Baked pikelets

I've been doing some trawling of blogs and the latest trend seems to be sheet pan pancakes. I love that idea because I don't have to stand at the stove flipping the pikelets while they cook.

So I added my own twist to them. Enter the donut pan and some silicone moulds for pancakes I was given. The "donuts" came out a treat but i will have to work on the right quantity of batter in the mould to make extraction easy.

I baked them at 180*C for 10 minutes and they came out fluffy and delicious. 

While the "egg" looks like it was viciously attacked, this was only due to extraction difficulties. My expert taste tester wolfed it down happily.

Super easy meatball recipe

I take no credit for the original recipe I found in a magazine, however I have changed it up slightly and the kids love them! The other awesome benefit is if (and I do mean if) there are any leftover, they can go into lunchboxes for school. Double win!

Ingredients

500g minced beef / turkey

1 egg

1 pkg French onion soup powder

Method

Place all ingredients into a bowl.

Mix thoroughly.

Roll into balls and place on lined baking sheet.

Bake at 200*C for 10-15 min. Check them after 10 min for done-ness.

Serve with potato mash or chips and veggies.

Healthy Chocolate "Fudge"

Or at least I'm telling the kids it's chocolate fudge.  I have to thank my family in Melbourne for introducing me to the no sugar concept, and while it's taken over a year to pluck up the courage to make this slab of delish, it has been well worth it.  One child is already sold on it, and now I have to try it on the other, more fussy, one.

So the recipe is as follows:

Healthy Chocolate Fudge

1 1/2 cups pitted dates
3 tablespoons coconut (I used desiccated as it was all I had)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder (although I may try a little less next time)

Throw everything into your food processor. Turn it on, let it run until you have a smooth-ish sticky ball of yum.  If the mixture is too dry, and a dash of water, or if it's too wet add a little coconut to dry it out.

Line a loaf tin with cling wrap, and tip the mixture into it, fold the cling wrap over it and press it down to form a nice flat slab (I used another loaf tin to get a very smooth finish). Pop it into the fridge to set (min an hour or 2) and then cut into squares (little ones as this is sweet stuff).

Enjoy!

Update: Fussy Child doesn't like the coconut flavour that comes through (although I think its part of the attraction) so I will have to figure out what I can use in place of the coconut.

Update 2: It would appear that I can use rolled oats in place of the coconut. I will post the method once I have experimented.

A rather large mushroom

It made for a very yummy meal with pasta and basil pesto :)