While I’m not a vegan (and never could be), I like following people who are on Instagram for healthy food inspiration, especially trying to come up with different healthier snacks for Nicholas. One of my favourite vegan Instagrammers is the lovely Two Minute Vegan (@twominutevegan).
A few weeks back she came up with a great idea for a two-ingredient healthy snack bar using just dates and peanuts. I just had to try it!
Blending up the dates into a sticky purée produces a wonderfully sweet caramel-like flavour in the finished bites and a seemingly naughty chewy texture. They really do taste like a sugary treat rather than a healthy snack.
The original recipe has a layer of peanuts on the bottom as well as on the top which works well if you’re cutting them into bars, but I just put peanuts on top. Even after cooking they’re quite squidgy, so it’s better to cut them into smaller pieces to avoid a sticky mess particularly with little ones.
Because of their squidgy soft texture, I think this recipe would also be great as pop-in-the-mouth balls, rolled in crushed peanuts before baking.
You really must try making these addictive bites!
SUGAR-FREE PEANUT AND DATE BITES
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins plus 30 mins in the fridge to harden
Makes 16 squares
Keeps in the fridge for a couple of days
Heat your oven to 175C and line a square baking tin (mine is 20cm x 20cm) with baking paper.
Put 1 cup of the peanuts in a food processor and grind until they’re fairly evenly broken up into small pieces.
Add the chopped dates and blend while pouring in two tablespoons of water. Keep adding a little water until you have a thick paste (similar in consistency to a thick peanut butter).
Spread the date and peanut mixture into your prepared tin using the back of a spoon (wet it if the mixture keeps sticking to it). Sprinkle over the remaining 1/2 cup of peanuts and press them in.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Put the bites, still in the tin, in the fridge to harden (at least half an hour) then cut into squares.
The only theme we could have for lunch on February 14th is hearts!
I made my Super Quick Cheat’s Pizza, cutting out heart shapes from the tortillas and topping them with a drizzle of olive oil, a smear of tomato puree, chopped ham, shredded spinach and grated cheese.
I added red grape hearts (slice each in half diagonally and turn one half 180 degrees) and strawberry hearts (slice in half and cut out a small V-shape at the top).
I’m linking our hearts lunch up to Eats Amazing’s Fun Food Friday, a weekly round-up of fun and creative food.
Like pretty much every other toddler, Nicholas is a creature of habit. For more than a year, his breakfast had to be puffed rice cereal with milk in a yellow bowl with a particular blue spoon, together with a banana milkshake he’d often help me make, even throwing in a small handful of spinach leaves himself. Oh, and the milkshake had to be in his robot mug with two straws (usually one green and one orange). If you’re nodding your head as you read this, rather than chuckling, then I’m sure you have your own creature of habit.
But the routines that little ones so need can suddenly change to another. Now breakfast must be pancakes with a mug of cold milk. I pushed a lot for him to still have his milkshake as I loved being able to get a serving of fruit and a serving of veg so easily into him first thing every day. In hindsight my pushing was never going to work! So that has made me experiment with adding different ingredients to the pancake batter. We’ve had green pancakes (spinach) and now pink pancakes. And I’m a happier mummy knowing he’s getting a little extra dose of ‘healthy’ every morning.
PINK (BEETROOT) PANCAKES
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 20-25 mins
Makes about 12 medium pancakes
375ml (1 1/2 cups) full cream milk
2 tsp (10ml) lemon juice
35g (2 tbsp) sugar
225g (1 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp allspice (or 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and a pinch of cloves)
1 large egg
30g (1 1/2 tbsp) butter, melted
1 medium-sized beetroot (about 150g), peeled and finely grated (about 1/2 cup)
Extra butter, for greasing pan
Mix the milk, lemon juice and sugar in a medium bowl, then set aside for five minutes. (It might develop a slightly curdled look during this time.)
Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda together into a large bowl. Mix through the allspice.
Break the egg into the milk mixture and add the melted butter and grated beetroot. Whisk until the egg has combined with the milk (don’t worry it the butter just floats on the surface).
Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk quickly until almost smooth (the batter should still have a few small lumps). Don’t overmix the batter as this can make the pancakes tough. Leave the batter to rest while the pan is preheating (at least two minutes).
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Melt a little butter in the pan to lightly grease it.
Give your mixture a quick stir to get a more even pink colour. Use a spoon to pour heart shapes into the pan (start with a dollop at the top then let the batter fall into the heart’s point at the bottom; repeat for the other side). Cook only two or three at a time, otherwise turning the pancakes will be difficult.
Cook the first side until small bubbles appear and burst on the surface (about 1-2 minutes).
Turn over with a spatula and cook until the second side is lightly browned and the pancakes are cooked through (another 1-2 minutes).
Cover with a clean tea towel to keep warm while you finish making the others. Add a little more butter to grease the pan each time and keep checking the temperature of the pan as it will probably need to be reduced as the pan heats up with use.
Tips:
Little ones love pancakes in fun shapes. You can simply use a spoon to pour the batter into a shape as you cook the pancakes, or you can put the batter into a piping bag or squeeze bottle (the squeeze bottle won’t work for these pink pancakes as the grated beetroot will get stuck in the nozzle!). An even easier way is to make normal-shaped pancakes and use a cookie cutter after they’re cooked.
To avoid getting beetroot juice everywhere, use disposable gloves to keep your hands stain-free and place the grater in a bowl to catch as much as the beetroot as possible.
Nicholas is spider-crazy, whether it’s singing Incy Wincy Spider or arguing with his friends which one of them is Spider-Man! A spider-themed lunch is definitely his most requested.
I used an edible ink pen to draw a spider outline on a tortilla and cut it out with kitchen scissors. I then used this as a template to cut out another. The tortilla is filled with mashed boiled egg and shredded spinach.
I added two raisins for eyes and cut thin strips from a couple of spinach leaves to make Incy’s web.
Incy Jr. is a black grape cut in half, slicing one half very thinly for the legs. You could also use a black olive as I did here.
I’m linking Incy Wincy up to Fun Food Friday, a weekly round-up of fun and creative food by the lovely Grace of Eats Amazing.
If you follow The Gingerbread Mum on Instagram or Twitter, you might have noticed that for the past three days we’ve been having adventures with a gingerbread biscuit. Yes, a gingerbread biscuit. A biscuit that goes by the name of Perry the Penguin.
Perry the Penguin, Costa Coffee’s newest gingerbread offering, comes all the way from the Antarctic so he’s perfectly suited for our chilly weather. (Actually he’s made and hand-iced in a small independent Cheshire bakery, but that’s just between you and me.)
Costa Coffee challenged us and nine other bloggers to take Perry on tour for three days and share our adventures with him. You can see his other adventures by searching for #perryontour on your favourite social networks.
I don’t know why, but when we were first invited to take part in the challenge I thought we’d get a toy Perry to bring with us. Later it dawned on me, no, we’d be entertaining a biscuit for three days.
So yes, I did indeed spend three days carrying Perry wherever we went (along with Perry’s stand-in and Perry’s stunt double). I did indeed make boardshorts for a biscuit. And I did indeed make bungee and rock-climbing harnesses for a piece of gingerbread. Ah, the varied life of a mummy to an adopted gingerbread! But we, all three of us, actually had a lot of fun with Perry, thinking up new things for him to do, incorporating him into our family life, and sneaking nibbles of him when we thought no one was looking.
I was happily surprised by all the love and comments our photos got during our challenge, which showed me that it wasn’t just us enjoying Perry’s adventures. It was great that a gingerbread penguin doing silly things could brighten up other people’s day too 🙂
So, without any further ado, drum roll please (or maybe a heart-stirring piece of instrumental music would be more appropriate to set the tone?!), here is what we got up to with Perry.
Friday – a safari, an evening cruise and a touch of homesickness
We awoke to find Perry had arrived by train, ready and eager to have lots of fun. After a quick breakfast (Perry prefers a ristretto to start the day which immediately put him in hubby’s good books although also meant hubby was late to work as he enjoyed having another coffee connoisseur in the house), we kitted Perry out with binoculars and went to our local safari park to see what we could spot. We were very lucky to see various wild animals in a grassy glade, all happily together. Although looking at the photos now, the lions do seem to be crouching ready to pounce in the background (thankfully we left before any animals were eaten).
Trekking back through the woods made us all hungry and before I could stop it, Nicholas had chomped off Perry’s head! Thank goodness Perry has more than one life or our adventures would have been over on the first day. Perry had been telling us what he normally gets up to in the Antartic and sounded a bit homesick describing his wife Paula and their two baby penguins, Paige and Perry Jr., so I made him a special lunch to help him cheer up. Perry finished his day with a relaxing bath cruise followed by Nicholas reading him Pinocchio (I hid ‘The Gingerbread Man’ book).
Then Perry was tucked up in bed with his teddy bear.
Saturday – false hopes, a toe dip, a surfing dude and bungee-jumping
We woke up on Saturday to find Perry had already made himself breakfast and had discovered Ruby the Reindeer. I tried not to eavesdrop, but I did hear Ruby enthusiastically reassuring Perry that gingerbread was indeed safe in our house as she was still uneaten after Christmas (ah…). Perry came with us to Nicholas’ swimming lesson and was very excited to join him while we were in the changing room, but then chickened out when he tested the warm water with his toe which quickly proceeded to dissolve. We took him out for lunch to try to take his mind off his missing toe and then a walk along the Thames. He was a little sacred when we held him over the edge to see the very large geese and swans, so Nicholas gave him his favourite toy (a rabbit called Barch) to hug. To make up for Perry missing out on the swimming fun earlier, when we got home we made him some boardshorts and tried to teach him how to surf, which he was quite good at. With his adrenaline pumping, Perry wanted more fun so he bungee-jumped off our stairs!
Sunday – Australia Day disappointment, a hangover? (surely not), rock-climbing and karaoke
Very late last night on hearing a strange sound, I went to check on Nicholas and Perry. Nicholas was fast asleep, but I found Perry in a hoodie, trying to sneak out! I put him back to bed. But when I came downstairs the next morning I found Perry looking rather queasy and about to take some painkillers. (What on earth did he get up to last night?) To make his tummy feel better I made him some fun pancakes, which he scoffed very quickly. Perry found our Australian toys celebrating and they told him all about their culture. Perry was more than a little disappointed that we didn’t have a barbecue all day, and pointing out the pouring rain didn’t seem to make any difference. He did, however, do a spot of rock-climbing (where does he get all his energy from?)… followed by some karaoke before bed (and I’m not making any comment on Perry’s singing ability). Monday
We were woken at the crack of dawn by the sounds of bugle-playing. Perry was afraid we’d miss his departure. After lots of hugs, a few tears and promises to keep in touch, Perry left to go back to his family in the Antartic. I did spy his boardshorts and his rock-climbing harness in his bag which made me wonder if he was going to make a detour on his way home 😉
Disclaimer: some Perry the Penguins were harmed and/or eaten during our adventures. Thankfully Costa Coffee sent us 10 Perrys.
A couple of outtakes from our three days:
Perry’s stand-in (or was it his stunt double?) gets nibbled during our safari shoot
Nicholas wasn’t impressed with Perry’s singing
If you’d like to have your own adventure with Perry, Costa Coffee are giving away gift cards to their favourites. Check them out on Facebook or Twitter for more details.
Costa Coffee are choosing their two favourite blogger adventures tomorrow and then you can vote on Wednesday and Thursday for your favourite via their Facebook page.
While I still fail to do anything particularly Aussie when Australia Day comes around every year, I did want to share some Australian-themed food today.
For those of you who want to be extra patriotic when eating, why not try to copy the flags in food created by an Australian advertising agency? Their Australian meat pie and sauce flag is perfect! Click the photo to see their other flags in food, but before you do, can you guess which foods they used for Italy, America, Greece or Japan?
I love following the many people on Instagram who create amazing bentos and cute food; they give me lots of inspiration and encouragement to attempt my own simple creations. I just discovered Lunarbell’s this past week. Sarah’s koala lunch is just the most adorable plate!
Finally, I created these lamington cupcakes a little while back. You can have the taste of an Aussie lamington with a lot less effort!Wishing you a Happy Straya Day!!!
Costa Coffee challenged us to take their newest gingerbread offering, Perry the Penguin, on lots of adventures for the next three days. Feel free to follow all the fun we’re having with Perry on Twitter and Instagram, as well as the adventures he’s having with other bloggers (just search for #perryontour). We’ll do a round-up of all the fun we’ve had on Monday.
Inspired by our new penguin house guest, I made Nicholas a cute penguin lunch. It was the perfect opportunity to finally try making the adorable penguins I often see in the bento boxes on my Instagram feed.
To make the bigger penguin, I followed Ming’s from Bento, Monsters very easy instructions.
I used a normal boiled chicken egg, a sheet of nori and corn kernels. Ming suggests sticking the nori to the egg with a little mayonnaise; I just lightly wet the egg and it stuck well (using the nori was actually much easier than I’d anticipated). I used some mashed up egg (from the hard-boiled egg I didn’t manage to peel very well!) to stick the corn kernel feet on.
The smaller penguins are made from black grapes. There are lots of little penguins, especially on Pinterest, made from black olives, but I thought Nicholas would prefer grapes to olives.
I cut a thin slice off the fronts of the two larger grapes for the penguins’ tummies. I threaded the two smaller grapes on top for the heads using cut lollypop sticks. You could also use toothpicks, but be very careful of these with little ones. The feet and beaks are small triangles cut from a clementine/mandarine segment. Then I added some yogurt to make their tummies white and tiny dots of yogurt for their eyes.
Thank you to Eats Amazing for the tortilla snowflake inspiration. We actually had two more smaller filled snowflake tortillas on the side.
I’m linking up to Fun Food Friday, a weekly round-up of fun and creative food by the lovely Grace of Eats Amazing.
I'm an Aussie mum living in the UK (Surrey to be exact), who loves to feed people but who's struggled with the challenge of feeding my family healthy meals day after day without tearing my hair out! I'm hoping this blog will help me remember which dishes went down well and perhaps inspire you too.
Blending up the dates into a sticky purée produces a wonderfully sweet caramel-like flavour in the finished bites and a seemingly naughty chewy texture. They really do taste like a sugary treat rather than a healthy snack.
thegingerbreadmum 