Blogging 101

A couple of months ago I was lucky enough to be told that I had been chosen as a VIP blogger in this years Kidspot Voices of 2013 bloggers.

It was such a surprise! A really lovely one and a HUGE honour.
When I started blogging a few years ago I didn't even know what a blog was and now apparently I am a VIP one!

Last weekend I flew up to Sydney to join in the first Voices of 2013 Masterclass & the launch party.

It was an opportunity for the Finalists, the VIPs and the Hall of Famers to get together & meet up with new & old friends and to remind ourselves of why we blog, to celebrate what we do, to rekindle our fire and find new inspiration and to learn some new tricks.

There are lots of really great Australian blogs out there. The profiling of them like this is a GREAT way to have a look at what is going on in blogging. For a full list of the 100 Finalists go here.

I got to catch up with some of my old mates, Beth & Kim & Pip & Stacey, I missed Michelle who couldn't make it, and loved finally meeting Jodi & Lexi & Sophie & Bron- bloggers who I have had online relationships with for a while but not yet met in real life (IRL). I chatted and met lots of other lovely people too- it was super ace.

Me (L) & Beth from BabyMac (R) - pic taken by Pippy 

 It is great to connect with other people who get a kick out of doing something similar.  And even better when you get to meet people IRL who you have admired or been inspired by online for a while.

For me on this day it was Hailey Bartholomew.

I have been following Hailey's gorgeous creative family ways of awesome on Instagram for some time now & am really fascinated & inspired by her.

She was the Keynote speaker at Saturday's Masterclass and she was EXACTLY what I think is needed in a keynote speaker. She set the tone for the day. It was super real and honest. A real treat.

She spoke from the heart, needing to pause from time to time as her story brought her (and all of us) to tears. It wasn't polished public speaking like you would find at a boring work conference but perfectly spot on real-life speaking of what drives her to do what she does and to live life the way she does. Absolutely appropriate in this context.

It was so powerful because she made herself totally vulnerable to all of us- mostly strangers- in that big room on that day by telling us of what is important to her. Talking of how hard it is sometimes, how there is failure along the way & self doubt but that chasing your goal is totally worth it.

For me watching Hailey speak was a reminder of what I think is the KEY behind a successful blog. It is being AUTHENTIC, being GENUINE, finding YOUR voice, your story, the one that nobody else has and of being consistently YOU.

A bit like real life really.

Hailey spoke a bit about her Finding Love project. I have been watching this project and LOVING it.

Those of you who have been reading here a while know my feelings on LOVE well.
I believe in it deeply.

I believe that LOVE is the single most important thing in life.  That without it all else is meaningless.

I shared her film on my facebook page a couple of weeks ago. I know some of you saw it and shared it.

Here it is again for those of you who haven't seen it:


I totally dig this project.

It is something I wholeheartedly agree with.  The idea of taking control of what you SEE. It's not a visual thing but a heart thing.  But then like magic the heart lets the eyes see it too.

Live with passion. Live with love. Live with consciousness.

Thanks Hailey for affirming my beliefs by sharing yours.

Blogging 101.

It's about sharing YOU.

GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S SUPERHERO TOASTIE:
When I was growing up our family used to go camping a LOT.
Lovely off the beaten track, in the wild type camping.
Away from it all.
My love for it has stayed with me & we now do it with our family- I wish more often.......but when we do it is definitely up there with my VERY favourite things to do.
There was always a campfire.  We used it to cook.
One of the absolute faves of Camp cooking was what our family called "Tasty toasties" made in the circular (this is KEY as it seals the edges so the insides STAY inside) cast iron camping toasties that are really quite hard to find nowadays.

The circular toasty iron means you can put all manner of things inside it. Beans, leftover dinner- my kids fave a bacon and egg toasty- egg & cheese on the inside and the bacon on the outside.
Bacon on the outside I hear you ask?!
It was my mate Kirsty  who on seeing one of my posts on Instagram of my 'Undies on the outside' bacon rasher toasties called it 'The Superhero'. It stuck.
And so became the Gourmet Girlfriend Superhero.
A jaffle with bacon on the outside is a revelation I tell you- it cooks the bacon till it is crispy and DELICIOUS and adds a great extra texture and super flavour to ANY toasty.
And lets face it ANYTHING with bacon is a good thing right?!
This morning I had a delicious jaffle with my friend Pip at the VERY lovely Grub Food Van with Creamed Corn, Gruyere & Eggplant jam. Oh my! I have heard of people talking of corn in a jaffle and I admit I was sceptical but this was super doop!
So the rules of a SUPERHERO are simple- put whatever you like on the inside but the Undies (Bacon)  MUST be on the outside!
The one I made last week that I posted on IG was on my own #ggbreadrevolution no knead loaf = YUM and was made in a regular electric jaffle press. Here is what was in it.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 2 slices of good bread ( I used my own home made No Knead bread)
• leftover roast chicken, sliced
• ajvar (roasted Capsicum relish, available at good delis)
• 1 rasher of bacon cut into 2.
• pickles
• good cheese
• good mayo 
• lettuce

METHOD:
Spread the ajvar on one slice of bread then add the chicken cheese & pickles.

Pop the other slice of bread on top and spread butter on to outside of the jaffle. 

Sit one bacon rasher on top and one underneath and cook as normal.

Once cooked remove & open to add the lettuce and spread a little mayo on too.

we are the love machine...there is no in between.....

Uke can be anything you want to be

Last week we had a VERY special parcel arrive in the mail from one of my readers.

It wasn't for me.

It was for my 12yo.

It is my 12yo's courage to speak out loud and live from the heart that inspires this reader.

A while ago he emailed about wanting to do something for him - a gift.

Sometimes when others speak out, that in itself is a gift to others.

Sometimes it is the reading of words that reminds us of something we feel strongly about.

Someone else's words help put into perspective our own thoughts.

Help clarify things.

They can help us act on something that we have lingered on or not quite had the courage to go forward with.

This parcel and the really heartfelt letter that accompanied it (that we very nearly missed as it was tucked away inside!!) reminded me of how powerful speaking out loud is.

Of how great the community of readers out there is.

This talented reader had designed a tee shirt especially for my 12yo.

My 12yo was thrilled.

He said to me "Wow you never really know how you might affect someone else hey?  Kind of like that Lollipop moments thing...."

I have shared Drew Dudley's 'Everyday Leadership' here before where he talks of the Lollipop moments that my 12yo was referring to in his TED talk - if you haven't seen it, take a look here . It is MAGIC.

Here is the tee shirt. How GREAT is it?!

UKE CAN BE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO BE.

What a message.

The power of words.

A great reminder to be you. Just you. You are enough.

NB: I have had MANY people ask me if they can buy one since seeing it- he hasn't taken it off!
 The link to purchase your very own is here.

GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S POMEGRANATE SYRUP CAKE:
When we moved into our house nearly 6 years ago each of the five boys chose a fruit tree to plant.  My 12yo chose a Pomegranate tree. I was so thrilled.
Last year it fruited for the very first time.

Pomegranates just seem like the most magical and exotic of all fruits to me. I will never forget seing one of them opened for the first time and that delicate floral perfume as the seeds dropped like jewels out of it's tough pink leathery exterior. I was and still am intoxicated by their beauty.

 I used this recipe as a guide but made a few changes.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 200g soft butter
• 200g raw sugar
• 3 organic eggs
• seeds of half a vanilla pod
• 140g SR flour
• 100g plain flour
• zest of one lemon 
• 2 teaspoons Pomegranate Molasses (available at Middle Eastern grocers or good delicatessen)

PREHEAT oven to 145C.

Mix butter & sugar in a mixer till soft and creamy.

Add eggs one at a time.

Now add vanilla seeds and pomegranate Molasses & lemon zest.

Now add the flour and mix well till all combined.

Pour batter into a greased springform tin 20cm. 

Bake for 50 minutes

FOR THE SYRUP:

• 1 pomegranate (juice and seeds- i find the most effective way to deseed is to cut in half and whack the top with a wooden spoon, the pearlescent beads just fall into the bowl. you may need to pluck the last few carefully out of the skin)
• 2 tablespoons Pomegranate molasses
• seeds from the other half of the vanilla pod
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar

Put all ingredients (except pomegranate seeds) into a pan and cook over medium heat stirring until sugar dissolves.

Now turn heat to low and cook until the liquid is reduced and syrupy.

Add the pomegranate seeds and take off heat and set aside.

When cake is cooked (test with a skewer), remove from oven and set aside for 5 minutes.

Make holes in cake using skewer.

 Now pour syrup and seeds evenly over the cake.
Serve warm.

Every body counts

My eldest son (14yrs) asked me a couple of weeks ago about 'Why do kids at school say that TAFE is for dummies?'

It was so upsetting to hear that they say this.  But unfortunately not a surprise.  Kids used to say it when I was at school too.  It has always made me wince.

It is such a shame that we haven't progressed in our thinking.

I had to think of a way to explain how I believed it was NOT the case AT ALL without getting really CROSS.

Intellectual snobbery is abhorrent.

Humans should be valued on so much more than what level of educational certificate they hold.

It is one of the reasons I feel so uncomfortable about the question 'What do you think he will be when he grows up?'

I wrote about that here.

This is what I said to my son in answer to his question:

"Imagine how our society would function without garbage collectors, road workers, tram drivers, checkout operators, bakers, farmers, truck drivers, delivery people, artists.......the list goes on.

Sometimes the people who hold the University degrees RELY on the people who studied at TAFE to actually complete their jobs.

Imagine an architect without a builder.  A doctor without a nurse & medical supplies.  A corporation without someone at the front desk.

Does the picture make sense?

The answer is simple.

Our society would NOT function.

Humans are valuable not because of what & where they studied but because of WHO they are.

It's richness comes from it's diversity.

Thank goodness we have people who don't go to university."

GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S COLD SOBA NOODLE SALAD with TOFU, KIMCHI & SPINACH:
As I am at home often I like to make myself really yummy lunches- it makes me feel nice & feeling nice is good! And important too!
This is a fave that I have often.
It takes under 10 minutes and is super nutritious and delicious.
The quantity is for one-as I usually am just making this for me
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 100g Soba noodles 
• 4 tablespoons kimchi (or if you are like me and love it, lots more!)
• a handful of English spinach
• 100g tofu, sliced finely(i use the Japanese style seasoned firm tofu- you can use whichever is a fave) 
• a couple of teaspoons sesame oil
• a dash of light soy
• fresh coriander, chopped roughly
• a spring onion sliced finely
• black sesame seeds

METHOD:
Boil soba noodles (mine only take 4 minutes.)

I prepare everything else while they are  boiling.

Drain noodles and run cold water over them to cool.

Add sesame oil & soy and mix through - I use a chopstick.

Now add all other ingredients and mix well, sprinkle with Black Sesame seeds.

Serve & enjoy!

The same son I talk of above is playing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah at school today on the mighty Uke.  At the school they attend there is an opportunity every 2nd Wednesday to perform at 'Music on the Green'- live music preformed on a stage in front of the school- anyone can put their hand up. You just choose something to play and do it. Such a great idea. He is playing it as a duet with a friend.
Once upon a time there was musical snobbery in regards to the mighty Uke. I am happy to see that is making a bit of a comeback. It is a wonderful instrument.
Todays clip is of the amazingly talented Jake Shimabukuro playing his version of Hallelujah on the mighty uke.

Busyness and lists

I just read this post by Pip about lists.

To do lists & time management.

I am not really a list person but it is something I am thinking i need to do!
My life is getting busier and busier despite me wanting it not to be that way.

I am not a fan of busy.

I am all about slowing down.

I worry a LOT about our growing admiration for 'busy'.  I don't think it is a good thing.

I guess for me most of my busyness is in relation to my 5 children and keeping up with their appointments & school things.  

Unavoidable really.

The home part of our life is scaled right back. No activities and LOTS of happy homey relaxey ways.

I think my reluctance to write lists is because it is an admittance of HOW busy I am.

I am pretty good at time management despite my no list style but I DO think I am going to give it a try. 

Thanks Pippy for helping me out!

Do you write lists?

Do they help you?

GOURMET GIRLFRIEND’S MOZZARELLA MEATBALLS:

Winter just calls for rich & delicious comfort food doesn’t it!

This recipe ticks both of those boxes but is also SUPER simple and is one that the kids can help with too.

Most kids are big fans of meatballs.

My recipe has a twist- an explosion of melty, gooey delish Mozzarella cheees in the middle.

I think your kids will LOVE it and I suspect you will love it too!

As with all recipes, the quality of your ingredients will affect the quality & taste of your dish.
Buy the best ingredients you can afford.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

•        500g Organic beef mince
•         500g Organic Pork mince
•        1 organic egg
•     4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• ·      4 slices leftover bread~ (a great way to use some of your leftover No knead bread!)
• ·      a handful of fresh oregano
• ·      3 stalks of fresh thyme
• ·      4 cloves of garlic
• ·      2 cans Cherry tomatoes
• ·      ¼ glass red wine
• ·      a little Extra virgin Olive oil
• ·      100g Mozzarella cheese, cut into 2 cm cubes, or use little bocconci balls &          break them into smaller pieces
• ·      a little fresh basil

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 150C.

Put the bread, the herbs and 1 clove garlic into a food processor and blitz till you have a lovely fragrant breadcrumb mixture.

In a large bowl place the flavoured breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, the mince and the egg.

Mix really well with your hands- (my kids LOVE doing this, squelching it all through their fingers).

Take a chunk about the size of 2 tablespoons into the palm of your hand and roll into a ball.

Now stick your thumb into the middle and make a large cavity

Place a piece of Mozzarella into this cavity and then work the meat around to cover well.

Roll into a ball.

Do this with all the mixture. It will make about 20 balls.

Heat a non-stick fry pan to medium high heat and add a splosh of Olive oil.

Add about 5 balls at a time & brown the outside well. We are aiming just for colour here- they don’t need to be cooked through.

Place the browned meatballs onto an ovenproof dish.

Chop the remaining garlic and place into the dish with the meatballs.

Cover with the cans of Cherry tomatoes, the basil & a little drizzle of Olive oil and place into the preheated oven for an hour.

Serve on pasta, couscous or mashed potatoes.

Turn it up y'all & po your shimmy shoes on.....

Pip and her Quick 'n' Easy Speedy No Knead bread solution

Today is my gorgeous pal Pip Lincolne's middle child's birthday!

Rad huh!

How did our kids get to be so grown up already?!

It's really totally awesome to see our babies grow into rad young adults actually.
Totes worth celebrating.
And that is what Pip is organising.
A celebratory 'YAY- you are 17 and AWESOME birthday dinner"

So of course there was going to be delicious bread.....but Pippy forgot to organise for the L O N G wait of the No Knead.

Here's how she fixed that problem.

She was worried about stealing my #ggbreadrevolution bready thunder but I totes love to share and I certainly LOVE to share speedy solutions! And I love having my mates over at my place AND at my blog so here she is with her speedy fix recipe to share with you here- really it was a win win! (phew that was a really LONG sentence and I'm all out of breath!)

Over to Pip (thanks Pippy!) & HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX!!!!!!:

I first made no knead bread when the original NY Times article came out and lots of great bloggers were excitedly posting about how great it was. I already have my own recipe for sloppy, bubbly bread (http://mikesrecipejournal.blogspot.com.au/2008/11/pips-famous-pane-toscano.html) but it's not as special as The NY Times version and it hasn't got the great crust that the cast-iron baked ones have. 

I am SO glad to be reminded to make these delish loaves by Miss Ruth.

Today it's my son's birthday and I forgot to make my long-rise dough before I went to bed. Gazooks! 

I decided to try a speedier way, to boost the yeast and go for a shorter rise and see what happens. The news is it totally worked!  This means you don't have to think quite as far ahead, when you get bready.  

I thought the crust might be squishy and the texture might be cakey with this speedier take... NOPE! The crust is still delicious and it's got the same fabulous bubbly crumb. To tell you the truth, I can't notice much of a difference between the 16 hour rise and the 3-4 hour rise… So it's good to know that you can make a version of this bread in a (lengthy!) rush, if you're not in the slow food mood.

We're having it tonight with Julia Child's Boeuf Bourgignon (it's the birthday kid's choice!) and some pommes dauphinoise! YUM!

Here's how I sped up the recipe (and made it gooey-hands-free too!) :

Pippy's Speedier No Knead No Hands (kind of!) Bread:

• 3 1/2 cups of bread flour
• 1 sachet dried yeast
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of water

Put all ingredients into a mixer and mix until combined. I use a dough hook for this.

Oil a largish bowl and using a spatula, scrape the soggy dough into the bowl.

Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 3 or 4 hours in a warm room.

It needs to be bubbly all over. (My loaves today took 3 hours in a heated room.)

Punch the dough down through the plastic wrap. It'll stick to the wrap. Yank the wrap off and cover with fresh plastic wrap.

Let it rise and recover in a warm spot for another half an hour or so.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 450F (230C) .

Grease a cast iron pot with a lid well and put that in the oven (empty!) - the dough will almost double in size as it cooks, if that helps you go choose which pot to use! I use the spray oil stuff for this job.

When your dough is ready (after a half hour second rise!) use a spatula to scrape it into a bit of ball in the bowl it has risen in.

Now get your cast iron pot out of the oven and plonk the ball into it (again, scrape it in gently with the spatula, keeping it a bit ball shaped)

Put the lid on. 

Bake for 30 minutes at 450F (230C).

Remove the lid and bake for an extra 15 minutes until golden brown.

Remove and marvel at your amazingness!

Ta-dah!

Farmers Fayre

Those of you who have been reading here for a while know of my food buying philosophy.

I like to be mindful of the choices we make as a family in all areas of how we live.

Food is another of those.

I like to buy direct from the Farmer where I possibly can.

We go the our local Farmers markets as a family and decide together what we would like on the menu based on what food we see & like.

I have talked about it a lot before.  Here is an old post you may wish to read about the joy of shopping at Farmers Markets.

We are not menu planners but we buy seasonally and locally and go from there.

I love that my kids know the Farmers whose meat we buy.  It makes the food cycle more real, more meaningful.

My kids understand that the food we love to eat, that is brought to us, is done so by people who also have mortgages to service, kids to feed, to school, to clothe.

They understand the process of growth, slaughter and butchery.

We see that & it has more meaning to us every single time we eat the food we are so lucky to have at our table.

We are suburban big city dwellers but we have a real connection to the people far and wide who live their lives the way they do so that we can enjoy the fruits of their labour.

These people drive thousands of kilometres to various markets & restaurants to provide their product to us.

It feels like a small thing for me to travel to the various markets they attend to support them.

GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S CORNED BEEF HASH CAKES:
Last week we bought a Corned Girello (amongst other loveliness) from Lizette of Warialda Beef  at the Collingwood Farmers Markets.
Weekends are a big deal at our place.  Time to take it slow. Eat a family meal at every opprotunity. 
Breakfast is probably my favourite.
This week we had a delicious  Corned beef earlier in the week and I made this with the leftovers for breakfast this morning.
A kind of medley of a traditional Corned hash and a Potato Rosti.
Males about 8 fritters.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 4 x 1cm thick slices corned beef, cut into small cubes or torn apart into small pieces.
• 2 eggs
• 2 heaped tablespoons seeded Mustard
• 1/2 bunch Italian parsley, coarsely chopped 
• 4 large potatoes
• S & P
• oil for  frying

METHOD:
Grate the spuds and squeeze as much liquid as you can out of them.

Place in a large bowl and add all other ingredients and mix well.

Add some oil in to a large non stick frypan.

Pop about a handful of the mix into the frypan for each fritter.  I only fry 3 at a time so as not to crowd the pan.

Fry on a medium/high heat till brown (about 5 mins per side) .

Serve while HOT!

Beautiful Sunday morning breakfast table music........ 

Lovely goodie for one of YOU

Every now and then I get offers to share things with you.

A lot of the time these things are not the right fit for my readers.

This time though I have something that I think a LOT of you will see value in & so I said BRING IT ON!

It is super nice for me to be able to give something to YOU - my lovely readers!

Tefal sent me one of their kitchen gadgets this week called the 'Cook 4 me'.

It is like a super doop electric automatic Pressure cooker with super modern automatic programmes and STUFF! Who doesn't like stuff?!

It has over 80 preset recipes all with clear instructions (and you can change them easily if you wish as my 12yo did).

When I looked at it and read how it worked all I could think of was how ace it would be for kids to use.

It would also be great for a lot of families who juggle work.  Lots of the recipes are cooked in less than 20 minutes! AWESOME!

My 10yo was the first to use it.

I left him to it- I was interested to see if he could use it without my help.

He totally knocked out a Lemon Delicious pudding using the simple instructions.

He was very proud of his work.

That was round one.

Next was the 12yo.

He had a go at the Chicken Cacciatore.

But as a good child of mine he wanted to vary the recipe from what the machine told him.

His version is below.

So you know....if my 10yo & 12 yo can work it - and use it manually I reckon anyone can.

Well actually I am a FIRM believer in that ANYONE CAN COOK....they just need to be taught the basic skills. I have been teaching my kids since they were very little and they can cook fairly independently now.

I am so happy to think one of you guys will have this in your kitchen soon to help you!

DISCLAIMER:  Tefal gave me one of these appliances to use for myself (with no obligations) and one to share with my readers.  I thought this would be ace as I know lots of you would really LOVE this gadget & that it could help you cook great food.  

Giveaway open to Australian residents only on my Facebook page. now CLOSED

GOURMET 12yo's CHICKEN CACCIATORE:

The gadget above came with a recipe.  My 12yo changed a few ingredients as he didn't like some of the ones they used and wanted to add others that weren't in it.

The salami adds a lovel richness and the capers are a genius touch!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 1kg chicken thigh, cut into large chunks
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 100g salami, sliced and then cut into cubes.
• 2 cans diced tomato
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 tablespoons kalamata olives
• generous amount of fresh basil & parsley
• olive oil

METHOD:

Heat a non stick pan to medium.  Add olive oil.

Fry onions & garlic till soft.

Add the Chicken and brown.

Add all other ingredients and stir through.

Cook for half an hour or until the chicken is cooked through.  (I like to cook it longer to get that lovely rich sauce)

Serve with rice or pasta.

New Iron & Wine album out this week.
LOVING this track & gorgeous video ~