Name of Recipe: 'Eat Your Greens' Little Cakes
Yield: 40 mini muffins
Ingredients:
2 Eggs
100g Oil
90g sugar (I use rapadura)
150g broccolli (I used mainly the stems)
1 medium zucchini
75g flour
75g wholemeal flour
25g cocoa (3 tbs)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbs milk

Preparation:
Blend the broccolli and zucchini very well - speed 9, approx 20 seconds.
Add the eggs, oil and sugar.  Speed 3, 10 seconds.
Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Speed 3, 10 seconds.
Spoon into prepared tins and bake at 190C for 10 minutes or until springy to gentle touch.  Lift onto a wire rack to cool.

Photos:
No photos, but look (and taste) like yummy little chocolate muffins.  No sign of any green anywhere if you blend the vegies really well.

Source Information:
Feeding Fussy Kids by Julie Maree Wood
Boots fibre, complex carbohydrates, beta-carotene (vitamin A), iron, potassium, phosphorus.  Suggests that sugar can be gradually reduced, but they're not overly sweet.


members' comments

hana -  they are delicious. Felt a bit guilty tricking my chocoholic into veggie cakes so I couldn't resist throwing in some chocolate chips at the end. Made them in mini muffin pans and it made around 60 muffins. Lunchbox winner!

RoxyS - I have that book too and love those cakes. My 5 yr old DD is quite fussy but was the only one of my children who would eat these cakes - for a while, I used to freeze them and put them in her lunch box so they would be defrosted by lunchtime and it worked really well. Unfortunately, I think I must have defrosted one in the microwave one day and the aroma of the broccoli must have put her off. She had helped cook them and hadn't seen me put the broccoli in. She knew about the zucchini and was happy to eat 12 of the small muffins I made that first day. All her greens for the month in one day. Yey! Too bad it didn't last.
Now I add the MEMOC mix from that book to cakes etc.

Netstar -  I made these for my kids (who hate veges).  DS (3) ate three all at once and DD (1) ate two.  Neither realised there were veges in there.  I wonder whether DH will realise when he has one? 

ES - I have to say that my kids wouldn't eat these as they smelt funny.

JuliaC83 - Just made these - 24 minis and 12 large .... nearly all gone!!  I used 75g sugar and 150g wholemeal self raising flour. Added single choc chip to the top of the mini muffins and 3 chips to the large. Definitely making again.

Recipe Name:  Pumpkin Sultana Oatmeal Cookies
Yield: approx 50 bite sized cookies
Ingredients
40 g butter
75 g rapadura
180 g pumpkin, steamed
1 egg
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp all spice
1  tbs chia powder
90 g plain flour
50 g wholemeal flour
100 g oats
120 g sultanas

Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar - speed 6, 15 seconds.  Scrape down
3. Pumpkin, egg and vanilla.  Mix on speed 6, 5 seconds.
4. Add the salt, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, and flour. Mix together, speed 3 10 seconds
5. Add the oats and sultanas, briefly mix, reverse speed 3 15 seconds.
6. Scoop tablespoons of dough onto a lined baking sheet.
7. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes! Let cool on a rack.

Tips
Original recipe used chocolate chips instead of sultanas,  Suggests dried cranberries would be good too.
Chia powder is completely optional - purely for extra nutrition.

Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

Recipe Name: Banana and blueberry muffins

Ingredients
1 medium green apple, cored and quartered
2 medium ripe bananas
2 eggs
200 gram yogurt
80 gram olive oil
75 gram honey
210 g self-raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 190°C/170°C fan-forced. Line twelve 1/3 cup-capacity non-stick muffin holes with large paper cases.

2. Blend the apple to a fine consistency, scraping down a few times.

3. Add banana, eggs, yoghurt, oil and honey.  Mix on speed 4, 10 seconds.

4. Add flour and cinnamon, speed 4, 5 seconds.

4a.  Add the blueberries and fold through with the spatula.

5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted into 1 muffin comes out clean.

6. Remove muffins to a wire rack to cool.


Yield: 12

Original Source: Taste Website
Recipe suggested sprinkling rolled oats on top before baking, but they looked raw and didn't belong.  Next time I will Muffin Topping below

Muffin Topping (from Quirky Jo's Rice and Blueberry Cake Recipe)
A handful of almonds chopped for 3 seconds on speed 5.  Add a handful rolled oats, 2 tbs rapadurra and 2 tbs oil and extra cinnamon to taste and mix for 3 seconds on speed 3.
Sprinkle this mixture onto muffins before baking.

Next time I'll use 1/2 wholemeal and 1/2 plain flour and baking powder.  The original is very light and moist, and should adapt well to adding wholemeal flour without becoming dry.

members' comments[/]b

VHJ - love all the fruit in this one. Great job Cathy69 & very timely as my freezer supply of school recess & snack foods is almost depleted.      Thanks. 

ILB -  the mixture is quiet wet - should this be right Cathy? They did drop a bit in height once they were pulled out of the oven but very yummy and better to peel away from the paper the next day. Does anyone else have problems with muffins sticking to the paper cases??

Cathy79 - Yes, the mixture is quite wet and the muffins are very moist.  If you like a firmer muffin, you could add some rolled oats perhaps. I've given up with paper muffin cases as I always loose half the muffin to the case, particularly when very fresh.

Denzelmum - Thanks Cathy, loving this.  I used granny smith apple and frozen blueberry.  Will make again!

 

Nikki's Healthy Cookie Recipe

Ingredients
3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm (or alternately, olive oil)
200 g cups rolled oats
100 g almonds
25 g dessicated coconut
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
150 g chocolate chips or dark chocolate already grated
Optional sugar or honey to sweeten to personal preference

Preheat oven to 180deg.

Place almonds in TM bowl and grind to make almond meal, speed 9 15 seconds.  Srape down.
Add rolled oats, coconut, cinnamon, sea salt, baking powder and chocolate chips.  Mix well, reverse speed 3, 3 seconds.
Add mashed banana, coconut oil and vanilla extract.  Mix through, reverse speed 5, 2 seconds.
Taste the mixture in case you want to add some sugar or honey to personal preference (I didn't).
Drop dollops of dough, about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, on lined baking sheet.
Bake for about 12 minutes.

Source - 101 Cookbooks
The photo is from the original website.

Tips
- Apparantly you can use apple sauce instead of the mashed banana, or sultanas instead of chocolate chips.
- For a nut free version, I'd try grinding sunflower seeds and pepitas.
- I always grate chocolate instead of using chocolate chips.  I've already reduced the chocolate in this recipe, and they are still quite chocolatey.
- I used 70% cocoa chocolate - using chocolate with less cocoa would result in a sweeter biscuit.
- These are really nice, soft, chewy biscuits which is the way I like them.  I think if you like them crunchy, you can double bake them.

Name of Recipe: Homemade Milo (GF DF)
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons linseeds
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons pepitas
1/3 cup almonds
1/4 cup brazil nuts
1/4 cup cashews
1/4 cup pecan nuts
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup rapadurra

Preparation:
Start by grinding linseeds and sesame seeds into a fine powder - speed 9 approx 20 seconds.

Place everything else except the cocoa powder and rapadurra in the bowl and blend on speed 9 for 5-10 seconds, checking and scraping down until a fine powder.  Don't blend too far as you don't want paste.

Add cocoa powder and rapadurra and mix through, about speed 7 for 3 seconds, checking and scraping.  I helped mine with the spatula a little.  Taste a little as more sugar can be added if necessary.

Use exactly like milo.  This recipe filled my 450g Milo tin so it does make a lot.  Keep in the fridge for about 2 months.

Tips/Hints:
The texture is exactly like milo, with a very fine crunch.  It is a much darker brown, and has a deeper chocolate flavour so may need a little more/less than original milo usage.

A few suggestions for using it.  

- Sprinkled over ice-cream or chopped fresh fruit
- In custard instead of cocoa, adding great nutritional value
- Blend up fresh banana and milo for chocolate banana custard
- or frozen banana for chocolate ice-cream
- mixed in yoghurt
- sprinkled over cereal or porridge in lieu of cocoa pops
- add to pikelet/pancake mixture before cooking for chocolate pikelets

 
Nutrition
I combined two recipes and added the cocoa and sugar myself to create Milo.  The source of the original two recipes has some useful information as follows.

The ground nut combination offers complete protein, a good dose of antioxidants and many other vitamins and minerals.  Great for children who are underweight, have a poor appetite or are fussy about eating protein.

The seed combination is like a food multi-vitamin as they are rich in all of the macronutrients and most of the vitamins and minerals a child needs to grow and blossom.

If you leave out the cocoa and sugar, you have a fantastic "booster" for any recipe as the nut/seed mix is quite flavourless by itself.  It does change the texture of some things quite a bit (eg yoghurt) so don't get too heavy handed.

Stir a teaspoon through porridge, homemade dip, mix with ricotta, cottage cheese or jam.  Mix through breakfast cereal or yoghurt, add into milkshakes or smoothies.  Add to any bread, cake, muffin, scone, pancake etc.

Inspired by "Feeding Fussy Kids" by Julie Maree Wood.  Delicious Nutritious Recipes and Clever Ideas to Encourage Picky Eaters.  Highly recommend having a look at this book - the nutritional information is great. Julie is a naturopath and nutritionist in Sydney.

members' comments

quirkycooking - Wow, this is great. I ground mine for longer and I think next time I'll probably try grinding the linseeds & sesame seeds first til really fine then add the other seeds & nuts... the little seeds weren't ground quite enough.  I made the kids a drink with it by putting 6 tsps (or so) of the 'milo' into the TMX, adding a handful of raw cashews and two cups of water (or so) - grind sp 9 for 1 minute and pour into cups with ice - they loved it!  I made mine hot with rice-almond milk - tasted good, especially the sludge!! Thanks Cathy.

ILB - I must admit I was a bit sus on the recipe and how it would hold up in a drink as DD is reasonably hooked on milo at the moment.  BUT as I sit her typing I'm actually sipping a hot cup of homemade milo and quiet impressed. A little gritty and finding myself chewing as I drink, only because I keep stirring it. I did actually grind the nuts for 30 seconds until I nearly had a paste but it powdered up nicely when the cocoa and rapadura sugar were added.

chelsea has posted a recipe for bread & butter pudding using this recipe - on page 1.

riv mum -  Kids love it! I added a little extra sugar to sweeten it to their taste and used a random combination of nuts from the pantry.

Jules - my verdict on the recipe - very tasty - and a good substitute for milo.

zebraa - it is really fabulous Cathy! Thank you. I used raw sugar b/c I didn't have rapadura and found it a bit sweet. Next time will blitz the sugar first so can use less (sweeter as it dissolves better) and use 1/3 c sugar and add some stevia to make it healthier. I'll also make a 1/2 batch (unless of course I am giving some away which I am sure I will be as this is so good).

em - on first taste I wasn't sure if I liked or not ! then I mixed it with milk  and it is sooo yummy.

Meagan - I love it by the spoonful.

chrisford - it's a bit too sweet for me - next time I might put 3/4 cup sugar instead of a cup. But what a great recipe, the kids LOVE it and I'm thinking it's going to be great for them at afternoon tea just to get some extra nutrition in before their squad swimming.

bigTcup - This is fantastic & the kids LOVE it!!  

jsthermie - it was so yummy that I on my own, went through it in less than 2 weeks!

sue h - The verdict -  DH loves the homemade milo and I even reduced the sugar a little. My kids and their friends love it to. Thanks for a great recipe.

Vivaroo - I made a small batch and I liked it, my son didn't first time but tried it again and likes it now.

Amy - AMAZING. It's homemade milo!!

Tasty - YUMMO!! Not quite the same in a glass of cold milk however great by the spoonful!

cottchick - Well I have just made my first batch (half a batch due to my lack of faith) and it is absolutely amazing!! WOW!! I would say it even 'dissolves' better than milo.

Jad posted an alternative recipe on page 6.

Chookie - Fab and thanks to all who have made it and made suggestions.  I used the best Dutch Cocoa and Xylitol.  Tested it in a mug of hot milk.  I don't know what I did different but not gritty at all.  I am now going to make CP's biscuits and Chelsea's nutty Milo Slice.  Thanks a million.

KerrynN - Just finished our first batch in a THX milkshake, so have restocked the fridge with a fresher batch. Yum!

classmyth - I wasn't as happy with the result as I expected to be. I mixed it with cold milk, and it simply sank to the bottom, so it felt like drinking a glass of plain milk with a very sweet solid chaser. I will try it again tonight with hot milk. I can see it will be nice sprinkled on ice-cream and in baking, so all is not lost.

Debbiebillg - Cyndi O'meara version http://changinghabits.com.au/recipes-1/home-made-milo

rejit - I like it! Made it as a warm drink first, it tasted nice but was a big gritty. Then I 'cleaned' the bowl (leaving some milo in) with milk for a yummy cold drink. Niss c loved it (she's never had a 'chocolate' milkshake before. Will be trying it in the slice next :-)

Bootobethin - This "Milo" is great. I often have it for breakfast. I prefer it in cold milk rather than warm.

Jamberie -  I think it will be a great breakfast for me and healthy snack for DD. I think it tastes very much like Aktavite more than Milo but is still super yum.

Use this recipe in Chelsea's Nutty Milo Slice
or CP's Milo Biscuits.

I remember seeing somewhere on here some different ideas about how to preserve jams and sauces, including alternatives to the water bath.  Now I can't find it anywhere.

There was an idea about cooling the jar and contents upside down to form the vacuum.  I've been doing that, but opened a new jar of peach jam (yum) that I only made a few weeks ago and there was a small amount of mould at the top.  I guess if I'd left it longer, it would have got much bigger.

Any ideas on preventing this?  Is the process valid or have I proven that it doesn't always work?  Hope my other jars are okay   .

Thought I'd put this little summary together.  Hope this is a logical spot.

If you click on this link tmfi, it will tell you how to make it.

http://middleeasterncuisine.suite101.com/article.cfm/home_made_tahini

Tahini can also be served as a dip/spread itself, prepared in a similar way to houmous.  Add some lemon juice, salt, crushed garlic and thin it out with olive oil and/or water. Also nice with chopped parsley through it.

That's about all there is to it.  Roasted give more flavour

http://www.ayur-indo.com/english/e.tahini.htm - that's a TM21 machine they are using.

You can make paler tahini by using raw seeds soaked overnight - dry them on tea towels and then blend in the Thermomix - you may need to add some oil - vegatable or grapeseed may give less overpowering sesame flavour than sesame.

Now off to try it so I can make some hommus.

I found this fantastic recipe last night while cruising the net, and happened to have the ingredients that needed to be used up.  This if the first time that my 4.5 year old has eaten frittata, or anything like scrambled egg etc.

We made a really big deal about how Dr Seuss had made it.  And it worked - she gobbled it up.  Next time I'll add some ham or bacon, or would be a great side dish with grilled sausages, mushrooms etc for a brunch or breakfast event.

And DH liked it too, and has asked me to make it for St Patrick's Day since it is sooooo green.

Original recipe found here

http://www.pauladeen.com/index.php/food_section_articles/view2/city_chickens_and_a_blender_frittata_recipe/

and called "Yard Egg Blender Frittata" by author Liesa Cole.  I've adapted slightly.

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:
8 eggs
3 cloves peeled garlic
1/3 medium sweet onion
1/3 bag fresh baby spinach (2-3 cups packed)
sea salt
fresh cracked pepper
dash cayenne
½ block cream cheese (softened)
handful fresh basil, plus a sprig or two more for garnish
1 ripe tomato
1 cup fresh grated cheddar cheese

Grate cheese and set aside.

Seriously, toss EVERYTHING else, except the tomato in the  .  Whir until well blended and fluffy - spd 9 about 20 secs.  Pour mixture into a well oiled baking dish.  It will rise and puff up, so make sure it's not too full.  Could cook in a quiche dish for a nice shape.

Bake at 200 for approx. 15 minutes.

When frittata begins to set, remove from oven.

Sprinkle liberally with cheese.  Arrange tomato slices and thin slices of onion.  Sprinkle on the rest of the cheese.

Crack a little pepper on top.  Finish in oven until firm.

Serve to adoring toddlers explaining that it's specially made for them by Dr Seuss.  Encourage eating with lots of 'MMM, this is delicious" and they will quickly copy.

Next time I might try cooking in the varoma, but it won't have the nice crunchy edge from the oven.