The sous vide cooks apricots amazingly well. They have a beautiful delicate velvety texture once cooked. You could also make this dish on the stove top if you don’t have a sous vide. The flavour will be the very similar but you will lose the velvety texture.  Little Big H loves the tartness of this…

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I started making this dish for Little Big H at around 7 months.  It contains eggs but I had given him eggs previously so I didn’t have to worry about any allergies.  It makes around 6 x 120ml mini flans

This is the simplest of purees but I wanted to add it to the blog to highlight that the organic apple season in Australia is coming to an end.  Apples top the ‘Dirty Dozen’ list so it is important to buy organic.  Apples are a bit of a staple for adding to other foods therefore…

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I had never tried Kohlrabi before making this dish.  I spotted it at my local organic store and bought two.  A purple one and a green one.  I googled it when I got home and realised that it is very similar to cabbage.   I am a huge coleslaw fan so I thought I would…

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This is a delicious breakfast, dessert or healthy afternoon snack for Little Big H, with no cooking involved.   I like to swirl the mango raspberry and yoghurt rather than mix it all together, that way Little Big H gets a different taste with every mouthful.   He just loves yoghurt.  I always serve him…

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A simple summer puree that requires no cooking. The mint gives it a nice freshness, and its a great way to start introducing herbs to your baby

Forget boring and tasteless rice cereal as babies first food.  Offer real food instead!  Avocado and banana make wonderful first foods.  (Try individually to check for any allergies, then mash together for a wonderful tasting puree) Bananas’ high enzyme content (namely, amylase) means that they can digest themselves and thus, there’s less work for your…

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Super light and crispy kale chips make a delicious snack.  Kale is one of the healthiest vegetables around, and is particularly high in vitamin K, A, and C  My toddler loves them and I’m sure you little ones will too.  Just make sure they are nice and crisp.  That way they just melt in your mouth…

This is a delicate tasting puree and a great introduction to fish for your baby.  Any delicate tasting white fish will be fine in the recipe and combined with the witlof (Belgian endive) it is a lovely combination.

With consecutive 42 degree days in Melbourne this week, I was keen for somethings chilled, and this was the result. A silky smooth chilled soup.  I wasn’t sure that Big H would go for the aniseed taste of the fennel but he did! Fennel is also great for breastfeeding mums with supply or letdown reflex…

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This is my idea of summer – A refreshing puree of lychee, pineapple & apricot.  Perfect for baby and the entire family.   No cooking which is always a bonus and could be served as a snack or with a dollop of natural yoghurt for breakfast. Baby will love it…

Now that Big H is 10 months old it won’t be long before he is eating dinner with the family (no separate kids meals for us!).  So as often as I can I like to give Big H what we are having for dinner – only puréed. It has been a challenge to avoid adding salt/sugar to…

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Serve these gorgeous poached vanilla pears with my lavender custard from my previous post.  It is sugar-free and perfect for babies from 6 months old.   Simply mash the poached pear with a fork and mix it with the custard for a delicious dessert, snack or even breakfast.  Enjoy xx   Sugar Free Lavender Custard – recipe…

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Making custard at home is a really great option.  You can be guaranteed that it is sugar-free and free of all other nasties – something I am very particular about when feeding my little son. This is an easy custard recipe and baby will love it.  Stir though a little pureed fruit for a natural…

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Summer Fruit Puree with mango, banana, passionfruit and peach.  Simply added to a blender and pulsed til smooth.  No cooking required.  Baby will love it and so will you.   The Stone Fruit Puree with Cinnamon and Star Anise is simmered on the stove top until tender so the spices can infuse the mixture.  It is a…

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H trying Vegemite for the first time.  He pulled a few funny faces and kept going!  I try to give Little Big H a bit of variety for breakie but I do find myself making a version of the below recipes quite a bit.  Most often he gets: Scrambled Eggs with Avocado, Bircher Muesli with Berries, Fruit Puree with…

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The classic roast chook, it’s always a favourite at our table.  This recipe is really simple and the result is perfectly cooked chicken with juicy flesh and crispy skin, with hints of sage. Up until fairly recently we always used the rotisserie to cook chicken, but with that no longer an option (apartment living!).  I have…

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H and I have been doing a stack of baking lately – homemade bread, pizzas, cakes and muffins.  I think the winter weather has something to do with it!  I’ve experimented a lot with muffin recipes and I have to say, I think I’ve found a winner.  These healthy zucchini, corn and tomato muffins are easy…

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I’m pretty excited to be part of the I Quit Sugar follow friday this weekend – check out an interview I did with them here.  I’m also taking over their Instagram – its happening right now, so be sure to follow along… This hearty soup is featured on the I Quit Sugar website and is packed full of hearty vegetables, beans,…

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Everyone loves fries right?  My little guy certainly does.  I don’t make them often because H will go straight for them, and its often hard to get him to eat anything else, but when I do, I love to add herbs and spices.   These sweet paprika fries make a tasty alternative and being oven roasted they are…

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Frittatas are a really great option for lunch or a light dinner.  They are also a great way to use up leftovers or all of those extra veggies in your fridge that need to be used.  Basically all you need are eggs and then add any veggies that you like.  I love the combination of asparagus…

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We eat a lot of fruit in our house.  The little dude just loves it, so I always like to mix things up a little.  This fruit salad has a lovely orange vanilla glaze drizzled over the top, then I added a dollop of my homemade mascarpone and some toasted almonds.  It would make a…

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This recipe is adapted from Movida restaurant in Melbourne and it is so good!  It would make an impressive side dish, light lunch, or even main course.  The rich flavours are balanced beautifully by the sharpness of the quince and although it does take a little time to prepare, I promise it will be worth…

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   Tomatoes are easily H’s favourite food so I knew he would love this dish.  I have found that by adding Big H’s favourite foods to new dishes he is more likely to try new things, and get used to new flavours more easily.   This dish is easy to prepare and the coriander lime dressing is lovely…

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I have a huge basil plant that was in need of a major prune, and this is the result.  Homemade, deliciously raw, broccoli and basil pesto.  Pesto it is a great way to get children who don’t like the look of vegetable to get a good serve.  You can stir it through pasta, add a dollop to soups, spread…

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I just had to include the picture above.  Check out the lower left hand corner.  It’s a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex!  I noticed it when I was going through my photos – too cute!  These shots were the best of the bunch, as that spice in the dish was everywhere and he was using it as…

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 This is a really easy panna cotta to make, with much less sugar than normal – perfect for the little ones.  You could top it with any fruit you like or simply enjoy as is

1. 1/3 cup (80ml) hot water
2. 3 teaspoons gelatine powder
3. 1/2 cup cream
4. 3 cups full cream milk
5. 1/4 cup caster sugar
6. 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

1. Place water in a small bowl and sprinkle over gelatine powder. Set aside for 5 minutes or until the gelatine has been absorbed. Place the cream, sugar, vanilla bean paste in a medium saucepan over medium heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil and add the gelatine; stir to combine. Remove from the heat and strain into a large bowl. Stir through the milk and divide mixture between 6 deep-fluted tart tins. Refrigerate for about 4 hours or preferably over night.
2. Turn out onto plates and serve

Adapted from Donna Hay – donnahay.com.au Adapted from Donna Hay – donnahay.com.au Little Big H http://littlebigh.com/

Teriyaki salmon is one of those dishes you assume is time-consuming and has a million ingredients but it is actually very simple.  It has only 4 ingredients: salmon, sugar, soy and mirin.  Simple but really delicious.  Serve with a salad and you have a super easy weeknight meal.

I cook the salmon under the grill when making this dish.  The marinade caramelises really nicely that way.  You will see it bubbling away and getting nice little dark caramel bits – yum.   It will take about 5 minutes for medium, and I always baste it a couple of times during the cooking – just to get as much of the yummy marinade as possible on the salmon.  Enjoy xx

1. 4 pieces skinless salmon
2. 1/4 cup sugar
3. 1/4 cup soy
4. 1/4 cup mirin
5. toasted sesame seeds to serve
6. spring onion to serve; sliced

1. Combine the sugar, soy and mirin in a bowl. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the salmon and place in the fridge to marinade for preferably 30 minutes.
2. Heat the grill to very hot and move the oven tray to the top shelf. Remove the salmon from the marinade and add to a baking dish. Baste the salmon so you have as much marinade on there as possible. Place under the grill for about 5 minutes, basting the salmon again during that time. Its ready when it is golden on top and just cooked through. Cook for a few extra minutes if you like it well cooked.

1. I like to add the salmon to a baking dish so the marinade doesn’t run everywhere. Once you have some of the marinade in the bottom of the baking dish, use that to baste the salmon rather than dipping into the marinade that had the raw salmon in it. You should see it bubbling away and getting thicker so it will stick to the salmon better anyway.
2. Cooking time will very depending on the thickness of your salmon

Little Big H http://littlebigh.com/

Baked ricotta is creamy, lemony, deliciousness.  What more can I say!  The little dude was a  huge fan.  He looooooves dips – or possibly the actual dipping itself, but either way he dipped away with gusto. 

Serve as a dip at your next party or I love it served with roasted veggies and crusty bread for a lovely vegetarian dinner.  Top with either paprika, chilli, thyme, oregano, add another cheese like salty parmesan or serve simply as is.

Make ahead of time and pop it in the fridge until you are ready to serve.  Place under the grill until heated through and golden on top.

Enjoy xx

Baked Ricotta with lemon and sweet paprika

1. 300g good quality fresh ricotta
2. zest from 1 lemon
3. salt and pepper
4. olive oil
5. sweet paprika
6. To serve: crusty bread, mint, prosciutto, figs, etc.

1. Place the ricotta in a bowl with the lemon zest and season with salt and pepper to taste. Put mixture into 2 ramekins or oven proof dish. Place under the grill (broiler) in the oven and cook until browed and heated through. It won’t take long so keep an eye on it.
2. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sweet paprika. Serve with mint leaves, crusty bread or whatever takes your fancy.

1. The little dude and I love the sweet paprika sprinkled on top but you could add chilli and any other herbs and spices you like.

Little Big H http://littlebigh.com/

This post has been a long time coming.  I usually have 3 or 4 recipes ready to go but I have had a number of flops recently and have become a little over it!

First there was my lemony asparagus pasta that I make often but turned to mush on this occasion.  Then I attempted a 3 ingredient healthy cookie – they were horrible.   Next a healthy toddler friendly hot chocolate.  It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. 

I thought I had broken my cooking curse with a delicious pumpkin and turmeric tahina number that tasted great but the photos were terrible.  You couldn’t quite tell if my chunks of pumpkin were in fact pumpkin or salmon – bazaar but true! I’m putting that one down to bad lighting. 

So I decided to make something so simple I couldn’t stuff it up.  No cooking required, healthy as can be and something that the kids will love.   Fruit skewers.  Use what ever fruit is in season and go ahead and sneak a few things between the fruit that your little one may like.  Think capsicum, carrot, tomatoes etc.  xx

Fruit Skewers with coconut and chia

1. strawberries
2. blueberries
3. yellow capsicum
4. watermelon
5. tomato
6. mint
7. coconut
8. chia seeds

1. Chop all the fruit into bite sized pieces and thread on to the skewers. Sprinkle with chia seeds and coconut. Serve.

1. I’ve listed what fruit I have used but use what ever takes your fancy or is in season. Break the sharp pointy end off before serving to your little person.

Little Big H http://littlebigh.com/

We celebrated my babies 2nd Birthday on the weekend – can’t believe he is two already!  H had a wonderful time with his cousins and everyone was super surprised when we cut into his Birthday cake to reveal the colours of the rainbow.   

My original idea was to create a checkerboard cake out of the different colour layers, so it would also look like lego on the inside – but I got lazy and went with a rainbow cake instead.  

Rainbow cakes are surprisingly easy to make, albeit a little time consuming!  I have detailed the steps I took to make the cake along with how I made the edible lego.

1. (halve the mixture and make 3 layers at a time. It is a lot easier to manage)
2. 4 1/2 cups self-raising flour
3. 2 1/2 cups caster sugar
4. 500g butter, melted
5. 2 cups milk
6. 8 eggs
7. 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8. food colouring in red, yellow and blue (see notes)

1. 500g butter, softened (not melted)
2. 4 cups (640g) icing sugar
3. 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. fondant in RED, YELLOW, GREEN and BLUE

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). If making 3 layers at a time, grease 3 cake tins; set aside. Place flour and sugar in a bowl and beat until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time. Alternate adding the flour and milk and while beating ending in the flour.
2. Using scales, divide the mixture into 3 bowls. If you don’t have scales use a cup to scoop out the mixture, cup at a time into the 3 bowl until it is divided evenly. Add the food colouring for the suitable layer and pour into the greased cake tins. Bake for approximately 30- 40 minutes or until cooked through. Test with a skewer or sharp knife. Cool slightly in the tin and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat steps to make the other 3 layers if necessary.

1. Place softened butter in a bowl and using an electric mixer, beat for approximately 5 minutes or until creamy. Add icing sugar and vanilla and beat for a further 10 minutes until light and fluffy

1. Cut the tops of all the cakes. Place your purple layer on the plate you will serve it on and spread a good layer of the icing over the layer. (you can see from my pictures I didn’t use a huge amount of icing in-between each layer) Repeat with all the layers. Then spread a VERY thin layer over the entire cake (called the crumb layer). Fridge the cake now to set all the crumbs in this layer. Once cold the icing will set hard. This makes it a lot easier to ice and prevents you getting crumbs in your icing. Remove from the fridge and add the remaining icing and smooth using a large knife.

1. Roll out the fondant to a thickness of about 12mm (half and inch). Then using a sharp knife cut it into rectangles about 30mm x 15mm (1 1/4 inch by just over 1/2 inch). With the off cuts roll it out so it is a couple of millimetres thick and using a round 7mm plunger cutter (available from baking shops) cut the 6 circle and place on top of the rectangles as you go. Use a little water to moisten the top if they aren’t sticking. The lego will stick to the cake icing no problems.
2. If making the cake a day or two ahead of time, keep in the refrigerator unit the day. Bring to room temperature before serving.

1. Please note an Australian cup is based on a 250ml cup.
2. Food colouring for the cake layers: AmeriColor works really well to get the intense colours. I used colours: 106 Electric Blue, 107 Lemon Yellow, 119 Red Red. If buying small bottles I would recommend buying a larger bottle of the red as you will use the most of this colour.
3. Cake colour mixes: Red layer: just pure red. Orange layer: Yellow and Red. Yellow layer: pure yellow. Green layer: Yellow and Blue. Blue layer: Pure blue. Purple layer: Red and Blue – I used to much of both colours and it was too dark.

Little Big H http://littlebigh.com/

* I have altered the recipe slightly from when I first posted it, to make it easier for people to halve the recipe

 A big thanks to my sister for being my photographer on the day – Kerry Franks Photography

 ___________________________________________________

To my darling boy Harry,

Words cannot express what you mean to me.  You are my world.  From the moment you came into my life I was totally smitten and love you more and more with each day.  I’m so proud of you.  

This evening you feel asleep on my chest, I know they say its a bad habit to get into, but it is these moments that are so special and that I will remember forever.  

Your infectious laugh, you are the funniest and happiest person I know, you make me laugh a hundred times a day.  You have the most gorgeous smile and dimples that everyone comments on.  You are so friendly and everyone knows you in our neighbourhood.  You wave and say hi to the barber, the shop assistants and the bus drivers everyday when we go for a walk.  The man in the fruit shop always gets a high five, you can’t help but make those around you happy – even complete strangers.

Thank you for choosing me to be your mummy.  I hope you have a wonderful birthday baby boy.    

Lots of love mummy  xxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  x  infinity 🙂

ps: with any luck this blog will still around when you are older and you can browse through and see some of the things we got up to when you were just a little guy.  

These strawberry and coconut muesli bars are a real winner.  They are super easy to make and always work out beautifully.  I have used strawberries because there seems to be an abundance of them in Australia at the moment, they are super cheap, super tasty and we can’t get enough of them.  You can substitute what’s in season in your part of the world – think stone fruit like plums, apricots, cherry or even pineapple, pear and apple would work well.  Enjoy xx

Strawberry and Coconut Muesli Squares

1. 1 1/2 cups (150g) oats (old fashioned oats, not quick oats)
2. 1 3/4 cup flour
3. 1/2 cup coconut
4. 1 tablespoon chia seeds
5. 1/4 cup currants
6. pinch of salt
7. 1/2 cup sugar (optional or use a sugar alternative)
8. 250 g butter; melted
9. 250g punnet strawberries

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C (400 degrees F). Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl (not the butter or strawberries). Add the melted butter and stir to combine, then use your hands to make sure its all incorporated. The mixture should form a large ball when you press it together. (If it is crumbling apart you may need a little more butter).
2. Take 3/4 of the mixture and press into a slice tray sized 25cm x 18cm, lined with baking paper. Press down really firmly with your hands.
3. Wash and slice the strawberries. Place on top of your slice and then take the remaining mixture and sprinkle over the top. Press down with your hands again. Its fine if there are strawberries poking though the mixture. Bake for 30-35 minters or until lovely and golden. Allow to cool on the bench and then place in the fridge. Slice and serve.

1. Makes 15 squares. Suitable to freeze.

Little Big H http://littlebigh.com/

These strawberry and coconut muesli bars are a real winner.  They are super easy to make and always work out beautifully.  I have used strawberries because there seems to be an abundance of them in Australia at the moment, they are super cheap, super tasty and we can’t get enough of them.  You can substitute what’s in season in your part of the world – think stone fruit like plums, apricots, cherry or even pineapple, pear and apple would work well.  Enjoy xx

Strawberry and Coconut Muesli Squares

1. 1 1/2 cups (150g) oats (old fashioned oats, not quick oats)
2. 1 3/4 cup flour
3. 1/2 cup coconut
4. 1 tablespoon chia seeds
5. 1/4 cup currants
6. pinch of salt
7. 1/2 cup sugar (optional or use a sugar alternative)
8. 250 g butter; melted
9. 250g punnet strawberries

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C (400 degrees F). Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl (not the butter or strawberries). Add the melted butter and stir to combine, then use your hands to make sure its all incorporated. The mixture should form a large ball when you press it together. (If it is crumbling apart you may need a little more butter).
2. Take 3/4 of the mixture and press into a slice tray sized 25cm x 18cm, lined with baking paper. Press down really firmly with your hands.
3. Wash and slice the strawberries. Place on top of your slice and then take the remaining mixture and sprinkle over the top. Press down with your hands again. Its fine if there are strawberries poking though the mixture. Bake for 30-35 minters or until lovely and golden. Allow to cool on the bench and then place in the fridge. Slice and serve.

1. Makes 15 squares. Suitable to freeze.

Little Big H http://littlebigh.com/