recipe

Pear and Chocolate-Chip Muffins Recipe

~ danib@eatmystreet.net

Pear and Chocolate-Chip Muffins Recipe

Occasionally I have some fresh pears left over that my kids do not fancy eating in their lunch boxes. I hate to see good food go to waste though (I am constantly telling my kids about how much effort a farmer goes to just to get this fresh fruit on our table) so I often use over ripe fruit in my cooking. A little bit of apple of pear in a stew or roasting pan is normally a lovely addition.

This recipe is a great way to use fresh pear in your baking. Just peel and dice 1-2 fresh pears and they can go straight into the mixture. This recipe makes  a delicious after school snack or even an occasional lunch box treat and like all muffins, they are best eaten straight out of the oven.

Pear and Chocolate-Chip Muffins

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Delicious home made almond & honey muesli recipe

~ danib@eatmystreet.net ~ 1 Comment

Home made almond & honey muesli recipehome made almond & honey muesli recipeThis is a simple and really delicious recipe for home-made almond & honey muesli.

I have been buying muesli in a box from the supermarket for a long time, but after messing around with a few home-made nut bar recipes, I discovered that it was really very easy to make my own muesli too.

When I make my own muesli I know exactly what goes into it and I can have it exactly how I like it. Continue reading →

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup with Coconut Milk

~ danib@eatmystreet.net ~ 2 Comments

Roast sweet potato soup with coconut milk

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup with Coconut Milk

A delicious new soup recipe that combines a few of my favourite things; sweet potato, coconut milk and a little spice. Yum!

I just use a store bought red curry paste for this but you could have a go at making your own curry paste if you were really keen.

The roasted red capsicum gives this dish a lovely sweetness. Roasting the sweet potato has a similar effect and the two flavours combined create a lovely depth of flavour.

I made a pot of this earlier in the week and then ate it for lunch every day. The curry paste gives it a little heat and keeps it interesting but does not overwhelm the other flavours.

Why not try my two ingredient flatbread recipe to go alongside it for a perfect lunch?

Simple Flatbread Recipe 

I hope you like it.

Dani

Roast sweet potato soup with coconut milk

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup with Coconut Milk
 
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A great sweet potato soup recipe using coconut milk and curry paste.
Author:
Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Ingredients
  • 500 g of sweet potato, peeled and sliced into 1cm thick discs
  • 1 red capsicum, cored and de-seeded
  • 1 red onion roughly chopped
  • olive oil to coat
  • 500 ml of vegetable stock
  • 200ml of coconut milk
  • 1 tablespoon of red curry paste
Instructions
  1. Place the sweet potato, capsicum and red onion in a baking dish. Cover with olive oil and toss until all coated. Bake 190 degrees celsius for 45 minutes or until vegetables are all cooked through. Be careful not to burn anything as this will cause bitterness in the soup.
  2. When the vegetables are nearly cooked through, add 2 tablespoon of a mild oil to a large saucepan and add in the curry paste. Cook over low heat until heated through and aromatic.
  3. Add the vegetable stock to the saucepan and then add the roasted vegetables.
  4. Blitz thoroughly with a stick blender until the soup is all smooth.
  5. Add in the coconut milk and blitz lightly again. Season to taste.
Notes
You can peel the red capsicum if you prefer. Once roasted through the skin should just slip off.
Be careful with the way you cut your vegetables as you want them to cook evenly.
If there are any charred pieces of roasted onion or veg then do not add them to the soup as they will cause bitterness.

Want to hear the good news about the health benefits of sweet potato, including Vitamin B6, Vitamin C and more?

Take a look here. 

Eat My Street is a website dedicated to good food for the good life. We publish recipes, Melbourne food news, interviews, stories and more. We also love talking about soup and tea and gardening and community. Go on, click on a little green link and read a little more. Or visit us on Facebook to keep up to date with events.

Looking for more great recipes?

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Brunch worth catching a plane for.

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Home-made Nut Bar Recipe

~ danib@eatmystreet.net ~ 1 Comment

Home-made Nut Bar Recipe

Home made nut bar recipe

I am a little bit of a nut bar addict.

When I have a busy day coming up I tend to pop one into my handbag “just in case” and then I definitely, always end up eating it. Nut bars make for a simple, gluten-free, protein rich, snack on the run.

I eventually decided I had better find my own recipe so I could be sure of the ingredients. This recipe is a mega mix combination of a few different recipes that I have tried, utilising some of my own favourite nuts and seeds. The syrup-y mix is inspired by an Annabel Langbein recipe.

These were yummy and they keep in an airtight container in the pantry for ages.

Print

Home-made Nut Bars

Delicious and nutritious nut bars that you can make yourself at home. 

Course Snack
Cuisine Modern Australian
Keyword Nut Bar
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Cooling 3 hours
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 12 serves
Author danib@eatmystreet.net

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of rolled oats
  • 1 cup of cashew nuts
  • 1 cup of pumpkin seeds
  • 1/2 cup of sesame seeds
  • 1/2 cup of Chia seeds
  • 1 cup of dried cranberries
  • 120 g butter
  • 6 Tablespoons of honey
  • 6 Tablespoons Raw sugar
  • 1/3 of a cup of peanut butter

Instructions

  1. Mix the nuts, oats and seeds (except the Chia seeds) together on a baking tray and bake in a moderate oven for 5- 10 minutes.
  2. Add to a large bowl, sprinkle in the dried cranberries and Chia seeds and stir to combine.
  3. In a small pot, melt together the butter, honey, sugar and peanut butter.
  4. Stir as it heats and simmer for 5 mins on a low heat.
  5. Add the sauce to the nut and oat mix and stir thoroughly. Transfer the mixture into a lined slice tray and press flat.
  6. Cool in the fridge for 3-4 hours or until completely set.
  7. When cool, cut into bars and enjoy.

 

In case anyone is interested, I did play around a bit with the recipe in an attempt to decrease the amount of sugar-y syrup. The result was I ended up with a lovely “crumble” topping that could be added to yoghurt or milk, but definitely not a bar. They syrup holds it all together and is thus a necessary part of the recipe. Oh well, that was a yummy week for breakfast at my house. 🙂

Home made nut bar recipe

I hope you enjoy making it and eating it too.

Happy Eating.

Dani xx

Eat My Street is dedicated to “good food for the good life” in Melbourne and beyond.  We share recipes, reviews, interviews and more.

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FullSizeRenderCocoa and birdseed no-cook slice recipe. 

 

 

 

FullSizeRenderDani B is food writer from Melbourne. She loves to cook and discover new places to eat and markets to visit. She lives tucked in tightly at the base of the Cardinia foothills in Melbourne’s South-East. You can find out more by going here. 

 

Cocoa and Birdseed No-Cook Slice Recipe

~ danib@eatmystreet.net

 Cocoa and Birdseed No-Cook Slice Recipe

No-Cook Slice Recipe

This is a lovely gluten free, no cook slice recipe shared with me by author extraordinaire Cecily Paterson.

I think of it as my “magic slice” because you kind of just blitz together a whole lot of healthy ingredients and voila, you have slice.

Simple, quick and super healthy this is a winning recipe.

I hope you like it too. 🙂

Happy Eating.

Dani

Raw Cocoa and Birdseed Slice
 
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Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 cup of dates
  • 1 cup of a mix of any of the following: buckwheat, almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, coconut pieces or anything else you think would go in well.
  • 2 tbps coconut oil
  • 2 tbps cocoa
Instructions
  1. Combine the chopped dates, seeds, nuts and coconut (depending upon your choice) in blender and blend for 30 seconds.
  2. Add the coconut oil (this must be in liquid form) and cocoa. Pulse until a smooth even consistency is achieved.
  3. Press into a tupperware slice container and set in the fridge.
  4. Eat when it’s firm.

 

Two Ingredient Flatbread Recipe

~ danib@eatmystreet.net ~ 1 Comment

 Two Ingredient Flatbread Recipe

Flatbread recipe

I love making this simple flat bread recipe because sometimes I really crave a delicious, crispy flatbread to soak up a curry, accompany a dip or just to snack on while I cook. This recipe is so simple that I can easily make it with just some of the basic items I keep stocked at home.

The trick is in the use of the natural greek yoghurt as apparently the enzymes within the yoghurt help break down the gluten in the bread.

I have labelled it a two ingredient flat bread because that is all you really need, but it will be made even more delicious by the addition of a toasted spice mix. I toast some cumin and coriander seeds until cracking, add in some toasted sesame seeds and some coarse salt and then sprinkle this on top. Oh, so, yum.

I recommend you serve this simple flatbread recipe with one of my favourite dips.

The only really trick to the recipe is to make sure you get the flatbread thin enough and that you cook it through properly.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Two Ingredient Flatbreads
 
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Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of plain flour
  • 1 cup of natural greek yoghurt
Instructions
  1. Mix flour and yoghurt in a large bowl to form a soft dough.
  2. Take golf ball sized pieces and roll out as thinly as possible.
  3. Preheat a heavy based frypan and add some olive oil. Cook the flatbreads over medium heat until all cooked through and then flip. Add more olive oil to the pan as needed.
  4. Season with salt or with a herbed oil or Dukkah mix. I love using toasted sesame seeds, cumin seeds and coriander seeds with salt.
  5. Enjoy.

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Happy Eating.

Dani

Eat My Street is a website dedicated to good food for the good life. If you love cooking great food and sharing your recipes with others then please join our Eat My Street Cooking Club on Facebook. We would love to hear from you.

Dani

www.facebook.com/EatMyStreetCookingClub

 

Spaghetti squash with homemade passata

~ danib@eatmystreet.net

Spaghetti Squash with homemade passata

Are you looking for the most wonderful, gluten free, tasty lunch dish yet? Then look no further than this recipe for spaghetti squash with homemade passata.

Spaghetti Squash with homemade passata

I attended the wonderful Food is Free South Eastern Suburbs meet up last week. I loved it as always. So many lovely and knowledgable people attend these meet ups which are organised by a small group of local volunteers.

The premise of Food is Free is a smart and heart warming one; to share excess and surplus home grown food with other people in the local community. It very much fits into the eat good quality, seasonal, fresh, food philosophy that is at the basis of all healthy living.  It is also anti-waste, promotes sharing of knowledge and increased community connectedness and helps encourage people to get out in their back yard and grow some food.

You can read a lot more about it by going here or here. But if that is all starting to get a little esoteric for you then take a look at this wonderful recipe that I made today based on the food I brought home from the swap. A perfect gluten free pasta alternative. That is if you are lucky enough to get your hands on a spaghetti squash.

Spaghetti squash

Spaghetti Squash with homemade passata Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 spaghetti squash
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt
  • 15  ripe small to medium tomatoes, halved.
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 gloves of garlic, sliced
  • 1-2 tablespoons of fresh, chopped basil
  • 1-2 teaspoons of sugar
  • salt to taste

Method

  1. Cut the spaghetti squash in half and scoop out the seeds and soft pulp with a spoon. Brush the squash with olive oil and add salt.
  2. Place cut side down on a baking dish and bake in a moderate oven for 45 minutes or until soft and cooked through.
  3. While that is cooking, place your olive oil in a pan and gently cook through the sliced garlic on a low, gentle heat.
  4. Trim the tomatoes and place them on a blender. Add the cooked garlic and oil, salt, basil and sugar and blend until smooth.
  5. Return this mix to the saucepan and gently simmer until the liquid is reduced and you have a thick tomato sauce. This took me about half an hour but it will depend on your stove and your tomatoes so times will vary.
  6. When your spaghetti squash is cooled, scoop out the flesh with a fork. This will create a “spaghetti” consistency. Add the squash to a bowl, cover with sauce and add a little fresh basil to garnish. Season to taste.
  7. Enjoy.

 

So Spaghetti Squash seems like the perfect way to make that beautiful gluten free pasta dish and growing your own tomatoes will inspire the most rich, tasty tomato passata. A winning combination for a healthy, whole foods, low miles lunch. Lovely. Spaghetti squash with homemade passata

Happy Eating.

Dani xx

Spaghetti squash with homemade passata

Best French Toast Recipe with hazelnut coffee cream

~ danib@eatmystreet.net ~ 2 Comments

Best French Toast Recipe with Hazelnut Coffee Cream

best french toast recipe

Nothing says love like being brought breakfast in bed.

Once you have kids, nothing says love like being brought a cup of hot, strong coffee in bed.

When I had my first baby and the full horror of a sleep deprivation I had never known nor imagined set in, my husband started making me a coffee first thing in the morning. No matter what had happened the night before, the coffee was like a fresh start for the new day. A full stop to the night’s horrors. A good reason not to complain about tiredness because our mouths were occupied with the sweet nectar of the coffee bean. That caffeine would eventually slide through the blood and provide an optimistic 45 minutes of energy and activity for the day.

Valentines Day is a good excuse as any to celebrate all the amazing things your loved one means to you. Di Bella Coffee were kind enough to send me a packet of their Ali Reserve Coffee Beans so I thought I would bring all the goodness together and make a breakfast dish using coffee.

The best French Toast recipe, with Hazelnut Coffee Cream; an ode to the glue that held our lives together for so many years.

Just secretly, this recipe is also dedicated to my gorgeous husband who brought me that coffee in bed for so many years (we now share the task) and who’s favourite flavour is hazelnut. 😉

french toast recipe

French Toast with Hazelnut Coffee Cream

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French Toast with Hazelnut Coffee Cream

Perfect French toast recipe for the perfect brunch.

Course Breakfast, Brunch
Cuisine Australian
Keyword french toast
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 4 serves

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 100 ml of cream
  • 100 ml of milk
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon and a drop of vanilla essence
  • 2 slices white bread
  • 25 g   butter
  • 250 ml cream
  • 1 shot of good strong coffee, cooled
  • 2 tbsp icing sugar
  • 1/4 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts or hazelnut meal
  • Fresh fruit and maple syrup to serve

Instructions

Method

  1. Gently whisk the eggs in a bowl together with the cream, milk and icing sugar. Add the cinnamon and vanilla. Soak the bread slices in the mixture.
  2. Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the soaked bread for 2-4 minutes on each side, or until golden-brown and crisp. Remove the fried bread from the pan and drain on paper towel.
  3. Beat the cream to soft peaks, then add in the icing sugar and whisk to form medium peaks. Add a tablespoon of the coffee to a seperate bowl and fold through the cream gently. Add more coffee until you are happy with the flavour but be careful not to let it curdle. Sprinkle with toasted hazelnuts or gently stir through the hazelnut meal.

Recipe Notes

Serve with a fresh fruit salad and drizzled with maple syrup.

Serve with a fresh fruit salad and drizzled with maple syrup.

Enjoy!

 best french toast recipe

This is a very simple recipe, so it should not take you too long to whip up. If you are feeling very decadent forget the fruit salad and add some caramelised banana. You will love it!

Will you be celebrating St Valentines Day tomorrow? If you are not, make this recipe anyway and just eat it all on your own. Boom!

Whatever you do, go well. Dani xx

Maggie Beer and Dani BDani B is a food blogger from Melbourne. Every Friday she posts a simple, tasty recipe that you can try at home. She also writes about great local cafes and restaurants and her favourite markets, cooking schools and places to visit. You can follow her on Facebook or Instagram.

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Or the most simple recipe your whole family will love….Chicken San Choy Bao

Shredded Chilli Beef Recipe

~ eatmystreet ~ 3 Comments

This is a delicious recipe that my whole family loves. My sister-in-law first cooked a version of it for me at Christmas and I was immediately smitten. It does take a little bit of time though so you may want to invest in a slow cooker or find a day where you will be home all day.

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I am not a particularly patient person (understatement alert) so by extension I do not cook a lot of recipes that are fiddly. Any cake that requires more than three processes and I would rather someone else made it.  I do love to cook simple, heart-283146_1280tasty food that is spot on with its flavours and stress free in the making. I like to daydream and chat and listen to music while I cook. So while this recipe does take a long time to make, be assured that it is not tricky or fiddly and it is awesome.

Three thing that I enjoy that other people hate.

  • whisking cream by hand light-painting-801024_640
  • kneading flour, water, salt & yeast until it comes together as dough.
  • stirring egg yolks, sugar & vanilla over heat until you have custard or curd.

To the recipe

Ingredients

1.2kg Chuck Steak cut into pieces

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 brown onion

1 red Capsicum, sliced.

2 garlic cloves

1 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

2 dried bay leaves

1 tsp cumin

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

2 cups passata

2 cups water

salt and pepper

Method

1. Season beef with salt & pepper. Cook on a moderate to high heat (in olive oil) in batches to seal the beef. Remove beef and place on a plate.

2. Reduce heat to low and add the onion & cook for 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the cumin, chilli (if desired) paprika and cook through for 30 seconds or until aromatic.

3. Add the Passata, capsicum, water, bay leaves and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat immediately and cover. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally  for 2 1/2 hours.

4. Take the lid off and cook, stirring occasionally for another 2 hours or until the liquid is reduced. If the water reduces before the beef is falling apart, add a small amount of extra water to enable it to cook longer.

5. When the beef is tender and falling apart when prodded, take it off the stove, allow to cool slightly, then shred with a fork.

6. Serve the beef with tortillas, more roasted capsicum, coleslaw, fresh beetroot relish and salad leaves. * This recipe was adapted from a few different versions that I found at taste.com.au

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I added cheese for the minions and cauliflower puree for something new.

I also have the most amazing apple coleslaw recipe that I can post another time. My kids would happily eat this every night I think and it does seem well suited for this cold weather we are having here in Melbourne. I have also made it at three different dinner parties now and everyone has loved it. It really is a great recipe. Happy Eating and let me know how you  go. Dani B

Chocolate Cherry Ripe Balls

~ eatmystreet ~ 3 Comments

IMG_1602

A friend at work made me this delicious Chocolate Cherry Ripe Balls. They are soo good and actually improve upon the taste of an actual Cherry Ripe Bar. Big call I know! I just had to share the recipe here for my lovely readers.

Ingredients

320 g Cherry Ripe Bars (small/ large whatever!)

1 packet of Marie Biscuits

2 tablespoons of Dutch Cocoa

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

Desiccated Coconut for rolling

Method

Blitz the Cherry Ripe bars, Marie biscuits and Cocoa in a food processor until an even crumb is achieved.

Pour in the can of Sweetened Condensed Milk and stir to combine.

Scoop out tablespoon’s of the mixture and roll into small balls. If you wet the palms of your hands at this stage with a little water, the mix will not stick to your hands and this will be easier.

Give them a bath in a bowl of desiccated coconut until covered.

Put them in the fridge for later.

Kidding! Eat them. Now. You will not be able to stop. They are so good. 🙂

This recipe came courtesy of another Aussie blogger so check out her page for her original recipe. One of her readers passed the recipe on to her, so all the good things to both of them!

Belly Belly Recipe

And now for more pretty pictures.

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Enjoy!

Dani xx

PS If you like chocolate, and we all do right? (Apart from my friend Jarod, who I just figure must be part robot.)Then you will love my Salted Caramel Slice recipe.

Salted Caramel Slice

~ eatmystreet ~ 1 Comment

Salted Caramel Slice

Thanks to the fact that I “have it all” I really have very little time for baking. Also I need to keep my butt to some sort of appropriate size for fitting into my jeans, and I apparently need to ensure my children do not have too many holes in their teeth. Hence, I do not bake a lot of sweets.

But Christmas is the time for baking, and sharing food and blessing other people with chocolate. So this Christmas I found myself one awesome sweet recipe, and I made it over and over. I gave it to neighbours, family, friends, Grandparents, children and then made one final batch for camping munchies. The recipe is simple and easy to make and I received a lot of compliments.

So I present to you Chocolate Caramel Slice (circa Christmas 2014). With recipe inspired by Arthurs Street Kitchen.

www.arthurstreetkitchen.com

Salted Caramel Slice
 
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Author:
Ingredients
  • Base
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup SR flour
  • 125g butter, melted
  • 1 cup dessicated coconut
  • Filling
  • 1 tin sweetened condensed milk
  • Extra 50g butter
  • 4 tbsp golden syrup
  • Topping
  • 200g chocolate, melted
Instructions
  1. Line a slice tin with baking paper and preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
  2. Melt the butter and add in the SR flour, coconut and brown sugar. Stir until mixed right through and then press it into the base of your tin, pushing firmly down with the back of a spoon.
  3. Bake for 10 minutes and then remove from oven.
  4. While it is baking combine the condensed milk, extra butter and golden syrup and heat over medium heat until it begins to simmer, stirring continuously. Then pour this mixture over the base and return to the oven for another 8- 10 minutes.
  5. Melt the chocolate gently and then spread evenly over the caramel slice. Allow to cool and then place into the fridge until set.
  6. Enjoy.

 

Salted Caramel SliceThe caramel is delicious.

I also had a girlfriend make me a different and more sophisticated Salted Chocolate and Caramel slice where she incorporated Sea Salt flakes on top of the chocolate. This was a very intense flavour hit. Try it if you like. 🙂

Salted Caramel Slice

I learnt something interesting about myself this year. The more relaxed and happy I am, the more I will want to cook. (Hence the scarcity of my blog posts since I started working). I also eat more when I am relaxed and thus ended up slightly fatter. So if you see me working a little extra chub, be jealous of how happy I am! ( I guess this is one way that Kate Moss and I are different).

Happy Cooking Foodies! And don’t forget to share.

PS We went mad this year for cherries. It was an awesome crop this year with weather conditions being just right. We love to pick cherry’s at our friend’s farm in Wandin. http://www.cherryhaven.com

They have an impressive variety of Cherry’s here and the owner’s are simply lovely.

If we are feeling lazy we pop into https://www.cherryhill.com.au.

They sell their cherry’s pre packaged although you can also pick fresh from their orchard or have them delivered fresh to your door. I did notice they were also selling to the big supermarkets this year although I understand those cherry’s do not come from their Wandin farm. Fresh cherries from the tree are awesome and well worth a try by the way.

1553391_10152229864811798_1778860185_o My daughter and I eating fresh cherry ice cream at Cherry Hill Orchard. Feel the happiness yes?

While you are there, maybe check out this new tea house.

https://www.facebook.com/yarrarangesherbfarmandselahteahouse?pnref=story

They are growing their own maze, they have beautiful gardens and a very cute and quirky tea themed gift shop (and the owner is my bestie). I would love to hear what you think.

Until then, enjoy the cherries, tea and caramel slice. Sounds like a perfect Summer to me. 🙂