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laurenetrim

~ in this moment

laurenetrim

Category Archives: food

the trials and tribulations

beef bone broth – it’s worth it

26 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by laurenetrim in food, health

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Tags

#cleaneating #broth #winter #cooking #healthyeating

We are finally starting to get a chill in the air in Brisbane (happy dance, happy dance!), so the slow cooker came out of the pantry last week. First cab off the rank was a bone broth.1.5kg of beef bones at the organic butchers cost around $12. (In case you’re a local, TMP – formally The Meat-Ting Place – in the shopping centre on Flockton Street in McDowall has certified organic meat and terrific service).

Roast the bones in the oven for an hour – about 200-220 degrees C. Take straight out of the oven and into the slow cooker along with any vege offcuts you’ve kept aside. I used one brown onion, a couple of carrots, about 3 stalks of celery, 2-3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 3 bay leaves. Some people add ginger and garlic – but I leave that for when I use the broth instead.

Cover the entire lot with filtered water and put the slow cooker on low. To get a gelatinous broth, let it simmer for 24-30 hours. It took about 6 hours to even start to simmer and the smell was really quite light – not like how a pea and ham soup stinks out the place!

I lost very little liquid through the simmer – and also didn’t have much fat scum to scoop off the top. I suppose it depends on the bones. I took out the large bones and veges and allowed it to cool a little in the cooker bowl before pouring out through a strainer to remove the solids.

At this stage, I wanted to get it cooled down and into the fridge as quickly as possible – it’s a meat product after all. So I filled the sink with ice and put the large bowl of strained liquid on top to get the temp down and get it into the fridge. Overnight the fat floats to the surface and solidifies. It’s then really easy to cut the fat around the edges of the bowl and lift out – leaving the wobbly broth. ** Don’t throw out the fat! Put it in a spare jar and keep it in the fridge to use for bbq-ing meat and veges.

I kept some broth in the fridge for dinners over the next few days, but froze the rest for future use. I don’t really have any ‘specialist’ equipment – so I used silicon cupcake patties and a small banana loaf tray. These both worked really well. I bagged up the frozen broth to stop freezer burn and they are all ready to go!

I will use it as a stock for soup or any liquid absorbing grain – cous cous, rice or quinoa etc. It’s awesome for adding to spag bol or making sauces and gravies for meat dishes, but it’s terrifically tasty and satisfying as a meal on its own. That’s how I like it – heat it up and add an egg or spinach or any vege really. Voila!

 

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quick white chocolate fudge with cranberries and pistachios

06 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by laurenetrim in food

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Tags

Cooking, presents, sweets

Two blocks of good quality eating white chocolate. Half a can of condensed milk (a whole can will work but it makes it a very soft fudge). One teaspoon of butter and one tablespoon of vanilla essence. All into a saucepan on medium-low heat and stir continuously until all melted together and starting to ‘dry out’ and get a skin on top. Take off the heat and stir through a big handful of chopped cranberries (as much as you like really – the mixture is too sweet without them). Pour the lot into a lined square cake tray. Cover the top with chopped pistachios and push them into the top of the fudge. Refrigerate until set. IMG_6640.JPG

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mars bar slow cooker fudge

10 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by laurenetrim in food

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Tags

fudge, slow cooker, sweets

I was given a slow cooker so I am trying out as many different types of dishes I can to get a handle on what it does well and what it doesn’t. This is my first try doing fudge in the slow cooker, because you know…fudge.

Experts tell me, you put two blocks of chocolate, one can of condensed milk, a knob of butter (optional) and “flavourings” into the slow cooker. Leaving the lid off, put on high for 2 hours and stir every 15 mins…

That last bit kinda defeats the purpose of a set and forget slow cooker, don’t it? Oh well, put on a good movie you love and know all the words to and get cracking.

I used a block of dark chocolate and one of milk. I used the knob of butter because I forgot to spray the cooker pot with canola oil…oops. I added about 6 mini mars bars and let it rip.
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By the 45 minute mark, the mixture was melting well together. By the 1:30hr mark, it was getting a skin on top that mixed back in when stirred but I bailed at that point fearing it would get gritty and gross. I poured the fudge into a lined slice tray to cool and chill in the fridge.

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Today I sliced it up. It was set solid but still a little tacky. The flavour is not too sweet and the consistency is quite treacly-if that makes sense.

I don’t think I’ll do slow cooker fudge again. I like the hard icy type fudge, the sort you used to get at school fetes. Nowadays fudge seems to be more creamy and smooth and this recipe ended up similar to that.

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a winter’s night sweet hit

02 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by laurenetrim in food

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Tags

baking, recipe, sweets

I’ve never done a mug cake before as most of the recipes I see have an egg in them. This one doesn’t and has turned out really nice, light and moist.

Ingredients and Method

3 TBsp milk (I used soy)
1 TBsp extra virgin olive oil
1 TBsp sugar/stevia alternative

Whisk these together in your mug.

Add 3 TBsp self raising flour
1.5 TBsp raw oats
0.5 TBsp cocoa powder
And a dollop of Nutella on top

Stir these til mixed in. Nuke in your microwave for 1 minute.

Voila!

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Choccie Oat mug cake

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white chocolate malteser slice

13 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by laurenetrim in food

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recipe, sweets

Forgot to write this one up – it’s not as sweet tasting as you’d think – but then a little goes a long way 🙂

Dry ingredients are: 2 cups of rice bubbles, a packet of smashed up arrowroot biscuits, 1 cup of halved maltesers.

Wet ingredients are: 125g butter, a can of sweetened condensed milk, 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder.

Put the wet ingredients in a saucepan and melt over medium heat until they start to bubble. Mix stirring for a minute and add to the dry ingredients. Note: mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl before you add the wet stuff – it’s easier.

Press the base mix into a lined slice pan. Use the largest one you’ve got to spread it thin – once cool, the thicker this slice is, the harder it is to cut.

Melt a packet of white chocolate melts in the microwave and drizzle over the top – add more halved maltesers and pop the lot in the fridge to set.

Done.

white chocolate malteser slice

white chocolate malteser slice

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salted caramel fudge

02 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by laurenetrim in food

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fudge, recipe, sweets

Nearly forgot I made this for a caramel loving friends birthday. Gird your loins and don’t make it on a hot day – it takes a half an hour of constant stirring. Make it the day before you need it to give it time in the fridge.

Prepare a 20cm square slice pan greased and lined with baking paper.

In a saucepan, put a 400g can of condensed milk (I use the 99% fat free/skim one), a cup of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of liquid glucose, 1/4 cup of golden syrup, and 125g chopped up butter.

Let the stirring begin.

Warm this over low heat until the sugar dissolves so you don’t get a gritty fudge. Don’t let it boil – but keep it stirring for about 10 minutes.

Then ramp up the temperature a bit to a low medium heat/simmer stirring all the time. On my electric stove it took another 8 minutes to get to a soft bubble.

Now keep stirring like a mad person while it’s bubbling for another 8 or so minutes. You’re looking for the mixture to thicken and darken a little. Watch the heat on the bottom of the pan though – I had to lift the saucepan off a few times to moderate the temp.

Take the pan off the heat and drop in the white chocolate (200g) in small pieces and …you guessed it, stir til it’s melted through.

Pour your fudge into the slice pan. Mine ended up about 2cm thick all around. While it’s warm, sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of good quality salt flakes over the fudge. I used pink Himalayan salt.

Leave the fudge to cool for an hour and then cover with glad wrap and put into the fridge.

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sunday baking

30 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by laurenetrim in food, health

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Cooking

Lunches for the week are now sorted. Homemade hommus to have with sweet potato chips. I baked extra sweet potato to add into some Harissa cous cous and spinach. I baked some mini mushroom and feta tarts to have with salad and a few to go into the freezer for an easy late dinner after a long day at work.

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banana sultana & oat balls of happiness

16 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by laurenetrim in food, health

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

recipe

I just made these lovely little snack pieces. The original recipe was posted here by Not Quite Nigella.

Plump up 1/2 cup of sultanas in some hot water. I also rehydrated some cranberries. Mash up two ripe bananas in a bowl and add in 3/4 cup oats, 1/2 cup desiccated coconut, 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and about 3 teaspoons of agave syrup (for sweetness). Mix in the sultanas with this to get a wet mix. Roll into balls and roll these in more oats and coconut. Voila – healthy snacks for the working week.

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the end of mango season

04 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by laurenetrim in food, garden

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aussie, food, Health, summer

Another summer of homegrown goodness, and it’s all come to its inevitable end. No more mangoes. All gone. The last few have been chopped up for one last day of snacking but the rest must be frozen for posterity. Cryogenic mango will save the day in the months to come. – the trick is to use them wisely.

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smoothie shortcuts

22 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by laurenetrim in food, health

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breakfast, organise, smoothie, timesaving

I scored a bag of homegrown mangos from my sis-in-law last week and when a few of them ripen at the same time, what do you do? Chop them up into bite size pieces and freeze them. Add in any other fruit you have around to make up smoothie shortcut bags you can throw into the blender at a moments notice. Make them about 1/2 to 1 cups worth and you have enough to add to a cup of liquid, add a shot of protein powder and some ice if you are sharing with another and blitz away. Easy.

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Homemade Gift Ideas – Oreo Truffles

19 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

baking, recipe

For those of you who are Oreo inclined, these look lovely and might…I say, might! make it through to New Years.

Homemade Gift Ideas – Oreo Truffles.

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xmas baking – cheats caramel tart

19 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food

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baking, recipe, sweets, Xmas

Phew – busy, busy, busy. OK – just in case you hadn’t thought of it, here’s how to cheat a nice alcoholic tart…are you seeing a theme in my baking yet?

Using bought shells (having never made little tart pastries before – and you know, it’s a busy time of year etc etc) and a tin of caramel – yes, yes, I know!

BUT – if you stir up the tin of caramel with a little dollop of Kalhua (the Gingerbread flavoured one)…catch my drift???

Then you wallop a few ginger nut biscuits in a zip bag and sprinkle them over the top…. Well, I mean really, who would know besides us?

Merry Christmas 🙂

cheats tart

cheats tart

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xmas baking – rum and raisin fudge

19 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

baking, recipe, sweets, Xmas

I love Christmas time – it’s rum, rum and more rum! This is a soft fudge and very sweet.

Put 1/2 cup of raisins (which count as a fruit really) into a small saucepan with 1/2 cup of rum – Bundaberg rum of course! – and warm through to get the raisins nice and boozy. Cool them down.

In a bigger saucepan, stir a can of sweetened condensed milk, a firmly packed cup of brown sugar with 120 grams of chopped up butter until the sugar dissolves. I didn’t use glucose syrup because I like grainy fudge, but if you want it smoother and creamier, add into this saucepan 2 tablespoons of glucose syrup. Once the sugar is dissolved, raise the heat to medium and stir for 10 minutes until it’s a light golden colour.

Take the large saucepan off the heat and add in 200grams of chopped up milk eating chocolate – you could do dark if you wanted. Stir the chocolate in until it’s melted in. Add in the boozy raisins (and rum!) and when it’s all combined, pour it into a lined square tin. Let it cool and set – put in the fridge if you’re in a hurry.  When it’s set, slice and dice it into little pieces and enjoy.

rum and raisin fudge

rum and raisin fudge

 

 

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xmas baking – white choc, coconut and citrus truffles

19 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

baking, recipe, sweets, Xmas

Is it called a truffle if there’s no truffle in them?  I wonder to myself. Oh well, these taste lovely anyway 🙂

white chocolate, coconut and lemon/lime truffle

white chocolate, coconut and lemon/lime truffle

In a saucepan, put 1/2 cup of coconut cream, 360grams of white eating chocolate and as much grated zest of limes and lemons that you can handle zesting. The recipe suggests 2 tablespoons of each, but keep going til you can do no more! Stir over a low heat until the chocolate melts then pour into a bowl, cover and get into the fridge to cool and solidify. You need to be careful with the amount of coconut cream – too much and the mixture won’t set (tip for young players :). Leave the mixture to cool for as long as possible – overnight is great.

When set – get a bowl of some kind of coconut (moist/shredded – even desiccated).  Take a teaspoon of the mixture and roll into a ball – cover with the coconut and put on a lined tray to put back into the fridge until ready to eat.

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xmas baking – port balls

19 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food

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baking, recipe, sweets, Xmas

These dark chocolate balls are chockers with raisins and cranberries soaked in port. Delish!

In a bowl, put 1/4 cup of raisins and 1/4 cup of chopped dried cranberries to soak in 1/2 cup of your favourite port. In a saucepan, melt a large block (200gram+) of dark eating chocolate with 1/4 cup of thickened cream.  When melted, take off the heat and add in the raisin/cranberry bowl of goodies. Put in a bowl and refrigerate until set. I left overnight and had a glass of port myself :).

When the mixture is set, take a teaspoon sized amount, roll into a ball and place on a lined tray.  When you’ve rolled all the balls, melt another 200gram block of milk eating chocolate in a saucepan. You can either drizzle the milk chocolate over the balls or dip them in – it’s entirely up to you. Refrigerate until you’re ready for the eating part.

port balls

port balls

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xmas baking – sugared peanuts

19 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food

≈ 1 Comment

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baking, recipe, sweets, Xmas

This is a family tradition – probably more for Boxing Day nibbles while watching the cricket, but they are always there somewhere.

NB: You need a deep frypan (that can get up to a high heat) or an electric frypan you can control the temps on.

Put one cup of water in the heating pan with 2 cups (1 lb) of sugar. Colour with cochineal/red food dye. Stir to dissolve the sugar and then bring it to the boil (200C – or 375F in the old scale). When boiling add 2 cups (1 lb) of raw peanuts and lower the temp down to around 120C (260F) and put on the lid. Leave it to bubble away for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and take the lid off. Start stirring it all until the sugar crystallises…which can take a few minutes. Allow to cool and voila.

sugared peanuts

a boxing day tradition

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best sunday fare – the humble fritter

10 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

healthy, recipe

Is there anything as good as potato and ham fritters with lashings of tomato sauce? Those were a Sunday evening favourite for my family – particularly during winter. Via twitter I was gifted the recipe for an holumi and zucchini version, which is way better for me, I’m sure. (Hat tip to Richard Chirgwin). But as good as they are – and they are very good – I’m not sure they eclipse the humble spud variety as our family tradition.

In a bowl grate 4-5 zucchini
1 packet of holumi cut into small squares
1 onion – diced
2 eggs
1 cup of breadcrumbs (I used panko crumbs)
Half cup of plain flour to bind it all together.
(If the mix is too dry – add another egg).
Shallow fry in oil (rIce bran oil has a high smoke point).

Enjoy with a salad.

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espresso- cocoa granola

03 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food, health

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breakfast, chocolate, coffee, recipe

There used to be a show on Aussie tv called The Cook and The Chef. Maggie Beer was the cook and Simon Bryant, the chef. On one episode he did his mocha granola and it’s to die for.

Here’s the original recipe on the ABC site

Here’s what I do…

Dry ingredients in a bowl
5 cups of oats
1/4 cup of dark cocoa

Add the wet(ish) ingredients
8 shots of espresso
2 tbls of grated palm sugar
The seeds from 2 vanilla beans
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of orange juice
2 tbls honey

Mix it all together so it’s all a bit moist.

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Spread out on a tray and add almonds and some coconut on top. Into a low oven (80 degrees) for 2 hours. Turn off the oven and let the tray cool completely in the oven before putting in a container lined with baking paper.

It’s supposed to make up to 10 breakfasts but it lasts me longer. It’s delish with soy milk.

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yet another genius business idea

20 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food, musings

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cookbooks, filing, hording, mental, organise, recipes

What I need is a retreat, fully catered, in a 5-star resort complete with free bar and complimentary massages, that is designed to support me in ripping out recipes from all my cooking magazines.

I need emotional encouragement to tear out pages and choose which side of the page to display. I need professional advice on whether to scan and print, or keep everything electronic. And what about indexes/contents pages? What about them!?!?

I need examples of organisation systems – display folders sorted by season, by magazine title, by ingredient… I need counselling through all these life-impacting decisions. Because they’ll live with me for the rest of my life.

Basically, I need someone else to do all this for me – is there a consultant I can buy for a week?

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banana bread babies

05 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food

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baking, bread, Cooking, recipe

Quick recipe for using up ripe bananas.

Heat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius/moderate.

Cream 60g butter and beat in 1/2 cup caster sugar gradually. In a bowl, mash up 2 bananas and stir in one egg. Slowly add this to the butter mix.

Sift 2 cups of self raising flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and slowly add this to the butter/banana mix and continue to beat it in.

The batter will be quite dry, so add 3 tablespoons of yoghurt. This mix gets poured into a greased loaf pan. You can sprinkle chopped walnuts on top (any kind of nut would work, I suppose).

Bake for 50 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean. Enjoy.

* I had 4 bananas to use so I baked a double batch to get a mother loaf and 6 babies.

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ashes catering trial número due

23 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food, sport

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Ashes, picnic, recipe

Take eleventy billion zucchini and grate them. Sweat down a humungous bunch of spinach in a saucepan with a little butter and soy sauce. Add in some mushies and soften these too. Slice up as much ham as you like and add it to a large pie dish with the zucchini, spinach and mushrooms all mixed up. Whisk up some eggs with a good dose of pepper (I used 8 – this is a HUGE quiche). Pour the eggs over the dish and flatten it out. Then add some grated cheese over the top. The dish goes into the oven (sans lid) at 160 degrees until the eggs are cooked and the top is golden brown. Allow to cool, then slice and freeze for “tired night” dinners with some salad or wrap up for picnic lunches at the cricket 🙂

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ashes catering trials begin

12 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food, sport

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Ashes, baking, cricket, food, picnic, recipe, savoury

The Ashes at the Gabba is a HUGE deal and the preparation for the “catering” our group organises for each day is taken extremely seriously. Limes cut for the drinks. Nibblies for elevenses and threesies. Salads and/or rolls for lunch. It’s serious Masterchef picnicking stuff.

Tonight’s effort (guinea pigging work mates tomorrow) is a roasted pumpkin and feta pastry.

How it goes:

Thaw 2-3 pieces of puff pastry.
Oven to 180-200 Celsius.

Slice and dice the pumpkin (I used a half of one) and spread it on an oiled (or baking paper lined) tray. Season it with the herbs and spices of your choice. I love harissa flavourings – but turmeric and garlic go well also. Whatever you like really. Roast for 20 minutes and then get it out to cool a bit.

Whisk up three eggs and 100mls each of light sour cream and milk (you could also use cream if you’re feeling decadent).

Oil two muffin trays. Slice each pastry sheet into 9 squares (for a big muffin tray) or 16 squares (for a small muffin tray) and line each with a square of pastry. (I got 12 large and 24 small out of this recipe). ** Don’t forget to oil the tray!! These suckers are difficult to get back out.

Fill each pastry with some spiced pumpkin. Spoon the egg mix over each. Don’t overfill. Crumble some feta over the top. I used a whole packet (250g).

These go into the oven for another 20 minutes or until golden. Let them cool in the tray before getting out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Because the egg mixture ran over a bit, I ended up using a cake tester to loosen the edges of each to get them out of the pan.

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the coffee curve

08 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food, health, musings

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coffee, Focus, stimulants

Yep.

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honey almond slice

25 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food

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baking, Cooking, elevenses, morning tea, recipe

This is very tasty and very easy to make.

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Mix 65g melted butter into a bowl containing 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cup plain flour and 1/2 cup of almond meal.

Flatten this mix into an oiled & papered slice pan (small square) and bake on 160 Celsius for 10-15 minutes til it has a little colour. It’ll be baked again with the topping, so better to go a little under here. Leave this out of the oven to cool while you make the topping.

Melt another 80gm butter in a small saucepan with 3 big dollops of honey – go more if you like the taste. Let this simmer for 3 minutes then stir through 1 cup of sliced almonds so they’re all soaked and covered in the gooey goodness.

Pour the topping over the base slice and pop back in the oven for another 15 minutes until golden.

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A compulsory fuss

14 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food, living, musings

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Birthdays, celebrate

You have to go the extra mile to celebrate a birthday. You just have to. It’s the best opportunity to have a group of people all working towards the one goal – to make the birthday boy or girl smile and laugh. Special – that’s how they should feel. Special.

This was the epic-birthday-cake-from-left-field-can’t-beat-it-OMG-extravaganza we got for my Mum. She certainly wasn’t expecting it. Pastry, custard, toffee and sugar sweet flowers all in little packages. A dessert and cake in one. Brilliant.

Happy birthday, Mum. Love you.

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What came first – the chicken or the cage?

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in animals, food, musings

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cruelty, Humanity

This is the first time I’ve seen what each category actually means for the chicken. A quick squiz on the Woolies website says – caged dozen $3:21, barn laid $3:89, free range $4:49 and organic around $9. How much is the pain of an animal worth to you?

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Why can’t I ever eat all the bananas I buy?

04 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food, health

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Cooking

Maybe it’s a Freudian slip, because I love banana bread, banana muffins, banana anything really. Take 3 overripe bananas and some staples from the pantry and voila. Banana and choc chip mini loaves.

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blender christening

08 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by laurenetrim in food, health, photo

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Fruit, summer

Frozen banana, mango, orange pulp and zest, pear and apple juice and a dash of soy milk. Swirl on some maple syrup and voila!

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A pre-new years resolution – achievement unlocked

29 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, photo

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Tags

back2basics, food, tradition

Well well well. I’ve gone and baked my very own bread loaf from scratch for the first time ever. 2013 will see more of these and the growing of a garden to cook from.

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an Aussie Christmas

28 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, garden, living, musings, photo

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aussie, family, nature, tradition

A belated Christmas check in with you all. I hope you had a sane day/s with your family. If not, I hope you were safe and warm and fed and at peace. I fear more and more people don’t have “somewhere to go” during the holidays. I hope if you weren’t with family, you got a smile from someone.

Our family’s Christmas venue changes each year – and that’s ok. What ties us to the years before is what we do on the day.  We make sure we do the little things each year to celebrate the season and the beginning of a new year.

It’s a simple as:-

  • a tupperware server full of nibbles – chocolate scorched almonds, choccie peanuts, jubes, rumballs, cashews, macadamia nuts. And it magically refills overnight to be full again for the feet up tradition of watching the Boxing Day test and the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race
  • a bowl of mock chicken dip (my Nanna’s recipe and made by mum)
  • a tray full of mangoes – eaten over the sink or in a bowl with ice-cream
  • copious cups of coffee and tea and a good chat over each one
  • cold roast chicken and ham off the bone with salads galore for lunch, dinner, lunch, dinner…you get the idea!
  • christmas cake or pudding with custard – although no-one ever has the room
  • short walks in the heat to stretch the legs and amuse the dog
  • a christmas tree with gifts under it and cards amongst the branches
  • at least one gag gift – this year I got an M&M dispenser….”You get in the bowl!” Ha.
  • no twitter/facebook/texting – but lots of calls

And the best Christmas gift of all – a cracking storm that dumped enough rain to fill the tanks and back up the down pipes.

Here’s cheers to you and yours.

The best Xmas pressie an Aussie can get

The best Xmas pressie an Aussie can get

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Oops – nearly forgot. Banana and maple syrup muffins.

14 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, photo

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baking, food, old school

My bad.  Here it is – all in one bowl.  Oven at medium heat (180 degrees celcius).

3 ripe bananas and 2/3 cup of caster sugar – mash up in a bowl. Go easier on the sugar if you like. The end product is on the sweet side.

Melt 75 grams of butter, add a tablespoon of maple syrup and one egg – stir in well.

Then add 1 and 1/2 cups of self raising flour – mix in.

And you’re good to go.  Into muffin or small loaf pans – I use paper cases ‘cos it reduces the cleaning up and my oven is rubbish 😦

Bake for 20 mins – go for a light brown on top or the old skewer test.

Frosting options – while still hot, skewer a few times and drizzle more maple syrup over; allow to cool and smother in nutella and shredded coconut; or you can be fancy and do the proper frosting  using 100 grams of cream cheese and 2 more tablespoons of maple syrup.

Enjoy.

Banana and maple syrup muffins

 

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every little helps in getting healthy

03 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, health, photo

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balance, food, Health

I’ve been feeling under the weather for a while now.  Just when I think I’ve got the dreaded lurgy licked, it’s back with a vengeance.  Given the fab fruit coming into season in the Aussie summer now – this bug has no chance!  Fresh juice to drink, use to do my soaked muesli, add to yoghurt and glasses of water to keep hydrated.  I’ve got vitamin c coming out the wazoo at the moment.

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twitter’s recipe collective – chocolate & beetroot cake

26 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, photo

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community, Cooking, recipe, Twitter

It seemed simple – a general tweet out to the twitterverse asking if anyone knew a chocolate beetroot cake recipe…

I figured I’d at least get some suggestions on where else to look.  All my recipe books had buttermilk in the ingredients and that’s just plain wrong.  And google keeps failing me.

I’d always depended on my Mum’s recipe – and I’d lost it.  Funny thing was, so had she!  So Mum started calling her friends, and I turned to the biggest hivemind I know and tweeted.  I follow quite a few foodies – funny that! – who retweeted my request a few times to spread the question a little wider.

My tweep-in-shining-armour was an English gent who thought his Mum might be able to help and he offered to add my request to his email home.  Well, bless her if she didn’t come through!  Awesome.  A lovely lady called Shelagh on the far side of the world has shared her recipe with a complete stranger in Australia.  And I hope she doesn’t mind, but I’m giving a copy to my Mum in case she never finds where she’s written hers! 😉

I made muffins instead of a cake, as I took it to work for my team to taste.  They never believed me that you can’t taste the beetroot.  Thanks to Shelagh and her travelling son Omar, that’s a save for my recipe collection.

I’m very very grateful.

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market day

01 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, photo

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community, Health, nature

Wednesday is market day in Brisbane City – Reddacliff Place next to the “lego block building” that houses the Brisbane City Council allow farmers markets to set up.  It’s an interesting mix of stalls – a lot focused on the single/professionals living in the inner city.  Not sure it’s “straight from the farm” prices, but it’s a nice wander through of a lunch hour. $2 for a macaron, $5 for a bunch of gerberas, $4 for a large bag of lollies and fresh honey, fruit, vege and herbs.

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family gatherings

20 Sunday May 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, living, musings, photo

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balance, connect, family


I love family get togethers. My family gathers for a meal every fortnight to catch up and share what’s going on.  It’s not a long amount of time, given the travel distances, but it’s a good time.  It’s so we can all connect in to each others lives.  Otherwise, we get too busy with all the “have to do” to really know how each other is going.  It’s not enough to just trust they’ll tell you if they need something.

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TGIF

04 Friday May 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, musings, photo

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balance, community, respect

It’s been a long week.  I didn’t even realise until yesterday that this weekend is a long with the Monday a public holiday for … Labor Day?  Ironic really, given the result of the state election held last month.  Labor Day reminds me of the story of the traveller who stopped at the tree in the outback – the one with the $5m art installation and shed build around it.  $5m for that but the locals don’t have a dentist.  Says everything really.

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a piece of childhood

28 Saturday Apr 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, living, photo

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memories

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When was the last time you had a jelly tip ice block? It’s nice to revisit the flavours of your childhood every now and then. Do it.

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Aussie for Beginners

26 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, musings, photo

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aussie, tradition

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Before we move on past Anzac Day, I should teach you all the proper way of eating a Tim Tam. If you’re not familiar with Aussie confections, you may not have come across these lightly wafered choc dipped biccies. (* Aussies do not use the word ‘cookies’. That is American). The Tim Tam is Aussie as, and there is a right and a wrong way to eat one. Let the lesson begin…

Take the Tim Tam in your hands and nibble off one corner. Turn said Tim Tam around and nibble on the diagonal corner. This turns the Tim Tam into a straw – its MAGIC.

Pour yourself a glass of your favourite beverage – scotch, rum, kahlua, baileys…anything you think would go nicely with the choccie flavour of the biccie. Please note, tea and coffee are for advanced students only!

Lower biccie into drink – trick for young players is to tip the glass slightly – without spilling – obviously. SUCK until the smooth liquid is drawn up through the chocolately goodness and becomes mush from the inside out. ** NB: tea and coffee melt the little sucker quicker than you think. One second you’ll be holding a Tim Tam, the next it’s molten lava.

Enjoy.

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ANZAC biccies

24 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, living, photo

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aussie, Cooking, tradition

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ANZAC biccies. Will have to have a cuppa to conduct quality control.

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cold remedy

12 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, health, photo

≈ 2 Comments

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alternate, cold, Flu, medicine

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Recipe:

One black tea bag
One squeeze of lemon
One spoon of honey
One shot of scotch

Method:

Get into pj’s and ugg boots
Boil water
Add water to mug containing all ingredients
Inhale and sip
Go to bed

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the end of the line

12 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, musings, photo

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binge, easter, holiday, sweet tooth

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These little eggs are on the endangered list. They might live to see another day or two – maybe even a week – but their number has been called and I will have satisfaction!

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mangoes, for the win!

11 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, photo

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epicure, photo, tropical

BEST. DINNER. EVER.

This is the best meal ever.  2 whole mangoes and a leettle bit of dairy 🙂

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if there’s pineapple, is it pizza?

26 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, photo

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food, photo

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caaawwwwwfeeeeee

21 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, health, movies, photo

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coffee, mornings

God save me from Mondays!!!

Holy hole in a donut!

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fundraiser

16 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, musings, photo

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Choccies

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It’s all for a good cause…no, really. It is! 🙂

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it’s the simple things

12 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in animals, food, health, living, photo

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goodness, honey, photo

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This is it. The end. The last of Dad’s honey :(. My nickname isn’t ‘Pooh’ for nothing. Those bees had best get busy.

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the simple things in life

29 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, musings

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new things, photo, taste

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Sometimes it’s nice to grab something new and give it a go. What’s the worst that can happen?

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26 Jan – Aussie Aussie Aussie

26 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, living, musings, photo

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Australia, bbq, living, photo

Aussies aren’t the only country that bbq meat for an easier meal – but we hang our hat on the practice.  We hold dear our outdoor lifestyle so fervently that we give ourselves a special day to use it.

En masse, we throw some snags, onion slices and steak on the grill, rustle up some salads and slap it all between the sides of a hamburger roll liberally smothered in tomato sauce (NB: not ketchup).  We play some games in the backyard – usually scratch cricket – so that everyone, no matter the age or ability, can have a hit, run, catch or bowl.  If you’re very lucky, you have a dog on your side as a ring-in fielder.

Some Aussies have a pool to cool off in, some are near the ocean, but we play, we eat, we play some more and we cool down however we can.  The point is we do it together.  We stop all the running around, the “have to do’s” that get in the way and we make the effort to spend the day together, talking, laughing, eating and drinking.

The Australia Day public holiday has such a different feeling to it than the Christmas holiday.  Less emphasis on presents and the need to give everyone something meaningful or “good”.  Less tradition to adhere to on what to eat, how to eat, how to spend the day.  Australia Day is easy-going.  It’s the day we spend being how we think we are.  Relaxed.  Connecting.  Having a laugh.  Enjoying the moment.  No worries.

I know that this day holds historical echoes that are unpleasant and that some find upsetting because it feels unresolved and unacknowledged.  Regardless of the day you get to do it, joining your loved ones together with a no fuss, no baggage, no bullshit event – just to catch up and relax – is a gift I hope you receive too.

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dinner subtropical style

10 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, photo

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heat, ice blocks, photo, summer

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Dinner in Brisbane.

Entre – pineapple Zuper-dooper.
Mains – orange Zuper-dooper.
Dessert – cola Zuper-dooper.

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cup cup cup cup coffee coffee coffee coffee

05 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by laurenetrim in food, musings, photo

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

coffee, photo, tea

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This is my savior at work. My cup warmer.

No matter how many phone calls, urgent this-or-thats that I have to deal with, it keeps my cuppa hot for me. It’s not a pansy one that plugs into the pc either. It runs on unleaded electricity straight from the wall.

I will protect it always as I’ve never seen another one.

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