of course, it’s not dinner without desert and we had a shared desert (£7) that we had to eat as quickly as we could to stop the kids devouring it all!

Pebbles Restaurant, Ladram Bay

On our second visit, I had the Salmon which was just as delicious. After a week of cooking and eating ‘conveniently’, I was craving some vegetables, so the carrots, potatoes and cabbage sides to a moist side of salmon with a crispy, crunchy skin was simply amazing – you know when food feels like it’s doing something for your body? It was like that. Refreshing, nutritious and absolutely delicious.

My other half went for a regular burger, which this time he bested, and thoroughly enjoyed.

The food at Pebbles Restaurant, Ladram Bay was fresh, and surprisingly delicious, definitely better than I’ve had at a holiday park before! The chefs try new recipes – I was apparently the first to have the new Rib Eye meal – and when people are being creative in their roles, I always take that as a good sign!
Ladram Bay, Pebbles Restaurant

The Service

We popped in to Pebbles Restaurant a few times over the week – once for coffee, once for the coffee & cake offer, and twice for a meal and each time we were impressed with the service.

On the last day – a Saturday – the restaurant was very busy, but that didn’t impact on the friendliness or helpfulness of the staff. The manager, Ben, was always around, helping out, friendly. He told us that when they redesigned the kitchen, they kept the doors off  so that the chefs on duty could still see sea, rather than be stuck in a box all day. That really impressed me!

On quieter days they were ready and welcome to chat about the area, the park, anything, really – it was just a thoroughly warm experience.

Pebbles Restaurant isn’t likely to be somewhere you’d end up accidentally, since it’s located in a holiday park at the edge of the land, but if you find yourself in the East of Devon, make a detour, park up at the visitors parking, and enjoy a delicious meal with a fantastic view.

We were given a £50 voucher to review this restaurant. Opinions and thoughts are all ours.

Top Ten Liquid Desserts to make

A liquid dessert is not quite the same as a liquid lunch – think delicious milkshakes, jazzed up coffee drinks and yes, a fancy cocktail or two. If you’ve never heard of the phenomenon, don’t worry, they’re easy to make and they look just as impressive as the regular kind, with a fun twist!

 1 Homemade birthday cake frappuccino

A special edition flavour from a certain coffee house, the birthday cake frappuccino is a pretty pink hazelnut flavoured liquid dessert that’s very easy to make at home, for a cold hit of sweet deliciousness on a hot day.

 2 Creamy brownie coffee

One for the coffee lovers out there. If you like sound of the dark flavours of black coffee intensified by chocolate and then sweetened by a swirl of cream, this creamy brownie coffee recipe is for you.

 3 Mudslide cocktail

The mudslide is composed of vodka, coffee liqueur and Irish cream liqueur – something like Baileys – shaken over ice. These drinks taste innocent but with three types of alcohol in there, don’t be fooled! This cocktail packs quite a punch. You can freeze the mixture for extra dessert-like decadence.

4 Burnt toasted almond cocktail

Similar to the mudslide above, the burnt toasted almond cocktail is a creamy confection with a high alcoholic kick and a great name. The addition of Amaretto into the mix gives it a lovely nutty flavour.

5 Sweet coconut soup with fruit pearls

This recipe is based on an East and South East Asian dessert soup but with a molecular gastronomic twist – try it if you want to be Heston Blumenthal for a day! If you’re not feeling the appeal of using a chemistry set in your cooking, the sweet soup alone is simple and delicious.

6 Søtsuppe – Scandinavian sweet soup

Speaking of sweet soups, they’re quite common in different parts of the world, so here’s a Scandinavian version. It’s made with dried fruits, and can be eaten for breakfast or following a meal.

 7 Creme Egg milkshake

A milkshake is possibly the most classic liquid dessert there is, and all you need is a blender and a few ingredients. Here’s a Cadbury’s Creme Egg version. Vary the flavour by substituting your favourite chocolate bar.

 8 Buttercrunch milkshake for grownups

A combination of cocktail and milkshake – could this be the ultimate liquid dessert? Here’s a great recipe for a milkshake for grown ups.

 9 Mango lassi

Mango lassi is a wonderfully filling, sweet yohurt and fruit drink which is very cooling in summer. Have this liquid dessert as a snack in its own right on a hot day.

10 Custard

Although it’s usually served with a hearty English pudding like apple crumple or treacle tart, a simple bowl of warm custard is the ultimate in no fuss comfort food.

So there are just a couple of ideas to get you started. A liquid dessert is great when you fancy something sweet but convenient – you can enjoy it walking along the street for something a bit different… and delectable.

Image credit.

Vietnamese Cashew Pineapple Chicken

I love this dish. It just looks summery and fresh and inviting. Serve it with rice, or if you’re sharing, add a hearty meaty dish with it.

Vietnamese Cashew Pineapple Chicken This recipe is originally from The Essential Asian Cookbook*, but adapted for serving two children and using a Thermomix® – but you can use a knife as most of the cooking is done in a wok. I do think all of this could be done in the Thermomix® to some extent. You could saute the cashews and coconut in the bowl, steam the chicken in the Varoma, and then combine all the ingredients at about 90C in the bowl before serving, but if I don’t have to and do have access to the wok, I’d do it that way.

Vietnamese Cashew Pineapple Chicken
 
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A good stand alone, or perfect as part of a shared meal.
Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Vietnamese,Asian,
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 30g (2tbs) shredded coconut
  • 80g (1/2 cup) raw cashews
  • 30g (2tbs) oil
  • 1 large onion
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 2 chopped red chillies (optional - I do it without)
  • 350g chicken thigh fillets, diced
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1 tbs fish sauce (nam plah)
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 320g (2 cups) chopped pineapple (fresh is good, but tinned and drained is fine)
  • 3 spring onions
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 150C (300F) and spread the coconut evenly onto a tray. Toast the coconut for 10 minutes until golden. Remove from the tray immediately to prevent burning and set aside.
  2. Increase the heat to 180C (350F) and roast the cashews for 15 minutes until deep golden.
  3. In a wok, pour the oil to heat up.
  4. Drop the onion and garlic (and chillies if using) onto a running Thermomix® at speed 4, about 5 seconds.
  5. Stir fry for 2 minutes, then remove from the pan.
  6. Meanwhile, put the peppers into the Thermomix® and chop speed 4 about 10 seconds or until it's the size you want.
  7. Add the chicken and the peppers to the wok, and cook until the chicken is light brown. Add the onion back in to the wok, then add the fish sauce, sugar and pineapple and heat through for about 2 minutes.
  8. Blitz the spring onion on Turbo to chop.
  9. Toss the cashews through the food in the wok, then serve and scatter the toasted coconut and spring onion over the top.
  10. Serve with rice or Asian vegetables.
Regular Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 150C (300F) and spread the coconut evenly onto a tray. Toast the coconut for 10 minutes until golden. Remove from the tray immediately to prevent burning and set aside.
  2. Increase the heat to 180C (350F) and roast the cashews for 15 minutes until deep golden.
  3. In a wok, pour the oil to heat up.
  4. Chop the onions, garlic and chillies. While you're at it, chop the peppers roughly and spring onions finely. Make sure the chicken is evenly diced.
  5. Add the onion, garlic and chillies if using to the wok.
  6. Stir fry for 2 minutes, then remove from the pan.
  7. Add the chicken and the peppers to the wok, and cook until the chicken is light brown. Add the onion back in to the wok, then add the fish sauce, sugar and pineapple and heat through for about 2 minutes.
  8. Toss the cashews through the food in the wok, then serve and scatter the toasted coconut and spring onion over the top.
  9. Serve with rice or Asian vegetables.
Notes
serves 4
521 calories per serve (doesn't include rice)
Nutrition Information
Calories: 2082

 

Sri Lankan Devilled Pork Recipe

I’m not a fan of spicy food, and put a stack of take away fliers down in front of me and I’ll never go for the Indian or similarly spiced option. That said, whenever I’ve made anything vaguely curry-ish in nature, I’ve really enjoyed it. Strange, isn’t it.

This recipe is fantastic. Honestly, the richness of flavours is out of this world. Specially since it’s not a spice combination I’m accustomed to. And I don’t even like strong tomato flavours. But this, I enjoy! Sri Lankan Mild Devilled Pork“Devilled” is the generally given adjective for when something is highly spiced – which I’ve come to realise doesn’t have to mean hot. Traditionally this recipe would have some chilies added to it. If you like chilies, go wild. I don’t like hot food, and I’m feeding a five and a three year old too, so we don’t add chilies.

I find food like this so hard to photograph. I look at this picture and see a symphony of flavour, but without having eaten it, it probably looks a bit weird. Sorry about that. It’s fantastically flavorsome though. Take my word for it!

 

Sri Lankan Mild Devilled Pork Serve this with Baharat Spiced Meatballs with yoghurt and garlic butter to cut the spices a little. It makes a nice shared meal.

 

Sri Lankan Devilled Pork
 
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A forgiving recipe that lets you adjust the seasoning and flavours to your preference. Sri Lankan curry is a blend of coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, cassia bark, fenugreek seeds, cloves, cardamon, mustard seeds, black peppercorns, kashmiri chilli & turmeric - buy one ready made or mix your own before starting this recipe.
Author:
Recipe type: Meat
Cuisine: Sri Lankan
Serves: 4
Ingredients
Marinade
  • 1 tbs cider vinegar
  • 1 tbs soy sauce
  • ½ teaspoon sugar
  • 500g pork
  • 1 large onion
  • 320g (can) tomatoes
  • 4 - 6 garlic cloves
  • 3 tsp Sri Lankan Curry Powder
  • Lemon rind
Instructions
Thermomix® Instructions
  1. Cut Pork into 1' chunks
  2. Place marinade ingredients in the Thermomix® bowl, and mix, speed 5/10 seconds. Add chopped meat and mix speed 1/15 seconds
  3. Set aside to marinate for at least 45 minutes
  4. (Don't worry about cleaning the bowl)
  5. In the Thermomix®, drop the onion over running blades (speed 4).
  6. Heat a pan to medium heat. and add the marinated pork with the marinade. Cook until the juices have reduced to a thick gravy. Add the tomatoes, onion and garlic. Also add salt & Sri Lankan Curry Powder to taste.
  7. Stir to prevent burning, till all the liquid is gone.
  8. In the meantime, fill the Thermomix® with water, and cook rice per the usual method. You can add your choice of Asian vegetables to the Varoma at this point too.
  9. Sprinkle with grated lemon rind
  10. Serve the rice with soy sauce and Sri Lankan Devilled Pork.
Regular Instructions
  1. Cut Pork into 1' chunks
  2. Place marinade ingredients in a bowl, and mix together.. Add chopped meat and stir till it's all covered.
  3. Set aside to marinate for at least 45 minutes
  4. Slice the onion finely.
  5. Heat a pan to medium heat, and add the marinated pork with the marinade. Cook until the juices have reduced to a thick gravy. Add the tomatoes, onion and garlic. Also add salt & Sri Lankan Curry Powder to taste.
  6. Stir to prevent burning, till all the liquid is gone.
  7. In the meantime cook rice per your usual method.
  8. Sprinkle with grated lemon rind
  9. Serve the rice with soy sauce and Sri Lankan Devilled Pork.

Pastel De Nata – Portuguese Custard Tarts Recipe

Our family had some pretty amazing travel plans for this year, and if things hadn’t gone as  they did, we’d be setting off from Sintra near Lisbon in Portugal roundabout now, for Spain. One of the things I remember from a previous visit to Portugal is Pastel de Nata – Custard Tarts – which are delicious sweet baked custard tarts in a puff pastry shell.Pastel de nata - Portuguese Custard Tarts If you’re a fan of the Nando’s restaurant chain, you may recognise these as one of the only desert options on the menu, but I’ve never been a fan of them! There’s nothing quite like fresh, home made tarts. It just wins out. No surprises there, I suppose.

Pastel de nata - Portuguese Custard Tarts

I’d like to be all holier-than-though, but I actually bought this puff pastry, because as Lorraine Pascale, James Martin and Jamie Oliver all say – there’s no reason not to! Especially if you buy the all butter pastry. It’s about £1 more than the ‘normal’ one, but it’s so much better, with a much nicer taste and no bitter aftertaste. It’s well worth paying that bit extra.

If you are going to make it, have a look at this easy puff pastry recipe from Jane at Why Is There Air?

Pastel de nata - Portuguese Custard Tarts

Sprinkle the icing sugar before you’re going to serve, as it will be absorbed and you won’t see it and if you keep adding sugar it becomes terribly sweet. My five year old was the icing sugar distributor in these photos and she was, shall we say, liberal in her application 😉

4.0 from 1 reviews
Portuguese Custard Tarts Recipe
 
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The cooking time here does not include the cooling time once the custard is cooked before it is baked. Add at least another 30 - 50 minutes depending on your temperature. If you cover the custard with plastic while it's cooling it shouldn't form a skin, but if it does just mix it up - you won't notice it in the final product.
Author:
Recipe type: Desert
Cuisine: Portuguese, European
Serves: 12 pies
Ingredients
  • 115g White Sugar
  • 1 Egg
  • 2 Egg Yolks
  • 10g Cornflour
  • 400g Full Fat Milk
  • 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 300g All Butter Puff Pastry
Instructions
Thermomix® Recipe
  1. Weigh out the milk and set aside.
  2. Place the white sugar into the Thermomix® Bowl and mix at Speed 5 / 10 Seconds
  3. Add one egg and two yolks to the bowl. (don't bang against the Thermomix® bowl as that tends to upset the scales)
  4. Add 10g cornflour and mix it all together, Speed 5 / 2 Seconds
  5. Set the Thermomix® to 90C/Speed 5/ 7 minutes and start it running
  6. Add the milk slowly in a steady stream - it should take about 30 seconds to add.
  7. When it's finished, add the vanilla extract and do a quick speed 5/ 1 second to mix it in.
  8. Remove the lid and leave to cool.
  9. If you're making the pastry, now's a good time to do that. Role out the pastry and use a cutter to cut 12 circles big enough to cover your muffin pans.
  10. Spray the pans, add the pastry and press down to make the 'cases'.
  11. Once the custard is cooled all the way down, heat the oven to about 180C
  12. Add a tablespoon or two of the custard to each muffin case - don't fill it all the way to the top.
  13. Cook for 20 - 25 minutes. The custard will puff up and look pillowy and like it's going to overflow but when you take it out of the oven it'll collapse down again.
  14. Bake until the tops are brown - I don't like them blackened, but I'll leave it to your personal preferences on that.
  15. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool down thoroughly. They can be eaten warm, but are just as delicious cold.
  16. Sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.

 

Baharat Spiced Meatballs With Yoghurt And Garlic Butter Sauce

I was given a selection of mixed pices recently, and I’ll be honest and confess that I’d never heard of most of them. The first one I wanted to try and cook with was Baharat. If you Google Baharat you’ll find a number of versions based on area, but this one was from a company called Spice Kitchen and according to their website it’s a blend of  cloves, black pepper, cumin seeds, nutmeg, paprika, cardamon & cinnamon.

Garlic Butter3

I spent a whole afternoon perusing Pinterest and the rest of the web trying to learn the best use of this spice, and when I finally sat down to meatballs in a yoghurt and garlic butter sauce at dinner time, I was thrilled with the result. I didn’t find this a spicy dish at all, and the dressing was perfect with plain, fluffy white rice. We also had another dish at the table which was a lot more spicy, and this sauce provided beautiful relief for the tongue.

As someone who didn’t grow up with a lot of spices, and who can’t really handle much more heat that black pepper – or a light wasabi – and who’d never choose to eat at an Indian restaurant, for example, I’d never have considered experimenting with these spice until a few years ago, and sitting eating this meal, I savoured every mouthful Baharat Meatballs2

I think my favourite thing about this dish is that it’s not just one flavour all the way through. Each mouthful is different, with hints of mint, crunchy pine nuts yoghurt and the Baharat meatballs coming through in different bites. Hmm… sitting here writing this, I’m salivating – I’m going to have to buy some more lamb mince!Baharat Spiced Meatballs With Yoghurt and Garlic Butter

Baharat Meatballs With Yoghurt & Garlic Butter Sauce
 
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This is a delicious recipe that can be used as a single main, or one of many sharing dishes. The yoghurty dish also offsets other spicy dishes on the table, while this isn't spicy of itself.
Author:
Recipe type: Varoma, Main, Sharing
Cuisine: Arabian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
For the meatballs
  • 400g ground lamb
  • salt and pepper for seasoning
  • 1 small onion, halved
  • 15g Baharat Spice (adjust seasoning to taste)
For the dressing
  • 100g (100ml) plain yoghurt (try this recipe)
  • 25g butter
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
For the topping
  • 1 tsp Mint (fresh or dried)
  • 50g pine nuts
  • Oil for frying
  • Rice to Serve
Instructions
In the Thermomix®
  1. Switch the Thermomix® on Speed 4 and drop the onion halves on athe blades for a few seconds.
  2. Open the lid and add the minced lamb, salt and pepper and Baharat Spices. Mix Speed 4/10 seconds.
  3. Oil the Varoma
  4. Form small egg-yolk sized meatballs and place them in the Varoma. (You can also do these the 'normal' way on the stove if you prefer them being browned)
  5. Fill the bowl to the 1 litre mark and put the Varoma in place. Cook on Varoma temp, speed 4 for 20 - 25 minutes.
  6. (If you're having rice with this dish, add it after about 10 minutes. Add the rice in the internal steamer for the remaining 15 minutes.)
  7. Meanwhile, on the stove, heat the pine nuts till they start releasing their aroma. Toast them lightly but watch that they don't burn - mine in the pictures are a little burned!
  8. Next melt the butter and add the garlic, and finally warm the yoghurt. DO NOT let it boil or split, just warm it.
  9. Move the meatballs into a serving dish.
  10. Pour the yoghurt over them, then drizzle the garlic butter, top with pine nuts and mint.
  11. Serve with rice.
Traditional Cooking
  1. Chop the onions finely, and add the spices, salt and pepper and mince with the onions in a bowl. Mix well till all combined.
  2. Form small egg-yolk sized meatballs and place them in a hot pan. Cook for about 15 minutes, turning ocassionally to get it browned on all sides and cooked through.
  3. In the meantime, cook your rice according to manufacturer instructions.
  4. On a baking tray, or on another plate on the stove, toast the pine nuts but watch that they don't burn.
  5. Next melt the butter and add the garlic, and finally warm the yoghurt. DO NOT let it boil or split, just warm it.
  6. Move the meatballs into a serving dish.
  7. Pour the yoghurt over them, then drizzle the garlic butter, top with pine nuts and mint.
  8. Serve with rice.

The inspiration for this recipe came from this original

SmoothPacks Reusable Yoghurt & Smoothie Pouches

I’ve been making my own yoghurt for a few years now, and my yoghurt recipe is in fact one of the most popular recipes on this blog, dating back almost two years! In that time I’ve been using a reusable pouch system that I was perfectly happy with and have recommended to many, but last week I discovered something new and I am in make-your-own-yoghurt-smoothies heaven, seriously. I cannot recommend the SmoothPacks Squeeze Pack System highly enough.

Reusable Yoghurt or Smoothie Pouches
When you buy a kit, you receive the Smoothpack ‘Station’ – the bit you fill up with your babyfood, yoghurt, smoothie or whatever else you’re making – and you receive 4 x 125ml pouches and two 250ml pouches.

Inside  the plunger bit for the Smoothpack Station you’ll find all the accessories – the nozzles and cleaning clips – safely stored – this is awesome for storage, and not having random bits lying annoyingly around the kitchen drawers.

The plunger has a spiral ridge all the way around it that slots in to place and runs down the ‘track’ as you turn it, meaning you don’t end up with yoghurt (smoothie, babyfood) down your front if you get the angle wrong. In fact, the gliding motion is so smooth, my 5-year old insists on doing it.

Reusable pouches

Rather than one nozzle that means you fill your pouches one at a time there are four nozzles and you can fill them all at the same time. You fill the Station with 500ml of whatever, and push, filling four pouches at the same time. If you only want to do one or more at a time though, you can just put the stopper (that lives inside the plunger) in place, and seal it up. Essentially it takes about 10 seconds to fill four though, so it’s a fantastic time saver.

The thing people always ask me about reusable pouches, however, is how you clean it. These pouches have a seam down the side that you can open to clean. What also lives inside the plunger are four alien looking plastic thingies that you put inside each pouch and wedge into the dishwasher or drying rack so that the pouches can wash inside. It’s really clever.

The set also comes with two spoons that clip to the lid of the pouches so that you can take them out and about with you for spoon feeding your baby, if that’s your thing, or in my children’s case, feeding your younger sister!Reuseable pouches

We use our pouches for yoghurt, and in this particular instance I also used the Easyo fruit packets to flavour the yoghurt. I filled about 45oml of plain yoghurt and topped it off with 50ml of fruit compote. Mix it together with a spoon (you can also use a stick blender to liquidize or puree) and put the plunger in place. Open the nozzle lids and fit the pouches securely on before twisting the plunger gently and watching the pouches fill. Screw the lids on and wash the plunger, ready for next time.

The only negatives I can mention for this product is that since it is quite new to the UK, I can’t seem to find the option to buy pouches only at the moment, although spare sachets will be available for the price of £6.95 for 4 Smoothpacks and 2 spoons

If you’re in the UK you can pick this amazing, sleek and easy to use and store refillable pouch system up at Cuckooland for £19.99 (with £4.95 delivery) and £5 off your first order when you sign up for their newsletter. Click here to buy.

If you’re in the US you can find it at Amazon, for $34.99.

Lemonade Scones

When I was living out in Australia a few years ago, my brother had a friend who brought scones round one day. They were the lightest scones I had ever had, and I had to have the recipe. I’ve made these hundreds of times and recently a friend asked me if I had the recipe on the blog. I realised I didn’t, so here it is Sam, just for you.

Lemonade Scones2

This is a 3-ingredients scone – okay, four, but salt doesn’t count. The self raising flour and salt are the dry ingredients, and the cream provides the fat you’d normally get from crumbling butter into the mix. The lemonade gives you the rise, since it reacts to the baking powder in the flour, and the bubbles airate the whole mixture, I guess.

You must not overmix this recipe, or you completely knock the air right out of it and end up with flat cakes – still tasty, but not quite afternoon tea quality.

Lemonade S

Whether you a jam first or cream first scone eater , you’re bound to love how light and fluffy these scones are.

Lemonade Scones
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Light, airy and easy to make scones - enjoy!
Author:
Recipe type: Thermomix®
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 400g self-raising flour
  • 240g double cream
  • 190g lemonade
  • pinch of salt
Instructions
Regular Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 200C
  2. Sift the self raising flour, cream and salt in a mixing bowl.
  3. Add the lemonade and mix briefly till it's all mixed together. Literally till it's JUST mixed.
  4. It's REALLY important not to over mix or your scones won't rise.
  5. Remove from the bowl, and lay out on a tray. Pat it down to an even 2cm height.
  6. Use a cutter and press down, and straight back up again - don't twist the cutters as you don't want to squeeze the air out.
  7. Carefully lift the scones onto a tray
  8. Brush with milk (use the back of a spoon if you don't have a pastry brush)
  9. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, till golden
Thermomix® Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 200C
  2. Place the self raising flour, cream and salt in the Thermomix® bowl.
  3. Add the lemonade and mix speed 4, 5 - 10 seconds. Literally till it's JUST mixed.
  4. It's REALLY important not to over mix or your scones won't rise.
  5. Remove from the bowl, and lay out on a tray. Pat it down to an even 2cm height.
  6. Use a cutter and press down, and straight back up again - don't twist the cutters as you don't want to squeeze the air out.
  7. Carefully lift the scones onto a tray
  8. Brush with milk (use the back of a spoon if you don't have a pastry brush)
  9. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, till golden