Category: Crafts

Pizza is a staple in our home and there are very few memorial occasions that do not include a slice or two.

In fact our wedding buffet was a pizza spread, that is how seriously we take our live of the delicious triangle slices.

Naturally

Hamish has developed a huge love of pizza and at around 18 months old he started to call sandwiches and toasted cheese slices his pizza.

One day I simply put tomato sauce and cheese on a piece of bread, popped it into the microwave and our own simple version of cheat pizza was born.

A supper for super stars

Recently, Hamish had his friend over for supper and asked for cheat supper for supper.

I paired their super star shaped cheat pizza with a cup of corn and dome yoghurt and banana for desert and just like that we had the perfect supper for 2 busy little boys.

Normally I would top the bread with any extras, just as I would pizza crust and some of Hamish’s favourites include :

• Ham
• Bacon
• Vienna sausages sliced
• Chicken
• Peppers
• Pineapple
• Mushrooms sliced
• Tomatoes
• Feta

To make you own you need:

• Bread
• Tomato sauce
• Toppings ( from the list above)
• Cheese

How to make your cheat pizza in 3 steps

Step 1

Cut your bread into the desired shape using a cookie cutter

Step 2

Smear with tomato sauce and add toppings. Cover in cheese.

Step 3

Place in microwave on high for 1-2 minutes, depending on how many slices and how many toppings you have added.

Note

Always precooked any meat you want to add onto the pizza, as the microwave will heat most of the ingredients and not cook them thoroughly.

This is also a great recipe for kids to make themselves.

As a mom I am always buying frozen fries but I do worry about how healthy it is to constantly feed Hamish potatoes fries at almost every meal.

Now, with the new McCain rosemary and garlic sweet potato fries I can not only add a little variety to his love of fries with anything, but I also feel he is getting a healthier, more balanced diet by eating them.

To try them out, I made him a sunny plate of fries with his chicken pops.

To make your own:

You will need:

• Rosemary and garlic sweet potato fries from McCain. These cook from frozen so simply open your packet and remove as many as you need
• Olive oil
• Chicken pops
• Tomato sauce

Method:

• Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on high
• Add your McCain’s rosemary and garlic sweet potato fries . Fry until crispy
• Drain on a piece of kitchen towel
• Whilst these drain fry your chicken pops
• Remove from heat once cooked.
• Place the chicken pops in a circle.
• Fill the inner circle with tomato sauce.
• Use your fries to form sun Ray’s around the chicken pops.

These rosemary and garlic sweet potato fries are delicious with any meal and have become one of my favourite go to sides.

The last few weeks I’ve been using the new McCain products to deliver some yummolicious sides to our meals.

Have you tried any of them?

There are diced potatoes, diced beetroot and rosemary and garlic sweet potato fries.

My favourite has to be the diced beetroot.

Christmas gifts of love

Today I decided to share the love by whipping up some early gifts for our family for Christmas….I made and bottled my first ever pickled beetroot.

Ea h year my grandmother always made sure we had several bottles of pickled beetroot over the Christmas period and I have always envied her ability to pickle anything.

Whilst I’ve made pickles before the preparation in peeling and cutting the beetroot has put me off ever attempting to make my own.

McCain diced beetroot is already cleaned, skinned and diced therefore taking much of the preparation time away and honestly this left me less intimidated to try a new recipe.

I’m also excited to gift some of my favourite products to some of my favourite people this year. ( Any guess what my family are recueving this year?)

All they need are some lables and ribbons on the jar.

To make your own :

You need :

• 1 bag of McCain diced beetroot
• Half a cup of white vinegar
• Half a cup of white sugar
• 2 Bay leaves
• Peppercorns

Method:

Bring your McCain’s diced beetroot to boil straight from the freezer for 10 minutes in a pot of water. They need to still be tender when you remove them from the heat.

In a separate pot pour in your vinegar, sugar, bay leaves and pepper corns and bring to boil.

Remove from heat.

Wash the jars you are going to use and microwave on high for 5 minutes to sterilize your jars.

Scoop your cooked beetroot into the jar, three quarter full.

Now pour the vinegar to cover the beetroot.

Fasten the lid tightly and leave to cool completely before placing in the freezer.

If your beetroot is stored in a cupboard it can last 12 to 18 months and if opened in the fridge will keep for 1 -3 months. ( not that ours ever lasts that long)

Your beetroot will be ready to try in 2 weeks.

#COOKINGWITHMCCAIN
#springintomccain

I absolutely love beetroot. From fresh to pickled, so it came as no suprise that McCain’s new diced beetroot would be a firm favourite for me.

My family however, are not fans of beetroot at all.

So, being a creative mom I decided to sweeten things up with this sweet beet salad.

To make your own :

Ingredients

• McCain diced beetroot
• Mint leaves
• Cinnamon
• Sugar

Method:

• Boil the McCain’s beetroot straight from the freezer. I used a full packet for 5 of us.
• Once boiled, strain your beetroot and place in a salad bowl.
• Mix 1 tablespoon of cinnamon powder with 3 tablespoons of white sugar and sprinkle generously over the beetroot.
• Stir in and add mint leaves.

I served this salad warm but you could also serve it chilled.

Enjoy!

As the busy mom of a very demanding 4 year old , I also work from home so I find cooking can sometimes seem like the worst part of my day.

Because of this I love anything that simplifies my evening meal preperation.

Like these McCain diced potatoes.

Not sure where they have been all my life but I would have loved them when Hamish was weaning. I could have just taken a few out the bag and boiled them instead of cutting up a full potato for him.

All McCain vegetables are freezer to pot so there is no need to defrost prior to cooking.

Cooking with McCain’s

On Friday night I made this yummolicious potatoes salad for the kids to tuck into.

You can view our video here

How to make your own :

Ingredients

• 1x packet McCain diced potatoes
• 2 eggs
• Mayonaise
• Mustard
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Boil your McCain potatoes in a pot of water.
• In a separate pot put 2 eggs on to boil.
• Once they are cooked. Strain the potatoes and place in a salad bowl.
• Add salt and pepper.
• Mix your desired amount of mayonnaise with a teaspoon of mustard. This gives the potato salad a tangy taste.
• Peel and dice your eggs. Put the yolks aside to crumble over the top. ( I remove them completely as I have a fussy child in the house who doesn’t eat them)
• Mix the diced egg into your potatoes and pour the mayonnaise in.
• Mix well.

I use this potato salad as a side but it could also make a delicious summer meal by doubling up on the potatoes and adding bacon bits, peppers and onion.

We are shameless dinosaur fans in our home and I recently wanted to treat Hamish to a fun treat.

I decided to bake him a giant brontosaurus biscuit.

I set it on a plate with a banana mountain, some mint leaves and a sun made from an orange slice.

The biscuit was just a butter biscuit recipe and you can recreate any dinosaur as I cut the shape free hand with a knife.

To make your own

Basic Butter Biscuits

(Recipe Credit unknown)

• 250g Butter
• 3/4 cup icing sugar
• 1 cup Maizena (corn flour)
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• +-2 cups flour

Method

Cream butter and sugar until creamy and white.
Add oil, vanilla essence, maizena and baking powder and mix well.
Add enough flour to make a soft dough.
Roll and cut with a cutter or pipe through a nozzle.

Bake at 180 degrees for 10 – 15 minutes.
Decorate as desired