Ice Blocks for Healthy Kids

Remember we had Jono guest blogging earlier in the week ?  Well, today we have Alia ... my 7 year old daughter .... we have been making our own ice blocks for years now.  The kids love them and I don't have any problem with them eating them because they are totally fruit !!

Here you go, in Alia's own words (and spelling) ...

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Hello my name is Alia and I am going to tell you how to make ice blocks. First you get some fruit and put it in a blender or food prowseser. I yoused 3 mangos, 3 bananas, 2 kiwi, frozen berries, a hole tub off strawberries and 4 cups off water. Then you get your fruit and put one off the fruits in the blender or food prowseser and wall it is on por some water in it to make it smouth. Next por it in the ice block contaners. After that put them in the freezer and once thier frozzen tack them out and run it under hot water to open them. Finily eat them I hope you injoy.

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Mommy's Translation:

prowseser - processor
yoused - used (i love how she spelled that one !)
hole - whole
off - of
wall - while
por - pour
smouth - smooth
ice block contaners - ice block molds
thier frozzen - they are frozen
tack - take
finily - finally
injoy - enjoy

AND ... she's listed out the total ingredients which was pretty clever as I had written down for her what she did in each one and she's added them all together !

For the mango one, I chopped up three mangoes. She added a banana (that had been frozen for banana bread) and maybe 1 cup of water.

For the strawberry one, she cut the green leaves off one punnet of strawberries, added a banana (again, frozen but thawed) and water.

For the kiwi one, I skinned 2 kiwi fruits for her. She added a (you got it ... previously frozen) banana and the water.

For the berry one. We had an open bag of mixed berries in the freezer that no one was eating. We let them thaw then she threw them in with some water.

Super easy. Fun for the kids to make. (apart from the chopping/peeling of a few of the more fiddly pieces of fruit, she did ALL the work !) Super yummy. The kids love these. And best of all. Healthy.

Christmas Cinnamon Buns

I was going to post this recipe last year and have had the photo sitting in a post ready for the recipe ... since LAST CHRISTMAS !! ha ha. Well, here it is ...

We love cinnamon buns. I only make them at Christmas ... and maybe if someone requests them for their birthday breakfast !

This year, I combined two recipes ... The dough came from my Breville bread maker hand book and the icing came from all recipes ... The Clone of a Cinnabon

I use a bread maker for the first part ... the sweet dough.

Water 290ml
Egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3.5 cups flour
3 tablespoons powdered milk
1 teaspoon bread improver
2.25 teaspoons yeast

Throw it all in, turn it onto the dough setting and come back when it is done. Then you roll it out. The recipe says to roll it into a 40cm x 38cm square. Mine was for sure a rectangle ... no where near a square. I'm so not sure what difference it makes. ANYWAY ... then you melt 3 tablespoons of butter and brush 1/2 of it over the dough. Combine 4 tablespoons of brown sugar with 1.5 tablespoons of ground cinnamon and spread that over the buttery dough. You can also add chopped pecans but I never have.

Roll that up. Slice into 2cm thick slices. Put it into a baking dish (with either grease or baking paper cuz these are sticky !), cover and let rise til doubled in size. (20 minutes or so ?)

Bake in preheated 180C/350F oven for 25/30 minutes. Mine NEVER take that long. Yesterday I set my time for 15 minutes and then again for another 5 and they were done ...

While they are baking...

Make the icing ...

3 oz/85g cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1.5 cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt (i just did a pinch)

Beat above ingredients to desired consistency ... spread on warm rolls before serving ...

Yesterday, I enjoyed mine with a mug of my Mom's crock pot apple cider that I cooked all night long so that our home smelled like Christmas when we woke up Christmas morning ! We ran our air conditioner all day yesterday ... it was WONDERFUL ! I drank hot apple cider and pretended it was winter !! Merry Christmas !!

Slow Cooker Brownies

(would you like some brownie with that cream ??)

I got this recipe here ... I made a couple of changes that I will post here ...

You need to find a dish (I used an oval pyrex dish) that will fit into your slow cooker. DO THIS NOW !

Prep time: 20 minutes
Set time: overnight ~ so start these the day BEFORE you want to eat them !
Cooking Time: 6 – 8 hours

1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 extra ripe bananas ~ I just thawed a couple out of my freezer
3 Tb apple sauce ~ I peeled and chopped a couple apples, added a tablespoon or so of water, microwaved a couple minutes, pureed in stick blender and INSTANT apple sauce ! I fed the leftovers to the kids with dinner !!

4 Tb honey
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp ground chili
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

The night before: Process the rolled oats in a food processor ~ til they are sort of like a flour. Put in a big bowl and add walnuts. Add all the other ingredients to the food processor and process until smooth. Add this mixture to the oats and mix thoroughly.

Line dish that you've already decided you'd use with baking paper paper and pour your brownie mix in. Cover and put then in the fridge until morning

In the morning: Get some aluminium foil and roll it into a ring to place under the dish in the slow cooker. Then put the baking dish on top of the foil ring. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

These have a very 'dark chocolate' feel to them, hence the big blob of whipped cream we put on top !!

Scones

The other day I was feeling like Strawberry Shortcake ... the way my Mom used to make it. Unfortunately, I have no idea how she used to make it and the time difference wasn't helping me at that particular moment ! So ... I had to improvise. I remembered these amazing scones my sister in law, Gina, taught me how to make. Topped with fresh strawberry's and freshly whipped cream. Delish !

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Here's how you make 'em :

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The Ingredients:

3 cups self raising flour

1 cup of thickened cream

1 cup of Sprite

The "how to's":

Put flour in bowl. Add cream. Add Sprite. Knife through ... you want the mixture mixed but don't work it too hard. Line cookie sheet with non-stick baking paper. Scoop mixture out of bowl onto cookie sheet. Spread around. ( it will rise in the oven !! ) Put into hot oven ( I have a fan forced oven so I did it on 220C ... that's about 430F ) The recipe said 15 minutes but mine was done in 10 !!!

That's it ! When it's done you will have a giant scone !! Cut it into whatever size pieces you want. Top with whatever you want ... jam, cream, fresh fruit ...

Granola Peanut Butter Balls

Granola Peanut Butter Balls

www.foodnetwork.com

2 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons peanut butter
2 cups granola
2 to 4 tablespoons milk, or as needed

In a large bowl, mix together the honey and peanut butter. Using a spatula, stir in the granola. Add enough milk to just moisten--you want it to stick together. Form into balls. Chill until ready to serve.

Yields: 16 balls

In the picture above, I drizzled a little melted chocolate on the tops. These are so yummy, and nutritious!