Full of Fruits Anzac Biscuits

Here's a little twist on an Aussie favourite that I've made for hubby's next climb up Mt Kinabalu, an exhausting 8km and almost half a day hike up the highest peak in Malaysia and  South East Asia. I'm pretty sure he's going to need all the energy he can muster to make it so I've added a few extras to my Anzac biscuit to give him an extra boost full of dried cranberries, apricots and sultanas.

Full of Fruits Anzac Biscuits

1 cup plain flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup desiccated coconut

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup sultanas

1/4 cup apricots, roughly chopped into small pieces

125 g butter

1/4 cup golden syrup

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tbsp water, hot

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. In a large bowl mix together the plain flour, desiccated coconut, rolled oats, cranberries, sultanas, apricots and sugar.

3. Using a small saucepan, melt the butter and golden syrup  stirring over low heat.  In a separate bowl, combine the hot water with the bicarbonate of soda. When the butter has melted remove the saucepan from the heat, immediately add in the bicarb mixture to the butter mixture. It will probably foam a bit when you stir the bicarb mixture in.  

4. Add the all the wet mixture into the dry mixture and combine well. It will be a sticky mixture so use a measuring spoon to spoon out a 1 tbsp ball on to a baking tray. (You can use a greaseproof paper to line the tray but would normally just use the tray ungreased). Arrange the biscuits on the tray giving it room to expand and use your fingers to slightly flatten the biscuit. 

5. Bake the biscuits for about 12 mins or until it is golden. The biscuit will be quite soft and will harden when cooled. I would normally bake it until it is just browned so that it would  be a chewy biscuit.

 

Here's my original Anzac biscuit recipe  

Mt Kinabalu Photo from The Sabah Society

A Quiche on the go.

My lunch time menu for the kids these days have pushed me to scratch my head and try to come up with something that is super quick and easy to make and in the cooking time of trying to work around a new baby and whatever time that leaves me ... tops 1 hr to prepare and get it on the table for lunch.

I know a quiche is normally made in a round quiche dish but this one of my all time fav baking dishes and I've found it's perfect to fit those square puff pastry sheet without any fuss. So I've made this easy roasted tomato and bacon quiche for lunch and with an added layer of puff pastry its ready to go.

Roasted Tomato, Basil and Bacon Quiche

3 tomatoes, quartered
2 sprigs of fresh basil, roughly chopped
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 onion, sliced 
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 slices of bacon, roughly chopped
5 eggs
1/2 milk
1/2cup grated cheddar cheese
parmesan cheese
1 1/2 sheets of puff pastry


1. Arrange in the baking dish the quartered tomatoes, salt & pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Roast under the grill for about 15mins or until slightly browned.
2. In a fry pan cook the bacon until lightly crispy and set aside keeping the remaining oil to saute the onions and garlic until soft and put this aside. 
3. Lightly grease the rectangular baking dish and cover with puff pastry. Bake this in the oven at 180C until it is lightly golden and remove.
4. Whisk the eggs and milk until combined and add the cheddar, and salt & pepper. Arrange the roasted tomatoes, bacon, chopped basil, onions and garlic over the puff pastry and pour the egg mixture over it. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top and bake for about 25mins or until the top is golden. 

Red Date Tea ... a Chinese Confinement drink to health

I've recently given birth and there are alot of customs and traditions that follow a child's birth and the post natal care for the mother's recovery especially in this part of Asia. It has to do with the food we eat and how a mother is taken care of in this time of convalesence of about 30 days or what is typically known as the confinement period.

The confinement period is a time when new mothers are encouraged to eat more nutritional foods like specially brewed tonics, soups and when certain foods have to be avoided. The whole basis of the careful selection of a confinement diet is so the whole process of recovery from childbirth is quick and done properly so that the body can go back to its natural form all healthy and strong.

Its not only the diet that has to be taken care of but I've also heard of alot of traditions and customs that must be followed as well... like not washing your hair for 30 day (something I just couldn't do!), keeping the coldness/wind away from your body (like no aircon in the hot humid heat!), wrapping and binding your body to keep your body in shape (keeps the tummy in!), basically nothing too strenuous for the already exhausted body after giving birth.... lots of rest and more rest topped with a wholesome diet. 

I'm going to share you a few of the dishes that I have typically eaten during my confinement period. These dishes and recipes have been prepared for me by my mother-in-law, my aunt and even my husband (my red tea brewer!!). They are just a few dishes that I have had and I know that there are many more but these are the ones I have enjoyed the most and they have helped me get through my time of confinement making me feel refreshed and giving me back the strength and health that I had before birth. 

So usually for the first week I would typically start off with what is called Red Date Tea, which is kind of like a blackcurrant tasting drink brewed to revitalise  your body and health. You would normally drink this straight away with your first meal and its drunk all thoughout your whole confinement period or anytime at all when you need a little pick up. In the weeks before I gave birth I had to prepackage all my herbs in little bags so I could just open them and pop them into the pot to boil and just add the water and fresh ginger, kind of like an instant tea I guess!!

Red Date Tea

10 -15 red dates, stoned (I like it sweeter so I added a few more, you can also add a mixture of black and blue dates too)

50g black beans, pan fried without any oil

20g tong sum (codonopsis pilosula)

10g dried longan flesh

4 slices of ginger, crushed

1500ml water

1. Add the water and all the other ingredients to bring to a boil and boil for another 12-15mins. Simmer for about 1hr or until it has reduced to about 4 cups.

2. Strain the tea and keep it in a flask so that you can drink it anytime of the day.

Honey Jumbles and a bundle of joy!

Happy Easter!!

I've always loved Arnott's Honey Jumbles so I made a few to celebrate this Easter instead of the traditional boiled egg and chocolate easter egg. It was my first time making these biscuits and looks just as good as a colour egg and just as yummy. 

The honey jumbles always remind me of my childhood and they bring back so many memories of being carefree and just being a kid. I guess that is what chocolate easter eggs represent for many kids these days but for me just give me a honey jumble anytime :) all covered in pink and white icing and a special hundreds and thousands sprinkle for Easter!!! .... Happy Easter!

 And just another something to add to the joy of Easter is my little bundle of joy, my new daughter Sophie and just 6 weeks old.

Honey Jumbles

Makes 40

60g butter

2/3 cups golden syrup

1 3/4cups plain flour

1tsp baking powder

1 1/2tsp ground ginger

1 tsp mixed spice

2 tbsp milk

extra flour

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat and add the golden syrup and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and cool for about 10mins.

2. Add the sifted flour and other dry ingredients with the milk and stir until it is well mixed and smooth. Leave the dough in the saucepan and cover for about 2 hours and this will allow the dough to thicken.

3. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead lightly until the dough is soft and not sticky.

4. Divide the dough into 4 parts and roll each part into 1cm thick rolls and divide it into 10 parts and round the ends into small sausage shapes.

5. Dust the baking sheet with flour and bake in a preheated oven 180C for about 10mins until a pale golden. Completely cool before icing.

Icing

1 egg white

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

2 tsp plain flour

2 tsp of lemon or lime juice

pink food colouring

1. Sift the icing sugar and combine with the egg white until smooth. Add the flour and juice until the combined. Half the icing and add a few drops of the pink colouring to one half. 

2. When the honey jumbles have cooled down cover the tops with the white and pink icing. For this Easter occasion I've added a special sprinkle of hundreds and thousands. 

Homemade Matcha "Green Tea" Ice Cream

It's been a hot summer day over here and I've been making tons of homemade ice cream since I got my ice cream maker. The store bought kind just doesn't taste the same anymore and the different flavours that you can come up with is endless. 


Today's flavour is Green Tea. A long time ago when green tea ice cream was all the rage, we went out to buy some and it came in this transparent container looking very yummy with it's swirls of green tea. One spoonful later and a very sour face it had to be the most awful tasting ice cream I had ever tried. So I thought perhaps it's gone off or something but  it was and from that moment I have never bought any. I still ate it at the Japanese restaurants but the store bought kind just wasn't the same. I still loved the ice cream but I had to make my own someday.


And I have! My very own green tea ice cream. 
Just added a few teaspoons of Japanese green tea to some creme anglaise and ta da...... ice cream!




Well I couldn't have done it without my fav Christmas pressie that I got last Christmas. I've been experimenting since that time and I'll post some soon. I was tempted to make some avocado ice cream but I ate it before it made it to the machine!

Challenge #1: Ready, Set, Blog Post

Foodbuzz is all about foodies and it's a food lover's community which has launched a food blogging contest called Project Food Blog and they're looking for the next Food Blog Star and I have decided to give it a go and enter it.

What is Project Food Blog? This contest will consist of a series of 10 weekly challenges with contestants being systematically eliminated after each round. The challenges are set out to encourage us to go further and beyond in our foodie adventures and the winner will receive a $10,000 grand prize. So far there have been over 1800 entries and this very first challenge only 400 will move onto the next challenge. So here's Challenge#1....

Challenge #1: Ready, Set, Blog! What defines you as a food blogger and why you think you have what it takes to be the next food blog star?

Where has the time gone? I've been blogging since... oh I have to check this again, um since... March 2010 says my profile. I started out blogging for fun and to try to get back into writing or at least some form note taking to account for the things that I've been up to up until now with being a stay-at-home mum and looking after my three kids and trying to deal with different tastes and varying appetites during all hours of the day.

My biggest foodie critics.

I having an active almost 2 year old who eats just about everything all except peas, which he would pick up from his plate and flick over all areas of the house. I don't think he registers them as food and will hide them all over the house if he could. He seems to take alot of joy out of aiming them at our dear old cat, Sakura but lucky without any fatal shots. I have another son who eats anything with cheese, ham and his favourite .... chicken wings at all times of the day and almost nothing else. A very fussy eater but I'm hoping that will change someday so I try very hard to offer him different foods to tempt his taste buds. And lastly I have a daughter who grew out of her almost all meat diet to being an adventurous eater daring to try out new dishes and now loves her vegies. When she was younger and before she started school she was a very good eater with all her food and wasn't fussy at all... that was until she started school and that all changed when they were given cooked meals at lunch. She was a smart little cookie when delegating who would get her vegies and everything else she didn't like. I guess eating vegetables wasn't the "in" thing at kindergarten but I'm glad it's all changed. So with these three people at home I have the task of trying to get them to eat a balanced meal and I try my best to serve up my style of homecooking. It's a mix of what the kids like to eat and what the adults like to eat, sometimes I  have to compromise with a smuggled vegetable and spices here and there but it all seems to work. 

The food.

My blog is about the food we love to eat, some favourites and some new creations I've stumbled upon that just work well but all of them are foodie adventures that I want to share with anyone who loves food and family. My food is about trying to make a meal that's simple, good and quick to make. They are easy to follow not too complicated, some that have been handed to me from my grandmother... a treasured secret to share and some that have been family staples that have gotten us through the week. I'm always looking out for something to try out or something that evokes a foodie moment from when I first realised my love for good food. I guess you could say food in our family is always about comfort and that's the best kind of food. A meal that is shared and one that gives you that warm "comfy" feeling inside....like all homecooking from a mum's kitchen. As a mum the best compliments are the smiles from the people you love and hearty request for "Mum, can you make this again. I can eat this all the time." or the best compliment so far is from the almost 2 year old... "More?" 

The best compliment...
just a little bit "more" and a quick snooze!

I'm not a trained chef or cook but it's been more of an "on the job" sort of training with a lot of trials and errors.... split gravy, burnt casseroles, smoking volcano cakes and many more misadventures which have lead me down this path. What has kept me going is my passion for food and passing it on to my kids with the hope that they will learn about good food, the love of creating meal and the known pleasure that a shared meal amongst family and friends are one of the simplest and most rewarding feeling a foodie adventurer can have.

one month.....

It's been a while but I'm back... had a bit of a blogging dry spell. I've been cooking and taking photos but putting all down to draft. There's lots to catch up with over the next few days so I hope that these photos will do for now.

Blueberry Snow Skin Mooncake with Chocolate and Strawberry Filling

Mooncake season is here and I've always like those little golden pillows of lotus paste and pandan paste and red bean paste. Until a few years ago you could only find two or three traditional types of mooncakes but now you can find all sorts of new Snow Skin mooncakes or otherwise known as Ping Pi Mooncake. They are completely different from eating the traditional ones as they are usually eaten chilled and the texture of the skin is soft and chewy and much like lo mai chi or mochi. And instead of having just the plain filling with a salted egg you can now have fruity fillings like strawberry, banana, blueberry, pandan and even durian!

So this Mid Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival I've decided to give it a try and make my own Snow Skin Mooncakes and I guess the hardness thing to come up with is what type of filling to put in it. 

Blueberry Snow Skin Mooncake with Chocolate and Strawberry Filling! This is my first attempt at making this.... a very messy but rewarding job.

It was a little tricky getting the mooncakes out of the mould but it turned out ok.

The main ingredient: Glutinous Rice Flour, Rice Flour and Lotus Paste. There are so many moulds to choose from with different patterns. 

Chocolate Banana Custard Pie

With everyone having their own favourite things to eat for dessert. I wanted to combine all of them together and this is what I came up with. I have been wanting to make a banana cream pie so I use that for inspiration when I came up with this creation. 


Chocolate for Tristan, Custard for hubby and Ashley and bananas for Jacob. 

CHocolate + Custard + Bananas = Chocolate Banana Custard Pie!

I combined all the flavours but still tried to keep them separate and instead of mashing the banana to make it into a real banana custard I laid a layer of sliced bananas on the bottom of the pie and laid a layer on top of the custard. It went pretty well and hubby thought I had mashed them but the older kids asked me why I had put mushrooms in the custard. They didn't realise that it was bananas and I couldn't believe they had thought I had put mushrooms in their custard pie....really!

Chocolate Banana Custard Pie

1 cup plain flour

80 g butter

1 egg

2tbsp sugar

1/3 cup custard powder

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups milk

3 bananas

100g dark chocolate

1tbsp plain yogurt

1. Using a mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar and butter and rub together until they look like breadcrumbs. Add the egg and knead it until it forms a smooth dough. If it gets a bit sticky just add a bit more flour. 

2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 23cm pie dish and roll out the dough to fit the pie dish. You can place a layer of greaseproof paper and some beans or rice onto the pie dough and bake for 10 mins. Remove and set aside.

3. Using a medium saucepan, pour in the milk and mix in the custard powder and sugar. Stir it continuously and bring to a simmer. Keep stirring so that the custard doesn't stick to the saucepan and remove once the custard is very thick. Leave the custard to cool down for about 10 mins.

4. Slice 2 bananas into thin slices and then place a layer onto the pie crust. Pour the custard over the bananas and then slice the remaining banana and lay them on top of the custard layer. 

5. Gently melt the dark chocolate and when it has melted add the yogurt and stir until combined. Using a spoon to gently drizzle the chocolate over the pie. Put the pie in the fridge to cool down for about 2 hours before serving.

Alfabeto Pasta Soup

It's a perfect day for soup. A cool, overcast sky and the rains just waiting to fall. A bowl of soup is what is going to keep us warm for lunch. 

Some tomato, chicken stock and lots and lots of alfabeto pasta and we have a bowl of alfabeto soup. Would you like to have some soup?

Alfabeto Pasta Soup

1 1/2 cup Alfabeto pasta

1 large tomato, roughly chopped

300g chicken breast, thinly diced

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

410g tomato puree

1.5 L chicken stock

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp sweet paprika

1 1/2 tsp sugar

50 g butter

salt and pepper to taste

1. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Add them to a saucepan of melted butter. Stir until soften and then add the chicken. Add the basil and paprika and stir until the chicken is cooked.

2. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, chicken stock and sugar and gently stir. Add the pasta and bring it to the boil. Keep stirring, reduce the heat and gently simmer for about 8 mins. If you need to add more liquid just add a bit more water. The soup should be nice and thick more like a meal than a soup. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Apple Pie

We were invited over for dinner at a friend's place and I always love to bring over something as a little thank you gift. I just love making pies. Apples pies are my favourite ones to make. Apple filling piled up high and sweet shortcrust pastry with a huge dollop of vanilla ice cream. 

I had actually planned to make this apple pie just the family but when hubby told me about our dinner invitation I immediately thought of saving this pie to share with our friends. 

Apple Pie

180 g butter, cold

2 cups plain flour

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup icing sugar

2-3 tbsp cold water

1 tbsp milk

Filling

10-12 medium granny smith apples

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup sultanas

1. Using a mixing bowl, add flour, icing sugar and cold butter. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks and the water and combine until it forms a dough. If the dough is sticky just add some more flour. 

2. Knead it on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth. Divide the dough into half and roll  out the dough to place on a greased 23cm pie dish. I would sometimes just flatten portions of dough on my hand and just roughly cover the pie dish. It gives it a rustic look and I sometimes do it this way to save on rolling out the dough. Set aside the remaining dough and pie dish in the fridge.

3. Filling

Peel the apples and cut them into thick slices. I found this really great apple cutter at Ikea and it just cuts the apple into perfect slices and cores the apple at the same time. Put the apple slices into a sauce pan. Add the sugar and sultanas and heat the pan over med/high heat and constantly stir so that the sugar does not burn. I don't usually add water as I find it makes the pie to watery. You have to constantly stir the apples and you will see that the moisture will come out of the apple and then you will have to cook the apples until the sauce thickens and reduces. Set it aside to cool and when it has cooled down continue with the pie making.

4. Preheat the oven to 180C. Take out the pie dish and remaining dough. Fill the pie dish with the apple filling. Roll out the remaining dough to form a cover for the pie. Seal the edges and poke a few holes with a fork. I usually have some dough left over so I would normally use it to decorate the pie. Brush over the pie with the milk and sprinkle the pie with some cinnamon and sugar. Bake for 30mins or until the pie is golden brown.

Spring Onion Dumplings

Over the weekend I woke up in a sneezing frenzy in the early hours of morning. It was just getting bright with the sun waking up and I just couldn't get back to sleep. Too much restless tossing and turning and I had to get out of bed. Now I don't really get up that early if it can be helped but at 4.40am I found myself completely awake. What should I do? Hhmmm maybe I should make something for breakfast? 

It was an early start but I got myself into the kitchen and put my apron on... "cooking mode" switched ON. So having this cold wasn't too bad I did felt some how energised with the cold medication and I was ready to get creative in the kitchen. 


So what should I cook for breakfast this morning? A stable item on the breakfast menu has always been something with eggs so it was scrambled eggs with ham and cheese. The kids would like that. Next thing up was bread, nice thickly sliced bread and just so right for french toast. I make it simple with nothing much but some eggs and sugar and it always turns out well but I think it has to do with the type of bread you use. I buy this Japanese cut English bread from this local bakery called Strawberry Cake House and it is the best here in Kota Kinabalu. I don't know what they put in it but even my family from Sydney love it. 


With the french toast and scrambled eggs down I still had time to make something else for breakfast as it was only 5.30am. Okay what would it be? Dumplings! I knew I had some spring onions in the veg keeper back in the fridge. A bit of chopped spring onions in the dough and some in the filling and that should be fine for breakfast dumpings.

Spring Onion Dumplings

1 1/3 cup plain flour

3 tbsp cold water

6 tbsp hot water

2 tbsp spring onions, finely chopped

Filling

200 g chicken mince

2 tbsp spring onions, finely chopped

1 tsp rice wine

2 tsp light soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame seed oil

1 tsp corn flour

pinch of black pepper

1 tsp chicken stock powder

small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp ginger, finely grated

1. Using a mixing bowl, add the flour and gradually mix in the hot and cold water. Combine well until it forms a dough. It might need some additional flour if the dough is too sticky. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and let it rest while you make the filling.

2. In another bowl, add all the ingredients for the filling and mix until it is all combined. Set it aside.

3. Roll out the dough onto a floured surface and roll it into a rope and divide into 1 inch portions. Using a rolling pin, roll the portions into a roughly 10 cm circle. Repeat with all the dough. 

4. Place about 1 tsp of filling into the dough and seal the edges and gently fold the edges.  Place them standing up on a plate and set aside for frying.

5.Using a wok, heat up about 2-3 tbsp of oil and arrange the dumplings standing up so that the base will brown. Once the bottom of the dumplings have browned, add water till it reaches halfway up the dumplings, cover and boil off the water. You might have to cook the dumplings in 2 batches but just repeat the frying and boiling process. Serve with garlic soy sauce.

The "Other" Cocoa Powder.....Black Cocoa Powder/Black Onyx Cocoa Powder

I've been searching for some inspiration to get me back into a cooking mood and I think I've found it in the "other" cocoa powder.... Black Cocoa Powder or otherwise known as Black Onyx Cocoa Powder. It's super dark, really dark and almost black or charcoal like in colour and gives that something special when you're making that super rich chocolate cake or a real chocolatey double chocolate cookie. 

Black Cocoa/Black Onyx Cocoa Powder and Dutch Cocoa Powder in the background

I was doing some shopping at our local baking shop looking around for some cocoa powder and I came across this small packet of black cocoa powder. I had never heard of it before but then it occurred to me that this was the secret to the famous dark rich almost black colour to the "Oreo" cookies that the kids love to eat.... I always wondered how they got it so dark and now I knew how.


I found out that there are actually three types of cocoa powder; natural, dutch and black onyx. It all comes down to how they process the cocoa bean and how they treat it with alkali to neutralise the natural bittersweet taste in the cocoa powder. In the natural cocoa powder there is no alkali use to process the beans and the taste is much stronger and bittersweet. This flavour of the cocoa is usually used in the traditional Mexican dishes and baking where the taste is more intense and acidic. Dutch cocoa powder is usually used in things like chocolate drinks and it is processed using an alkali, giving it a milder taste but less bitter and it is more reddish in colour. Black cocoa powder is processed to the extreme with alkali and this gives it that almost black colour. It has an intense cocoa flavour but it has less cocoa fat in it so it can be drier when used so it is often recommended to use a 50/50 mixture of black and dutch cocoa to give it more fat content so that when you use it for baking it doesn't get too dry.... interesting!


Anyway I thought I'd give it a try today by baking some Chocolate Chip Cookies and transform them into Super Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies with a bit of help from my new discovery, the Black Cocoa Powder! I used as recommended a 50/50 mixture of the black and dutch cocoa powder and it produced a really intense black chocolate brown colour. I must admit I was a little startled by the colour when I was mixing it in and I was happy I didn't try to use just the black cocoa powder on it's own. Could you imagine how intense the colour would have been! .... It's is pretty surprising when you take it out of the packet because it actually looks like charcoal dust but it looks and smells like regular cocoa powder just the colour is something to get use to. 

Super Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies


150 g butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tbsp black cocoa powder
1 1/2 tbsp dutch cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
150 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped


1. Cream the butter, sugar and egg. Add both the cocoa powders and mix until smooth. 
2. Roughly chop up the dark chocolate into small pieces and add them into the mix. The colour is really intense when you mix it into the mixture and it almost looks like mud.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add it gradually into the mixture to form a dough.
4. Preheat the oven to 180C. Using a dinner spoon, scoop out half a spoonful onto a baking tray and allow for room to spread. Bake for 12 mins and allow to cool. It can be a bit difficult to see if the biscuit is baked because of the intense colour but it will eventually cool and harden. 

World Cup ... 4 more years to go.

We cheered, we cried, we booed, we rejoiced and we ate! The FIFA World Cup is finally over and although none of my favourite teams didn't win, we all had a good time watching the game. 


Australia got out early in the game. England left too but not without trying. Holland came so close..... Another 4 more years to go and we'll be up again at the midnight hour watching with anticipation for the game to begin again.

Pizza Swirls

I was talking to my mum last night about ideas for school snacks and she was telling me about these great mini pizza snacks that she's been buying at the local bakery. They're not your ordinary mini pizzas but little swirls of pizza and they come in all sorts of fillings. Apparently they are so popular that they sell out by 10 am and if you want to guarantee getting some you have to place an order. 


Can you imagine that, all sold out by 10 am? .... When mum told that I just knew I had to make them for the kids and I'm sure they would be a hit too. 

We don't normally have pizza for lunch but I was pretty sure the kids would love a surprise when they open up their lunch boxes to find some pizza swirls. Pepperoni and cheese filling! I knew I had some wholemeal bread dough in the cupboard so instead of making bread today I used it to make the base of the pizza. Rolled it out into a rectangular shape and topped it off with some tomato puree, beef pepperoni, cheddar cheese and rolled it back up like a swiss roll. I then carefully cut it into slices and laid it out on a sprinkling of cornmeal.

Oh the kids absolutely loved it! They must have though ...Wow, mum is actually encouraging us to eat pizza at school and for lunch too!!! I really don't mind as long as it's from home and I know it's healthy. I'm thinking of making a ham and chicken pizza swirl for  next week's school menu!

Mango Lo Mai Chi (Mango Glutinous Rice Balls)

As some of you already know I'm a little bit of a World Cup fan and I'm very pleased to say that Holland won in their Brazil vs Holland game. So hooray for Holland!!! Now who will be the winner of the Argentine vs Germany game tonight?.....


Let celebrate the win with these yummy chilled Mango Glutinous Rice Balls or otherwise known as Lo Mai Chi. They are these little soft balls of glutinous rice covered with a nice coating of dessicated coconut and hidden within it is a piece of sweet mango.

Mango Lo Mai Chi


2 ripe firm mangoes ( I used manila mangoes)
2 tbsp rice flour
220 g glutinous rice flour
110 g sugar
200 ml coconut milk
desiccated coconut for coating 


1. Peel the skin of the mangoes and cut the mango into small cubes about 2cm. Place the mangoes into the fridge to chill.
2. Combine the rice flour, glutinous flour, sugar and coconut milk in a bowl. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth.
3. Prepare a shallow plate for steaming with some oil to coat the plate so that the mixture does not stick. Pour the mixture into the plate. 
4. Use a wok for steaming the glutinous mixture. Pour enough water in the wok for steaming and place a steaming tray in the wok. Cover the wok and bring the water to a boil. When the water is boiling, place the shallow plate into the wok and steam for about 30 mins. To test when the mixture is cooked, use a wooden satay stick or a chopstick and place it into the dough and if it doesn't stick to the chopstick then it is ready.
5. Remove the plate when the dough is cooked and let it rest for about 10 mins. 
6. Prepare about 1/2 cup of desiccated coconut into a plate for coating. You will need more but just gradually add more when required. Using a spatula, scoop out about 1 1/2 tsbp of the dough and using plastic oiled gloves, gently roll the dough into a ball and flatten with your fingers it out into a 6-8 cm circle. The dough can be very sticky and hot so that is why you need to use oiled plastic gloves so that it does stick. 
7. Place 1 piece of the chilled mango into the centre of the dough and carefully pinch together the edges and mold it into a ball. Roll the glutinous rice ball into the desiccated coconut and place it onto a piece of greaseproof paper or a cupcake paper. Repeat the steps and place all the Lo Mai Chi into a container and chill in the fridge and it will be ready once it has cooled down.