Cookies & Cream Cheesecake

This, again, is not really a recipe for a baby, but it can be for older kids. It works great as a dessert or you can make it for a party. Most adults will enjoy it too, who doesn't love a good cheesecake? :)

I came across this recipe a while back, I can't even remember where it came from, but it was the one of the greatest findings in terms of cheesecake. It is so yummy and creamy and those cookies just go so well with it, this is by far my favourite cheesecake recipe.



Ingredients
Crust:
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2 cups cream filled cookies, crushed (I used oreos,but any of your favourite will do)

Filling:
1 envelope unflavoured gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream, whipped

For Topping:
1 1/4 cups cream filled cookies, coarsely chopped

Method
Crust:
Combine the butter with the cookies and press into the bottom of a 9-inch pan. Put into the fridge to let cool while you're doing the filling.

Filling:
Put the gelatin in water, stir it over a low heat until it has completely dissolved. In a medium bowl combine the cream cheese and sugar and mix well with an electric mixer. When it is well blended add the gelatin mixture slowly while mixing. Then add in the milk and continue to mix until it is well blended. Then let the mixture chill until it has thickened but not set. Fold in the cream cheese and pour it over the crust. Top it with the coarsely chopped cookies and chill until firm.

Banana Muffins

Since I have to keep up with my baby's meal times I went looking for inspiration. I found that a few mums were looking for healthy snacks their kids can enjoy. So I decided to test a recipe. I decided I would start wi a banana muffin recipe. My daughter loves banana so I was quite certain she would be ok with this recipe. I got a little bit of inspiration from the All Recipes website, Click here to find the original recipe.
I altered it slightly (maybe a lot) to make it a little more baby friendly. This is a recipe great for kids with egg allergies or babies that haven't had egg yet.

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients
1 cup yogurt (any flavour will do)
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sugar (or apple purée)
1 large banana, mashed
1 1/4 cup self raising flour
Milk (or water or formula)

Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C.  Line muffin tray with cupcake cups.

In a mixing bowl combine the rolled oats and yogurt, gently mix it with a spoon.

Once the oats are covered in yogurt add the oil and mix again until the oil is all mixed into the mixture. Then add the sugar and again mix it in. Add the mashed banana and make sure the mixture is full of banana.
Then sift the flour into the mixture, in parts, and mix it in. If the mixture is too thick add some milk until it has reached a good consistency. You don't want it too thick or too thin.
Divide the mixture among the muffin cups and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let them cool and serve as a snack or breakfast to baby or you :)

Mini Rissoles

This is a meal I tried a while back and enjoyed. Yesterday I had a hankering for it and really had to make it. Only thing is, baby wants what I have so I had to come up with a baby friendly version. Mostly because these are quite chili (spicy) and I don't really think my daughter would have appreciated me handing her something that would burn her little mouth.
It is basically a small burger patty packed with yummy flavour (and chili) and served with a yogurt sauce. Yum! I normally have mine with a small salad. Goes great with a beet root salad or just a normal green salad. I served my daughters to her with a small tomato and mozzarella salad (her favourite) and a slice of bread. You can do the same for yours or serve it with potato,or whatever you want really :)

Serves two

Ingredients

Beef Rissoles

220g lean ground beef
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons paprika
1 small onion, thinly sliced
Mixed herbs
Chili (optional, amount is up to you)
Olive oil
4 tablespoons Greek yogurt
Juice of half a lemon
2 or 3 springs of coriander, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method
Combine beef, garlic, onion, paprika, mixed herbs and chili in a bowl. Shape the mince into patties.
Drizzle olive oil into a skillet and heat. Fry the patties until they are browned and cooked through.

For the yogurt sauce combine yogurt, lemon and coriander in a small bowl.

Top the patties with the yogurt sauce and serve.

Baby Rissoles

Baby version...
Ingredients
3 or 4 table spoons ground beef
1 teaspoon mixed herbs
1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic (or even less)
2 teaspoons baby creamed cheese (or Greek yogurt)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon coriander, chopped
Olive oil (or baby cooking oil)

Method

Digging in

Mix the beef, mixed herbs and garlic in a small bowl. Shape into mini patties. Heat a skillet with a drizzle of oil and cook patties until browned and cooked through.
Mix the cream cheese, lemon juice and coriander in a small bowl.
Top the rissoles with the cream cheese mixture and serve with whatever you baby desires.

Bon appetit!

Jack in the Box Cake

Jack in the Box Cake

With my daughters 1st birthday coming up we have been looking for ideas on themes. I only really want a theme because I LOVE doing everything up to match. The most exciting part for me is the cake! Oh.. And the cupcakes! I love love love cakes and cupcakes :)

Recently for another little girls birthday we made a Jack in the box cake (1st attempt at a 3D cake) and she absolutely loved it! Although I don't really want a clown theme for my daughter I thought I would share the cake for you to see and try making it yourself (and probably improve a few bits and pieces).

I am still looking for ideas for my daughters birthday and as time goes on I hope I do find one (and fast).

Different Parts of Jack

I used a regular sponge cake, so use whichever recipe you would be happy with, and molding sugar icing. For the colouring I used gel food colouring.

That's the cake with a layer of butter cream (or icing) and my daughters toy :)

A layer of the icing fondant put over the cake ready to decorate

Parts of Jack on the cake

This was a very fun cake to make and very good for a firs attempt (I think anyway). Happy cake making! :)

A banana of a Snack Time

Coated Banana

Thinking of what to make for dinner can be quite a difficult task on its own. If you have a baby or a child that needs regular feeding (snacks) throughout the day you probably know what I mean when I say thinking of what to give them can become an annoying thing to do.

During my daughters mid-afternoon snack I couldn't quite decide what i should make her. I know she likes fruit and I know she likes toast. I already gave her a slice of toast as her mid-morning snack, so for the second one I decided to give her some fruit.

What fruit? and plain old fruit? hmmm... She likes banana, but she does get a little frustrated when she has to pick it up and it slips out her fingers. She is also very insistent on feeding herself. So I thought about coating it with something but I couldn't really think what. Eventually I had a plan...

Helping Herself

This is what I did...

Ingredients
2 scoops of formula (or cereal)
a couple pinches of bourbon vanilla powder
1 banana
                                            
Method
Slice the banana. Put the dry ingredients in a small bowl and coat the banana with it. Then move to serving plate and serve. No need for any garnishing or special plating techniques.

Now watch your baby enjoy...

Messy fingers 

Tip: For older kids you can dip the banana in melted chocolate and roll in nuts or puffed rice cereal. Other fruits can be used too... They're sure to love it :)

Red Velvet Cake

This isn't really a post for baby, but rather a post dedicated to an amazing red velvet cake I made. This cake, is filled with all the yummy goodness. 3 amazingly moist layers separated with a rich cream cheese frosting and then topped with that same cream cheese frosting.
This cake is deffinitely one that doesn't last long in our house. It took a few trials and errors to get this cake looking as perfect as it does, but once the right amount of each ingredient was finally accomplished the outcome was well deserved!
I got the recipe from a woman, who knew a women, who knew a man that had a cousin that could make amazing cakes! The recipe actually started off as blue velvet cupcakes and after the first failed attempt and green not so velvety cupcakes it changed to red velvet cupcakes and soon became the 3 layered red velvet cake you see in the picture. Yes! That very one!

Ingredients

Cake:

• 2 1/4 cups flour (I use all-purpose)
• 1 large bar dark chocolate (about 8 or 9 ounces), melted
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with 2 teaspoons lemon juice, let it sit for 5 min)
• 1 ounce red food coloring (this depends on how red you want the cake)
• 4 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

Cream cheese frosting:

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (if I can't find the fit cream cheese, mascarpone adds to the richness)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
• 16 ounces confectioners’ sugar (this can be a little sweet, so before adding all the sugar try it)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and mix all the dry ingredients, except sugar, together and set aside.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat in the eggs (best to do that one at a time to avoid mess). Then mix in the sour cream, milk, food colour, melted chocolate and vanilla. Put the mixer on a low speed and add the flour mixture one tablespoon at a time until all the flour is in and mixed, but don't over beat the mixture. Divide and spoon the batter into cake tins and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes or until a cake prick (or toothpick) comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pans for about 5 minutes before removing (doing it prematurely can cause the cake to break).
While you're waiting for the cake to cool, you can start to prepare the frosting. Beat the cream cheese, butter, sour cream and vanilla until light and fluffy (it usually works best if your cream cheese is really cold). Using a spatula or spoon (or whatever works best for you) scrape the edge of the bowl and mix it again to make sure everything is all mixed in well. Then add the sugar (slowly) and beat until smooth, you might want to try the mixture every now and then to make sure it's not too sweet for you. Once you have the right amount of sweetness frost the cooled cakes. You might have to make 1 1/2 - 2 recipes to get the whole cake perfectly frosted. I usually double the recipe and put the frosting on generously. Then decorate your cake the way you would like. In the picture, I used the crumbs of the cake that came from removing the cake from the tin (and trimming parts of it down to size).

Photograph by: Talya Garnett
I would like to thank the photographer, Talya Garnett, for such a lovely picture. You can find more of her art work at: Photograph My Memory

Pasta Fit for a Baby

Thinking of what to make for dinner can be a daily challenge! What makes it harder is having a baby that wants to eat what you have, but can't really have all the same ingredients as you (like onion, my daughter will absolutely protest and moan at me if I handed her an onion).
So for last nights dinner, I thought of making a Spanish-style pasta with sausage. Pasta was the dish of choice because my baby's daddy (oh I do love him dearly) absolutely LOVES pasta! I mean, he really loves it! In a 'eat it every day' kinda way! My daughter has adopted his love for pasta and she too can eat it on a daily basis, so they pretty much voted and I lost (not that I'm complaining).

So here is the recipe for what I did...

Adult Version

Ingredients

1/2 pound Sausage of your choice, cut into chunks

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

olive oil

3 cloves garlic, crushed

3/4 cup tomato purée

12 ounce spaghetti broken into pieces (about 3 inches)

Method
Bring a pot of water to boil.
Heat up a skillet with olive oil, add the sausage and cook until browned. Then remove them and set a side. Then add the garlic, oregano and tomato purée to the heated skillet. Reduce the heat and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the spaghetti and cook it until it seems golden brown. Then add some boiling water and the sausage to the mixture and cook until the the spaghetti is done, you may need to top up with water.

Baby Version

Baby Friendly Version

A handful of bow tie pasta

A few chunks of sausage

Tomato purée

Oregano

Olive oil (or that fancy baby cooking oil)

A bit of garlic (if your baby is ok with the flavor)

To cook it, do pretty much the same thing. Then enjoy your little ones face as they dig in... Mine sure did enjoy her dinner!

Aftermath of an Enjoyed Meal