Chicken and Vegetable Pies

So today I have a guest recipe post, ! The lovely recipe creator is Breanne, from Dinner Inspo! Today she is sharing a great family meal, Chicken and Vegetable individual pies, that hopefully will even entice the little ones!

 Right now she has an Instagram account @dinnerinspo and Facebook page where she shares awesome inspiration for dinner, lunches and toddler friendly food (so head over and show her some love).  She's a good friend of mine, and practically my sister in law, so I can vouch for her AWESOME cooking skills! She loves to cook, experiment and create new things in the kitchen and trust me, the photos of the meals  that she posts have me drooling all over my phone on a daily basis, but more importantly it also helps me plan my weekly meals with all the dinner inspiration! I find the hardest thing about going grocery shopping is thinking about and figuring out my meal plans, so for me this is really helpful! 

Almond Coated Fish Bites and Sweet Potato Chips

This is our healthier version of a family favourite and another easy meal that even the toddler loves to eat. I love fish and chips, but whenever I eat it I come away feeling so greasy and gross, so we tend to avoid it. Ezra also loves fish, he doesn't like a lot of meat, but fish is something he cannot get enough of. When he has fish and chips at a restaurant he always takes all the batter off first, clever kid! So this is a perfect family meal for our fish loving, batter hating toddler, and anything that is cut in a chip shape can fool him into thinking he is eating regular potato chips. He inherited his love of chips from his mother!!

The fish:

You can use whatever fish you like, and you just need to make sure it is de-boned and then cut it into bite size pieces then just cover completely in the almond meal mixture and shallow fry in oil in a frypan.

The 'batter' or crust on the fish is:

1 cup of almonds (ground or almond meal)

1 tablespoon white flour

Heaped tablespoon of dried parsley

Cracked pepper

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

The sweet potato is peeled and sliced into chip shape.

I then microwaved them until they were mostly soft and fried them in a pan with some olive oil.

In hindsight I should have just microwaved them and then baked them in the oven, drizzled with a bit of oil. It takes a little longer, but less effort required, they turn out crispier and healthier too!

My unhealthy last minute tartare sauce is just dill pickles chopped finely mixed with whole egg mayonnaise because the toddler loves 'dip'.

Yummmm...

Check out my recipe page for more easy meals that our whole family enjoys and some toddler specific lunches and snacks!

Karen xx

 

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Slow Cooked Honey-Bourbon Chicken Rolls

Every now and then Joel gets a craving for some Southern Style BBQ, things like pulled pork and bbq ribs that are hard to come by around here. It's one of the foods he misses the most about the USA. Lucky for me, he doesn't expect me to cook this stuff, he makes it himself. We had some visitors come around on Sunday, Joel had that bbq craving and was thinking honey-bourbon chicken, so we opted to make a really easy lunch that can feed a lot of people. This fed 8 adults and there were plenty of left overs for later!!

Ingredients:

1 cup Tomato Sauce (ketchup)

1 small onion diced

1/4 cup bourbon

1 Tbsp Honey

1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Tbsp Tomato Paste

2 Tbsp Molasses

2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

2 Cloves of Garlic minced

1 teaspoon minced ginger

Pinch of Cayenne pepper

Pinch of Salt

5 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 Tbsp Butter

Bread or Rolls

Method:

-Add everything to your slow-cooker and stir so the chicken is completely coated in sauce (except for the rolls of course, that would just be gross)

- Cook on low for 8 hours

- Stir with a spoon to break chicken apart so it becomes shredded.

- Serve with rolls.

I like mine with some cheese and pickles! But each to their own. 

So if you're looking for something easy and slow cooked, this is delicious!! It is that easy that we can make it with a newborn in the house, so that is saying something. I love my slow-cooker for this very reason! 

Karen xx 

Eating Additive Free: The Trusted Trolley {Review & Giveaway}

A few months ago I was contacted by the lovely ladies at The Trusted Trolley about doing a review of their website, and was given a 6 month subscription to take full advantage of what their site has to offer. I immediately jumped at the chance because they are doing something that I believe in and support. They are a group of WA Mums trying to make it easier for everyone (especially other parents) to know what is in the foods we are buying, and providing helpful information about understanding the harmful effects that many common additives have on our bodies. I mentioned in an earlier post (HERE) about how we have been trying to avoid additives and preservatives in our food and trying to eat 'clean'. It isn't always successful, and I'm fighting a losing battle against my cravings for malteasers in my very pregnant state. But on the most part, I want to know that what I am feeding my child isn't all hopped up on fake, unnecessary crap. So I think what they are doing is such a great resource for other time-poor parents like me!

Like most parents of young children I try to spend as little time at the supermarket as possible. When I do get the courage (or rather desperate need) to enter, I spend most of my time making car motor noises and doing fake burnouts with the trolley trying to keep a toddler appeased, in order to stop him from throwing all the food back out of the trolley again, or climbing out and running away from me down the aisles. This all happens whilst I'm trying to grab all the food on my list in as short as time span as possible. Usually I forget things, and I if I dare pause at a shelf to read a label, then all hell usually breaks loose. Often I'm so disappointed because I just have to give in and grab whatever 'looks' the best without actually being able to read what it contains, only to come home and realise that it is FULL of additives.

I would love to mosey on down the aisles, read every ingredient list, check every additive number and the corresponding meaning, but the reality is, unless by some miracle I get to go to the shops by myself,  this is not going to happen for many years to come.

This is where the ladies at The Trusted Trolley have been very handy!
Not only is their website full of really useful FREE information about additives and the effects they have on you and your children's bodies.

But, the most helpful part of this website I found is that they have also done the leg work for me, and they provide a great list of foods that are free from additives, this list is constantly being updated as well. This is their members only section, where you can subscribe ($4.66 a month) and gain access to this ever growing list of 'safe foods', which can then be added a printable shopping list to take with you while you shop.

It's a great resource when you have your meal lists written up and ready to go and then you can sit down and search through their lists to see if there are available products that you need for your list that are additive free. It helps to avoid that disappointment and frustration in the supermarket, and you can tweak your recipes or lists to makes sure you don't have any additives, bonus, you can do it all whilst your child/ren are not destroying the nicely stacked shelves of the supermarket!

I've found that not having the time to read the labels and research products to know what foods are 'safe' is one of the most challenging parts of trying to steer clear of additives, and it has often been my downfall. So this website has really helped to give me one place to research quickly and find the foods that are good for my family.

So make sure you check them out at www.thetrustedtrolley.com.au & on Facebook www.facebook.com/thetrustedtrolley

The Trusted Trolley are also generously giving away a 6 Month Subscription to the members only section of their website (Valued at $28)

So one lucky Yellow Dandy reader will have an opportunity to access the safe list of foods and other member benefits for six whole months.

To enter it is really easy, answer this question in the comment section below:

What do you find the most challenging about choosing additive free foods at the supermarket?

This is a game of skill, the best answer will win and the winner will be drawn by a panel of judges (myself, Joel and most likely my Mum too). 

To be eligible you must also follow Yellow Dandy on either Facebook, Twitter or Bloglovin, please let me know in your answer which platform you follow on. 

This competition closes on Tuesday 28th May at 8am Australian Western Standard time. 

The winner will be notified by email on that day.

It is only open to Australian residents as the product list is only really relevant in Australia. 

Karen xx

Linking up with Jess for #IBOT

Cheese & Rosemary Sticks

These are about as close to a family recipe as I have! When I was growing up my Aunty would always make these for our family functions. My Mum told me that my Aunty learnt how to make them in her teens from her friend whose family had recently migrated from Poland, and I guess she's been making them ever since. Apparently they have some Polish name that she calls them, but I don't know it.  I must have made a big deal about them, and eaten a lot of them in my younger years, because even now she still makes them for our family gatherings, and always lets me know that she brought them (for me). When I was living on the East Coast and in the USA whenever I would visit Perth she would bring a batch over for me, how nice is that! I still love them, and I still have a hard time not eating too many of them. 

We had a few friends around over the weekend for my 30th, so I decided to get the recipe off of my Aunty and try making them for myself. I don't know if they tasted quite as good as hers, but they were pretty delicious, and people seemed to enjoy them a lot, so that is always a good sign. They are so easy to make, and I think they will become my easy, go to food to bring along to parties and bbqs. You could probably also guess that they are a BIG hit with the kids as well!! 

 Ingredients:

- Puff Pastry

- Block of Semi Matured Cheese (grated)

- Grated Parmesan Cheese

- Dried Rosemary

- Butter 

Method

Brush the puff pastry with melted butter, then

Spread the grated cheese, parmesan and rosemary onto the pastry, as much or as little as you want. 

Then get a roller and gently roll the cheese and rosemary into the pastry

Cut the pastry length ways in half

Then slice the pastry 6 times vertically. 

You will end up with 14 pieces.

Just twist either end, then brush twists with some butter, and sprinkle some more parmesan on

Put in the oven at 200 degrees celsius until the pastry looks cooked and they are just starting to brown. (Don't leave it too long or they will get too hard: it is approx 10-15 mins but can vary depending on your oven)

Cool on a rack and then store in an air tight bag or container or serve. 

Have a wonderful day! And Thank you for stopping by!

Karen xx 

I'm linking up today with Jess at Essentially Jess for #IBOT

Spinach and Ricotta Rolls

So you may have already picked up on this, but I have a serious weakness for anything Spinach and Ricotta.  I have a really difficult time passing up any pastries that contain these two ingredients, and have a tendency to over indulge!!

So I'll use any excuse to make these babies! I've found these Spinach and Ricotta Rolls are great for toddler lunches and kids or adult parties as well. They are really easy to make, and they aren't full of potato or rice fillers like a lot you find at the shops.

Ingredients:
250 grams Spinach (I use fresh and steam it, but frozen spinach also works)
250grams Ricotta Cheese
1 egg
Puff Pastry (I think I used 4 sheets)
1/2 Cup of Cheddar or Parmesan cheese grated
Salt and Pepper to Taste (I didn't add salt, and they still taste great)
Tsp Oregano
Tsp Tarragon
1 egg yolk

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees celsius (425 F).
If you have fresh spinach you need to steam it until it is soft and mushy, then drain and chop.
Mix the ricotta, cheddar, oregano, tarragon, 1 egg, spinach, salt and pepper into a mixing bowl, and make sure it is all mixed through.
Cut the pastry sheets in half
Brush the long edges with egg yolk
Fill a piping bag, or zip lock bag with the corner cut off with the ricotta and spinach mixture and then pipe them down the center of each pastry half (as demonstrated below)

Fold the sides over so they overlap and then cut the long roll to make smaller rolls. Any size will work.
Flip them over so they are 'seam' down on a tray covered in baking paper.
Brush some more egg yolk over the top so they brown nicely.
Then put the tray in the oven for 15 minutes on 220C degrees and then reduce to 180C (350F) for another 15 minutes.
They should come out looking like you see in the picture!

 If you have a weakness for Spinach and Ricotta like me, then you will probably love this
Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna recipe too!

I hope you love them as much as we do!!


Karen xx

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Avocado and White Bean Wraps

It seems to be a bit of a trend for me to be posting a lot of Vegetarian meals/recipes at the moment. I still eat meat, but I am definitely enjoying a lot more meat free meals during the week than we used to. So, with that said, here is yet another Vegetarian meal that we eat on a pretty regular basis. If you've read my blog much before you would know that I am a pretty massive fan of Avocado, especially Guacamole that you can find HERE.
So this meal is right up my alley, full of yummy avocado, beans and some cabbage as well.

Although, in these pictures you will notice some Fish, we thought we would mix it up a bit this time and add fish to the recipe. You don't need it, but it is another option if you can't imagine a dinner without meat. I think that chicken would go pretty well with them too.

The best thing I think about this meal is that it doesn't take any cooking. Everything is raw and ready to go, so if you're looking for something quick to whip up for lunch or dinner when you are pressed for time, I'm suggesting this!

This is so simple we made it for dinner while we were on holidays. Which is why you will notice the amazing decor in the background of the top picture. Classic early 90's holiday rental furniture to make your experience more enjoyable!

Ingredients:

Wraps (I prefer the Sorj ones because they are preservative free, or in the photo these are some soy and linseed organic ones I found, but they are a bit too pricey for me to justify buying on a regular basis)
3 x Avocados
1 x Can of White Beans
1/4 Red Cabbage
1/4 Green Cabbage
1/2 Cup Grated Cheese
1 Carrot Grated
Pinch of Pepper
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
Splash of Balsamic Vinegar

Method:

Drain and pour White beans into a bowl, then mash.
Add the Avocados and mash them in to the mixture
If desired add the grated cheese
In a separate bowl add the grated carrot, and cabbage (chopped finely). Then drizzle over the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, add the pepper and stir until everything is covered.




Then you are done!
So easy.
Just add some from each bowl to your wrap. Wrap it up and chomp it down!

Usually Ezra is my proof that toddlers will eat it! But, this time my nephew who just turned 1 is digging into it with enjoyment! 

Karen xx 

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Lentil and Haloumi Salad

We are all moved out of our house, and the new owners have officially taken the keys, it is a really good feeling to be all done with the hard stuff! I'll do a blog post on that soon, but, today a recipe, because it has been a while.

 Now that we are getting a bit more normality back into our lives, we are trying to get back to our regular healthy meals, rather than the last minute thrown together stuff we have been eating lately, plus our fair share of eating out. It feels good to have time to think about shopping and dinners again.

This is one of my favourites. When I'm feeling like something light and easy for dinner this is my go to meal. And, I love haloumi!!! Seriously cheese that you can fry in a fry pan, do I have to say more! Also, I know it isn't the typical toddler meal, but Ezra chows this down. He LOVES the haloumi too, and will eat big spoonfuls of lentils. Sometimes that kid shocks me with what he eats, but we have been feeding him a pretty wide variety of different foods since he has started solids, so I'm hoping he will keep his great eating habits! The strangest thing that he loves is the pickled ginger that you serve with Sushi!

Ingredients:

Green Lentils
1/2 Red Onion
Cherry or Mini Roma Tomatoes
Lemon
Bunch of Coriander
Olive Oil
Haloumi Cheese

Method:

Follow the instructions on the packet of Lentils for cooking, and I usually just estimate how much I need depending on the size of the group eating.

Halve the tomatoes and finely slice the red onion and pick a handful of coriander leaves and add them all to a large bowl

Squeeze half of the lemon and approximately 1/4 cup of Olive Oil into the bowl, and stir in.

When the lentils are almost ready, fire up a fry pan, add a teaspoon of oil and sliced haloumi. Cook the haloumi until it is crisp and golden on the outside.

Strain the lentils, and add both them and the haloumi to the bowl and serve.

So easy, so delicious.

Karen xx

As it is Tuesday, I'm linking up with Jess for #IBOT and Stacey at The Veggie Mama for Meatless Monday!

Baked Oatmeal Recipe

I hadn't heard of Baked Oatmeal until we moved to the USA. Even then, I didn't get around to trying it until a couple of months ago. On this lovely morning, Joel graciously let me sleep in whilst he got up with Ezra. He must have been missing home and hence had a craving for Baked Oatmeal (sometimes he gets these cravings from home, and he has to make something, or just go out and buy a can of Root Beer or something American like that).

I was pretty impressed, it was really good. Even better, the kid who is now a little bit too busy with life to sit still and eat, ate two whole bowlfuls of this. Although it could be because of the delicious taste of the maple syrup spread throughout.

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Oats

1 Egg

2 Cups of Milk
2 Tbsp Maple Syrup (the REAL stuff)
1 Tsp Baking Powder
2 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Nutmeg
1 Heaping Tbsp Butter
Sprinkle of Salt
1/2 a Cup of Sultana and/or Walnuts optional

Method:

All of this should fit into a 9inch Pie Pan, or just a casserole dish like we used.
Mix everything thoroughly in a bowl and then pour into dish.
Cook at 190 degrees celsius for at least 30 minutes.
You know that it is ready when it is crunchy on top and is moist, but not too gluggy in the middle.

Serve it with milk in a bowl, and you have yourself a delicious breakfast. It usually lasts a couple of days around here as well!

I was trying to take pictures, and somebody could not wait for me to finish and through the lens of the camera I see a little hand, and a little spoon, helping himself to the oatmeal. I guess that's when you know you are on to a winner!


Is it just my family that was never introduced to baked oatmeal? Or is it not really that common here in Australia?

Check out some of my other family and kid friendly recipes  HERE

Karen xx 

I'd love for you to follow me on FACEBOOK or TWITTER or INSTAGRAM or PINTEREST or SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER (or everything)

Stuffed Capsicums and Brown Rice

We've been having an awesome time camping, the weather has been great and Ezra has been his usual active, adventurous self, good thing he has lots and lots of people to give him all the attention (and food) that he wants!!

Sometimes when we are camping I start feeling like we have an overload of meat and potatoes, the easiest thing to chuck on the BBQ is steaks or sausages, at home we only eat meat a few times a week so having so much meat makes me feel kind of gross. So tonight we tried something we have done in the oven before but never in the BBQ.

Stuffed Capsicums (Otherwise known as Stuffed Peppers for the North Americans)

They were delicious, and such an easy and light meal to make when your camping.

Here is the recipe, we served them with brown rice and sweet potatoes, that is what you can see wrapped in foil in the picture. We used 7 capsicums, and this is the rough amounts of ingredients, it fed 6 adults and 1 toddler with leftovers, I would suggest just making it to taste though.

Ingredients:

Red Capsicum (Red Peppers)

Spinach (250g bag)


Ricotta (1kg)

brown Mushrooms (large handful)

Onions (one medium)

basil (two stalks)

Pine nuts (100g)

Tomato

Salt

Pepper

Method:

It's really simple, you halve the capsicums and then finely chop the spinach, mushrooms, onion and basil and stir it in with the ricotta. Then add the pine nuts and salt and pepper to taste. Add a slice of tomato to the top of each and place them on a tray or rack in your oven or BBQ on medium heat. You know they are done when the capsicums (peppers) are nice and soft and the ricotta seems cooked and not runny.

We have a Weber Baby Q which is perfect for these meals, but any BBQ with a cover would work!



Of course I am linking up with the lovely Jess at Essentially Jess for #IBOT today too!!

Karen xx

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Mum & Toddler lunch: Cheesy Cauliflower soup

Last week we had some rainy and cold weather, and all I felt like eating was soup! I love making big batches of soup and eating it over the next few days when it is cold, it makes me feel all warm and homely. It is also a great way to get those lunch time vegetables into the toddler, and, well it is also delicious. Ezra has actually enjoyed eating this since he was pretty young, and it is still a big hit!

This is an adaption of mine from a Jamie Oliver recipe from his Ministry of Food book, which is used a lot in our house!

Ingredients

2 cloves of garlic
2 onions
2 stalks of celery
2 carrots
3/4 of a large cauliflower
1 chicken stock cube (salt reduced, and preservative free!)
1 cup of grated cheese
1 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard

Method:

Basically I just chop everything up into small pieces and crush the garlic.
Sometimes I just throw all of this stuff into the slow cooker for a few hours, and let it do its thing.
Other times I sauté the onions and garlic in a pan on medium heat for a few minutes,  and then add the other vegetables at cook for about 5-10 minutes until they are soft.
I then add about 1-1.5 litres of water and the chicken stock and bring it to the boil, then I let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
Finally, I add the cheese and the mustard and blend it all up into a liquid soup with my hand blender.

I usually serve it with a piece of whole meal homemade bread!!

All pretty easy, and quick.

It is a bit of a messy meal for a toddler, but Ezra LOVES this soup, and LOVES feeding it to himself. Meaning that he needs a clothing change and the dog gets called in as the clean up crew, but I try to do my best to make eating fun, and I know it is important to keep variety in his food. If there is a bit of mess, oh well, thats just life!!

Karen xx

Mint and Lime Iced Tea

One thing I miss about living in Florida is the over abundance of Iced Tea at almost every restaurant, it just isn't something you come across very often in Perth. Usually restaurants offer you the choice of Sweet or Unsweetened, of course unsweetened is so much better for you, but Sweet Iced Tea with the copious amounts of sugar just tastes soooooo good. 

But now that I am  cutting down the sugar in my diet I no longer can justify sweet tea, and I hate all the artificial sweeteners as well. I actually have a really hard time even drinking soft-drink (soda) at all anymore, it has actually tastes pretty gross to me now. 

The weather in Perth got a bit nicer yesterday, and the sun was shining, and I got a craving for some Iced Tea. We have a massive bunch of mint in the fridge that needed to be used, and a couple of limes lying around, so they made the perfect addition to my tea. No need for sweeteners, the flavour was perfect and really refreshing. 

Karen xx